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Search Engines Settings



After completing the campaign General Settings screen, select the Search Engines you want RangerBot to track for the primary domain. 

You can further customize how RangerBot collects data for your campaign with Custom Location & Options settings that allow you to track specific locations, include/exclude Local Pack, Hotel Pack, and Top Stories / News results, as well as a range of other options. 


Please note that changes to campaign settings are reflected in the next day's rank tracking results.



Campaign Search Engine Settings

 


Search Engines Quick Start Videos

 
This video is intended to be a quick start guide, please refer to the description of the settings, and step-by-step instructions on this page for complete details regarding rank tracking campaign optimization.

Add Search Engines



Advanced Search Engine Settings




Select Search Engine(s)

 
Select the Country you want RangerBot to provide tracking results for. 

Campaign Search Engine Setting Country


Select a Search Engine and click the Add button.

For multiple local search engines, refer to the Google Local Search Engines section below.

Campaign Search Engine settings Search Egnines

To track:
  • YouTube video rank, please select the YouTube search engine.
  • App rank in the iTunes store, please select the iTunes search engine.
  • App rank in Google Play Store, please select the Google Play search engine.

View the full list of Search Engines available per country.

Google Local Search Engines


Google Local Search


The system allows for 1 instance each of Google Desktop, Google Local Finder, Google Maps, and Google Mobile per campaign (up to the package capacity limit of search engines per campaign), and they can be customized for a specific location.  However, because there are business cases where it would be beneficial to track multiple instances of the same search engine with different location settings in the same campaign we offer this option for customization.

In this example we will focus on Google in the USA, however, this feature is available for Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and a few more countries (if you need a different country, contact us to request that it be added). To track multiple instances of the same USA Google Local search engine (e.g., Desktop, Mobile, Local Finder or Maps) in one campaign:
  • Select "United States (Local)" in the Country list.
  • Select the search engine you want to add, e.g., Google Loc 1*, and repeat for the next instance of the same search engine by selecting Loc 2 and Loc 3, customizing each for the desired locations (Custom Location & Options > Custom Location Settings).  
  • Repeat for each Country & Search Engine combination that you would like to add, up to the limit per campaign for the package the campaign is associated with.

Google local search USA



Naming Local Search Engines


When selecting a Google Local search engine, you have the option to customize the location and the label that displays in reports for that search engine.  Click the Custom Location & Options button. Note that the search engine name in this example is displaying next to the flag as Google Loc 1.  In the Custom Search Engine Name field, you can enter the name that you want to be displayed for that search engine in reports.

In this example, we have entered "Google Orlando" to identify the location of the Google Loc 1 search engine, and after clicking the Save button, the new label displays next to the Google logo and country flag.

name local search engine


Custom Search Engines Report

In this example, there are 3 Google USA Local search engines - for Orlando, Tallahassee, and Tampa, Florida - displayed side-by-side in a Rank Summary Search Engines report in Competitive View.

custom search engine names in search engine report


The above example was created using the Google USA Desktop search engine. 
  • Google Mobile can be set with custom location and for business results.
  • Google Maps can be set with custom location and provides map results from the Google Maps search engine with places listings. 
  • Google Local Finder is a feature of Google search and can be set with custom location and business results. It provides data from Google My Business listing results, along with maps. 
    This FAQ explains the differences between Google Local Finder and Maps.

  • Custom Location Settings

    Rank Tracking & Report Options

    custom location setting

    Click the Custom Location & Options button and complete these fields:
    • Custom Search Engine Name (optional): this displays in reports
    • Custom Location Settings: the search engine country has already been selected, you can target the location further by entering a state, city or postal code in any of these formats:
      • California: this narrows a USA search to the state of California
      • Miami, FL: this narrows a USA search to the city of Miami, Florida
      • 90210, USA: this narrows a USA search to a postal code within a city (in the US, it is necessary to add a comma after the postal code and include USA)
      • London: this targets a UK search to the city of London
      • WC1N: this targets a UK search to a specific postal code


    Click the Save button
    when you have finished customizing the search engine.

