Web ranking software is designed to automatically query a selected number of keywords on a selected set of search engines. The software then locates the website's URLs in the retrieved search engine results and calculates the respective ranks or positions. The software generates highly customizable search engine ranking reports. This helps webmasters check not just their own website rankings but also the rankings of their competitors.

A huge majority of visitor traffic to any website originates from search engines and such a source of traffic cannot be ignored. However, simply submitting a website to search engines is usually not enough. Research on users' preferences indicates that 75 per cent of the visitors are satisfied with the first 10-15 search results. Only 20 per cent view search results on the second page of search results and less than 5 per cent reach the third and further pages of search results. Hence, it is very important that a website is among the first few search results on important search engines.

Figuring out web site rankings manually for different sets of keywords can be a time consuming task. Using web ranking software automates the process and helps save a phenomenal amount of time. Another advantage of ranking software is that each time a search engine modifies its search algorithms, the research center of the web ranking software provider modifies the software accordingly. Updates to web ranking software get automatically downloaded on the computers of all the customers.

Several websites also provide free tools that allow you to check your website rankings online. One of the most popular websites is googlerankings.com. It provides your website rankings on Google for the keywords that you enter.

Web ranking software plays an important role by saving you time and resources in determining search rankings and it's highly advisable to use this software to obtain good search engine rankings.