If you’re involved with local SEO, or any form of SEO for that matter, then you know the importance of being able to recreate the results that Google serves in different cities, towns and neighborhoods based on the location of the person who is searching.
The problem with most traditional SERP tracking tools on the market is that they don’t have the ability to track these local Google rankings, monitor keywords and comparing your competitors rankings.
That’s when you need to make use of the following tools that track local Google rankings and give you a leg-up over the competition.
1. BrightLocal
Bright Local offers a number of excellent white-labeled tools that include analytics, customized progress reports for clients, etc. your average one stop SEO tools. However, they take tracking local search rankings a bit further. The Google+ Local audit allows you to compare your search rankings against your top ten local competitors and lets you set benchmarks to monitor how you stack up monthly/yearly.
Tip: Make sure all of your citations are 100% accurate for best results. Price is on point for the services rendered.
2. Whitespark
Many consider Whitespark to be one of the leading of the solutions for tracking local SEO rankings on both Google and Bing. Whitespark monitors your local pack, maps, and organic search ranking results so that you can discover how your customers are finding your website, as well as how your competitors are beating you.
Not only are the results accurate targeted, you can even track rankings for relevant keywords without using the city modifier. This means if you’re a baker in Los Angeles, you can track keywords like “bakery” instead of “Los Angeles bakery.”
Pricing ranges from $5 to $200.
3. AuthorityLabs
AuthorityLabs provides you with automated weekly/monthly/yearly reporting, the ability to add members or clients to access the analytics directly (you can chose what is shared), the search tracking allows you to track your competition, solid keyword rank tracking both locally(city/state/zipcode) and globally. Local keyword rank is displayed for Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
The two coolest tools are the Now Provided tool and the mobile tracking. The Now Provided tool allows you to track which pages are bringing you organic traffic each day. The mobile tracking allows you to see how the customer sees your mobile site and tracks keyword searches both globally and locally (city/state/zipcode) on mobile.
With regards to pricing, you have to buy the premium in order to get the better value, but with the Now Provided tool you can get away with the $99 package.
4. GeoRanker
GeoRanker allows you to to track and monitor your rankings in real-time visually through heat map. The heat map is based off of Google’s first page rankings by either city or country. One of the more interesting features from GeoRanker is that it also provides an evolution of your local rankings. You can then use this data to create White Label reports through GeoRanker for your clients that can exported to PDFs.
While GeoRanker does offer a free plan, you’ll probably need to bump up to a premium plan that starts at $99.00 per month if you want to access most of these features.
5. SerpSuite.com
SerpSuite.com is a one stop shop for keywords and Analytics, if you have the money to pay for it. It is an automated white-labeled service where you check the boxes send it where you want to and that’s it. It seems to cover all of the basics; automated email reports to clients, automatically applies keywords that you rank for both locally (you control the metrics) and globally (you can pay more money to have them up your keyword limit) and you can give access to an unlimited number of team members at no up cost.
6. RankTrackr
Rank Trackr gives you the ability to track precise local Google rankings for local packs, map results, organic results, and carousel images for all of the major search engines – Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and even YouTube. You can search by either city, zip code, region, or country and access important statistical data like search volume and cost-per-click. Rank Trackr gives you the option to receive daily, weekly, or monthly summaries through email, filter your keywords, view historical rankings, and see how your competitors are ranking.
Rank Trackr has a free version, but there are affordable paid versions at either $124.75 or $299.75 per month.
7. SERPs.com Rank Checker
SERPs.com’s Rank Checker tool allows you to use a free trial run to plug in your Domain name, your keyword(s) and to set a specific location via (City, State) or (zipcode). It then proceeds to show you where you rank for that keyword(s) in the specific city/state you chose.
The paid versions allow you to add multiple search locations to your keywords, search a much larger number of keywords per month and offer extensive (google analytics type) tools for tracking and analysis. The dashboard view allows you to track the progress of your local search keywords in the locations you’ve assigned to them (as default they show your search keywords globally for comparison). For instance, it shows you if you are using keywords that are growing, dropping or stagnant in that location.