    Business Results Settings

    Default Setting
    The default search engine setting for Business Results is that they are excluded from rank tracking.
    • Option 1:  Select Exclude from organic rank count if you don't want this campaign to report local pack or hotel pack in the Rank reports

      default business results setting

    • Option 2:  Select Exclude from organic rank count AND enter the Google My Business page name in the Business Name field if you want the business name tracked and reported in the Reports & Tools > Organic Search >Rank Tracking > Rank Insights - Local screen

      exclude rank but include business tracking

    • Option 3:  Enter the Google My Business page name in the Business Name field, and select the Include in organic rank count option if you want the local pack or hotel pack position considered as part of organic rank in the Rank reports

      Google My Business Title
      • Select the Include if Ranked option if you don't want the local pack or hotel pack included in the organic rank count when your business isn't found in the pack


    If you choose Option 2 or 3 to enable Google My Business listing results reporting, then follow these instructions to enable tracking. 

    Business Results Match
    • Select Exclude from organic rank count or Include in organic rank count based on whether or not you want local or hotel pack positions counted in organic rank (as described in the section above)
      • If Include in organic rank count is selected, and you only want the local pack or hotel pack positions considered in organic rank only when the Business Name is matched in the pack, check the Include if Ranked option.
    • In the Business Name field enter the Google My Business listing Title
      The Business Name must be the exact title that displays in the Google listing for the business location.
      Refer to the sections below for wild card options to accommodate Google business listings for multiple locations or business names.
    Google My Business Title


    Business with Multiple Location Listings
    If the tracked domain has multiple Google business listings containing the same Business Name with location or service included in the title, use the (contains) option.
    • For example, by entering (Capital Grille), the Ranger bot will return Local Results for "The Capital Grille", "Capital Grille Wall Street", "The Capital Grille of New Orleans", etc.
    Multiple business location pages


    Company with Multiple Business Name Listings
    If the Google Business Titles don't contain a common brand name, you can enter multiple business names in parentheses with a pipe between them.
    • For example, the Hilton Hotel in San Diego has a sports grill, lounge, and restaurant, so to track the Google Business page for each of the related properties, you could enter this in the Business Name field:
      (Hilton San Diego Bayfront)|(Fox Sports Grill)|(Odysea Lounge)|(Vela)
    Multiple business name listings


    Business Page URL (optional)
    If the Google business listing has been optimized for a URL that is different than the campaign's primary URL, you may enter that URL in this field and we will use it as the landing page in your reports.
    • For example, if the website link on the Google My Business listing for a restaurant directs users to the reservations page, a menu, or a gallery of mouth-watering photos, you can enter that URL in this field. 
    • If the field is left empty, then the campaign domain URL will display in reports if the keyword ranks in Local Finder for the business name.
    report landing page URL

    In the above example, the search engine has been customized:
    • For search in Boston, Massachusetts
    • To include local pack and hotel pack results if the Google My Business listing title is "The Capital Grille"
    • To include the rank count along with organic results rank if the Google Business listing name is in the search results
    • To list a specific landing page URL in the rank reports when the Google My Business name is found in Boston based search results


    Click the Save button
    when you have finished customizing the search engine.

    Learn more about Local Pack Results or Hotel Pack Results.

    Video Carousel Setting

    The display of video carousel in search results linking to the tracked domain or YouTube (or other video platforms) can be added to SEO tracking by using this search engine setting.

    Search Engine Setting for Video Carousels
    This setting is located in Campaign Settings > Search Engines 

    Search Engine Setting for Video Carousel


    Confirm Video Channel Name

    The name entered in the Video Carousel setting needs to match the channel name. For example, on YouTube allrecipes.com has a channel named "Allrecipes" (not "All Recipes"), so it needs to be entered that way in the Video Carousel settings.


    Multiple Video Channels

    In case, there is more than one video channel to be tracked that contains the same name with variations, then our (contains) option can be used by placing part of the channel name that is the same in both channels inside of round brackets.

