{"id":2646,"date":"2019-08-27T11:16:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T09:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/?p=2646"},"modified":"2019-09-07T11:52:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T09:52:13","slug":"the-23-best-keyword-tracking-tools-according-to-107-seos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/the-23-best-keyword-tracking-tools-according-to-107-seos\/","title":{"rendered":"The 23 Best Keyword Tracking Tools (According to 107 SEOs)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Tracking keyword rankings manually is far too time-consuming. A better approach: use one of these keyword tracking tools recommended by 107 professional SEOs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the right tool, tracking where your site ranks in organic search results for target keywords is a time-consuming process.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Manually checking and tracking your rankings requires depersonalized search tricks, long and detailed spreadsheets, and constant vigilance.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s less of a burden if you only check your rankings occasionally. But few SEOs are willing to go months without seeing how their efforts are impacting rankings. In fact, half of SEOs check their rankings either daily or multiple times a day, and another 37.7% check them weekly:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"how<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you monitor rankings that closely\u2014and at that frequency\u2014manually checking Google\u2019s search results for your target keywords is incredibly time-consuming. Using a keyword tracking tool is a much simpler, more efficient, and more cost-friendly option.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But which keyword tracking tool should you use?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out, we asked 107 SEOs to tell us about the keyword tracking tools they use to keep a close eye on how their site and pages are performing in organic search results. 
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Most of our respondents use the tools they recommend to keep an eye out for both ranking increases and decreases:
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\"why<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Altogether, our respondents recommended 23 keyword tracking tools. Topping the list were Ahrefs and SEMrush, which both received 30 or more recommendations.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the 23 best keyword tracking tools, listed in order of the number of recommendations received. For tools that received an equal number of recommendations, we\u2019ve listed them in alphabetical order.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Ahrefs<\/a> (31 recommendations)<\/li>
  2. SEMrush<\/a> (30 recommendations)<\/li>
  3. Google Search Console<\/a> (8 recommendations)<\/li>
  4. AccuRanker<\/a> (4 recommendations)<\/li>
  5. AgencyAnalytics<\/a> (4 recommendations)<\/li>
  6. Moz<\/a> (4 recommendations)<\/li>
  7. STAT<\/a> (3 recommendations)<\/li>
  8. Advanced Web Ranking (AWR)<\/a> (2 recommendations)<\/li>
  9. Pro Rank Tracker<\/a> (2 recommendations)<\/li>
  10. SE Ranking<\/a> (2 recommendations)<\/li>
  11. SEO PowerSuite \u2013 Rank Tracker<\/a> (2 recommendations)<\/li>
  12. SERPWatcher by Mangools<\/a> (2 recommendations)<\/li>
  13. Hike<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  14. Keyword Hero<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  15. Monitor Backlinks<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  16. Nightwatch.io<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  17. Rank Ranger<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  18. SEOmonitor<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  19. SerpBook<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  20. SERPBOT<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  21. SerpDB<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  22. Ubersuggest<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li>
  23. Wincher<\/a> (1 recommendation)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    1. Ahrefs<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Price: From $99\/month<\/em>
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"ahrefs<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Of all of the keyword tracking tools on this list, Ahrefs was the most recommended, receiving 31 total recommendations.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAhrefs is an easy tool to use to keep track of your keyword rankings,\u201d says Best Company<\/a>\u2019s Alayna Okerlund. \u201cIt provides a full view of keyword movements, shows you new keywords you\u2019re ranking for, and lets you access a full list of all organic keywords for each page on your website.\u201d
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other respondents provided many reasons why Ahrefs is their keyword tracking tool of choice:
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Overall Ease of Use<\/strong><\/td>\u201cI\u2019ve used other tools, but they are just way too complex\/disorganized. Ahrefs has so many useful components in a very easy-to-use interface.\u201d (David Hoos, The Good<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Simple Setup<\/strong><\/td>\u201cThe setup is very easy. All you need to do is add in a list of keywords, locations, and competitor URLs. Ahrefs will start tracking and sending updates to your inbox.\u201d (Jackie Tihanyi, Fisher Unitech<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Simple Tracking<\/strong><\/td>\u201cAll you need do is upload the keywords you want to track and add them to the rank tracker tool. It will then track your site\u2019s ranking position for each keyword in the countries you determine.\u201d (Alistair Dodds, Ever Increasing Circles<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Accuracy<\/strong><\/td>\u201cWe used AWR Cloud for some time, but we found the results to be inaccurate more often than not. With Ahrefs, we get better accuracy, plus it tracks all keywords for a domain it finds in the top 100, not just the ones we specify.\u201d (Colin Docherty, Edge45<\/a>)

