The Ultimate Guide to SEO Checker Tools 2020

Website rank tracking is, arguably, one of the most important tasks SEO tasks that website owners need to perform on a regular basis. The challenge is that there are so many keyword rank checkers out there that it can be difficult to decide on the best one. Most people are also on the hunt for the best free rank checker tool that they can lay their hands on. We all love freebies right? This article is a comprehensive guide to the best website ranking tools that can be found out there in the year 2020. Click on the link below jump to the relevant section. Use the links below to jump to;

• The Best SEO checker tools comparison table
• The definition of Rank Checking
• How to choose an SEO ranking tool
• The Best Free Rank Checker
• Best Local Rank Checker
• Show you the most accurate page rank checker

Compare SEO Tools

NightWatch	$19	100	Rank Tracker Backlinks Monitoring Site Audit Competitor Analysis Keyword Research	14 Days!
RankWatch	$99	150	Daily Rank Refresh Monitor 495,000 Backlinks Local/City Rank Tracking Competitor Analysis Automated Alerts	Get it Now!
SEMrush	$99.95	250	Rank Monitoring Backlinks Analysis Keyword Research Traffic Analytics Market Explorer	14 days
RankRanger	$69	150	Rank Tracking Top 100 Competitors Reporting Local Finder & Maps Tracking SEO Monitor Advanced Landing Page Tools	Get it!
ProRankTracker	$49	100	Rank Tracking Local & Mobile Tracking Full SERPs (Top-100)Extreme Support Mobile Apps

What is Rank Checking

Ranking checking is, without a doubt, one of the most important SEO tasks that every blogger should be aware of. Unfortunately, most people think that finding a great host and having their sites out there is enough to put them on the path to blogging success. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Almost all of the successful bloggers that are out there make use of one or more Rank Checkers to get a clear picture of the trajectory of their sites. So, what is Rank Checking and why is is important in Search Engine Optimization?

Rank Checking Definition

Rank Tracking or rank checking is simply the process of monitoring the performance of a website, with regard to its target keywords, on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex.

Website Ranking is all about your Keywords

In order to fully understand the answer to the question “What is Rank Checking?” you first need to appreciate the role that Keywords play in Search Engine Optimization.

What Are Keywords?

Perhaps, the most important thing that you need to do, before you even start writing articles for your blog, is research on the terms and phrases that people are using on Search Engines when looking for the kinds of services that you provide. These are what are referred to as keywords.

Why are Keywords Important?

What you need to understand is that writing world class content is not, on its own, enough to make your website or blog a success. As long as you are not using the words and phrases that your people in your target audience are typing into Search Engines, it is more than likely that your posts will remain lost within the ever expanding sea that is the World Wide Web.

Keyword Research

It is important, therefore, for you to carry out Keyword Research before producing your content. What are people asking about the services that you offer? Which words do they type into Search Engines? Are these queries seasonal? Which are the most used phrases?

These are some of the questions that need to inform your articles. By carrying out Keyword Research and targeting the exact phrases that people are typing into Search Engines, you give your articles a chance to be ranked better and to be found by their intended audiences.

Keyword Research Tools

The good news is that there are numerous keyword research tools out there that you can use to carry out Keyword Research. For this website, I personally use the WordTracker, which I find to be one of the best Keyword Research tools that can be found out there. The great thing about this tool is that it gives me keyword suggestions, as well as metrics pertaining to the competitiveness of the keywords that I am targeting.

How to choose a Rank Checker

Choosing an SEO ranking tool can be difficult. That’s mostly because there is such a wide range of Google rank checking tools. The following, in any case, are some of the things that you need to consider when choosing a Rank checker;

• Number of Tracked Websites
• Number of Keywords
• Backlink Monitoring
• Social Media Tracking
• SEO auditing
• Link Building and Link Management
• Historical Overview
• AdWords & Analytics integration
• Competitors Rank Tracking
• Task Scheduling
• Professional SEO Reporting in Multiple Formats
• Frequency of Reporting

Number of Tracked Websites

The first thing that you need to consider when choosing an SEO Rank Tracking tool are the number of websites that you will be able to track at any given point in time.This can be important if you have more than one website. Being able to monitor your SERP performance across multiple websites allows you to have all your metrics in one place. Search Engine Optimization can be a bit overwhelming, and having everything in one place helps simplify life.

Number of Tracked Keywords

Another key feature that you should consider when hunting around for a Rank Checker are the number of keywords that you will be allowed to track. Keyword monitoring is all about keywords, and you don’t want to choose a company or a plan that limits you in terms of what you can monitor. That’s particularly the case if you own a large website. As you can see in the above table, the various SEO rank tracking tools that are outlined offer vastly different levels of tracking, in terms of keywords.

