SerpBear is an open-source tool designed for SEO professionals, marketers, and website owners who need to track keyword rankings in Google without relying on expensive SaaS platforms. It solves the challenge of monitoring SERP positions after Google’s 2025 removal of the num=100 parameter, which limited scrape efficiency. By combining scraping APIs and direct integrations with Google Search Console and Google Ads, SerpBear delivers accurate, data-rich ranking insights.
Built with Next.js and SQLite, SerpBear is a full-stack application that supports deployment via Docker or direct source code. It integrates with multiple third-party SERP APIs like ScrapingRobot, SerpAPI, and SearchApi.io, and offers a PWA mobile interface. The app runs on free tiers of mogenius.com or Fly.io, making it a cost-effective alternative to commercial rank trackers.
What You Get
- Unlimited Keywords & Domains - Track an unlimited number of keywords and domains for SERP positions without usage caps.
- Built-in SERP API - Expose keyword ranking data via a REST API for use in marketing dashboards, reports, or custom automation tools.
- Google Search Console Integration - Pull real visit counts, impressions, and click-through rates for tracked keywords directly from Google Search Console.
- Google Ads Integration - Auto-generate keyword ideas and fetch monthly search volume data by connecting your Google Ads test account.
- Flexible Scrape Strategies - Choose between Basic (page 1 only), Custom (fixed pages), or Smart (adaptive around last known position) scraping to handle Google’s 10-result-per-page limit.
- Email Notifications - Receive daily, weekly, or monthly email alerts when keyword positions change, with configurable SMTP options like ElasticEmail and Sendpulse.
- CSV Export - Export all tracked keyword data including positions, search volume, and impressions into downloadable CSV files.
- PWA Mobile App - Install SerpBear as a progressive web app on mobile devices for on-the-go SERP monitoring.
Common Use Cases
- Running a local SEO agency - An agency tracks 50+ client websites across hundreds of keywords using SerpBear’s unlimited tracking and CSV exports to generate client reports.
- Managing an e-commerce store - A store owner monitors product-related keywords and uses Google Search Console data to identify high-traffic pages needing optimization.
- Building a content marketing team - A content team uses Google Ads integration to discover high-volume keywords and prioritize blog topics based on real search data.
- Automating SEO reporting - A marketing engineer uses SerpBear’s built-in API to pull ranking data into a custom Power BI dashboard for executive stakeholders.
Under The Hood
Architecture
- Clear separation between server-side background tasks and client-side React components via Next.js app structure, though the API layer lacks abstraction with direct database access from cron jobs
- Partial dependency injection through TypeScript interfaces and Sequelize models, but no formal DI container or service registry for external integrations
- Modularity is inconsistent: data models are tightly coupled to database operations while UI components are well-encapsulated and reusable
- Hybrid backend architecture with fragmented Node.js scripts and Next.js API routes, lacking unified service boundaries or domain-driven design
Tech Stack
- Full-stack Next.js with TypeScript and React for SSR/SSG frontend and API routes, complemented by Sequelize for ORM-based data persistence
- Dockerized deployment using multi-stage builds with Node.js Alpine, running both frontend and background jobs in a unified environment
- Comprehensive testing stack including Jest, MSW, and React Testing Library for robust unit and integration testing
- Linting and formatting enforced via ESLint, Prettier, and Tailwind CSS, with environment-driven configuration and encrypted secrets management
Code Quality
- Extensive test coverage with realistic mocks for hooks, API responses, and component state interactions
- Consistent naming conventions and strong TypeScript typing ensure component contracts and data flow integrity
- Robust use of React Query for data fetching with comprehensive mocking, though error handling remains minimal and logging is underdeveloped
- High maintainability through well-structured components and hooks, but lacks domain-level abstractions like repositories or service layers
What Makes It Unique
- Unified dashboard that synthesizes Search Console and Google Ads data into cross-dimensional SEO insights with dynamic tabbed views
- Custom charting logic with intelligent Y-axis scaling that reverses rank positioning (1 = top), a rare domain-specific visualization innovation
- Built-in CSV export with real-time filtering and live data hydration, reducing reliance on third-party reporting tools
- Modular service hooks that abstract complex SEO APIs into reusable data providers, enabling scalable, maintainable data flows