    \u201cI found that Ahrefs has the highest accuracy when it comes to keyword tracking.\u201d (Jakub Kliszczak,     CrazyCall<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Frequent Updates<\/strong><\/td>\u201cThey\u2019re constantly updating keyword rankings, and they all seem to be updated at least once per month.\u201d (Sam Coppard, Candide<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Keyword Alerts<\/strong><\/td>\u201cBy setting up alerts, you\u2019ll get real-time insights into the fluctuation of keywords. This includes ranking and<\/em> the volume and difficulty to rank for specific keywords.\u201d (Devin Pickell, G2<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Competitive Intelligence<\/strong><\/td>\u201cNot only can I see the keywords I\u2019m ranking for and what positions they\u2019re in, but I love being able to compare that to my competitors. It\u2019s so helpful to be able to easily see how my visibility, average position, and traffic are doing in comparison to the competition.\u201d (Carlee Linden, Best Company<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Improvement Opportunities<\/strong><\/td>\u201cI\u2019ve found it to be helpful in monitoring competition and identifying opportunities that might help with keyword ranking, such as on-page updates and metadata rewrites.\u201d (Andrew Clark, Duckpin<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Keyword Categorization<\/strong><\/td>\u201cAhrefs has the ability to tag keywords, which makes it extremely easy to categorize keywords into buckets. This is important if you are tracking hundreds or thousands of keywords; you can easily segment and slice winning groups and losing groups.\u201d (William Chin, Pickfu<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Rankings by Country<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt allows you to see rankings in different countries, which makes it easier and does not require any double-checking.\u201d (Chhavi Agarwal, Mrs Daaku Studio<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    SERP Feature Filtering<\/strong><\/td>\u201cYou can filter by SERP features. This element is handy if you\u2019re aiming for, say, a featured snippet<\/a>, and you\u2019re comparing your performance with your competitors.\u201d (Luke Davis, Adzooma<\/a>)

    \u201cYou can see if keywords rank for any SERP features, like answer cards or \u2018people also ask\u2019 sections on Google.\u201d (Travis McGinnis,     Leighton Interactive<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Ranking Comparison<\/strong><\/td>\u201cYou can view a side-by-side comparison of where your company ranked before and where it ranks now, in between the previous and current Ahrefs crawls and updates.\u201d (Paul Farmer, Woodtex<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Data Visualization<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt allows you to easily look at progress graphs, showing visibility, distribution, traffic, and more.\u201d (Viola Eva, Flow SEO<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Client Keyword Tracking<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt\u2019s great for managing client keyword lists and rankings. It keeps things very tidy.\u201d (Liam Abbott, Top Shelf Media<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    Additionally, many respondents said they prefer Ahrefs because it lets you track keyword rankings and take advantage of other helpful SEO tools.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI\u2019m already in Ahrefs all day looking at backlinks, and it\u2019s great to have one tool that you can trust for keyword rankings and backlink analysis,\u201d says Paul Teitelman of Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting<\/a>. \u201cIts keyword ranking tools have come a long way and are very accurate.\u201d
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    And Abhijith VM of Geek\u2019s Framework<\/a> says that all of the tools that Ahrefs offers in its subscription make planning easier:
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe ability to report rankings based on location and browser language along with the ability to display SERP features like site links, image packs, and local packs makes it easier for us to understand the impact a keyword\u2019s position is going to have on our website.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. SEMrush<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Price: From $99.95\/month<\/em>
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"semrush<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    SEMrush was the second most-recommended keyword tracking tool, earning 30 total recommendations\u2014just one recommendation shy of Ahrefs.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI use SEMrush on a daily basis to track both our keywords and our clients\u2019 keywords,\u201d says Colin Mosier of JSL Marketing & Web Design<\/a>. 
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhen we begin a campaign, we use SEMrush to determine which keywords to target during the campaign. We are able to find the monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, cost-per-click, and more.\u201d 
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOnce we determine which keywords to target, SEMRush allows us to input the keywords into a tracking program that tracks the rankings, visibility, and average traffic from the keywords.\u201d
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOverall, I recommend SEMrush because it is extremely easy to use and has multiple features that allow for comprehensive keyword tracking and optimization,\u201d Mosier says.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other respondents offered a variety of reasons why SEMrush is their tool of choice:
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Overall Ease of Use<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt\u2019s easy to navigate and understand.\u201d (Lauren Conners, Spot On<\/a>)

    \u201cIt\u2019s super user-friendly for those not as technologically inclined.\u201d (Cierra Flythe,     BoardActive<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Simple Tracking<\/strong><\/td>\u201cSEMrush is an effective tool for keyword tracking. It allows you to see the positional changes of your keywords and allocate your SEO resources in a highly targeted manner.\u201d (Luke Wester, Miva<\/a>)

