Installation & Setup
Install the Rank Tracker add-on and complete the guided 4-step setup, covering the API key, dashboard, keywords, and your first fetch.
Install the add-on
Rank Tracker is distributed as a Google Workspace Editor Add-on. It installs on top of Google Sheets, not as a separate app.
Open a Google Sheet (a new or existing spreadsheet; this becomes your tracking sheet).
Install the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace (search for "SERPHouse"), or find it from inside Sheets via Extensions → Add-ons → Get add-ons. A Workspace admin can also install it domain-wide.
Reload the spreadsheet. A new menu appears, Keyword Rank Tracker - SERPHouse, either as its own top-level menu or nested under Extensions, depending on your Sheets UI version.
What permissions does it ask for?
During install, Google shows a consent screen for a handful of scopes.
Rank Tracker deliberately requests the narrowest scope available for each,
notably spreadsheets.currentonly, not full Drive/Sheets access, so it
can never read or modify any spreadsheet other than the one it's installed
on.
| Scope | Why it's needed |
|---|---|
userinfo.email / .profile | Identifies you as the installer (used for per-user API key storage) |
spreadsheets.currentonly | Read/write only the spreadsheet the add-on is running in |
script.external_request | Call the SERPHouse API (fetch rankings, credits, locations) |
script.scriptapp | Create/manage the daily schedule trigger |
script.container.ui | Show the menu, sidebars, and dialogs |
Run the Setup guide
The first time you open the menu, Setup guide is listed at the top: a sidebar that walks through everything needed to get your first ranking. It disappears from the menu automatically once setup is complete (you don't have to dismiss it manually, though you can).
1. API key & your site
Paste in a SERPHouse API key and your target domain (the site whose rankings you want to track, e.g. www.example.com).
Don't have a key yet?
Get one, including a free trial, at serphouse.com.
Click Save & verify. Rank Tracker immediately calls the SERPHouse account API to confirm the key works and to show your starting credit balance.
Keep your key private
Never paste your API key into a spreadsheet cell, a shared doc, or a public script. Rank Tracker stores it for you in a private, per-user location that no other installer of the same sheet can read (see How the API key is stored), so you never need to store it anywhere else.
2. Create the dashboard
One click builds the Dashboard sheet: the grid where keywords go down the side and locations go across the top. This step is idempotent, so clicking it again on a Dashboard that already has content does nothing, and it's safe to click twice.
3. Add keywords & locations
Paste in keywords (one per line, or comma-separated) and use Add location… to search for and add locations by city, region, or country. Full details on how location search and validation work are on the Keywords & Locations page.
4. Fetch your first rankings
Click Open fetch panel to run a real fetch against your own keywords (this spends credits, see Credits & Pricing), or click Load sample data to see the tool work instantly with two example keywords and two example locations already fetched for you.
You'll know when you're done
Once you have a saved API key, a Dashboard, at least one keyword and one location, and at least one day of fetched data, the guide marks itself complete on its own, with no need to click anything. You can still dismiss it early with the Done button at the bottom of the guide, and reopen it anytime from the menu if it's no longer listed (it's only shown as Setup guide until then, and folds into the regular menu items after that).
Manual setupoptional
If you're migrating a sheet that already has manually-built tabs (for example, an older version of this tool that used a "Settings" sheet instead of a sidebar), you don't need to redo onboarding:
- An existing Settings sheet is detected and its values are copied in automatically the first time settings are read, so no data is lost.
- An existing Dashboard with content is left untouched by "Create the dashboard"; it only builds a fresh one when none exists.
- Jump straight to Settings from the menu instead of the guide if you'd rather configure everything by hand.
What's next
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