SERPWatcher guide

SERPWatcher guide

Welcome to a step-by-step guide to the ranking tool SERPWatcher. We’ll cover both the very basics and advanced features including how to set up your first tracking, how to read the metrics or easily share interactive reports.

We’ll go through these parts:

Quick tip: Don’t forget to check all SERPWatcher features and videos to see how they help you in rank tracking.

Basics

SERPWatcher is a ranking tracking tool that focuses on aggregate data to track the overall progress.

We update the rankings daily so the tool can show you the following data:

  • Daily desktop/mobile rankings
  • Performance Index
  • Estimated visits
  • Top gainers and losers
  • Keyword position flow and distribution
  • Interactive shared reports
  • Scheduled email reports and alerts

You can track:

  • 10 keywords in the 10-day FREE trial
  • 200 keywords in the Basic plan
  • 700 keywords in the Premium pan
  • 1500 keywords in the Agency plan

You can split the keywords into an unlimited number of domains.

When you track keywords added to both trackings (desktop and mobile), they are counted as 2 keywords. This is caused by fetching 2 different SERPs.

Go to SERPWatcher

Don’t forget to create your free trial in case you haven’t done so yet. It includes access to all 5 Mangools SEO tools.

Quick tip: Are you new to this topic? Check our article: What is rank tracking?

Trackings

The Trackings tab differs depending on whether you created a tracking project before or not.

Set up first tracking

Once you land in the SERPWatcher web app, you’ll be automatically redirected to a tab which lets you create your first tracking.

The tracking creation consists of two parts:

  1. Tracking details
  2. Adding keywords

1.  Tracking details:

You need to fill in the following information:

  • Domain
  • Location
  • Search platform

In the advance settings, you can find the Map pack tracking feature (described further)

How to create a new tracking project in SERPWatcher

2. Adding keywords

You can add the keywords in multiple ways:

  • Drag & drop a TXT or CSV file (one keyword per line)
  • Add from a TXT or CSV file (one keyword per line)
  • Import them from your existing KWFinder keyword list
  • Copy/paste them from anywhere
  • Write them manually
  • Add keywords you already rank for (imported from KWFinder’s Search by domain feature)
How to add keywords to a new tracking in SERPWatcher

Trackings tab

You’ll see all your trackings on this page. The page includes how many keywords you already track and tabs that show the basic information including the Performance Index chart.

To visit the section, click on “Trackings” in the menu bar of the app. To open a tracking, click anywhere on the white tab area.

It’s basically an overview of all tracked domains with options to clone or delete the tracking by clicking on the three dots menu in the upper-right corner of each tracking tab. You can switch between desktop and mobile views here as well.

To create a new tracking, click on the green button “Add new tracking” at the bottom of the page.

Do you have a lot of trackings? Use the search form in the top-right corner.

Trackings tab in SERPWatcher

Quick tip: If you want to change the order of the trackings, hover your mouse over the crossed arrows icon and drag & drop the tab anywhere you want.

Dashboard

SERPWatcher is designed to display all the data on one screen. It has two columns:

  1. Keyword rankings table on the left.
  2. Metrics on the right.

 

SERPWatcher dashboard

You’ll find a couple of other features above the two columns. Let’s take a look at them.

Desktop/mobile switcher

Quickly jump from rankings and metrics based on one search platform to another… and if you don’t track both, we’ll notify you via modal window so you can “clone” it.

Switch between mobile and desktop rankings in SERPWatcher

Tracking selector

Click on the domain or the arrow to search for any of your tracking in a dropdown menu.

Tracking selector in SERPWatcher

Timeframes

All the data in SERPWatcher is based on the selected timeframe. As you change the timeframe, all the data (rankings) and all metrics in the right part of the screen will be updated too.

You can change the timeframe in the top right corner of the Dashboard.

Select different timeframes in SERPWatcher

Add keywords, Share tracking, Reports & alerts, Three dots menu

Find all of these in the top right corner below the timeframe picker.

Add keywords – lets you add new keywords to your tracking with an option to tag them. We’ll highlight duplicates (yellow color) if there are any.

How to add keywords to an existing tracking in SERPWatcher

Share tracking – share all the data with anyone via a link. Find out more in the part Share tracking.

Reports & alerts – we have a dedicated part for this in the guide.

Three dots menu – lets you manage your keyword tags, clone the tracking to use it as a template, or delete the tracking.

