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Search engines and position checking software

Can you recommend any position checking software?

Many of you will find that I do not agree with the considerable majority of search engine marketing and positioning firms on this topic. So I guess I will come out and say it.

I do not endorse any position checking software.

Reason? No position checking software company that I know of has received permission from the search engines to perform automated queries on their indices.

So if you work for a position checking software company and approach me to endorse your software, please be aware that the first thing I will do is contact my search engine representatives and ask them if you have permission to perform automated queries. If the answer is "no," then I will not endorse your software.

Reasons search engines don't like position checking software

The main reason given at Search Engine Strategies conferences is server load and advertisers.

Picture this. You have a site with over 100 keyword phrases. You want to measure your site's search engine visibility. So you use some kind of position checking software to do the work for you. That's 100 queries per search engine. Let's assume you check 10 search engines. That's 1,000 queries.

Now, let's say 100 people are in the same situation you are in. That's 100 x 1,000 queries = 100,000 queries. And so on and so on. Imagine the server load for the thousands of people who use position checking software.

Search engines were not created for people to do position checking. They were created to provide relevant search results. The server load interferes with the search engines' ability to do their job. Search engine reps don't like that. Search engine users don't like that.

Furthermore, advertisers pay for space on the search engines. How are advertisers to differentiate a query from software vs. a qualified visitor?

So, ethically, I cannot endorse position checking software. As soon as a search engine endorses one, I will endorse it, too.

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