In our work with enterprise clients from all over the world, one truth consistently reveals itself: the freshest data with the highest quality produces SEO successes. To drive results, enterprises must rely on their keyword ranking and research data to make the best decisions.
The reality is that there are a lot of rank tracking tools that gather ranking data. It isn't proprietary information. For keyword ranking, for example, an SEO could choose a neutral browser, type in a keyword and record all pages ranking for that keyword. But, this process is not scalable to gain the insights you need to drive results.
Apart from that, there is an increasing amount of tools on the market designed to collect ranking data (like search volume and keyword positions), making it difficult to select the best solution that fits your requirements. Choosing the right SEO tool for your enterprise requires a research in a very crowded market with varying levels of features, capabilities, and pricing.
What do enterprise SEO programs need to consider when selecting their SEO rank tracking and keyword research tools?
Rand Fishkin once noted that many in the industry question whether or not rankings should be tracked. Personalization (aka bias), location, and device type affect rankings and eliminate the “one true ranking”. Effectively, Google and other search engines have introduced too many variables to get an accurate keyword rank or gain reliable keyword research - easily, at least.
Even so, Mr. Fishkin noted, “we [Moz] still get too much value from them [keyword ranking data].”
Content King reports that “not all rank trackers support checking rankings daily, they may only support checking weekly or monthly.”
The shifts of Google's ever-changing SERP, variation in results and rankings based on location or device type, drive the volumes of ranking data aggregation needed to understand your ranking performance.
Even with the many variables of search engines today like local results, featured snippets, and paid search ads, ranking is a vital piece of data. Being in the top spot of an organic search may not produce a lower CTR, but the top three search results still get 55% or more of clicks.
There is an up side to these challenges, however: it highlights the importance of data quality, freshness of that data, and the ability analyze a vast amount of it at scale. Earlier this year, even SEMrush announced that they were making changes to keep their keywords up-to-date and ensure data users were receiving the latest-and-greatest information.
For enterprises, data quality directly affects the value of keyword research and the understanding of your ranking performance. The implications stretch through two types of tools: Keyword Rank Tracking tools and Keyword Research tools. We cover the impact of both of these, each in its own section.
One benefit of rank tracking comes from identifying the ongoing shifts in search results. For a keyword rank tracking tool to be consistently useful and valuable to an enterprise, it needs:
Frankly, the people who question the value of their rankings should be tracked are correct if the keyword ranking data they’re paying for isn't done with accuracy and arrives consistently.
As I noted at the beginning of the article, anyone can retrieve keyword ranking data. It’s available every day to everyone. But, they can't do this at scale without using technology to retrieve that information.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that keyword ranking data isn’t proprietary. What makes a data source – the keyword rank tracking tool – proprietary is how it retrieves, crawls, stores and analyzes its data, as well as the breadth and depth it’s available for your use. What countries, search engines, and search results are important to your business. Have you considered the changes and evolution of your SERP visibility and the impact of local, geo-ranking data, search features results like videos, images, and local business listings?
The reason why it’s important to understand is simple. Collecting data has a cost. And today there’s more data with the ever-changing (and crowded) Google search results page, search results based on location, device type and other bias. This can lead to challenges for some tools - like higher fees to track fewer keywords or decreased data availability in terms of volume or less frequent updates, all of which means less quality data.
Is this really happening? You bet it is.
At seoClarity, we believe in transparency. Data collection, especially enterprise volumes of data, poses a lot of challenges. Fortunately, they can be overcome. Here is how we do it:
These represent how seoClarity addresses the challenges faced by rank tracking tools in relationship to data. With this data though we can go further such as with unlimited competitor searches and real-time exploration in the platform, eliminating the need to work with unwieldy spreadsheets or third-party BI tools. This is enterprise rank tracking at scale - there is nothing like it in the marketplace today.
Of course, keyword rank tracking is only one data challenge for enterprises. Keyword research is the other.
Like keyword ranking tools, keyword research tools need to collect and process a lot of data to identify keyword value. Google’s focus on user experience begs the question, do keywords really matter anymore? And if not, should enterprises care about the quality, quantity, and relevancy of keyword databases?
The simple answer is yes. Keywords still play a role, albeit a smaller role, in search engine ranking.
In terms of research though, keywords reveal the topics your audience wants to see, what they’re looking for and how much demand exists.
If keywords do matter, then yes, the quality of a database is important. An outdated keyword database is full of “junk.” If the recency of the keyword demand isn't updated, you can miss important trends on seasonality, change in customer demand, etc. A massive database full of outdated data will tell you what was important when the data was retrieved, but may not match what’s currently on your audience’s mind.
The size of the database is essential, as long as it covers your industry adequately. Is there transparency of the keyword coverage within your industry? Can you contribute to that keyword database? If your industry isn't adequately covered, are you driving your content decisions or even your overall visibility (rankings) from an insufficient database that doesn't give you an accurate picture.
Good decisions come from good data. This means it’s of good quality, arrives with accuracy, delivered reliably, updates frequently (at least once a month), and contains relevancy for your industry. This, ultimately, is a data set that offers enterprise-grade analysis and insights.
Infrequent keyword database updates and lack of coverage can turn a keyword research tool into a lag on an enterprises SEO and overall marketing efforts. To prevent this, ask questions like these to understand what you will get with the tool you plan to use:
The accuracy and freshness of data is what’s essential to the proper prioritization of your content planning. Without it, you will:
Now, you probably won’t have problems finding out how big the database is. Many keyword research tools readily share that information. As is always the case though, caveat emptor (“Buyer beware”). Here’s what I mean…
A giant keyword database does not mean adequate industry coverage. To get the right picture of keyword value, you need to know about the keywords that affect you.
For enterprises, the importance of transparency concerning SEO data sources cannot be understated. Being out of touch with the customer base does more than generate poor SEO results. The company loses revenue it could have made by understanding customers better and delivering the content and products of greatest interest in any given moment.
seoClarity addresses through complete data transparency. The platform itself features Research Grid which guarantees:
An enterprise needs to trust their data providers and understand that accurate data is delivered reliably with frequency and that your team is able to analyze and use the data at scale. If you didn’t trust financial data, you’d find a new provider. If your marketing team couldn’t rely on the customer data it’s provided, they’d question the ads, copy and campaigns they created, and it would show in the results.
The same is true for SEO data. The good news is that with a few simple questions, SEOs and marketers can know exactly what they’re getting and protect the enterprise's SEO investment and create remarkable results. All that’s needed is to insist on data transparency from a reliable technology partner.
That's where seoClarity comes in, providing your enterprise with consistent, reliable, and fresh data to drive the best results and make the best decisions.