    \u201cIt monitors rankings based on location and device, plus your competitor\u2019s rankings for those terms to compare.\u201d (Sharlene Reimer,     Graphic Intuitions<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Accuracy<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIn my nine years of working in SEO, I\u2019ve tried many different ranking tools. I\u2019ve found SEMrush to be the most accurate and effective keyword ranking tracker.\u201d (Sam Thomas, Embryo Digital<\/a>)

    \u201cNo tool is completely accurate, but I have found SEMrush to more closely resemble true Google rankings when compared to Ahrefs.\u201d (Milad Hassibi,     Internet Things<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Frequent Updates<\/strong><\/td>\u201cUnlike some of the other tools, SEMrush updates its data every day.\u201d (Ozge Dogan, Lucidica<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Competitive Intelligence<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIts competitor analysis feature lets you track your competitors\u2019 keywords as well. So you get a holistic picture of how well you are doing on your target keywords in relation to your competitors.\u201d (Shane Barker<\/a>)

    \u201cSEMrush\u2019s Competitors Discovery feature gives you a platform to see your competitors who are ranking higher on Google\u2019s search results pages for your target keywords.\u201d (Moss Clement,     Moss Media<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Improvement Opportunities<\/strong><\/td>\u201cThey launched a featured snippet section to update us on which ones we\u2019ve earned and to help us achieve opportunities we are missing for our target keywords.\u201d (Juliette Tholey, Revenue River<\/a>)

    \u201cTheir content templates can help you structure and format content before you write it, allowing you to include highly trafficked search phrases and keywords that you may not have otherwise included.\u201d (Christopher Hutchens,     SmartBug Media<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Keyword Categorization<\/strong><\/td>\u201cI also find the tagging feature pretty useful. You can tag a group of keywords, which helps you track rankings for specific landing pages or pieces of content.\u201d (Johnny Santiago, Berify<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Rankings by Country<\/strong><\/td>\u201cWe have our headquarters in Switzerland, a highly multilingual country, and serve clients from other nations. That\u2019s why we rely on a rank tracker like SEMrush that provides us with granular information about different locations, devices, and search engines.\u201d (Adrian Siuda, BEE Inbound<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Rankings by Locality<\/strong><\/td>\u201cThe daily keyword ranking report for the keywords you\u2019ve selected can be tracked for specific locations like states, cities, neighborhoods, and even zip codes! Tracking by zip code can be critical for hyperlocal businesses that want to track their visibility in map packs.\u201d (Tony Mastri, MARION Marketing Company<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    SERP Feature Indicators<\/strong><\/td>\u201cSEMrush\u2019s ranking report identifies the type of listings associated with the rank (e.g. local pack, snippet, SERP).\u201d (Chris Sheehy, Sidewalk Branding Co.<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Ranking Comparison<\/strong><\/td>\u201cI can track historical performance. This helps me understand which of may corrections made the most impact.\u201d (Tetiana Vasylenko, Beetroot<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Client Keyword Tracking<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt allows us to produce targeted keyword strategies for our clients as part of our pre-marketing process, conduct a keyword gap analysis, and use loads of other great tools that benefit our customers.\u201d (John Hoey, The Marketing People<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
    Client Reporting<\/strong><\/td>\u201cIt allows for scheduled, automated, branded reports, and it can group by topic\/business area using tags.\u201d (Katrina Gallagher, Digitangle<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cSEMrush is easy to use and cost-effective,\u201d says Growth Hackers<\/a>\u2019 Jonathan Aufray. \u201cYou have a free trial where you can check 10 URLs a day, and the cost of the paid version cost is reasonable. You can use it for SEO as well as for SEM (Google Ads).\u201d 
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s an all-in-one SEO tool. Not only you can check keyword rankings, but you can also check your competitors\u2019 rankings, your backlinks, and much more,\u201d Aufray says.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> SEMrush users can get a quick view of keyword ranking position changes alongside other key SEO metrics like sessions, bounce rate, and average session duration by grabbing this free SEMrush Keywords & Organic Search Traffic dashboard<\/a> that combines data from Google Analytics and SEMrush.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"semrush<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    3. Google Search Console<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Price: Free<\/em>
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"google<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The next most-recommended keyword tracking tool was Google Search Console, receiving eight total votes.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cGoogle Search Console is the only keyword tracking tool I use,\u201d says James Green of Offer To Close<\/a>. \u201cNot only does Google have the inside track on its own data, but it is also able to account for the differences in search caused by personalized search results.\u201d
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Several respondents said they use Google Search Console for its accuracy:
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