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Tracking Organic Keyword Rankings in Google

Friday, 8 May 2009 @ 15:04, by Jordan LeBaron

When Keyword Rankings Matter

The value of keyword ranking reports has been hotly debated over the years. Many search marketers argue that traditional ranking reports offer little value and provide a short-sighted view of your overall organic search visibility. Marketers can be mislead when top rankings are being reported, but for keywords with little to no search traffic volume. The emphasis of keyword ranking monitoring should be focused on the right keywords, actually driving traffic and conversions.

Google Referrer String Change

Google has recently begun rolling out changes to its referring URL format to include some small changes and the addition of several new parameters. One of the new data points included in this new referrer string is search ranking data. That’s right, search ranking data. This ranking data tells you exactly where in the search results your listing appeared when the user clicked.

Example of new Google referrer strings:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite…

The “cd” parameter in the referrer string above identifies the search listing ranking that appeared when the user clicked through to the site (i.e. search ranking = 7)

New SiteCatalyst Reporting

Omniture recently announced that we are providing new reporting capabilities in SiteCatalyst to segment reports by organic keyword rankings, based on this new Google referrer string change:

This new functionality allows clients to breakdown keywords by the actual search engine rankings driving traffic to their sites. This solution will be provided through our Engineering Services Group.

This first iteration is still a work in progress and we are actively testing new advanced solutions to make this data more actionable (e.g. trending average keyword rankings, utilizing alerts to track top keywords, etc…). Stay tuned to this blog for an additional post with more details on these advanced solutions.

Our hope is this new functionality will provide our clients a deeper level of insight into their organic keyword optimization efforts and can help better balance their organic vs. paid search efforts, further optimizing ad spend.

Important Issues to Note:

  1. For more information on getting this report implemented, please reach out to your Account Manager
  2. There is no guarantee this ranking data will be permanently included by Google in their referrer strings. Our hope is that Google will continue to provide this useful information, which could also help lessen the burden expended by automated keyword ranking query tools on their data centers.
  3. Google has not rolled this out completely. The roll out is currently limited to the US-only and is currently impacting only ~10% of searches
  4. Ben Gaines will soon be posting more information on the Omniture Blog regarding additional “gotchas” and FAQs regarding this new solution.
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  1. Andrew2009/5/11 @ 1:13 pm

    Good news Jordan. I think Omniture users can do some interesting things with this data, such as identifying SEO opportunities for high converting keywords that don’t currently rank well and then measuring the ROI of those efforts.
  2. Francis2009/5/21 @ 2:28 pm

    Jordon, we are implementing the vista rule for keyword ranking. Do you know if any of the other variables in the google string have value? As you mention above we are going to capture the “cd=” value for the keyword rank. Does “sa”, “source”, “ct” offer any value that you know of.

    Also, looking at the new “show options” in google search results you can click on videos, forums, reviews etc… I see the “oi” parameter is passed with video results are there any additional parameters that you have identified that would be interesting to capture?
  3. Sam Potts2009/5/26 @ 8:43 pm

    It’s a shame this hasn’t been implemented worldwide for 100% of searches, we’re seeing none with this rating over here in Australia. I lnow you can get the page number from the referrer URL which is a little bit of help but this would be ideal. Currently we run a bot to search for keywords and search for our domain in the listings and produce a report.
  4. Web Analytics Posts Round up May 30 | Web Analytics India Blog2009/5/30 @ 11:32 am

    [...] Tracking Organic keyword by ranking [...]
  5. Jordan LeBaron2009/6/9 @ 2:54 pm

    Andrew: agreed, there are several actionable insights that users can get from this data.

    Francis: great questions - we’re still determining the useful data contained within the new referrer string, so as this rolls out across all searches we’ll be closely evaluating the parameters passed through.

    Sam: Unfortunately this is only being rolled out in the US - hopefully Google Australia will soon follow.
  6. John2009/7/6 @ 1:40 pm

    Excellent news, Jordan. The better the tracking the more optimization can result from it. I look forward to hearing more about analytics concerning Google’s organic algorithm.
  7. matt2009/11/4 @ 8:44 am

    this is extremely useful information…i think the pending advanced solutions like the keyword alerts would be very helpful…i’ll stay tuned!
  8. Tatts2009/11/21 @ 12:29 pm

    Wow this is very handy. I’m going to start searching through my logs to see where I’ve been ranking. I know what I rank for the main terms but I’ve never really being sure about many of the long tail keywords. I’ve also often wondered if the ranking changes depending on the users geographical location. This will tell me if it does.
  9. SEO Specialist2009/11/21 @ 10:46 pm

