SerpBear; The free open-source Rank Tracker

Written by

Jannick Nijholt

Published on

29/10/2024

Last update

29/10/2024
BlogUncategorized
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Want to track your website rankings without paying hundreds of dollars per month? Let me introduce you to SerpBear, an open-source rank tracker that you can host yourself. In this guide, I’ll show you everything about rank tracking and how to set up SerpBear for free.

You probably already know, but first answer the question, what is rank tracking?

What is Rank Tracking?

Rank tracking is the process of monitoring your website’s positions in search engines like Google. While it might sound simple to just Google your keywords and check the positions manually, this approach is far from ideal. Google personalizes search results based on your location (there are ways around this) and search history, making manual checks unreliable.

Why Track Rankings?

You want to track your rankings to:

  • See if your SEO efforts are actually working
  • Spot sudden ranking drops before they hurt your traffic
  • Keep an eye on your competition
  • Find opportunities to optimize content
  • Track your positions across different locations

The problem many website owners face is that professional rank tracking tools can be quite expensive. Popular options like Ahrefs or Semrush start at $99/month, which is a significant investment for small businesses or personal websites.

What Makes Manual Checking Unreliable?

As mentioned, you can see manual checking your rankings as an alternative to those expensive tools, but keep the following things in mind:

  • Google personalizes results based on your location
  • Your search history affects the rankings you see
  • Results change based on the device you use
  • Rankings fluctuate throughout the day
  • Different locations show different results

Now let’s talk about what a ‘Rank Tracker’ tool is and how it works.

What is a Rank Tracker?

A rank tracker is a tool that automatically checks and records your website’s positions in search engines. Think of it as your personal SEO assistant that monitors your rankings 24/7, so you don’t have to manually search for your keywords.

How does a Rank Tracker work?

Most rank trackers use specialized servers to search for your keywords and record where your website appears in the results. These servers:

  • Use clean IPs
  • Check from specific locations
  • Bypass Google’s anti-bot measures
  • Store historical ranking data
  • Generate reports and alerts

What do these Rank Trackers provide to me?

Almost all professional rank trackers offer at least the following features:

  1. Accurate Data
    The tool should provide reliable ranking data that matches what real users see in their search results.
  2. Location Tracking
    Your rankings can be different for users in New York versus London. Good rank trackers let you track positions for specific locations.
  3. Search Engine Support
    While Google is the main focus, support for other search engines like Bing can provide valuable insights.
  4. Historical Data
    You need to see how your rankings change over time to understand if your SEO efforts are working.
  5. Notifications
    The tool should alert you when important rankings drop, so you can take action quickly.

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Popular keyword rank trackers for SEO specialists

I already briefly mentioned two tools that do Rank Tracking. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the most popular rank trackers in the market. I’ve tested used of these tools personally, and while they’re excellent at what they do, their pricing might make you think twice.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is the Swiss Army knife of SEO tools. The best SEO tool (in my opinion) a Marketeer can wish himself for SEO. Besides rank tracking, it offers backlink analysis, keyword research, and content exploration. Their rank tracker is accurate and provides detailed position history.

Pricing

  • Lite: $99/month (750 keywords)
  • Standard: $199/month (2,000 keywords)
  • Advanced: $399/month (5,000 keywords)
  • Enterprise: $999/month (10,000 keywords)

Semrush

Another heavyweight in the SEO world. Semrush‘s rank tracker comes with their all-in-one SEO suite. The interface is user-friendly, and the data is reliable.

Pricing

  • Pro: $119.95/month (500 keywords)
  • Guru: $229.95/month (1,500 keywords)
  • Business: $449.95/month (5,000 keywords)
  • Custom: Contact sales (10,000+ keywords)

SERanking

SERanking is more affordable than Ahrefs and Semrush while still offering solid rank tracking capabilities.

Pricing

  • Essential: $39/month (250 keywords)
  • Pro: $89/month (1,000 keywords)
  • Business: $189/month (2,500 keywords)
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

Ubersuggest

Neil Patel’s SEO tool, Ubersuggest, is known for its lifetime deals and more accessible pricing. While not as feature-rich as the others, it gets the job done.

Pricing

  • Individual: $29/month (150 keywords)
  • Business: $49/month (500 keywords)
  • Enterprise: $99/month (2,000 keywords)
  • Lifetime deals occasionally available

The Common Problem

See a pattern? All these tools are expensive if you:

  • Only need rank tracking
  • Want to track more than 500 keywords
  • Have multiple websites to monitor
  • Run an SEO agency with multiple clients

This is exactly why I got excited when I discovered SerpBear. Let me show you how this open-source alternative can save you hundreds of dollars per month.

Free Keyword Tracking with SerpBear

After seeing those hefty price tags, let me introduce you to SerpBear – an open-source rank tracker. I’ve been using it for several months now, and it’s become my go-to solution for rank tracking my personal projects.

Open Source

SerpBear is completely open source, meaning:

  • The code is publicly available on GitHub
  • You can verify what the software does
  • No hidden tracking or data collection
  • Free to use and modify
  • Active community of developers

What I love about open-source tools is that they’re transparent and in most cases deployable on your own hardware. You know exactly what’s happening with your data, and there’s no vendor lock-in.

Self Host or Let it host

There are two common ways to get SerpBear up and running.

Self Host: Docker

The DIY approach is completely free but requires some technical knowledge. You’ll need:

  • A (home)server or VPS ($5-10/month)
  • Basic Docker knowledge
  • About 30 minutes for setup

Using Docker you can setup a SerpBear container. SerpBear is then running on your own hardware that you control. This also can be a negative, because you have to make sure the instance is up and running 24/7.

Paid: PikaPods

Don’t want to deal with servers? The service PikaPods hosts SerpBear for you:

  • One-click installation
  • Automatic updates
  • Starting at $1/month
  • No technical knowledge needed

When signing up for PikaPods you get $5 of welcome credit!

Note: Even when using PikaPods, you’re still paying way less than traditional rank trackers!

Scrape Providers

One of the most important parts of SerpBear are the Scrape Providers. The tool needs a way to fetch ranking data from Google. Scrape Providers provide a way to scrape the Google search results and return that data back to SerpBear.

You can choose between several scraping providers:

ScrapingRobot

  • Free tier: 5.000 searches/month
  • Paid plans start at $29/month

ScrapingAnt

  • Free tier: 10.000 searches/month
  • Paid plans start at $49/month

SpaceSerp

  • Lifetime Deal: 15.000 or 30.000 searches/month
  • A fixed price of $59 or $118 one-time

My SerpBear Setup

Today I’m paying nothing ($0) for my SerpBear setup. Let me tell you how.

Scraping Provider

I personally use the free tier of ScrapingRobot, which gives me enough searches to track 150 keywords daily. This is enough for now.

Considering SpaceSerp
I am considering getting the SpaceSerp LTD plan from AppSumo. Stacking two Space Serp codes gives me 30.000 search/month. This is good for tracking 1.000 keywords daily or even 6.500+ keywords weekly!

Hosting

For hosting SerpBear I use my own home server, running Proxmox and Docker in an LXC container.

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Generated using Flux 1 [schnell]

To wrap it all up! Track unlimited keywords and domains with SerpBear, you’re only limited by your scraping credits. Try doing that with Ahrefs’ $99/month plan!

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Question, comment or an idea?

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You can reach me on [email protected]