I built Searchramen over the last year and a half while doing SEO consulting work due to the fact that I couldn’t find software for people who do SEO like me (heavy A/B testing and a preference for real SEO data vs scraped data) or couldn’t find an SEO Plugin for some static site generators(e.g Middleman, Jekyll etc.) .
I have been working out of spreadsheets for the last few years so it was nice to build something from scratch that was based on your Google Search Console data rather than the current industry standard of “scraped” and “clickstream” data. I wanted the software to be competitive and match what the big guys were doing so I built out a lot of standard features as well. The full feature set is below:
1. Website Metrics - Includes all your top SEO metrics such as Rankings 1-3, 1-10, 1-20, 1-100, Keywords Indexed, New Keywords, Pages Indexed, New Pages, Page Clicks, Page Impressions, Page CTR, Average Positions, Total Backlinks and New Backlinks.
2. Rank Tracking with Customised Sorting - Rank tracking sorted by Desktop, Mobile and Tablet rankings with categories for top keyword traffic, top keyword rankings, most improved keywords, declined keywords, new keywords indexed and lost keywords.
3. Backlink Tracking - Track the link, traffic from the link and linking page.
4. Universal Plugin - Change search appearance (Title and Description) on any website or technology stack.
5. A/B Testing - Test your website, website page or a specific keyword for SEO changes.
6.Brand Monitoring - Still in beta but works well for a quick look into branded search terms 7. Reporting - Receive daily, weekly or monthly reports with your important metrics. Can also brand reports with your logo for agencies and consultants.
P.S. Any feedback even if negative is appreciated. Thanks!
Other products use scraped/clickstream data because it’s the only way to get data on other sites besides your own. If you are only interested in your own sites, then Google Search Console is your go-to app. But there’s a valid reason clickstream data is so useful
Only problem with scraped/clickstream data is that it's quite inaccurate. I agree it is great for competitive intelligence but falls over a bit when your looking for data on your best content and monitoring important metrics over time. I've always thought of it as scraped/clickstream -> competitive research gsc/owned data -> seo metrics/monitoring.
Very few ppl look at clickstream data for your own site. That’s not it’s purpose. It’s inaccurate but can be helpful for relative comparison/benchmarking. I don’t care the exact number of visits my competitor is getting, but I do care if it’s twice the amount my site is getting.
Hi quickthrower2, It's not traditional A/B Testing but SEO A/B Testing. So it will run a test on either your whole website, a particular page/s or a particular keyword/s. You set a time frame for the test then it will show you a detailed list of SEO stats such clicks, impressions, CTR and average position before and after the test time frames and for each device type (desktop, mobile and tablet).
Thankyou very much for finding this bug. Safari was blocking the email input field on signup. Just fixed it, if you'd like to give it another shot. Ipad should be okay when running in widescreen but some elements might show out of the screen as it's optimized for desktop.
- It wasn't clear to me how I would integrate this in my website. Would I have to add some code or can this be done in some other way.
- In the end, I signed up, after which it asked permission to "See and download your Google Analytics data". My website doesn't use Google Analytics. Is Google Analytics a strict requirement? I'm using Plausible.io
- Clicking on Website metrics, shows me a list of websites. I've only configured it for one website, so it's a bit annoying that I have to then click on that one website.
- I cannot figure out how to add brand keywords. The keywords list is empty.
- I clicked on upgrade and it shows me a price of "14.99", though the pricing page shows "4.99". I think my website is quite small. Is this a bug?
Otherwise, it seems pretty cool. The search rankings seem useful.
Hi Vhanda,
Thanks for the feedback. Much Appreciated. I've answered your questions below:
- It wasn't clear to me how I would integrate this in my website. Would I have to add some code or can this be done in some other way.
Yes, you install the javascript snippet which is one line of code into the <head> section of your website and that's it. That allows the plugin to change the title and description for you.
- In the end, I signed up, after which it asked permission to "See and download your Google Analytics data". My website doesn't use Google Analytics. Is Google Analytics a strict requirement? I'm using Plausible.io
No, you do not need to add Google Analytics. We still get enough data to sort your metrics and ranking data without it. We do use GA for backlink data though so you can add it for that which is optional. I really like Plausible though so will try and build an integration soon.
- Clicking on Website metrics, shows me a list of websites. I've only configured it for one website, so it's a bit annoying that I have to then click on that one website.
