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SE Ranking Review and Complete Step-by-Step User Guide

SEO has changed dramatically in the last 18 months. If you are using strategies from 2020 (or even early 2023), you are likely outdated. "New SEO" is no longer about tricking a robot into ranking your page, it is about proving to an AI that you are the most credible, helpful authority on a topic.

Google updates its algorithm hundreds of times a year, and the data from SE ranking helps you keep up with it.

SE Ranking is currently considered the "smart budget alternative" for SEO. It is an All-in-One SEO Platform, meaning it tries to give you every tool you need (rank tracking, competitor research, website auditing) in a single dashboard, similar to tools that Semrush or Ahrefs provide, but at a lower price point.

SE Ranking was founded in 2013 by Valery Kurilov with a specific mission to democratize SEO software. The team built the platform because they realized that professional-grade tools were becoming too expensive for the average freelancer or small agency to afford. Their goal was to create a single, cost-effective ecosystem where users could manage rank tracking, website audits, and competitor research without needing a corporate-sized budget.

SE Ranking Pros & Cons

Pros

Price-to-Value Ratio: You get 90% of the power of Semrush for 50% of the cost
The Interface: It is much cleaner and less intimidating than competitors.
Page Changes Monitoring: It alerts you if a competitor changes their pricing page or modifies their headline (great for staying ahead).

Cons

Backlink Data: Its database of backlinks is smaller than Ahrefs. If your primary goal is aggressive link building, Ahrefs is better.
Keyword Database: For very obscure or tiny local niches, it might have less data than Semrush.

The Core Features of SE Ranking

100% Accurate Rank Tracker (The Flagship Feature)

This is what SE Ranking is most famous for.

It tracks where your website ranks for specific keywords daily.
It doesn't just track Google. It tracks Google Mobile vs. Desktop (crucial for Mobile-First indexing) and ranks in the "AI Snippets" or "Featured Snippets", helping you see if you are winning those zero-click searches.

Website Audit (The Technical Doctor)

It crawls your entire site like a Google bot and gives you a health score (0-100).
It finds broken links, slow-loading pages, missing security certificates (SSL), and mixed content errors.
This directly addresses technical SEO, ensuring your site is stable enough for Google to rank.

Competitive Research (The Spy Tool)

You type in a competitor’s URL, and it shows you:
- Which keywords they are ranking for.
- Which of their pages get the most traffic?
- Who is linking to them?
You use this for the "Content Gap" strategy. You find keywords your competitors rank for that you don't, and then you write better articles to steal that traffic.

Content Marketing Module (AI & Semantic Search)

This is their answer to modern SEO. It includes an AI Writer and a Content Editor.
When you write an article, it scores your content against the top 10 ranking pages. It tells you, "Your competitors used the word 'budget' 15 times, but you only used it twice."
This helps you build Topic Clusters and ensures you aren't missing semantically related keywords.

E. White Label

You can remove the "SE Ranking" logo from the reports and put your own company logo and colors on them.
You can generate a professional PDF report that says "Here is how your SEO improved this month" and send it automatically to your boss or clients from your
email domain. It makes you look like you built the software yourself.

Step-by-step guide on how to use SE Ranking

Here is your practical, step-by-step guide on how to use SE Ranking to execute the "New SEO" strategy we discussed.

Phase 1: The Setup to Build Your Foundation

Step 1: Create Your Project

Click the big green "Create Project" button.

General Tab: Enter your website URL (e.g., https://yourbusiness.com). Give the project a name.
Search Engines: Select "Google."
Crucial New SEO Tip: Add "Mobile" tracking. Google indexes your mobile site first. If you only track Desktop, you are looking at old data.
Location: Be specific. If you are a local plumber in Chicago, select "USA, Chicago." Don't just pick "USA."

Step 2: Add Your Keywords

Don't guess. If you have data, import your keywords from Google Search Console (GSC) or a CSV file.
If you are starting fresh, type in your main services (e.g., "CRM software," "Best CRM for small business").
Pro Tip: Add your Brand Name (e.g., "Virendlu Agency") as a keyword. You need to know if you are ranking #1 for your own name.

Step 3: Add Competitors

Add the URLs of your top 3 real-world competitors.

Why? The software will now automatically track their rankings side-by-side with yours every day.

Phase 2: Technical Audit

Step 1: Run the Audit

Go to the "Website Audit" tab in the left sidebar.
Click "Restart Audit" or wait for it to finish the first crawl.
You will get a Health Score (0-100).

Step 2: Fix the "Red" Errors First

Ignore the "Notices" (Blue) for now. Focus on the "Errors" (Red).
404 Errors: These are broken links. They kill user experience. Fix them or redirect them.
Missing Title Tags: Every page needs a title. If it's missing, Google doesn't know what the page is about.
Slow Pages: Look for the "Core Web Vitals" section. If a page takes >3 seconds to load, send that list to your developer immediately.

