In this post I provide my SEO Powersuite Rank Tracker review. Rank Tracker is one of a suite of four tools in the product entitled SEO Powersuite. The other three tools in the suite are Link Assistant, Website Auditor, and SEO Spyglass.
Search Engine Optimisation is both an art and a science (some would say a Dark Art) and it’s constantly evolving. However, for the lay person who doesn’t want to learn all the deep technical intricacies some aspects remain constant.
One is that you can’t be certain of how well you’re doing until you measure your progress regularly, but that can be difficult for anyone managing their own site but not to the level of a full-time webmaster who is familiar with SEO and keyword ranking.
To manage your own site’s SEO efficiently you have to audit your site (Website Auditor), build or attract backlinks (Link Assistant), check your progress (Rank Tracker), and check what the competition is doing (SEO Spyglass).
And as a bonus, if you become adept at doing all this you can sell your skills and help others as an SEO Consultant.
Importance of Measuring Website Ranking
Before I begin, let’s quickly remind ourselves about the importance of analysing progress month by month, and season by season.
Keywords i.e. single words and phrases that search engines use within their algorithms to decide where to present the site or page within the search results, should be an essential part of your content strategy.
So the more good quality content your site has, containing relevant keyword phrases and words then the better chance it has of ranking well for any of those keywords or phrases. If you leave this process to chance you might still succeed but why take a risk with something so important?
The algorithms within search engines that decide which websites to show in the top ten positions on Page 1 of the search results will make their decisions partly based on the number of times a word or phrase appears in certain parts of a page.
Does the keyword or phrase appear in the page title? Does the keyword appear in titles further down the page, and in a ratio within the content that is realistic and natural within the copy? If you’re certain you’ve compiled your site well how can you be sure if you don’t check its ranking regularly?
Years ago it was possible to add lots of copy containing too many keywords in an attempt to fool the search engines into thinking your site was more relevant for that term, but over time the search engines algorithms have evolved and are now much more sophisticated and accurate.
They seek quality over quantity, so it’s imperative that you or your webmaster ensures that your site’s web pages are constructed with care, with good quality copy, and no underhand techniques.
OK, enough of the preamble – how is Rank Tracker going to help with this process?
Rank Tracker Explains Your Site’s Ranking
First of all, it will audit your site to see how well it currently ranks for any given keyword or phrase. You can’t measure how well you’re doing without baselining the status, so it will audit the site and present the results in a table.
Later, you can re-run the audit at any time to see how well your keyword ranking is doing. It will also remind you of the potential within each keyword. By that I mean the number of searches per month, and the number of visits you can expect for that keyword.
Rank Tracker contains a total of 23 separate tools that will help you with your keyword research and which provide data you can use to modify your strategy as you decide what new content to add to your site.
You can set up automated tasks to check your ranking at time intervals you specify, and you can then return to view results later.
Rank Tracker also contains a tool that can be used to keep an eye on any websites belonging to competitors. You can also use the tool to target keywords for a specific location, in case you have a bricks and mortar business.
There is no substitute for experimenting for yourself as this is the only way you’ll appreciate what this tool can do. It will also produce reports for printing off or for sharing online with members of your team.
The key to this process is to check, adjust, and check again. Use Rank Tracker to highlight weak areas and make changes accordingly. If you adopt this process and make it habitual, then eventually you’ll be rewarded with steadily improving rankings.
For example, when considering what to add to your site, check Rank Tracker for keyword ideas that you can include in new posts. As you add more good quality content containing those keywords in the correct ratios and in the right places your site will gain more traction within search engines and your visitor count will increase accordingly.
Rank Tracker is a tool that works best with regular and informed use. It’s not a fire and forget tool and you need to follow up and act on the results it provides.
Tip: Add a calendar reminder to prompt you to check your rankings each week.
You can then compile a shortlist of keywords to use as ideas for new content that you’ll write in the coming week, thus planting seeds that will bear fruit later.
Regular attention and nurturing is the key, backed up by regular checks on progress. In time and with just a few hours of attention each month you’ll start to see your site’s rankings improving. Get into the habit of using Rank Tracker each week and re-run the audit regularly to check on progress.
Compile Reports
The report compiler also enables you to create reports for others, branded with your company details. This enables you to offer a rank tracking audit service, which you can use as an additional or free offer to clients and potential clients.
The Rank Tracker website contains all the support you’ll ever need; Webinars, Video Tutorials, and How-to Guides. If these don’t answer your questions then the Rank Tracker team are on hand to provide support.
Do you use Rank Tracker? Post a comment below with your tips and advice. Any questions? Ask me below and I’ll try to find an answer for you.
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