Three dots menu in SERPWatcher

Keyword rankings

The whole left part of the Dashboard is dedicated to the tracked keywords and ranking data.

Keyword rankings, changes and Estimated visits

The table includes the keyword, assigned tags, actual rank, rank change, average and best ranks, search volume (Search) and Estimated Visits (EV).

Keywords table in SERPWatcher

Quick tip: If you track a lot of keywords and want to see the data for a particular keyword, use the search form above the table.

Keyword detail

To open the keyword detail, click on any keyword.

Keyword detail in SERPWatcher
Advanced keyword detail in SERPWatcher

 

The keyword detail brings a precise view of a selected keyword with a lot of data and additional features:

  • Detailed position history chart
  • Add or remove the tag option
  • Ranking URL with Estimated visits
  • Google SERP preview
  • Google SERP download as an image
  • Further actions to see backlinks in LinkMiner or URL profile in SiteProfiler
  • Keyword overview with detailed rank changes and search volume
  • Search volume history
  • Open in KWFinder for keyword research purposes
  • Open in SERPChecker for an in-depth SERP analysis
  • Delete the keyword

Close the tab by clicking on the button “Close” in the upper-right corner or by pressing the “Esc” button on your keyboard.

Tags, Export and Delete

Select at least one keyword to use these options located under the keywords table.

How to tag, export and delete keywords in SERPWatcher

Tag the selected keywords with tags from the menu. Export the keywords as .csv file or copy them to clipboard. Click on the red trash button to delete the selected keywords.

Metrics

The right part of the Dashboard is dedicated to the aggregate metrics and charts that focus on the overall progress of your rankings.

Each metric is changed dynamically based on the selected tags or filter options.

Performance Index (PI)

The Performance Index is a metric that tracks your ranking performance in Google based on actual positions of your website and search volumes of keywords tracked in SERPWatcher used as weights. It takes into account all position changes in your tracking.

PI is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100. The higher it is, the better is the performance of your rankings.

SERPWatcher Performance Indeox

Quick tip: Check our detailed Performance Index article to find out how we calculate your performance in Google.

Filtering a different set of keywords (by tags or filter)

Perhaps you want to analyze data only for a specific set of keywords or see traffic to a special subpage, blog post, etc.

Just filter the keywords or choose any tag and the PI along with other metrics for selected keywords will appear. You can see both “Overall” and “Subset” Performance Indexes:

Performance Index depends on filter

Please bear in mind that the subset PI can be sometimes higher than the overall PI. It’s because the specific subset of your keywords might perform better on Google Search compared to your overall performance.

Top gainers and top losers based on the PI

Get a quick overview of the most important rank changes that influence the Performance Index in the selected timeframe.

Top gainers and losers based on the Performance Index

Estimated visits (EV)

The Estimated visits inform you about the potential organic traffic gathered from the tracked keywords. The metric is based on the average CTR (click-through rate) of the current SERP position of a particular keyword.

This metric reflects the changes of rankings on the 1st and 2nd SERP since there’s no real potential of any CTR on lower positions while the Performance Index counts with all positions (up to 100).

Estimated Visits in SERPWatcher

Example: You rank for “keyword 1” on 1st position. Let’s say the avg. CTR for this keyword on the 1st position is 30% and the avg. monthly search volume is 10,000. The Estimated visits per month for “keyword 1” on the 1st position will be 3,000.

Top gainers and top losers based on the EV

Get a quick overview of the most important rank changes that influence the Estimated visits in the selected timeframe.

Top gainers and losers based on the Estimated Visits

Keyword position flow

It represents how many keywords in the tracking went up, went down, or remained unchanged.

Keyword position flow

Keyword position distribution

See how many keywords rank #1, in the top 3, top 10, top 20 or top 100. Hover your mouse over the chart to see the count and percentage of keywords in the categories.

Keyword position distribution

Filter

The Filter is located in the left part of the screen above the keywords table. Click on the button and set conditions that suit your needs.

Filter in SERPWatcher

Tags

Using tags is great if you want to categorize the tracked keywords, e.g. for different blog posts or landing pages under the same domain.

Tags management

There are three ways to get to the tags menu:

1. Click on the button “Tags” under the keywords table when at least one keyword is selected. You can see all your tags above the table with keywords.

