SEO – Shane Barker https://shanebarker.com Tue, 03 Oct 2023 08:42:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://shanebarker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/cropped-favicon-32x32-1.png SEO – Shane Barker https://shanebarker.com 32 32 12 Best Tools for Link Building in 2023 https://shanebarker.com/blog/best-tools-for-link-building/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/best-tools-for-link-building/#respond Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=78251 Whether you're a seasoned SEO professional or just starting on your digital marketing journey, my curated list features a diverse range of link building tools and software designed to meet your specific needs.

I’ll explore their unique features and capabilities, and show you how each of these backlinking tools can empower you to unlock the full potential of your website.

The List of 12 Best Link Building Software Solutions for SEO

With hundreds of different backlinking tools, it can be hard to choose the right one for your business.

Here are 12 of the best backlink software available today:

1. Semrush

Largest backlink database (over 43 trillion links).

Semrush is one of the most well-known all-in-one SEO tools that boasts a range of on-page, off-page, and technical SEO tools and features including a comprehensive SEO backlink tool.

I use Semrush for my own blog as well.

Backlinking is an important part of my SEO strategy and I need to regularly keep track of my backlinks profile. Semrush provides me with everything that I need to do that.

Semrush lets you examine your or a competitor's website backlinks, providing data on authority score, total backlinks, referring domain types, quality, and more.

Semrush Backlinks

My website's Backlink Analytics through Semrush shows an overview of essential features, including specialized tools for backlink analysis.

Semrush backlink audit

The Backlink Audit tool by Semrush is particularly valuable for identifying toxic backlinks and eliminating them. You also get insights into improvement opportunities, if any.

Semrush's Link Building tool assists in creating new backlinks by identifying relevant prospects and facilitating outreach efforts.

semrush domain prospects

The Backlink Gap tool enables a comparison of multiple domains, helping you find potential backlink opportunities.

Semrush backlin gap tool

You can add up to 200 domains to analyze in Semrush’s Bulk Analysis.

Key Features

  • Semrush's Backlink Analytics provides a comprehensive analysis of all backlinks for your own website or your competitors.
  • With its Backlink Audit tool, you can identify toxic backlinks and get insights into improving the overall quality of your backlink profile.
  • The Backlink Audit tool in Semrush provides a toxicity score for each backlink and highlights toxic markers.
  • Semrush's Link Building tool goes beyond backlink analysis and helps you in the process of building new backlinks.
  • With Semrush's Domain Prospects feature, you can explore potential link building opportunities by discovering websites relevant to your niche or industry.
  • The Backlink Gap tool allows you to compare multiple domains, including your competitors, and identify opportunities to acquire new backlinks.
  • For those who need to analyze multiple domains at once, Semrush offers a Bulk Analysis feature that allows you to add up to 200 domains.
  • Semrush provides valuable insights into the types of referring domains pointing to your website.

Pricing

  • Pro: $119.95/month
  • Guru: $229.95/month
  • Business: $449.95/month

2. Respona

All-in-one lead generation and link building suite.

Respona is an all-in-one link building tool that helps you build backlinks and increase your organic traffic from Google.

Respona's live search engine is a powerful tool that enables you to discover ideal outreach opportunities. By utilizing your target keywords, content themes, and specific criteria, you can narrow down your search to find the most relevant prospects.

Responsa dashboard

The live search engine provides real-time results, ensuring that you access the most up-to-date and accurate data for your outreach efforts. This feature is instrumental in saving time and effort by presenting you with a curated list of potential contacts that align perfectly with your campaign goals.

With Respona's email sequences, you can streamline your outreach process and maintain consistent communication with your contacts. The platform allows you to create customized email drip sequences that automate follow-ups, ensuring that no opportunity falls through the cracks.

You can set specific time intervals and personalized content for each stage of the sequence, making sure that your messages remain relevant and engaging.

Responsa campaign creator

Respona's contact discovery feature takes the guesswork out of finding the right person to reach out to within a target organization.

The platform uses advanced algorithms to identify contacts based on their job titles and seniority level, ensuring that your outreach efforts are directed toward decision-makers and key influencers.

Respona's seamless integrations with prominent SEO and marketing tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz provide valuable insights that fuel your outreach strategy.

By importing data from these tools, you gain a comprehensive understanding of your website's backlinks, domain authority, and competitor analysis.

responsa select source

Key Features

  • Respona's live search engine allows you to find the perfect matches for your outreach campaigns based on your target keywords, content, and other criteria.
  • It lets you create and customize email drip sequences, so you can automate your outreach process and make sure you're following up with contacts in a timely manner.
  • Respona automatically finds the right person to contact for each outreach opportunity based on their job title and seniority.
  • You can add a personal touch to your outreach pitches by including information about the contact's interests and past work.
  • This backlinking tool integrates with a number of other tools, including Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz, so you can import your data and track your results.

Pricing

  • Starter: $99/month
  • Unlimited: $399/month

3. Pitchbox

Beginner-friendly workflows.

Pitchbox is an all-in-one link building and influencer outreach platform that helps you find, connect, and collaborate with influencers in your niche.

Pitchbox boasts an extensive database of over 10 million influencers, encompassing bloggers, journalists, podcasters, and social media personalities. This vast repository provides marketers with an unparalleled resource to discover and engage with relevant influencers across diverse industries and locations.

You can filter searches and choose campaign types based on your specific criteria. This will help you identify the perfect influencers for your outreach campaigns, maximizing your chances of successful collaborations.

pitchbox campaign creation

The platform allows you to incorporate relevant details about an influencer's interests, past work, and achievements. This level of personalization demonstrates your genuine interest in their content and expertise. It helps you foster a stronger connection between your brand and the influencer.

pitchbox campaign settings

Pitchbox also offers automated follow-up functionality.

When influencers don't respond to your initial outreach email, the platform automatically sends follow-up messages at predetermined intervals.

pitchbox email preview

It provides detailed reporting and analytics, offering valuable insights into the progress and performance of your outreach campaigns.

The platform tracks key metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and response rates, allowing you to assess the effectiveness of your outreach efforts.

pitchbox pipeline

Additionally, its link removal feature, allows you to target a list of unwanted URLs that point back to your website, and run an email campaign to remove those links.

Key Features

  • Pitchbox has a database of over 10 million influencers, including bloggers, journalists, podcasters, and social media personalities. You can filter your search by industry, location, and other criteria to find the perfect influencers for your outreach campaigns.
  • It lets you create personalized outreach emails that are tailored to each influencer. You can include information about the influencer's interests, past work, and why you think they would be a good fit for your campaign.
  • Pitchbox automatically follows up with influencers who haven't responded to your initial email. This helps you increase your response rate and get more backlinks.
  • Its detailed reporting and analytics features allow you to track the progress of your outreach campaigns and see which influencers are generating the most results.
  • You can reach out to websites that gave you a spammy or toxic backlink and get it removed via a bulk link removal campaign feature.

Pricing

  • Professional: $550/month
  • Enterprise: $1500/month

4. Hunter

Discover real emails in seconds.

Hunter is an innovative email finder and verification tool designed to assist individuals in locating authentic professional email addresses across the internet.

Whether you're a salesperson, marketer, recruiter, blogger, or any other professional seeking to connect with individuals within your industry, Hunter.io can greatly streamline your lead discovery and link building processes.

Hunter has a free-to-use plan if you’re curious to try it out before making any commitments. The free plan gives you 75 credits per month to use its tools.

With these credits, you can find email addresses for up to 25 domains and verify up to 50 email addresses. If you need more credits, you can upgrade to a paid plan.

The Email Finder feature takes email searching to the next level. You can find an email address just by entering the name of the individual.

hunter domain search

Ensuring the accuracy of email addresses is vital to successful communication, and Hunter’s Email Verification feature fulfills this critical need.

By verifying the validity of an email address, you can reduce bounce rates and enhance the deliverability rate of your emails.

hunter email verifier

Hunter provides a Campaigns feature, which lets you send targeted email campaigns to your leads.

You can craft professional, personalized messages tailored to specific groups. This will help you foster stronger connections with your audience and increase the chances of successful interactions.

You can effortlessly integrate Hunter with your CRM or other marketing tools, which allows you to smoothly incorporate it into your existing workflows.

Key Features

  • Find all the email addresses associated with a domain.
  • Find an email address for a specific person by name.
  • Verify the accuracy of an email address.
  • Send email campaigns to your leads.
  • Integrate Hunter with your CRM and marketing tools.

Pricing

  • Free
  • Starter: $49/month
  • Growth: $149/month
  • Business: $499/month

5. HARO (Help A Reporter Out)

Reach out to industry experts and professionals for help.

HARO is a free service that connects journalists or publishers with industry experts. Journalists on HARO post queries. All registered experts can submit responses to those queries.

HARO can help you get exposure for your business, build relationships with journalists and publishers, and find link building opportunities.

The platform has a large user base of over 1 million users. These include industry thought leaders, journalists, and professionals, which makes it the perfect platform for finding backlink opportunities, regardless of your niche.

It’s also quite simple to use.

HARO offers two options.

  1. You can register as a journalist. If you register as a journalist, HARO allows you to create queries and ask industry experts to share their insights about the topic or provide solutions to the problem you talked about.
  2. The second option is that you can register as a source. This will allow you to provide advice to other publishers’ queries as an expert yourself. Within your answers, you can add a link to a valuable resource from your website as well to build relevant backlinks.

HARO sends out two emails a day, one in the morning and another in the evening, with a long list of queries. These queries are divided between topics, which makes it easy to focus solely on your professional expertise, rather than scrolling through a large list of queries.

HARO email example

Key Features

  • HARO is a free service, so you can sign up and start submitting responses without having to pay anything.
  • You can get your name and expertise in front of a global audience.
  • HARO queries cover a wide range of topics, so you're likely to find queries that are relevant to your expertise.
  • It is easy to use. You can create a profile, search for queries, and submit responses all from the same platform.
  • When you respond to HARO queries, you have the opportunity to build relationships with journalists. This can lead to future opportunities, such as being interviewed for a story or being quoted in an article.

Pricing

  • Free
  • Premium: $19/month

6. Ahrefs

Get accurate backlink data instantly.

As an all-in-one SEO tool, Ahrefs offers plenty of features, which I’ve talked about in my review of Ahrefs. One of these features is its backlinking tools, which can help improve your link building strategy and efforts.

Unlike lead generation tools such as Hunter and Responsa, Ahrefs can be used to find backlinking opportunities by assessing your own website’s current backlink activity, as well as those of your competitors.

Ahrefs backlinks dashboard

The Backlinks tool will help you find out which sites are linking back to your competitor’s site, their domain rating, linked domain, as well as the estimated traffic to that URL.

You also have access to a New Backlinks dashboard, which shows you how many new websites linked back to your page throughout your chosen timeframe.

Along with finding link building opportunities and checking your website’s activity, you can also check for toxic backlinks that might need removal. Simply filter backlinks according to their DR, and add them to your link building strategy, so they can be removed.

Ahrefs Dashboad 2

Key Features

  • Site Explorer allows you to see all of the backlinks pointing to a particular website, as well as the anchor text used for those links.
  • Content Explorer allows you to find high-quality content that has been linked to other websites. You can use this as a source for guest blogging opportunities or as inspiration for your own content marketing strategy.
  • Link Building Toolkit includes a variety of features that can help you with link building, such as outreach tools, link analysis tools, and a link building campaign planner.
  • Ahrefs Alerts allows you to be notified about new backlinks pointing to your website or when your competitors gain new backlinks.

Pricing

  • Lite: $49.99/month
  • Standard: $99.99/month
  • Advanced: $399.99/month
  • Enterprise: $999/month

7. Moz Link Explorer

Get the scoop on your competitor’s backlink activity.

Moz, a leading SEO platform, provides a suite of powerful tools that can revolutionize your link building strategy and propel your website's authority to new heights.

Link Explorer is a game-changing tool that empowers you to gain unparalleled insights into any website's backlink profile. By simply inputting a website URL, you can access a comprehensive list of all the backlinks directed towards it.

Moz Link Explorer

Not only does it provide the backlink data, but it also reveals the anchor text used for those links, helping you devise an effective link building strategy.

Moz Backlinks data

Armed with this data, you can identify high-quality websites with substantial authority to target for your link building efforts, maximizing the impact of your outreach campaigns.

MozBar, a free browser extension, empowers you with on-the-spot analysis as you browse the web. With a simple click, you can instantly view the DA and PA scores of any website you visit. 

This real-time data is incredibly helpful for identifying potential link opportunities on the fly, allowing you to seize link building prospects as they arise.

Moz Chrome Extension

For a comprehensive and advanced link building experience, Moz Pro is the ultimate subscription service to consider. It equips you with an array of cutting-edge features, including outreach tools that streamline your communication with potential link partners.

Furthermore, you gain access to link analysis tools, enabling you to conduct in-depth research and make data-driven decisions for your link building strategies.

Moz Pro's link building campaign planner helps you stay organized, ensuring that you don’t miss any opportunity to increase your website's authority and visibility.

Key Features

  • Link Explorer allows you to see all of the backlinks pointing to a particular website, as well as the anchor text used for those links.
  • Open Site Explorer allows you to see a website's Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) scores. These scores are a measure of a website's authority and trustworthiness. They can help you identify high-quality target websites for building backlinks.
  • MozBar is a free browser extension that allows you to see the DA and PA scores of any website you visit. 

Pricing

  • Free
  • Moz Pro plans are as follows:
    • Standard: $99/month
    • Medium: $179/month
    • Large: $299/month
    • Premium: $599/month

8. Majestic

Link building and backlink analysis for the budget conscious.

Majestic is a cutting-edge SEO and link building tool that opens the door to a wealth of backlink data. This data empowers you to make informed decisions and optimize your link building strategy like never before.

With Majestic, you gain access to a website's comprehensive backlink profile. Delve into the number of backlinks, assess their quality, and explore the anchor text used for each link.

Armed with this wealth of information, you can gain deeper insights into the link landscape surrounding any website. This can help you unlock valuable opportunities to boost your own backlink profile.

Majestic Backlink dashboard

Majestic ensures you can easily monitor the impact of your link building efforts over time. Track the growth of your backlink profile, validate your strategies, and make data-driven adjustments to fine-tune your approach.

Its proprietary algorithm calculates the Topical Trust Flow (TTF) of websites. TTF is a revolutionary metric that evaluates the quality of a website's backlinks based on the topic of the website and the credibility of the linking websites.

This nuanced approach ensures that you prioritize link opportunities that align perfectly with your website's niche, strengthening your authority and relevance.

Majestic Dashboard 2

Majestic's Fresh Index comes to the rescue by providing real-time data on the freshness of backlinks. Identify new link opportunities swiftly and capitalize on emerging prospects. 

Key Features

  • Majestic allows you to see a website's backlink profile, including the number of backlinks, the quality of the backlinks, and the anchor text used for the backlinks.
  • You can identify potential link opportunities and track your progress as you build links.
  • It lets you compare your backlink profile to the backlink profiles of your competitors, so you can see how you stack up.
  • Its proprietary algorithm calculates the Topical Trust Flow (TTF) of a website. TTF is a measure of the quality of a website's backlinks, based on the topic of the website and the quality of the websites linking to it.
  • Majestic's Fresh Index is a measure of how recently a backlink was added to a website. The Fresh Index can help you identify new backlink opportunities and track the effectiveness of your link building efforts.

Pricing

  • Lite: $49.99/month
  • Pro: $99.99/month
  • API: $399.99/month

9. BuzzStream

Organize your link building contacts with ease.

BuzzStream, a comprehensive influencer outreach platform, offers a suite of powerful features that streamline your backlink strategy. It helps you enhance contact management, elevating the success of your email campaigns.

Its influencer discovery tool is a game-changer, enabling you to find the perfect influencers for your campaigns effortlessly.

By employing specific search criteria, such as keywords, location, and social media platform preferences, you can find the most relevant influencers for your brand or project.

BuzzStream add new contact

Managing your contacts effectively is vital for maintaining strong relationships with influencers. BuzzStream simplifies this process by providing a centralized platform to store all contact information, social media profiles, and website links in one place.

Buzzstream research lists

BuzzStream's personalized email campaign feature takes influencer outreach to the next level. Tailor your emails to resonate with each influencer, creating authentic and meaningful connections.

As you engage with your target influencers, BuzzStream enables you to track vital metrics, such as email opens, clicks, and replies.

Analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics, gaining valuable insights into the effectiveness of your outreach endeavors. These data-driven insights guide your decision-making process, enabling you to fine-tune your strategies and drive even greater engagement and ROI.

Key Features

  • Influencer discovery tool allows you to search for influencers by keyword, location, social media platform, and other criteria.
  • It helps you keep track of your contacts, including their contact information, social media profiles, and website links.
  • You can send personalized email campaigns to influencers and track email opens, clicks, and replies to measure the success of your campaigns.
  • BuzzStream provides detailed reports on the performance of your outreach campaigns.
  • BuzzStream integrates with a variety of tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Google Analytics. This allows you to seamlessly add BuzzStream to your existing marketing stack.

Pricing

  • Starter: $24/month
  • Growth: $124/month
  • Professional: $299/month
  • Custom: Starts from $999/month

10. BuzzSumo

Find influencers in your niche.

BuzzSumo, a cutting-edge content marketing tool, offers a plethora of robust features that revolutionize the way you discover, analyze, and share content.

Its content discovery tool empowers you to uncover the most shared content across the web, aligning with your chosen keywords, topics, or influencers.

Buzzsumo dasboard

Evaluate the performance of your content like never before with BuzzSumo's content analysis tool. Measure your content's success against others in your industry, gaining critical metrics such as shares, backlinks, and social media mentions.

Buzzsumo content analysis

With BuzzSumo's content-sharing tool, extending the reach of your content becomes a breeze. Seamlessly share your valuable content across social media platforms and other channels, reaching a broader audience and driving engagement.

The platform also enables you to track the performance of your social media shares, providing crucial analytics on likes, shares, comments, and more.

Buzzsumo analytics

Discover influential figures in your industry who are likely to share your content, based on their follower count, topics of interest, and content-sharing frequency. By partnering with these influencers, you can leverage their audiences and amplify your content's reach, ultimately driving higher engagement and brand exposure.

buzzsume top authors

It helps you understand how well your content resonates with your audience.

Key Features

  • BuzzSumo's content discovery tool allows you to find the most shared content on the web, based on your chosen keywords, topics, or influencers.
  • Content analysis tool allows you to see how well your content is performing, compared to other content pieces in your industry. You can see how many shares, backlinks, and social media mentions your content has received.
  • BuzzSumo's content sharing tool lets you share your content on social media and other channels.
  • Its influencer identification tool allows you to find influencers in your industry who are likely to share your content. You can see how many followers they have, what topics they write about, and how often they share content.
  • BuzzSumo provides detailed reports on your content performance.

Pricing

  • Basic: $119/month
  • Content Creation: $249/month
  • PR and Comms: $249/month
  • Suite: $499/month
  • Enterprise: $999/month

11. NinjaOutreach

Find influencers on any platforms for any niche.

NinjaOutreach, a robust influencer marketing platform, offers a wide array of powerful features that streamline influencer discovery, contact management, personalized email campaigns, and performance tracking.

NinjaOutreach's influencer discovery tool is a game-changer, allowing you to search for influencers with unparalleled precision.

By employing keywords, location, social media platforms, and other criteria, you can find influencers who best fit your brand’s voice and campaign.

Ninjaoutreach influencer search

This targeted approach ensures that your outreach efforts reach the right audience, fostering genuine connections that resonate with your target market.

Managing your influencer contacts efficiently is critical for building and nurturing relationships. With NinjaOutreach, you can easily keep track of your contacts' vital information, including contact details, social media profiles, and website links.

Ninjaoutreach search tool

Sending personalized email campaigns is key to influencer engagement, and NinjaOutreach excels in this aspect. Craft customized emails that resonate with each influencer, fostering authentic connections and maximizing response rates.

The platform also enables you to track email opens, clicks, and replies, providing valuable insights into the success of your campaigns. This data-driven approach empowers you to fine-tune your outreach strategies, boosting overall performance.

NinjaOutreach ensures you stay on top of your outreach campaign performance through detailed reports.

Gain a comprehensive view of how well your campaigns are resonating with influencers, measuring key performance indicators and metrics. These insights guide your decision-making process, enabling you to refine your outreach strategies for enhanced success and ROI.

Key Features

  • Influencer discovery tool that allows you to search for influencers by keyword, location, social media platform, and other criteria.
  • It is easy to keep track of your contacts, including their contact information, social media profiles, and website links.
  • Send personalized email campaigns to influencers. You can track email opens, clicks, and replies to measure the success of your campaigns.
  • Get detailed reports on your outreach campaigns.
  • NinjaOutreach integrates with a variety of other tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Google Analytics. This allows you to seamlessly add NinjaOutreach to your existing marketing stack.

Pricing

  • Flex: $389/month
  • Silver: $589/month
  • Silver Plus: $849/month

NinjaOutreach’s monthly billing is quite steep, but if you sign up for an annual plan, you’ll get 60% off.

12. Linkclump

Find links with the click of a button.

Linkclump, an innovative browser extension, revolutionizes the way you interact with multiple links, streamlining your browsing experience like never before.

Let's delve into the key features that make Linkclump a must-have tool for efficient link management.

Linkclump functionality check video

Linkclump empowers you to effortlessly open multiple links at once with a simple drag-and-release action. Just draw a selection box around the links you want to open, and Linkclump takes care of the rest, opening them in new tabs, a new window, or even copying them to the clipboard.

With Linkclump, you are in full control of how the extension handles your selected links.

Tailor the actions according to your preferences, whether it's opening links in new tabs or in a new window, copying them to the clipboard, or saving them as bookmarks.

Furthermore, you can set up multiple actions, allowing you to apply different settings to various sets of links.

Linkclump functionality check video activation

Linkclump offers diverse activation methods to suit your workflow seamlessly.

Activate the extension with ease by either pressing and holding a keyboard shortcut or performing a simple click-and-drag action with the mouse. You can configure different activation methods for different sets of links, ensuring that Linkclump caters to your unique browsing scenarios.

Linkclump is designed with extensive customization in mind, putting you in the driver's seat of your browsing experience.

Adjust the appearance of the selection box to match your preferences, fine-tune how links get opened to align with your desired workflow, and control how the extension interacts with other browser extensions.

Key Features

  • It allows you to select and open multiple links at once in new tabs or a new window, or you can also copy them to the clipboard.
  • You can customize actions that Linkclump takes when you select multiple links. You can also set up multiple actions for different sets of links.
  • You can activate Linkclump in a variety of ways. You can press and hold a keyboard shortcut, or you can click and drag with the mouse. You can also set up different activation methods for different sets of links.
  • Linkclump offers a wide range of customization options to fit your needs. You can change the appearance of the selection box, the way links are opened, and the way the extension interacts with other extensions.

Pricing

  • Free

A Comparison of the Top 10 Link Building Tools and Software

Now that we’ve discussed the ins and outs of the best link building tools, let’s take a look at how they compare against each other.

Best Link Building ToolsPricingKey Features
1. SemrushStarts from $119.95/monthBacklink analysis,
Content research,
Keyword research,
Competitive analysis,
2. ResponaStarts from $99/monthLink prospecting,
List segmentation,
Personalized outreach emails,
Built-in email templates
3. PitchboxStarts from $550/monthLink prospecting,
Contact database,
Link monitoring,
Broken link discovery
4. HunterStarts from $49/monthEmail address finder,
Domain search,
Contact information,
API integration
5. HAROFreeReceive journalist queries,
Respond to queries with links to your website,
Build relationships with journalists,
Promote your brand
6. AhrefsStarts from $49.95/monthBacklink analysis,
Content research,
Keyword research,
Competitive analysis
7. Moz Link ExplorerFree
Moz Pro plans start from $99/month
Backlink analysis,
Link opportunities,
Domain authority,
Page authority
8. MajesticStarts from $49.99/monthBacklink analysis,
Link opportunities,
Domain authority,
Page authority
9. BuzzStreamStarts from $24/monthLink prospecting,
Contact database,
Outreach campaigns,
Email scheduling
10. BuzzSumoStarts from $119/monthCompetitive analysis,
Social media monitoring,
Link building,
Content distribution

Try These Link Building Tools for Your Campaign Today!

With my curated list of the 12 best link building tools and software, you have a comprehensive range of options tailored to meet your specific needs.

Whether you are an experienced SEO professional or just starting on your journey, these tools offer diverse features and capabilities for building backlinks.

Among the tools mentioned, Semrush stands out as a powerhouse, boasting the largest backlink database with over 43 trillion links.

With Backlink Analytics, Backlink Audit, Link Building, and Backlink Gap tools, this SEO tool equips you with valuable insights to monitor, analyze, and build high-quality backlinks effectively. 

Its Backlink Audit tool is particularly noteworthy for identifying toxic backlinks and improving the overall quality of your backlink profile.

So, dive into the world of link building armed with these powerful tools, and watch your website's organic traffic soar.

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The 10 Best Affordable SEO Tools for Content Marketers https://shanebarker.com/blog/cheap-seo-tools/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/cheap-seo-tools/#respond Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:05:30 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=76538 Cracking the code for your website’s SERPs might seem difficult, and taking a look at all the software you need to get your website to its full potential might seem like an expensive endeavor. But that shouldn’t stop you from improving your website’s SEO.

That’s why I’ve searched far and wide for the best affordable SEO tools, so you can enhance your website’s performance, without having to break the bank.

In this article, I’ll explore what makes each cheap SEO tool unique, its key features, pros, cons, and pricing. So put away your wallets, and wipe away the tears, as these cost-saving SEO tools make their way into your heart, without weighing down your pockets.

List of Cheapest SEO Software:

1. Semrush

Semrush, a well-known and highly regarded SEO tool, stands out as one of the most cost-effective all-in-one SEO tools available in the market.

Semrush has one of the largest keyword databases on the market, with over 24.9 billion keywords. If you’d like to find out more interesting statistics about Semrush, head on over to their statistics page.

semrush keyword overview
semrush keyword overview 2

Another key part of any SEO strategy is competitor research, and Semrush boasts a host of competitor research tools. Its traffic analytics tool lets you track your competitor's traffic and data including geographical data, age range, gender, and more.

Semrush traffic analytics

The content gap tool allows you to target competitor websites and find which keywords they are ranking for. This allows you to find keywords in which your competitor might have lost in terms of rankings, that you can then capitalize on.

semrush content gap tool

For maintaining a healthy website, Semrush offers a powerful site auditing feature. With the Site Audit dashboard, you can assess the overall health of your website and identify any errors, warnings, or notices that might impact its performance.

Semrush site audit

Semrush provides a backlink analysis and auditing capability, allowing you to examine the backlinks pointing to your site. This feature helps you identify any toxic backlinks from low-quality websites that could negatively impact your site's reputation and search engine rankings.

semrush backlink analytics results

The user-friendly interface and customizable reporting options make Semrush an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are a small startup or a large enterprise, you can easily navigate the platform and generate reports tailored to your specific needs.

In terms of pricing, Semrush offers different plans to cater to various requirements. The Pro Plan, priced at $119.95 per month, provides a solid foundation for SEO enthusiasts. 

The Guru Plan, available at $229.95 per month, offers advanced features and is suitable for marketing professionals. 

Finally, the Business Plan, priced at $449.95 per month, caters to the needs of larger organizations with its comprehensive suite of tools.

Semrush Key Features

  • Gain insights into competitors' strategies and performance, analyzing their organic and paid keywords, backlinks, and advertising strategies.
  • Discover relevant keywords with extensive research capabilities, assessing search volume, difficulty, and trends.
  • Perform comprehensive site audits to identify and resolve technical SEO issues such as broken links, missing meta tags, and duplicate content.
  • Conduct in-depth backlink analysis to evaluate your backlink profile and that of your competitors, identifying toxic backlinks and monitoring authority and quality.
  • Utilize on-page SEO analysis and optimization tools to assess the readability, keyword usage, and optimization potential of your content.
  • Optimize content for SEO with a content optimization tool that provides recommendations for relevance, readability, and optimization.
  • Leverage local SEO features to analyze local search volumes, assess competitors, manage online reputation, and track local rankings, attracting relevant local customers.

Semrush Pros

  • Great price for an all-in-one SEO tool that has everything you need to create, analyze, and improve your website and its content.
  • Largest keyword database on the market.
  • Free version available.

Semrush Cons

  • Initial navigation on the Semrush platform may pose some challenges.
  • Semrush has a steeper learning curve compared to alternative platforms like Similarweb and Ahrefs.
  • Customer support is exclusively accessible via phone during specified weekday hours.

Semrush Pricing

  • Pro Plan: $119.95/month
  • Guru Plan: $229.95/month
  • Business Plan: $449.95/month

Not convinced yet? Check out my full guide on Semrush’s features and pricing for more information.

2. Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a powerful SEO tool that offers a wide range of features, but is best suited for SEO auditing.

Screaming Frog’s specialty lies in its website crawling capabilities. By crawling your website, Screaming Frog is able to provide a detailed analysis of your site's structure, highlighting potential issues such as broken links, duplicate content, missing meta tags, and other on-page SEO elements.

screaming frog dashboard

Additionally, Screaming Frog offers comprehensive data on internal and external linking. By analyzing your site's internal linking structure, you can optimize the flow of link equity throughout your website, improve user navigation, and enhance search engine crawlability. 

Screaming Frog also provides insights into external links, allowing you to identify broken outbound links or analyze the link profile of your competitors.

Screaming Frog Sitemap

Screaming Frog's SEO Spider tool also assists in analyzing website redirects and canonicalization. You can easily identify any redirect chains, loops, or incorrect use of canonical tags, ensuring that your website follows best practices and maximizes its SEO potential.

Screaming frog dashboard 2

Another noteworthy feature of Screaming Frog is its ability to generate XML sitemaps. By creating XML sitemaps, you can ensure that search engines can effectively crawl and index your website's pages, leading to better visibility in search results pages.

It’s an excellent choice for individuals or small businesses, as there is a free version available with a limit of 500 URLs. That makes it a great affordable SEO tool, especially if you're looking to audit your site on a budget.

Benefits

  • Conduct comprehensive website scans and analysis, providing detailed data on URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, headings, images, and more.
  • Perform SEO audits and technical analysis of your website with ease.
  • Gain valuable insights into your website's internal and external links.
  • Generate XML sitemaps for improved search engine indexation and submission.
  • Access detailed information on your website's internal and external links for better optimization.

Screaming Frog Pros

  • Comprehensive technical audit for a deep analysis of your website's technical aspects.
  • Utilize the visual site architecture tool to visually map out your website's structure and hierarchy.
  • Seamlessly integrate with Google services for enhanced functionality and data synchronization.
  • Perform full site crawls for websites of all sizes, ensuring comprehensive analysis and optimization.

Screaming Frog Cons

  • The free version offers limited features and functionality.
  • May appear slightly intimidating and not as user-friendly.
  • The user experience (UX) may have an outdated appearance.

Pricing

  • Free version (limited to 500 URLs)
  • Paid plan: $259/year

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console proves to be a valuable and effective SEO tool for assessing your website's performance, especially if you already receive search traffic. The best part is it’s free, which makes it a front-runner in regard to cheap SEO tools.

Another reason why Google Search Console is a great choice even for beginners is the Google Search Central’s YouTube channel. This is an excellent free resource for an in-depth, guided course on using the Google Search Console for all your SEO and Analytics needs. 

When it comes to conducting keyword research using Google Search Console, there are two approaches you can take. Firstly, you can navigate to the “Queries” tab, where you will discover a list of top keywords along with additional information such as cost-per-click (CPC), search volume, clicks, and impressions.

Google Search Console dashboard 1

Identifying keywords with a high number of impressions and clicks indicates that your website is likely ranking well for those specific keywords. This valuable data allows you to gain a better understanding of which keywords are driving traffic to your site and can guide your optimization efforts.

Additionally, Google Search Console offers an alternative method for keyword research. By visiting the “Pages” tab and selecting the desired link, you can access the associated keywords for that particular page.

Google Search Console dashboard 2

Google Search Console can be considered one of the cheapest SEO tools in your arsenal of SEO software. But remember that Google Search Console only provides data from Google, which means if you're optimizing your site for other search engines such as Bing, you’ll need a different SEO tool.

Key Features

  • Monitor keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTR), organic traffic, average position, and other vital metrics.
  • Analyze the top-performing pages in search engine results pages (SERPs).
  • Conduct a comprehensive site check for penalties, including low-quality content, keyword stuffing, and keyword cannibalization issues.
  • Identify negative keywords that contribute to high bounce rates.
  • Discover keywords related to various search intents to expand your keyword strategy.

Google Search Console Pros

  • Completely free, as long as you have a Google account.
  • Provides accurate and up-to-date analytics for Google’s search engine.
  • The queries tab allows you to find the most searched keywords on your site for optimal optimization.

Google Search Console Cons

  • Does not offer data on search engines apart from Google.
  • No competitor research

Google Search Console Pricing

  • Free

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is widely recognized as one of the premier SEO tools in the market, offering a comprehensive suite of features to optimize your website's search engine performance. What sweetens the deal is their competitive pricing structure.

In my opinion, Ahrefs’ standout feature is its exceptional backlink analysis and monitoring capabilities. You can gain deep insights into your website's backlink profile, including the number of referring domains, anchor text distribution, and the quality of backlinks. 

This information allows you to identify and disavow any toxic or low-quality backlinks that could potentially harm your website's ranking and reputation.

ahrefs backlinks

The calendar view is an excellent feature that allows you to see all the backlinks gained and lost during a specific day.

Ahrefs Dashboad 2

Ahrefs also provides an extensive keyword research tool that enables you to discover high-performing keywords with precision. By understanding the search volume, keyword difficulty, and click-through rates, you can effectively optimize your content and attract targeted organic traffic.

ahrefs organic keywords

With the Site Audit tool, you can evaluate your website's health, identify technical SEO issues, and receive actionable recommendations for improvement. Addressing these issues promptly will help you enhance your site's crawl ability, user experience, and overall search engine visibility.

Ahrefs Overview Dashboard

Ahrefs also excels in competitor analysis, allowing you to gain valuable insights into your competitors' strategies. With its robust competitor analysis tools, including a content gap tool and page explorer, you can uncover their top-ranking keywords, backlink profiles, and content gaps, and more.

ahrefs content gap
ahrefs top content

Ahrefs boasts a user-friendly interface that facilitates ease of use and efficient navigation. The platform's intuitive design allows both SEO professionals and beginners to leverage its powerful features effectively.

In terms of pricing, Ahrefs offers different plans to accommodate any requirement. The Lite Plan, priced at $99 per month, provides essential features for individual users and small businesses. 

Ahrefs Key Features

  • Obtain comprehensive on-page and technical SEO insights by utilizing the site auditor feature.
  • Analyze the behavior of your website visitors with the industry-leading web analysis tool.
  • Track and understand your website's ranking patterns through the Rank tracker tool.
  • Assess the quality of your backlinks with the assistance of the Link Building Analyzer.
  • Quickly access crucial analytics for your website using the Site Explorer feature.
  • Conduct in-depth keyword research using the powerful Keyword Explorer tool.
  • Gain valuable insights on specific pages or keywords with the Content Explorer feature.

Ahrefs Pros

  • In-depth website analytics and an extensive range of auditing features compared to its alternatives
  • User-friendly interface and intuitive navigation.
  • Great for PPC campaign research

Ahrefs Cons

  • With a large toolset, Ahrefs has a steep learning curve.
  • Although their lite plan is inexpensive, the power user and credit system is a bit convoluted.

