28 replies to this topic

[blackpool]

WOW!!

What a fantastic tool I have just found.
There may be some of you who know about this little gem already but, this is for those of you who don't. Judging by what I have read on this forum already, I know a lot of you will love this!

I, like many of you, am always wondering what my exact position is, for a particular search term in Google. This little beauty tells you just that. It tells you a lot more besides as well.

It is in no way related to Google but apparently the guys who put it together have had it OK'd by Googles legal team. That's what it says at the top of the page anyway.

It can be found at www.googlerankings.com/help.php

Simply go to the page and scroll down to the bottom and click on "Do A Search"

I think it's a very useful tool indeed. It can save hours, even days, of research.

Have a look and a read of the page and see what you think

[qwerty]

There doesn't appear to be any mention there of whether they use the Google API, and it appears they don't -- the user doesn't need to enter their API key. Based on that, I don't know how they got Google's OK for this. Of course it's possible I missed it, since I'm only on my first cup of coffee right now

For people who are looking to check their rankings in Google, I always recommend the tool from Digital Point. You need an API key to use it (which is free and easy to get from Google), and it tracks your results over time.

[blackpool]

Appreciate your view qwerty.
Do you think that not using the API key when doing searches on this tool could result in sites that use it, being penalized?

[awall19]

What makes that tool better than what digital point provides?

NOTHING!

I guess you do not need an API license, but the digital point tool shows rank vs time which does a good job of showing different types of algorithmic shifts if you track terms of different complexity levels and competition levels

sites that use that tool will probably not get penalized. otherwise your competitors could hook you up by checking your site for you

[qwerty]

I agree with Aaron. You're not going to get in trouble for using this. It really comes down to politeness -- using the API is a way of saying you don't wish to misuse Google's resources and you want to stay within the limits of G's terms of service.

But I do like the fact that DP's tool graphs out your results over time. I did a screen grab of one of those graphs earlier this week (the one that shows how many pages are indexed in a domain) and sent it to a client to show them the progress we'd been making.

[blackpool]

I've tried to use the DP service before and to be honest with you both, I found it to be very confusing for a newbie. I went through the process of trying to find rankings for search terms and didn't get anywhere!
The other one I found took me seconds to use and it returned the information I wanted.
I agree that DP is useful with the graphs.... if I could work out how to use the damn thing.

[qwerty]

Was your problem involved with setting up an account, logging in, entering terms and domains, or actually running the searches? And did you go to Google first to get yourself an API key?

[awall19]

DP might take a little bit to set up, but after you are set up you can click on the existing members enter here button and then just hit check all. at this point you can take a nap, pet your dog, go for a walk, eat cheese...it will go through and update them all for you.

the graphs are really handy though with giving you an overview of what the algorithm shifts are doing.

i have some sites in seo, prescription drugs, and then boring old easy regular stuff. i can see what portions of the search world are going to be really effected by an algorithm change rather quickly without much work...

[blackpool]

Basically just running the searches and nothing seems to happen.

I did get the API from Google.

GOOD IDEA:
A step by step guide on how to find your rank for keywords would be helpful and I don't mean just a FAQ page. That way I could tell if it's me or the service that's not functioning properly. Probably me

[qwerty]

This might seem obvious, but you never know when someone might miss something, so I'm going to say it: after you click check all and say yes to the confirmation dialogue, wait a couple of minutes and then hit the "refresh" link. The page doesn't refresh itself automatically, so you have to wait a while, refresh it, and look to see if the number of searches to run has decreased. When that number disappears, it means the tool has run through all of your searches.

I don't run that many -- I think I currently have it set up to go through about 55 kw phrases and 8 or 9 domains (for backlinks and pages indexed), so I usually hit check all, then go over to the Track Back Links page. It usually finishes up in about half a minute. I go through that, bringing up a few of the graphs, then switch over to the Keywords page, and by then it's usually about halfway through the process. The whole process usually takes less than five minutes for me.

[Dyan]

How long does it take to get an API key? I signed up for one several days ago and haven't received it. If I remember correctly, I received the link that I was to use to verify my email account. Which I did. Then I received a message saying that they'd mail me my API key after Google verified my email account........... and nothing after that.

[MarCa]

Does the tool show results beyond 1,000?

[qwerty]

I think I got my key within a few minutes of filling out the form.

And hopefully DigitalPoint can stop by and give us a definitive answer, but the results that now say N/A used to (if I remember correctly) say 9999, which I guess would indicate that they were checking as far as 10,000.

[ultimateai]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is API and why is it necessary?

[Jill]

Frequently asked questions about Google's API.

Jill