How to tag keywords

 

2. Click on the button “Add tag” in the keyword detail.

Tag keywords from the detail panel

 

3. Go to the three dost menu in the top right corner and click on “Manage tags”.

Three dots menu in SERPWatcher

Add a tag

Once you click on “Tags” under the keywords table or “Add tag” in the keyword detail, pick the tag(s) from the menu and click on “Assign”.

Assign tags to keywords in SERPWatcher

Remove a tag

1. Click on “Unassign” if you used the under-the-keywords option.

Remove tag from a selected keyword

2. Click “X” in the tag area in the keyword detail.

Remove a tag from keyword detail

To make it easier for you, there are colored tag squares next to each keyword in the left table. What’s more, you can see the tagged keywords by using the “Filter” feature.

Create a new tag

Click on “Create new tag…” in the dropdown menu. You’ll be prompted to fill in the name and choose the color.

How to create a new tag

Delete or rename a tag

Open the Manage tags menu by clicking on the gear wheel showed in the “Tags management screenshot” or use the three dost menu in the top right corner.

Over here, it’s easy to rename, change color or delete any of the tags.

Managet tags in SERPWatcher

Share tracking

We’ve developed this feature to let you share more than just a generic rank tracking report.

Sharing a report is a two-click effort. Click on the button “Share tracking” in the top right corner.

How to share a tracking from SERPWatcher

It enables everyone with the link to see an interactive report in which they can select the timeframe, play with the filter options or see the keyword details.

Copy the link to the clipboard and share it teammates, clients or everyone else.

Share your SERPWatcher tracking

Reports & alerts

Click on the button Reports & Alerts in the top right corner to set up automatic emails based on different scenarios.

How to set up automatic emails in SERPWatcher

Set up a report

How to set up reports in SERPWatcher
  1. Choose “Weekly” or “Monthly”.
  2. Add recipients.
  3. Name the report.

Set up an alert

How to set up alerts in SERPWatcher
  1. Select the “Alert” option.
  2. Pick the trigger(s) of your interest.
  3. Add recipients.
  4. Name the alert.

You can edit or delete the reports and alerts anytime.

Whitelabel

This is a great feature that helps you to boost the visibility of your brand and strengthen the loyalty of clients.

Whitelabel feature in SERPWatcher

The settings you can find in the Whitelabel panel:

  • Company logo – Upload your company logo here (only PNG files are supported)
  • Accent color – This color is reflected in a bold line above the report
  • Company name – Displayed in the page title on the browser tab and in the email report
  • Company website – It’s linked to the company logo
  • Contact email – Displayed in the email report and used as a “Reply-to:” email address

You can also preview both the online report and the email report before you submit the changes:

Whitelabel settings in SERPWatcher

Map pack

This is a great tracking feature for those running a local business and optimizing for the local SEO. It is also known as a local pack or Google My Business (GMB) listing.

There are three ways to add the GMB profile to your tracking:

1. When creating a new tracking

Click on advanced settings and find your local business in the search bar:

Map pack tracking in SERPWatcher

2. When editing an existing tracking

Go to the SERPWatcher dashboard and edit your selected tracking:

Edit tracking in SERPWatcher

Now you can search for your local business and confirm the changes by the “edit tracking” button:

Submit tracking changes in SERPWatcher

3. When adding GMB from the tracking dashboard

SERPWatcher automatically detects if there is a Map pack (with or without links) in the SERP for a given keyword. Hover your mouse on the Map pack icon and click on “Add you GMB”:

Add GMB in SERPWatcher

If you want to check your Map pack rank, hover your mouse on the map pack icon or see the rank on the right panel of SERPWatcher:

Map pack rank in SERPWatcher

Featured snippet

SERPWatcher automatically detects if there is a Featured Snippet in the SERP for a given term. Hover over your mouse on the quotation mark icon to see if you rank in the particular featured snippet.

Featured snippet detection in SERPWatcher

To learn more about this topic, check out our featured snippets guide.

Shortcuts

Press ” Shift + / ” or click on the keyboard icon on the right of the top menu bar.

How to launch shortcuts menu in SERPWatcher

A modal window will appear with all the shortcuts and explanations of what they do. These are just a few of them:

Keyboard shortcuts in SERPWatcher

Didn’t find what you were looking for?

If you have any questions or tips on what to include in the guide, feel free to share them in the comments below. In case you have trouble using SERPWatcher, don’t hesitate to ask via live chat or email.