# SERP Checker - Google Rank Tracker (`miccho27/serp-checker`) Actor

Free Google SERP rank checker — track keyword positions in Google search results without a subscription

- **URL**: https://apify.com/miccho27/serp-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Tatsuya Mizuno](https://apify.com/miccho27) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 18 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## SERP Checker - Free Google Rank Tracker & SERP Scraper (No API Key Required)

Track keyword rankings in Google search results and extract full SERP data -- no API keys, no monthly subscription. Check your website's position for target keywords, analyze top 10/20/50/100 results, and detect SERP features like featured snippets and People Also Ask boxes. The best free alternative to SEMrush Position Tracking, Ahrefs Rank Tracker, SERPWatcher, and AccuRanker.

### Who Is This For?

- **SEO specialists** -- Track keyword rankings across target pages and monitor position changes over time
- **Content marketers** -- Identify which of your pages rank for key terms before publishing new content
- **Agencies & freelancers** -- Bulk-check client keyword positions and generate ranking reports
- **Affiliate marketers** -- Monitor which competitor pages rank #1-3 and analyze their content patterns
- **E-commerce managers** -- Track product category keyword positions against competitors
- **Bloggers** -- Find out where your articles rank and identify optimization opportunities

### Features

- **Rank Tracking** -- Check your domain's position for any keyword in top 10/20/50/100 results
- **Full SERP Extraction** -- Get title, URL, domain, and snippet for each organic result
- **SERP Feature Detection** -- Detect featured snippets, People Also Ask, local packs, knowledge panels, and shopping ads
- **Multi-Region Support** -- Check rankings in any Google country (US, JP, GB, DE, FR, AU, BR, and 100+ more)
- **Multi-Language** -- Google search in any language (en, ja, es, de, fr, pt, zh, etc.)
- **Bulk Processing** -- Check dozens of keywords in a single run
- **Configurable Delay** -- Built-in rate limiting to avoid Google blocks

### Pricing -- Free to Start

| Tier | Cost | What You Get |
|------|------|-------------|
| **Free trial** | $0 | Apify free tier includes monthly compute credits |
| **Pay per keyword** | ~$0.01-0.05/keyword | Full SERP data per keyword |
| **vs. SEMrush** | Saves $129-499/mo | Same rank data, no subscription |
| **vs. Ahrefs** | Saves $99-999/mo | On-demand rank checks, no limits |
| **vs. AccuRanker** | Saves $99-499/mo | Cloud-based, no install needed |

### How It Compares to Paid Rank Trackers

| Feature | This Actor (FREE) | SEMrush ($129/mo) | Ahrefs ($99/mo) | AccuRanker ($99/mo) | SERPWatcher ($49/mo) |
|---------|-------------------|-------------------|-----------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| SERP rank check | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Full SERP extraction | Yes (all 100) | Top 10 | Top 10 | Top 10 | Top 10 |
| SERP features detection | Yes | Yes | Limited | Limited | No |
| Multi-country | Yes (100+) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-language | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Limited |
| API automation | Yes (Apify API) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Scheduling | Yes (Apify) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Historical tracking | Via scheduled runs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly cost | $0 (pay per run) | $129-499 | $99-999 | $99-499 | $49-199 |

### Quick Start (3 Steps)

1. **Click "Try for free"** on this Actor's page in Apify Store
2. **Enter keywords** and optionally your domain for rank tracking
3. **Click "Start"** and get full SERP data as JSON, CSV, or Excel

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `keywords` | string\[] | *required* | Keywords to check rankings for |
| `targetUrl` | string | null | Your domain/URL to track position (e.g., `example.com`) |
| `countryCode` | string | `"us"` | Google country code (`us`, `jp`, `gb`, `de`, `fr`, `au`, etc.) |
| `languageCode` | string | `"en"` | Google language code (`en`, `ja`, `es`, `de`, `fr`, etc.) |
| `numResults` | integer | `10` | SERP results per keyword (10, 20, 50, or 100) |
| `includeFeatures` | boolean | `true` | Detect SERP features (snippets, PAA, etc.) |
| `delayMs` | integer | `3000` | Delay between searches in ms (min 1000) |

#### Example Input -- Rank Tracking

```json
{
  "keywords": ["best coffee maker", "drip coffee maker review", "coffee maker under 100"],
  "targetUrl": "mycoffeeblog.com",
  "countryCode": "us",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "numResults": 20,
  "includeFeatures": true,
  "delayMs": 3000
}
```

#### Example Input -- Japanese SERP Research

```json
{
  "keywords": ["パラグアイ 移住", "格安SIM 比較 2025", "副業 おすすめ"],
  "targetUrl": "nambei-oyaji.com",
  "countryCode": "jp",
  "languageCode": "ja",
  "numResults": 10,
  "delayMs": 3000
}
```

#### Example Input -- Competitor Analysis (No Rank Tracking)

```json
{
  "keywords": ["project management software", "crm for small business", "time tracking app"],
  "countryCode": "us",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "numResults": 50,
  "includeFeatures": true
}
```

