The best Rank trackers

April 12, 2023
14 minutes
Sam Underwood

Effective tracking is an indispensable aspect of any organic SEO campaign. It allows you to gauge the success of your efforts, identify areas for improvement, and unlock possibilities for expansion. A reliable rank tracker is key to achieving these goals. It provides a comprehensive view of your website’s performance across search engines and helps you make informed decisions about your strategies.

With so many options, selecting a suitable rank tracker can be overwhelming. We’ve evaluated various rank trackers and organized them into five categories to simplify your search. Join us as we explore each and find the best fit for your needs.

What is a rank tracker?

A rank tracker is a tool that monitors, measures, and analyzes a website’s position in SERPs (search engine results pages) for specific keywords or phrases that you choose. Most rank trackers usually come as part of a larger toolset or as a standalone piece of software.

They provide digital marketers, SEO professionals, and website owners with insights into the visibility and performance of their content.

Can’t I just use Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) is essential for webmasters and digital marketing professionals. However, it does not provide the same level of in-depth insights as a specialized rank tracker. Here are the benefits of using a rank tracker instead of GSC:

  • Keyword Tracking: GSC only provides reliable data on how your website is performing for keywords you’re already ranking well for on the first page. On the other hand, rank trackers let you monitor rankings for a broader range of targeted keywords, giving you a more comprehensive view of your SEO efforts.
  • Competitor Analysis: GSC does not provide insights into your competitors’ rankings, making it difficult to evaluate your website’s performance compared to industry leaders. On the other hand, rank trackers make it easier to track and compare your competitors’ rankings for specific keywords, helping you refine your SEO strategies.
  • Historical Data: Rank trackers provide historical ranking data, enabling you to identify trends, patterns, and changes in your site’s performance over time. In comparison, GSC’s historical data is limited to 16 months.
  • Geolocation and Device-based Tracking: GSC offers limited data by country, only allowing you to filter by country. In contrast, rank trackers can track keyword rankings based on different geographic areas, like regions, cities and in some cases, towns or villages.
  • Ranking Alerts: GSC does not provide real-time notifications when your website’s position changes for specific keywords. Rank trackers can offer automated alerts, allowing you to address issues or take advantage of opportunities quickly.
  • Customizable Reports: GSC offers basic reporting options, while rank trackers provide customizable and more advanced reporting capabilities. These detailed reports help you to analyze your website’s performance better and make informed decisions.
Accuranker Screenshot

Best overall: Accuranker

If you’re looking for a rank tracker that does it all, look no further than Accuranker. 

One of the first noticeable things about this rank tracker is its clean user interface. Accuranker offers users easy navigation, providing them with an accessible and uncluttered navigation panel on the left-hand side of their screens.

Integrations

Accuranker’s standout features are its intelligent keyword tagging and filtering capabilities.

Users can filter by keyword, landing page URL, page title, SERP features available, and more.

The tool enables you to segment relevant keywords that you and your competitors rank for with tags that you can add before or after uploading your target queries.

Add Keywords 1
Here is an example of adding tags to Accuranker when you upload your keywords.

In addition to tracking on Google, the software supports monitoring on other search engines like:

  • Bing
  • Yandex
  • Youtube
  • Baidu

We’ve pulled together a more comprehensive list of key features below.

Key features

  • Keyword tracking
  • Custom keyword tagging
  • Fresh and simple design
  • Rest API
  • CSV import with tags
  • Integrates easily with many tools
  • Customizable and automated reports
  • Informative dashboard
  • SERP feature tracking

Pricing

Overall Pricing

Accuranker provides flexible price plans from $99 per month, offering users a 10% discount on the monthly price if they pay annually. Subscriptions can be upgraded and downgraded at any time. 

Advanced Web Ranking Screenshot

Runner-up: Advanced Web Ranking

Advanced Web Ranking is a web-based rank tracker. It offers a range of reliable and accurate tools to help small and enterprise-sized businesses with their ranking, reporting, and analytics.

The menu shows that the software also offers stats around competitive intel, page experience, forecasting, and more.

This tool works across several search engines and devices in various languages, making it easy for almost anyone to use.

You can schedule how often you want the tool to refresh your keywords. And also be aware of ranking issues quickly with instant SEO alerts that tell you your position on search engines.