Ahrefs Pricing

  • Lite Plan: $99/month
  • Standard Plan: $199/month
  • Advanced Plan: $399/month
  • Business Plan: Starts at $999/month

5. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a popular SEO plugin for WordPress that provides a comprehensive set of features to optimize your website's search engine visibility. With its user-friendly interface and competitive price, Yoast SEO is a valuable tool for small and medium-sized businesses aiming to improve their SEO efforts.

Installing and using Yoast SEO on WordPress is quite simple. They even offer a guided video on their YouTube channel to help you get started.

Yoast’s SEO on-page optimization capabilities are what makes it stand out from the pack. The plugin analyzes your content and provides real-time feedback on key SEO elements such as meta titles, meta descriptions, headings, keyword usage, and readability.

Yoast on WordPress

It evaluates the readability of your content based on factors such as sentence length, paragraph structure, and the appropriate use of transition words. Yoast SEO provides suggestions to improve readability, ensuring that your content is easy to understand and engaging for both readers and search engines.

Yoast SEO analysis

Yoast SEO also offers robust XML sitemap functionality. It generates XML sitemaps for your website, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.

Another key feature of Yoast SEO is its comprehensive keyword analysis tool. It allows you to research and target relevant keywords for your content. Yoast SEO also provides insights into keyword volume, difficulty, and related keyphrases, empowering you to optimize your content around high-value keywords that align with your target audience's search intent.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO also has a social media integration feature, allowing you to optimize how your content appears on social platforms. You can set custom titles, descriptions, and images to enhance the visibility and click-through rates of your shared content on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Yoast SEO also includes a built-in internal linking feature. It suggests relevant internal links as you create content, helping you establish a well-connected website structure that enhances user navigation and search engine crawlability.

The best part is that there is a free version of Yoast SEO available, but when creating content on WordPress, Yoast SEO only allows one keyphrase on the free version.

Yoast SEO Key Features

  • Utilize the front-end SEO inspector (beta) to analyze and optimize your website's SEO directly from the front end.
  • Check the keyword density of your content to ensure optimal keyword usage.
  • Optimize meta descriptions for better search engine visibility and click-through rates.
  • Benefit from link support to manage and optimize internal and external links on your website.
  • Clean up and optimize permalinks for improved SEO and user-friendliness.
  • Enhance social media visibility and sharing with a social view and sharing features.
  • Seamlessly integrate with other plugins such as Elementor, WordProof, and Semrush for enhanced functionality and SEO optimization.

Yoast SEO Pros

  • Yoast SEO’s WordPress plugin provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for users to create and optimize the content on WordPress itself.
  • Offers a useful free version.

Yoast SEO Cons

  • Not beginner-friendly at all, with its complicated layout and more professional UX.
  • As with a lot of WordPress plugins, Yoast SEO users have noted that using it slows down your WordPress site when enabled. 

Yoast SEO Pricing

  • The free version of Yoast is an excellent plugin, but if you want the premium features it costs $99/year, which is still super affordable.

6. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful and comprehensive SEO tool that provides a wide range of features to optimize your website's performance and gain valuable insights into user behavior.

With a strong focus on website analytics and data-driven decision-making, Google Analytics offers essential tools to track and measure the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts.

Google Analytics Dashboard 1

Google Analytics stands out for its in-depth website performance analysis functionality. Google Analytics allows you to analyze various metrics such as website traffic, user engagement, conversion rates, and bounce rates, enabling you to make data-backed decisions to improve your website's performance.

Google Analytics Dashboard 1

Google Analytics offers a range of features to help you track and monitor your website's performance over time. From real-time tracking to custom goal tracking and event tracking, Google Analytics provides valuable insights into user behavior, enabling you to optimize your website and marketing strategies accordingly.

In terms of pricing, Google Analytics offers a free version with basic features that are suitable for individuals and small businesses. For more advanced features and capabilities, Google Analytics offers premium plans tailored to the needs of larger enterprises.

Google Analytics Key Features

  • Comprehensive website analytics tools for tracking performance, user behavior, and conversion rates.
  • Advanced tracking capabilities to monitor website traffic, engagement metrics, and user demographics.
  • Conversion tracking and goal-setting features to optimize marketing campaigns.
  • Custom reporting and data visualization tools for generating informative charts and reports.
  • E-commerce tracking features for monitoring sales, revenue, and product performance.
  • Mobile app tracking capabilities to understand user behavior on mobile applications.
  • Real-time tracking feature for monitoring website activity.
  • Integration with other Google marketing tools, such as Google Ads and Google Search Console.

Google Analytics Pros

  • Free SEO tool with a robust feature set.
  • Extensive educational resources for enhancing analytics understanding.

Google Analytics Cons

  • Learning curve and complexity for utilizing advanced features.
  • Limited customer support options.

Google Analytics Pricing

  • Free

7. Moz

Moz is another great, cheap SEO tool that offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to improve your website's search engine optimization.

When it comes to all of Moz’s features, one of the standouts is its excellent Moz keyword research tool. By leveraging Moz's extensive keyword database, you can identify relevant keywords with high search volume and low competition. This allows you to optimize your website's content and attract targeted organic traffic.

Moz Dashboard

The best part is Moz’s design, which might look a little outdated, but offers the information in an easy, digestible way.

Moz also offers a comprehensive site auditing feature, allowing you to analyze your website's health and identify technical SEO issues. Through the Site Crawl tool, you can uncover errors, warnings, and notices that may be impacting your website's performance.

Moz site crawler

Moz provides actionable recommendations to address these issues, helping you enhance your website's crawlability, user experience, and overall SEO performance.

moz page optimization score

Moz also provides a robust backlink analysis tool, enabling you to evaluate the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your site. It’s a bit more basic than competitors such as Ahrefs, but offers enough to get you started.

Moz Link Research

Moz's competitor analysis feature allows you to gain valuable insights into your competitors' strategies. With the ability to analyze their organic search rankings, keywords, and backlinks, you can identify opportunities to outrank them and gain a competitive edge in your industry.

Moz boasts a user-friendly interface that simplifies the SEO process, making it accessible to users of all experience levels. The platform's intuitive navigation and clear presentation of data enable you to quickly understand and act upon the information provided.

In terms of pricing, Moz has different plans for any SEO needs. The Standard Plan, which is the most affordable version of this SEO tool, is priced at $99 per month, and provides essential features for small businesses and individuals. 

Moz Key Features

  • Moz provides a comprehensive SEO site audit feature to identify and address on-page, off-page, and technical SEO issues.
  • With advanced link analysis capabilities, Moz helps you analyze and optimize your website's backlink profile.
  • Moz's on-page optimization tools offer keyword research, content suggestions, and a Page Optimization Score to improve your website's SEO performance.
  • Generate visually appealing and user-friendly charts and reports to track and communicate your SEO progress effectively.
  • Utilize Moz's keyword research and analysis tools to discover valuable keywords for your SEO strategy.
  • Monitor the quality and quantity of backlinks to your website using Moz's backlink profile monitoring features.

Moz Pros

  • Basic UX, but it’s easy to use and shows information in a digestible format.
  • Access Moz Academy to enhance your SEO knowledge and skills through their educational resources.

Moz Cons

  • Upgrading to a medium plan may be necessary to access the full range of SEO features, which can increase costs.
  • Moz does not offer live chat or phone support, which may impact the speed and convenience of customer assistance.

Moz Pricing

  • Standard Plan: $99/month
  • Medium Plan: $199/month
  • Large Plan: $299/month
  • Premium Plan: $599/month

8. WooRank

WooRank is a reliable and affordable SEO tool that offers a range of features to boost your website's online presence and optimize its performance.

With a focus on comprehensive website analysis and optimization, WooRank provides valuable insights and data to enhance your search engine optimization efforts.

WooRank stands out for its in-depth website analysis functionality, allowing you to uncover critical information about your website's health, including on-page, off-page, and technical SEO issues.

Woorank dashboard

WooRank offers a range of tools to help you track and monitor your website's performance over time. 

The keyword tracking and backlink analysis tools are top tier. You can find competitor backlinks and their domain scores to help you create your own backlink strategy. The keyword tracking tool allows you to keep track of the keywords you and your competitors are ranking for.

To do this, simply enter a domain and hit search.

Woorank dashboard 2

WooRank presents data in a clear and organized manner, enabling you to quickly identify areas for improvement and taking necessary actions to enhance your website's performance.

Woorank On site SEO

While WooRank may not have the same level of accuracy as some other premium SEO tools, its affordable pricing makes it an attractive option for individuals and small businesses looking to optimize their website's visibility and drive organic traffic.

With various pricing plans available, including a cost-effective Pro Plan for $89.99 a month, Woorank provides essential features and insights without breaking the bank, making it an ideal choice for those on a budget.

WooRank Key Features

  • WooRank's SEO audit analyzes your website's on-page SEO, backlinks, and technical SEO.
  • WooRank's competitor analysis tool allows you to compare your website's SEO performance to your competitors. 
  • The keyword research tool helps you find the right keywords to target for your website.
  • WooRank has a backlink analysis tool that helps you track your website's backlinks.
  • WooRank's technical SEO tool helps you identify and fix technical SEO issues on your website.

WooRank Pros

  • Woorank's interface is designed with beginners in mind. It is intuitive and easy to navigate.
  • Offers a simple, quick, on-page audit that allows you to quickly optimize basic elements of your website.

WooRank Cons

  • The competitor analysis tool is lacking. It allows you to search and find basic insights of a competitor, but can not find related competitors.
  • Although the UX design is good, there is a learning curve for some of the tools, such as the keyword research tool, as well as the site audit tool.

WooRank Pricing

  • Pro: $89.99/month
  • Premium: $199.99/month
  • Enterprise: Contact their support team for a custom quote

9. SpyFu

SpyFu is a powerful SEO tool that offers a unique set of features to help businesses gain a competitive edge in the online landscape. 

With its focus on competitor analysis and keyword research, SpyFu provides valuable insights and data to enhance your website's search engine optimization efforts.

SpyFu is perhaps best known among the SEO community for its comprehensive competitor analysis functionality. By leveraging SpyFu's tools, you can gain deep insights into your competitors' strategies, including their top-ranking keywords, PPC campaigns, and backlink profiles.

SpyFu PPC tool
SpyFu Google Ads

Its in-depth PPC analysis of your competitors is what sets it apart from all the other cheap SEO tools in this list.

SpyFu's keyword research tool is another key aspect on offer. With access to a vast keyword database, you can discover valuable keywords with high search volume and low competition. 

It’s not as accurate as Semrush or Ahrefs, but the UX looks great and is easy to use.

SpyFu keyword tool

SpyFu also provides a range of features to help you track and monitor your website's performance. From tracking keyword rankings to monitoring backlinks and analyzing PPC campaigns, SpyFu offers valuable insights into your online presence.

The user-friendly interface of SpyFu makes it easy to navigate and utilize its powerful features. The platform presents data in a clear and organized manner, allowing you to quickly extract actionable insights and take necessary steps to improve your website's performance.

In terms of pricing, SpyFu offers different plans for different needs. The Basic Plan, which is priced at $39 per month, makes it one of the cheapest SEO tools on this list. But despite being low-priced, it’s still highly functional packed with the essential features for individuals and small businesses.

Key Features

  • Allows you to analyze your competitors' paid advertising campaigns.
  • Offers a robust keyword research tool to help you find profitable keywords, and analyze their search volume, competition level, and cost-per-click (CPC.
  • Provides in-depth insights into your competitors' online marketing strategies.
  • Provides insights into your competitors' SEO strategies and backlink profiles.
  • Offers an extensive database of historical PPC data.

Pros

  • Perform comprehensive competitor analysis, including PPC research.
  • Access historical SEO data effortlessly.

Cons

  • SpyFu has plenty of separate tools to conduct site audits, but there is no dedicated site audit tool, which can make it difficult for beginners to use.
  • Its database isn’t as large as Semrush or Ahrefs, which can make it difficult to find accurate data on niche topics.

Pricing

  • Basic Plan: $39/month
  • Professional Plan: $69/month
  • Team Plan: $129/month

10. GTmetrix

GTmetrix is an affordable SEO tool that offers a wide range of features to optimize your website's performance and enhance your online presence.

With a focus on website performance analysis and optimization, GTmetrix provides valuable insights and data to boost your website's speed, user experience, and search engine rankings.

GTmetrix stands out for its comprehensive website performance analysis functionality. With GTmetrix's tools, you can thoroughly analyze your website's loading speed, page structure, and resource optimization, helping you identify and address performance bottlenecks.

GTmetrix offers a range of features to help you track and monitor your website's performance over time. From performance reports to historical data tracking, GTmetrix provides valuable insights to measure the impact of your optimization efforts and make data-driven decisions.

In terms of pricing, GTmetrix offers affordable plans to suit different needs and budgets. Their Solo plan, which is the first paid tier, is the cheapest paid plan of all the affordable SEO tools in this list at $13/month. It provides essential features for individuals and small businesses looking to improve their website's performance without breaking the bank.

GTmetrix Key Features

  • Website performance and optimization tool for improving speed and user experience.
  • Comprehensive performance audits for identifying areas of improvement.
  • Detailed performance reports with visualizations and actionable recommendations.
  • Historical performance tracking and benchmark comparisons.
  • Testing from multiple locations worldwide.
  • Waterfall charts and video playback for deeper performance analysis.
  • Integration with other tools and platforms for optimization.

GTmetrix Pros

  • Limited free plan, and boasts the cheapest pricing plans of all the tools on this list.
  • User-friendly interface and intuitive reports.

GTmetrix Cons

  • Limited features compared to higher-end tools.
  • Customer support is primarily offered through email.

GTmetrix Pricing

  • Basic: Free
  • Solo: $13/month
  • Starter: $25/month
  • Growth: $50/month

Comparison of Cheapest SEO Tools

Now that I’ve gone in-depth for each of these 10 cheap SEO tools, let’s compare each of them.

Cheapest SEO ToolPricingKey FeaturesBest For
1. SemrushStarts from $119.95/monthKeyword research,
Competitor analysis,
Backlink analysis,
Site audit,
Best for businesses of all sizes looking for an all-in-one SEO solution.
2. Screaming FrogFree version
 $259/year
Crawl website,
Analyze website,
Identify issues,
Generate reports,
Best for small and medium-sized businesses looking for site analytics.
3. Google Search ConsoleFree to useWebsite performance tracking,
Search query analysis,
Indexing and crawling insights,
Alerts and notifications
Best free SEO tool.
4. AhrefsStarts from $99/monthBacklink analysis,
Keyword research ,
Competitor analysis,
Content exploration and optimization
Best for small-medium sized businesses looking for an all-in-one SEO tool.
5. Yoast SEOStarts from $99/yearOn-page optimization,
Content analysis,
XML sitemap generation,
Readability and SEO suggestions
Best WordPress SEO plugin
6. Google AnalyticsFree to useWebsite traffic analysis,
Audience insights,
Conversion tracking,
Behavior tracking and reports
Best for finding analytics of your website on Google.
7. MozStarts from $99/monthKeyword research ,
Site audit ,
Link building analysis,
Rank tracking and reporting
Best for medium-sized businesses looking for site analytics.
8. WoorankStarts from $89.99/monthWebsite analysis and optimization,
Keyword tracking,
Competitor analysis,
Marketing recommendations
Best for small businesses.
9. SpyFuStarts from $39/monthCompetitor analysis and research,
Keyword research and tracking,
Ad campaign analysis,
Domain and backlink analysis
Best for competitor analysis
10. GTmetrixStarts from $13/monthWebsite speed and performance analysis,
Page load time monitoring,
Optimization recommendations,
Waterfall and performance reports
Best for a tight budget, with the lowest priced tier of all SEO tools in this list.

Get Affordable SEO Tools Today!

Congratulations! You are now armed with the knowledge of the best affordable SEO tools that can transform your website's performance without draining your resources. 

Say goodbye to the days of fretting over expensive software and say hello to a brighter future for your SEO endeavors. With these cost-saving gems, you can enhance your website's visibility, outrank your competitors, and boost your organic traffic. 

So, bid farewell to financial woes and embrace the power of budget-friendly SEO tools that deliver outstanding results. It's time to watch your website soar to new heights, knowing that you've cracked the code to affordable SEO success.

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https://shanebarker.com/blog/cheap-seo-tools/feed/ 0 What is Semrush? Digital Marketing Tool EXPLAINED nonadult
10 Best AI SEO Software to Outrank Your Competitors https://shanebarker.com/blog/ai-seo-tools/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/ai-seo-tools/#respond Fri, 14 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=76337 In today's highly competitive digital landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for the success of any online business. With the ever-evolving field of search engine optimization (SEO), leveraging the power of AI has become essential. 

AI SEO tools offer advanced features and insights that can help you optimize your website and outrank your competitors. In this article, I will explore the top 10 AI SEO software solutions that can take your digital marketing efforts to the next level.

What are AI SEO Tools?

AI SEO tools are software applications that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to analyze, optimize, and improve your website's search engine rankings. 

These tools provide actionable insights, automate repetitive tasks, and help you make data-driven decisions to enhance your SEO strategies.

List of 10 Best AI SEO Tools

There are plenty of SEO tools making use of AI, even if they don’t explicitly say so. AI plays a large role in how your site is ranked and will become a larger part of everyone’s daily lives. Its ability to automate certain tasks saves a lot of time and costs, which is why it's no surprise that SEO platforms also make use of it.

Here are the top 10 AI SEO tools.

1. Semrush

Semrush is an SEO tool that offers a wide range of features to improve your website's performance. With its AI-driven content optimization, keyword research, and competitor analysis capabilities, Semrush allows you to optimize your content for better search engine visibility, identify high-value keywords, and analyze your competitor's strategies respectively. 

While Semrush isn’t primarily an AI platform, it makes use of AI in plenty of its tools to further enhance its capabilities.

One such example is the Keyword Magic Tool, which makes use of AI algorithms to provide keyword search suggestions such as related keywords and long-tail variations. 

Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush's Content Analyzer utilizes AI to assess the quality and SEO effectiveness of your website content. It provides recommendations for improving your content's readability, relevance, and keyword optimization.

Semrush Content Ideas

The SEO Writing Assistant integrates with popular content creation platforms, such as Google Docs and WordPress, and employs AI to analyze your content in real-time. It offers suggestions to improve your writing, optimize keywords, and enhance readability.

The SEO Content Template provides AI-generated content templates for specific target keywords or topics. It offers recommendations on the ideal word count, semantically related keywords, and backlink opportunities to help you create high-ranking content.

SEO Content Tempalte

SEMrush's Competitive Research suite includes several tools powered by AI algorithms that analyze competitor websites and provide insights on their organic and paid search strategies, backlink profiles, and keyword rankings. These tools can help you identify opportunities and devise competitive strategies.

Semrush Backlink Gap tool

Key features

  • AI-powered keyword magic tool provides comprehensive keyword suggestions, including related keywords, long-tail variations, and semantic alternatives
  • Real-time AI recommendations to optimize your content's SEO, enhance readability, and improve keyword usage
  • AI algorithms to estimate website traffic, providing insights into visitor metrics, engagement, and traffic sources
  • AI-driven analysis of market trends, industry benchmarks, and audience behavior to help you make data-driven decisions
  • AI-powered analysis of competitors' ad strategies, ad copies, placements, and estimated budgets for optimizing your own campaigns.
  • AI-powered analysis and monitoring of backlinks, providing insights into competitor strategies and identifying backlink opportunities

Pros 

  • SEMrush offers a wide range of tools for SEO analysis, keyword research, backlink monitoring, and competitor analysis.
  • SEMrush provides intelligent recommendations to optimize SEO strategies based on AI algorithms.
  • SEMrush's keyword research capabilities help you discover valuable keywords and trends for targeted content creation.

Cons

  • Using SEMrush effectively may require some time to familiarize yourself with the platform's tools and features.
  • The abundance of data in SEMrush can be overwhelming, especially those who are new to SEO concepts or prefer a simpler interface.

Pricing

  • Pro Plan: $119.95/month
  • Guru Plan: $229.95/month
  • Business Plan: $449.95/month

Why I Like Semrush

Whether you're conducting keyword research, optimizing content, or analyzing competitors, Semrush is a compelling choice as an AI tool due to its powerful AI-powered insights. The platform utilizes advanced AI algorithms to deliver valuable recommendations and data-driven insights. 

The AI capabilities enable you to gain a deeper understanding of your target audience, identify emerging market trends, and uncover untapped opportunities.
If you’d like to learn the ins and outs of Semrush, check out my full Semrush Review.

2. Google Analytics

While not solely an AI SEO tool, Google Analytics provides valuable insights and data that you can use in your SEO strategy. By analyzing user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion data, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your website and improve its performance in search engine rankings.

Google Analytics uses AI algorithms to generate automated insights and alerts. These insights can highlight significant changes in website traffic, user behavior patterns, or conversion rates, allowing users to quickly identify trends or anomalies.

Google Analytics Home

Google Analytics offers a feature called Smart Goals, which uses machine learning to automatically identify and track high-quality website visits.

Google analytics dashboard 2

Smart Goals are designed to help users who do not have specific conversion tracking set up, allowing them to optimize their campaigns based on valuable engagement metrics.

Session Quality Score is a machine learning-powered metric in Google Analytics that predicts the likelihood of a session resulting in a conversion. It assigns a score to each session based on various factors like session duration, page depth, and conversion rate, providing insights into the quality of user engagement.

Google Analytics dashboard 3

Google Analytics also uses machine learning models to estimate the probability of a user converting in the future. This data can help marketers identify high-value segments and focus their efforts on optimizing conversions.

Key features

  • Google Analytics uses AI algorithms to generate automated insights and alerts.
  • Through the Smart Goals feature, Google Analytics utilizes machine learning to identify and track your high-quality website visits.
  • The Session Quality Score is a machine learning-powered metric in Google Analytics that predicts the likelihood of a session resulting in a conversion.
  • Google Analytics allows you to track and analyze data from various sources.
  • Google Analytics offers real-time reporting, allowing you to monitor current website activity.

Pros

  • Uses AI algorithms for valuable data-driven insights and recommendations
  • Tracks website metrics, conversions, and user engagement
  • Allows customization based on specific goals and objectives

Cons

  • Complex for beginners, requiring time and effort to understand
  • Discrepancies or inaccuracies in data may occur

Pricing

  • Google Analytics is free to use.

Why I Like Google Analytics

Google Analytics offers valuable AI-powered insights that can benefit users in multiple ways. One of the key advantages is the automated insights feature. By leveraging AI algorithms, this tool generates for you automated insights and alerts on important changes in website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. 

This saves you time and effort by automatically identifying trends, anomalies, and significant shifts in data. You can quickly gain a deeper understanding of your website’s performance and make data-driven decisions based on these AI-generated insights.

The AI capabilities within Google Analytics can also gain you valuable audience insights. By analyzing user behavior, demographics, and interests, you can understand your target audience better and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly. 

3. Jasper

What makes Jasper stand out from the crowd is its focus on AI generated-content. Built from the ground up with the help of SEO specialists and seasoned copywriters, Jasper is the perfect tool for creating content fast with the help of AI.

By analyzing your website's content and providing real-time recommendations, Jasper helps you create SEO-friendly content that can rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Jasper is an open-source framework developed by NVIDIA that enables the training and deployment of large-scale deep learning models for natural language processing (NLP) tasks. 

Jasper is also a winner for its seamless integration with SurferSEO, offering a unique combination of AI-generated content and efficient search engine optimization capabilities. The integration allows users to benefit from the strengths of both platforms, resulting in accelerated SEO workflows.

Jasper SEO Score

Additionally, Jasper has introduced Jasper Chat, a conversational AI similar to ChatGPT, which aids in content creation. This feature is accessible through their paid plans and, notably, does not contribute to the word count limits at present.

Key features

  • Quick and easy AI-powered keyword research and insights
  • AI content brief creator
  • AI-generated headings and topics creator
  • AI-generated copywriting templates to help you create content fast

Pros

  • Time-saving content creation
  • Enhanced SEO capabilities
  • Improved content quality

Cons

  • Dependence on AI-generated content
  • Potential lack of human creativity and nuance
  • Limited customization options for AI-generated content

Pricing

  • Creator Plan: $49/month
  • Teams Plan: $120/month
  • Business Plan: Custom pricing

Why I Like Jasper

One of the key advantages of using Jasper is its AI-generated content. By leveraging artificial intelligence, Jasper can produce high-quality and engaging content for various purposes. This capability is useful for creating large volumes of content quickly such as for blog posts, articles, or website copy. 

Furthermore, Jasper's integration with SurferSEO enhances the search engine optimization aspect. SurferSEO is a powerful tool that provides data-driven insights and recommendations to optimize content for search engines. 

By combining Jasper's AI-generated content with SurferSEO's optimization capabilities, you can create content that is not only well-written but also optimized to rank higher in search engine results.

The integration between Jasper and SurferSEO enables users to benefit from the strengths of both platforms. With Jasper, you can generate content that is tailored to your specific needs and target audience, while SurferSEO provides valuable SEO insights to ensure that your content aligns with search engine algorithms and ranking factors.

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool that utilizes AI to provide powerful insights into your website's SEO performance. With its robust backlink analysis, keyword research, and competitor analysis features, Ahrefs helps you uncover new opportunities, track your SEO progress, and outrank your competitors.

Ahrefs uses AI algorithms to provide keyword suggestions and analyze keyword difficulty. It also helps you discover relevant keywords and assess your competitiveness in search engine rankings.

Ahrefs Dashboard 1

Ahrefs also make use of AI to analyze and provide insights on content performance. It can identify the top-performing content in a specific niche or topic, uncover content gaps, and suggest content improvement opportunities.

ahrefs content gap tool

Ahrefs utilizes AI techniques to analyze backlinks and provide insights into a website's link profile. It can help you identify high-quality backlink opportunities, assess competitor backlink profiles, and monitor the impact of backlink strategies.

The site audit feature utilizes AI algorithms to crawl websites and identify technical SEO issues. It helps you identify and fix issues that may impact website performance, indexing, and search visibility.

Ahrefs Performance dashboard

While Ahrefs may not have an extensive array of AI-focused tools, it leverages AI and machine learning in these key areas to provide valuable insights and enhance the effectiveness of SEO efforts. 

Key features

  • Ahrefs uses AI algorithms to provide keyword suggestions and analyze keyword difficulty.
  • Ahrefs uses AI to analyze and provide insights on content performance. It can identify the top-performing content in a specific niche or topic, uncover content gaps, and suggest content improvement opportunities.
  • Ahrefs uses machine learning algorithms to track keyword rankings over time. 
  • It helps you identify high-quality backlink opportunities, assess competitor backlink profiles, and monitor the impact of backlink strategies with the help of AI.
  • Ahrefs offers a site audit feature that utilizes AI algorithms to crawl websites and identify technical SEO issues. 

Pros

  • Advanced keyword research capabilities with the help of AI.
  • Enhanced content strategy optimization.

Cons

  • Smaller AI-enhanced toolset to choose from.

Pricing

  • Lite Plan: $99/month
  • Standard Plan: $199/month
  • Advanced Plan: $399/month
  • Enterprise Plan: $999/month

Why I Like Ahrefs

Ahrefs offers advanced AI-driven keyword research capabilities, which users find valuable for their SEO efforts. By leveraging AI algorithms, Ahrefs provides you with an accurate and relevant keyword suggestions. 

This helps you discover untapped keyword opportunities, understand search trends, and optimize your content to target high-demand keywords. The AI-driven keyword research feature saves the time and effort of manually identifying keywords and provides you with actionable insights to improve your organic search rankings.

The other standout feature is Ahrefs' AI-powered backlink analysis. It helps you identify high-quality backlink opportunities, assess your competitor's backlink profiles, and monitor the impact of their backlink strategies. 

This feature empowers you to develop effective link-building strategies and enhance your website's authority and visibility in search engine rankings.

To learn more about what Ahrefs has to offer, check out my full Ahrefs Review.

5. Outranking

Outranking is an AI SEO tool that focuses on competitor analysis and strategy optimization. By analyzing your competitors' websites, keywords, and backlinks, Outranking provides valuable insights and recommendations to help you outrank them in search engine rankings.

If you feel like you are spending all your time researching and creating content briefs, and somehow you never get the results you want, look no further.

Outranking makes use of the latest AI algorithms to help you create personalized briefs efficiently.  With their state-of-the-art algorithms, you can personalize each brief to suit your needs. 

Outrank Content Brief

A standout feature that sets Outranking apart is its automatic content creation feature “Concepts.” Using a search term and SERP data, Outranking will create automatic drafts for you.

Outranking also has a great AI outline editor, which works quickly, and well (at least if you're writing about a fairly common topic).

Outranking overview

Outranking also has a great on-page SEO optimizer. It focuses on every on-page detail that could influence your SERPs. This includes backlink activity, meta information, content descriptions, and tone.

Outranking site optimization

Key Features

  • The content writer and outline builder make use of the language prediction model GPT-3 to create SEO content.
  • Outranking has a great content optimizer to help get your pages to rank higher.
  • Outranking integrates with both Google Docs and WordPress, which means wherever you write your content, you can have it optimized in real-time.
  • Using AI, Outranking will crawl competitor websites and provide keywords they aren’t ranking well in.

Pros

  • Easy to quickly create AI-generated content briefs and outlines.
  • Ease of use and fully automated processes mean it's perfect for beginners.

Cons

  • All priced plans, apart from the most expensive, have a word limit on the AI content writer.
  • When creating long-form content, the content lacks diversity.

Pricing

  • Solo Plan: $69/month ($7 for the first month)
  • Pro Plan:$129/month
  • Company Plan: $249/month

Why I Like Outranking

Outranking is best used for creating quick outlines and briefs that are already SEO optimized and written through GPT-3’s language model. This makes it perfect for brainstorming and creating content schedules weeks ahead.

From there, the on-page SEO optimizer will help you make sure your content is ready to perform well on the SERPs. The content creator and optimizer are both excellent choices for individuals looking to create content quickly for their blog.

6. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free AI SEO tool provided by Google. It helps you monitor and optimize your website's presence in Google search results. With its performance reports, URL inspection tool, and mobile usability insights, Google Search Console enables you to identify and fix SEO issues that can impact your website's visibility.

GSC Dashboard

However, Google Search Console does leverage AI and machine learning techniques behind the scenes to enhance its functionality and provide valuable insights to users. While not AI-focused, plenty of features and capabilities utilize AI.

GSC analytical dashboard

Google Search Console provides performance reports that show how your website is performing in Google search results. While not explicitly AI-driven, these reports utilize algorithms and data analysis techniques to provide metrics on impressions, clicks, average position, and click-through rates. 

GSC Search Queries

Google Search Console provides information about how Googlebot, Google's web crawling bot, interacts with your website. This includes details on indexing, sitemaps, and crawl errors. To perform this, Google uses machine learning algorithms to crawl and index web pages effectively, ensuring the most relevant content is available to users in search results.

GSC URL Inspection

Google Search Console can also perform mobile usability testing and provide you with insights on how you can improve your website for mobile use.

GSC mobile usability

Key features

  • Performance tracking and search analytics
  • URL inspection for indexing and crawling issues
  • Mobile usability testing and optimization

Pros

  • Provides data and insights about your website's performance in Google search results
  • Allows you to manage indexing, request re-crawls, and identify crawling issues
  • Free to use

Cons

  • Data is specific to Google search results
  • Provides limited keyword insights and search volume information
  • Can be overwhelming for users new to SEO

Pricing

  • Google Search Console is free to use

7. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is an AI-driven content optimization tool that helps you create SEO-friendly content. Surfer SEO's Content Editor analyzes top-ranking pages for a given keyword and provides data-driven recommendations for optimizing your content. 

It uses AI algorithms to analyze factors such as word count, headings, keywords, and semantic relevance. These analyses suggest improvements and ensure that your content aligns with the best-performing pages.

Surfer SEO Dashboard

Surfer SEO's SERP Analyzer examines the search engine results page (SERP) for a specific keyword and identifies patterns and commonalities among the top-ranking pages. It utilizes AI techniques to analyze search intent, content structure, keyword usage, and other factors contributing to search engine rankings.

Surfer SEO Competitive dashboard

Surfer SEO also incorporates AI algorithms to assist in keyword research. It provides data on keyword search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keyword suggestions.

Surfer SEO Similar keyword

Key features

  • Content optimization recommendations (on-page SEO)
  • SERP analysis for keyword research
  • Competitor content comparison
  • AI writing assistant

Pros

  • Strategic content optimization recommendations
  • Detailed SERP analysis
  • Data-driven approach

Cons

  • Learning curve for new users
  • Pricing considerations
  • Dependency on AI-generated insights

Pricing

  • Basic Plan: $49/month
  • Pro Plan: $99/month
  • Business Plan: $199/month
  • Enterprise Plan: Contact their sales team for a custom price

8. Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes and optimizes your website's performance and speed. By identifying performance bottlenecks and providing recommendations, Google PageSpeed Insights help you improve user experience and enhance your website's search engine rankings.

It uses AI algorithms to assess various factors that impact page speed, such as server response time, render-blocking resources, and image optimization. The tool generates scores and suggestions based on data collected from real-world user experiences, as well as best practices recommended by Google.

Google Pagespeed insights dashboard

Lighthouse is an open-source tool integrated into Google PageSpeed Insights that performs audits on web pages, assessing their performance, accessibility, best practices, and more. Lighthouse utilizes AI techniques to analyze web page structure, code quality, and various performance metrics. It provides detailed reports with actionable recommendations for optimizing web pages.

PageSpeed Insights score
PageSpeed insights

The Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) provides valuable data used by Google PageSpeed and other performance measurement tools to evaluate the performance of websites.

Google PageSpeed incorporates AI-driven techniques to automatically analyze and generate resource hints for preloading key resources. These hints provide guidance to browsers on which resources to load in advance, improving perceived page load time and overall user experience.

PageSpeed insights 2

Key features

  • Performance analysis and optimization recommendations
  • Mobile-friendliness testing and optimization
  • Page load speed measurement and improvement

Pros

  • Content optimization recommendations
  • Detailed SERP analysis
  • Data-driven approach

Cons

  • Learning curve for new users
  • Pricing considerations
  • Dependency on AI-generated insights

Pricing

  • Google PageSpeed Tools is free to use

9. Alli AI

Alli AI is an AI SEO platform that offers a wide range of features to optimize your website's search engine rankings. With its keyword research, content optimization, and SEO strategy planning capabilities, Alli AI helps you identify valuable keywords, create optimized content, and track your SEO progress respectively.

The Alli AI Live Editor Chrome extension is used to effortlessly enhance and refine your website pages. With this extension, you can access automation features across all your web pages, enabling instant updates and edits. It also offers self-optimizing recommendations, which will automatically change and fix all the errors, which makes it an excellent tool for beginners.

Alli AI SEO optimization dashboad

Its keyword tracking tool is another standout feature, offering plenty of insights including the CPC, ranking positions, and monthly searches, as well as its very own score called Alli Score. Alli Score is an estimation of the keyword’s current worth.

Alli AI keywords

Alli AI can also analyze all things link based. This includes outreach links, backlinking activity, as well as your internal links.

Alli AI outreaching

Reporting is also an important part of using Alli AI. The platform has plenty of reports that you can use, including built links, site sales, and keyword ranking reports.

Key features

  • AI-powered keyword research and analysis
  • AI content optimization recommendations based on SEO best practices
  • Competitor analysis and insights
  • Link management, including outreach links
  • Site audit management

Pros

  • Great for beginners
  • Creating task cards for any issues you’d like to address makes managing your time easier.

