Where a website ranks in Google search engine results pages (SERPs) has huge implications for one’s business. This is true even if that business is entirely e-commerce, brick-and-mortar based, or a combination of both. A company website is what drives brand awareness and online sales. Websites on the first page get more than 70% of all clicks each time a person searches for a term or phrase. Another study found that 25% of people click on whatever website appears first on Google.
And to be clear – 25% of people click on the first organic website in SERP. Web users are quite adept at figuring out what’s a paid ad on Google and what’s a genuine search result. People trust organic results more than Google Ads. So, how do you improve your website’s position? Well first, you need to know where you currently rank. In this article, we’ll discuss five of the best Google position tracking tools to help you do just that.
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How Do You Find Where Your Website Ranks Google?
With Google rank checking tools, you can quickly find out where each page on your website ranks on Google. Each offers different perks and some cost money, but for good reason. Start free, then move on up if your needs expand.
Google Search Console
Price: Free
The Google Search Console provides your business with a massive amount of information, including where your web pages rank on Google. It also includes information about which keywords drive clicks or conversions, and what content types perform well, like video or audio or blogs. If you want to check your website’s position on Google Search Console, follow these steps.
- Log into Google Search Console. Register if needed.
- Click on Performance on the left-hand side.
- Find “Average position.” This number is the average of your positions (the sum of positions divided by the total number of keywords) for every keyword you rank for on Google. In other words, it shows the average of your positions for every keyword your entire site ranks for.
- To check if your Google search position has improved or declined over time, you can use select a date range. In the next box, click on the Compare option and choose the timeframe you want to compare the first time frame with. The resulting graph will include a lot of information. To remove the data you don’t want, click on the colors with the data you don’t want to see and they’ll be grayed out, leaving you only with page rank over time.
- There is no “one size fits all” timeframe to compare your current position to, but checking how your website has performed over the past 12 months and in the last 3 months are two common choices.
As an added bonus, this Google Search Console offers actionable tips for improving rankings.
AccuRanker
Price: Monitor 1000 keywords starting at $116 per month.
If the Google Search Console gives you too much information, use AccuRanker. This tool provides you with a preview of SERPs on Google when you enter certain keywords. You can tailor the preview to your country and location. If you want, you can even see what the results look like on desktop or mobile devices.
They also offer a free tool called Google Grump. This tool lets you know what “mood” Google is in. So if your site is ranking really, really low one day, it may have something to do with Google’s mood, i.e. bugs with its algorithm.
AuthorityLabs
Price: $49 to $450 per month
AuthorityLabs can, among other things, help your business track where you are ranking for specific keywords. For many, it’s an easier way to find your search ranking, especially when compared to Google’s free search tool. They claim that unlike other ranking tools, they offer a key benefit. According to their site, “When we access search engines we look like a new visitor with every search we perform, so you know exactly where you rank for people who are exposed to your site for the first time through search. Unlike other rank tracking tools, we grab results in groups of 10 like a real user would see. We’re also able to specify from which locale we want the search result.”
They emphasize that unlike other tools, they have a proprietary model that looks for “not provided keywords.” They say, “Most SERP tools don’t show you the ‘Not Provided’ keywords, which are often the most important keywords that visitors use to search for websites like yours. We’ve got you covered, discover those pesky ‘Not Provided’ keywords and inform your SEO strategy with the insights.”
If you want to try it out, take advantage of the 14-day free trial. After that, the price you pay per month is all based on the number of keywords you want to monitor.
SEMrush
Price: $129.95 to $499.95 per month
SEMrush is one of our personal favorites here at SEO Design Chicago. This paid Google keyword ranking tool offers your business several website traffic boosters, including search ranking. You can check your Google position, of course, plus research keywords, analyze backlinks, learn about Google algorithm updates, run SEO audits of every page on your site, get content ideas, and tons more. The tons more include insights into what your competitors are doing, social media management, help with PPC ads, and more.
You can get started with SEMrush and its keyword position checker for Google with these simple steps:
- Log in to SEMrush
- Select “SEO Toolkit”
- Choose “Position Tracking”
The following report will provide you with this information:
- Your top competitors in search results
- Your top keywords
- Your overall visibility in search results based on certain keywords
- Your estimated traffic per day, week or month
- Your average position in search results
- Data about your landing pages
- Where you rank for featured snippets displayed on Google
And unlike free tools, SEMrush is great when it comes to understanding and digesting this data. Many tools show you this all at once, which is very overwhelming. With SEMrush, you can access all your data at once or bit by bit. Clearly, SEMrush is a valuable tool, since 30% of Fortune 500 companies use SEMrush and there are over 10 million active users.
Ahrefs
Price: $99 to $999 per month
Ahrefs, a powerhouse SEO tool, is another one of our personal favorites. It gives you a fast and accurate way to find your search rankings, among many other things.
You can use Ahrefs to:
- Audit your website for SEO-friendliness
- Find broken links
- Find out which keywords and phrases people are using to find you, and get suggestions for new keywords
- Check your website search result position
Here’s how you can use Ahrefs as a Google keyword position checker:
- Log in to Ahrefs
- Click “Rank tracker”
- Select “+ Add new” to add your website
- Choose your website from the “Rank tracker” menu
- Click “Add keywords”
Disappointed With Where Your Website Is Ranking on Google?
If your site doesn’t rank where you’d like, join the club. Search engine rankings are difficult for everyone to master. It’s especially hard with certain industries, like the legal and real estate fields. Think of all the lawyers and realtors out there. You’re competing with them for page one in search results. You need an SEO strategy to get the result rankings you dream of. That’s why so many companies turn to professional digital marketers, like us at SEO Design Chicago. We’ve been in this business for over ten years, helping clients with all things related to search engine optimization. Check out our Google reviews, social media, and more to see more about the work that we’ve done.
FAQ:
- Why does Google position matter?
- Does Google have a tool to help track your position on SERPs?
- How much does AccuRanker cost?
- What information does SEMrush’s keyword position checker provide you with?
- What is Ahrefs used for?
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