Key features

  • Instant SEO alerts
  • Reliable website rankings
  • Clean, easy-to-use design
  • Integration with Google Analytics and Google Search Console
  • Six different alert types
  • White labeling features
  • Competitive intel
  • Continuous API updates
  • Unlimited accounts without extra cost
  • Data migration support
  • Dynamic keyword segmentation
  • Click Share score by SERP
  • Trends reporting and forecasting
  • Unlimited search engines, keywords, and projects
  • Customizable SEO tracking and reporting

Pricing

Pay Yearly

AWR has four product packages to choose from:

  • Starter
  • Pro
  • Agency
  • Enterprise

The platform charges per keyword unit. A particular keyword can take up more units, depending on how many places the software tracks it from.

The Starter plan gives you 2000 keyword units at $49. You’ll get 7000 keyword units at $99 with the Pro plan. Whereas, at $199, the Agency plan offers you 14,500 keyword units.

The Enterprise plan starts from $499 per month and offers 35,500 keyword units. However, this plan allows you to vary your keyword according to your needs, but at a cost. 

You can save 10% on any of the plans by paying annually.

Semrush Screenshot

Best all-in-one: SEMrush

If you’re looking for an SEO tool that can do it all, look no further than SEMrush. This versatile platform offers everything you need for effective SEO, including rank tracking, competitor analysis, detailed filtering, and user-friendly visibility charts.

Some may argue that SEMrush is a “jack of all trades, master of none,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. With SEMrush’s easy-to-use and comprehensive rank tracking, you’ll receive weekly reports and instant alerts for any urgent rank changes.

But SEMrush is more than just a rank tracking tool. It also offers an in-depth competitive analysis that compares websites based on keywords and traffic costs. With this information, you can identify which domains get the most organic search traffic and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Key features

  • Large number of keywords are tracked daily, even on the smallest plan.
  • Social media tracking.
  • Easy to set up. 
  • Compare competitor data.
  • Regular notifications and custom alerts.
  • It’s an all-in-one with great tools outside of just rank tracking

Pricing

Billed Plan

SEMrush’s Pro plan offers a 7-day trial that provides access to all of the plan’s features. During this time, you can run up to 5 projects and track up to 500 keywords, with up to 10,000 results per report.

If you choose to continue with the Pro plan after the trial, it will cost $119.50 per month. SEMrush also offers two other pricing plans: the Guru plan at $229 per month and the Business plan at $449 per month.

The Guru plan includes tracking for 1,500 keywords across 15 projects, with up to 30,000 results per report. The Business plan offers tracking for 5,000 keywords across 40 projects, with up to 50,000 results per report.

However, if you pay annually, you can save up to 17% on your subscription costs.

While SEMrush may be priced higher than some other rank trackers on the market, it’s important to remember that it’s an all-in-one SEO tool. With comprehensive features and functionalities, the higher price tag is well worth the investment.

Nightwatch Screenshot

Best design: Nightwatch

While looks may not be everything, Nightwatch certainly stands out in terms of its visual presentation of data. With vibrant colored charts and graphs, the tool provides a user-friendly way to interpret complex data and gain valuable insights.

In addition to its aesthetic appeal, Nightwatch offers a range of useful features for SEO management. Its advanced filtering options allow in-depth keyword analysis, making organizing and managing data across multiple sites easier.

Overall, Nightwatch is a top choice for those who value form and function.

Nightwatch Keywords

While Nightwatch excels in its design, its strengths extend beyond aesthetics. With a 99% guaranteed uptime and highly accurate rank tracking, the platform is a reliable tool for staying ahead of the competition.

One of Nightwatch’s standout features is its ability to track rankings at a granular level, down to ZIP codes. According to the company, they track more than 50,000 locations.

In addition to location-based tracking, Nightwatch enables users to monitor critical keywords across map packs and search engines in 107,296 locations worldwide. The platform’s segment analysis feature allows users to drill down into specific pages, keywords, and subfolders, making it easier to analyze data and gain valuable insights.

Overall, Nightwatch is an excellent choice for those seeking a reliable and comprehensive SEO tool with advanced tracking and analysis capabilities.