Cons

  • It’s expensive.
  • Lacks a larger toolset than some other cheaper tools

Pricing

  • Consultant Plan: $249/month
  • Agency Plan: $499/month
  • Enterprise Plan: $999/month

10. RankIQ

RankIQ is an AI SEO tool for bloggers that focuses on keyword research and tracking to create AI-assisted content that ranks well on SERPs.

What sets it apart from other tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs is its focus on content creation first and SEO second. It’s a tool that is designed with content creators in mind, and the SEO is left up to AI and the platform itself.

The competitor analysis is fairly basic, offering a content grade and word count of the highest ranking pages on Google for a specific keyword or topic.

RankIQ dashboard results

This is a great way for writers to find examples of high quality content, and get an idea of the average word count of high-ranking pages.

RankIQ also offers a title analysis, which will show you the top ranking titles, and which words are used the most within the titles for a specific keyword.

RankIQ Title analysis

The content creator is similar to the one in Jasper, which makes sense as both are aimed at content creators. You can either write inside the editor or simply paste pre-written content inside. From there, it will grade the content accordingly. It will check your title, headings, and keywords used throughout the content.

RankIQ content check

RankIQ also integrates with Google Search Console, which means you can find your keyword rankings and key metrics right there on the dashboard.

Key features

  • Comprehensive keyword research tool set
  • Integrates with Google Search Console for real-time keyword ranking data
  • Competitor keyword tracking and insights
  • Content editor and optimizer for faster, optimized writing

Pros

  • Easily integrates with GSC.
  • Created with beginners and content creators in mind

Cons

  • Although great for content creators, it is similarly priced to platforms such as Semrush, which might be harder to use at first, but offers a much more comprehensive tool set for all professionals.

Pricing

  • $99/month (there are often 50% discounts on the site)

Comparison of the Best AI SEO Software

Now that I’ve covered all the tools in depth, here’s a quick comparison table of the best AI SEO platforms.

AI SEO Tool

Pricing (Starting from)

Key Features

Semrush

  • $119.95/month

  • Keyword magic tool

  • Real-time AI SEO optimization recommendations

  • AI algorithms estimate website traffic, visitor metrics, engagement, and traffic sources

Google Analytics

  • Free

  • Smart Goals feature utilizes machine learning to identify and track your high-quality website visits.

  • Google Analytics allows you to track and analyze data from various sources.

  • Real-time reporting to monitor current website activity

Jasper

  • $119.95/month

  • Quick and easy AI-powered keyword research and insights

  • AI content brief creator

  • AI-generated headings and topics creator

  • AI-generated copywriting templates to help you create content fast

Ahrefs

  • $99/month

  • Ahrefs uses AI algorithms to provide keyword suggestions.

  • Ahrefs uses AI to analyze and provide insights on content performance.

  • It helps you identify high-quality backlink opportunities.

Outranking

  • $99/month

  • The content writer and outline builder make use of the language prediction model GPT-3 to create SEO content.

  • Outranking has a great content optimizer to help get your pages rank higher.

  • Outranking integrates with both Google Docs and WordPress.

Google Search Console

  • Free

  • Performance tracking and search analytics

  • URL inspection for indexing and crawling issues

  • Mobile usability testing and optimization

Surfer SEO

  • $59/month

  • Content optimization recommendations (on-page SEO)

  • SERP analysis for keyword research

  • Competitor content comparison

  • AI writing assistant

Google PageSpeed Tools

  • Free

  • Performance analysis and optimization recommendations

  • Mobile-friendliness testing and optimization

  • Page load speed measurement and improvement

Alli AI

  • $99/month

  • AI-powered keyword research and analysis

  • Link management including outreach links

  • Site audit management

RankIQ

  • $79/month

  • Comprehensive keyword research tool set

  • Integrates with Google Search Console for real-time keyword ranking data

  • Competitor keyword tracking and insights

  • Content editor and optimizer for faster, optimized writing

Get the Right Artificial Intelligence SEO Tool for Your Business:

Choosing the right AI SEO tool depends on your specific business needs, budget, and goals. Consider the key features, pricing plans, and ease of use of each tool to make an informed decision. 

Semrush and Ahrefs are suitable for businesses seeking comprehensive SEO solutions, while Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide valuable insights for free. Jasper, Outranking, Surfer SEO, Alli AI, and RankIQ offer specialized features for content optimization, competitor analysis, and keyword research. 

Evaluate the pros and cons of each tool to find the one that aligns with your SEO objectives and helps you outrank your competitors in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

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https://shanebarker.com/blog/ai-seo-tools/feed/ 0 Jasper 10 Min Demo ✍️ How Jasper.ai Works nonadult
10 Best Similarweb Competitors You Should Check Out https://shanebarker.com/blog/similarweb-competitors/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/similarweb-competitors/#respond Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:08:40 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=75804 As a digital marketer or an online entrepreneur, you know the importance of having a market intelligence tool to help you stay ahead of the game. And while Similarweb is an excellent platform, it may not be the perfect fit for everyone. 

Perhaps you want more data accuracy or more in-depth analysis, or are struggling with Similarweb’s price point, or need another tool that caters to a specific niche. Whatever the case may be, I'm here to tell you that you have options. 

In this post, I'll introduce you to some of the best Similarweb competitors in the market. So, if you're ready to take your digital marketing game to the next level, let's dive in and explore these alternatives.

What is Similarweb?

Similarweb is a web analytics platform that offers comprehensive insights into website traffic, audience demographics, keyword analysis, and competitive intelligence. Its features include the ability to:

  • Conduct keyword research to identify valuable search terms and phrases
  • Perform competitor analysis to understand their strategies and identify opportunities
  • Conduct web industry analysis to gain insights into industry trends and best practices
  • Analyze app categories to identify market trends and opportunities
  • Perform search intent analysis to understand user behavior and optimize content
  • Conduct website analysis to evaluate performance, user experience, and SEO
  • Perform company analysis to gain insights into competitors' strengths and weaknesses
  • Analyze mobile app performance to identify areas for improvement and optimization
  • Perform segment analysis to understand different audience segments and tailor marketing strategies accordingly

If you want to learn about all of Similarweb’s features in detail, you should read my Similarweb review post. I’ve also included screenshots and case studies so you can learn about its interface and usage more easily.

10 Best Similarweb Competitors You Should Check Out in 2023

Before I discuss the best Similarweb competitors, I want to let you know how I came up with this list. I conducted thorough research and compared the key features, user feedback, and pricing plans of different SEO tools. 

Even though there are no free Similarweb alternatives in this list, you can find options that offer a free trial. I suggest you give them a try; that way, you’ll get a hang of the platform before you commit to it.

Interestingly, I discovered that some of the best Similarweb competitors are actually tools that I've already included in my post on the best SEO tools available. This overlap highlights their versatility and value for website analysis and SEO.

1. Semrush

As a long-time user of Semrush, I have found it to be a superior alternative to Similarweb due to its extensive features and capabilities.

With tools for SEO, PPC, content marketing, and social media management, Semrush provides a comprehensive suite of digital marketing tools to improve your online presence.

With the Domain Overview feature, you can quickly access a site's organic traffic, keywords, and link profile, giving you valuable insights into your competitors' online presence.

semrush domain overview

But if you really want to dig deeper, the Traffic Analytics feature is your go-to tool. You can check the total number of visits, unique visitors, bounce rate, and more.

Semrush Traffic Analytics

This powerful feature allows you to compare up to five websites at once and analyze their audience demographics, traffic channels, and top pages. With data that's on par with Google Analytics, you can gain a competitive edge and stay ahead of the game.

If you want to check out all the other capabilities that this platform has to offer, you should read my detailed Semrush review.

Key Features

  • Discover new keyword ideas and analyze keyword difficulty with Semrush's keyword research tool.
  • Identify and fix technical issues on your website with Semrush's site audit tool.
  • Gain insights into your backlinks and uncover link-building opportunities using Semrush's backlink analysis tool.
  • Audit and remove toxic backlinks that may harm your site's rankings with the backlink auditor feature.
  • Conduct competitor analysis to benchmark your website's performance and uncover areas for improvement.
  • Utilize Semrush's social media toolkit to create content, post, and track your social media campaigns.
  • Stay informed about market trends and industry insights using Semrush's comprehensive market research tools.

Pricing

Here are the three paid plans that Semrush offers, along with their corresponding features and pricing:

  • Semrush offers a 7-day free trial. But with my special link, you can get a 14-day free trial period.
  • Pro Plan – $119.95 per month
    • Ability to add up to 5 projects
    • Can track up to 500 keywords
    • Can check up to 10,000 results for every report
  • Guru Plan – $229.95 per month
    • Ability to add up to 15 projects
    • Can track up to 1500 keywords
    • Can check up to 30,000 results for every report
  • Business Plan – $449.95 per month
    • Ability to add up to 40 projects
    • Can track up to 5000 keywords
    • Can check up to 50,000 results for every report

If you want a detailed comparison, you should check out my detailed post on Semrush vs Similarweb.

2. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is the ideal SEO tool for you. Its user-friendly interface and straightforward design make it easy for you to navigate and understand. 

The clear dashboard offers a quick snapshot of your website's ranking status, allowing you to assess your performance effortlessly. I really appreciate the simplicity of its tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, and site auditing — they are all designed to be user-friendly.

SE Ranking

With SE Ranking, you can track and monitor the rankings of your website's keywords, conduct competitor analysis and compare your website's performance against your competitors.

Also, SE Ranking offers website auditing capabilities to identify technical errors and performance issues, ensuring that your site is optimized for search engines. You can use this feature to identify toxic backlinks or other issues that may be hampering your SEO efforts.

SE Ranking Website Audit

Additionally, you can analyze website traffic and user behavior to understand how visitors interact with your site. After the audit, you can also generate customizable reports that you can share with team members and clients to showcase your SEO progress.

For more details on SE Ranking, you should check out my comparison post on SE Ranking vs Semrush.

Key Features 

  • Keep tabs on your website's keyword rankings and monitor their performance.
  • Discover opportunities for on-page optimization by examining your website's structure and content.
  • Analyze competitors and compare your website's performance against theirs.
  • Monitor and evaluate the quality and performance of your backlinks.
  • Conduct a thorough website audit to identify technical errors and performance issues.
  • Gain valuable insights by analyzing website traffic and user behavior.
  • Create customizable reports to share with your team and clients.
  • Seamlessly integrate SE Ranking with other tools and platforms using the SE Ranking API.
  • Use content marketing features to create briefs, optimize content, check the quality, and use AI to produce posts more quickly

Pricing

  • Essential Plan – $39/month
  • Pro Plan – $89/month
  • Business Plan – $189/month
  • Custom plan available

3. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is an advanced on-page optimization tool designed to help you optimize your content. It offers a data-driven approach to optimize your content based on top-ranking pages for a given keyword. 

With this tool, you can analyze various factors like word count, headings, and keyword density for any content that you enter. Based on the analysis, the platform provides recommendations to optimize your content.

Surfer SEO Content Editor

Previously, I used Surfer SEO to optimize the content on my website, and I must say it provides some very useful suggestions. Before publishing my posts, I would run them through Surfer SEO to get a quick idea of how optimized my posts were. 

Even their Outline Builder is a great way to save time on your content strategy. It churns out H1 headings and short paragraphs in seconds based on your entered keyword.

Surfer SEO Outline Builder

As an alternative to Similarweb, Surfer SEO focuses specifically on optimizing on-page elements for better search engine visibility, while Similarweb provides broader website analytics and competitive intelligence. 

Surfer SEO's strengths lie in its ability to provide data-driven suggestions for content optimization, ensuring that your web pages align with search engine ranking factors.

Key Features

  • Evaluate search intent, monthly search volume, and keyword difficulty at a glance
  • Discover relevant topic clusters to expand your content strategy
  • Identify important missing terms and optimize your pages accordingly
  • Analyze top pages to assess content performance and address issues
  • Receive automatic suggestions for internal linking
  • Utilize the built-in Outline Builder for structured content creation
  • Write and optimize simultaneously with real-time metrics and NLP-ready keywords
  • Check for plagiarism to ensure the originality of your content

Pricing

  • Basic Plan: $49/month
  • Pro Plan: $99/month
  • Business Plan: $199/month
  • Enterprise Plan: Custom price

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is known for its robust and comprehensive backlink analysis capabilities. With Ahrefs, you can access one of the largest and most up-to-date backlink databases available. It provides detailed insights into backlink profiles, referring domains, anchor texts, and more. Using the tool, it allows you to audit your profile and analyze your own backlinks as well as those of your competitors.

Ahrefs backlinks

When you use Ahrefs' Keyword Explorer, you gain access to comprehensive data on various keyword metrics. You can explore search volume, CPC (cost per click), keyword difficulty, clicks, global volume, return rate, and keyword ideas.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

With Ahrefs' Site Audit feature, you can quickly check for technical issues on your website.

After an audit, Ahrefs gives you a detailed SEO Audit report, including an SEO health score, top issues, crawl status, issue distribution, and more. Each issue is accompanied by an explanation and suggested fixes.

Ahrefs Site Audit

All of these features combined make Ahrefs a powerful all-in-one SEO tool. If you’d like to learn more about Ahrefs’ capabilities, please check out my detailed Ahrefs review.

Key Features

  • Conduct comprehensive backlink profile analysis for any website
  • Uncover profitable keywords for both paid and organic search
  • Identify highly shared content across various topics
  • Obtain accurate traffic estimations and valuable keyword ideas
  • Track mobile and desktop rankings in multiple locations
  • Receive regular reports to monitor changes in keyword rankings
  • Perform thorough website audits to identify SEO issues
  • Monitor and improve website health and performance
  • Stay informed with alerts for new or lost backlinks, keyword rankings, and web mentions

Pricing

  • Lite Plan: Starts at $99 per month
  • Standard Plan: Starts at $199 per month
  • Advanced Plan: Starts at $399 per month
  • Enterprise Plan: Starts at $999 per month
  • Additional Data/Users: Ahrefs charges on a pay-per-go basis if you add more data or users to your subscribed plan.

5. Moz Pro

Moz Pro is a comprehensive suite of SEO tools that empowers you to optimize your website and drive better search rankings. 

With features like Keyword Explorer, you can strategically target keywords by checking accurate metrics on volume and difficulty. It allows you to save keyword lists for easy tracking and updates.

Moz Pro Overview

With their Rank Tracking features, you can get insights into how you rank for your keywords in local and national searches. Its Search Visibility score gives you a holistic view of your ranking performance.

Moz Pro Rank Tracking

Additionally, Moz Pro conducts thorough audits to identify and address issues that may hinder search engine crawling. You'll receive timely alerts to promptly fix any site issues and ensure optimal performance.

Moz Pro also helps you with page optimization by providing you with custom suggestions to enhance your content.

Moz Pro Page Optimization Score

It also empowers you to evaluate link opportunities and check metrics like Page Authority, Domain Authority, and Spam Score. Based on these, you can make informed decisions about your link building strategies.

In terms of reporting, Moz Pro can customize PDF reports with drag-and-drop modules and annotations. This functionality, combined with the ability to schedule recurring reports, saves you time and streamlines your reporting process.

Key Features

  • Find and track keywords with volume, difficulty metrics, and ranking data.
  • Audit your site to identify and resolve issues that hinder search engine crawling.
  • Utilize keyword clustering to group and organize related keywords.
  • Receive specific recommendations for optimizing your web pages.
  • Identify new link opportunities and optimize existing ones for maximum impact.
  • Efficiently upload keywords in bulk using CSV files.
  • Customize your reports by dragging and dropping modules and adding explanatory notes for better interpretation

Pricing

  • Standard Plan: $99/mo ($79/mo when you pay yearly)
  • Medium Plan: $179/mo ($143/mo when you pay yearly)
  • Large Plan: $299/mo ($239/mo when you pay yearly)
  • Premium Plan: $599/mo ($479/mo when you pay yearly)

6. Mangools

Mangools is an SEO toolset that serves as a popular alternative to Similarweb. It offers a range of powerful features to help you with keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and website analysis.

Mangools

With KWFinder, you have a comprehensive keyword research tool at your disposal. You can use it to discover untapped keyword opportunities, assess their search volume and difficulty, and choose the most strategic keywords to target.

Additionally, LinkMiner enables you to perform comprehensive backlink analysis and evaluate the quality and relevance of your backlinks, ensuring they positively contribute to your SEO efforts.

Mangools Link Miner

If you want to check how you are doing with respect to your competitors, you should check Mangools’ SiteProfiler. It allows you to benchmark your website against competitors and identify areas for improvement.

Mangools Site Profiler

The best part is that Mangools also offers a convenient SEO browser extension, which provides instant access to key metrics while you browse any website. This extension enhances your efficiency by delivering real-time insights and enabling quick assessments of your website performance.

Mangools is known for its affordability when compared to other SEO tools. It opens up a world of possibilities for businesses and individuals, regardless of the budget constraints. 

But affordability is just the tip of the iceberg! The intuitive interface and seamless user experience are what truly set Mangools apart. It’s super easy to navigate the platform and get

Key Features

  • Discover new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty with Mangools' keyword research tool.
  • Gain insights into competitor performance by using the SERPWatcher tool to see which websites are ranking for specific keywords.
  • Get a quick overview of a site's performance on search engines and against competitors using SiteProfiler.
  • Analyze and audit backlinks with LinkMiner, which provides a comprehensive list of backlinks and evaluates their trustworthiness.
  • Monitor search result fluctuations with the SERP Volatility tool to understand how your website's rankings may be impacted.
  • Optimize your website's content for specific keywords by using the SERP Simulator to see a simulated version of the search engine results page.

Pricing

  • Mangools Basic Plan: $29.90 per month
  • Mangools Premium Plan: $44.90 per month
  • Mangools Agency Plan:  $89.90 per month

7. Serpstat

Whether you're a marketer, agency, SaaS company, ecommerce brand, or business owner, Serpstat has features to meet your SEO needs. With it, you can conduct competitor research, keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits, rank tracking, and more.

Serpstat Missing Keywords

By leveraging Serpstat's in-depth URL analysis feature, you can gain valuable insights into missing keywords along with their key metrics. You can also add adaptable filters to find specific data from this list.

Serpstat Overview

Furthermore, Serpstat provides an overview of your link profile, complete with its proprietary Domain Rank (SDR) index, which rates your domain authority based on the number of linking sites. 

With detailed competitor information at your fingertips, including common keywords, competitor rankings, and search visibility, you can stay one step ahead in the SEO race. 

If you want a detailed idea of what your competitors are upto, you can check their Competitor Research tool. From identifying niche leaders to monitoring their overall progress, you can check it all in their report.

Serpstat Competitor Research

The best part is that Serpstat offers convenient extensions for popular web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, ensuring seamless integration into your workflow. 

Plus, you can count on multiple support channels, including email, FAQs, knowledge base, phone call, and chat, to get the assistance you need.

Key Features

  • Obtain an overview of search visibility, monthly search traffic, and the number of organic and paid keywords for any website. Track keyword position distribution and monitor search engine visibility and traffic growth over time.
  • Compare your site with competitors, analyze common keywords, and track improvements or declines in rankings over time. Gain insights into the number of keywords your competitors are ranked for but you are not targeting.
  • Access a vast keywords database, view search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and PPC competition for each keyword. Explore related keywords, search suggestions, and popular words to plan your content calendar.
  • Analyze your backlink profile, identify top referring domains, discover new link building opportunities, track new and lost backlinks, and assess the quality of referring domains. Identify and manage potentially harmful backlinks.
  • Monitor changes in SERP rankings for specific organic keywords based on your chosen schedule. Set up regular ranking reports (monthly, weekly, or daily) to track your site's performance.
  • Perform a comprehensive site audit to identify and prioritize SEO issues. Gain insights on meta tags, page speed, schema markup, redirects, links, HTTPS certificate, and more.
  • Generate customized reports with essential metrics, including search visibility, traffic, keyword rankings, and backlink data. 

Pricing

  • Lite Plan: $69/month
  • Standard Plan: $149/month
  • Advanced Plan: $299/month
  • Enterprise Plan: $499/month

8. Google Campaign Manager 360

Campaign Manager 360 is a comprehensive ad management and measurement system designed to meet the needs of advertisers and agencies. With its centralized platform, you can easily manage your digital campaigns across websites and mobile platforms.

Google campaign Manager 360
Image via Google

It provides a range of powerful features, including ad trafficking that allows you to upload creatives, define targeting criteria, and launch ad campaigns seamlessly. 

Additionally, Campaign Manager 360 offers robust reporting capabilities to measure the performance goals of your campaigns and ad placements. 

Furthermore, it ensures the accuracy and quality of your ads through its verification feature, allowing you to confirm proper ad serving and achieve desired results. 

While Campaign Manager 360 focuses on ad management and measurement, it is not a direct competitor to Similarweb, which provides comprehensive website analytics and competitive intelligence. But since it has some overlapping features and is a popular platform, I’ve included it in this list.

Key Features

  • Set start and end dates for campaigns
  • Identify landing page destinations
  • Coordinate impression/click data with event tags
  • Easily conduct A/B testing with creative rotation
  • Create target audiences through audience segmentation
  • Implement verification settings to prevent ads from appearing in unfavorable places
  • Exercise control over ad visibility with ad blocking features
  • Serve display, video, and rich media ads using shared add tags
  • Set up impression and/or click trackers for email newsletters and social media links for channel measurement and attribution

Pricing

Google Campaign Manager 360 offers different cost structures for pricing placements. Here are the available options:

  • CPM (Cost per 1000 Impressions): The cost for advertisers is determined by the number of impressions served, with charges applied per 1000 impressions. The calculation is based on the total number of booked impressions.
  • vCPM – Active View (Cost per 1000 viewable impressions – Active View): The cost for advertisers is based on the measurement of every 1000 impressions that are viewable by Active View. This cost structure is applicable to sites, creatives, and placement tags that are compatible with Active View.
  • CPC (Cost per click): Advertisers incur charges for each click made on a creative. The cost is determined by the total number of clicks that are booked.
  • CPA (Cost per activity): Advertisers face charges for each user action performed in the selected activity. Upon choosing this cost structure, advertisers have the option to specify the activity for CPA application. The cost is determined by the total number of activities booked.
  • Flat rate – impressions: Advertisers incur a fixed rate charge for a predetermined quantity of impressions.
  • Flat rate – clicks: Advertisers pay a fixed rate for a specified number of clicks.

9. Spyfu

With its array of SEO and PPC features, SpyFu equips you with the necessary tools to conduct comprehensive competitor analysis, improve your organic rankings, and optimize your PPC campaigns.

Spyfu Overview

Additionally, the keyword research feature helps you discover new keyword opportunities, analyze search volume and difficulty, and track your keyword rankings over time.

Spyfu Keyword research

With the SERP analysis feature, you can gain a deeper understanding of the search engine results pages and identify areas where you can improve your organic rankings.

For any keyword that you enter, you can also find the best backlink opportunities. Along with the links, you can check the domain’s organic monthly clicks, page monthly clicks, domain strength, and other data.

Spyfu Backlinks

For more in-depth information on SpyFu’s capabilities and its comparison with Semrush, make sure to check out my detailed post on “Semrush vs SpyFu.”

Key Features

  • Check ranks, ads, keywords, backlinks, and more for the last 14 years with an easy-to-use platform for competitive intelligence.
  • Gain instant access to backlink strategies, ranking history, and top pages for in-depth analysis.
  • Stay up to date with keyword tracking and receive customized reports to monitor your website's performance.
  • Receive buy recommendations for highly profitable keywords and get suggestions for negative matches to optimize your campaigns.
  • Create unlimited projects to efficiently organize keywords and keyword groups and set up alerts to stay informed about changes.
  • Utilize the white label feature to customize and brand your reports, and schedule them for automated delivery.

Pricing

  • Basic Plan: $39 / month
    • Unlimited keyword exporting
    • 5000 tracked keywords
    • Unlimited historical data
  • Professional Plan: $79 / month
    • Unlimited keyword exporting
    • 15000 tracked keywords
    • 10,000 rows of API access
  • Team Plan: $299 / month
    • Unlimited keyword exporting
    • Unlimited tracked keywords
    • Unlimited API access

10. SEO Powersuite

SEO PowerSuite is a comprehensive software package that offers a range of SEO tools for website optimization and link building. It includes Rank Tracker, Website Auditor, SEO SpyGlass, and Link Assistant. These tools enable you to address technical issues, enhance on-page optimization, and build high-quality backlinks.

SEO Powersuite

In comparison to other SEO tools, SEO PowerSuite stands out in several ways. The Link Assistant feature allows you to track potential link partners and manage link requests, which is not available in Ahrefs. 

Additionally, SEO PowerSuite offers Google Analytics Integration, providing a convenient way to access all your data in one place. Plus, there is a content editor that analyzes your content and gives suggestions on how to make it more optimized.

From keywords ideas and density to content ideas, this tool can help you polish your overall content and improve your content marketing strategy.

SEO Powersuite Content Editor

With the tool’s Marketing Plan feature, you can create effective SEO strategies by utilizing the SEO checklist, conducting website analysis, and setting custom goals.

In addition, SE Ranking provides powerful social media capabilities, allowing you to analyze your social media performance and automate posting. 

Key Features 

  • Easily monitor and compare your website's and competitors' keyword rankings across multiple search engine result pages (SERPs).
  • Conduct comprehensive on-page optimization analysis and receive detailed reports on potential SEO issues affecting your site.
  • Gain insights into your backlinks, including quality, quantity, and discover new link-building opportunities.
  • Streamline your link-building process by searching for potential partners, managing link requests, and generating comprehensive reports.
  • Create and export detailed reports on various SEO performance aspects, including rankings, on-page optimization, backlinks, and link-building.
  • SEO PowerSuite supports a wide range of languages, facilitating global SEO strategies.
  • Collaborate with your team by providing them access to the software, enabling efficient teamwork on SEO projects.

Pricing

  • Professional Plan: $299/ Year
  • Enterprise Plan: $499/ Year

Quick Comparison of Similarweb Alternatives

Tool

Features

Price

Semrush

semrush logo
  • Discover keywords and assess difficulty with Semrush's keyword research tool.

  • Fix website technical issues with Semrush's site audit tool.

  • Gain backlink insights and find link-building opportunities with Semrush's backlink analysis tool.

  • Remove toxic backlinks with Semrush's backlink auditor feature.

  • Analyze competitors and improve your website's performance.

  • Manage social media campaigns with Semrush's social media toolkit.

Surfer SEO

surfer
  • Evaluate search intent, search volume, and keyword difficulty quickly.

  • Discover topic clusters to enhance your content strategy.

  • Identify missing terms and optimize your pages accordingly.

  • Analyze top-performing pages and address any issues.

  • Get automatic suggestions for internal linking.

  • Basic Plan: $49/month

  • Pro Plan: $99/month

  • Business Plan: $199/month

  • Enterprise Plan: Custom price

Ahrefs

ahrefs logo2
  • Conduct comprehensive backlink profile analysis and identify new link-building opportunities.

  • Discover profitable keywords for both paid and organic search, obtaining accurate traffic estimations and valuable keyword ideas.

  • Track mobile and desktop rankings in multiple locations and receive regular reports on keyword ranking changes.

  • Perform thorough website audits to identify SEO issues and improve website health and performance.

  • Stay informed with alerts for new or lost backlinks, keyword rankings, and web mentions, while identifying highly shared content across topics.

  • Lite Plan: Starts at $99 per month

  • Standard Plan: Starts at $199 per month

  • Advanced Plan: Starts at $399 per month

  • Enterprise Plan: Starts at $999 per month

  • Additional Data/Users: Ahrefs charges on a pay-per-go basis if you add more data or users to your subscribed plan.

Moz Pro

  • Discover and track keywords with volume, difficulty, and rankings.

  • Conduct site audits to resolve search engine crawling issues.

  • Utilize keyword clustering for better organization.

  • Receive targeted optimization recommendations.

  • Identify and optimize link opportunities.

  • Bulk upload keywords using CSV files.

  • Customize reports with drag-and-drop modules and explanatory notes.

  • Standard Plan: $99/mo ($79/mo when you pay yearly)

  • Medium Plan: $179/mo ($143/mo when you pay yearly)

  • Large Plan: $299/mo ($239/mo when you pay yearly)

  • Premium Plan: $599/mo ($479/mo when you pay yearly)

SE Ranking

  • Track keyword rankings and performance.

  • Identify on-page optimization opportunities.

  • Analyze competitor performance and benchmark against them.

  • Monitor and evaluate backlink quality and performance.

  • Conduct comprehensive website audits to identify errors and improve performance.

  • Essential Plan - $39/month

  • Pro Plan - $89/month

  • Business Plan - $189/month

  • Custom plan available

Mangools

  • Discover keywords, search volume, and analyze difficulty with Mangools' keyword research tool.

  • Analyze competitor performance and rankings with SERPWatcher.

  • Get an overview of site performance and competitor analysis with SiteProfiler.

  • Audit and evaluate backlinks with LinkMiner for trustworthiness.

  • Monitor search result fluctuations with SERP Volatility.

  • Optimize content with SERP Simulator to simulate search engine results.

  • Mangools Basic Plan: $29.90 per month

  • Mangools Premium Plan: $44.90 per month

  • Mangools Agency Plan:  $89.90 per month

Serpstat

  • Obtain search visibility, traffic, and keyword insights for any website.

  • Compare your site with competitors, track rankings, and identify keyword opportunities.

  • Access a vast database with search volume, difficulty, and competition metrics for keywords.

  • Analyze backlink profile, identify top referring domains, and discover link building opportunities.

  • Monitor changes in SERP rankings and set up regular ranking reports.

  • Perform a comprehensive site audit to prioritize SEO issues.

  • Lite Plan: $69/month

  • Standard Plan: $149/month

  • Advanced Plan: $299/month

  • Enterprise Plan: $499/month

Google Campaign Manager 360

  • Create target audiences through segmentation

  • Implement verification settings for ad placement control

  • Utilize ad blocking features for visibility control

  • Serve display, video, and rich media ads using shared add tags

  • Track impressions and clicks for email newsletters and social media links

Google Campaign Manager 360 offers various pricing options for ad placements:

  • CPM (Cost per thousand Impressions)

  • vCPM - Active View (Cost per thousand viewable impressions - Active View)

  • CPC (Cost per click)

  • CPA (Cost per activity)

  • Flat rate - impressions:

  • Flat rate - clicks

Spyfu

  • Check ranks, ads, keywords, and backlinks with a user-friendly competitive intelligence platform.

  • Access backlink strategies, ranking history, and top pages for in-depth analysis.

  • Track keywords, receive customized reports, and monitor website performance.

  • Get buy recommendations for profitable keywords and optimize campaigns with negative match suggestions.

  • Create unlimited projects, organize keywords efficiently, and set up alerts for changes.

  • Basic Plan: $39/month

  • Professional Plan: $79/month

  • Team Plan: $299/month

SEO Powersuite

  • Monitor and compare keyword rankings

  • Conduct comprehensive on-page optimization analysis

  • Gain insights into backlinks and discover link-building opportunities

  • Streamline link-building process and manage link requests

  • Create and export detailed reports on SEO performance aspects

  • Professional Plan: $299/Year

  • Enterprise Plan: $499/Year

Ready to Try These Similarweb Competitors?

In conclusion, if you're ready to explore tools like Similarweb and take your digital marketing endeavors to the next level, the top three contenders in our list – Semrush, Surfer SEO, and Ahrefs – offer an impressive array of features and capabilities.

However, keep in mind that other options mentioned including Moz Pro, Mangools, SpyFu, Serpstat, and others also present compelling advantages.

Don't hesitate to explore these Similarweb competitors and embark on a journey toward digital marketing success. Take the plunge today and discover the tool that perfectly aligns with your objectives, helping you achieve exceptional results in your online endeavors.

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The 10 Best DIY SEO Tools & Software for 2023 https://shanebarker.com/blog/diy-seo-tools/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/diy-seo-tools/#respond Fri, 23 Jun 2023 18:56:08 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=75582 Cracking the ever-evolving world of SEO may feel like an uphill battle, but fear not!

With the right arsenal of DIY SEO tools and expert guidance, you can conquer the search engine results pages and skyrocket your website's organic traffic. If you're ready to leave your competitors behind, this article is your golden ticket.

In this article. I’ll introduce you to the tools that propelled my SEO success (and the strategies that boosted my website's organic traffic to 80K visitors per month).

semrush domain overview

From the industry-leading Semrush's keyword rank tracking tool to GA4’s web traffic analytics and the content optimization superpowers of Surfer, I'll walk you through the best features and use cases of my favorite DIY SEO tools.

Whether you're a seasoned SEO expert looking to upgrade your toolkit or a curious entrepreneur eager to improve your search rankings, this guide has something for you.

So, get ready to unlock the full potential of your website with these DIY SEO tools.

Let's dive in!

What is a DIY SEO Software Solution?

A DIY SEO software solution refers to a tool, platform, or software application that enables you to optimize your website for search engines, without relying on external agencies or experts.

With a DIY SEO software solution, you can:

  • Find trending topics for content creation.
  • Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords for your content.
  • Optimize your website's on-page SEO elements, such as meta tags, heading tags, and URLs.
  • Optimize your content with relevant keywords, phrases, and headings that complement search intent.
  • Track your website's search performance and keyword ranking positions in the SERPs.
  • Analyze your website's backlinks’ quality and identify opportunities for link building.
  • Monitor and analyze competitor websites to gain insights and stay ahead in the search rankings.
  • Generate reports and gather data to evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

Most DIY SEO software tools provide user-friendly interfaces, multiple SEO features, and knowledgebases to help you take control of your SEO strategies.

A List of the 10 Best DIY SEO Tools & Software for 2023

There are many SEO tools available in the market. Buckle up as I reveal the top 10 must-have do-it-yourself SEO tools that will revolutionize your website's performance.

1. Semrush – All-in-One DIY SEO Tool

Semrush is an all-in-one suite of 55+ tools and reports that can help you with different aspects of SEO, including keyword research, competitive analysis, keyword rank tracking, link building, and content optimization.

Semrush lets you analyze your website traffic and the keywords you rank for in the SERPs.

Semrush organic traffic and keyword ranking report

You can also compare the numbers between you and your competitors.

Competitor analysis by Semrush

With Semrush’s Keyword Research tool, you can research the best keywords for your website based on their search volume, keyword difficulty score, search intent, and CPC. Find related keywords for your seed topic.

Semrush keyword research

You can select keywords and build lists in the platform itself or export them as CSV files. For more info, check out my comprehensive guide on how to do keyword research.

With Semrush’s Writing Assistant, you don’t need to create complex SEO guideline docs. This feature lets you optimize your content for semantic SEO in a smarter way. It has helped bridge the gap between my SEO and content team.

Semrush writing assistant

Key Features

  • Keyword research – search volume, keyword difficulty score, search intent
  • On-page SEO audit to check your website’s health and fix issues
  • Keyword rank tracking
  • Competitor SEO analysis – their best keywords and content, backlinks, position changes
  • Traffic analytics – traffic growth, mobile and web share, top-performing pages
  • Link building – lost and new backlinks, backlink gap, link quality audit
  • Content marketing – topic research, performance tracking, SEO recommendations
  • SEO writing assistant (SWA) – keyword recommendations, ALT text, broken links readability check

Pricing

  • Pro plan: $119.95/month
  • Guru plan: $229.95/month
  • Business plan: $449.95/month
  • Custom plan on request
  • You can save up to 17% if you pay annually.

2. SEOptimer – SEO Audit and Reporting Tool

SEOptimer is an easy-to-use SEO audit and reporting tool. You can check your website’s SEO health, identify issues, and optimize your site for improved search performance.