So if a keyword isn’t hitting for the location you have selected, with the click of a button you can set that keyword to a different location that might be better suited for your client.
8. UpCity
UpCity identifies key metrics, like local keyword ranking, competitor citations, website health, and the most competitive search terms. You can use this information to create unlimited reports and view performance over time. Additionally, UpCity lets you input your client’s information so that it can provide actionable recommendations to boost their rankings. UpCity also allows you to claim and optimize Google My Business listings, manage online reviews, and suggest the top local directories to get receive citations from.
Pricing plans range from $50 to $800 per month depending on the size of your business.
Google Search Photo via Shutterstock
Hi Loren. Thanks for including BrightLocal in your piece – much appreciated.
I noted that price points were mentioned for the other tool vendors so i thought I’d that our packages start at $19.99/month which includes full access to our tools and the ability to run 50+ reports – so there’s a lot of value for not much investment.
We’re always on hand to answer any questions your readers may have – just contact us at contact@brightlocal.com
Thanks,
Myles
Aira Bongco
Out of these, I only have experience using Whitespark. I guess I have to broaden my horizons and see what all these services have to offer so that I can serve my clients better.
I use the Brightlocal Service. It has a lot of tools that I use when doing local seo for my clients. It has everything I need at a low monthly price. Some of the other tools are just too expensive.
Loren: Could you use these tools on an internationally scale?
Great article Loren Baker:) Now local SEO is the key to develop the business. Peoples are going local on now a days, so it’s important to increase website visibility among them. I like to share about my experience in one of the best tool and I wondered about using SEMrush tool. Especially the position tracking tool is helpful to track and filter the competitors keyword at their location.
I used Authority Labs and UpCity, but sometimes I experienced some real good differences on these tools. But yes, these are handy if you are monitoring your competitor sites and your own.
Karel Veen
Thanks for this great post Loren.
I can easy give my clients recommendations because of AL and Upcity.
Marek
Local SEO is nothing more than – reviews (most important factor), citation and hq backlinks. Also there is NAP concept and it seem to be very revelant to local SEO.
Vijay Khandekar
I use SERPed.net. It offers: Local Rank Tracker and Maps Tracker Separately. In addition to this, It has citation tool as well. All the in combination makes my life easy for Local SEO
I’ve personally use both Bright Local and White Spark, both of which were very nice and I liked them both. I’ve also use ProRankTracker and Microsite Master, they all have varying results from one another but all in the same general area. Overall you have a very good post that could help out a lot of people in need of this kind of information. Nicely done Loren Baker, I’ll definitely be returning for more of your posts!
Nice list Loren. Local SEO becomes the need of businesses today. It helps them to improve their presence locally that ultimately generates leads. check out the list of 60+ free and tested citation cites here.( https://www.loginradius.com/fuel/business-listing-citation-sites-usa/).
As a digital marketing agency, we’re constantly trying new SEO tools to deliver better value to our clients. Unfortunately, finding that all-in-one solution that best fits our needs has been a struggle to say the least.
We’ve tried BrightLocal on more than one occasion but found their system rather clunky and keyword tracking to be way off. This required us to use ProRankTracker to fulfill that area, which I’m surprised they didn’t make the cut, as it’s the most accurate rank tracker tool we’ve used to date; not the most aesthetically pleasing though. We also used both BrightLocal and WhiteSpark to discover citations, another tool for audits, another tool for this and for that. It get’s exhausting keeping up with all of these subscriptions.
Even then, we still rely on the primary tools such as Majestic, aHrefs, SEMrush, Spyfu, Moz, etc for thorough competitor analysis. If anyone has a solution that can meet all these areas please feel free to share!!
I would add SERP Tracker to this list too. It’s one of the most accurate keywords rank tracking tool and it has many interesting other SEO features/tools and a great interface.