This is the first of a series of posts where I’ll be explaining what free and paid SEO tools I use on a regular basis.
Advanced Web Ranking is a client based application I typically use on a weekly basis to store and record search engine rankings for my own sites and client web sites.
Here’s an overview of the features:
Interface
The way rankings are presented and compared is well presented in AWR, especially compared to Raven SEO Tools SERP Tracker which only lets you compare rankings to one competitor at a time.
Note: That is a standard screenshot as I didn’t want to give away what keywords and sites I track!
On demand rankings
Unlike online tools out there such as Raven SEO Tools SERP Tracker or SEOmoz PRO Rank Tracker you can run reports when you like.
This comes in handy when you are pitching to a new client and want to compare their web site rankings to competitors straight away. AWR lets you can create the profile and run it immediately.
Multiple proxy servers
Another great feature on AWR Enterprise is the ability to run multiple proxies in parallel. I subscribe and have 10 proxy servers to myself which allows me to run reports 10x faster than normal.
Look back on historic rankings
Month on month or week on week ranking comparisons aren’t always what I need to see. AWR has a great feature to compare two date ranges you’ve run rankings reports for in the past.
This is handy for when I need to compare year on year to make sure we can deliver equal or more traffic for seasonal events such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc.
Tracking new competitors
When I notice new competitors achieving strong rankings gains across a few competitive keywords, I have been sure to add them to the list of domains to track in AWR.
After adding the new competitor, I was pleasantly surprised to see that AWR stores all URLs, not just those from tracked domains.
This meant that I could get historic rankings for that new competitor for as long as I’d been tracking my client’s domain!
Visibility score: Room for improvement
I’ve never really been a fan of the visibility score which AWR uses.
Firstly, you need to manually weight the search engines, because by default they are treated equally so a big change in rankings on Yahoo will have the same effect as one on Google.
Now factor in that most web sites I run get around 2% of their organic traffic from Yahoo, the visibility score it isn’t really accurately reflecting a traffic change.
Secondly, it doesn’t factor in competition on a keyword. The term “life insurance Australia” is no where near as competitive as “life insurance” yet is treated the same in terms of visibility.
I’m not sure how to best solve this, but one way could be to measure the PageRank of pages in the SERPs, i.e. the higher the aggregate PR, the more competitive the keyword.
Keyword research: Yet to try
For most of my clients I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to rely on SEM data. Search query reports along + conversion rates can’t be beat.
That being said, AWR does have its own keyword research tool which I’ve yet to try, but it’s hard to go past a quick visit to the Google Keyword Tool.
Conclusion
There are plenty of other features I haven’t explored in AWR so please feel free to comment on what features you like or dislike about AWR! Future reviews will include Raven SEO Tools, SEOmoz PRO, Majestic SEO and more!