This DIY SEO tool can track your current ranking positions and website content to suggest keyword opportunities with high search volume and low competition.

You can also search for keywords related to a specific search term or seed keyword, instead of your domain.

SEOptimer keyword research

You can also track changes in your keyword ranking positions with SEOptimer.

It gives you access to a free SEO toolbox with 55+ tools, including title tag and H1 checker, canonical tags checker, and SERP preview tool.

SEOptimer also offers a special DIY SEO plan for website owners.

Key Features

  • Website audit
  • SEO crawler – ranking potential of each web page, detailed SEO recommendations
  • Keyword research – search volume, competition, CPC, first page search results
  • Keyword rank tracking
  • White label reporting – useful for marketers and agencies
  • Audit tool – embeddable to generate leads from your website with a custom form

Pricing

  • A 14-day free trial
  • DIY SEO plan: $19/month
  • White Label plan: $29/month
  • White Label & Embedding plan: $59/month

3. Google Analytics (GA4) – Website Performance and User Behavior Analytics

Google Analytics helps you track your website traffic and compare its growth over a period of time.

You can get insights about:

  • The number of unique visitors to your website
  • Traffic sources – direct, organic search, referral, social media, ads
  • Daily user sessions
  • Pages that drive maximum traffic
GA4 traffic analytics

Other than traffic analytics, Google Analytics is also a powerful tool for understanding your audience better.

It tells you:

  • Who is visiting your website?
  • Where do they come from?
  • Which keywords do they search for?
  • How do they interact with your website?
Google Analytics user demographics insights

With this DIY SEO tool, you can identify the keywords and content that are driving maximum traffic and engagement for your website. You can identify pages where users spend the most time on.

Google Analytics - pages with maximum views

These insights on website traffic and user behavior can help your SEO content strategy for higher search rankings and greater user engagement.

Google Analytics data is the most accurate of all SEO tools. That’s because it directly gathers data from your website through a JavaScript tracking code.

“I like and trust Google Analytics' traffic data far more than other SEO tools for its accuracy. Its data is closer to reality.”
SEO Consultant & Web Designer

Key Features

  • Website traffic analytics – visitors per day/month/year, traffic source, traffic growth over a period of time
  • User acquisition analytics – new users, engagement rate, sessions per user
  • User demographics – country, city, gender, age, interests, language
  • Users by platform, browser, operating system, app version
  • Content performance tracking – pages with maximum views, landing page user activity
  • Conversion tracking for custom events like newsletter signups and product purchases

Pricing

  • Free to use for most websites
  • For websites with millions of sessions per month, you’ll need the Google Analytics 360 plan, which can cost a million dollars.

4. Moz – Powerful SEO Tools for Link Analysis and Site Audits

Moz is another all-in-one DIY SEO software that offers a number of useful tools for site audits, keyword research, rank tracking, and backlink analysis.

“To be an expert in SEO means to be enthusiastic about new SEO lifehacks and different tasks, think creatively, and get deeply informed about the product.
Moz tools that helped me a lot: Free Domain Authority Checker to analyze domain authority, page authority, ranking keywords, and top-linking domains
I also love the MozBar Chrome extension that helps you easily analyze page elements and attributes, markup, link metrics, and HTTP status. Also, you can export data from your SERP analysis details to a CSV file.
The adorable and nice things: easy to use, free trial and with Keyword Explorer, you can get keyword analysis, suggestions, and tips just in several steps.
Nice and easy to start your SEO journey with Moz!
SEO Expert, Orientalist

With Moz Pro, you can quickly crawl your website to identify technical issues like 4xx, redirects, missing heading tags, and critical crawler issues.

Moz Pro site audit

You can search keywords related to a seed keyword and create keyword lists. Moz also gives you insights about the keywords that your competitors’ sites are ranking for.

Track your keyword rankings for different terms and see if you’ve moved up or down the SERPs.

Moz rank tracking

This do-it-yourself SEO tool makes it easy to analyze links and identify link building opportunities by comparing your link profile with that of your competitors.

Moz link profile analysis

It has a specific product called “Moz Local” to help you optimize your local business listings and manage reviews and sentiment around your brand.

Moz is one of the few tools with an SEO Chrome extension.

Key Features

  • Technical site audit
  • Keyword research
  • Keyword rank tracking
  • On-page optimization
  • Content suggestions for higher rankings
  • Link research
  • Backlink analytics
  • SEO insights and reporting
  • Competitor intelligence
  • Real-time local distribution
  • Custom reporting
  • Business listings management
  • Automated duplicate listings deletion
  • Review management

Pricing

  • Moz Pro
    • Standard plan: $99/month
    • Medium plan: $179/month
    • Large plan: $299/month
    • Premium plan: $599/month
    • Save 20% when you pay yearly.
  • Moz Local
    • Lite plan: $14/month
    • Preferred plan: $20/month
    • Elite plan: $33/month

Also, check out where Moz stands against Semrush.

5. Google Search Console (GSC) – Essential Insights and Optimization Tips From Google

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free DIY SEO tool by Google that gives you useful insights and reports about your website’s search traffic and performance. It also helps you find and fix issues to improve your search visibility.

Google Search Console website performance report

You can get access to details like:

  • Which search queries bring users to your website?
  • How many impressions and clicks your website gets on the SERPs?
  • Which URLs on your website have SEO issues?
  • How can you improve your website’s mobile usability?
  • How can your recipes or other content feature in Rich snippets?
Google Search Console - top queries that drive traffic to your website

Key Features

  • Website performance in the search results – impressions, clicks, average position, average CTR
  • Indexed pages
  • Sitemap submission
  • Page experience report to identify and fix issues
  • Core Web Vitals report
  • Links report – top internal and external links, top linking pages, top anchor text

Pricing

  • You can use it for free.

You may also want to check out other free Google tools for marketers and developers.

6. Ahrefs – Advanced Backlink Analysis and Competitor Research

Ahrefs offers a suite of DIY SEO tools for competitor research, website audit, keyword research, content ideas, link building opportunities, and keyword rank tracking.

“I love Ahrefs right now. Most comprehensive SEO tool that I've used. 

Like: Ability to do keyword research, track my company analytics, analyze competitors, and much more all in one place. It's my SEO hub.

Dislike: Wish I didn't have to pay more for the advanced features.”
a decade-old entrepreneur,
helping B2B companies scale with SEO & organic growth marketing

Ahrefs dashboard is clean and simple. You can see your website’s overall search and traffic performance at a glance — organic traffic, organic search keywords, and backlinks — all in one dashboard.

Ahrefs SEO tool dashboard

It can be integrated with both Google Analytics and Google Search Console for greater data accuracy.

You can use Ahrefs for advanced competitor research to find content gaps. You can create content on topics for which your competitors are ranking, but you aren't.

Similarly, you can use its backlink insights to build a rich link profile for your brand, keep tabs on new and lost backlinks, identify opportunities to gain links from your competitor’s referring domains, and more.

AhrefsBot is the most active web crawler among most Ahrefs alternatives, which is why you can trust its data.

Key Features

  • Site explorer – website traffic, top pages, organic search keywords
  • Site audit – redirects, HTTPS, etc.
  • Competitor research
  • Keyword research – search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, clicks
  • Content analysis – content ideas, social shares, clicks, engagement, backlinks
  • Backlink analysis – linking domains, link quality, link building opportunities, new and lost backlinks
  • Rank tracker – keyword positions, traffic, SERP features

Pricing

  • Lite plan: $99 per month
  • Standard plan: $199 per month
  • Advanced plan: $399 per month
  • Enterprise plan: $999 per month
  • Pay annually to get two months of free usage.

I’ve covered how to use Ahrefs for your website SEO in detail in my Ahrefs review post.

7. Jasper – AI-Powered Content Generation and Optimization

Jasper is an AI-powered content assistant that helps you create on-brand content for your social media captions, emails, meta descriptions, and even blog posts.

Jasper content generation templates

You can train it about your brand voice, product catalog, and company profile to ensure it generates content that aligns with your brand’s voice and values.

“Jasper has transformed my content writing. Now I can create impressive blog posts and pages in just 30 minutes!

As someone with a digital and SEO background, I'm not a natural content writer. But thanks to the revolutionary Jasper AI, writing amazing content quickly and easily has become a reality for me.

I'm now able to create and optimize content for my website with unparalleled speed and efficiency. This game-changing tool has made a significant impact on my personal business.”
Ecommerce & Marketing Specialist

What helped Jasper make it to my list of DIY SEO software tools is its ability to optimize your content for SEO by taking account of relevant search data.

To unleash the true potential of this tool, you should use it in collaboration with Surfer. Using the Jasper x Surfer combination will help you generate content that ranks.

Jasper x Surfer for generating content that ranks

Key Features

  • Generating AI-powered content for social captions, emails, blogs, etc.
  • Getting trained on your brand’s voice, identity, and data
  • Picking insights from search data
  • Optimizing content for SEO and performance ranking
  • Scoring your content on its SEO potential (powered by Surfer)
  • Checking your content for grammar and language errors
  • Helping you research content with human-like conversations
  • Generating content using 50+ templates
  • Translating content into 30+ languages
  • Rephrasing and rewriting specific content sections
  • Checking your content for plagiarism

Pricing

  • A 7-day free trial for Creator and Teams plans
  • Creator plan: $49 per month
  • Teams plan: $129 per month
  • Business plan: Custom pricing from their sales team
  • Save 20% when you pay annually.

8. Surfer – Advanced Content Optimization for SERP Rankings

Surfer helps you research, write, and rank your content in the search results of relevant queries.

From creating briefs with unique headings and questions to giving NLP-based keyword suggestions to include in your content, Surfer does it all.

It also provides you with insights about your content structure, word count, number of images and headings, and NLP-ready keywords to increase your post’s ranking potential.

It integrates seamlessly with Google Docs, WordPress, and Jasper. So, you can write and optimize your content in real time without switching your platform.

With Surfer’s Keyword Research tool, you can research and create keyword clusters to build your authority in a specific niche. It lets you filter keyword suggestions by their search intent and search volume.

Surfer keyword research

You’ll never run out of content ideas again and will be able to accelerate your content marketing strategy in no time.

Key Features

  • Built-in content outline builder
  • Keyword research
  • Real-time keyword suggestions for better content optimization
  • Plagiarism checker
  • Integration capabilities with Google Docs, WordPress, Jasper, etc.
  • SEO audit
  • SERP analyzer

Pricing

  • Lite plan: $29 per month
  • Essential plan: $89 per month
  • Advanced plan: $179 per month
  • Max plan: $299 per month
  • Enterprise plan: Custom pricing
  • Add-ons like:
    • Surfer AI: $29 per article
    • Grow Flow: $9 per domain
    • Audit: $49 for 100/month
    • SERP analyzer: $29 for 100 per day
  • Save up to 34% when you decide to pay annually.

9. KWFinder by Mangools – Keyword Research and Analysis Tool

KWFinder by Mangools stands out among the do-it-yourself SEO software solutions available, especially for beginners. It offers affordability and provides essential data for your SEO tasks.

I had the opportunity to use it some time ago when I was seeking an alternative to the Google Keyword tool, and it exceeded my expectations. The user-friendly interface and intuitive design made it a pleasure to navigate.

With KWFinder, you can effortlessly explore long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty scores by entering a seed keyword or your domain.

KWFinder keyword research by domain

You can get metrics like search volume, estimated monthly visits, CPC, and keyword difficulty of all keyword suggestions that this DIY SEO tool offers.

When you select one particular keyword, you can get more insights about its SERP data. This includes details about the top-ranking pages and their DA, PA, and link profile strength.

SERP analysis of a keyword by Mangools' KWFinder

You can use these insights to evaluate keyword metrics, filter out unprofitable options, and organize your selected keywords into keyword lists.

You can also do competitor keyword analysis to find untapped keyword opportunities for your brand by entering their domain.

Other than the KWFinder, Mangools also offers a set of other useful SEO tools such as SERPChecker for analyzing SERP results, SERPWatcher for rank tracking, LinkMiner for identifying backlink opportunities, and SiteProfiler for website performance metrics.

SiteProfiler by Mangools

All these features make Mangools an all-in-one DIY SEO software tool that is fairly easy to use.

Key Features

  • Keyword research – search volume, estimated monthly visits, CPC, keyword difficulty
  • Local keyword research
  • Competitor keywords rankings analysis
  • SERP analysis for any location
  • Keyword rank tracking in any location, on any device
  • Competitor backlink analysis – linking domains, link placement, anchor text
  • Link opportunities list
  • New and lost links view
  • Website metrics – domain authority, top-performing content, link profile health

Pricing

  • A 10-day free trial
  • Mangools Basic plan: $49/month
  • Mangools Premium plan: $69/month
  • Mangools Agency plan: $129/month
  • Save about 35% when you pay annually.

10. Google PageSpeedInsights – Site Loading Speed & User Experience Optimization

Google PageSpeed Insights is a valuable DIY SEO tool for optimizing your website loading speed and improving user experience. It plays a crucial role in enhancing your website's SEO performance.

The loading speed of your website has a significant impact on user engagement, conversions, and search engine rankings.

Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates, lower user satisfaction, and decreased visibility in search results. Therefore, it's vital to prioritize site speed optimization, and that's where Google’s PageSpeedInsights helps.

This free tool by Google helps you analyze your website’s performance based on factors like:

  • Server response time
  • Render-blocking resources
  • Image optimization
  • CSS and JavaScript delivery
  • Caching techniques
  • Core web vitals

It provides you with a detailed report and a score for both desktop and mobile versions of your website, along with recommendations for improvement.

Google PageSpeedInsights report

It also highlights improvement opportunities and critical issues that can be pulling down your website’s search performance and user experience.

Google PageSpeedInsights improvement opportunities

Key Features

  • Website page loading speed checker for mobile and desktop devices
  • Website performance and SEO scores
  • Overall SEO health checker
  • Core web vitals issue analyzer
  • User experience and user satisfaction analyzer
  • Improvement opportunity recommendations

Pricing

  • Free to use

A Comparison of the Best DIY SEO Software Solutions

Now that we’ve discussed what each tool on this list does and how you can use them to improve your search visibility, let’s take a closer look at where they stand against each other.

I’ve put together this comprehensive comparison table to make it easier for you to analyze the pricing and key features of the top 10 tools. This will help you find the perfect DIY SEO software for your business.

Platform

Pricing

Key Features

Semrush

  • Starts at $119.95/month

  • Website traffic

  • Keyword research

  • Rank tracking

  • Competitor research

  • Backlinks tracking

  • Backlinks gap

  • Technical SEO audit

  • Content marketing tools

  • SEO writing assistant

SEOptimer

  • Starts at $19/month

  • Website audit

  • SEO crawler

  • Keyword research

  • Keyword rank tracking

  • White label reporting

  • Embeddable audit form for new leads

Google Analytics - GA4

  • Free to use

  • Website traffic analytics

  • Traffic growth over a period of time

  • User acquisition analytics

  • User demographics

  • User engagement rate

  • Users by platform, browser, operating system, app version

  • Top-performing content pages

  • Conversion tracking for custom events

Moz

  • Moz Pro plans start at $99/month

  • Moz Local plans start at $14/month

  • Technical site audit

  • Keyword research and rank tracking

  • On-page optimization

  • Backlink analytics

  • Competitor intelligence

  • Local business listings management

  • Review management

  • Custom reporting

Google Search Console

  • Free to use

  • Website search performance

  • Traffic analytics

  • Indexed pages

  • Sitemap submission

  • Page experience report

  • Core Web Vitals report

  • Links report (internal + external)

Ahrefs

  • Starts at $99 per month

  • Site explorer

  • Site audit

  • Competitor research

  • Keyword research

  • Content analysis

  • Backlink analysis

  • Rank tracker

Jasper

  • Starts at $49 per month

  • AI-powered content generation

  • Trained templates for different content types

  • Content optimization (powered by Surfer)

  • On-brand content generation

  • Grammar and language checker

  • Plagiarism checker

  • Translation in 30+ languages

  • Content rephrasing and rewriting

Surfer

  • Starts at $29 per month

  • AI outline generator

  • Content editor

  • Keyword research

  • SEO suggestions

  • Content audit

KWFinder by Mangools

  • Starts at $49 per month

  • Keyword research

  • Local keyword research

  • Competitor keywords rankings analysis

  • SERP analysis

  • Keyword rank tracking in any location, on any device

  • Competitor backlink analysis

  • Website metrics

  • Link profile health checker

Google PageSpeedInsights

  • Free to use

  • Website page loading speed checker for mobile and desktop devices

  • Website performance and SEO scores

  • Overall SEO health checker

  • Core web vitals issue analyzer

  • User experience and user satisfaction analyzer

  • Improvement opportunity recommendations

FAQs

1. Can you do SEO by yourself?

Yes, it is possible to do SEO by yourself.

As an SEO expert, I can assure you that with the right knowledge, tools, and dedication, you can effectively optimize your website for search engines.

While hiring professional SEO services can provide additional expertise, self-learning and implementing SEO strategies can still help you get positive results for your website's search visibility and organic traffic.

2. Can you do SEO for free?

Technically, you can do SEO for free by implementing the basic SEO strategies on your own. There are many free DIY SEO tools that can help you optimize your website to a certain extent, most suitable for beginners.

However, you’ll require a more comprehensive approach, advanced SEO strategies, and investment in paid tools or professional assistance to achieve significant results.

Advanced SEO tools like Semrush will also make your job easy by providing valuable insights into improving your search visibility.

3. How can you select the best DIY SEO software tool?

When selecting the best DIY SEO software tool for your business, consider the following factors:

– Does the tool offer a comprehensive set of features like keyword research, on-page optimization, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and competitor analysis?

– Is the tool easy to navigate for your level of SEO knowledge?

– Does the DIY SEO tool provide accurate and up-to-date data?

– Can the tool integrate with other platforms and tools you are already using, such as Google Analytics or your CMS?

– Does the tool fit your SEO budget? Is it value for money based on the features it offers?

– Does the tool offer reliable customer support?

By considering these factors and assessing your specific requirements, you can select a DIY SEO software tool that can help you achieve optimal results.

4. What is the most effective tool for SEO?

The most effective tool for your SEO needs will depend on your specific goals, budget, and the features that align with your requirements.
However, some popular and widely regarded SEO tools include:

Semrush for its comprehensive suite of SEO features

Ahrefs for its robust backlink analysis capabilities

Moz for its range of SEO tools and a helpful toolbar, MozBar, for quick SEO insights while browsing

Google Analytics for its valuable data about your website's traffic and user behavior

I’d recommended that you explore and experiment with different tools to find the one that best suits your needs and SEO goals.

5. Can you do SEO without tools?

Yes, it is possible to do SEO without relying solely on SEO tools (but you’ll need them for valuable insights and automation).

You can do these SEO tasks manually but they will consume much of your time and efforts:

– Brainstorming relevant topics and manually conducting keyword research on search engines

– Analyzing competitor websites and industry trends to identify target keywords

– Optimizing elements on your web pages, such as meta tags, headings, URL structure, and content by following the best practices recommended by SEO experts

– Creating high-quality, unique, and engaging content that answers common queries and addresses relevant topics within your niche

– Reaching out to niche influencers and publications to build high-quality backlinks

– Manually monitoring your SERP positions (for the first two pages)

Doing all of these manually can be exhausting and can do more harm than good. It’s always better to use DIY SEO software solutions to track your SERP performance and identify and fix issues.

That’s the best way to increase your SEO efficiency and results.

Get the Best DIY SEO Platform for Your Business

Do-it-yourself SEO tools play a vital role in empowering you to optimize your website for search results.

In this article, I helped you explore 10 popular DIY SEO tools, highlighting their key features, pricing, and even provided a handy comparison table for quick analysis.

These tools, such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Analytics, and others, offer a wide range of functionalities to assist your SEO journey with keyword research, on-page optimization, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and more.

Likewise, using the tools will help you gain valuable insights, make data-driven decisions, and implement effective SEO strategies.

However, it's important to remember that selecting the most suitable SEO tool depends on your individual needs, budget, and preferences. Carefully consider your specific SEO requirements, and factors like ease of use, accuracy, and customer support, to make an informed choice.

Are you ready to dive into the world of DIY SEO? Try out a few tools before settling on one!

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https://shanebarker.com/blog/diy-seo-tools/feed/ 0 Surfer’s interactive editor within your Google Docs nonadult
Ubersuggest vs. Semrush: Which Tool Should You Use for SEO https://shanebarker.com/blog/ubersuggest-vs-semrush/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/ubersuggest-vs-semrush/#respond Tue, 30 May 2023 18:01:28 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=74576 Ubersuggest vs. Semrush: Which Tool Should You Use for SEO?Among the plethora of SEO tools available in the market, two names stand out: Ubersuggest and Semrush. 

While both tools offer valuable insights and features to boost your SEO strategy, it's not uncommon to feel confused about which one to use. 

The debate on “Ubersuggest vs. Semrush” has been going on among marketers for some time now, with each tool having its strengths and weaknesses. 

In this article, we'll take a closer look at both tools, their key features, similarities, differences, pricing points, and more. I am writing this post so you can compare the two tools and decide which one fits your needs the best.

Let's dive in and explore what each tool has to offer!

Ubersuggest vs. Semrush: Comparison Gist
  • Semrush provides advanced SEO analytics through machine learning algorithms and a large search engine results database.
  • Semrush offers comprehensive features for backlink analysis, online advertising data, and social media analytics that cater to businesses of all sizes.
  • Ubersuggest's budget-friendly pricing and basic features make it a suitable option for beginners in SEO.

What is Semrush?

Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that offers a range of features to help improve your website's search engine rankings.

With Semrush, you can conduct keyword research, analyze your website's backlink profile, track keyword rankings, and perform in-depth competitor analysis. It also provides you with insights into your social media profiles and PPC campaigns.

Here are some key features of Semrush:

  • Gain insight into your competitors by analyzing their domains' organic search traffic.
  • Conduct keyword research to identify high-value keywords and phrases for your website.
  • Keep track of your domain's keyword rankings on search engine results pages.
  • Optimize your website for on-page SEO factors with a comprehensive site audit.
  • Identify link-building opportunities by analyzing the link profiles of your competitors.
  • Monitor your brand mentions and online reputation to identify and fix any potential issues.
  • Discover new ideas for content creation and optimization.
  • Track your SEO progress and performance with detailed reports.

For a more detailed analysis of Semrush and its core features, you can check out my Semrush review.

What is Ubersuggest?

UbersSuggest is a popular keyword research tool that offers a range of features, including generating content ideas, finding keywords, tracking your daily rankings, conducting a site audit, and performing competitor analysis. 

Here are some key features of Ubersuggest:

  • Get insight into competitors' SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing strategies to gain an edge over them.
  • Discover your competitor's top-ranking pages for organic keywords and social media shares with the Top SEO Pages report.
  • Get hundreds of keyword suggestions with details about search volume, competition, and seasonal trends with the Keyword Suggestions tool.
  • Dive deep into top-performing content pieces for any given keyword to write about topics that people are interested in.
  • Identify the exact content in your niche that people are linking to and develop an action plan to improve your link profile and rankings with Backlink Data.

Ubersuggest vs. Semrush: A Quick Comparison

This quick comparison table is for anyone who wants to check the key differences between Semrush and Ubersuggest at a glance. If you want a more detailed comparison, scroll down to the next section.

Features

Ubersuggest

Semrush

Keyword Research

  • Discover relevant keywords and topics within your niche that have a lower difficulty or volume.

  • Efficiently organize your keywords and conveniently export your research in CSV or XLSX files.

  • Uncover a list of missing keyword opportunities to enhance your content and SEO strategy.

  • Identify overlapping keywords with other domains to understand your competitors better.

  • Access crucial data related to organic traffic, including click-through rates (CTR), clicks, and impressions.

  • Determine the search volume, intent, CPC, keyword difficulty, and other relevant metrics for any given keyword.

  • Analyze the historical trends of advertisements for a particular keyword.

  • Compare up to five keyword profiles simultaneously and assess their performance against each other.

  • Generate numerous related keywords from a single seed keyword.

  • Uncover fresh keyword opportunities and append them to personalized lists.

Competitor Analysis

  • Find top competitors in your niche, along with common keywords, estimated traffic, backlinks, keyword gap, and more for efficient competitor analysis.

  • Check common keywords between your website and your competitors' websites, along with their cost per click (CPC), position, estimated visits, and more for efficient keyword research.

  • Get a list of keywords that your competitors are ranking for, but you aren't, to identify potential keyword opportunities for your website.

  • Export the keyword list to CSV format for future reference and analysis.

  • Evaluate your website traffic in comparison to that of your competitors.

  • Uncover organic competitors and identify keyword opportunities.

  • Gain valuable insights about your competitors' audience.

  • Discover the keywords that your competitors are targeting with paid advertising.

  • Conduct a thorough analysis of backlinks and identify potential areas for improvement.

Rank Tracking

  • Automatically track your website's rankings for specific keywords to monitor your SEO performance.

  • Check how your website performs on mobile devices, which is crucial as mobile search has become increasingly important.

  • Add keywords to your customized list to track your rankings over time for efficient SEO tracking.

  • Track your website's rankings in any country, city, or region, and use the date picker to track your progress over time. This feature helps you assess the success of your SEO strategy over a specified period of time.

  • Monitor your website's search engine rankings on a daily basis or over a specified time frame.

  • Discover the top-performing landing pages for your competitors.

  • Track your organic and paid search engine rankings for any given keyword.

  • Track your search engine rankings on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

  • Uncover any potential issues related to keyword cannibalization.

Backlink Analysis

  • Check the number of referring domains, domain authority (DA), and the total number of backlinks to get a comprehensive view of your website's link profile.

  • Track the progress of your backlink portfolio over a specified period of time to gauge your website's backlink performance.

  • Find granular details like anchor text, source page title, source page authority, spam score of the source page, and more for each backlink.

  • Discover domain-level opportunities where one domain may link to many competitors, but from different URLs to build a robust backlink profile.

  • Identify URL-specific backlinks where specific pages are linking out to one or many of your competitors.

  • Conduct a thorough analysis of your backlink profile, identify different types of backlinks, and sort them by attribute or type.

  • Evaluate your link profile, and detect any suspicious links and errors present in it.

  • Uncover gaps and find new link building opportunities by comparing up to five backlink profiles.

  • Facilitate quick link building by setting up automated email outreach messages.

  • Analyze up to 200 URLs in bulk for efficient processing.

SEO Audit

  • Get an SEO audit of your website with a detailed report on SEO issues based on their impact, including critical errors, warnings, and recommendations.

  • Detect common SEO issues such as 4xx pages that don't exist, duplicate tags and meta descriptions, poorly-formatted URLs, and more for efficient troubleshooting.

  • Find low word count pages that can negatively impact your SEO and get recommendations to fix the issue.

  • Track your site speed to ensure that your website loads quickly, leading to a better user experience and higher search engine rankings.

  • Verify if the site is easily crawlable, its performance is optimal, and internal linking is appropriate along with checking other technical parameters.

  • Scrutinize errors, warnings, and notices that can negatively impact the health of your site.

  • Monitor changes by comparing the Crawls and Audit Progress reports.

  • Generate customized reports by utilizing advanced filters.

  • Seamlessly integrate with Google Analytics.

Ubersuggest vs. Semrush: Detailed Features Comparison

In this detailed comparison, we'll be pitting two top contenders against each other: Semrush and Ubersuggest.

From keyword research to backlink analysis, we'll be breaking down the features of both tools. I have also included screenshots from both tools so you can get a better idea of the user interface. In my experience, that’s a key deciding factor when I am signing up for the tool!

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Keyword Research

Semrush is a top-tier platform for keyword research, offering the largest keyword database in the market. It also has multiple tools that can help you find the best keywords for your website.

In the keyword research toolkit, you'll find the following main features of Semrush:

  • Keyword Overview: This section allows you to view the search volume of any keyword across different countries.
semrush keyword overview screenshot
  • Keyword Manager: You can use this Semrush tool to organize your keywords and export your research in CSV or XLSX files.
semrush keyword manager
  • Keyword Gap Tool: With this tool, you’ll be able to find a list of missing keyword opportunities along with a Venn diagram showing the overlapping keywords.
semrush keyword gap tool
  • Keyword Magic Tool: This tool helps you find relevant keywords and topics in your niche with lower difficulty or volume, with the ability to export the list and use advanced filters.
semrush keyword magic tool
  • Organic Traffic Insights: This feature enables you to find data related to your organic traffic, including CTR, clicks, and impressions. Semrush provides this data after combining it with results from Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
semrush organic traffic insights

I’ve used this feature extensively to improve my website traffic. If you’d like to learn more about it, please check out my case study.

That’s all for Semrush. 

If we look at Ubersuggest, it has a lot of similar features but is simpler to use. Here is a quick summary of Ubersuggest’s capabilities as a keyword research tool:

  • Keyword Overview: This feature allows you to see the search volume, difficulty, CPC, SEO difficulty, and paid difficulty for any keyword.
ubersuggest  keywords
  • Keyword Ideas: You can find suggestions, related keywords, questions, prepositions, and comparisons for any keyword. The tool also lets you see keyword trends over the past 12 months.
ubersuggest keyword ideas
Image via NeilPatel.com
  • Keywords by Traffic: This feature lets you find the number of buyers searching for specific keywords. You can also check out the total number of users from a particular region.
ubersuggest keywords by traffic
  • SEO Difficulty: Using this feature in the Keyword Overview section, you can find easy-to-rank-for keywords. The tool shows a score between 1 to 100. If the score is higher, it means that the keyword is difficult to rank for.
ubersuggest seo difficulty
  • Content Ideas: You can get a list of top-ranking URLs for any keyword, estimated visits, and backlinks.
Ubersuggest Content Ideas
  • Similar Websites: You can explore top competitors using this feature. You’ll also be able to find their organic traffic, common keywords, keywords gap, number of backlinks, and more.
UberSuggest Similar Websites

Overall Winner – Semrush

If you're looking for advanced keyword data, Semrush might be the way to go as they offer in-depth data and advanced features. In my experience, their data is very accurate. Plus, they have the largest keyword database that’s updated on a daily basis.
And that’s why Semrush takes the cake regarding keyword research.

But that’s not to say that Ubersuggest is not great. It is more suited for someone seeking a straightforward solution and basic keyword data.

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Backlink Analysis

Semrush offers advanced backlink analysis capabilities that are hard to beat. Here are some of the tools available in their arsenal for backlink analysis and audit:

  • Backlink Analytics: You can get data on your website's authority score, types of referring domains, total backlinks, and more. You can even compare up to four competitor domains and compare your backlink profile to theirs.
semrush backlink analytics
  • Backlink Audit: If you want to find and remove toxic backlinks, use this tool. It scans all of your backlinks and provides a comprehensive report on which links could be harmful to your website's SEO.
Semrush's Backlink Audit
  • Link Building Tool: To identify the most relevant prospects for gaining backlinks, use this tool. Simply enter your target keyword, and Semrush will provide a list of potential backlink prospects, sorted by their relevance.
semrush link building tool
  • Bulk Analysis: If you're working on a large-scale project and want to check the backlink portfolio of multiple websites, this tool can help you save time. With it, you can analyze multiple URLs or domains at once.
  • Backlink Gap Tool: This tool allows you to compare multiple domains and find backlink opportunities. You can identify domains that link to your competitors but not to you and create a plan to gain those backlinks.
semrush backlink gap

Now, let’s compare it to Ubersuggest. 

Ubersuggest is a limited tool that offers two main features: Backlink Overview and Backlink Opportunities Report. 

With Backlink Overview, you can get a holistic view of your backlink profile. You can check the number of referring domains, the domain authority (DA), and the total number of backlinks. 

ubersuggest backlink overview

Additionally, you can see the progress of your backlink portfolio over a specified period of time. If you scroll down, you can find granular details like anchor text, source page title, source page authority, spam score of the source page, and more.

UberSuggest Backlink Overview - Page Source Title

The Backlink Opportunities Report, on the other hand, shows you who links to your competitors and who doesn't link to you. 

In this report, you can find domain-level opportunities where one domain may link to many competitors, but from different URLs. You can also find URL-specific backlinks where specific pages are linking out to one or many of your competitors that you can leverage. 

UberSuggest Backlink Opportunities

Additionally, you can quickly identify the best backlink opportunities by checking their Domain Authority (DA) right on the spot. Using the Backlink Opportunities Report, you can improve your backlink profile and increase your site’s visibility in search engines.

Overall Winner – Semrush

Semrush's extensive range of features gives it a clear edge over Ubersuggest when it comes to backlink analysis.

While Ubersuggest offers basic features like backlink discovery and an opportunities report, Semrush offers a lot more. 

With Semrush, you can analyze all the backlinks for your or a competitor's website, audit your backlinks to find and remove toxic ones, and explore link building opportunities. This tool also offers a bulk analysis option to help you gather data on a large number of websites at once. 

And that’s why I would recommend Semrush over Ubersuggest to keep track of your backlink portfolio.

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Site Audit

Semrush’s Site Audit tool checks for over 140 technical site health and SEO issues, which are grouped into three categories: errors, warnings, and notices. You can easily see the frequency of these issues as well.

Semrush Site Audit

In addition to that, the Site Audit feature also checks if your site is crawlable and indexable by Googlebot. 

The Crawl Budget Waste section gives you an idea of how easily crawlable your site is. With the Compare Crawls and Progress reports, you can track the changes in the number of issues over time.

Semrush Crawl Budget

Semrush's site audit option doesn't stop there – it can also help you check your page loading speed, internal linking issues, and website structure issues.

Semrush Site Audit - Site Performance

It ensures efficient PageRank distribution as well. If you have a multilingual website, Semrush can even help you check if your hreflang tags are correctly implemented.

For SEO and content marketing, you should check out the SEO Content Template in Semrush's Website Audit. This feature provides suggestions on how to create SEO-friendly content that can boost your SERP rankings and organic traffic.

Semrush - SEO Content Template

In a nutshell, Semrush covers everything from technical SEO to content suggestions in its site audit. 

As a regular user of Semrush, I use this audit option every few months to make sure that my SEO content strategy is on track.

While I was familiar with Semrush, I used Ubersuggest’s Site Audit feature for the first time for this post. 

With Ubersuggest’s Site Audit tool, you can crawl your site and get detailed instructions on how to fix the SEO issues it uncovers.

UberSuggest Site Audit tool

The overview of your site's SEO health will help you prioritize which issues to tackle first. 

The tool categorizes SEO issues based on their impact, including Critical Errors, Warnings, and Recommendations

UberSuggest Site Audit tool - SEO Issues

For example, it can detect 4xx pages that don't exist, duplicate tags and meta descriptions, poorly-formatted URLs, and others. For each issue, Ubersuggest also provides actionable steps on how to fix it. 

Here is an example of how Ubersuggest shows if the word count on your web page is low. Ubersuggest considers a page to have a low word count when the content has less than 200 words. 

To ensure the accuracy of the word count, Ubersuggest's Site Audit tool counts the number of words in the page's main body text, which is within the body tag. It disregards text in other parts of the HTML like scripts, styles, comments, and buttons, among others.

As you can see, the tool shows the number of words on web pages on the first page of Google. This can give you an idea of how much effort you need to put in to improve your content.

UberSuggest Site Audit tool - Word Count

Using the Site Audit tool, you can also track your site speed. The Site Speed section has three different columns for Load Time, Interactivity, and Visual Stability.

I like this section because it directly links to Google’s newly introduced core metrics. It’s an important ranking factor. If you want to understand why Google places so much value on it, you should check my post on “What is SEO and How Does it Work?”

Typically, you’d have to check out the page speed separately but this feature cuts the need to toggle between different tools.