Key features

  • Attractive design
  • Rank boosting keywords
  • Rank tracking down to ZIP code level
  • Filter capabilities
  • Tracks major search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo
  • Local SEO reporting
  • Website audits
  • White labeling
  • Automated backlink tracking
  • Customizable reports

Pricing

Price Plan

Nightwatch offers a 14-day free trial period, after which you will be automatically placed into the Starter plan, which costs $384 per year ($32 per month) and allows you to track 250 keywords daily. If you choose to pay monthly, the Starter plan costs $39.

The other plans, Optimize and Agency, cost $99 and $269 monthly, respectively. However, you can save 20% on all plans by paying annually.

The Optimize plan offers daily tracking for 1,000 keywords, while the Agency plan offers tracking for 5,000 keywords daily.

While Nightwatch may not be the most affordable SEO tool on the market, it’s certainly not the most expensive either. As an advanced rank tracker with robust features and functionalities, Nightwatch is a worthwhile investment for those seeking a reliable and comprehensive SEO solution.

Ranktracker Screenshot 1

Best budget pick: RankTracker

Ranktracker is an ideal SEO tool for those seeking flexibility on a budget. Its versatile features enable users to track keywords in any language across a range of popular search engines, including Google, Bing, Yandex, Yahoo, and more.

One of Ranktracker’s standout features is its ability to easily switch between desktop and mobile views, allowing users to monitor their rankings across both devices. This is particularly useful in today’s mobile-first digital landscape, where mobile optimization is critical for SEO success.

Overall, Ranktracker is a great option for those seeking a cost-effective SEO tool with robust tracking capabilities across multiple search engines and devices.

Keyword Research

This tool also provides actionable tasks with a walk-through on completing them, so it’s an excellent choice for someone new to SEO.

Key features

  • Tracks keywords in 107,296 Trackable Locations
  • Google My Business, organic and absolute positions
  • Share tracking link
  • Search engine tracking across mobile and desktop
  • Keyword finder.
  • Accurate and reliable ranking reports
  • In-depth web audits.
  • Integration with 23 keyword tools.

Pricing

Annual Cost

Ranktracker offers four plans; ‘Starter,’ ‘Double data,’ ‘Quad data,’ and ‘Hex data,’ suiting anyone from freelance to enterprise users. 

Starting at $9 a month, This software is the most affordable rank tracker from our recommendations.

The Starter plan offers 100 daily rank tracking at $14 monthly. You can track 500 keywords daily for the Double Data plan at $47 monthly. And Quad Data offers 1,000 daily keywords at $87 per month.

Although you’ll pay $167 monthly to track 2,000 keywords daily on the Hex Quad plan, you don’t have to stop there. You can get a custom quote if your business requires more keywords tracked.

Regardless of your plan, you can cut your cost by 50% if you pay annually.

Worthy mentions

While the five rank trackers mentioned above are our favorites, there are still many other options out there that are worth mentioning. We’ll summarize a few of them with features that make them useful.

Nozzle Screenshot

Nozzle

Nozzle is a highly customizable SEO tool that enables users to track keywords based on a range of parameters, including device, location, and country. With flexible scheduling options, users can choose how often they want to track their keywords, ensuring they always have the latest data at their fingertips.

Image 7

Nozzle’s access to a BigQuery database is a significant advantage for businesses seeking a more comprehensive understanding of their SEO performance. By allowing users to pull their own custom reports, Nozzle enables businesses to identify trends and patterns in search performance over time, providing valuable insights for adjusting SEO strategies.

With BigQuery, users can analyze large amounts of data quickly and efficiently without spending hours manually crunching numbers. This allows for more efficient decision-making and more effective SEO strategies.

Overall, Nozzle is a comprehensive and highly customizable SEO tool that provides valuable insights and data analysis for businesses, albeit targeted more toward enterprise-level agencies and businesses.

Mangools Screenshot

Mangools

Mangools is an all-in-one SEO tool that provides a solid rank tracking experience. Its performance index is based on keyword position and search volumes, which helps users identify their site’s organic traffic potential.

Image 6

One of Mangools’ standout features is its flexible pricing and discount options. This includes a 10-day free trial without requiring credit card details, a lifetime discount for new subscribers within an hour of registration, up to 44% off for annual payments, and special coupons for SEO training.

The platform also offers daily rank updates, rank tracking across devices and countries, and shareable interactive reports, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes.

