Step Wise SEO

Keyword ranking tools provide companies with the ability to understand how visible their sites are within the search environment.

This is especially useful for both PFP and natural search as it gives an indication of placements for terms where a guaranteed number 1 listing, cannot be purchased (a la PFP).

As the market space for these technologies has developed, the latest versions also provide listings for competitive positioning against competitors on the same keywords as well as giving additional keywords competitors only are using.

These technologies form the basis of continual benchmarking and performance indicators and combined with site tracking and analytics mechanisms help to develop full understanding of the impact search engine marketing is having on a number of different objectives. However, the following gives some examples of rankings tools available to the marketer:

Hitwize - this company provides a wide range of rankings tools that determine the success of a website against selected search terms within the search engines.

In addition, Hitwize also provides rankings reports against competitor URLs as well as additional data sources such as demographics and industry standards. Hitwize provides this data in many countries, including the USA and UK.

Lycos Insite - Lycos provides a rankings report that lists a website’s listings against not only a selected number of phrases but over half a million monthly search queries made on its network.

This tool also allows for rankings to be performed against four competitor URLs and has a section of the report dedicated to PFP engines (such as Overture and Google AdWordsTM).

Web Position Gold - this service, offered by WebTrends, is one of the better known tools for providing rankings data and combines reporting with optimization services to provide an all round package for marketers looking to increase an organic presence.

Advanced Web Rankings - this tool provides both Mac and PC support and lists a sites ranking against up to 200 engines and selected keywords relevant to a website’s content.

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