SEO Auditing

You wont know what, if anything, has been pulling down your website till you have carried out an SEO audit on it. A number of the seo rank checkers that we feature in this article come with this feature. SEMrush and Nightwatch, as an example, allow you to carry out a comprehensive review of how your site is structured. Knowing this gives you the information that you need to properly setup your site in such a way that it gets an edge over the competition.

Competitor Rank Tracking

No website exists in a vacuum. In fact, the reason why people carry out website rank checking is because they want to know how they are doing against their competitors. The SEO tool that you get, as a result, should be one that gives you an overview of who your competitors are and how they are doing in terms of your target keywords. You also want a tool that allows you to look at your competitors backlinks profile.

Backlinks Monitoring

Ask any SEO expert today and you will be told that backlinks are THE most important aspect of Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, you cannot hope to rank your site without a steady acquisition of backlinks. A good SEO tool is, therefore, one that allows to audit your SEO profile. This allows you to know when you have gained new links or when the ones that you already have have become broken. Another thing is that backlinks are not all created equal. You need to acquire yours from high domain authority sites to have an impact on your SEO rank. There are tools out there, such as SEMrush, that give you an overview of how much SEO juice a particular backlink is going to impart on your site.

Social Media Stats

With Social Media now firmly a cultural part of humanity, there can be no doubting the fact that having all the metrics in this regard provides you with a goldmine tto help improve your SEO strategy. Social Media analysis is one of the SEO rank tracking basics that you should be on the lookout for when you go hunting for a google page rank checker. There are tools out there that come with the ability to extract statistics on the popularity of a page or a backlink on social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and many more networks. 

Historical Overview

Rank Tracking would be an exercise in futility without getting a glimpse into historical data on movements in rank. This is another of the rank tracking basics that you should look for in a website rank checker.  Most of the tools in the table at the top provide you with this ability.

This enables you to establish the specific point in time when your web pages’ ranking moved either up or down. With this kind of information, you can then determine whether the movements can be attributed to anything that you were doing at that particular point in time. If your SEO strategies were the ones that yielded positive results, you can then repeat them in order to mirror your success.

Google Ads & Analytics integration

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a rank tracker that can be integrated into Google Analytics for better tracking? The good news is that most of the tools that we review in the above table come with the ability to blend metrics with Google Analytics data. Nightwatch is a good example of SEO tools that offer this functionality.

Frequency of Reporting

Frequency of reporting is another aspect that you should be on the lookout for while looking for the best google keyword rank checker for your website. How frequently do you wish to get your reports? Most of the google rank checkers that are out there tie this feature to price. Personally, I don’t mind getting my reports once a week. But you may wish to get your daily.

Best Free Rank Checker Tool 2020

If you are looking for a free keyword rank checker, then you have come to the right place. I won’t say your hunt for freebies ends here, but I will give you the next best thing. Why am I saying that? Well, because you are probably never going to find a completely free rank tracking tool out there. What you will get are tools that offer you free trials. In this article, we are going to look at Nightwatch, which offers a 10 day free trial.   Admittedly, this is not an entirely free rank tracking tool. However, Nightwatch is one of the most affordable, and, as you will see during the trial period, one of the best, SEO rank tracking tools that can be found out there.

Best Free Rank Tracking Trial

After carrying out exhaustive research, we can safely say that Nightwatch is the best (partly) free rank tracking tool that you will be able to find anywhere out there. We need to point out here that developing software takes time and money, which is why there are not completely free Rank Tracking tools out there.

The great thing about Nightwatch is that it is one of the cheapest rank tracking tools that you will be able to find out there. As you can see in the table at the top, you can expect to pay a monthly fee of $19 should you choose to sign on at the end of the trial period. Should you decide to go for the annual billing option, you save around 20%.

What this means is that you will now be paying only $15.20 per month, for which you get an amazing array of features. Compare this with other SEO tools, such as SEMrush which charges $99.95 per month for its services and you will realize that Nightwatch is one of the best tools that you can get for SERPs position tracking.

What Makes Nightwatch the Best Free Trial Rank Checker?

If you are looking for an SEO tool that has been designed to accurately capture your performance, in terms of your target keywords, on Search Engine Result Pages, then you wont go wrong with Nightwatch. This, as already mentioned, is a tool that we have been using at NetworkBees and we have to say that we have, so far, been impressed by its performance.  So, what makes Nightwatch so great?

What do you get?

