Introducing the Intelligent Search Tracker

The times, they really are a-changin'…

Until recently, Google and other search engines simply gave you a list of blue links to choose from. Rank tracking measured where your links appeared in the list for a given keyword over time. However, Google has evolved to give users increasingly relevant, specific results. And those 10 blue links are quickly becoming a way of the past. More searches on Google now return a Local Pack — and often a Knowledge Card.

When search results no longer appear in a list of results, ranking them from 1-10 stops serving as a useful measure of success. Particularly now that search engines have begun to prioritize results based on a searchers' physical location (meaning, results will vary drastically between cities, and you might even see different Local Pack results within a matter of blocks), the traditional method of evaluating search performance will no longer cut it. Enter our new Intelligent Search Tracker.

In our last post, we took a deeper look at how you can use Yext Analytics to see — and act on — new insights into how consumers see and interact with your business across the many channels you don't have direct control over. Today, we'll explore the ways you can use the Yext Intelligent Search Tracker tool to measure your performance, in this new age of intelligent search.

Ask intelligent questions. Get intelligent answers.

Our Intelligent Search Tracker allows you to understand how your locations are performing for both branded and unbranded searches. You can track up to 7 keywords across 4 query templates (more on those in a moment) for each of your locations. Then, view results on a location-by-location basis, or easily aggregate results across locations or across keywords. Think about that for moment. Even if you just want to know how you're performing for a single keyword, that could end up being hundreds of unique searches if you compare the results city by city. That's a labor-intensive task (to say the least) without the right tool!

Speaking of setting up your keywords based on the cities in which you operate, that's where the magic of Yext's query templates come in. Create up to 4 templates for each keyword — so "coffee" can become "coffee [CITY]", "coffee [ZIP]", or "coffee near me". Intelligent Search Tracker is built right into the Yext Knowledge Engine — we leverage the same data that you have stored in Yext to fill out the query templates — so setup is quick and painless.

Quantify your level of control.

The metric we use to evaluate your performance in intelligent search is called Share of Intelligent Search. Essentially, this indicates how much of the SERP you control. The more results you show up for across the organic SERP, the Local Pack, and the Knowledge Card — and the more prominent those results are — the higher your Share of Intelligent Search. So with this one metric, it's easy to understand how you are doing over time, how you are doing against competitors, and what other actions you could take — like syncing your Google My Business account or creating local pages — to give yourself more control.

We also break down your share of search based on the type of results. These can be Listings (found outside of the map pack), Local Map Pack, Location Pages, or your Corporate Website.

Ways to use Intelligent Search Tracker

As with any good analytics tool, it's not really about the data — it's about what you do with it. Here are some of the key ways you can leverage the Intelligent Search tracker to improve and protect your Share of Intelligent Search.

Track search control by keyword.

See how your Share of Intelligent Search varies across keywords. Examine how on-site SEO tactics are impacting local search at scale.

See how Google's SERP changes impact your visibility.

Search engines are constantly changing their algorithm and their UI. Find out immediately when Google makes a change — and understand how that change impacts your location's visibility.

Watch competitors.

See how often your competitors show up in local search results. Stay on top of any changes for all the keywords you care about.

Intelligent Search Tracker is now available in beta for Yext users with the Ultimate package, or who purchase the Intelligent Search Tracker add-on. For more information about Yext Analytics and the other features in the Spring 2017 product release, request a demo orsign up for our webinaron March 23rd. Yext Partner? Sign up for the webinarhere.