### Output Example

```json
{
  "keyword": "best coffee maker",
  "success": true,
  "timestamp": "2026-03-29T10:00:00.000Z",
  "countryCode": "us",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "targetUrl": "mycoffeeblog.com",
  "targetRank": 7,
  "totalResults": 10,
  "serpFeatures": ["featured_snippet", "people_also_ask", "shopping_ads"],
  "organicResults": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-drip-coffee-maker/",
      "title": "The Best Drip Coffee Maker (2025) - Wirecutter",
      "snippet": "After over 100 hours of testing 22 drip coffee makers...",
      "domain": "nytimes.com"
    },
    {
      "position": 7,
      "url": "https://mycoffeeblog.com/best-coffee-maker-reviews/",
      "title": "Best Coffee Makers Reviewed and Ranked (2025)",
      "snippet": "We tested 15 coffee makers over 6 months...",
      "domain": "mycoffeeblog.com"
    }
  ]
}
```

### Real-World Use Cases

#### 1. Daily Rank Monitoring

Schedule this Actor to run daily. Track your site's position for 20-50 target keywords. Export to Google Sheets via Apify integrations for a free rank tracking dashboard with trend history.

#### 2. Competitor SERP Analysis

For each target keyword, extract all top 10 results. Analyze what domains, content types, and word counts dominate the first page to inform your content strategy.

#### 3. Content Gap Identification

Check rankings for 100+ keywords in your niche. Identify keywords where you rank 11-20 ("page 2 keywords") -- these are your best optimization opportunities for quick wins.

#### 4. SERP Feature Audit

Detect which keywords trigger featured snippets and People Also Ask in your niche. Prioritize these for structured content (Q\&A format, tables, lists) that earns position zero.

#### 5. Pre-Launch Competitive Research

Before creating a new blog post or product page, check the current top 10 rankings for your target keyword to understand the competition level and content format requirements.

#### 6. Client Rank Reporting

Agencies: run weekly rank checks for client keywords, export as CSV, and generate automated ranking reports showing position changes over time.

### FAQ

**Q: How accurate are the ranking positions?**
A: Results reflect Google's search results at the time of the run. Positions can vary slightly by IP, personalization, and time of day. For most SEO purposes, positions within ±1-2 ranks are normal variation.

**Q: Can I track rankings in countries other than the US?**
A: Yes. Set `countryCode` to any two-letter country code (e.g., `jp`, `gb`, `de`, `fr`, `au`, `br`, `in`). Combine with the matching `languageCode` for best results.

**Q: Will Google block the scraper?**
A: The Actor uses browser-like headers and configurable delays. Set `delayMs` to at least 3000ms for reliable operation. For heavy usage (100+ keywords), consider using Apify Proxy.

**Q: Can I detect if my site has a featured snippet?**
A: Yes. The `serpFeatures` field detects `featured_snippet`, `people_also_ask`, `local_pack`, `knowledge_panel`, and `shopping_ads`. Position 0 data requires additional parsing -- currently detected as a feature flag.

**Q: How many keywords can I check in one run?**
A: No hard limit. Processing time = (number of keywords × delayMs). For 50 keywords at 3000ms delay, expect ~3 minutes runtime.

**Q: Can I use a proxy for more reliable results?**
A: Yes. Configure Apify Proxy in Actor settings for higher reliability on large batches or in regions with stricter rate limits.

### Tags

`seo`, `serp`, `rank tracker`, `google search`, `keyword ranking`, `search engine`, `google scraper`, `seo tools`, `rank checking`, `competitor analysis`

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Array of keywords to check in Google search (e.g., \["apple", "orange juice"]).

## `targetUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional target URL to find in search results. If provided, actor returns the rank of this URL.

## `countryCode` (type: `string`):

ISO country code for Google search localization (e.g., 'us', 'uk', 'jp'). Default: 'us'

## `languageCode` (type: `string`):

ISO language code for search (e.g., 'en', 'de', 'fr'). Default: 'en'

## `numResults` (type: `integer`):

Number of Google search results to parse per keyword (10-100). Default: 10

## `includeFeatures` (type: `boolean`):

Whether to detect SERP features (featured snippets, knowledge panel, etc.). Default: true

## `delayMs` (type: `integer`):

Milliseconds to delay between keyword checks. Default: 3000

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "best coffee maker"
  ],
  "targetUrl": "",
  "countryCode": "us",
  "languageCode": "en",
  "numResults": 10,
  "includeFeatures": true,
  "delayMs": 3000
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": [
        "best coffee maker"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("miccho27/serp-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "keywords": ["best coffee maker"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("miccho27/serp-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": [
    "best coffee maker"
  ]
}' |
apify call miccho27/serp-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,miccho27/serp-checker"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/gMITiBEadIvHYj0Et/builds/OTga4cu8JvAUbPMHK/openapi.json