Nightwatch comes with the following specifications;

• Accurate Rank Tracking
• Reporting
• Backlinks Monitoring
• Whitelabel
• API Access
• Site Auditing
• Historical comparison
• Unbranded keywords
• Graphic presentation of data
• Google Analytics integration
• Google Search Console Data
• Competitor Rankings

Best Local Rank Checker

In this section, we now look at the best local rank checkers that can be found out there. By local rank tracking we mean search engine keyword position monitoring at the local level. This could be at the level of the city or at the level of the country. The table below shows some of the best local rank tracking tools that can be found out there;

	Full Review	Price/M	Keywords	Get it Now
RankTrackr	Read	$19	100
ProRankTracker	Read	$49	100
RankWatch	Read	$29	100
SEMrush	Read	$99.95	500

Why Local Rank Tracking is Important

Here is something that you may have missed: Google recently made changes to its algorithms to make local searches “more relevant.” And here is a truth that’s, unfortunately, is often lost on local entrepreneurs; the survival of your business largely depends on your ability to target relevant local search queries. This allows you to get the kind of traffic, both on and offline, that you need in order to keep your business venture going. Local rank tracking is, therefore, important, particularly for businesses such as restaurants and cafe’s. So, why is local rank tracking important?

• Search results are not all the same. In fact, they vary widely based on a number of factors. These factors include location and device type. The differences are only logical, if you really stop to think about them. Let’s assume that you are a company that offers 24 hour leaking roof repairs in the town of Midrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. If that it the case, it wouldn’t be very useful for your potential customers to be shown results from New York when they type an appropriate query into search engines.
• A majority of the businesses that are out there operate only at a local level.  A roof repair or plumbing service, as we have already noted, can only operate in so big an environment. These are some of the businesses that should be on the hunt for Local Rank Tracking SEO tools. Local Rank Tracking is, however, not limited to small businesses. Even transnational corporations need to know how well they are performing on SERPs in particular environments.

What you should look for in a Local Rank Checking Tool

So, what is it that you should be on the lookout for in a local rank tracker? The following are some of the features that you should consider when choosing a local rank tracking tool;

• Country level tracking
• City level tracking
• Global Rank Tracking
• Tracking using zip code
• Support for a large number of Search Engines
• Whitelabel Reporting
• Website Audits
• Local Competitor Identification
• Flexible Reporting
• Social Media Monitoring

Country Level Local Rank Tracking

All the tools that are listed in the table at the top offer country level rank tracking. This type of information is invaluable when mounting an SEO campaign. Although the internet has united the world in ways that would have been thought impossible not so long ago, the fact remains that we are still far from a homogeneous community.

That is one of the major reasons why Search Engines strive to produce results that speak specifically to people in a given country. Knowing your SERP position at this level gives you the ability to plan your SEO strategy in each of the countries in which your business is operational.

City Level Local Rank Checking

The best local rank checker is one that takes you even further, down to the city level. A number of the SEO tools that are listed in the above table come with the ability to do this.

Having this kind of information is of great importance, as it, again, allows you to formulate far reaching strategies that will affect the very trajectory of your business.

This is particularly useful if your business operates only in a particular city. Knowing how well you are performing when compared to your competitors gives you the kind of information that you need in order to carry out an effective SEO strategy.

Local SEO Tracking by Zip Code

The best local rank checker is one that allows you to narrow down your focus even further, by enabling you to track your SERPs performance at the level of the Zip Code. This is useful for highly localized businesses.

If you own, as an example, a plumbing company that operates only in a specific area of the country, local rank monitoring at this level will be just what you are looking for.

Website Audits

Website audits have pretty much become standard for most of the SEO tools. Whether you are tracking your standing on Search Engine Result Pages at local or global levels, it is important for you to get a tool that periodically carries out  audits of your site.

One of the tools that we use, at Network Bees, is SEMrush. The amazing thing about this SEMrush is that it comes with the ability to crawl across your site and present a health report. Having this kind of information allows you to carry out remedial actions that improves your site’s performance. This, in turn, helps give your web pages higher Search Engine rankings.

Local Competitor Identification and Monitoring

One of the most important aspects of Local Rank Tracking is local competitor identification. Search Engine Optimization is, without a doubt, all about staying ahead of the pack. One of the ways through which you can do is is by identifying who your competitors are for particular keywords in a given Geographical area.

Not only that, but you also need to have a grasp of the strategies that are being used by your competitors to achieve higher rankings. This way, you can begin formulating strategies that will get you ahead of the pack.

The Local Rank Tracking tool that you choose should, therefore, come with the ability to identify your competitors at a local scale. SEMrush, is, again, a good example of a tools that does this. By allowing you to decode the competition’s strategies, you get afforded the chance to execute countermeasures that are designed to take you beyond their reach.

