Whether you are an SEO specialist, online marketer, or website owner, if you want a bit of result from your website, you know that you have to work on your findability in Google. How do you know if you can be found? Thanks in part to rank tracking tools such as ProRankTracker (also written as 'Pro Rank Tracker' *). Discover what is so good about Pro Rank Tracker, what is less enjoyable about it, and how you can use this tool to monitor and report positions in Google. Still, want to work with other tools? Also discussed, so feel free to read on.
* On their website and in their emails, they mention both Pro Rank Tracker and ProRankTracker, so you can also find both spellings in this article ;-)
Monitoring findability: time-consuming
If you want to monitor how your findability is doing in Google, that is a time-consuming job. The question is also what is the best way. Want to look in Google yourself? That takes the most time anyway, and you do not know whether the search results are really neutral. Free tools have their limitations, although they may be enough for the small business owner.
Positions in Google are almost daily prices.
The disadvantage of positions in a search engine such as Google is that they can change daily. They are almost daily prices. If you are at number 1 today, you could have dropped to number 3 tomorrow. Now that doesn't have to be bad because ultimately, it is all about the results in the long run. A little up and then down will continue to happen, as long as you see an upward trend in the long run and overall. And for that, you need a rank tracker. Before I explain Pro Rank Tracker, let's talk about the free rank trackers.
Free rank trackers
There are some free rank trackers out there, which only have some drawbacks:
- They are here now, but whether they will be there next week is never certain.
- They are full of advertisements or have a different revenue model in which your data may play a role.
- A tool that is now free may have a subscription model next year; such a tool is also not free for the provider.
Check the link above to the article about the various free and paid tools, or read through about Pro Rank Tracker first, watch the videos and determine if this is a tool for you.
Why I use Pro Rank Tracker
Actually, I have no idea anymore how I found out about ProRankTracker [aff.]. That's how long I've been using this tool, and I'm delighted with it. This is what I like about it:
- Monitor positions at both national and local level
- Track multiple locations per search term, so both nationally and in as many places as you want
- Receive daily, weekly or monthly reports with positions or have them mailed directly to your customer, manager, or team
- Set yourself which search engines you want to track and whether you want to track that on desktop or mobile, iPhone, Android, and even Windows Phone
- Reports in PDF or Excel, with a preview in the mail
These are the main points. There is so much more. Watch the tutorial videos below to see even more.
Of course, there are always things that can be improved, so what are the disadvantages of ProRankTracker?
The Cons of ProRankTracker
What disappointed me about ProRankTracker is how complex it is to set up an automated report. But yes, a tool that does a good job in a complex matter and offers many options probably cannot be straightforward to use. You have many options, so that is not just 'easy to make. It is too extensive for that.
But luckily you have me :-) I have recorded all the steps to use ProRankTracker for your website (s) or those of customers so that you can always look back. It is also useful for me because I have sometimes lost it myself, and then it is really super handy to be able to review all the steps myself.
This is how you use ProRankTracker.
All the first steps for using ProRankTracker now follow. Start by signing up and choosing plans. You can also skip it, of course, for those who find it interesting:
- Add website
Once you have an account, you start adding a website—logical, of course. There is just a bit more to it than just giving up a website. There are even some things to keep in mind. Take a look:
- Set up reports: first, create a filter
Before you can receive or send the reports, you first create filters in ProRankTracker. Cumbersome? Certainly. On the other hand, it is also useful. This way, you can also exclude search terms that you do monitor from the report. Or only report positions in Google or another search engine to keep it clear. Or take it a step further: report positions in the mobile search results separately from the desktop results.
You create that filter like this:
- Set up automatic reporting
Now you are ready to set up your automatic reporting in ProRankTracker. The explanation takes longer than the setting itself. You are really done in no time:
- Test email with PDF & Excel
Of course, you want to know if the email you send looks like you (or the customer) wants. To send a test e-mail first and then make some changes if necessary. And: there are always surprises for me too ...
- Add or remove search terms.
Fortunately, if you want to add or remove search terms later, you can. Because ProRankTracker is so extensive, it retakes some searching, but once you know:
The basis for using Pro Rank Tracker
You can now get started with ProRankTracker, where you can at least apply the basics. The possibilities are very extensive, as you can see in the videos. For now, the basis is sufficient. In the end, you want to get started. If you still want to know more about the many other options, I would like to make new instruction videos.
