If you have a site online through which you make online transactions, then it is important that you know where you are ranked for your selected keywords. Finding out where you rank is not as easy as you might think, particularly if you have more than one website. If you only have one then you might be able to track it using manual searches, but if you have more than one site, you might try using one of the available rank finding sites online.

There are a few issues with these sites. They seem to take their results from a different hub than the search engine is working off at the time and so never gives truly accurate results. Also, the regions (i.e. Google.co.uk or Google.com) tend to be limited to worldwide, and so you will rarely be able find your rankings in a specific country.

If you have more than one URL then the problem becomes exacerbated due to the limits that Google imposes upon searches conducted per hour. Currently you can only make 200 searches per hour. That is the equivalent of searching 4 keywords to 500 positions in one hour, not much really, especially if you have 50 ” 100 keywords and several URLs.

The solution is to use a semi automated program that will run your searches within Googles time limits and produce reports that give you accurate data time after time. Additionally you will want to be able to keep current information on your current backlinks, current keyword traffic volumes, competitor site information etc.

Most software of this nature wont do all this, let alone give you the option to white-label the software and sell it on as your own. Finding software that is accurate and dependable is very difficult, but not impossible. If you are an SEO company, your results will create the outline of your reputation, and your reports to your clients are a very important part of that process. Your clients need to be able to see genuine data that shows how hard you are working for them.

Because your clients wont understand your business as well as you do, you should provide them with up to date information to help them see what you are doing and what you are achieving for them. It is unlikely that your clients will understand the ins and outs of seo and so creating some key performance indicators for them is a good step to take to allow your relationship with them to grow and for them to be comfortable that you are doing all you can to improve their rankings.