Support for a wide number of Search Engines

Although Search is dominated by Google, which commands over 70% of the market, there are other search engines out there. That is why you should choose a Rank Tracker that covers as many Search Engines as possible. The major Search Engines that can be found out there are;

• Yahoo
• Google
• YouTube
• Yandex
• Bing
• Baidu
• Naver
• Google Maps

White-label Reporting

If you run your own Digital Marketing company and would like to have reports that are customized to reflect your brand, you should opt for local Rank Tracking software that offers White-label Reporting. White Label reporting allows you to run your own pseudo SEO agency using another company’s software.

The reports that are sent out in this regard bear your own logo. This can be useful, if you wish to run your own localized SEO business. All of the companies that are in the table at the top offer varying degrees of White-label reporting.

Most Accurate Rank Checker Tool

As a webmaster, one of your goals for the current year should be to get the most accurate SEO metrics as is possible. There are, admittedly, countless SERPS tracker tools floating around the internet. However, not all of them are created equal. So, what’s the most accurate rank tracker that can be found out there? At NetworkBees, we use quite a number of rank tracking tools. However, of these, none get close to RankTrackr in terms of accuracy. So, what does it mean for an SEO rank Checker to be accurate?

• You should get the correct data about your Search Engine rankings
• The data should be timely
• SEO is rather fluid, and any data that you get needs to be constantly updated
• Data should not be limited to a global view.

RankTrackr excels in all these aspects, because it provides you with timely, accurate, SERPS data. Not only that, but you also get email updates whenever there are shifts in your position. This allows you to keep track of what is happening with regard to the keywords that you are competing for.

Another great thing about RankTrackr is that it takes the local view to rank checking. Instead of simply showing you how you have been performing across the globe, RankTrackr allows you to get a glimpse of your performance even at the city level.

This is quite important, considering that Search engines now use location when presenting results for localized search queries. That means that if you are concerned about how you are faring for the keyword “B&B London,” as an example, you wont get results from cites that cover New York or Johannesburg. So, if you are a website owner, you will want to know how well you are ranking for searches that are made in London.

What is it that makes RankTrackr Accurate?

If you are wondering about this, then here is some bit of information; RankTrackr uses advanced approaches to access data for local and global tracking, thus enabling you to get actionable information about movements in your rank.

Ten day free trial

Feel free to try out RankTrackr for ten days by clicking on the image below. This is a no obligations trial and you can opt out at any time. You will also notice that beginning at $9 per month, RankTrackr is the most affordable SEO tool that you will be able to come across. Hope this will help you get the most accurate rank tracking tool for your site.

1. RankTrackr

The biggest selling points for this Rank Tracking tool are accuracy, speed and simplicity. If you have ever used Rank Tracking software, you will understand the importance of being able to receive accurate results in a timely manner.

You will also appreciate how important it is to have the results presented in an easy to understand way, using multiple formats. This is where RankTrackr excels. The tool comes with the following features, all of which make it one of the best rank tracking SEO tools that you will be able to find out there;

Features

• Local Tracking, by city, zip code, region or country
• Important AdWords data( Search Volume and Cost per Click)
• Client Reports can be exported to PDF or CSV
• Historical Overview
• Report Scheduling
• Daily, weekly or monthly rankings summaries via email
• Advanced Filtering
• Customization
• Competitor Analysis

Not only is RankTrackr one of the most accurate Rank Tracking tools in the world, but it is also one of the most comprehensive. Most of its features are indispensable to a good SEO strategy. This includes the historical overview feature, which allows you to get a glimpse into how you have been performing over time across various search engines. You can read this review for more information about RankTrackr.

Price

RankTrackr is, without doubt, one of the most affordable rank tracking tools that can be found out there. Where others cost in the hundreds of dollars per month, RankTrackr’s charges begin at a monthly fee of only $19. And, should you decide to pay your subscription in full for the whole year, you will only need to pay a monthly amount of $15.20.

1. SEMrush

With over a million users, SEMrush is, without a doubt, one of the most popular SEO tools that can be found out there. If you are looking for an all-in-one solution to your Search Engine Optimization needs, then you wont go wrong with SEMrush. The fact that so many useful Digital Marketing tools, including one of the best rank tracking services that you will be able to find anywhere out there, are brought together in a compact suite, comes with a number of advantages. Perhaps, the greatest of these is the fact that signing up with SEMrush eliminates the confusion of having to acquire a wide range of SEO tools from different merchants.

