A while ago I did a few posts on checking and monitoring your keyword position in Google with free web-based tools. Unfortunately, the handy tool (SERPArchive) described in one of these articles seems broken now and thus I’ve been looking for another solution to get updated of your keyword rankings.
SheerSEO is one such tool which is free, has a user-friendly interface and, apart from tracking multiple keyword positions both in Google and Yahoo, offers a few more valuable options. Once you register, the tool will look at your site and suggest your keywords to monitor and pages to track:
You can choose any phrases from the list or add your own. After that the tool finds your rankings for the approved terms and starts tracking any changes. You will see a little table consisting of your search terms in one column, their current position in Google and recent change (if any):
The ranking history is saved for each term and is represented graphically - you can set the date range to see your term position change over time:
Besides that, a few handy features include:
- regular email updates;
- brief report of Digg and Del.icio.us mentions;
- backlink data change (per Googleor Yahoo);
- historical changes in the number of indexed pages;
- single-, double- and triple-word keyword density.
What the tool still lacks:
- direct links to the aggregated data (e.g. Google results page where the site currently ranks);
- more backlink data;
- more sorting and filtering options;
- the ability to track multiple “projects”.
Still the tool is new and promising and you can check it for your home-run projects.
Comments
10 responses so far ↓
Rob on Jul 31, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I think it looks good. Needs more features which I guess will be added eventually as you mention, more backlink data and direct links to the serps.
Nice and easy to use as well which is good.
damselseo on Aug 1, 2008 at 2:36 am
A great tool! You can be able to track your main referral links with the anchor text. And your stats on social sites like digg etc.. and many more..
birdlegs on Aug 1, 2008 at 7:38 am
Hello Smarty,
Again, thanks for a useful tool and some great articles. I now read your articles just after Michael Martinez. That is a great compliment if you ask me. I’m new to seo …I’m so tired of link, link, link…that your space is refreshing.
Handmade Fashion Jewelry on Aug 1, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Just tried it and thought it mediocre.
Many of the keyword rankings do not match a hand search. Google accuracy seemed worse than Yahoo.
Mendy
Eyal on Aug 3, 2008 at 11:53 am
Hi Mendy,
You probably encountered a short time problem we had that day.
Please give it another try.
Also - note that the results are polled for US on .com sites, so if you are trying Google outside US you’ll get different results.
Erik Cunningham on Aug 4, 2008 at 9:52 am
What does Google think of these programs? Their Webmaster Guidelines state:
“Don’t use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.”
Eyal on Aug 4, 2008 at 10:29 am
Hi Erik,
Google should not have any say regarding automated queries since this is exactly what they do! Are SEO experts expected to sit down and perform gazillion of search queries manually and put them in Excel?! - that would also consume the exact same resources as an automated query tool.
Other than that - sheerseo never sends the domain together with the search queries so there is no way to know who is the originator of those queries.
Erik Cunningham on Aug 4, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hi Eyal. Thanks for your reply. I’ve been curious why Google thinks rank checking programs consume more computer resources than manual checking. Maybe it’s because programs are easier so people run checks more oftern.
It sure would be nice if Google would expand their webmaster tools and give us this data on a daily basis themselves.
Web Design Romania on Aug 5, 2008 at 3:51 am
thank you Ann for this review !
Steve on Sep 13, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Tool seems ok. Has anyone used any other similar tools? If so, what are they?
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