Phase 3: Find What to Write

Step 1: Competitive Research

Go to "Competitive Research" in the menu.
Enter a competitor’s URL.
Click on "Organic Traffic Research" -> "Keywords."
Filter: Sort by "Volume" (High) and "Difficulty" (Low to Medium).
Action: Look for keywords they rank for (Positions 1-10) that you don't have content for. This is your “Content Gap.”

Step 2: Check for “Featured Snippets”

Go back to your Rank Tracker.
Look at the "SERP Features" column. You will see little icons (a star, a picture, a question mark).
Action: If you see a "People Also Ask" box (question mark icon) for a keyword, that is a target for an AI-style answer. You need to write a direct, concise answer (40-60 words) in your post to try and steal that spot.

Phase 4: The "New SEO" Execution (Content Editor)

Step 1: Create a Brief

Go to "Content Marketing" -> "Content Editor."
Type in the topic you want to write about (e.g., "How to fix a leaky faucet").
The tool will analyze the top 10 current winners.

Step 2: Write for “Green”

Start writing your article in the editor.
Watch the score on the right side. It will guide you:
"You have 0/5 images. Add more visuals."
"You haven't used the word 'washer' or 'wrench'. Add those terms."
Goal: Get your score into the Green zone (usually 75+) before you publish. This ensures you have covered the topic semantically (E-E-A-T).

Phase 5: Maintenance (Set & Forget)

Step 1: Set Up Reports

Go to "Report Builder."
Choose a template (e.g., "SEO Rankings Overview").
Schedule: Set it to email you (and your boss/client) automatically on the 1st of every month.

Include:

Rankings Table (Changes up/down).
Website Audit Score (Health).
Traffic Overview (from Google Analytics).

Checklist for Your First Week

Monday: Set up the Project and run the Audit.
Tuesday: Fix the top 3 Technical Errors (Red flags).
Wednesday: Find 5 keywords your competitor ranks for that you don't.
Thursday: Use the Content Editor to write an outline for one of those keywords.
Friday: Check your rankings. Don't panic if nothing moved yet. SEO takes time.

SE Ranking Pricing

Price and Subscription Offers of SE Ranking

SE Ranking uses a "dynamic" pricing model. The price changes based on how frequently you want ranking updates.

Essential Plan: ~$55/month
Includes: 10 websites, Audit, Competitor checking.
Pro Plan: ~$109/month (Most Popular)
Includes: Unlimited projects, Historical data, Page changes monitor.
Business Plan: ~$239/month
Includes: API access, White label, and More user seats.

If you choose "Rankings check frequency: Every 3 days" instead of "Daily", you get a 20% discount. For most businesses, daily checks are overkill anyway.

Essential	Pro	Business
$52.00 per month	$95.20 per month	$207.20 per month
For individual SEO professionals 1 manager seat 5 projects Core SEO tools: Rank Tracker Website Audit Backlink Checker & Monitor Historical data on keywords/domains Data Insights API Add-ons available for purchase: Content Marketing Local Marketing Agency Pack	For agencies and small teams 3 manager seats 30 projects Looker Studio integration Keyword Database Expansion Share of Voice metric Historical data (3 previous months) Data Insights API Content Marketing Local Marketing Agency Pack	For large agencies and enterprises 5 manager seats Unlimited projects Maximized data reach Priority Support Team Training Historical data (all time) Data Insights API Content Marketing Local Marketing Agency Pack
Get Started

Conclusion

If you have a $500/month budget for software, buy Ahrefs. It is still one of the best you will get.

However, if you are tight on budget and would not prefer to spend that much for data, SE Ranking is good to go. It provides 90% of the value for 40% of the price. It is reliable, efficient, affordable, and gets you exactly where you need to go.

SE Ranking Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is SE Ranking’s data actually accurate compared to expensive tools like Semrush or Ahrefs?

Yes, for Rank Tracking and Website Audits, the accuracy is nearly identical (95-99% match). Where it differs is the Backlink Database. Ahrefs has the largest database of links in the world. SE Ranking has a smaller database. If your main strategy is aggressive link building, you might miss some data with SE Ranking. For everything else (keywords, technical errors, competitor traffic), it is highly accurate and reliable.

Can I move my current data (keywords and history) from another tool to SE Ranking?

Yes. SE Ranking has a "Migration" feature. You can export your keywords and ranking history from tools like Moz, Ahrefs, or Semrush into a CSV (Excel) file and import them directly into SE Ranking. This ensures you don't lose your historical progress when you switch to the cheaper tool.