You have to add the website first then you can access website metrics. I didn't want to add every website at once due to pricing issues. Could be expensive for lots of websites so you get to choose which ones you want to sync and pay for.
- I cannot figure out how to add brand keywords. The keywords list is empty.
Yeah I agree with you, I am reworking this feature to make it easier for people. At the moment you need to click on the checkboxes next to your brand keywords then click the add keyword button. Sorry UX fail here.
- I clicked on upgrade and it shows me a price of "14.99", though the pricing page shows "4.99". I think my website is quite small. Is this a bug?
No bug. Pricing is based on size of website. Your website is bigger than the small plan which is 4.99. The small plan is ideally for local business websites with small amount of keywords and pages.
> Yes, you install the javascript snippet which is one line of code into the <head> section of your website and that's it. That allows the plugin to change the title and description for you.
Right. Without knowing exactly what details are being collected, I wouldn't be comfortable adding something a script on my website.
I've gone through the privacy policy - which is challenging to read - it doesn't inspire me to add this, since it basically collects a lot of information. Additionally, I would have to add the cookie banner to my website, which I rather not do.
> Clicking on Website metrics
I didn't explain myself very well. I've configured it for my one website. Each time I want to see metrics of that website, I need to click on the sidebar, and then click on the website name. This extra click is annoying since I only have one website configured.
> No bug. Pricing is based on size of website. Your website is bigger than the small plan which is 4.99. The small plan is ideally for local business websites with small amount of keywords and pages.
It would be nice if it could explain why the small plan is not applicable. I'm fairly certain I have less than 100 pages, maybe even less than 20.
Hi Vhanda,
Sorry details aren't clear on our Privacy Policy, Privacy is super important to me. It's one of the reasons I built Searchramen as I wanted people to have a set of tools built from their own data rather than scraped/clickstream data.
WE DO NOT USE cookies or collect private information so you do not need a cookie banner on your website to use our plugin. You can check this inside chrome by going to developers -> Application -> Cookies. You'll see that there is no cookie loaded after installing our script.
Also our plugin is third party pen tested and certified by an outsider for security, if your interested and want to see the code just look at the javascript. It's only 28 lines of code and public so hopefully it helps with the confidence angle. It is also installed on some pretty big websites right now (1Million+ pages views per month)
> Clicking on Website metrics
I see what you mean. Yeah I agree, it's a bit time consuming to click the website each time. When I built it I had quite a few websites in one account so it seemed like a better layout. i'm planning to rework the nav slightly so will test selecting the website first and then having each section use that website rather than having to select it each time.
> It would be nice if it could explain why the small plan is not applicable. I'm fairly certain I have less than 100 pages, maybe even less than 20.
Pricing is a combination of keywords and pages. So even though you have less than 100 pages you have quite a few keywords which is expensive for storage fees each month. I'd love to be able to sell it for 4.99 but these storage costs add up and 1500 keywords by 3 positions synced with 1 year of search data is quite a bit of data so I wouldn't be making enough money to improve the product.
I have been working out of spreadsheets for the last few years so it was nice to build something from scratch that was based on your Google Search Console data rather than the current industry standard of “scraped” and “clickstream” data. I wanted the software to be competitive and match what the big guys were doing so I built out a lot of standard features as well. The full feature set is below:
1. Website Metrics - Includes all your top SEO metrics such as Rankings 1-3, 1-10, 1-20, 1-100, Keywords Indexed, New Keywords, Pages Indexed, New Pages, Page Clicks, Page Impressions, Page CTR, Average Positions, Total Backlinks and New Backlinks.
2. Rank Tracking with Customised Sorting - Rank tracking sorted by Desktop, Mobile and Tablet rankings with categories for top keyword traffic, top keyword rankings, most improved keywords, declined keywords, new keywords indexed and lost keywords.
3. Backlink Tracking - Track the link, traffic from the link and linking page.
4. Universal Plugin - Change search appearance (Title and Description) on any website or technology stack.
5. A/B Testing - Test your website, website page or a specific keyword for SEO changes.
6.Brand Monitoring - Still in beta but works well for a quick look into branded search terms 7. Reporting - Receive daily, weekly or monthly reports with your important metrics. Can also brand reports with your logo for agencies and consultants.
P.S. Any feedback even if negative is appreciated. Thanks!