A rank tracker is a measurement system built on repeated SERP collection. The API layer needs consistent geography, result depth, timestamps and enough raw detail to explain movement.
Minimum data model
Store query, market, device where relevant, timestamp, result position, URL, title and SERP-feature presence. Keep raw provider responses for debugging and future reprocessing.
Add AI-era fields deliberately
If your customers care about AI Overview or answer-engine citations, treat those as separate measurements rather than squeezing them into a classic “position” field. Track whether an AI block appeared, which domains it cited, and how that changes over time.
Sync vs async
Sync calls are convenient for interactive lookups. Async jobs and webhooks become more useful when you fan out thousands of query/market combinations.
One collection layer for classic + AI search
Cloro supports Google SERP monitoring and AI-answer surfaces under a shared API approach.
Try CloroAffiliate link.