    Jordan, this is some great insight! Thanks.
  10. virginia beach lawn care2009/11/23 @ 1:40 pm

    awesome info Jordan. This will help me out significantly in my organic campaign!
  11. Tattoo2009/12/19 @ 9:06 am

    I don’t see those strings for the natural header result (the title of the page) but I see them for the extra links given below the description is this something that is being rolled out slowly?
  12. Who won the superbowl2010/2/5 @ 11:29 am

    This is interesting, as I’ve never noticed up to this point that the ranking was now included in the URL. Who would have ever guessed? I wouldn’t have ever known what that was for.
  13. HMT2010/2/9 @ 6:14 pm

    This post is very insightful and will help me put value to the efforts of my organic optimizer. I have not yet seen much in terms of traffic, but look forward to great results.
  14. HMT2010/2/12 @ 9:49 am

    This is very good information for those trying to increase their organic keyword rankings. I will have to pass this information along to my colleagues. Thanks again.
  15. Rasmusgi2010/4/13 @ 5:05 am

    Is this feature automatically integrated in every sitecatalyst report by now - or should the report still be set up manually?
  16. Jordan LeBaron2010/4/20 @ 6:28 pm

    This functionality still requires custom implementation. Also, the release of these referring URLs is still limited.
  17. FAQ Software Agent2010/5/20 @ 11:38 pm

    I’ve never noticed that the google url strings offers a quick glimpse of a site’s standings, definitely handy to have. I’m all for clearer and more concise way of optimizing a website
  18. tracking2011/1/3 @ 12:11 pm

    Thanks for Important Issues to Note
  19. Board Certified Avian Vet2011/1/10 @ 2:51 pm

    Excellent write up, Jordan! It’s interesting to uncover the different %’s of traffic each placement brings. Even though it can surely vary, webmasters sometimes get caught up in being #1 when sometimes a listing can achieve a better CTR by listing in positions #2 or #3.
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    I lnow you can get the page number from the referrer URL which is a little bit of help but this would be ideal. Currently we run a bot to search for keywords and search for our domain in the listings and produce a report.
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    Effective reporting capabilities are crucial as is organic keyword search optimization. We’ll see how this continues to play out. Very useful info. Thanks.
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    You made your point and not much to discuss. It’s like this universal truth that you can not argue with the truth is not universal, everything has its exception. Thanks for this information.
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  33. Tom2011/4/2 @ 2:44 am

    Would this still help after the panda or farmer update in Google. Everything’s being shifted around in the search engines
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    It’s a shame this hasn’t been implemented worldwide for 100% of searches, we’re seeing none with this rating over here in Australia. I lnow you can get the page number from the referrer URL which is a little bit of help but this would be ideal. Currently we run a bot to search for keywords and search for our domain in the listings and produce a report.
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    It’s a shame this hasn’t been implemented worldwide for 100% of searches, we’re seeing none with this rating over here in Australia. I lnow you can get the page number from the referrer URL which is a little bit of help but this would be ideal. Currently we run a bot to search for keywords and search for our domain in the listings and produce a report.
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  38. Viaggi2011/4/4 @ 2:51 am

    Google, still continues to constantly upgrade their algorithm with the aim of improving the performance offered to Internet users. In fact today is the best search engine in the world. The so-called SEO should seek to exploit the possibilities offered by Google to optimize and improve the visibility of their clients … instead many are looking for solutions “faster” even risking penalties. Greetings Stefano
    ps: sorry, but my English is not very good:)
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    The problem about Google is that is to some extent unpredictable, so even if you think you are doing everything right in terms of site promotion, you still might get whacked…
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    Google is definitely the master at this. What would any of us do without Google? Without the keyword tool? Without the typeahead? Wow… life would be so different, wouldn’t it?
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    I know what I rank for the main terms but I’ve never really being sure about many of the long tail keywords. this is some great insight! Thanks.
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    It’s a shame this hasn’t been implemented worldwide for 100% of searches, we’re seeing none with this rating over here in Australia. I lnow you can get the page number from the referrer URL which is a little bit of help but this would be ideal. Currently we run a bot to search for keywords and search for our domain in the listings and produce a report.
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  90. SEO Expert2012/1/30 @ 4:19 am

    Most Seo expert agree that traditional ranking reports are highly misleading and may not be the best gauge of a site’s search-ability. You might rank high with a highly unique chain of keywords, but the number of people actually actively searching for those words might be very little. I am not sure how useful this new keyword ranking analytic by Google would really change things. It might even mislead even more people into thinking that keyword rankings are that important.