They pull this data straight from Google’s Page Speed Insights API.

Overall Winner – Semrush

I always refer to my SEO checklist while conducting my audit so that I don’t miss out on any key metrics. Semrush provides in-depth data on each one and lets me pinpoint which areas need improvement. It’s designed for advanced marketers who want precise insights as well as intuitive reporting. 

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Competitor Research

With Semrush, you can get a complete picture of your competitors' online presence. The platform allows you to compare the traffic volume of your competitors and potential partners. 

semrush domain overview

Not only that, but you can also dive deeper and analyze their traffic sources, check the desktop vs. mobile traffic ratio, and measure total user engagement.

semrush traffic analytics

In addition to it, Semrush provides basic data comparisons too. 

You can easily compare your competitors' audience with yours and identify their top products/services and categories on their websites.

semrush Organic Research

From the report, you'll be able to uncover all the juicy details, from organic keyword trends to position changes and estimated traffic. 

What I love about Semrush is that it enables you to get into the micro details of your competitors’ strategies.

With it, you can identify their business and affiliate connections, potential backlink sources, top paid keywords, main paid competitors, and ad budgets.

semrush advertising research

And even when it comes to your competitors' social media presence, Semrush has got you covered. Keep tabs on how often they're publishing, which platforms they're using, and whether their follower count is growing or stagnating. 

As you can see from the features listed above, Semrush has much to offer in terms of competitor research. On the other hand, Ubersuggest has limited features for competitor analysis.

To get started, go to the “Traffic Analyzer” option in Ubersuggest and click on the option for “Competitors” from the sidebar.

Ubersuggest Competitor Analysis

From there, you’ll be able to find top competitors, common keywords, estimated traffic, backlinks, keyword gap, and more. 

I can even get a list of the common keywords with a competitor if I click on the “View All” option for the specified row and column. With this option, I can check the common keywords, their CPC, position, estimated visits, and more. 

To find high-value keywords, you should look for high CPC and high volume in the results. 

Using the Keyword Gap option, you can get a list of the keywords that your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t. You can export this list to CSV format for later use.

Overall Winner – Semrush

Semrush is the winner hands down for competitor analysis. Ubersuggest only has basic features.

They may suffice for SEO beginners, but if you want more advanced data, Semrush is the way to go. Not only will you be able to track your competitors’ SEO strategy, but also their PPC and social media presence. 

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Rank Tracking

With Semrush's Position Tracker, you can monitor your website and your competitors' rankings with ease. They update their data every 24-48 hours.

semrush position tracker

That means you can track changes almost immediately after they happen. Plus, you can track any location or device type to ensure you stay on top of your game. 

Semrush also helps you identify your competitors and find out which keywords they are targeting, allowing you to optimize your strategy accordingly. 

With custom notifications, you will be alerted in case of any important position changes that may require immediate action. 

What's more, Semrush offers a built-in PDF editor and integrates with Google Analytics and Google Data Studio. This makes it easier to gather data on every keyword your site ranks for on Google. 

And if that's not enough, with a Guru or Business account, you can configure multiple targets in the same campaign. You can focus on up to 10 locations or devices per project with the Guru plan and on up to 5,000 locations/devices with the Business plan. 

On the other hand, Ubersuggest offers no-fuss, basic functionality for rank tracking. 

Once you add your site to the dashboard, you can sit back and relax as it automatically tracks your rankings for any specific keyword.

UberSuggest Rank Tracker dashboard

You can check how you're performing on mobile devices, which is a great feature in today's mobile-first world. 

What’s more, adding keywords is a breeze with the “Add Keywords” option that pulls suggestions straight from your Google Search Console dashboard. 

You can also track any other keyword, regardless of whether it shows up in your Search Console or not. And if that's not enough, you can track your rankings in any country, city, or region, and use the date picker to track your progress over time.

Overall Verdict – Semrush Wins

While both Semrush and Ubersuggest offer rank tracking features, Semrush stands out as the better option.That is mainly because of its accuracy, larger keyword database, customizable reports, and additional features such as custom notifications and PDF editor. Ubersuggest has limited features for rank tracking. 

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Social Media Analysis

With Semrush's Social Media Tracker, you can streamline your social media management process and publish content on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google My Business.

semrush social media tracker

You can schedule multiple posts and track your engagement, followers, and other metrics conveniently from one dashboard. This tracker also helps you monitor your brand mentions on social media.

Additionally, with this tool, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your hashtags and pinpoint which ones generate the most engagement. Plus, you can scrutinize your competitors' content strategies and discern the type and frequency of their posts.

On the other hand, Ubersuggest does not provide features for social media management or social media analytics. You can use the tool to generate content ideas only and to find the number of social shares for specific URLs.

Overall Verdict – Semrush Wins

This is a no-brainer. There is no competition between Ubersuggest and Semrush for social media analytics because Ubersuggest does not offer social media analytics. 

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest: Data Collection 

Semrush leverages its own machine-learning algorithms and reliable data providers to collect various types of data. This includes search engine data, site traffic analytics, backlinks data, online advertising data, and social media data.

When it comes to search engine data, Semrush partners with trusted third-party data providers to gather Google's search results pages for the top 500 million keywords

Semrush examines both organic and paid search results to offer marketers a comprehensive understanding of a website's visibility on Google.

Additionally, Semrush's backlink crawler is capable of scanning over 25 billion web pages every day. It can also detect and add new links to its vast database of trillions of backlinks.

To estimate site traffic analytics, Semrush relies on its Neural Network algorithm, which draws insights from statistical sampling and error testing based on clickstream data. This method allows for a more balanced analysis of audience behavior.

As for online advertising data, Semrush collects search engine results pages from its main search engine databases, which account for Google Ads and Google Shopping ads.

Semrush obtains social media data by utilizing public APIs from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. 

On the other hand, Ubersuggest focuses on organic data and provides insights into SEO strategies, excluding paid traffic and social media. The tool's primary aim is to track organic traffic and provide reports to help you understand the results of your SEO actions.

Ubersuggest uses Google's API to gather data on website traffic, keywords, and on-page SEO. To make sure the estimations and reports provided are accurate and up-to-date, this process is carried out monthly.

Overall Verdict – Semrush Wins

Semrush is a more comprehensive tool that offers a wider range of data, including search engine data, site traffic analytics, backlinks data, online advertising data, and social media data. 

They also use their own machine-learning algorithms and trusted data providers, which gives them an edge in terms of accuracy and reliability. That’s why I pick Semrush over Ubersuggest for data collection.

Semrush vs. Ubersuggest – Pricing

When choosing between Semrush and Ubersuggest, pricing is an important factor to consider because it can affect the level of features and functionalities that you can access. 

Here are the pricing plans for Semrush and Ubersuggest:

Semrush’s Pricing Plans

Semrush offers three paid plans:

  • Pro Plan: $119.95/month
    • Can add up to 5 projects
    • Can track up to 500 keywords
    • Can check up to 10,000 results for every report
  • Guru Plan: $229.95/month
    • Can add up to 15 projects
    • Can track up to 1500 keywords
    • Can check up to 30,000 results for every report
  • Business Plan: $449.95/month
    • Can add up to 40 projects
    • Can track up to 5000 keywords
    • Can check up to 50,000 results for every report

Semrush provides three well-balanced subscription levels suitable for various users, with their highest tier being an ideal option for large agencies and organizations. 

Additionally, Semrush offers extra features at an additional cost.

Here are the pricing details for the additional features of Semrush:

  • Semrush offers additional users for an added cost, with prices ranging from $45 to $100 per month per user. 
  • Semrush.Local offers a basic plan for $20 per month and a premium plan for $40 per month, both of which offer features like Listing Management and Review Management. 
  • The premium plan also includes Local Heatmap and Google review management. Semrush.Trends costs $200 per month per user and offers Traffic Analytics and Market Explorer tools. 
  • The Agency Growth Kit has two plans, Start for $69 per month and Scale for $149 per month. This kit includes features such as inbound and outbound lead generation, CRM, and Client Portal. 
  • ImpactHero is an AI tool that costs $200 per month and provides insights into the most impactful copy for a campaign.

Semrush’s Trial and Refund Policy 

Semrush offers a 7-day free trial to new users. If you subscribe to the free trial, you can access the platform's features with limitations. After the trial period, you can choose to upgrade to a paid subscription or cancel your account.

That’s for all users.

But if you subscribe via my link, you can get a free trial of their Pro Plan for 14 Days. Give it a try!

If you decide to cancel your Semrush subscription within seven days of purchase, you are eligible for a full refund

However, if you cancel after seven days or have used the platform extensively, the refund amount may be prorated, based on the remaining time left in the billing cycle. I would recommend you read the refund policy and terms of service carefully before subscribing.

Ubersuggest’s Pricing

Ubersuggest has three pricing plans:

  • Individual Plan: $12/month
    • Can check only 1 website
    • Can conduct up to 150 searches per month
    • Can conduct 1000 page scans per domain
  • Business Plan: $20/month
    • Can check 2-7 websites
    • Can conduct up to 300 searches per month
    • Can conduct 1000 page scans per domain
  • Enterprise Plan: $40/month
    • Can check 8-15 websites
    • Can conduct up to 900 searches per month
    • Can conduct 10000 page scans per domain

Ubersuggest’s Trial and Refund Policy 

Ubersuggest provides a 7-day free trial for monthly subscriptions, giving you ample time to explore the platform's features. Moreover, if you opt for an annual or lifetime subscription, you're eligible for a 30-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked. 

However, if you don't cancel your free trial before the end of seven days, your card or PayPal account will be charged automatically. 

In case you need a refund, you can email support@Ubersuggest.com, and their team will evaluate your eligibility for it. Keep in mind that refunds take 5-10 business days to process and return to your account.

Overall Winner: Ubersuggest

In terms of pricing, Ubersuggest has a significant advantage over Semrush.

Ubersuggest's basic plan starts at $12 per month, significantly cheaper than Semrush's basic plan, which starts at $119.95 per month. 

Even the most expensive Ubersuggest plan is still cheaper than Semrush's cheapest plan.

While Semrush does offer more advanced features than Ubersuggest, the vast majority of SEO professionals and small businesses only require the basics. 

Ubersuggest's pricing model is designed to appeal to this market by offering essential SEO tools at an affordable price.

If you're looking for a budget-friendly SEO tool that covers the basics, Ubersuggest is an excellent choice. 

Its pricing is significantly cheaper than Semrush, and its free version provides access to essential features such as keyword research and site audit.

However, if you require more advanced features, Semrush may be a better choice, albeit at a higher price point.

Ubersuggest vs. Semrush:  Pros and Cons

Ubersuggest and Semrush have a lot to offer but each one has its pros and cons. Let’s take a look at the advantages and drawbacks of each of these tools. 

Let’s start with Ubersuggest.

Ubersuggest Pros

  • Ubersuggest provides a user-friendly interface, making it easy for you to navigate the tool without feeling overwhelmed.
  • It has a free basic plan, enabling you to access all the essential features with daily limits. 
  • Their paid plans are quite affordable starting at $12 per month.
  • Ubersuggest uses word clouds to represent keyword data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format, allowing you to quickly grasp keyword trends and patterns.

Ubersuggest Cons

  • Running two reports simultaneously on Ubersuggest can slow down the site’s  performance.
  • The mobile interface of Ubersuggest is not as user-friendly as its web interface.
  • Advanced SEO marketers may not receive a substantial number of results from Ubersuggest.
  • The basic plan of Ubersuggest offers somewhat limited results.

Semrush Pros

  • Semrush offers the largest keyword database on the market (over 24.7 billion keywords) and a huge backlink database (over 43 trillion links).
  • It provides over 50 tools covering SEO, social media, and PPC.
  • It offers the option to add additional users to your chosen plan for a small fee. 
  • Semrush provides excellent value for the features it offers, making it an excellent choice for your SEO and content marketing campaign plans.
  • The platform offers generous usage allowances, with high daily reports limit (3,000 for the lowest plan, 10,000 for the business plan), surpassing competitors.

Semrush Cons

  • Semrush collects data exclusively from Google, lacking data from other search engines like Bing or YouTube.
  • While not overly complex, Semrush's interface can feel overwhelming due to the abundance of data and features, making it challenging for beginners to navigate.

Which SEO Tool Should You Choose – Ubersuggest vs. Semrush?

When it comes to deciding between Ubersuggest and Semrush, I found it to be a close call as both of them offer valuable SEO data and insights. 

When to Choose Semrush:

  • If you require a more comprehensive SEO tool with advanced features such as keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink analysis
  • If you are an agency or large business with a bigger budget and need a tool to handle multiple projects and team members
  • If you need an SEO tool for an agency, ecommerce website, or a larger company.

When to Choose Ubersuggest:

  • If you are a small business owner or a blogger on a budget and need a tool for basic keyword research and content optimization
  • If you want a more straightforward and user-friendly interface than Semrush's more complex layout

If you’d like to research SEO tools and check how they fare against each other, you should also read my posts on:

FAQs

1. Is Ubersuggest a good SEO tool?

Ubersuggest is definitely a great SEO tool for those looking for basic keyword research, content optimization, and backlink analysis. Its user-friendly interface makes it a suitable option for small businesses and bloggers alike.

2. Is Semrush the best SEO tool?

Yes, Semrush is a good SEO tool that offers a comprehensive range of features, including keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, and site auditing. It is a popular choice among SEO professionals and businesses of all sizes.

3. Does Semrush offer a free trial?

Yes, Semrush offers a free trial for seven days with limited features. It allows you to test out the platform before committing to a paid subscription.

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SE Ranking vs Semrush: Which SEO Tool is Better https://shanebarker.com/blog/se-ranking-vs-semrush/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/se-ranking-vs-semrush/#respond Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:11:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=73710 More like the ultimate showdown of SEO tools! 

It's like a heavyweight championship match, but instead of boxing gloves, they're wielding keyword research and backlink analysis.

Who will come out on top? Will it be SE Ranking with its sleek interface and user-friendly features, or will Semrush dominate with its vast database and impressive metrics? 

Will it be the underdog SE Ranking or the seasoned veteran Semrush? Only time, and a lot of coffee-fueled analysis, will tell. In this post, I’ll give you an overview of what SE Ranking and Semrush offer. 

After checking their key features, pros, cons, and pricing, you can decide the winner for yourself!

What is SE Ranking?

SE Ranking is a cloud-based all-in-one SEO software that can help you with site audits, keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink monitoring, rank tracking, and more. It is designed to help agencies, entrepreneurs, SMBs, and enterprises optimize their SEO efforts.

Some of the top features of SE Ranking include:

  • Track website keyword rankings and monitor their performance
  • Analyze website structure and content to identify on-page optimization opportunities
  • Conduct competitor analysis and compare website performance against competitors
  • Monitor backlinks and track their quality and performance
  • Conduct website audit to identify technical errors and performance issues
  • Analyze website traffic and user behavior
  • Generate customizable reports and share them with team members and clients
  • Use the SE Ranking API to integrate with other tools and platforms

What is Semrush?

SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that provides competitive analysis, keyword research, backlink analysis, and more for SEO, PPC, and content marketing. It helps businesses and marketers optimize their online presence and stay ahead of their competition. 

Some of the top features of Semrush include:

  • Analyze domain's organic search traffic and get insight into your competitors
  • Conduct keyword research to identify valuable keywords and phrases
  • Identify and track search engine rankings of a domain's keywords
  • Conduct site audit to improve on-page optimization
  • Analyze backlinks of a domain to identify link-building opportunities
  • Monitor and track brand mentions and analyze online reputation
  • Get ideas for content creation and optimization
  • Generate reports to measure progress and track performance

Quick Comparison: SE Ranking vs Semrush

I've added a quick comparison table on SE Ranking and Semrush to provide a quick overview of the main differences between the two platforms. This will help you get a sense of the key features of each tool before diving into a more detailed analysis.

Both of these tools have a lot to offer. In this section, I have only included some of the top features for each comparison criteria.

Features

SE Ranking

Semrush

Keyword Research

  • Find search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty, and more for any keyword

  • Check monthly changes in search volume

  • Find SERP competitors and their keyword stats related to any search keyword

  • Identify related keywords to a target search term

  • Add keywords that you want to take a look at again in your Keyword Manager

  • Find search volume, intent, CPC, keyword difficulty, and more for any keyword

  • Check keyword ad history trends

  • Benchmark up to 5 keyword profiles at once

  • Generate thousands of related keywords from a single seed keyword

  • Discover new keyword opportunities and add them to customized lists

Competitor Analysis

  • Check your competitors’ top performing keywords, traffic cost, estimate clicks per month, and more

  • Find organic competitors in SEO and PPC

  • Conduct site audience analysis

  • Identify your competitors’ top-performing keywords

  • Analyze overlapping keywords between you and your competitors

  • Evaluate your competitors’ backlink profile and assess the link quality

  • Benchmark your site traffic against that of your competitors’ website

  • Find organic competitors and discover keyword gaps

  • Get insights about your competitors’ audience

  • Identify keywords that your competitors are bidding for

  • Conduct in-depth backlink analysis and discover backlink gaps

Rank Tracking

  • Identify ranking drops and find which pages bring the most traffic

  • Compare your competitors’ keywords along with your own

  • Check traffic forecast, search volume, SERP features, and more for a specific keyword

  • Create keyword groups and tag them for easier tracking

  • Find cannibalization issues by finding the pages that compete for the same keyword

  • Track changes in your website ranking on search engines daily or over a specified period of time

  • Identify best-performing landing pages for your competitors

  • Track your position on search engines for any keyword in organic and paid search

  • Track your position on mobile phones, tablets, or desktop

  • Find keyword cannabilization issues

Backlink Analysis

  • Check Page and Domain Trust score, referring links, top pages by links, anchor texts, and more

  • Identify spam or toxic backlinks

  • Get notified if your backlink gets out of the Google index

  • Evaluate up to 5 backlink profiles to uncover gaps, and find new link opportunities

  • Ability to define the value of each backlink and assign it to a particular manager

  • Analyze your backlink profile, identify backlink types, and sort backlinks by attribute or type

  • Evaluate your link profile and detect suspicious links and errors

  • Compare up to 5 backlink profiles, uncover gaps, and find new link opportunities

  • Set up automated email outreach messages for quick link building

  • Analyze up to 200 URLs in bulk

SEO Audit

  • Get a full breakdown of technical SEO metrics including speed, HTTPS issues, user-friendliness, and more

  • Get notified when your images, CSS, and javascript are not optimized

  • Check the progress of site audits over a period of time

  • Schedule automatic site audits at regular intervals

  • Create site limits or custom rules for site audits

  • Check crawlability, site performance, internal linking, and other technical parameters

  • Check errors, warnings, and notices that may poorly impact your site health

  • Compare Crawls and Audit Progress reports to track changes

  • Use advanced filters to create customized reports

  • Integrates with Google Analytics

SE Ranking vs Semrush: Detailed Features Comparison 

I'm eager to dive deep into the details of SE Ranking and Semrush to compare and contrast their features and functionalities. Let’s see how they stack up in terms of ease of use, competitive analysis, keyword research, backlink analysis, site audit, and more.

SE Ranking vs. Semrush: Ease of Use 

SE Ranking is user-friendly with a straightforward interface. It has a clear dashboard that provides a quick snapshot of the website's ranking status. Plus, its various tools such as keyword research, competitor analysis, and site auditing are easy to use, making it a great option for beginners.

SE Ranking dashboard

On the other hand, Semrush can be more challenging to navigate initially, but it has more advanced features for experienced users. It offers a range of tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, and more.

Semrush dashboard

Overall, both SE Ranking and Semrush have their strengths and weaknesses regarding ease of use. SE Ranking is more beginner-friendly, while Semrush is better suited for experienced users looking for more advanced features.

SE Ranking vs. Semrush: Competitive Analysis

When it comes to competitor analysis, SE Ranking and Semrush both fare well.

With SE Ranking, you can enter any domain name or URL and get a complete view of your competitors' organic and paid promotion strategies. You'll have access to detailed information on their traffic, keywords, backlinks, global metrics, and ads.

Additionally, SE Ranking provides comprehensive data on your competitors' keywords, including rankings, search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and estimated cost per target keyword. 

You'll even be able to see search results by country, making it easier to understand regional differences.

se ranking traffic distribution by country

When it comes to PPC competitor research, SE Ranking offers valuable insights. You'll be able to see what keywords your competition targeted in their campaigns and discover what ads work best for them.

se ranking post popular keyword ads

With this information, you can build better ads for your campaign. You'll also get data on your competitors' Google Ads marketing campaigns, competitive keyword ads, and monthly ad history.

Semrush for Competitive Analysis

On the other hand, Semrush provides this data and more in terms of competitive analysis. Here is a quick domain overview for “ebay.com” in the Competitive Research section on Semrush.

semrush domain overview

With Semrush, you can compare the traffic volume of your competitors or potential partners. You can even zoom in on their traffic sources and check the desktop vs mobile traffic ratio and the total user engagement. 

At the same time, you can also check the basic data as well. 

You can use Semrush to compare your competitors' audience with yours and identify their top products/services, and categories on their websites.

semrush traffic analysis

If you want a comprehensive understanding of your competition's SEO strategy, you can also check organic keyword trends, position changes, estimated traffic, and more.

semrush organic research

You can also identify your competitor's business and affiliate connections, and potential backlink sources. In addition to this, you can also analyze their top paid keywords, main paid competitors, ad budgets, and more.

semrush research

With Semrush, you can get CPC and search volume estimates for these keywords, as well as competitive density, giving you an edge in your advertising strategy. 

The best part is that Semrush also allows you to keep tabs on your competitors’ social media presence. You can see how often they are publishing and whether or not their follower count is growing on different social media platforms.

Final Verdict

While both Semrush and SE Ranking are great tools for competitive analysis, Semrush is known to be more advanced and suitable for experienced users. Semrush offers a wide range of features and in-depth data that might be overwhelming for beginners. 

On the other hand, SE Ranking is more straightforward, making it a great option for those who are new to competitive analysis. 

If you’re just dipping your toes into SEO, SE Ranking might be the right choice for you. Otherwise, if you want to focus on in-depth competitor analysis, Semrush is your best pick. 

SE Ranking vs. Semrush: Keyword Research 

In this section on SE Ranking vs Semrush for keyword research, you will cover how both tools perform in terms of keyword research, including their capabilities, accuracy, and user-friendliness.

I will also compare their keyword research features, such as keyword suggestions, search volume, keyword difficulty, and more.

SE Ranking for Keyword Research

With its Keyword Rank Tracker, Keyword Suggestion, and Keyword Grouper tools, SE Ranking offers everything you need to conduct thorough keyword research.

Let's start with the Keyword Rank Tracker. Using this tool, you can track your keyword rankings on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and even YouTube. 

You can easily spot ranking drops and identify top keywords, as well as pages that are competing for the same keyword. What's more, SE Ranking highlights special features triggered by the keyword, which are marked in blue if earned by your site.

se ranking for keyword research

You can also find the search volume for each keyword, which is the amount of traffic a keyword receives monthly.

The traffic forecast data is also incredibly useful. This lets you see how much traffic a specific keyword can drive to your website. With this data, you can determine which keywords to focus on and prioritize in your content strategy.

With it, you can even check the traffic forecast for your competitor’s keywords.

se ranking added competitors

I also like to look at the Dynamics column in SE Ranking. This section shows how many keyword positions your site gained or lost. This is especially helpful when analyzing the effectiveness of your SEO strategy and making adjustments as necessary.

keyword positions your site gained or lost

Another tool related to keywords is the Keyword Grouper. This tool allows you to segment keywords for further distribution across your website. 

You can define the minimum number of matching URLs and the clustering method to ensure that your keywords are organized in the most efficient way possible.

Overall, I found SE Ranking to be an easy-to-use solution for keyword research. I would recommend it for beginners. 

Semrush for Keyword Research

I’ve been using Semrush for keyword research for a long time now. And I have to tell you – My experience with it has been spectacular. As someone who loves to dive deep into keyword data, Semrush has been a great tool to work with. 

This keyword research tool boasts the largest database of keywords with over 20 billion keywords.

It provides six keyword research and tracking tools, including Keyword Overview, Keyword Magic Tool, Keyword Difficulty Tool, Keyword Manager, Organic Traffic Insights, and Position Tracking.

The Keyword Overview gives insight into keyword volume, SERP results, features, volume trends, and more. For this example, I looked up the keyword, “Instagram filters.”

As you can see in the screen below, you can also find the intent, variations, questions, and even keyword difficulty from just a quick search. 

Pretty detailed, right?

Semrush Keyword Overview - Dashboard

With Keyword Overview, you can also find any keyword’s search volume across different countries. This feature is especially helpful if your target audience is spread across in different countries.

Semrush Keyword Overview - Option to change target country

Just like the name suggests, if you want an overview of keyword data for any keyword, this is the tool to use on Semrush.

On the other hand, their Keyword Magic Tool helps you find relevant keywords and topics in any of your niches with lower keyword difficulty or volume.

This tool shows all the data you see in the Keyword Overview Tool in a list format for multiple keywords. You can also use advanced filters to sort this list by any metric that’s included. You can also export this list to check later. 

semrush keyword magic tool

For a more organized keyword list, you can also use the Keyword Manager. Using this tool, you can save all your research and export it into CSV or XLSX files.

semrush keyword manager

Another feature that you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at for keyword research is the Keyword Difficulty score. It analyzes keyword difficulty or competitiveness to determine if a keyword is worth investing in.

In the Keyword Overview section, you’ll be able to find the Keyword Difficulty score, for the seed keyword you’ve entered. If you’re looking for keyword ideas, you’ll be able to see a “KD” column there as well. 

semrush keyword ideas

If you want to see which keywords your competitors are ranking for, you can use the Keyword Gap Tool. Using this tool, you’ll be able to find a list of missing keyword opportunities along with a Venn diagram showing the overlapping keywords.

semrush top opportunities

When you scroll down, you can also see a list of keywords along with the key performance metrics. There is a lot of data on display and it’s super easy to use.

semrush key performance metrics

With Semrush, I have found that the keyword analysis and suggestions are highly reliable, providing valuable insights into keyword trends and search volume. 

If you want more details, you can check out my detailed Semrush review.

Final Verdict

In my opinion, Semrush is a better tool for keyword research compared to SE Ranking. While SE Ranking provides some useful features, Semrush offers more comprehensive data and analysis options. Semrush also updates 7 million keywords in its database on a daily basis. On the other hand, SE Ranking mentions on its site that they update its database on a monthly basis. 

Plus, Semrush's accuracy, detail, and ability to track competitors' keywords are particularly valuable in keyword research. 

Overall, Semrush's features and capabilities make it the clear winner for keyword research.

SE Ranking vs. Semrush: Backlink Analysis

I will compare SE Ranking and Semrush for backlink analysis, two powerful tools that can help me understand my website's backlink profile and identify areas for improvement. 

In this section, I will be looking at the features and capabilities of each tool, such as their ability to track backlinks, identify toxic links, and analyze competitors' backlink strategies.

SE Ranking for Backlink Analysis

SE Ranking's backlink analysis tools, Backlink Checker, and Backlink Tracking tool, provide a comprehensive analysis of a domain's backlink profile.

Backlink Checker can analyze any domain and provide detailed reports with metrics such as Referring domains, top linked pages, and anchor text.

se ranking for backlink analysis

Moreover, it allows you to check the Page Trust and Domain Trust score, which indicates the likelihood of a page or domain ranking in SERPs. Before you decide to pursue any backlink, these scores can help you evaluate if they are worth the effort.

Using the Anchor Texts tab, you can identify the most common anchor texts and determine the exact number of backlinks and referring domains associated with them. The anchor text distribution data helps identify spam or toxic backlinks with irrelevant anchor texts.

se ranking anchor texts tab

The Pages Report offers in-depth SEO data on the pages that receive the most backlinks. This information helps determine the type of content that attracts links in your niche. It can also provide clues on why some pages might not get the desired results.

se ranking pages report offers in-depth seo data

SE Ranking's Backlink Tracking tool is an easy-to-use solution for tracking and monitoring the backlinks of your website and your competitors. It helps you stay updated on your website's backlink profile and provides insights on the latest trends and opportunities in the market.

Semrush for Backlink Analysis

Semrush offers four different tools for backlink analysis: Backlink Analytics, Backlink Audit, Link Building Tool, and Bulk Analysis.

With the Backlink Analytics tool, you can analyze all of the backlinks for your website or even a competitor's website. You'll get data on your website's authority score, the total number of backlinks, the types and quality of referring domains, and much more.

semrush backlink analytics tool

You can even compare up to four competitor domains as well as compare your backlink profile to theirs.

The Backlink Audit Tool is particularly useful if you're focused on finding and removing toxic backlinks. It scans all of your backlinks and provides a comprehensive report on which links could be harmful to your website's SEO.

semrush backlink audit tool

If you want to maintain a healthy backlink portfolio, I would recommend you use this tool every three months. It will help you take action as soon as you spot toxic backlinks.

The Link Building Tool is another fantastic feature of Semrush. This tool helps you to identify the most relevant prospects for gaining backlinks.

semrush link building tool

Simply enter your target keyword, and Semrush will provide a list of potential backlink prospects sorted by relevance.

Semrush's Bulk Analysis Tool is a powerful feature that allows you to analyze multiple URLs or domains at once. With this tool, you can gather data on a large number of websites. If you’re working on a large-scale project, the Bulk Analysis Tool can really help you save time.

It provides a wealth of information, including data on the website's authority score, the number of referring domains, the types and quality of backlinks, and much more.

Also, the Backlink Gap Tool allows you to compare multiple domains and find backlink opportunities. This feature is particularly helpful if you want to stay ahead of the competition or want to look for link opportunities.

semrush backlink gap tool

You can even use advanced filters to identify shared links, weak links, or strong links. 

Final Verdict

Both tools offer comprehensive features to analyze backlinks, including the ability to track backlink growth and quality, identify toxic links, and compare your website's backlink profile to your competitors.

However, Semrush has a more extensive database of backlinks and offers advanced features like backlink gap analysis and link-building opportunities. It also provides detailed reports for easy analysis.

On the other hand, SE Ranking offers more affordable pricing plans, it lacks the depth and accuracy of Semrush. However, its backlink analysis feature is not as robust as Semrush's.

In conclusion, if you prioritize advanced backlink analysis features and a comprehensive database, Semrush may be the better option. But if you're looking for a more budget-friendly SEO tool that includes basic backlink analysis, SE Ranking is a viable alternative.

SE Ranking vs. Semrush: Site Audits

Site audits are essential for evaluating the overall health and performance of your website. With site audits, you can identify technical and on-page SEO issues such as broken links, duplicate content, page load speed, and more. 

Before choosing between SEMrush and SE Ranking, it's crucial to check the site audit feature on both platforms.

SE Ranking for Site Audit

SE Ranking offers an intuitive website audit feature to help you optimize your website's performance. With important parameters visualized on performance graphs, you can easily identify any issues that are affecting your site's performance. 

The site audit reports provide easy-to-follow quick fixes for every issue that is detected. Even though it has detailed analytics data, it is presented in an easy-to-understand manner. Even if you are an SEO beginner, these reports will be easily understandable.

se ranking for site audit

The Site Audit Report includes key metrics such as Core Web Vitals, Pages Crawled, URLs found, and Health Score. This provides a comprehensive overview of your website's health, making it easy to identify areas that need improvement. 

The Pages Indexation section shows all the pages that aren't indexed by search engines, allowing you to take action to get them indexed.

se ranking pages indexation

The Link Attributes section shows the percentage of external and internal dofollow links and the external nofollow links. This helps you understand your website's link profile and identify any areas that need improvement.

se ranking link attributes

You can also check HTTPS status code, duplicate content, and other technical SEO parameters to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines.

With options to check if your images, javascript, and CSS are optimized or not, you can ensure that your website is fast and responsive. You can also compare site audits over a period of time to track progress and ensure that your website is continually improving.

se report

Overall, SE Ranking's website audit feature is great. For the price, it provides great auditing options that enable you to identify all the issues you need to fix to optimize your website. 

Semrush for Site Audit

Semrush offers a free SEO audit that checks for over 140 technical site health and SEO issues. These issues are divided into three groups, depending on their severity: errors, warnings, and notices, and the frequency of detected issues is shown.

semrush site audit

The Site Audit feature also lets you know if GoogleBot can crawl and index your site. The Crawl Budget Waste section shows how crawlable your site is.

Using the Compare Crawls and Progress reports, you can analyze the results of different SEO audits and track changes in the number of issues over time.

semrush compare crawls

You can also check your page loading speed, find all internal linking issues, carefully organize your website structure, and ensure efficient PageRank distribution.

semrush site performance

If you’re running a multilingual website, Semrush can help you check if your hreflang tags are implemented correctly. Incorrect implementation can lead to Google serving the wrong version of your website to your audience.

If you’re into SEO content marketing, you should also check out the SEO Content Template in Semrush’s Website Audit. It provides suggestions on how to create SEO-friendly content to get higher SERP rankings and more organic traffic. 

Just like the other features on Semrush, the audit option provides thorough and detailed reports. I’ve been using Semrush’s Website Audit feature to improve my SEO. I would recommend you give it a try too!

Final Verdict

With over 140 technical site health and SEO issues, Semrush provides a detailed analysis of your website's performance. 

Plus, it helps you improve both your technical and content-related SEO.

By providing suggestions on how to create SEO-friendly content, Semrush helps you craft a more optimized content strategy. It provides a holistic report that takes into account both technical and content optimization.

That’s why I prefer Semrush over SE ranking as an SEO audit tool.  

SE Ranking vs Semrush: Other Important Features

For a well-rounded comparison between SE Ranking and Semrush, we need to look beyond the main features. In this section, we will cover all the other important features

1. Content Marketing

SE Ranking and Semrush are primarily designed for SEO, but they also provide content marketing features that can aid in creating and optimizing high-quality content. Let’s take a look at the content marketing features for both tools.

SE Ranking for Content Marketing

SE Ranking's Content Marketing Tool and Content Editor offers an array of features to help you optimize your content marketing strategy. You can find topics with traffic potential and create post briefs that meet search engine standards.

Using the Content Editor, you can set parameters for content creation or analyze if a particular keyword is worth adding to your content.

se ranking for content marketing

SE Ranking's Content Marketing Tool also enables you to source topic ideas, manage your content calendar, and let artificial intelligence help you write faster. 

Furthermore, you can measure content quality and identify issues like keyword stuffing.

se ranking content score

This tool also provides tips on word count based on competitive analysis and assists in reviewing and analyzing completed texts.

Semrush for Content Marketing

Semrush offers six different tools that can help you with various aspects of content marketing. Here is a quick overview of how you can use Semrush for planning your content strategy:

  • Topic Research: The Topic Research feature helps you discover new content ideas and analyze the competition in your industry or niche. Using itl, you can check a list of related topics, popular headlines, and questions related to your niche. You can also analyze your competition to identify content gaps and create better content.
semrush topic research
  • Marketing Calendar: Using the Marketing Calender, you can plan and organize your content marketing campaigns in one centralized location. You can assign tasks in your team calendar and collaborate with team members.
semrush marketing calendar
  • SEO Content Template: With this Semrush feature, you can analyze your content and get recommendations on how to improve it for SEO. You can also get suggestions on the appropriate length, target keywords, and related terms to use in your content.
semrush content template
  • SEO Writing Assistant: With Semrush’s Writing Assistant, you can analyze your content in real-time and provides suggestions for optimizing it for search engines. You can receive recommendations on the length of your content and how you can improve the readability and tone of your content.
semrush writing assistant
  • Post Tracking: You can track the performance of your published content with this tool. You can even identify which posts are generating the most engagement. Additionally, you can track your competitors' posts and see the key metrics for their posts.You can also use different filters to get a more sorted list.
semrush post tracking
  • Content Audit: This tool helps you identify and fix content-related issues on your website. You can analyze your website's content and get recommendations on how to improve it. Using this tool, you can also identify duplicate or low-quality content, broken links, and missing meta descriptions.
semrush content audit

By offering all these features, Semrush provides everything you need to create a solid content marketing strategy.

