How to understand a site's current ranking
-
I know this is basic stuff, so sorry for the beginners post...
I offer primarily web design services, and I need to know when taking on a new client, how can I assess the current 'lay of the land' for their site in terms of their SEO? I have had some issues in the past where launching a new design negatively affected their performance for their keywords, and obviously I would like to avoid this in future without having to go to 3rd parties.
In particular I have an issue where the client themselves are very bad at giving information about what keywords they currently rank for, and what SEO activities they may have done in the past. How can I make these assessments myself?
thanks for any help
p
-
Google Analytics is King!
-
As the others have said, Analytics for sure. In addition to that, through question and answer with them, you can ferret out the main keywords they want/need to rank for.
In terms of seeing what they rank for right now:
Use Semrush to see what they are raking for right now.
Also, find out who their competitors are and use Semrush to look them up as well.
Hope that helps!
-
Yeah Analytics will contain all their top keyword and you can check their placements with the SEOmoz rank tracker or just searching those keywords in Google yourself. Make sure to pay attention the current websites
,
to X, and meta tags. When doing the new site, use the same tags.
I also recommend getting a second opinion. Look up someone you work with regularly or even post to SEOmoz and get someone to take a second look. It's normal to miss something so a second set of eyes is handy.
-
You need to get access to their analytics and, if it isn't linked, their google webmaster tools logins.
These together will give you the data about their most important landing pages and the terms that are driving traffic. It's not the whole picture, but it is a good starting point.
Additionally I would look at what pages have external links and ensure those get 301 redirected too.
You are right to be concerned by this. I am currently monitoring an international brand who have just made a massive SEO fail on their re-design. They're loosing 10% of their search visibility every 3 days at the moment and do not appear to be aware of this. That also shows how important it is to keep monitoring both analytics and error logs post launch.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Improve rankings
Hello, My website is www.polarpos.com I am trying to improve its ranking for "pos system" my main competitor is: www.barcodesinc.com I have looked through their backlinks but they seem to be random, not many being particularly specific to "pos systems". So what can I do to better compete with this website regarding their keyword? Where can I get the backlinks to my website that would help it for that ranking and in what way?
Competitive Research | | vkpolar0 -
How can stie A be outranking site B?
Hi everyone. I seem to have a lot of questions the past couple of days! Take a look at these two URLs: Site A: http://www.peachstateaudio.com/products/Mixing_Consoles/Digital_Consoles/Roland/peachstate-audio-roland-m200i Site B: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/product/roland-m-200i-digital-mixer I will mail 2-dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies to anyone who can tell me why Site A massively outranks Site B for the term "roland m-200i" - Seriously. Thanks in advance!
Competitive Research | | danatanseo0 -
Majestic gives me a 24 situation and 24 trust flow. Seomoz just a total number of 7\. How come the difference? My ranking is still bad, so is Majestic crawling faster then google?
Hi, my total domain value number on SEOmoz is 7. In Majestic it is 24 situation and 24 trust flow. My ranking is still bad (page2) and my competitors have a lower trust/ situation flow in Majestic. But in Seomoz the're better. Is the conclusion that Majestic is more up to date then Google itself and that Seomoz is more inline with the google crawling? Because Majestic doesnt reflect my ranking. (ps I started with the domain for a month, and I only have some history in registration)
Competitive Research | | remkoallertz0 -
Improving SERP rankings via strategic SEO tactics
Hi, We just build some of our new content pages on our website 1.https://www.practo.com/ray/dental-software 2.https://www.practo.com/ray/dermatology-software 3.https://www.practo.com/ray/homeopathy-software Could someone explain how do I build around a good SEO strategy to compete with others for better positions on the SERP's. I have not done anything apart from fixing proper title tags , and meta descriptions etc and of course putting down relevant fresh content onto these pages. These pages were published about 3 weeks ago - Only this url ranks on the 2nd page as of now for keywords like "dermatology software" https://www.practo.com/ray/dermatology-software The rest of the URL's do not rank anywhere till the 10th SERP too! What could be wrong and where could I have the opportunity to boost the SEO tactics since all the pages which rank above it are just not providing the right kind of product as we are and still they take up the top positions and genuine users miss out on our domain. Thanks . Looking forward to some awesome responses.
Competitive Research | | shanky10 -
How to find a neutral rank for a webpage a keyword term?
Hi!
Competitive Research | | lilactree
I'm sure this has been answered here already - I'm just not searching for the right words. I'm trying to find the ranking for a website for specific terms. Being that the search engine remembers what I search (I try to log out, privately browse, etc), everything matters and impacts my search. I'm trying to see what a website ranks for a person who has never visited that website before, or doesn't have other factors influencing the result. I tried the keyword research tool, and while that seems to deliver what I'm after, it only gives 1-10. Even though these are the coveted positions 😉 I'd like to know if a website isn't ranking there, and is further down. We track the progress made after work is done to a page, to see if it moves up, and what other tweaks we need to make to improve the rankings and attract clicks. Thanks!0 -
Free SEO tools appearing in SERPS for a site
Hi there, I've just taken over a site and it doesn't have a huge amount of shelfspace on the SERPs for it's brand name. Looking at the results that are there are a lot of free SEO tools that are coming up. They haven't had an SEO before so it's not coming from their side. There's such a lot of them I was wondering if anyone had come across this before - is it simply a competitor looking at the seo, could it be one of the seo analytics packages using free sites or is there anything else to be aware of. I can start knocking the sites down the SERPs but just wondering if anyone has a good solution for this. thanks Shiv
Competitive Research | | Shivvyt0 -
Can anyone suggest how they're #1
Hi, I'm really struggling to see how these guys are number one on google (from the UK) when searching for "picture framers york" Their SEOMOZ on page grading for the term is an F, so on site SEO is minimal if any. Their backlinks are almost nonexistant, take a look at the competition report (attached) through market samurai. Everything I thought I understand about SEO is currently being turned on its head because with the information available, they shouldn't be there. I thought maybe its the proximity to 'York' center, but they aren't that close to be honest. So any advice greatly appreciated as to why they are #1 so I know what it is I can do as an SEO. Thanks, Dave samurai.png
Competitive Research | | davebrown19750