{"id":109933,"date":"2021-10-14T11:02:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T18:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/?p=109933"},"modified":"2023-08-21T14:54:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T21:54:07","slug":"what-is-a-search-engine-ranking-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/what-is-a-search-engine-ranking-report\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a SEO Ranking Report?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SERP<\/strong>: A page produced by a search engine in response to a user query listing what is algorithmically the best results for that query.<\/p>\n SEO Ranking:<\/strong> the position of a website on the SERP for organic results as presented in response to a query. This ranking usually has a direct relationship to traffic, which is the purpose of SEO. This is limited to the specific query.<\/p>\n A Search Engine Ranking Report<\/strong> gives you a look into your organic search rankings for sets of keywords, not just one keyword. It takes the individual rankings from a set of search engine results pages and combines them into a single report for all monitored keywords.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll talk more about why it\u2019s important and what it can do for you as we discuss:<\/p>\n Rankings are not the be all, end all of SEO. In fact, any SEO professional or company that only promises rankings as the end result of SEO is not doing their entire job. What rankings are, though, is a possible leading indicator of organic traffic.<\/p>\n For example, your website can rank for keywords, but does that mean anyone is searching for them? Will they click on the result? And if they do, is it valuable traffic? None of these are givens.<\/p>\n To that point, you definitely want to rank. But you want to rank for the right terms targeting the right audience that will generate traffic.<\/p>\n Also, you want to rank on Page 1 of the search results. There\u2019s a famous saying in the SEO community that Page 2 is the best place to hide a dead body. And I am fond of pointing out that the only people going to Page 3 of search results are SEOs looking for their own websites. The data shows time and time again that all the eyeballs are on the first page.<\/p>\n So analyzing your search rankings is important if you want to:<\/p>\n Some things search engine rankings won\u2019t do. A search engine ranking report won\u2019t tell you if you are:<\/p>\n Keep in mind that rankings fluctuate, and they vary from user to user, morning to night, region to region, or even what you see on your desk minute to minute. Five users in the same city may see different results even at the same time based upon their prior search history. So do not compare the reports to browser searches.<\/p>\n A search engine ranking report gives you a view of your webpages\u2019 rankings in the search results that\u2019s as unbiased as possible. These reports are vital for monitoring trends over time compared to prior results.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, unbiased is important because search engines like Google personalize your search results based on things like being signed into Google, prior search history, location, and more.<\/p>\n So manually checking your search results rankings by going to the search results and typing in a query can give you a false reading.<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>What Search Engine Rankings Tell You (and Don\u2019t Tell You)<\/h2>\n
\nI am fond of pointing out that the only people going to Page 3 of search results are SEOs looking for their own websites.
\n- Bruce Clay<\/em><\/span><\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n
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<\/a>What Does a Search Engine Ranking Report Do?<\/h2>\n