2. Social Media Tracking

With social media becoming an essential part of any business's online presence, having tools that can track and analyze social media performance alongside SEO metrics is crucial. Both SE Ranking and Semrush offer multiple features for social media monitoring and tracking. Let’s see what they have to offer. 

SE Ranking for Social Media Tracking

SE Ranking's Social Media Tracker offers essential features to help you optimize your content marketing strategy. You can conveniently auto-post social media updates on Facebook and Twitter and determine the best time to engage with your target audience.

SE Ranking for Social Media Tracking

Moreover, the tool enables you to identify the type of content that yields the best results. By analyzing the performance of your social media content, you can learn what your audience likes. Based on that, you can create more engaging content that gets more likes, shares, and comments. 

Semrush for Social Media Tracking

Semrush's Social Media Tracker helps you streamline your social media management by enabling cross-network publishing for popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google My Business. 

You can easily schedule multiple posts and monitor engagement, followers, and more in one convenient dashboard. The Social Media tracker also allows you to track your brand mentions on social media.

Additionally, you can find out which of your hashtags drive the most engagement, and analyze the frequency and nature of the content your competitors are posting. 

3. On-Page SEO 

An SEO tool with robust on-page SEO features can provide detailed insights and actionable recommendations for improving your page content and structure. Let’s see how SE Ranking and Semrush stack up against each other in terms of on-page SEO features.

SE Ranking’s Features for On-Page SEO

SE Ranking provides a comprehensive On-Page SEO Audit that allows you to check dozens of ranking factors for each page. You can also compare your on-page SEO metrics with those of your competitors to identify opportunities for improvement.

se rankings features for on-page seo

By analyzing keyword count, usage, and density, you can discover content opportunities that can boost your search engine rankings. Additionally, you can create custom on-page tasks for each target URL and prioritize them based on their potential to improve the overall quality score.

It categorizes different aspects that influence rankings such as text content, user experience, and media. You can also check the Page Quality Score to understand which factors are holding you back from top-ranking positions.

se rankings page quality score

Overall, this tool tests dozens of factors, providing a full breakdown of every ranking factor for each page. This data can help you identify what needs to be fixed, and create a roadmap for on-page optimization to improve your search engine rankings.

Semrush’s Features for On-Page SEO 

Semrush's On-Page SEO Checker is a valuable tool for optimizing your website. It analyzes your landing pages and recommends high-ranking pages to optimize for specific keywords. 

It also suggests new sources for link building and integrates data from Semrush's Site Audit tool to identify technical site issues. The Semantic Ideas feature finds additional keywords and related topics to your target keyword. The tool provides content ideas and guidance on what to do with your content. 

Analyzing data from Google Analytics, it gives you a picture of your web page's UX state and helps you identify areas that need improvement to achieve higher search positions. 

You can also learn how to get your website showcased in Google's SERP Features by using the tool, which analyzes the keywords triggering SERP features and makes recommendations based on data from your top 10 rivals in Google.

4. Reporting

Reporting capabilities are crucial for tracking progress, analyzing data, and demonstrating the value of SEO efforts to clients. With robust reporting features, you can easily generate accurate reports, identify areas for improvement, and refine strategies for better results.

SE Ranking’s Reporting Capabilities

You can create custom SEO reports from scratch or use one of their many professional templates. With the latter, you’ll have some sections listed on the left side in the Report builder. You can drag-and-drop them to the work area or delete them if you don’t want them.

se rankings reporting capabilities

Once finished, it's easy to manually download reports in .pdf, .xls, or .html formats, and you can even schedule routine emails to keep yourself or your team up to date. 

Plus, if you need to share data from any keyword ranking report, you can use SE Ranking to create a Data Studio dashboard.

Semrush’s Reporting Capabilities

With SEMrush, you can create PDF reports from scratch or use templates to speed up the process. For each of the features we discussed in this post, there is a separate template that you can choose for reporting.

semrushs reporting capabilities

You can even customize your reports with drag-and-drop data, add images, and use structural elements like columns, text elements, titles, and page breaks to shape your progress reports.

semrush traffic report customization

One of the best things about SEMrush's reporting capabilities is that you can combine data from various sources, including SEMrush, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and more. 

This means that you can get a comprehensive overview of your website's performance in one place, making it easier to analyze and take action.

With SEMrush's white-labeling feature, you can even add your branding to your reports, making them look professional and tailored to your brand. 

semrush report generate pdf

Additionally, you can set up recurring email reports on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, so you don't have to worry about creating new reports every time. This saves you time and ensures that you and your team are always up-to-date with your website's performance.

5. Customer Support 

Good customer support can make a significant difference in the overall user experience of any tool. In my experience, it can even be a major factor in deciding which tool to use. Before you pick between SE Ranking and Semrush, read about their customer support channels.

SE Ranking’s Customer Support

SE Ranking offers several customer support channels to assist you with any questions or issues you may have. 

The first point of contact is the “Contact Us” page on their website. From there, you can submit a support ticket by filling out a form with their name, email address, and message. Once submitted, SE Ranking's customer support team will respond to the inquiry via email.

In addition to the online contact form, SE Ranking also has physical office locations in both the UK and the USA. 

The UK office is located at 15 Ingestre Place, London, W1F 0DU, and can be reached by phone at +44 20 3868 1173. 

The USA office is located at 228 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California, 94301, and can be reached by phone at +1 415 704 4387. 

On their website, SE Ranking has a comprehensive FAQ section that covers common questions and issues related to their services. This section provides quick and easy access to information that can help customers resolve their own problems without needing to contact support.

SE Ranking also offers a knowledge base that contains more in-depth articles and tutorials on how to use their platform. This resource is useful for customers who want to learn more about specific features or need help with more complex issues.

Semrush’s Customer Support

Semrush provides support through three channels – phone, email, and their Support page.

You can find a support number on their website for the USA, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, and Australia, each with their own business hours. 

For example, if you require support in the USA, you can reach Semrush support Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM (EST/EDT) at +1 (800) 815 – 9959.

You can also email their support outside of working hours through their contact support page. Although their customer support is not available 24/7, they make an effort to address negative reviews professionally on Trustpilot and their social media accounts.

If you don’t want to call or email them, you can also submit your queries by filling up a basic questionnaire on their Support page. 

You can expect their team to contact you within 24 hours of submitting your query. If you submit it over a weekend, then they’ll get back to you on the first working day.

semrush customer support

In my experience with Semrush, I have mainly interacted with their support team over the phone, and have had no trouble getting my queries resolved. 

However, emailing them outside of business hours led to a delayed response of 2 days. Therefore, I suggest calling them during business hours instead of emailing.

Pricing Plans: SE Ranking vs. Semrush

When it comes to SE Ranking and Semrush, pricing is a major differentiating factor. There is a big difference between their paid plans, which might influence which platform you choose.

Here are the pricing details for SE Ranking:

SE Ranking offers three paid plans:

  • Essential Plan: $31.20/month billed annually
  • Pro Plan: $71.20/month billed annually
  • Business Plan: $151.20/month billed annually
  • Custom plan available on request
  • 30-minute demo available

The Essential Plan is great for freelancers and new SEO marketers. It’s super affordable and provides all the basic data you need to stay on top of your SEO strategy. However, it provides only one user seat.

That’s why the Pro and the Business Plan are more suited for small and mid-sized agencies and businesses. If you think your needs won’t be met with these paid plans, you can also talk to their sales team for a custom plan. 

Here are the pricing details for Semrush:

Semrush offers three paid plans:

  • Pro Plan: $99.95/month billed annually
  • Guru Plan: $191.62/month billed annually
  • Business Plan: $374.95/month billed annually
  • Free trial available
  • 7-day money-back guarantee. Refund within 30 days.

Semrush’s pricing plans are designed to cater to the needs of SMBs, small and mid-agencies, and even big enterprises. For freelancers, the paid plans might seem expensive. However, they do offer a free plan which can be a great starting point for those with smaller websites. 

Comparing the pricing point for Semrush to SE Ranking, it’s obvious the former is a lot more expensive. But is it worth it?

Having used Semrush for many years, I can vouch it’s worth it. If you can afford it, go for it!

What Users Are Saying About SE Ranking

“I've been using SE Ranking for 4 months and find it an excellent alternative to Semrush. Its ranking tool is one of the best I've used. 
I especially like how it can separate local map rankings from the organic ranking positions, and that you can use up to 5 locations or search engines (Google Desktop/Mobile, Bing, Yahoo) with the keyword set without using any extra keyword credits. 
This means SE Ranking is a much more affordable choice, especially for freelancers. Highly recommended!”
Steph Andrusjak, Freelance SEO Consultant
Freelance SEO Consultant

What Users Are Saying About Semrush

“Over the past two years, I have found Semrush to be an invaluable tool for competitor analysis, content analysis, and identifying keyword gaps. 
Its unlimited data exporting capabilities have been particularly useful for analyzing large data sets, while the Topic Research and Content Template features have proven to be indispensable for researching new topics. 
While the tool's user interface can be a bit cumbersome, and the link-building tool lacks essential features, I still highly recommend Semrush for its research purposes, such as keywords, topic research, and competitor analysis. 
Overall, Semrush has been an excellent tool for helping Mailmodo stay ahead of the competition.”
SEO Manager at Mailmodo

SE Ranking vs Semrush: Which Tool Should You Use?

After comparing SE Ranking and Semrush for keyword research, competitive analysis, backlink analysis, and site audits, it is clear that Semrush has the upper hand

It has a more extensive database, more advanced features, and a wider range of options when it comes to analyzing competitors.

Moreover, Semrush's backlink analysis tool is more comprehensive and provides more valuable insights. Additionally, Semrush's site audit tool is more thorough and can help identify critical issues that need to be addressed to improve the website's performance. 

While SE Ranking is more affordable and user-friendly, Semrush's superior features and capabilities make it the better choice for those who to take their SEO game to the next level.

FAQ

1. Is there a free alternative to Semrush?

Yes, Google Keyword Planner is one of the best free alternatives to Semrush. For more options, you can check out my post on Semrush alternatives.

2. Is SE Ranking accurate?

SE Ranking claims to provide 100% accurate data for keyword ranking on their website. SE Ranking utilizes search engines as the source of our ranking results, and we retain a cached copy of the search engine results that we obtain during our rank checks.

To confirm the accuracy of each value in SE Ranking, simply click on it and you will be able to check the corresponding cached copy.

3. Is Semrush the best SEO tool?

As an SEO expert, I cannot definitively say that Semrush is the best SEO tool, as it depends on individual needs and preferences. However, Semrush is a highly regarded and widely used SEO tool with a variety of features for keyword research, backlink analysis, and site auditing.

They also have a large keyword database with over 24.6 billion keywords. They even update their database on a daily basis. Plus, their data is quite accurate and reliable – all of which make it the best in the league.

4. How are Semrush and SE Ranking similar?

Semrush and SE Ranking are both SEO tools that offer similar features such as:

– Keyword research 
– Backlink analysis
– Site auditing
– Competitor analysis
– Keyword rank tracking
– Customizable reporting options
– Social media tracking
– On-page SEO
– Content marketing

5. Alternatives to Semrush and SE Ranking

Here are some alternatives to Semrush and SE Ranking:

– Ahrefs
– Moz
– Google Analytics
– Serpstat
– SpyFu

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Best Ubersuggest Alternatives & Competitors for 2023 https://shanebarker.com/blog/alternatives-to-ubersuggest/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/alternatives-to-ubersuggest/#respond Fri, 07 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=72981 If you're looking for the best Ubersuggest alternatives and competitors for 2023, you've come to the right place. 

As many great things there are to say about Ubersuggest, it's always good to have options, especially when it comes to keyword research, competitor analysis, and content ideation. In this article, I’ll be exploring some of the top players in the SEO game that can help you take your website to the next level. 

So buckle up, grab a cup of coffee, and get ready to discover some exciting new tools that will change the way you approach SEO in 2023.

What is Ubersuggest?

Ubersuggest is an all-in-one SEO tool that provides a range of features to help you optimize your  online presence. Ubersuggest allows users to conduct keyword research, analyze backlinks, perform site audits, and much more.

Key Features of Ubersuggest

  • Keyword Research – Ubersuggest's keyword research tool allows you to find new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty.
Ubersuggest Keywords
  • Site Audit – The site audit feature analyzes your website's health, identifies technical issues, and provides recommendations for improvement.
Ubersuggest Site Audit
  • Backlink Analysis – Ubersuggest allows users to see their own backlinks and those of their competitors, providing insights into link-building opportunities.
Ubersuggest Backlink Dashboard
  • Content Ideas – The content ideas feature provides users with topic suggestions for creating high-quality content that resonates with their audience.
Ubersuggest Content Ideas
  • Competitor Analysis – Ubersuggest's “similar websites” tool allows you  to compare your  website's performance against your  competitors and identify areas for improvement. It also shows similar keywords, keyword gaps, and estimated traffic.
Ubersuggest Competitor Analysis
  • Rank Tracking – Ubersuggest’s rank tracker allows you to keep track of keywords, articles they are in, and where these keywords are ranking on search pages.
Ubersuggest Rank tracking

Ubersuggest Pros

  • Comprehensive Keyword Research: Ubersuggest’s  keyword research tool  offers an extensive list of long-tail and short-tail keywords, including search volume, competition, and estimated CPC.
  • Competitive Analysis: Ubersuggest offers a competitive analysis tool that enables users to analyze their competitors’ strategies and identify opportunities to improve their own SEO strategy.
  • User-Friendly Interface: Ubersuggest has an easy-to-use interface that is simple and straightforward, making it easy for beginners to understand and use the tool effectively.
  • Free Version Available: Ubersuggest offers a free version that provides a limited number of searches per day, making it accessible to users with a limited budget.
  • Site Audit: Ubersuggest offers a site audit tool that identifies technical issues on your website that may be affecting its performance and provides recommendations for improvement.

Ubersuggest Cons

  • Limited Features in the Free Version: While Ubersuggest offers a free version, it has limited features, and users need to upgrade to access more advanced features.
  • Limited Accuracy: Some users have reported that the search volume estimates provided by Ubersuggest are not always accurate.
  • Limited Backlink Data: Ubersuggest provides limited backlink data, making it difficult to conduct in-depth backlink analysis.
  • Limited Keyword Tracking: Ubersuggest provides limited keyword tracking capabilities, making it challenging to track changes in keyword rankings over time.
  • Customer Support: Some users have reported that Ubersuggest’s customer support is not always responsive and timely.

Ubersuggest Pricing

Ubersuggest’s pricing is straightforward. There are monthly subscriptions available, butwhat really makes Ubersuggest a great option is that you can purchase lifetime packages.

PlanMonthlyLifetime
Individual$12$120
Business$20$200
Agency$40$400

What Are the Best Ubersuggest Alternatives?

Now that we've covered Ubersuggest's key features, let's take a closer look at the best alternatives for 2023.

1. Semrush

Semrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that provides a range of features to help businesses improve their online visibility. Its key features include keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis. 

It’s similar to  Ubersuggest  as both offer a variety of tools including SEO tools, traffic analysis, backlinking, and keyword research.

Semrush Domain Overview

Semrush does offer dedicated social media tools, including a social poster/scheduler, social tracker, all-in-one social inbox, and influencer analytics.

Semrush Social Media tracker

Why Choose Semrush over Ubersuggest?

The main reason Semrush is the number one Ubersuggest alternative is the platform's SEO tools, and massive keyword database.

I found Ubersuggest’s accuracy, as well as keyword suggestions and data, to be underwhelming. The keyword generator is a great touch, but it doesn’t do enough for me to be better than Semrush.

Semrush Keyword magic tool
Ubersuggest Keyword test

To compare the data, I’ve checked the results for the keyword, “movies” in both the tools.  

Semrush has the keyword difficulty for the word “movies” at 100, whereas Ubersuggest says 90. Ubersuggest does split the traffic between mobile and desktop, which is great.

The biggest flaw here is Ubersuggest’s inaccurate reading. It shows the search volume for “movies” is 3,350,000, whereas Semrush shows 2,240,000. Semrush updates its keyword database every 24 hours, and is much more accurate. In this case, by a very large margin. 

Ubersuggest is very affordable and is great for individual use. I still believe that Semrush’s price is beginner-friendly. As it comes with a much larger set of tools, it’s the better platform for any small business looking for an all-in-one solution.

Key Features of Semrush

  • Keyword Research – Semrush’s keyword research tool  allows users to find new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty.
  • Site Audit – Semrush's site audit tool identifies technical issues that may be affecting your website's performance and provides recommendations for improvement.
  • Backlink Analysis – Semrush's backlink analysis tool allows users to see their own backlinks and those of their competitors, providing insights into link-building opportunities.
  • Backlink Auditor – Allows you to audit your website’s backlink to find and remove any toxic backlinks that might be causing your site to lose rankings.
  • Competitor Analysis – Semrush's competitor analysis tool allows users to compare their website's performance against their competitors, identifying areas for improvement.
  • Social Media Toolkit – Semrush’s social media toolkit offers all you need to create, post, and track your social media campaigns.

Pros

  • Large variety of different tools
  • Decent free version
  • Largest keyword database of all platforms

Cons

  • More expensive than other tools
  • Takes some time to learn how to use

Pricing

  • Pro – $119.95/monthly
  • Guru – $229.95/monthly
  • Business – $449.95/monthly

Want to know more about Semrush? Check out my full Semrush review here.

2. Mangools

Mangools is a great Ubersuggest alternative. Its key features include keyword research, SERP analysis, and backlink analysis. Mangools is designed to be easy to use, making it a great option for beginners.

I really appreciated the launch screen right after signing up. It was quick to offer me some basic SEO solutions, which would be great for beginners.

Mangools first time splash screen

The “site profiler” is a great tool if you quickly want to get some info on a website, how well it's doing versus competitors, which content is ranking high, and the site’s authority score.

Mangools dashboard

Why Choose Mangools over Ubersuggest?

For me, the main reason to choose Mangools over other similar platforms, is the super basic interface. It is as beginner-friendly as they come. 

This can be an issue though, as the simplicity means there is a lack of in-depth information that intermediate users or professionals want. But considering its pocket-friendly price, Mangools is aimed at individuals and small businesses.

To test its accuracy, I measured used the keyword “movies” again and was quite shocked when I saw how  inaccurate Mangools was.

Mangools Keyword research

This is far from Semrush and Ubersuggest’s much lower search volumes for the same keyword.

Key Features of Mangools

  • Keyword Research – Mangools provides a keyword research tool that allows users to find new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty.
  • SERP Analysis – The SERPWatcher tool allows users to see which websites are ranking for specific keywords, providing insights into competitor performance.
  • SiteProfiler – Allows users to get a quick overview of a site’s performance on search engines, as well as against competitors.
  • LinkMiner – This is Mangools’ very own backlink tool. It acts as a backlink analyzer and auditor. It provides all backlinks that link to a domain, as well as scores how trustworthy the sites are.
  • SERP Volatility –  This is a useful tool that helps users monitor the fluctuations in Google's search results. By keeping an eye on search result volatility, users can gain a better understanding of how their website's rankings may be affected and adjust their SEO strategy accordingly.
  • SERP Simulator – This is a powerful tool that allows users to see a simulated version of the search engine results page for a particular keyword. This helps users to optimize their website's content for specific keywords by providing valuable insights into what potential customers may see when they search for those terms.
  • The Mangools SEO browser extension is available for both Chrome and Firefox and allows users to access the main features of the software quickly and conveniently.

Pros

  • Great price
  • Great free Chrome extension
  • Easy to use with intuitive interface

Cons

  • Lack of integration
  • Less accurate and a smaller keyword database

Pricing

  • Basic – $49/monthly
  • Premium – $62/monthly
  • Agency – $116/monthly

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular tool, especially for competitor research. Its key features include keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.

Ahrefs Dashboard

Ahrefs is a great tool for professionals that want in-depth competitor analysis. Its “Organic Research” tools, including keyword research, are some of the best in the industry, competing with platforms like Semrush.

Why Choose Ahrefs over Ubersuggest?

Ahrefs was built as the ultimate competitor analysis tool, and that is where it shines brightly. It offers accurate traffic data of competitor’s websites, which pages are ranking well, and the keywords they’re using to get those results.

Its results are also more accurate than Ubersuggest’s. As you can see below, the results are many closes to those of Semrush for the keyword “movies”. The search volume is 2,300,00 and the difficulty score is 96.

Ahrefs free keyword research tool

If you’re a professional, looking for the most in-depth data on your competitors available, there is no better option than Ahrefs. As an Ubersuggest alternative though, Ahrefs probably won’t satisfy you in certain areas like SEO which they’ve only recently been focusing on. It’s also not as user-friendly as Ubersuggest.

Key Features of Ahrefs

  • Dashboard: Permits users to have a comprehensive overview of all their projects and enables them to monitor their SEO progress and performance.
  • Site Explorer: Helps users to conduct research on the backlinks and keyword rankings of their competitors.
  • Keywords Explorer: Users can use this to discover successful keyword ideas from the vast and acclaimed database of Ahrefs.
  • Site Audit: Allows users to automatically scan their website for any potential SEO issues and receive a comprehensive report on identified issues.
  • Rank Tracker: Using the rank tracker lets you monitor their website's ranking progress on search engines on both desktop and mobile devices.
  • Content Explorer: empowers users to conduct research on potential content ideas and locate opportunities for backlinking.

Pros

  • Large keyword database with accurate data
  • The most in-depth competitor analysis tools and data
  • The interface looks great, and is easy to use

Cons

  • Wealth of data can be overwhelming for beginners
  • Expensive

Pricing

  • Lite – $99/ monthly
  • Standard – $199/monthly
  • Advanced –  $399/monthly
  • Enterprise – $999/monthly

For a more detailed look at Ahrefs, head on over to my Ahrefs review.

4. Moz Pro

Moz is another popular SEO tool that provides a range of features to help businesses improve their online visibility. Its key features include keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and local SEO. Moz also provides a range of resources and guides to help users improve their SEO knowledge.

Moz Pro Overview Dashboard

Link explorer is one of the standout features you’ll find on Moz. As an alternative to Ubersuggest, it’s a great choice for competitor research. The “link explorer” is excellent for finding key insights into your competitor’s website.

Moz Pro Site Audit

The “Site Crawl Overview” is another great tool, that offers some insights into how well your site is doing, as well as issues that need fixing.

The biggest issue I had was with the interface itself, as it came across a little outdated, and difficult to navigate. This can be an issue for beginners.

Why Choose Moz over Ubersuggest?

Moz is best for experienced users looking for an all-in-one tool suite. It offers tools for all facets of SEO, as well as insights to your website’s SERPs. Moz does all of that, although it ain’t cheap. 

Ubersuggest is more beginner-friendly, and comes with a much nicer price tag, but lacks the in-depth analysis and large tool set Moz has to offer.

Key Features of Moz

  • Link Explorer: Link Explorer lets you conduct research and analyze links to their own website, as well as those of their competitors.
  • Fresh Web Explorer: Businesses can monitor mentions of their brand, products, or competitors in real time.
  • Keyword Explorer: Allows users to research and track the rankings of relevant keywords to their website and industry over time.
  • Explore By Site: Offers users access to data and analytics for a specific website, including its link profile, top pages, and top organic search keywords.
  • Site Crawl: Facilitates the detection and resolution of technical SEO issues on a user's website, such as broken links and missing meta tags.
  • Rank Tracker: The rank tracker allows you to monitor the rankings of their website for specific keywords on various search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
  • Page Optimization: Users can optimize their website's individual pages for particular keywords and phrases.

Pros

  • Great browser extension tool
  • Fairly accurate data

Cons

  • On the pricier side
  • Site auditor didn’t provide enough in-depth information

Pricing

  • Standard – $99/monthly
  • Medium – $179/monthly
  • Large – $299/monthly
  • Premium – $599/monthly

Curious how Moz compares to the heavyweight giants such as Semrush and Ahrefs? Find out here – Semrush vs. Moz vs. Ahrefs: Which is the Best in 2023?

5. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an excellent choice, and for its price, it’s easily one of the best choices on this list. It's an all-in-one SEO solution, which has a full suite of tools, including keyword tracking and research, content editing, and website auditing.

SE Ranking Dashboard

It also boasts excellent advanced features such as a social media manager, an on-page SEO checker, and a marketing tool. This means that SE Ranking is up there with Semrush and Ahrefs for the number of tools available on the platform.

Why Choose SE Ranking over Ubersuggest?

Its large tool set is exactly the reason SE Ranking outperforms Ubersuggest. Its social media toolkit, as well as a marketing tool, makes it a more valuable asset, especially at its price point. 

It’s keyword research tool offered a similar search volume to that of Ubersuggest, but isn’t as accurate as Semrush. The difficulty score is also quite lower than that of Ubersuggest.

SE Ranking Website Audit

I do like the interface, and its simple design. The tools are designed so that you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

Ubersuggest does have a free version, although it has limited features. This makes it an excellent choice for individuals who’d like to dip their toes in SEO.

Key Features of SE Ranking

  • Keyword Position Tracking: SE Ranking’s position tracking is a powerful tool that enables you to keep tabs on your website's search engine rankings for specific keywords across various popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.
  • Keyword Research: Provides you with valuable insights into various keywords, such as search frequency, competition levels, and Cost Per Click (CPC), thereby enabling you to identify new opportunities for your website and make informed decisions.
  • Website Audit: This tool enables you to analyze your website for technical and on-page SEO issues, including broken links, duplicate content, and meta tags. Detailed reports generated through website audits can help you effectively resolve such issues.
  • Competitor Analysis: Businesses can use this to gain a thorough understanding of your competitors' websites and their strengths and weaknesses. The data gathered through competitor analysis can be utilized to enhance your SEO strategy.
  • Backlink Analysis: Provides detailed information about the backlinks directed to any website, including the quality and quantity of backlinks, anchor text, and link source.
  • Professional Reporting: The reporting tool helps you generate detailed reports on your website's performance, including traffic, search engine positions, and visibility. These reports can be easily shared with customers and colleagues.
  • White Label: Enables you to personalize the software with your own branding and provide your customers with professional, white-labeled reporting.
  • Social Media Management: Offers features for tracking, analyzing, and managing your social media accounts, making it easier for you to manage your online presence and enhance your social media strategy.

Pros

  • Great value for its price
  • UI is well-designed, fairly easy to navigate
  • Offers a large selection of tools for all purposes

Cons

  • The historical data is quite limited

Pricing

  • Optimum – $39/monthly
  • Plus – $89/monthly 
  • Enterprise – $189/monthly 

SE Ranking also offers discounted prices for annual subscriptions, as well as a 14-day free trial for new users. Additionally, they have add-on features available for an extra cost, such as White Label, API access, and additional keywords.

6. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is a comprehensive SEO tool that provides a range of features to help businesses improve their on-page SEO. Its key features include content optimization, keyword research, and competitor analysis. 

After auditing a site, and checking for the keyword Instagram, I was given a fair amount of insight on pages that needed optimization, as well as terms I could use in the content. The audit is mostly focused on SEO but does it really well.

Surfer SEO Audit tool

Why Choose Surfer SEO over Ubersuggest?

Surfer SEO is a comprehensive on-page optimization tool that offers many advantages over Ubersuggest. 

Its unique Content Editor allows users to optimize their content for specific keywords and phrases, ensuring that their pages are fully optimized and have the best chance of ranking highly in search engine results.

Surfer SEO Content Editor

The Content Editor analyzes top-ranking pages for a given keyword and provides recommendations on how to improve your content to better match what search engines are looking for.

Another major advantage of Surfer SEO over Ubersuggest is its Site Audit feature, which provides a comprehensive analysis of a website's technical SEO issues. It identifies areas for improvement such as broken links, missing meta tags, and slow-loading pages.

Key Features of Surfer SEO

  • Content Editor – Is a tool that enables users to create content outlines, briefs, and audit content. Its main purpose is to help you create content that is search engine optimized. It has some great features such as adding in keywords and phrases to better the SEO content score.
  • Site Audit – Analyzes a website for technical SEO issues, such as broken links, duplicate content, and meta tags, and provides recommendations on how to fix them. This helps users to ensure that their website is optimized for search engines and performing at its best.
  • Keyword Cluster – The keyword cluster tool is a feature that groups together keywords based on their semantic relevance. This makes it easier for users to organize and optimize their website's content, ensuring that it is more easily discoverable by search engines and potential customers.
  • Keyword Research – Enables users to identify new keywords to target and analyze the search volume, cost per click (CPC), and competition for existing keywords. This helps users to make informed decisions about which keywords to target and how to optimize their website's content accordingly.
  • SERP Crawling – Allows users to track the top 100 search results for any given keyword, providing valuable insight into the competition for a particular keyword. This helps users to adjust their SEO approach and target keywords more effectively to improve their website's search engine rankings.

Pros

  • The content editor provides key insights to help you create better, SEO content
  • Easy to use, with a user-friendly interface
  • The keyword research tool offers extensive data

Cons

  • Doesn’t provide a large selection of tools
  • Considering the lack of more research tools, it is expensive

Pricing

  • Basic: $59/month
  • Pro: $119/month
  • Business: $239/month
  • Agency: Custom pricing

7. Serpstat

Serpstat is an excellent Ubersuggest alternative. Its key features include keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis. Serpstat also provides a range of tools for PPC advertising and content marketing.

Serpstat Analysis

One of the standout features is its competitor research. Its in-depth analysis of competitor websites is not only easy to use, but offers everything you need to know to get the lead against your competitors. 

As you can see below, this is a quick overview of the keywords a competitor uses on their domain. It shows you the volume of each keyword, and quickly compares the SERPs of each keyword versus competitors.

Serpstat Competitor Domain Keyword Analysis

Key Features of Serpstat

  • Keyword Research – Serpstat provides a comprehensive keyword research tool that allows users to find new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty.
  • Site Audit – Serpstat's site audit tool identifies technical issues that may be affecting your website's performance and provides recommendations for improvement.
  • Backlink Analysis – Serpstat's backlink analysis tool allows users to see their own backlinks and those of their competitors, providing insights into link-building opportunities.
  • Competitor Analysis – Serpstat's competitor analysis tool allows users to compare their website's performance against their competitors, identifying areas for improvement.
  • PPC Advertising – Serpstat provides a range of tools to help businesses improve their PPC advertising, including keyword research, ad analysis, and ad management.
  • Content Marketing – Serpstat provides a range of tools to help businesses improve their content marketing, including topic research, content analysis, and content optimization.

Pros

  • Detailed pricing list that’s simple to understand
  • Easy to use
  • Large set of tools

Cons

  • Database and accuracy lacking
  • Outdated interface

Why Choose Serpstat over Ubersuggest?

Serpstat is a great alternative to Ubersuggest. One of the key advantages of Serpstat over Ubersuggest is its backlink analysis tool. It allows you to monitor your website's backlink profile and identify potential issues that may be affecting your search engine rankings. 

Serpstat's backlink analysis tool provides a wealth of information, including the number of backlinks pointing to your website. You can also find the domain authority of those backlinks, and the anchor text used to link to your website.

Serpstat Competitor domain backlink

Serpstat's keyword research tool provides a range of data on individual keywords, including search volume, CPC, competition level, and more. Additionally, Serpstat allows you to analyze your competitors' keywords and identify the keywords that they are ranking for. You can also find  the content that is driving those rankings.

Serpstat Organic Keywords Tool

Pricing

  • Lite: $69/monthly
  • Standard: $149/monthly 
  • Advanced: $299/monthly 
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing based on individual needs ($499 and up)

8. Similarweb

Similarweb is a comprehensive online analytics tool that provides a range of features to help businesses understand their online performance. Its key features include website traffic analysis, audience insights, and competitor analysis. Similarweb provides data on website traffic, engagement, and demographics.

Similarweb competitve trackers

It boasts a fairly in-depth keyword tool that offers plenty of insights about keywords. It also has a keyword gap tool, to help you build an excellent content strategy that can beat the competition.

Similarweb keywords tool

Why Choose Similarweb over Ubersuggest?

Similarweb offers a more comprehensive suite of tools than Ubersuggest. This makes it a better choice for businesses that need a more detailed analysis of their website's performance and their competitors' online presence. 

Similarweb provides data on website traffic, referrals, top pages, and audience demographics. This can help businesses understand their customers better and improve their marketing strategies.

Similarweb Site Demographics dashboard

One specific tool that is better on Similarweb is the audience analysis feature. It provides detailed information on a website's visitors, such as their age, gender, interests, and location.

Similarweb traffic analytics audience insights

Key Features of Similarweb

  • Website Traffic Analysis – Similarweb provides data on website traffic, engagement, and demographics, allowing users to understand their own website's performance.
  • Audience Insights – Similarweb provides insights into the demographics of your audience, including age, gender, and interests.
  • Competitor Analysis – Similarweb allows users to compare their website's performance against their competitors, identifying areas for improvement.
  • Industry Analysis – Similarweb provides insights into industry trends and benchmarks, allowing businesses to understand their position within their industry.

Pros

  • Excellent PPC research tool and template
  • Easy to use, with comprehensible language, even for beginners
  • Competitive Intel tool is great for prospecting

Cons

  • Lacking any in-depth SEO tools
  • Whilst the interface is easy to use, it does look a bit dated

Pricing

  • Free – Limited features and data access
  • SimilarWeb Pro – Custom pricing based on user needs, includes features such as unlimited results, advanced analysis, and API access
  • SimilarWeb Enterprise – Custom pricing based on user needs, includes features such as advanced analysis, API access, and dedicated support

If you’re interested to know more about Similarweb, you’ll find all the nitty-gritty details in my Similarweb review.

9. Spyfu

SpyFu is a powerful tool that provides a range of features for digital marketers. One of its main strengths is its ability to provide detailed competitor analysis. 

By using SpyFu, you  can gain insight into the keywords that their competitors are ranking for, as well as the content that is driving those rankings. This information can be used to inform a company's SEO and PPC campaigns, as well as to identify new opportunities for growth.

SpyFu's Ranking History

In addition to competitor analysis, SpyFu offers a range of other features. For example, it provides historical data on website performance, allowing users to see how a website's rankings have changed over time. It also offers a keyword research tool, which can help users to identify new keywords to target and analyze the search volume, CPC, and competition for existing keywords.

Why Choose Spyfu over Ubersuggest?

SpyFu offers more comprehensive competitor analysis tools, giving users access to a wealth of information about their competitors' SEO and PPC strategies. This includes details on the keywords they are targeting, the content they are using, and the ads they are running.

It also provides historical data and trend analysis, allowing users to see how a particular keyword or competitor has performed over time. This can help with long-term planning and strategy development.

SpyFu SEO Competitor Analysis

Ubersuggest is a more affordable option, but SpyFu offers more features and functionality for digital marketers who are looking for a more powerful and comprehensive tool set.