    For example, Allrecipes UK has:
    Youtube channel named Allrecipes UK | Ireland
    Vimeo channel named Allrecipes UK

    Then in the Search Engine Settings in the Video Carousel, the input will be (Allrecipes UK)

    In case, there are multiple video channels to be tracked and not all channel names have similarities, then use a (contain) with a pipe separation for those channel names that are different, as follows: (Name1)|(Name2)


    For example, Linus Media Group owns several YouTube channels including
    Linus Tech Tips
    ShortCircuit
    Techquickie
    TechLinked


    In order to track all of them the Search Engine Settings in the Video Carousel, the input will be (Linus Tech Tips)|(ShortCircuit)|(Techquickie)|(TechLinked)


                 
    find video channel name


    Example of Video Carousel in Rank Insights Video view
    In Reports & Tools > Organic Search > Rank Tracking > Rank Insights > Video view, if a video is displayed in the search results and the URL matches the tracked domain or the channel matches the channel name in the search engine settings, then you can open the SERP Snapshot to discover the video title, URL and channel name (if the video link is at YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)

    Rank Insights Video report


    Example of Video Carousel reported in Rank Insights > SERP Features view
                 
    video carousel in search results

    Top Stories News Results Settings


    Include or Exclude Top Stories News Results

    This feature is available for Google desktop search engines in the Custom Location & Options settings.

    The default is set to exclude News results in the rank count.

    To include Top Stories results along with Organic results in rank count, select Include.

    track top stories

    When set to include and campaign keywords result in Top Stories in Google Search, a news icon SERP News icon will be displayed in the Dashboard report for that keyword.  Learn more about how rank is counted when this option is selected.

    Mobile Result Type Settings

    Apps Box & Top Stories

    Google serves special features in Mobile SERP and so we offer several specialty features for mobile search tracking including the following options that you can choose from to customize the type of search results you want tracked:

    Google Mobile results type

    • Organic
    • Apps Box
    • Top Stories
    You can further customize mobile search results with custom location and business results settings. Learn more...

    Optional Advanced Search Engine Settings


    These Optional Advanced Settings are automatically set to display the optimum results for the selected search engine and campaign. Only change these settings if you specifically want to see results that vary from the default.

    For example, when google.co.uk is selected the default language is English. If you want to track a different language, such as French, in google.co.uk then you should change the Search Results Language setting.

    Search Results Language (lr parameter)
    If you want to check search rankings only for a specific language (lr parameter), select it from the menu.
    Important! Do not select a language unless it is non-native to the search engine you have selected (e.g., if you selected google.co.fr and you want French search results, then leave this set for All Languages because French is the default for google.co.fr).

    Search Results Language


    Search Results Country (cr parameter)
    To check search rankings only for pages hosted in a specific country (cr parameter), select the country from the menu.
    Important! If you have already selected a country-specific search engine like google.co.uk, and you want search results for the UK, then do not change this setting because UK is already the default for that search engine.

    Search Results country


    Search Location (Country) (gl parameter)
    To check rankings as though you were searching Google from inside a specific country (gl parameter), select the country from the menu.
    Important! Only select a Country if it is different than the search engine country (e.g., search engine is Google.com USA and you want results based on someone searching from Canada).

    search location country


    Interface Language (hl parameter)
    If the campaign contains multiple language keywords tracking on a country-based search engine, and you think that your client / target audience has their browser interface language set to a language that differs from some of the keywords, then you may select an interface language.
    For example, if most of the campaign's keywords are French, and some are English, and the campaign is tracking on Google France (google.fr), then you may choose to set the browser interface language to French.
                 
    interface language


    SafeSearch Filter
    Select a SafeSearch filter based on the level of adult content you want to display in search results
    • Off = adult content allowed
    • Moderate = explicit content blocked
    • Strict = adult content blocked 
    Click the Save button.

    safesearch filter



    More Campaign Settings & Integration Options


    Customize Rank Tracking and connect Website Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Social Analytics and more:

    Delete Search Engine

    Warning!

    If you choose to delete a search engine, the deletion is permanent. Please understand that if you (or any authorized account user) click the Delete button, then a warning message displays on the screen and that requires a second click to accept deletion, once that Delete button is clicked it is not possible for us to recover the data. We recommend that Campaign Rank Backup be run and file downloaded prior to any deletion within a campaign's settings.


    Delete Search Engine




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