Authority Labs is a reliable and accurate rank tracking software trusted by hundreds of marketers worldwide.
With its unique features like automated feature snippet tracking, competitor tracking, and not-provided keywords, you’ll have everything you need to test your SEO performance.
But is Authority Labs the right lab to perform your SEO (search engine optimization) experiments?
In this Authority Labs review, we’ll discover what the tool is, five unique features of this product, Authority labs pricing, and its limitations.
Bonus: We’ll also briefly review two Authority Labs alternatives, just in case your SEO experiments 🧪 don’t work out with this tool.
This Article Contains:
(Click on the links below to jump to a specific section)
- What is Authority Labs?
- 5 Unique Features of Authority Labs
- How Much Does Authority Labs Cost?
- 2 Limitations of Authority Labs
- 2 Alternatives for Authority Labs
- Is Authority Labs the Leader of SEO Tools?
What is Authority Labs?
Authority Labs is a rank tracking software and API that lets you track your website’s local and mobile rankings across different search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
You can also use it to get the most accurate geo-targeted keyword data that you can filter by state, city, or even postal code.
Additionally, the not-provided keywords feature reveals the keywords that are driving maximum organic traffic to your website. These keywords are usually hidden under the “Not Provided” category in Google Analytics.
However, the best thing about Authority Labs is that it allows unlimited users to access this SEO software at no additional costs.
Wondering if your social media experts, digital marketers, or a client can review your reports with their own logins?
That’s when Authority Labs tells you…
Moreover, if you need help understanding any of its rank tracking features, you can check out Authority Lab’s blog or the resource section. You can even schedule a demo if you like.
Next in this review, we’ll see how Authority Labs can help you with SEO rank tracking.
5 Unique Features of Authority Labs
Here are the five fantastic features offered by this reliable SEO software:
1. Local Rank Tracking
If you’re a local business or a content marketing agency promoting a local business, you need local rank tracking data for better search engine optimization.
Here’s when Authority Labs comes into the picture.
This keyword tracking tool gives you daily updates on how your domain ranks in searches for the different locations you want to target. Marketing agencies can also pull in the data directly into their Google Data Studio reports to present it to their clients.
You can also use this tool for global rank tracking by selecting the country and language supported by search engines like Google and Bing.
We decided to test this feature out ourselves.
Here’s how you go about it:
Click on the Add Domain option from the left tool panel. It’ll take you to the New Domain Settings page. Enter the domain name you want to track. You can add up to 50 domains at a time.
We decided to test the keyword ranking for a mobile pet grooming service in Arizona, United States – Azspaws.com.
Next, select the country and language you want this tool to target.
Also, select the city for which you need the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) data. Here, we chose Arizona.
In fact, you can even narrow down the search to a specific zip code.
Next, if you want to know where your business appears in Google’s 3-Pack, enter your business name as displayed by Google Maps.
Note: Google’s 3-Pack is a search engine service that displays the top three results for local SERPs.
You can also select which device you want to track the keyword data for – Desktop or Mobile.
Next, create a Domain Group if you want to track multiple domains at a time. Also, select the search engines for your keyword research.
Finally, click on the Track Domain(s) button.
The next page will show a multiple keyword window. Here you can add all the keywords you wish to track. You can either add them manually or import them from an Excel sheet using the Bulk Uploader.
We added a couple of keywords manually and clicked on the ADD Keywords button.
Here are the keyword research results we got:
The rank tracking report showed our target website’s rank for all the given keywords on Google, Yahoo, and Bing, along with their monthly search volume, CPC (Cost-Per-Click), and Result Types.
Here’s what each term means:
- Monthly Search Volume (MSV): Shows how many times that particular keyword is searched each month.
- Cost-Per-Click (CPC): Amount you need to pay to search engines every time someone clicks on your online ad.
- Result Types: Authority Labs uses icons to represent different SERP features that appear on the Google results page for each keyword. These include rich snippets, news, image, video, answer box, and local results.
These keyword tracking reports also send daily updates to give you the most recent keyword rankings. This way, you can start your morning the right way, knowing you’ve outranked your competitors. 😎
2. Automated Featured Snippet Tracking
Authority Labs lets you track the keywords for which you’ve earned featured snippets.
Features snippets are brief excerpts from a webpage that appear in a search engine’s top results. They aim to answer a user’s question quickly.
If a keyword you’re tracking has a featured snippet, an i icon will appear under the Result Types column.
And, if your site owns that featured snippet, the i icon will have a dark circle around it.
How does this feature help?
If you’re trying to optimize your content for featured snippets, this feature will tell you whether your SEO strategy is working or not.
Since featured snippets are highly unpredictable, you can also take quick corrective measures to recover your rankings by tracking this data. Moreover, you can use this feature to spot featured snippet opportunities (snippets you don’t own yet) and optimize your content accordingly.
3. Competitor Tracking
You can use this rank tracking software to track and review your competitor’s keyword rankings as well.
This way, you can get insights into their SERP changes and identify the SEO science they’re using to rank higher.
There are two ways to perform competitor tracking in this SEO software:
A. Track Competitor Sites Individually
You can track your competitors the same way you conduct local rank tracking for your own domain.
Simply go to the Add Domain option on the dashboard, and follow the same process we described under Local Rank Tracking.
B. Track Your Competitor Rankings Side-By-Side
If you need ranking data for the same keywords for your own site and your competitor, you can track them side-by-side with the Group and Sync feature.
Go to the Add Domain option in the left toolbar. In the Domain URL field, enter both your and your competitor’s website.