However, Mangools’ design and UX fall short compared to our favorite tools like Accuranker and Nightwatch. And they don’t have useful keyword scheduling features like Advanced Web Ranking.

Overall, Mangools is a reliable all-in-one SEO tool. It offers flexible pricing and useful features. In addition, it provides a bigger set of tools than the other mentioned tools, except for SEMrush!

Ahrefs Screenshot

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO tool with a powerful rank tracking feature. Its rank tracker enables users to monitor and compare their keyword rankings with their competitors and sends scheduled reports directly to their inbox.

One of Ahrefs’ standout features is its ability to monitor keyword rankings on both desktop and mobile devices across 170 countries. Its rank tracking features include advanced filtering and tagging options, competitor traffic and progress monitoring, “share of voice” insights, a grossing feature to track changes over time, and accurate search volume data.

Some of Ahrefs’ rank tracking features include

  • Filters and tags to sort keywords
  • Monitoring competitor’s traffic and progress
  • Insights with a “share of voice” functionality
  • A grossing feature showing changes based on different time intervals
  • Great charting of progress
  • Accurate search volumes

Ahrefs also offers best-in-class features for backlink analysis, keyword research, and more that will come with the rank tracker.

However, it’s worth noting that the pricing for Ahrefs may end up higher than other rank trackers on the market. Users need to pay extra for increased keyword update frequency, and the platform only offers one seat per plan, even on the most expensive option. Also, daily updates are only available with the Rank Tracker Pro plan, which cannot be purchased separately from a standard Ahrefs plan, inflating the cost if you only want rank tracking.

Account Settings 1

Overall, Ahrefs is an excellent option for businesses seeking a comprehensive and powerful SEO tool, but its higher pricing and limited seat options may not be suitable for all users.

How we reviewed

Our review system for evaluating rank trackers is composed of four critical points: Design/UX, Features, Value, and Support.

Design/UX refers to the interface of the software and its speed, which should be visually appealing, quick to load, and easy to use. We look for a well-organized navigation system that allows users to access information quickly.

Features are essential in distinguishing one rank tracker from another. We evaluate key features that make it easier for users to take action, such as keyword research tools and competitor analysis. Many rank trackers share features, so we look for what makes the tool stand out. Do they do something unique? Are the features better implemented or more comprehensive?

Value is evaluated based on the software’s pricing compared to its features, support, and design/UX.

Lastly, support is essential in providing assistance to users. We evaluate the platform’s customer service quality and responsiveness to ensure that users receive the necessary help when needed.

Why use a rank tracker?

Searching for keywords to see where your website ranks isn’t an effective us of time. A rank tracker is a powerful tool that does this for you, providing you with key data points to help you evaluate your SEO performance. Here are some key benefits of rank trackers.

Monitor positions

Rankings fluctuate, so being number one today does not guarantee you’ll stay there. A rank tracker alerts you of any ranking changes and reports when your web pages gain or lose positions for the keywords you’re monitoring.

Data integrations

Integrating data from various sources can improve your analytics. A rank tracker with this feature allows you to pull data from sources such as Google Data Studio, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and other sources, providing a broader view of your website’s performance.

Keep an eye on visibility

Visibility shows how well your website is ranking for high-volume queries. When a page appears in the top 5 results for a high-volume search term, its visibility increases significantly. For low-volume search terms, visibility still rises, but not as dramatically.

Evaluate your competitors

A good rank tracker can also help with competitor analysis. It not only shows you the keywords you’re competing for but also identifies keywords that your competitors are ranking for but you’re not.

Discover new keyword opportunities

Some rank trackers suggest relevant keywords to improve your ranking, helping you stay ahead of the competition. By analyzing your performance data, these trackers can identify new keyword opportunities to enhance your SEO efforts.

Summary

If you’re serious about improving your website’s SEO strategy, using a rank tracking tool is essential. These tools provide valuable insights and help you accurately monitor your website’s performance.

To make the most of your rank tracking tool, it’s best to identify the core features you need to complete your work and focus on those. This approach will help you stay focused and avoid distractions, enabling you to make the most of the tool’s capabilities and effectively improve your website’s SEO performance.


Sam Underwood

Sam is an international Ecommerce SEO Consultant with experience implementing enterprise-level SEO strategies.
@SamUnderwoodUK
@SamUnderwoodUK
Technical SEO, SEO strategy, Content strategy

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