Key Features of Spyfu

  • Backlinks outreach: This is a feature that allows users to analyze the backlinks of their competitors and identify potential link-building opportunities. By analyzing the backlinks of their competitors, users can develop a more effective link-building strategy and improve their website's search engine rankings.
  • Competitive Intel: The competitive intel tool provides detailed insights into the strategies and tactics of competitors. Users can gain valuable information on keywords that their competitors rank for and ads they run, allowing them to adjust their own SEO and advertising strategies accordingly.
  • Competitor analysis: Enables users to compare their own performance against that of their competitors. This includes analyzing the ranking keywords and estimated traffic of competitors, providing users with a better understanding of their own SEO strategy and areas for improvement.
  • Keyword research: Offers a range of tools for researching and identifying profitable keywords. This includes features like keyword suggestion, SERP analysis, and keyword grouping, which help users to identify the best keywords to target for their website.
  • SERP analysis: The SERP analysis tool gives a detailed preview of the search engine results page for a specific keyword. This includes the top-ranking competitors and their estimated traffic, providing users with valuable insights into the competition for a particular keyword.
  • Backlinks builder:  This feature helps users to identify potential link-building opportunities by analyzing the backlinks of their competitors. By analyzing their competitors' backlinks, users can develop a more effective link-building strategy and improve their website's search engine rankings.

Pros

  • Excellent PPC research tool and template
  • Easy to use, with comprehensible language, even for beginners
  • Competitive Intel tool is great for prospecting

Cons

  • Lacking any in-depth SEO tools
  • Whilst the interface is easy to use, it does look a bit dated

Pricing

  • Basic: $39/monthly
  • Professional: $79/monthly 
  • Team: $299/monthly

10. KeywordChef

KeywordChef is a keyword research tool that provides a range of features to help businesses find new keyword ideas and improve their online visibility. Its key features include keyword research, SERP analysis, and content optimization. KeywordChef is designed to be easy to use, making it a great option for beginners.

KeywordChef Keyword Results

Why Choose KeywordChef over Ubersuggest?

If you’re purely looking for keyword research, then Keyword Chef could be a great Ubersuggest alternative. Its starter price is only slightly more expensive than Ubersuggest. It offers far more keywords and data than Ubersuggest since it only specializes in keyword research.

I like that you’re able to filter the keywords into different categories, such as questions, how to, etc. This allows you to narrow down your keyword research even more, which should help you focus on the best content first.

KeywordChef filter options

Key Features of KeywordChef

  • Keyword Research – KeywordChef provides a keyword research tool that allows users to find new keyword ideas, view search volume, and analyze keyword difficulty.
  • SERP Analysis – KeywordChef provides a SERP analysis tool that allows users to see which websites are ranking for specific keywords, providing insights into competitor performance.
  • Content Optimization – KeywordChef's content optimization tool analyzes your content and provides recommendations for improvement, including keyword usage, content length, and heading structure.

Pros

  • Easy to use and research keywords
  • Range of filters allow you to narrow your keyword research

Cons

  • Doesn’t boast any other features other than keyword research
  • Pricing is similar to Ubersuggest, but with fewer features

Pricing

  • Starter: $29/monthly
  • Plus: $69/monthly
  • Pro: $119/monthly

Ubersuggest Alternatives Features & Price Table

Here’s a comparison table of all the Ubersuggest alternatives including their pricing and features.

Product Name

Price

Key Features

  • Pro - $119.95/monthly

  • Guru - $229.95/monthly

  • Business - $449.95/monthly

  • Keyword Research

  • Site Audit 

  • Backlink Analysis

  • Backlink Auditor

  • Competitor Analysis

  • Social Media Toolkit

  • Basic - $49/monthly

  • Premium - $62/monthly

  • Agency - $116/monthly

  • Keyword Research

  • SERP Analysis

  • SiteProfiler

  • LinkMiner

  • SERP Volatility

  • SERP Simulator

  • The Mangools SEO browser extension

  • Lite - $99/ monthly

  • Standard - $199/monthly

  • Advanced -  $399/monthly

  • Enterprise - $999/monthly

  • Dashboard

  • Site Explorer

  • Keywords Explorer

  • Site Audit

  • Rank Tracker

  • Content Explorer

  • Standard - $99/monthly

  • Medium - $179/monthly

  • Large - $299/monthly

  • Premium - $599/monthly

  • Link Explorer

  • Fresh Web Explorer

  • Keyword Explorer

  • Explore By Site

  • Site Crawl

  • Rank Tracker

  • Page Optimization

  • Optimum - $39/monthly

  • Plus - $89/monthly

  • Enterprise - $189/monthly

  • Keyword Position Tracking

  • Keyword Research

  • Website Audit

  • Competitor Analysis

  • Backlink Analysis

  • Professional Reporting

  • White Label

  • Social Media Management

  • Basic: $29/month

  • Pro: $99/month

  • Business: $199/month

  • Agency: $499/month

  • Content Editor

  • Site Audit

  • Keyword Cluster

  • Keyword Research

  • SERP Crawling

  • Lite: $69/monthly

  • Standard: $149/monthly

  • Advanced: $299/monthly

  • Enterprise: Custom pricing based on individual needs

  • Keyword Research

  • Site Audit

  • Backlink Analysis

  • Competitor Analysis

  • PPC Advertising

  • Content Marketing

  • Custom pricing depending on user needs.

  • Traffic Analysis

  • Audience Insights

  • Competitor Analysis

  • Industry Analysis

  • Basic: $39/monthly

  • Professional: $78/monthly

  • Team: $299/monthly

  • Backlinks outreach

  • Competitive Intel

  • Competitor analysis

  • Keyword research

  • SERP analysis

  • Backlinks builder

  • Starter: $29/monthly

  • Plus: $69/monthly

  • Pro: $119/monthly

  • Keyword Research

  • SERP Analysis

  • Content Optimization

Choosing the Right Ubersuggest Alternative for 2023: Final Thoughts

There are many Ubersuggest alternatives available in the market today, each with its own unique features and benefits. 

There are plenty of options to choose from. Whether you need comprehensive SEO tools, keyword finders, or analytical tools, there is a tool for you.

Remember to take the time to research your options. This will help you choose the right tool for your business. This ensures you’ll get the right data to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition.

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https://shanebarker.com/blog/alternatives-to-ubersuggest/feed/ 0
Semrush vs. Google Analytics: A Detailed Comparison https://shanebarker.com/blog/semrush-vs-google-analytics/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/semrush-vs-google-analytics/#respond Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=72911 Semrush and Google Analytics are powerful web analytics tools for digital marketing specialists. But there is a considerable difference between their use cases.

While Semrush is an external service that helps you study any website (including yours and your competitors), Google Analytics is an internal service that gives you useful insights about the website you own or operate.

Google Analytics traffic and user engagement data has greater accuracy than Semrush. However, the latter gives you the ability to track data for your competitors’ websites as well.

It also helps you with competitive research, SEO, keyword research, link building, PPC, and content marketing.

Comparing their features is crucial but it’s also important to highlight where Semrush and Google Analytics overlap. In this article, I’ll do just that and help you understand why you shouldn’t choose one over the other.

For me, these two analytics platforms are better companions than competitors. That’s why, I’ll also show you how to integrate them to use both to your maximum advantage.

Let’s start with a quick overview of both tools.

What is Semrush?

Semrush is an all-in-one suite of digital marketing tools that helps you with SEO, content marketing, market research, competitive intelligence, advertising, social media marketing, and more.

With Semrush, you get access to useful data, including but not limited to:

  • Traffic analytics: Traffic sources, web and mobile traffic share, top pages that drive traffic
  • Competitive research: Organic and paid search traffic, number of backlinks, competitors’ best keywords, new competitors, domains’ position changes
  • Keyword research: Search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, SERP analysis, position tracking
  • Link building: New backlinks, lost backlinks, referring domains, untapped backlink opportunities, link quality audit, broken links
  • SEO audit: Crawled pages, technical issues, content optimization issues
  • Content marketing: Topic research, SEO recommendations, post performance tracking, content analysis, poor-performing posts
  • PPC: paid search traffic, competitors’ keywords and ad copy, position tracking
  • Social analytics: Audience growth, engagement

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is the premier analytics platform for tracking your website or app performance. It gives you a complete picture of how your website traffic and user interactions.

It helps you track and analyze:

  • Who is visiting your website?
  • Where are these visitors (your audience) coming from?
  • Which pages do they visit?
  • How much time do they spend on your website and specific web pages?
  • What are your top-performing posts or pages?
  • Which countries send you minimum or maximum traffic?
  • Which keywords do people search for to find your website?

Google Analytics helps you understand your customers and improve your website, free of charge. This makes it a must-have analytics tool in your arsenal.

Semrush vs. Google Analytics – The Comparison Summary

Semrush helps you identify keywords and topics that can help generate more website traffic. It also lets you spy on your competitors’ SEO and content strategies.

And, you can get a domain overview and traffic analytics of any website using Semrush.

However, the traffic analytics data is not as accurate as Google Analytics, which directly mines data from a tracking code added to your website. But again, you can only get Google Analytics data for a website you own or manage.

Another major difference between the two platforms is that Google Analytics helps you understand user behavior on your website.

Here’s a quick comparison of Semrush vs. Google Analytics – features and use cases:

Semrush

Google Analytics

Pricing

Plans start from $119.95/month

(Save up to 17% if you pay annually.)

Free plan

Data offered

SEO performance

Website performance and user information

Real-time traffic

cross
check

Website traffic

check
check

Traffic sources

check
check

Traffic comparison between time periods

check
check

Visitor demographics, engagement, and interests

cross
check

User behavior or interaction on your website

cross
check

Keyword research

check
cross

Keyword ranking and position tracking

check
cross

Competitor research

check
cross

Backlinks tracking

check
cross

Link-building opportunity hunt

check
cross

Technical SEO audit of your website

check
cross

Content marketing tools and SEO writing assistant

check
cross

Historical performance data of your website

cross
check

Platforms supported

Desktop

Web

Desktop

Web

iOS

Android

Customer support

Knowledgebase

Videos

Email and live chat support

Knowledgebase

Community forum

Semrush: Reviewing Its Use Cases, Features, and Data

Semrush is a feature-rich tool, used by over 10 million marketing professionals across the globe. It offers 55+ tools and reports, which are enough to power up your search and marketing performance.

I use it almost every day to do all sorts of things, from finalizing topic ideas to picking up which posts to update each month, and fixing broken links to my website.

Let’s take a look at what Semrush can help you do.

1. Analyze Website Traffic

As I am comparing Semrush with Google Analytics, let me first show you what insights Semrush gives about the traffic of any website. This website could be your own domain or that of your competitors or partners.

The key website traffic metrics Semrush helps you track include:

  • The total number of visits
  • The number of unique visitors
  • The number of pages viewed per visit
  • Average session duration
  • Bounce rate
  • Traffic sources – direct, referral, search, social, paid
  • The devices used to browse your website – desktop vs. mobile
  • The top pages visited by users
  • Top destinations where users go after their visit
  • Traffic distribution by country

You can also compare the website traffic of two or more websites and see whether their performance is going up or down over time.

Semrush compare traffic analytics of two or more websites

Semrush’s Traffic Analytics data is not as accurate as the data offered by Google Analytics but it’s closest to what any third-party tool can tell about your website.

But the good part is that:

Semrush discloses the accuracy level of all data they provide you with.

Semrush Traffic Analytics data accuracy level

Analyzing my website and content performance using Semrush helped me grow my website traffic from 50K to 90K within six months.

2. Conduct Competitive Research

Semrush allows you to check the overall performance of any domain. You can use it to get instant insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, partners, or customers.

With Semrush, you can get insights about:

  • Domain authority score
  • Organic and paid search traffic the website receives
  • The distribution of traffic by country
  • The total number of backlinks pointing to the website
  • The number of keywords the website has SERP positions for
  • Keywords that generate maximum organic traffic for the website
  • Keyword position tracking over time
Semrush domain overview

You can compare the numbers between your website and your competitors’ websites.

Semrush domain comparison

Semrush also helps you find keyword gaps and capitalize on missed or untapped opportunities to improve your website’s search performance.

Semrush Keyword Gap

Similarly, you can tap into the missed backlink opportunities by using Semrush to track where your competitors are gaining their backlinks from.

Overall, it has everything you need for competitive analysis.

3. Conduct Keyword Research

Semrush is the tool I use to conduct research for my website’s content. From analyzing which keywords to target to researching the best content types to rank for those keywords, Semrush helps me with it all.

With Semrush’s Keyword Research tool, you can see:

  • Average monthly search volume of any keyword
  • Keyword difficulty score, which defines how challenging it could be to rank for a particular keyword
  • Search intent behind the user’s search for a specific keyword
  • Average cost-per-click (CPC) of any keyword
  • Keyword variations of your seed keyword
  • Related keywords and questions for your seed keyword
  • Top posts/pages ranking for the keyword
  • Keyword research filters
Semrush keyword research for "content marketing"

You can also get insights into the top keywords your website or your competitor’s website is ranking for. Extensive keyword research is the first step to creating profitable content for your website.

Semrush position tracking

Semrush also helps you do SERP position tracking to constantly monitor your site’s SEO performance.

4. Build and Audit Your Link Profile

Another thing I have been using Semrush for is backlink building and link quality analysis. It helps me discover all incoming links and referring domains and also helps me analyze whether or not the link adds value to my website authority.

You can also use Semrush’s Backlink Checker to:

  • Spot new backlinks to any domain.
  • Get notified about lost backlinks.
  • Identify the authority of the linking domain and the true value of the backlink.
  • Research your competitors’ backlink strategy and analyze their link profiles.
  • Discover your competitors’ most authoritative linking domains.
  • Identify suspicious or toxic backlinks that could be harming your website’s search performance.
  • Analyze backlink types by anchor type, link type, and link attributes.
  • Find link-building opportunities.
Semrush link building opportunities

It can help empower your link building strategy and establish your authority in your niche. While you can also use other backlink analysis tools, I find Semrush to be a complete package for all SEO professionals.

5. Check Your Website for On-Page and Technical SEO Factors

This one is my favorite.

Semrush is the best tool in the market when it comes to on-page and technical SEO.

It gives you detailed analytics about your website – where it is lacking and what you can improve to increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Here are the key optimization metrics you can get data about:

  • The total number of crawled pages on your website and their status
    • Healthy
    • Broken
    • Have issues
  • Top issues found on your website such as
    • Duplicate H1 and title tags
    • Broken external and internal links
    • Missing meta descriptions
    • Unstructured URLs
    • Low word count on a page
    • Duplicate content issues
    • Use of non-descriptive anchor text
    • Missing canonical tags
  • Top pages to optimize and ideas for improvement
Semrush site audit

To learn more about its features, read my full review of Semrush.

Google Analytics: Reviewing Its Use Cases, Features, and Data

For a free tool, Google Analytics provides you with a wealth of data about your website’s traffic, audience, and user behavior.

Knowing exactly how my visitors find and use my website is extremely crucial to me, and it impacts my future content and website optimization strategy.

This is what I mostly use Google Analytics for.

1. Track and Analyze Website Traffic

Google Analytics helps you track how much traffic your website is getting each day, month, or year. You can compare your traffic growth over a period of time and also get insights about the traffic sources.

I like Semrush for keyword position tracking. But I like and trust Google Analytics' traffic data far more. In most cases, Semrush’s organic traffic estimations are far off, and usually much lower than reality.
SEO Consultant and Web Designer

Google Analytics helps you track key metrics related to your website traffic.

  • The number of unique visitors on your website
    • On a specific day
    • Over a period of time (You can visualize your website traffic growth YoY for 10 years straight. This is what I love about Google Analytics.)
  • Traffic sources
    • Direct traffic (when a user specifically types in your domain name)
    • Organic search traffic (from Google and other search engines)
    • Referral traffic (from links to your website placed on third-party websites) 
    • Social media traffic
    • Ads
  • Daily sessions
    • A steady growth in daily sessions helps me ensure that my website is going the right way. Whereas, if the daily sessions are down, it’s a red flag that conveys there is something I need to fix on my website.
Shane's Google Analytics website traffic acquisition report

2. Understand the Audience Better

Google Analytics gives you detailed information about your website’s audience, including their demographic information, interests, and location.

  • Users: See how many new and returning visitors you have, how much time they spend on your website, and how many pages they visit before bouncing off from your website.
  • Audience demographics: Learn about the age group your visitors belong to and whether they are mostly men or women.
  • Interests: Discover the main interests of your audience. Do they like to travel, read, or shop, or are they technology geeks?
  • Location: See the geolocation of your website visitors. You can view their countries and cities.
  • Devices: Get details about the devices they use to browse through your website. You can see your web and mobile traffic share.
Google Analytics audience demographics

This data will help you understand who your target audience is, where they come from, and how you can tailor your content and marketing strategy to better reach and engage them.

3. Get Insights Into Content Performance and User Engagement

With Google Analytics, you can analyze how your website is performing and how users interact with your site and content.

It gives you insights about:

  • The total number of pageviews
  • Average time spent on each page
  • Bounce rate (people leaving your website)
  • Page loading speed
  • The total number of unique searches on your website and popular search terms
  • AdSense page impressions and revenue
Google Analytics user engagement report
Google Analytics website pages with most views and engagement

With these insights, you can optimize your SEO content strategy to increase your website’s traffic and user experience. Providing valuable content will also help you retain your customers and increase loyalty over time, which often results in higher revenue.

4. Track Conversions

You can also use Google Analytics to track your website conversions. Identify how many visitors are taking actions you want them to take.

These conversions could be anything, varying from:

  • Signing up for your newsletter
  • Clicking on an affiliate link on your website
  • Sharing your post on social media
  • Buying your product
Google Analytics track conversions

You can use these insights to optimize your website for conversions.

Semrush vs. Google Analytics: Data Collection

I use both Semrush and Google Analytics to run my website and support my clients’ businesses. There is no comparison between the data both tools offer to help improve my website and content performance.

Let me brief you on how these web analytics tools gather data.

How Does Semrush Gather Analytics Data?

Semrush gathers its analytics data by:

  • Using its own machine learning algorithms
  • Collecting data from multiple trusted third-party data providers and sources

For website traffic analytics data, Semrush combines data from the user behavior of over 200 million real internet users in 190 countries and regions.

To ensure accuracy, they run their Neural Network algorithm, which recognizes patterns in the collected data and provides you with a realistic estimation after sampling and error testing.

Semrush’s Backlink Crawler crawls over 25 billion web pages every day to identify and add new links to its database.

How Does Google Analytics Gather Data?

Google Analytics, on the other hand, gathers data directly from your website. It asks you to add a custom JavaScript tracking code within the code of the website you own or manage.

Every time a user visits your website, this code sends information to Google Analytics about how the user interacted with your web pages and content.

Semrush vs. Google Analytics: Pricing Plans

Semrush offers three pricing plans:

  • Pro plan: $119.95/month
  • Guru plan: $229.95/month
  • Business plan: $449.95/month

You can save up to 17% if you pay annually.

Semrush offers a full refund if you decide to cancel your subscription or downgrade your plan within the first seven days.

You can try Semrush for free for 14 days (only with my link). But during free trials, the platform limits the amount of data you can pull every day.

Google Analytics offers all of this critical data, free of charge.

However, if your website receives millions of sessions per month, you may need to upgrade to Google Analytics 360. This can cost you millions of dollars but it will offer:

  • Unlimited data
  • Access to advanced reports
  • Faster data updates

Google offers multiple free tools that can be extremely helpful for marketers and developers.

Semrush vs. Google Analytics: Are These Tools Competitors or Partners?

Semrush and Google Analytics are both essential analytics tools for website and business owners. They have different strengths.

As an avid user of both platforms, I can say that:

Semrush is meant to complement your use of Google Analytics, not replace it. And vice-versa.
Shane Barker

You can improve your website and content performance using Semrush and Google Analytics to your advantage. Here’s how I do it:

  • Use Semrush for keyword research and filtering based on search volume and lower competition.
  • Write the content and publish it on my website. Use Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to identify readability, SEO, and originality issues within the content. This helps me improve content quality and increase the chances of making it rank.
  • Monitor my blog’s traffic using both Google Analytics and Semrush. Identify top pages and see how my recent posts are performing.
  • Add the targeted keyword to Semrush’s position tracking to see improvement in the search performance of every published content piece.
  • Use Google Analytics to see how users are interacting with my website – the pages they visit and which external links they click on.
  • Regularly monitor GA daily sessions to evaluate if my website is going in the right direction. I’ve integrated Google Analytics sessions into Slack to receive notifications about daily sessions’ growth and decline.

I recommend that you integrate Google Analytics and Semrush to enhance data and reports, and, thereby, improve your marketing ROI.

How to Connect Google Analytics to Semrush

You can connect your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to Semrush. This will help you analyze all of your website’s data in one place and enhance accuracy.

However, to connect a Google Analytics account to Semrush, you need to have at least “viewer” access.

Also, you’ll need to individually link Google Analytics to the following Semrush’s features:

  • Position tracking
  • Site audit
  • Social media ads

You can integrate the following Semrush features with both Google Analytics and Google Search Console (GSC):

  • On-page SEO checker
  • Backlink audit
  • Organic traffic insights
  • Content analyzer
  • SEO dashboard

To connect GSC to Semrush, you’ll need to have “owner or full user” access to the Google Search Console account.

Here’s how to integrate traffic analytics of both platforms:

You can refer to Semrush’s knowledge base to learn how to integrate GA and GSC with each of the features I mentioned above.

Semrush vs. Google Analytics: Which Tool Should You Choose?

I’ve said this multiple times throughout the article and I’ll repeat myself – you shouldn’t choose one above the other.

Both Semrush and Google Analytics are equally important web analytics tools for any website owner. I recommend that you make the most of both platforms to:

  • Analyze your website traffic.
  • Understand your audience and how they interact with your website.
  • Identify keywords to target.
  • Track SERP positions for multiple keywords.
  • Identify and capitalize on link-building opportunities.
  • Improve your website’s search performance and user experience.

I consider myself a pro user of both Semrush and Google Analytics and will continue to be so.

“Both platforms offer unique advantages, and I believe that using both is the best approach to gaining a complete understanding of our online performance. While Semrush is excellent for tracking our SEO and marketing efforts, Google Analytics is essential for tracking user behavior and website performance.”
CEO, Venture Smarter

FAQs

1. Are Semrush and Google Analytics the same?

No, Semrush and Google Analytics are not the same.

Semrush offers many different ways to study and improve your website that Google Analytics cannot. You can use it to spy on your competitors, conduct keyword research, analyze backlink opportunities, and more.

Google Analytics, on the other hand, offers insightful data about how users interact with your website, where they come from, and which pages they spend the most time on. You can use it to understand your audience better and tailor your website and content to meet their needs.

Also, Google Analytics’ website traffic analytics data is more accurate than Semrush’s Traffic Analytics data for your website. That’s because GA directly gathers data from a code placed on your website.

2. Is Semrush better than Google Analytics?

It’s not about one tool being better than the other. Both Semrush and Google Analytics serve different purposes and complement the data provided by the other tool.

You should use:

– GA for traffic analysis and user behavior analysis
– Semrush for competitive research, keyword research, backlink audit, and link building

3. Can Semrush replace Google Analytics?

No, Semrush cannot replace Google Analytics. You should instead use it together with GA to enhance your website and content performance.

I’d like to encourage you to integrate your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts with Semrush’s different features to get the best of both worlds.

4. Does Semrush offer a refund guarantee for its services? What about Google Analytics’ refund policy?

Semrush offers a 7-day money-back guarantee if you cancel or downgrade your subscription within the first seven days of subscribing to it. They will refund your fees within 30 calendar days after receiving a written request for a refund from you.

Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google. So, there is no need for a refund policy.

5. Does Google Analytics offer customer support? What about Semrush?

Google Analytics offers a range of support options for its users.
– A comprehensive Help Center with articles on multiple topics
– A community forum where you can ask and answer questions
– Email support for Google Ads customers

Semrush offers customer support via:
– Email and live chat for their paid subscribers
– A comprehensive knowledge base with hundreds of useful articles and video tutorials
– An email to mail@semrush.com or by using the contact form on their website

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https://shanebarker.com/blog/semrush-vs-google-analytics/feed/ 0 How to Connect Google Accounts to Organic Traffic Insights nonadult
Best Ahrefs Alternatives and Competitors for 2023 https://shanebarker.com/blog/ahrefs-alternatives/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/ahrefs-alternatives/#respond Tue, 28 Mar 2023 16:44:15 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=72816 Ahrefs is a go-to tool for digital marketers and SEO professionals looking to improve their website’s performance. Ahrefs site audit covers over 100 common SEO issues and recommends how to fix them. 

While Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO tools many professionals use, it's not the only one. In fact, I have used Ahrefs alternatives that offer similar features and functionalities, and in some cases, even better ones. 

Whether you're looking for a more affordable alternative or a tool with unique features, I’ve got you covered. In this article, I’ll show you the best Ahrefs alternatives and competitors for 2023.

Ahrefs alternatives

Ahrefs Competitors Features and Price Table

Before I get into the details, here’s a comparison table of all the tools I’ll be looking at.

Product Name

Price

Key Features

Semrush

  • Pro $119.95/month

  • Guru $229.95/month

  • Business $449.95/month

  • Comprehensive keyword research

  • Rank tracking

  • Backlink analysis

  • On-page SEO

  • Local SEO

UberSuggest

  • Individual $12/month

  • Business $20/month

  • Enterprise $40/month

  • Content ideas

  • Competitor analysis

  • SEO metrics of any website

MozPro

  • Standard $99/month

  • Medium $179/month

  • Large $299/month

  • Premium $599/month

  • Site crawl

  • On-page optimization

  • SEO campaign management

Mangools

  • Basic $29.90/month

  • Premium $44.90/month

  • Agency $89.90/month

  • Rank tracking

  • Comprehensive web analysis

  • Backlink analysis

BuzzSumo

  • Pro $99/month

  • Plus $179/month

  • Large $299/month

  • Content analysis

  • Competitor Content alerts

  • Brand monitoring

  • Advanced filtering

SEO Powersuite

  • Professional $299/year

  • Enterprise $499/year

  • Multiple language support

  • Multiple user access

  • Link assistant

  • Customized reports

SimilarWeb

  • Free trial

  • $167/month

  • Audience demographics

  • Traffic source analysis

  • Historical data

  • Competitor analysis

Spyfu

  • Basic $16/ month

  • Professional $36/month

  • Team $149/month

  • Competitor analysis

  • PPC analysis

  • Domain overview

SE Ranking

  • Essential $31.20

  • Pro $71.20

  • Business $151.20

  • Web traffic analysis

  • Mobile optimization

  • Social media tracking

Majestic

  • Lite $ 49.99/month

  • Pro $ 99.99/month

  • API $ 399.99/month

  • Historical data

  • Bulk backlink checker

  • Domain comparison

What Is Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is a search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing research tool. It provides information and data on backlinks, organic search, and paid search. 

You can use Ahrefs to analyze competitors, find link-building opportunities, and evaluate your website's organic search performance.

Ahrefs overview
Image via Ahrefs

Key Features of Ahrefs

Ahrefs offers extensive features that help boost SEO digital efforts. For example, it’s integrated with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which are both useful in search engine positioning.

It also comes with other helpful features including:

  • Keyword research: Helps you find the most profitable keywords to target by providing search volume, CPC, and competition data.
  • Backlink analysis: Allows you to view the backlinks pointing to a website, including the number of linking domains, the anchor text used, and the quality of the links.
  • Site explorer: Provides an overview of a website's traffic, top pages, and organic search keywords.
  • Alerts: Allows you to set up alerts for new backlinks, lost backlinks, and keyword rankings.
  • Content analysis: This allows you to see how your website’s content is performing in terms of engagement, social shares, and backlinks.
  • Rank tracking: This allows you to track your site’s search engine rankings for specific keywords over time.

Ahrefs API allows you to access and integrate the data with other tools to automate mundane SEO tasks. This helps save you time and effort, which you could channel to other tasks.

Here is my comprehensive review of Ahrefs. I discuss how Ahrefs fairs based on my own testing and usage.

What are the Best Ahrefs Alternatives?

After some thorough research and much deliberation, I’ve settled on 10 Ahrefs alternatives that are worthy of being on this list.

When comparing these platforms with Ahrefs, there was a lot to consider. Some of the most important features and criteria I used when comparing Ahrefs with other platforms include:

  • Backlink database
  • Pricing
  • Keyword explorer
  • Site audit
  • Rank tracker
  • Navigation and usability

1 – Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool and a close alternative to Ahrefs. It provides similar features to Ahrefs that help in search engine optimization.

These features include keyword research, rank tracking, and integration with other search engine optimization tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

Semrush domain overview

Semrush, as a jack of all trades, performs best when used for SEO purposes, such as keyword research (Semrush has one of the largest keyword databases with over 21 billion keywords), on-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page SEO.

The Keyword Overview and Keyword Magic tools are both excellent for finding high-quality keywords and keyword suggestions.

Semrush keyword overview

The SEO dashboard is especially great if you’re still a beginner at SEO. You’ll notice that the On-Page SEO Checker provides plenty of suggestions, strategy ideas, backlinking ideas, and more.

This kind of in-depth SEO analysis you won’t find on Ahrefs.

Semrush site audit

It has a large set of competitor research tools, and the traffic analytics are great too. That said, when the competitor research and traffic analytics are measured against Ahrefs, which predominantly focuses on these two categories, Semrush loses out.

I am fond of Semrush’s Keyword Gap Tool though, but not enough to recommend it for competitor analyses over Ahrefs.

Semrush keyword analysis

Why should you choose Semrush

Semrush offers an extensive range of SEO tools that are able to help you increase your website’s visibility, whilst providing website analytics, a social media toolkit, as well as local SEO features.

Because of this, it makes a great tool for beginners and small businesses that don’t have the budget for a whole host of tools, and instead want one tool to do it all. Its SEO features are some of the best on the market, and boasts the largest keyword database of all platforms.

As an Ahrefs alternative, it’s better suited for small businesses, as Ahrefs doesn’t have the SEO capabilities that Semrush has.

Key Features

  • Site audit: Analyzes a website's technical SEO and provides recommendations for improving the website's visibility in search results.
  • Comprehensive keyword research: Allows users to find profitable keywords, track keyword rankings, and see the search volume, competition, and cost per click for keywords.
  • Backlink analysis: Tracks and analyzes the backlinks of any website, including the number of backlinks, the quality of the linking domains, and the anchor text used.
  • Position Tracking: Tracks a website's search engine rankings for target keywords and provides data on local and mobile search results.
  • On-page optimization: Analyzes a website's on-page elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and images, and provides recommendations for optimization.
  • Content marketing: Helps you plan, create, and promote content that will drive traffic and engagement.
  • Social media advertising: Offers tools for managing and optimizing social media advertising campaigns, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
  • Display advertising: Helps users plan, create, and manage display advertising campaigns, including banner ads, rich media ads, and video ads.

Semrush also comes with tools such as the Content Analyzer. This is a brand monitoring tool that also helps track social media mentions and performance.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Has a limited, but useful, free version
  • Unique tools such as Semrush's PageImprove Chrome Extension, the Social Media Toolkit with a built-in inbox, and Social Ad creator.
  • Huge database with over 21 billion keywords in the Magic Keyword tool
  • Local SEO tools and a comprehensive social media toolkit
Cons
  • Semrush can be expensive for some users, since all pricing tiers only include one user (seat)
  • Only covers data from Google
  • Limited local SEO capabilities- It doesn’t offer some specifics like managing local listings that are important for local search.

Pricing

  • Pro: $119.95/month
  • Guru: $229.95/month
  • Business: $449.95/month

For a detailed analysis, check out Semrush Review: Is It Really the Best?

2 – Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is another Ahrefs alternative with vast resources to help you increase your site’s traffic. It's a powerful tool for keyword research, content optimization, and backlink analysis.

Ubersuggest is a keyword research and SEO tool. The tool helps users to generate new keyword ideas, analyze their competition, and optimize their websites for search engines.

The tool provides you with a wide range of information on keywords, including:

  • Search volume
  • Cost per click (CPC)
  • Competition
  • Related keywords 

You can use Ubersuggest for SEO, Pay per click (PPC) advertising, and content marketing research.

Ubersuggests
Image via Ubersuggest

Why you should choose Ubersuggests

Ubersuggests is cheaper than Ahrefs, while offering similar comprehensive features like keyword research, backlink analysis and site audit. The interface is also simpler and more intuitive, making it easier for beginners.

Ubersuggests integrates with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, allowing you to analyze data from multiple sources in one place.

As an Ahrefs alternative, Ubersuggests is great for businesses looking for a cheaper option, extensive keyword suggestions and convenience.

Key Features

  • Keyword analysis: It provides comprehensive information on a given keyword, including search volume, CPC, competition, and top-ranking pages.
  • Keyword suggestions: Ubersuggest generates a list of related keywords for a given seed keyword, along with data on search volume, CPC, and competition.
  • Content Ideas: Ubersuggest provides a list of topic ideas and title suggestions based on the keywords you enter.
  • Competitor analysis: Ubersuggest allows you to analyze the keywords used by competitor sites and compare their search engine rankings.
  • SEO metrics: The tool shows the SEO metrics of any website, such as backlinks, organic traffic, and domain rating.
  • Content Explorer: Finds popular content in any niche and analyzes the top pages that link to it.
  • SERP analysis: Provides data on the search engine results page (SERP) for any keyword, including the top ranking pages, their ranking position, and their domain authority

Ubersuggest provides a free version of the tool, which you can use to perform 3 searches per day. If you’d like to test out the whole tool, there’s also a 7-day free trial.

You can use the free version as a starting point when analyzing your keywords and competition.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Uses data from trusted sources like Google, providing reliable data in keyword search volume, difficulty, cost per click, and competition.
  • Inexpensive as compared to other tools
  • It allows users to customize their reports and data views into custom dashboards.
Cons
  • Few competitor reports on the basic plan compared to the paid version.
  • Ubersuggests does not provide data on paid search campaigns, such as Google Ads or Bing Ads, which can be a drawback for some users.
  • Keyword research is not exhaustive in non-English languages

Pricing

  • Individual: $12/month
  • Business: $20/month
  • Enterprise: $40/month

3 – Moz

If you’re looking to improve your online visibility and drive more traffic to your website at a lower cost, then Moz is your ideal tool.

Although Ahrefs may be a better choice when it comes to link building and backlink analysis, Moz provides more extensive data on rankings, organic search traffic, and keyword research.

Moz Serp analysis
Image source

Why you should choose Moz 

Moz is known for its Domain Authority (DA) metric, it’s widely used to indicate a website ranking’s potential. If you’re implementing a content marketing strategy to improve your SEO ranking, you can use Moz DA as a content marketing KPI.

Moz’s local SEO feature is helpful if you want to optimize your local listings, track local rankings and improve your local visibility. Its backlink analysis has a spam score that helps evaluate potentially spammy links.

In comparison to Ahrefs, Moz stands out with an affordable pricing plan that caters to different budgets and needs. Additionally, its domain authority feature, local SEO and on-page optimization features are better than Ahrefs.

Key Features

  • Backlink analysis: Provides detailed information on the backlinks pointing to your website, such as data on the linking domains, anchor text, and link quality.
  • Keyword research: Allows you to research keywords and get data on search volume, CPC, and competition. It also provides suggestions for related keywords and predicts the difficulty of ranking for a particular keyword.
  • Website rankings data: Allows you to track your website's rankings across multiple search engines and devices. It also provides you with historical data, so you can see how your rankings have changed over time.
  • Site crawl: Allows you to check for technical SEO issues on your website, such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing metadata.
  • On-Page optimization: Provides recommendations for optimizing your website's content for both search engines and users.
  • Custom reports: Allows you to create custom reports that you can share with clients or stakeholders. 
  • Custom SEO dashboard: The tool provides a feature that allows you to create a custom SEO dashboard to track your progress.
  • Campaign management: Allows you to manage multiple websites and track the performance of your SEO campaigns.
  • Multiple integrations: Moz Pro integrates with other SEO and marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google My Business.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Easy to use for keyword research with great competitor benchmarking insights.
  • Immediately spots technical SEO issues and offers recommendations to fix them.
  • The crawler is reasonably fast and helps discover site crawl issues fast.
Cons
  • Limited credits for features on the standard plan.
  • You cannot purchase credits separately instead, they require you to upgrade or wait for the next billing month.

