Review of AuthorityLabs Keyword Tracking and Monitoring Service

There is so much to running an online business, that key things can fall through the cracks, because, well, they take so much of a marketers time.  While some may argue that SEO is overblown, and getting all the targeted traffic with pay per click is their preference, you still should be aware of where you fall in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  Besides, the goal should be to pursue top SERP placement, and move away from PPC for converting keywords – after all, those clicks are less expensive.  The problem has been finding a decent product or service that would track your keyword placement, and graph it over time.  Windows based software packages often require human intervention and users just forget to run the reports regularly.

Let me share with you a service that I’ve been using for nearly 6 months (when possible, I prefer to vet services for a while before posting a review), that sets my daily keyword tracking on autopilot.  I’ll share what AuthorityLabs does, who it’s for, who it’s not for, what first impressed me about the service, the number one thing I’ve learned since using AuthorityLabs, and what’s missing from the service.

Review of AuthorityLabs Keyword Tracking and Monitoring Service

Keywords, the foundation of search marketing are the elements that can tip the scales of your business from break even, to super profitable.  The problem is keeping track of them, and easily creating website ranking reports.  You can certainly track on a case by case basis with some SEO Plugins for Firefox like these. You can also track keyword ranking manually by searching key phrases, and populating a fancy spreadsheet on a regular basis.  Honesty, who wants to do that?  I don’t.

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Introducing AuthorityLabs

This is a service that tracks and graphs the placement of your site for keywords and keyphrases.

Runs Automatically- AuthorityLabs is a webservice that performs daily queries of the keywords that you’ve designated for a given domain.

Sends Weekly Summary- In case you forget to login, AuthorityLabs can be configured to email weekly summaries from your account.

Tagging Feature- While I haven’t yet used this newer feature, users can group keywords with tags to determine how they are ranking for a group of keyword or keyphrases.  This makes tracking for specific niches or sub-niches much simpler (learn more about AuthorityLabs).

Screenshot: Weekly Email Summary Report from AuthorityLabs

Who AuthorityLabs is For

Those who are frustrated with keyword tracking, or unsatisfied with current keyword tracking solutions they’ve found to date.  Ideal for small business.  If you’d rather not track your keyword placement with a set a fancy spreadsheets, and have your time back from filling them out, you should give AuthorityLabs a deeper look.

Who AuthorityLabs is Not For

High-end (corporate) environments with custom keyword tracking and conversion solutions already in place.  These environments have likely invested $100K USD or more in such systems, likely AuthorityLabs is not for you.  That said, I’m amazed how many higher end systems don’t have elementary functionality like keyword placement trends, etc.  AuthorityLabs could be a great 3rd party solution to validate your current SEO solution and activities.

What First Impressed Me About the Service

User Interface- I really liked that the interface was simple, and intuitive.  You simply add your domain, your keywords, and then go on to your regular business.  It starts fetching results right away.  I logged in an hour later and saw the first points on my graph.  A few days later I logged in, an was able to graph the results in a matter of clicks.

Simple Signup- I also liked the fact that they (currently) have a 30 day trial, and don’t require any credit card when signing up (get the full story on AuthorityLabs here).

The Number One Thing I Learned Since Using AuthorityLabs

Several weeks ago, I merged two sites into one, a blog and a standard HTML site became one (blog).  There was a lot involved, and it was not without issue.  In fact, I discovered that my keyword rankings dropped dramatically after the merge.  Fortunately I was using the AuthorityLabs Keyword tracking service and detected the changes in my graph (see below):

On-Page Problems: AuthorityLabs Allowed Me to Detect & Correct Issues

This led to troubleshooting on the site, and found an errrant setting which was turning the search engines away.  Made the correction, and as you can see above, the rankings returned pretty quickly.  Having AuthorityLabs was a huge asset, as I would likely not have known that the site was free falling in the rankings as quickly as it was.  Within a week of correcting it, they returned to where they were and better (need more info? Visit AuthorityLabs here).

What’s Missing from the Service

While some might argue, I’m being picky.  I think customers can always put themselves in a position to ask for more.  While these may not be show stoppers, as with any service, there is room for improvement.  I think that the service would provide more value to customers with the following features:

Tracking Competitors- There should be a way to see which sites/pages are ahead of you for a given keyphrase, and track this progress over time.  This would allow customers to know who they are up against, and shortcut the process of determining what needs to be done to beat them.

Tracking Links- Admittedly, this is a dream feature, but the ability to go into the system, and document what links have been given back to the site (paid ads, press releases, social commenting, etc.) would be huge in an effort to determine cause and effect SEO.

Not sure what Chase and his crew have planned for the service, but these features would be high on my list.

My Take on AuthorityLabs Keyword Tracking Service

For any online business, it is important to track keywords/keyphrases and understand a sites placement among the SERPs of competitors.  I have found AuthorityLabs to do this tracking quite well, and even detect a major issue that allowed for recovery of rankings when I discovered they were in freefall.  Like many services it is not without shortcomings, if they continue to build in features to help customers better understand SERP placement, this will quickly become a killer app for internet marketers.

AuthorityLabs is a huge timesaver, and beats tracking manually with an array of fancy spreadsheets.  They have 3 levels of service from $24-$99 a month, depending on the number of keywords and domains (all have unlimited users – which is nice) you wish to track.  I consider this a very fair price in exchange for the value and time saved.  Go ahead and try it out (no credit card required), you too might be surprised what you find out.

Chime In: Got feedback on this review? Have your own experience with AuthorityLabs?  Feel free to chime in using the comment boxes below.  Let’s talk!<br /><br />

Technorati Tags: keyword tracking, Search Engine Marketing Strategy, seo strategy