WHAT does tracker actually do????

OK .. so I've registered my [brand new] website with tracker.

But exactly what is it tracking? (Please answer in plain English, not techie jargon! thanks)

Is it tracking whichever actual keywords people are *using* to find my site?
Or is it tracking the relative use of keywords that I have specified in my meta-tags on my home page?
Or is it tracking something else?

It difficult for me to understand, since the web site is new, and doesn't yet figure in the Google search engine - so I can't actually see historic data.

I did read the FAQ, but I couldn't find this basic information in there. (Maybe it is, but if so I couldn't find it). The FAQ seems to assume I already understand the basic function of the tracker - but I don't!.

 

Shawn let me try to put that in an even more understandable way. The tracker is tracking the position of the URL you have entered, in Google's search results for each keyword that you enter into the tracker. The assumption being that someone types that keyword or keyword phrase into the Google search box.

The default setting is that the tracker will only look at the first 100 pages in Google's search results, but you can modify that to look at the first 200 pages in Google's search results for each individual keyword or keyword phrase.

Now the results from the tracker are slightly misleading because if it does not find your page in the first 100 or 200 pages it then assumes that Google does not have your page indexed anywhere in the first 10,000. This may be in error because your page could be anywhere from 201 to 9,999 and the tracker would not report it.

 

May I add also

1. that you need to "know" what keyword/keyword phrase you want to "track" first [eg look up your stats on the site you want to track, and see what you are being found for or go into the keyword suggestion area and find out what you should be looking for]
2. for Google these Meta tag keywords are of not much use - which suggests that you are new to the "game"? - so I refer you back to 1.
3. Look at Compar and my signatures - notice a similarity? Go find the thread that this relates to and read it in its entirety [I just reread it all and I'm one of the testers!] which will show you how this tool "keyword tracker" and McDars tools work and how you can use them.

 

Thanks very much for your reply (and others') ... this leads me to more questions though:-

As I said - brand new site - so this is a complete guessing game.

Even when I do have search argument stats, it sounds as if they won't be of much use. Presumably I really want to find what search words people are trying to use to find me ... but are failing! (Obviously can only show those where the site is found, but long way down the list)

Question: how can I find the search args used where site is found but not seen by user? (i.e. found after first page or two and user never scrolled/paged down far enough to find the link?)

Does google not index on Meta tags at all? In the absence of historic data, the keywords/phrases in meta tags are all I've got.

Can you please explain what you're on about here?
(I don't get "hints" etc.)

 

It's here: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

No, not at the moment. But some SEs do so you must put them in as you would in the title. You get the info from the tool in 1, not from historic data unless that happens to fullfill the need.

I wrote it like that so that you, yes you, would start looking around, at, and for, what is available eg the keyword suggestion tool above. You didn't so I have put it above for you, and here is the thread you need to read:

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=256

Just these will get you going