CleverStat.com

[Administrator]

Q: Can Google penalize me for using automated rank checking software? I don't want my site to go down in rank!
A: Briefly - no, it can't. Here is the detailed explanation. Google (and any other search engine) cannot drop the rank of your site, because it simply doesn't know what's the URL of your site it should drop down. Look: when you query search engine in a browser you don't type your website URL, right? You type keywords instead. So, how would search engine get to know which of those 100,000 sites listed by that keyword is yours? Automated rank checking software works the same way as browser (well, I can't speak for each and every tool, but at least tools from CleverStat.com work exactly as browser does). That's why search engine cannot move your website down to penalize you for using automated tools, simply because it doesn't know which site it should move down. But. Search engine does know your IP address, so it can ban your IP address and restrict search queries from that IP for a certain amount of time. It also can display then a scary message about viruses on your computer and so on.

Q: That's fine, but I'm still in doubt. If URL is not needed to perform a query, why do I type it when I create my project in Accurate Monitor for Search Engines?
A: Neither of our software products sends your URL to search engines (or anywhere else). Your URL is only needed to determine the position of your site in search engines listing. The whole process goes like this:

Step 1: The program (either AMSE or Free Monitor) establishes a connection with search engine data-center.
Step 2: The program performs a query with the specified keyword and wait until the remote server answers.
Step 3: The program saves the entire search engine output (i.e. SERPs).
Step 4: The program looks for your URL in SERPs gained on Step 3 and finds the position of your website.
Step 5: The program proceed to the next keyword (Step 1).
Step 6: If there are no more keywords, search stops.

Q: So I can use your software to check my rankings without a risk of being penalized?
A: Well...if you asked me I would say checking website rank is a completely useless process. Yes, it is. I think one should check ranks two or tree times in a month or may be once a week for a highly (or maybe HIGHLY) competitive keywords. Of course, you may not agree - it's up to you. But if you perform rank checking with automated software - do it smart. You worry about penalties? But think, why do search engines penalize? They do it if you're using restricted technics or methods - spam, doorways, hidden text and so on. But why these methods are restricted? Because they hurt search egnine's results relevance. Search engines "want" to be precise and relevant to suite searchers expectations. Though using automated software cannot be penalized (see above), it is also a restricted technic. You should use it smart. Don't monitor your website rank every hour - nothing can change in one hour. Don't check if your website has moved from 489th position to 478th - no one will see it there anyways. 90% of searchers look only upto 3rd results page (first 30 results). 80% of them look at first page only. You don't need to check you rank below 100th position - that's totally pointless. All of the above stress search engines and makes them ban your IP to reduce the amount of false queries. Why search engines don't like false queires? Because false queires are made by false visitors (i.e. automated rank checking software) and false visitor never clicks an advertising banner or use some other of search engine services. It merely stresses search engine. It is useless. It must be banned.

So, summarizing all above:
1) you can use our automated rank checking software without any risk of being penalized.
2) use it smart.

If you have something to say on this topic, please don't answer here (anyways you can't), but open a topic at our SEO forum instead and write your thoughs there, we will be happy to read and answer.

Other links on this topic:
What is the safe number of queries you can perform using the default method without a risk of being banned?
Google says I have a virus or spyware and blocks my searches