Concerns Arise Over Data Deletion and Cost Increases Following Similarweb’s Acquisition of Rank Ranger
In a move that has raised significant alarm among digital marketing professionals and agencies, Similarweb has announced plans to delete years of client SEO and ranking data, unless clients are willing to pay a substantial fee to retain it. The situation underscores the ongoing challenges of data management, vendor transparency, and the impact of corporate acquisitions on existing client assets.
Background and Context
Similarweb, a prominent digital intelligence platform, acquired Rank Ranger—a popular SEO and digital marketing dashboarding system—a few years ago. Since then, the integration process has been less than transparent, culminating in recent developments that threaten years of accumulated client data.
The Recent Announcement and Its Implications
At the start of June, Rank Ranger sent a notably poorly formatted email informing customers of a forthcoming merger into a new offering under Similarweb’s umbrella. The email lacked clarity, personalization, and detail, leaving many clients confused about what changes were impending. A clearer image of this communication is available here: Full email from Rank Ranger.
Weeks later, clients began receiving sales-oriented emails promoting webinars about Similarweb’s expanded services—yet no concrete details emerged regarding the fate of existing data or operational features. The core concern is that, as of August, Similarweb plans to erase all historical ranking data unless clients pay an annual fee of $6,000 per dashboard to preserve just one year of data. This equates to a near doubling of the previous cost and offers only a single year of retained history.
Operational and Support Concerns
The shift has already caused disruptions. For instance, during a recent onboarding of a new client, technical errors prompted contact with Rank Ranger support. The response received was unprofessional—sent late at night with an unhelpful tone—highlighting ongoing support deficiencies. More troubling is the lack of clear communication about which features and data will be lost or retained, with no public updates or explanatory resources available within the user dashboard. Instead, users encounter intrusive popups promoting webinars, with no notice of impending data deletions or migration procedures.
Impact on Agencies and Clients
Tools like daily visibility scores offer critical insights to stakeholders, illustrating SEO performance trends over time, impacts of algorithm updates, and competitive standings. Losing access to this historical data can significantly impair reporting capabilities, decision-making, and client trust. The potential data loss appears to