Create a group for comparison. We named it Competitor Comparison.
Continue adding all the keywords for which you seek the SERP data and give the software some time to sync the keyword research results. The competitor tracking report will look like this:
You can also check or uncheck the search engine boxes to display ranking only for a particular search engine.
4. Scheduled Rank Tracking Reports
As a customer or SEO service agency, you can also use this tool to decide when and what reports to send to your team or client. For that, you can go to the Exports option in the tool panel to access the reporting window.
Here, you can choose individual reports for each domain or create a consolidated report for all domains.
Authority Labs also allows you to schedule your reports on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. These reports are sent to your email.
You can even select how far back you want to go with the reports. You can add data for the past month, three months, six months, or choose a custom range.
5. Not-Provided Keywords
To boost your SEO performance, you need to know which keywords are driving the most organic traffic to your website.
However, when looking for this data in Google Analytics, most of these keywords are listed as “Not Provided.” The reason is that Google encrypts such search terms for user privacy.
At this point, you may feel like…
But wait.
Authority Labs’ Now Provided feature can save the day.
This tool’s technology allows you to recover these not-provided keywords that users are typing in search engines to find your website.
No kidding!
Authority Labs combines its keyword data with Google Analytics and SEMrush to first identify the top 25 pages of your website that are driving maximum organic traffic. It then finds out the top ranking keywords from those pages.
You can access these keywords by clicking the Now Provided button next to your domain.
It’ll give you the 25 pages of your website that get the most clicks. You can then click on any URL to see up to 50 keywords that the page ranks for.
You can also see the percentage of your traffic coming from each keyword, its search volume, competition score, CPC, and keyword ranking.
Wondering how much money you need to shell out to get such incredible search results?
Let’s take a deep dive into Authority Labs pricing options.
How Much Does Authority Labs Cost?
Here are the four Authority Labs pricing plans you can choose from:
- Plus ($49/month)
- 250 keywords
- 50 domains
- Local tracking
- Mobile tracking
- And more
- Pro ($99/month)
- 1,000 keywords
- 100 domains
- Local tracking
- Unlimited users
- And more
- Pro Plus ($225/month)
- 2,500 keywords
- 300 domains
- Local tracking
- Unlimited users
- And more
- Enterprise ($450/month)
- 5,000+ keywords
- Unlimited domains
- Local tracking
- Interface API access
- And more
If you wish to experiment with this tool first, this software offers a 14-day free trial to every customer (no credit card required).
However, before you opt for any paid plan, it’d be wise to know about this tool’s limitations.
2 Limitations of Authority Labs
Here are the two significant drawbacks of using Authority Labs:
1. Limited Standard Plan
If you’re a small business or a marketing startup, you would probably like to opt for the basic plan that lets you track up to 250 keywords and 50 domains for $49/month.
But, once you really get into the game, you want to start tracking more keywords, competitors and access other advanced features. But for that, you need to opt for a more expensive plan.
Now, even though its basic plan has a few limitations, it’s still a good enough deal for SEO beginners. Its standard plan even offers access to unlimited users.
Moreover, as you grow, this rank tracker can scale with you to meet your rank tracking requirements.
We bet your inner voice is saying…
2. Keyword Tracking Errors
To improve your SEO performance, you need your rank tracking data to be delivered immediately.
Unfortunately, we faced some issues with this tool as the SERP report took some time to load completely.
However, these reporting issues are quite rare, and as long as you’re getting accurate keyword rank tracking data, it’s worth the wait.
Not sure if Authority Labs offers the best lab equipment for your SEO campaign?
Don’t worry!
Next, in this Authority Labs review, we’ll give you the two best alternatives for this SEO software.
2 Alternatives for Authority Labs
Here are the other two apps that you can experiment with in your SEO lab:
1. Serpfox
Serpfox is a user-friendly rank tracking tool that lets you track your website’s position across multiple search engines, including Google and Bing.
The tool doesn’t confuse you with complex features, and it’s pretty easy to use for new SEO software users.
It also presents the SERP data in concise reports and lets you customize them with your company branding.
However, this tool doesn’t offer crucial SERP data points, which are essential for crafting effective marketing and PPC campaigns.
2. Rankwatch
Rankwatch is another popular cloud-based software that offers keyword ranking data, backlink analysis, site audit, and more.
In fact, its backlink analysis feature proves particularly useful if you’re looking to improve on your link-building strategy.
You can even use this rank tracker to do a comprehensive competitor analysis by tracking the keywords your competitors are currently ranking for.
Additionally, you get insights into your competitors’ paid and organic activities for better search engine optimization.
On the downside, sometimes this tool’s keyword tracking data doesn’t match the results displayed by popular search engines – this can put you in a tight spot with your client.
This means, be ready to…
Is Authority Labs the Leader of SEO Tools?
If you’re looking for a rank tracking software or SEO API that can give you in-depth data about your website’s ranking, you can confidently give the authority to Authority Labs.
Unlike other API or SEO apps, Authority Labs offers some unique features like featured snippets and not-provided keywords that can help you make more sense of your Google Analytics data.
This rank tracker is also affordable as it allows unlimited users to access the reporting feature irrespective of the paid plan they’ve opted for.
However, before you begin tracking your SEO performance with this rank tracking software, you need to build a solid keyword strategy.
Fortunately, you can do that and more by connecting with the SEO specialists at Startup Voyager. Our SEO experts can help you craft fantastic online content and implement a powerful SEO strategy to drive massive organic traffic to your website!