Best Rank Tracking Tool: SEMrush’s Position Tracking Service

SEMrush has one of the best rank tracking tools out there, and should easily allow you to keep sight of how well your web pages are performing on various search engines. The Position Tracking feature allows you to do the following;

Features

• Discover the device that’s working best for your site.
• Track any domain or keyword from any location
• Identify and keep track of your local and global competitors
• Group keywords with tags
• Multilingual campaigns

You can read our full review of the various services that are offered by SEMrush by following this link. At Network Bees, we have been using SEMrush for quite some time and it a Search Engine Optimization tool that we highly recommend to our readers. Also check out information about SEMrush’s free trial offer in this post.

1. Pro Rank Tracker

Pro Rank Tracker is, from what we have been able to find out, one of the best Rank Tracking programs that can be found out there. In fact, after a month or so of testing, we have to say that we are very impressed with what we have been able to find out.  The thing that makes Pro Rank Tracker outstanding is the fact that it provides you with daily updates on movements in your rank. Unlike most of its competitors, ProRankTracker

Features

Pro Rank Tracker comes with a wide range of cutting edge features that have been designed to give you a comprehensive insight into how well you are ranking on all of the major Search Engines. Here are some of the industry leading features that make this SEO tool one of the best rank tracking software in the world;

• High Accuracy
• Recognition across the globe
• Daily Updates
• Updates on Demand
• Web Based Tracking
• Security
• Supports a wide range of languages
• Multiple Search Engine Support
• Tracking of YouTube and Google Videos
• Affordable

There can be no doubting that Pro Rank Tracker offers some of the best Rank Tracking features of any tool of its kind, which should enable you to get a clear and complete picture of how well you are being ranked performing on various Search Engines. Feel free to read this full ProRankTracker review for more on this wonderful rank tracking tool.

1. Rank Ranger

Rank Ranger is different from all the other SEO tools that are reviewed here in that it offers a more complete SEO and Digital Marketing suite.  It provides all the tools that are needed by Digital Marketing professionals as part of their SEO strategies. This is one of the things that make this company stand apart from the competition; the ability to provide Search Engine Optimization software that is useful, not only in Rank Tracking, but also in the overall SEO campaign. Here are some of the tools that you can expect to find when you sign up with Rank Ranger;

Features

• Organic Search Monitoring
• Local SEO
• Mobile SEO
• Keyword Research
• Insights into your Competitors
• Social Media Analytics
• White Label SEO
• Marketing Insights
• Team Based Software

Rank Ranger is unique, in that it allows you to have a team based approach to Keyword Tracking, with multiple user accounts and personalized permissions. This is, in our view, a good way through which you can increase productivity, by making sure that everyone within your team has access to all the metrics that you are monitoring. You can read this review for more information on Rank Ranger.

1. SwissMadeMarketing

SwissMadeMarketing has come up with a raft of online marketing tools that are guaranteed to ensure the success of your SEO campaign. This is a company that has pioneered the automation of the internet marketing process, using the quality standards that the Swiss are renowned for the world over.

Features

• Keyword Research
• Competition analysis
• Multiple Locations and Languages
• Rank Higher on YouTube
• Automatic Daily Updates
• Reveal Your Rankings
• Spy on Competitors’ Backlinks
• Reliable and Accurate results
• Cloud Based

It should be clear from the above list that SwissMadeMarketing is not just about Rank Tracking concern. In fact, it is a fully fledged Search Engine Optimization and Digital Marketing company, whose suite of software includes a Website-Editor and Internet Marketing Tools. This makes it one of the best rank tracking and seo tools that you will be able to find anywhere out there. You can read this review for more information on SwissMadeMarketing.

1. RankWatch

Rank Tracking is, under normal circumstances, something of a cumbersome process. There are so many indices that need to be traced, and so much data that needs to be rationalized that the whole process can appear overwhelming. Fortunately, there are various SEO tools out there that have been designed specifically for the purpose of simplifying life for you, by bringing everything together in one, easy to understand interface. RankWatch is one of these.

Features

So, what can you expect from Rank Watch, in terms of features? The answer to that is what makes this company one of the best rank trackers that can be found out there. Here is a list of some of the rank tracking features that you can expect makes up the RankWatch suite;

• Rank Analysis
• Backlink Watch
• Keyword Suggestions
• Hidden Opportunity
• 100% White Label
• Automated Triggers
• Reporting
• Analytics
• Website Analyzer Tool
• Mobile Friendly Checker
• Google Timeline
• Learn

One of the most notable features that comes unique to RankWatch is the Hidden Opportunities component. You should read this full RankWatch review to find out more. Those of our readers who are interested in tracking how well their sites are performing on various search engines, and who are interested in all of the other Digital Marketing features, can click on the banner below to start keeping track of each of the matrices that are essential to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).