There are so many ways to track your traffic and marketing efforts. Clicks, impressions, and conversions are all important metrics to keep track, of course. But when you’re trying to centralize your efforts on search engine optimization, the clearest way to track change is by keeping tabs on search results.
One of my favorite extensions for taking screenshots of webpages is with Awesome Screenshots. It allows you to take screenshots of entire pages, not just the available part of the screen. This allows your to take screenshots of entire search engine result pages. It even lets you mark up the screenshot with notes before you save it to your computer.
If you want to keep track of your SERPs, you should take screenshots of various keyword searches before you start doing SEO work. Then, as you make major changes to your site, take additional screenshots. As you start to use different keywords, take screenshots of searches using those keywords as well. Take note of where your site is popping up on the search results. Also, keep track of which competitors are moving up and falling behind you.
Note, you should always test search results use incognito window or private browsing so your search history is not taken into consideration by Google. Also, date all of your screenshots so that you can track the progress over time.