# Google Position Checker (`junipr/google-position-checker`) Actor Check where your website ranks on Google for any keyword. Track rankings across multiple URLs and queries with detailed SERP position data. - **URL**: https://apify.com/junipr/google-position-checker.md - **Developed by:** [junipr](https://apify.com/junipr) (community) - **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools - **Stats:** 12 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $3.90 / 1,000 keyword checkeds 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Google Position Checker Track where your website ranks on Google for any keyword. Check positions across 230+ countries, compare mobile vs desktop results, detect featured snippets and People Also Ask questions, and bulk-check up to 1,000 keywords per run — at a fraction of the cost of traditional rank-tracking SaaS tools. ### What is Google Position Checker? Google Position Checker is a purpose-built rank tracking actor for SEO professionals, digital marketing agencies, e-commerce managers, and developers who need programmatic access to Google search rankings. Unlike generic SERP scrapers, this actor is optimised specifically for rank tracking — it returns structured, consistent results designed for monitoring, reporting, and automation workflows. Whether you're tracking your own domain's keyword performance, monitoring competitors, or building a rank-tracking dashboard or SaaS product, this actor delivers the data you need in a clean JSON format ready for analysis. ### What Can It Do? - **Rank position tracking** — Find exactly where your domain ranks for any keyword (positions 1–100), including position 0 (featured snippet ownership) - **Multi-country support** — Check rankings for 230+ country-specific Google indexes using ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (us, gb, de, fr, au, jp, and more) - **Mobile vs desktop** — Google returns different rankings for mobile and desktop users; check both to understand your true reach - **Featured snippet detection** — Identify which domain owns the featured snippet (position 0) for each keyword, and whether your domain qualifies - **People Also Ask extraction** — Capture the PAA questions Google surfaces for each keyword — valuable for content strategy and FAQ optimisation - **Local pack detection** — Detect Google Maps / local pack results and extract business listings when present - **Full SERP output** — Optionally return all ranked results for complete competitive landscape analysis - **Bulk keyword checking** — Process up to 1,000 keywords per run with intelligent rate limiting and retry logic - **Anti-bot resilience** — Uses residential proxies, randomised user agents, progressive backoff, and retry logic to maximise success rates against Google's anti-scraping measures ### What Data Can You Extract? | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `keyword` | The search keyword checked | | `domain` | Target domain being tracked | | `position` | Rank position (1–100, or 0 for featured snippet, null if not found) | | `page` | SERP page number (1 = first page) | | `url` | Full URL of the ranked page | | `title` | Page title of the ranked result | | `snippet` | Description snippet from the search result | | `displayUrl` | Breadcrumb URL shown in the result | | `additionalPositions` | Other positions where the domain appears | | `featuredSnippet` | Owner, URL, and content of the featured snippet | | `peopleAlsoAsk` | Related questions from People Also Ask | | `localPack` | Google Maps local pack results (business name, address, rating) | | `knowledgePanel` | Whether a Knowledge Panel was detected | | `totalResults` | Total results count reported by Google | | `serp` | Full SERP entries (with `includeSerp: true`) | | `checkedAt` | ISO 8601 timestamp of the check | ### How to Use #### Zero-Config Quick Start Run with no configuration. The actor checks the default keyword "apify web scraper" and returns results immediately. Ideal for testing the actor before configuring your own keywords. #### Single Keyword Check ```json { "keywords": ["best project management software"], "domain": "monday.com", "country": "us", "device": "desktop" } ```` Returns the position where monday.com appears in US desktop results for this keyword, plus featured snippet and PAA data. #### Bulk Keyword Check ```json { "keywords": [ "crm software", "project management tools", "best task manager", "team collaboration software", "monday vs asana" ], "domain": "monday.com", "country": "us", "includeSerp": true, "includeFeaturedSnippet": true, "includePeopleAlsoAsk": true } ``` #### Multi-Country Tracking ```json { "keywords": ["web scraping tool"], "domain": "apify.com", "country": "gb", "language": "en", "device": "mobile" } ``` #### Local SEO ```json { "keywords": ["plumber near me", "emergency plumber"], "domain": "acmeplumbing.com", "country": "us", "location": "Chicago, IL", "includeLocalPack": true } ``` ### Pricing This actor uses Pay-Per-Event pricing at **$3.90 per 1,000 keywords checked** ($0.0039 per keyword). Pricing includes all platform compute costs — no hidden fees. You are only charged for successful checks. Blocked, CAPTCHA-blocked, and zero-result queries are not charged. Compare to SaaS alternatives: - SEMrush: ~$120+/month for rank tracking - Ahrefs: ~$99+/month - SERPapi: ~$50+/month for API access This actor is 10x cheaper for programmatic usage at scale, with no monthly minimums. ### Proxy Requirements This actor requires **residential proxy** to access Google, which blocks datacenter IP addresses. - **Apify paid plans**: Residential proxy is included. The actor uses it by default. - **Apify free plan**: Free plan does not include residential proxy. You can provide your own residential proxy URL in the proxy configuration, or the actor will attempt to run without proxy (results may be empty or blocked). - **Without residential proxy**: The actor will still run but may return zero results due to IP blocking by Google. ### Input and Output Examples **Input:** ```json { "keywords": ["apify web scraper"], "domain": "apify.com", "country": "us", "device": "desktop", "includeFeaturedSnippet": true, "includePeopleAlsoAsk": true } ``` **Output:** ```json { "keyword": "apify web scraper", "domain": "apify.com", "position": 1, "page": 1, "url": "https://apify.com/", "title": "Apify: Full-Stack Web Scraping and Data Extraction Platform", "snippet": "Extract data from websites with ready-made scrapers or build your own.", "displayUrl": "apify.com", "additionalPositions": [], "country": "us", "language": "en", "location": "", "device": "desktop", "featuredSnippet": { "isOwner": false, "ownerDomain": "example.com", "ownerUrl": "https://example.com/page", "content": "Web scraping is the process of..." }, "peopleAlsoAsk": [ "What is a web scraper?", "Is web scraping legal?", "What is the best web scraping tool?" ], "localPack": null, "knowledgePanel": false, "totalResults": "482,000,000", "serp": [], "error": null, "errorCode": null, "checkedAt": "2026-03-11T12:00:00.000Z" } ``` ### Related Tools by Junipr - **[Sitemap Generator](https://apify.com/junipr/sitemap-generator)** — Generate XML sitemaps and audit site structure - **[SEO Audit Tool](https://apify.com/junipr/seo-audit-tool)** — Full technical SEO audit with scores and recommendations - **[Website to RSS](https://apify.com/junipr/website-to-rss)** — Convert any website into an RSS feed - **[Google News Scraper](https://apify.com/junipr/google-news-scraper)** — Scrape Google News by keyword or topic ### FAQ #### How accurate is Google position tracking? Results reflect live Google rankings at the time of the check using residential proxies. Accuracy is typically 90–95%+ compared to manual searches, though Google personalises results by user history, IP, and device. This actor neutralises personalisation using `pws=0` (no personalised search) and residential IPs matched to the target country. #### Can I check rankings for different countries? Yes. Set the `country` parameter to any ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g., `gb` for UK, `de` for Germany, `au` for Australia). The actor queries the appropriate localised Google index. 230+ countries are supported. #### How often should I check my rankings? For most use cases, weekly checks are sufficient to track meaningful trends. Daily checks are appropriate for competitive monitoring or high-stakes keywords. The actor rate-limits requests to protect against blocks, so bulk runs may take longer. Pricing is per-check, so there are no additional costs for more frequent runs. #### Does it detect featured snippets? Yes. When `includeFeaturedSnippet` is enabled (default: true), the actor identifies which domain owns the featured snippet (position 0) for each keyword. If your target domain owns the snippet, `position` is set to `0` and `featuredSnippet.isOwner` is `true`. #### Can I track mobile vs desktop rankings separately? Yes. Set `device` to `desktop` or `mobile`. Mobile and desktop rankings frequently differ — Google applies mobile-first indexing, so mobile rankings can reflect more recent changes. Running the same keyword set on both devices gives you a complete picture of your visibility. #### Why do my results differ from manual Google searches? Google personalises results based on your search history, location, and browser. This actor uses residential proxies, `pws=0` (personalisation disabled), and country/language parameters to return as close to objective, country-level results as possible. Small differences are normal and expected — the actor tracks relative trends reliably over time. # Actor input Schema ## `keywords` (type: `array`): List of keywords to check Google rankings for. Up to 1,000 keywords per run. ## `domain` (type: `string`): Domain to find in search results (e.g., apify.com). Do not include https:// or trailing slashes. Leave empty to return top-ranked result for each keyword. ## `maxPosition` (type: `integer`): Maximum SERP position to check (1–100). Positions beyond this are not checked. ## `country` (type: `string`): Google country code for localised results (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, e.g., us, gb, de, fr, au). Determines which Google domain is queried. ## `language` (type: `string`): Search language code (ISO 639-1, e.g., en, es, fr, de, ja). Affects the language of results returned. ## `location` (type: `string`): Geo-specific location for hyper-local results (e.g., New York, NY or London, England). Uses Google's uule parameter. Leave empty for country-level results. ## `device` (type: `string`): Device type to simulate when fetching search results. Mobile and desktop rankings can differ significantly. ## `includeSerp` (type: `boolean`): Include all ranked results in the output (not just the target domain's position). Useful for full competitive analysis. ## `includeFeaturedSnippet` (type: `boolean`): Detect and return featured snippet data — including which domain owns the snippet at position 0. ## `includePeopleAlsoAsk` (type: `boolean`): Extract People Also Ask questions from the search results page. ## `includeLocalPack` (type: `boolean`): Detect and return Google Maps / local pack results if present (business name, address, rating). ## `includeAds` (type: `boolean`): Include Google paid ads (sponsored) results in the SERP data and flag them as isAd: true. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended — Google blocks datacenter IPs for search queries. ## Actor input object example ```json { "keywords": [ "apify web scraper" ], "domain": "", "maxPosition": 100, "country": "us", "language": "en", "location": "", "device": "desktop", "includeSerp": false, "includeFeaturedSnippet": true, "includePeopleAlsoAsk": true, "includeLocalPack": false, "includeAds": false, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Per-keyword Google search positions with rank, URL, snippet, featured snippet detection, PAA questions, and optional full SERP data. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("junipr/google-position-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("junipr/google-position-checker").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call junipr/google-position-checker --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=junipr/google-position-checker", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Google Position Checker", "description": "Check where your website ranks on Google for any keyword. Track rankings across multiple URLs and queries with detailed SERP position data.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "RovkEca7kNETs7SUX" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/junipr~google-position-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-junipr-google-position-checker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/junipr~google-position-checker/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-junipr-google-position-checker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/junipr~google-position-checker/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-junipr-google-position-checker", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "keywords": { "title": "Keywords", "type": "array", "description": "List of keywords to check Google rankings for. Up to 1,000 keywords per run.", "default": [ "apify web scraper" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "domain": { "title": "Target Domain", "type": "string", "description": "Domain to find in search results (e.g., apify.com). Do not include https:// or trailing slashes. Leave empty to return top-ranked result for each keyword.", "default": "" }, "maxPosition": { "title": "Max Position to Check", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum SERP position to check (1–100). Positions beyond this are not checked.", "default": 100 }, "country": { "title": "Country", "type": "string", "description": "Google country code for localised results (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, e.g., us, gb, de, fr, au). Determines which Google domain is queried.", "default": "us" }, "language": { "title": "Language", "type": "string", "description": "Search language code (ISO 639-1, e.g., en, es, fr, de, ja). Affects the language of results returned.", "default": "en" }, "location": { "title": "Location", "type": "string", "description": "Geo-specific location for hyper-local results (e.g., New York, NY or London, England). Uses Google's uule parameter. Leave empty for country-level results.", "default": "" }, "device": { "title": "Device Type", "enum": [ "desktop", "mobile" ], "type": "string", "description": "Device type to simulate when fetching search results. Mobile and desktop rankings can differ significantly.", "default": "desktop" }, "includeSerp": { "title": "Include Full SERP", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include all ranked results in the output (not just the target domain's position). Useful for full competitive analysis.", "default": false }, "includeFeaturedSnippet": { "title": "Detect Featured Snippet", "type": "boolean", "description": "Detect and return featured snippet data — including which domain owns the snippet at position 0.", "default": true }, "includePeopleAlsoAsk": { "title": "Extract People Also Ask", "type": "boolean", "description": "Extract People Also Ask questions from the search results page.", "default": true }, "includeLocalPack": { "title": "Detect Local Pack", "type": "boolean", "description": "Detect and return Google Maps / local pack results if present (business name, address, rating).", "default": false }, "includeAds": { "title": "Include Paid Ads", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include Google paid ads (sponsored) results in the SERP data and flag them as isAd: true.", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended — Google blocks datacenter IPs for search queries.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```