Pricing

  • Standard: $99/Month
  • Medium: $179/Month
  • Large: $299/Month
  • Premium: $599/month

4 – Mangools

Mangools is another one of Ahrefs competitors that’s more focused on keyword research and competitor analysis.

It comes with a keyword research tool, a backlink analysis tool, and a website analysis tool. These tools are designed to help you improve your website's search engine ranking.

Mangools keyword research tool, KWFinder, helps you find long-tail keywords with low competition. 

The SERP analysis tool, SERPChecker, shows you the top 10 search results for a given keyword and analyzes the competition.

Mangools Keyword Finder
Source

Why you should choose Mangools

Just like Ahrefs, Mangools offers features like keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor analysis etc. It is cheaper than Ahrefs and describes itself as Ahref's affordable alternative.

Mangools is useful if your SEO need does not require the full suite of tools offered by Ahrefs. For example, Mangools focuses on specific features like keyword research and SERP analysis

Mangools data is visual — easy-to-understand graphs compared to Ahref’s raw data and statistics. Its interface is easy to navigate even for newbies in SEO.

Compared to Ahrefs, Mangools is suitable for someone who needs to check a few SEO functions such as SERP analysis affordably.

Key Features

Aside from the keyword research and SERP analysis tools we’ve mentioned above, Mangools has some other unique features including:

  • Backlink data analysis: Mangools' Link Miner tool enables you to see the backlink data of any website, including the number of referring domains and the number of links.
  • Website analysis: Mangools' SiteProfiler tool provides detailed information about a website like domain authority and page authority. 
  • Rank tracking: Mangools' SERPWatcher allows you to track the search engine rankings of your website for multiple keywords.
  • Integration with Google Search Console: Mangools enables you to import data from Google Search Console to track important metrics such as clicks, impressions, and the position of your website on Google search results.

The Mangools website offers a wealth of resources that you can leverage to learn more about SEO best practices and how to use the tools effectively.

The tool comes with an easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for both beginners and advanced users to navigate and utilize the tools.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Superb UX, which is simple and intuitive and is easy to use even for beginners
  • Powerful Link Miner that is powered by Majestic Index and helps with link mining for SEO success
  • It provides an all-in-one SEO tool set, solving diverse SEO needs.
Cons
  • The 5 Mangools’ apps are not integrated, so you end up using 5 different tools, which can get cumbersome
  • The free trial is quite limited, tracking only 10 keywords, 5 keyword searches per day. You’re only allowed to profile 3 websites, and backlink data is limited to 2000 backlinks.

Pricing

  • Basic: $29.90/Month
  • Premium: $44.90/Month
  • Agency: 89.00/Month

5 – BuzzSumo

Buzzsumo comes with a content marketing and social media tool that helps you identify popular content and influencers in your niche. BuzzSumo uses real-world data to give insights, content alerts, competitor analysis, and social media tips.

While Ahrefs is primarily a keyword research and backlink analysis tool, Buzzsumo focuses more on content analysis.

You can integrate Buzzsumo with other tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to help provide a more comprehensive view of your website’s digital presence.

BuzzSumo Keyword research
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Why you should choose BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo’s capability in content discovery stands out. It can analyze social media engagement for specific pieces of content better than Ahrefs, which focuses more on backlink analysis and SEO-related metrics.

Additionally, BuzzSumo’s content research feature allows you to find and analyze the best-performing content. You can find the number of shares, engagements, and backlinks. The feature is more comprehensive than Ahrefs backlink feature. The tool is also great when you need to discover and engage relevant influencers using industry-based keywords or topics.

Compared to Ahrefs, BuzzSumo is ideal for businesses on a smaller budget whose SEO needs are centered around content and social media. The tool is more affordable than Ahrefs, especially for smaller businesses that may not need all the features Ahrefs offers.

BuzzSumo overview
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Key Features

  • Content analysis: Buzzsumo enables you to search for content by keyword, topic, or domain. It then shows you the number of shares and backlinks the content has received on social media and across the web.
  • Content alerts: Buzzsumo allows you to set up alerts to be notified when new content is published on a given topic or by a specific author.
  • Brand monitoring: This tool allows you to track mentions of your brand, competitors, and industry keywords across the web and social media.
  • Reporting: Buzzsumo provides detailed reports on the performance of content and influencers. You can use the data to plan your content strategy and identify areas for improvement.
  • Historical data: Buzzsumo provides historical data on your website and content topics. You can use the data to evaluate the past performance of your site and compare it with the present.
  • Advanced filtering: Buzzsumo allows you to filter search results based on criteria such as publication date, language, and type of content.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Great content discovery toolkit – BuzzSumo’s Discover toolkit stands out by offering endless content ideas for your content marketing strategy.
  • Dynamic content analysis functionality – allows you to analyze your content strategy compared to your leading competitors.
  • Covers different types of content – BuzzSumo covers more web content than just blog posts and pages. It can give you insight into video content, social media content, and more.
Cons
  • Doesn’t offer social media data insights for emerging platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.
  • Backlink data lacks metrics – the content research tool doesn’t show the authority metrics for backlinks.  Tools like Semrush include metrics in their backlink checkers.

Pricing

Buzzsumo comes with a free plan that allows up to 10 searches per month. 

  • Pro – $99 / Month
  • Plus – $179 / Month
  • Large – $299 /Month

6 – SEO PowerSuite

SEO PowerSuite is a software package with a comprehensive set of SEO tools for website optimization and link building. The four tools are:

  • Rank Tracker
  • Website Auditor
  • SEO SpyGlass, 
  • Link Assistant.
BuzzSumo keyword research
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You can leverage the tools to identify and fix technical issues, improve on-page optimization, and build high-quality backlinks. 

This Ahrefs alternative is a good fit for small and medium-sized businesses, agencies, and independent professionals.

Why you should choose SEO PowerSuite

SEO Powersuite’s link assistant helps track potential link partners and track the status of link requests. While Ahrefs has a bigger database for backlinks, it does not allow you to contact potential link partners.

Unlike Ahrefs, SEO PowerSuite allows for Google Analytics Integration, allowing you to access all your data at one place. It is also more affordable than Ahrefs and it offers a free version.

You can use SEO Powersuite for local rank tracking and Google My Business Optimization. Ahrefs does not offer the same level of focus on local SEO.

Key Features

  • Rank tracking: This enables you to track your website’s and competitors' rankings for multiple keywords. You discover what keywords any website ranks for on search engine results page (SERPs)
  • Site audit tool: Helps analyze your site’s on-page optimization and provides a detailed report on any issues that may be impacting its SEO.
  • SEO SpyGlass: Analyzes all your backlinks and provides a detailed report on the quality and quantity of the links. It also identifies potential link-building opportunities. 
  • Link assistant: Allows you to search for potential link partners, track the status of link requests, and manage the link-building process. It can also generate link-building reports.
  • Customizable reports with branding: Allows you to create and export detailed reports on the aspects of SEO performance, such as rankings, on-page optimization, backlinks, and link-building. 
  • Multiple languages support: SEO PowerSuite supports many languages. For example, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and more
  • More than one user access: Allows you and your team access to the software, so you can collaborate on SEO projects.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Affordable – For a comprehensive and feature-rich SEO tool of its kind, SEO Powersuite is quite affordable. It costs less than $25/ month for the professional package.
  • Can run unlimited tasks – There is no limit to the tasks you can carry out, such as site audits, keyword searches, etc.
Cons
  • It’s not a cloud-based system – You can only use it after installing on your computer, which may slow the process.
  • The backlink feature is not as comprehensive as in other tools.

Pricing

  • Professional- $299/ Year
  • Enterprise- $499/ Year

7 – Similarweb

SimilarWeb is another Ahrefs alternative that can help you analyze the performance of your website and competitors.

While Ahrefs is more focused on SEO and backlink analysis, SimilarWeb offers a broader range of data on website performance. This data includes site traffic, audience demographics, and bounce rate. 

The tool also offers insights into a site's referral sources, such as search engines and social media, as well as the top pages and keywords driving traffic to the site.

SimilarWeb marketing intelligence feature
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Why you should choose Similarweb 

Similarweb focuses on web traffic analysis and market intelligence. It shows user behavior, website engagement and conversion rate. For example, its traffic data shows millions of websites' traffic volumes, sources, and engagements.

For Market Intelligence, Similarweb has better capabilities. It provides data and insights on audience insights, competitor analysis, and industry benchmarking. Ahrefs can show you your competitor’s backlink profile and target keywords.

Compared to Ahrefs, Similarweb is an affordable option that gives an in-depth analysis of web traffic and detailed market intelligence data.

Key Features

  • Historical data: It gives you data tracked from the performance of your website over time.
  • Traffic analysis: Provides detailed information on website traffic, including total visits, bounce rate, and average time on site.
  • Audience demographics: The tool offers insights into the age, gender, location, and interests of your website's audience.
  • Mobile analysis: The tool provides insights into mobile vs desktop traffic and the types of mobile devices being used to access your website.
  • Referral sources: SimilarWeb shows where website traffic is coming from. For example, search engines, social media, and other referral sites.
  • Competitive analysis: The tool allows you to compare the performance of your website to that of your competitors.
  • Customizable reports: SimilarWeb creates custom reports on any website and shares it with stakeholders.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Offers useful data for free and doesn’t require credit card details for free trials.
  • Vast data on websites’ audience which can be exported in different formats to help in planning your SEO strategy
Cons
  • Relies more on desktop traffic as opposed to mobile traffic in their traffic analysis.
  • Pricing is high for premium features, which may be too costly for small businesses.

Pricing

  • Essential – $249/ Month
  • Advanced – $449/ Month
  • Ultimate – Custom pricing

SimilarWeb offers a free trial where you don’t need to enter credit card details. For small businesses, subscription starts at $167 per month. You should contact customer care if you want a tailored plan for your needs.

8 – SpyFu

SpyFu provides insights into SEO and pay-per-click strategies of websites. Just like Ahrefs, it helps you research keywords that websites are ranking for and identify the keywords your competitors are using.

The tool also provides data on backlinks, organic search traffic, and keyword rankings, as well as insights into the SEO strategies of competitors.

You can use SpyFu to gain a competitive edge by researching and analyzing the strategies of your competitors.

Spy Fu keyword research
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Why you should choose SpyFu 

SpyFu’s backlink outreach feature he helps you identify the right authority sites to target, the site owners, email, phone numbers, and, even social media profiles. Ahrefs doesn’t offer the same level of detail in its backlink analysis feature.

SpyFu’s focus on competitor analysis is more advanced than Ahrefs. With SpyFu’s competitor research tool, you can see the keywords your competitors rank for, and their best-performing paid ad campaigns.

Compared to Ahrefs, SpyFu offers specialized keyword research at a more affordable fee that includes a free plan, which is convenient for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Key Features

  • Competitor analysis: The tool allows you to track the performance of up to three competitors at once and compare their SEO and PPC strategies.
  • PPC analysis: SpyFu offers data on the PPC keywords and ad copy used by your competitors. It also offers information on their ad spend and click-through rates.
  • Historical data: SpyFu provides historical data on any website's performance over time. You can use this data to track changes in SEO and PPC strategies on competitor sites.
  • Domain overview: The tool provides an overview of any domain's SEO and PPC strategy in one place.
  • Customizable reports: You can create custom reports on any website and share it with your team

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Fairly priced as compared to Ahrefs and other tools
  • Great for lead generation – It gives detailed domain search and keyword details for effective ad targeting. It can transform Google search results into insightful data for lead generation.
  • Provides monitoring tools – tracks SEO rankings and can be used for paid ad campaigns for multiple search engines.
Cons
  • Hard to navigate UI for beginners
  • It may require a manual search for more detailed reports, such as competitor analysis.

Pricing

  • Basic- $16/ Month – $39/ Month
  • Professional- $36/ Month- $39/ Month
  • Team- $149/ Month- $299/ Month

9 – SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a website and SEO analysis tool that allows you to track your website's performance on various search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. 

The SEO software provides detailed information on your website's keywords, backlinks, traffic, and search engine ranking. It also allows you to track your progress over time.

Both SE Ranking and Ahrefs provide detailed information and analysis on a website's performance.

If you are looking for a detailed analysis of your backlinks, Ahrefs would be a better choice. On the other hand, SE Ranking is more suitable if you want to track your website's performance on various search engines.

SE Ranking competitor research
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Why you should choose SE Ranking 

SE Ranking has extensive PPC analysis capabilities. It can track the performance of PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, Yandex, and other search engines.

With its competitor research feature, you can analyze your competitors' SEO strategies, such as keyword research, web traffic analysis and backlink analysis. Although you can get similar data from Ahrefs, SE Ranking is cheaper and quite detailed.

In comparison to Ahrefs, SE Ranking is an affordable all-in-one SEO tool. It also allows you to white label and customize your reports with your brand images.

SE Ranking keyword research

Key Features

  • Backlink data analysis: The tool provides detailed information on your website's backlinks.
  • Traffic analysis: SE Ranking helps monitor your website's traffic over time
  • Site audit tool: It performs a comprehensive website audit to check for technical SEO issues.
  • Mobile optimization: The tool analyzes your website's mobile optimization and provides recommendations for improvement.
  • Social media tracking: SE Ranking allows you to track your site's performance on social media platforms and see how many shares, likes, and comments your website gets.
  • Reporting and analytics: SE Ranking provides detailed graphs and charts, to help you better understand your website's performance and identify areas for improvement.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Breaks down search engine rankings to city level, which is very useful for local brands
  • Reports showing SEO progress can be customized and sent to clients
  • Comprehensive backlink checker that gives valuable backlink tips
  • Has an XML Site Map Generator to show search engines how pages are placed within your website
Cons
  • Less data depth as compared to other tools. E.g. it doesn’t show advanced insights in social media analytics.
  • It takes time to show results for multiple keywords compared to other tools.

Pricing

  • Essential- $31.20/ Month
  • Pro- $71.20/ Month
  • Business- $151.20/ Month

10 – Majestic

Majestic is an Ahrefs alternative which provides detailed information on a website's backlinks.

Majestic has a massive link intelligence database available, which allows you to gain insights into your own and your competitors' backlink profiles.

Both Ahrefs and Majestic are great tools for backlink analysis. While Majestic has a massive database, Ahrefs offers unique features such as rank tracking and keyword research.

Majectic SEO backlink analysis
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Majestic provides an API that allows developers to access the data and use it in their own applications and tools.With Majestic, you can understand your competitors and your own backlink profiles better.

Why should you choose Majestic

Majestic has the biggest backlink data on the internet today. Its Historic Index shows all links that were ever live, and its Fresh Index shows crawled data for the last 90 days.

To calculate the domain authority for referring domains, Majestic uses a metric called “Trust Flow” while Ahrefs uses “Domain Rating”. Because of its extensive backlink data, I find its domain authority data and referring domains better than Ahrefs.

Ultimately, Majestic is a cheaper Ahrefs alternative for backlink data and analysis. It can be useful if you want to identify how your patterns on link acquisition and patterns have changed over time.

Key Features

  • Historical data: Majestic provides historical data on a website's backlinks, which allows you to see how a website's backlink profile has progressed over time.
  • Domain comparison: Majestic allows you to compare the backlink profiles of different websites, which you can leverage to identify potential link-building opportunities.
  • Site explorer: Majestic's Site Explorer tool shows all the links pointing to a specific website, including the top pages, top linking domains, and top anchor texts.
  • Bulk backlink checker: You can check the backlinks of multiple websites at once
  • Reporting and analytics: Majestic provides detailed reporting and analytics
Majestic
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Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Give detailed backlink information – Link context feature details the number of external links enabling you to determine content authority.
  • Unique SEO metrics – Topical Flow and Trust Flow feature help you identify healthy, beneficial links.
  • Huge backlink index – Majestic updates its backlink index daily and reports owning the biggest index on the internet.
Cons
  • The tool is limited to backlinks which alone is not enough to plan an SEO strategy.
  • Crowded UX – Majectic presents a lot of data at once, with many options to click on, which may be too overwhelming.

Pricing

  • Lite- $49.99/ Month
  • Pro- $99.99/ Month
  • API- $399.99/ Month

Take Your Pick

Different tools provide different types of data and insights. This is useful for getting a more comprehensive understanding of your site's performance. It also helps you identify opportunities for improvement.

The tools we’ve covered can help you get valuable insights for improving your website’s rankings and traffic.

If you’re looking for more features that Ahrefs doesn't have, evaluate the pros and cons of every tool and choose the one that aligns with your goals and budget.

Remember, you can also integrate the tools and cross-reference data and insights. This way, you’ll make more informed decisions and achieve better results.

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SEO Competitor Analysis: What It Is & How To Conduct It https://shanebarker.com/blog/seo-competitor-analysis/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/seo-competitor-analysis/#respond Wed, 22 Mar 2023 17:39:24 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=71888 Even if you develop a solid SEO strategy and create great content regularly, there is no guarantee that your posts will get the visibility they deserve. 

After all, your SEO competitors might be doing the same things. Maybe even better than you.

Then, how do you stay ahead of your competitors? That’s where SEO competitor analysis comes in. 

By taking a closer look at your competitors and their key SEO metrics, you can gauge their strategy and what makes their content tick.

You can even compare how your website is doing with respect to a competitor’s.

For instance, you’ve got a new fashion brand that targets young adults between the ages of 18-25. When you enter the industry, it is likely to be dominated by big giants like “Urban Outfitters” and “H&M.”

When you conduct SEO competitive analysis, you can compare these two domains and check their key metrics. You can figure out how they fare in terms of organic traffic, organic keywords, backlinks, referring domains, and more.

seo competitive analysis example from semrush
Image via Semrush

A quick look at the screenshot above can tell that Urban Outfitters focuses more on paid keywords than H&M. Such insights help you understand your competitor’s SEO and content strategy.

Based on that, you can tailor your strategy so that you get an edge over them.

The process may seem a little overwhelming, especially if you haven’t done it many times before. Don’t worry, I’ll simplify the whole SEO competitive analysis process for you in this post.

What is SEO Competitor Analysis?

SEO competitor analysis or SEO competitive analysis is the process of researching the profiles of your direct SEO competitors to analyze their target keywords, backlinks, content, and more to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

With SEO competitor analysis, you can assess the overall competitive landscape to rank higher in the SERPs. By understanding what’s working for your competitors, you can incorporate those elements into creating a solid SEO strategy for your business.

Why is SEO Competitor Analysis Important?

SEO competitor analysis is important because it helps you understand your industry landscape, find the latest SEO trends, and identify new opportunities to rank higher in the SERPs.

Here are some other reasons why SEO competitor analysis can be beneficial:

  • Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Gain an understanding of your competitors' strengths and weaknesses to help you refine your own SEO strategy.
  • Benchmark Performance: Compare your website's SEO performance against that of your competitors to identify areas for improvement.
  • Discover New Keywords: Identify new keywords and phrases to target based on your competitors' keyword strategies.
  • Improve Content Strategy: Analyze your competitors' content to improve your own content strategy and create more engaging and relevant content.
  • Find Link-Building Opportunities: Analyze your competitors' backlinks to find new opportunities for acquiring high-quality backlinks.
  • Stay Ahead of Trends: Stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and developments in your industry by monitoring your competitors' strategies.

In a nutshell, SEO competitor analysis can help you optimize your own SEO strategy and gain a competitive edge.

When Should You Conduct SEO Competitor Analysis?

You should conduct SEO competitor analysis regularly to stay ahead of the competition and improve their search ranking. Here are a few key times when businesses should conduct SEO competitor analysis:

1. When launching a new product or service: Conduct keyword research to understand how your competitors are targeting these keywords and analyze their content strategy. 

At this stage, you should focus on identifying:

  • High search volume keywords related to your product or service
  • Top ranking pages for shortlisted keywords
  • Keyword gaps related to your product or service
  • Content on top-ranking pages and analyze content strategies

A thorough analysis of your competitors' SEO strategies and tactics can also help you develop a more effective marketing strategy for your new product or service.

2. When you want to improve your search ranking: If you want to outrank your competitors on the SERPs, you need to understand what is working for your competitors.

At this stage, you should focus on identifying and analyzing:

  • Competitor keyword profiles
  • Competitor backlink profiles
  • Content quality for top-ranking content

By analyzing your competitors' SEO strategies, you can gain insights into what they are doing right and where you can improve.

3. When there is a major shift in the industry or market: Monitor competitors' websites to identify any changes in their SEO strategies and tactics. 

At this stage, you should focus on identifying:

  • Changes in keyword ranking
  • Changes in engagement and traffic metrics 
  • New keyword opportunities
  • New link-building opportunities

By monitoring the changes in the SERPs, you can adapt your SEO and content strategy to win over the competition.

4. At the end of each quarter: You should conduct SEO competitor analysis at the end of every three months so that you can stay competitive. 

For this SEO competitor analysis, you should focus on analyzing the changes in your competitors’ keyword, content, and backlink profile.

Which Factors Should You Look at for SEO Competitive Analysis?

SEO competitive analysis is an exhaustive process. When you are analyzing the profiles of your direct and indirect competitors, here are some of the factors that you should look at:

  • Keywords: Keep an eye on the keywords that your competitors are targeting and ranking for. Analyze the search volume and the difficulty level of those keywords.
  • Content Topics: Check the type of topics your competitors are publishing posts on. Analyze which keywords they cover and what type of search intent they cater to.
  • Published blog posts: Pay attention to the headings, sub-headings, and content your SEO competitors post. Compare it with your content and determine if and how it is better than yours.
  • Backlink profile: Check which websites give your SEO competitors backlinks and what their Domain Authority is. Gauge if you can also get backlinks from the same sources.
  • Social media presence: Look at your competitors’ presence on multiple channels and analyze their social media strategy.
  • Technical SEO: Check your SEO competitors’ site speed, broken links, URL structure, and other important on-page and off-page SEO factors.

It may sound like a complicated process.

And I’ll be honest: It does require a lot of time and effort. But there are many specialized SEO competitor analysis tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, etc. that can help you dig into your competitors’ SEO profiles. They can make the process easier.

How to Conduct SEO Competitive Analysis

If you want to conduct SEO competitive analysis on your website, here is a step-by-step tutorial that will guide you through the process:

1. Identify Your SEO Competitors

When conducting an SEO competitive analysis, it's essential to understand the competition and its strengths and weaknesses. By doing this, you can find strategies to stay ahead of the competition and improve your website's SEO.

The first step is to make a list of your SEO competitors.

You may already know the major businesses that may offer similar products, have a similar target audience, and are in the same price range. 

But these competitors may not necessarily be the same as your SEO competitors. 

Your SEO competitors will be those competitors in your industry and niche that rank on the first page of the SERPs for the keywords that you’re targeting.

How to Find Your Top SEO Competitors

There are a few different ways to identify your SEO competitors. Even if you’re new to SEO, you’ll be able to do it yourself easily.

1. Conduct a Quick Google Search to Find Your Competitors

For example, if you run a travel agency in California, some of the top long-tail keywords you want to target would include “best travel agents in California.”

By conducting a quick Google search, you can get a list of the top websites ranking for it. These will be your top SEO competitors.

how to find your top seo competitors-quick google search

For a comprehensive list, I would recommend you look at different types of keywords and the SERP results for them. 

If you are writing an educational blog and your main target keyword is “best California vacation spots,” you’ll also find popular and high DA websites like “travel.usnews.com.”

how to find your top seo competitors-google query

Keep in mind that it would be difficult to compete against big publications for the top spots on the first page of the SERPs. 

This is especially true if you are only starting out a new blog that has low DA.

If your business works in multiple niches or you offer multiple services, you’ll need to check SEO competitors for each niche/service.

2. Use Specialized SEO Tools Like Semrush to Find Your Competitors

Another way to conduct a competitive analysis is to use keyword research tools like Semrush. It is one of the best SEO audit tools out there, and you can even use it for keyword research and competitor analysis. 

You can use Semrush to find keywords that are relevant to your business, research the competition, and see how competitive those keywords are.

By understanding your competition, you can find keywords that are less competitive and easier to rank for.

How to use Semrush to find your SEO competitors while conducting SEO competitor analysis:

  • Step 1: Log in to Semrush and go to “Domain Overview” in the Competitive Research section that you see on the left sidebar. 

    For this example, I want to check the main SEO competitors for the global shoe brand, “Skechers.” Even though it operates globally, I want to check the competitive landscape only in the USA.
  • Step 2: Scroll down in the “Domain Overview” section to take a look at the top organic keywords and the top organic keywords by intent. 

    This can help you find more keywords to focus on and formulate a better SEO content strategy. 
  • Step 3: Scroll down to the “Main Organic Competitors” section and check the SEO competitors listed there.

    Click on “View Details” for more in-depth information about your main SEO competitors. 
  • Step 4: In the “Competitive Positioning Map” section, you can check the overall visibility that an SEO competitor has in the SERPs. If the circle is larger on the map, that means the domain has more visibility. 

    If you look at the SEO competitors for Skechers, you can see that out of the five listed competitors, Shoe Carnival and Famous Footwear are close to the visibility that Skechers has.

    I like how you can easily categorize your SEO competitors by taking a quick glance at this graph.
  • Step 5: The “Organic Competitors” section has a list of the top domains along with the number of common keywords, SE keywords, traffic, costs, and paid keywords.

    Exporting this list from Semrush will give you a list of your top organic SEO competitors.
  • Step 6: If you want to dig deeper into any SEO competitor’s profile, you can click on their name from the list. This gives a complete overview of the “Organic Research” report on Semrush.

    From their organic traffic to top organic keywords and organic position distribution, you can check it all here.
  • Step 7: To get a comprehensive view of any SEO competitor’s profile, I like to check their Organic Research Semrush report as well.

    You can do that by clicking on the “Organic Research” option on the left side of the SEO dashboard.

I like to check the “SERP Features” section to see if there are any special SERP results that are triggered based on the keywords that an analyzed domain is ranking for.  

In this section, you can find if a domain has featured snippets, reviews, images, site links, and more links to it.

Using Semrush, you can gain a deeper understanding of who your SEO competitors are and what’s working for them. With these insights, you can even optimize your content strategy. 

Before you get started with content creation, I would recommend you thoroughly check the SERP landscape of your niche/industry. 

If your SEO competitors are ranking for your target keyword with a video, you should also think of creating a video to compete with them. To go the extra mile, you can create a full-length article and embed the video in it.

2. List Down Relevant Keywords You Want to Target

When it comes to SEO competitive analysis, not all keywords are weighted equal. During keyword research, you focus on finding keywords that have a high search volume and are relevant to your industry or business. 

The easiest way to find relevant keywords is to check your SEO competitors’ keywords using a keyword research tool

In Semrush’s Competitive Research report, you can check out the “Organic Research” section for any domain. You can pick a few SEO competitors and export their list to find keywords that might be relevant to you.

organic research on semrush

By using this data strategically, you can pick relevant keywords that have the potential to give you the highest ROI. 

3. Look for Long-Tail Keyword Opportunities

If your site is small or not very well established, it can be intimidating to see mostly big publications making it to the top of the SERPs.

One way to bag the top spots in the SERPs is to focus on long-tail keywords instead of highly-competitive keywords. 

For instance, here’s the keyword difficulty for the phrase, “shoes.”

how to find long-tail keywords on semrush

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to be more specific with the keyword you’re targeting. Think of terms like “canvas shoes for women.”

keyword overview on semrush

Those are examples of long-tail keywords. They have three or more words and are more descriptive than one-word keywords. These are also easier to rank for.

When you are conducting SEO competitive analysis, you should check for long-tail keywords and niche keywords. The search volume for such long-tail keywords may be low but they drive more relevant traffic. Plus, they will need less effort to outrank your SEO competitors.

4. Check Keyword Gaps

Ranking for a keyword from scratch may require a considerable amount of time. But that’s not the case with keywords that your site may already rank for. 

Let’s say your site is listed at position six on the first page of Google while your main competitor is at position two. Getting ahead of them is going to require less effort than writing an SEO-optimized article and waiting for it to rank higher.

For the uninitiated, here’s what keyword gap analysis is all about:

Through keyword gap analysis, you can identify keywords that your SEO competitors are targeting successfully and the ones where you have a scope to outrank them.

This process helps you analyze all the keywords that are sending traffic to you and your competitors.

Keyword gap analysis can help you:

  • Discover keyword opportunities to target.
  • Uncover additional keywords to optimize your content.
  • Find new content ideas.
  • Get insights into your competitors’ strengths.
  • Understand your audience’s intent and interests.

With competitor keyword gap analysis, your content and SEO team can get clarity on which keywords can generate maximum traffic. Based on that, you can create a priority list for keywords to target.

How to Check Keyword Gaps for Any Website

To check keywords that you and your competitors both rank for, you can use specialized tools for keyword gap analysis. Semrush, Similarweb, Link Assistant, and other similar tools provide the ability to check for keyword gaps.

Here is how you can use Similarweb to check for keyword gaps:

Step 1: Log in to your Similarweb account and select the “Acquisition Channels” option from the left side menu bar.

For this example, I have signed up for their free trial account. 

keyword gap tool by similarweb

Step 2: From the given options, select “SEO” and “Keyword Gap.”

keyword gap analysis on similarweb

Step 3: Add two domain names in the niche that you’d like to compare and click on “See Keywords.”

For this example, I want to find keywords for “homedepot.com” based on the keywords of “walmart.com.”

keyword gap example screenshot

Step 4: The Venn Diagram shows the total number of keywords and search visits for both domain names. You can see the number of all shared keywords and search visits in the middle (overlapping) section.

Step 5: The default selected option is to view keyword gap for “All Traffic.” If you want to get results for organic and paid traffic separately, you can select “Organic” or “Paid” from the given options.

Step 6: Add keyword gap filter in the right section to find specific keywords shared by you and your SEO competitors. You can find the following options:

  • Core Keywords: This option shows the keywords that you and your SEO competitors share.
  • Wins: This option shows the keywords that you have a bigger share of traffic for. 
  • Opportunities: This option shows keywords your SEO competitors are getting traffic from, but your website isn’t.
  • Losses: This option shows keywords that you are getting less traffic for than your SEO competitors. 

For this example, I want to check organic keywords where Home Depot is getting less traffic than Walmart.

Once I set up the filters, I can see the keywords, “Black Friday Deals” and “Cyber Monday Deals,” are at the top of the keyword gap list.

If I were running the website for Home Depot, I would do some research to find answers to the following questions:

  • Why is Walmart ranking for the given keywords?
  • What kind of content does Walmart have for the given keywords?
  • Does Walmart have an exceptionally high number of backlinks for related pages that is helping them rank higher?
  • What should I do to target the listed keywords?

In my experience, answering these questions will help you find the most relevant keywords to target. You’ll also get a fair idea of how well of a chance you have of ranking for these keywords. 

To get a more comprehensive view of the competitive SEO landscape, you can conduct keyword gap analysis for multiple SEO competitors at once.  

5. Assess the Difficulty Level for Shortlisted Keywords

Let’s be honest – Theoretically, you can beat any of your SEO competitors in any industry or niche. But it’s not realistic. 

You may not have the resources or the time to invest in getting ranked for your main keywords. Whatever the reason, targeting certain keywords may not be feasible for you. 

That’s why you need to assess the overall difficulty level of your shortlisted keywords.

This requires a methodical approach and should involve a series of steps to ensure accuracy. 

First, you should evaluate the search engine landscape to determine the type of search engine optimization (SEO) strategies your competitor uses. 

This includes assessing multiple factors including:

  • Domain age
  • Domain Authority (DA)
  • Domain country
  • Traffic volume 
  • Backlink data
  • Catalog listings

… and more!

Next, calculate the keyword difficulty scores of each of the shortlisted keywords. You can do this using a range of keyword difficulty analysis tools, such as Moz, Semrush, or Ahrefs. 

Let’s say, my main target keyword is “walking shoes for women.”

For quick keyword difficulty assessment, I can enter this term in the search bar of Moz’s Keyword Explorer Tool.

moz-keyword explorer

When you click on “Analyze,” Moz gives you a quick difficulty score along with the monthly search volume, organic CTR, and priority of this keyword.

For the keyword I added, the difficulty score is 55 which is just slightly difficult. Moz gives this score based on the Domain Authority and the Page Authority for the listings on the first page of Google.

Keyword Difficulty Score on Moz - SEO Competition Analysis

A difficulty score from 0 to 50 is considered relatively easy to outrank, while anything above 60 is difficult. For smaller websites, it is difficult to rank for keywords that have a difficulty score of 40 and above.

Keep in mind that it will require considerable time and investment to rank for keywords that have a high difficulty score. 

6. Track Keyword Rankings Over Time

After assessing the difficulty level for shortlisted keywords for SEO competitive analysis, it is important to track how your keyword rankings change over time. 

This can help you identify potential opportunities. You’ll learn where you stand in comparison to your competitors and what kind of content you need to publish.

You can track keyword rankings using rank tracking tools such as Sitechecker, Wincher, Serpstat, and others. These tools allow you to track keyword rankings over time and provide insights into the progress of the SEO campaign. 

I am going to show you how to track keyword rankings over time using Sitechecker.

Step 1: Log in to Sitechecker’s Rank Tracker and configure the setting in Project Editing. Before you add keywords, you’ll need to add your search engine, city, language, device, and searcher domain.

sitecheckers rank tracker tool

Step 2: Add the keywords that you want to track your rankings for. You can either type them or use the “Suggest Keywords” option [If you’ve connected your account to Google Search Console].

Alternatively, you can also import a file.

sitecheckers rank tracker tool-add keywords

Step 3: Once you add the keywords, the tool will start to collect relevant data for your results. This process can take time. You should be able to see the first few results after a couple of hours. 

After it’s set up once, your data is updated automatically once every day. 

The first graph will show you the overall trend related to the keywords you’ve entered.

sitecheckers rank tracker tool visibility

When you scroll down, you’ll also be able to see all the keywords and the changes in their positions every day.

sitecheckers rank tracker tool-changes in keyword positions

Step 4: For a granular view of the keyword changes, toggle to the “Advanced” view from the top-right corner. You can also click on columns to select the metrics you’d like to add to your chart.

sitecheckers rank tracker tool-keyword position tracking

You can also export this data into .pdf or. CSV files so you can access it later as well.

7. Analyze SERP Results

Analyzing your competitor’s ranked content is a great way to understand your target audience and their search intent.

By looking at ranked keywords, you can gauge the needs of the readers and what kind of content would cater to them. For this, you need to first understand what search intent is and what are the different types of search intent. 

Search intent refers to the main motive a user may have behind searching for a specific query on the internet.

types of search intent
Image via Seobility

When it comes to SEO, search queries can be categorized into four main types of intent: 

  • Informational search intent
  • Navigational search intent
  • Commercial search intent
  • Transactional search intent

Each search intent has a different user motivation. Let’s understand the needs of the user for each of these categories.

A. Informational Search Intent

When a user is looking for answers on a specific topic, their main motivation is to get as much relevant information as possible. They can be searching for the latest weather updates or may want to know how to fix their car. 

Here is an example of informational search intent:

informational search intent

Image via Google

It is important to understand that Google’s understanding of the search intent goes deeper than looking at the search term.

In this case, Google understands that most users who search for “homemade snacks” are looking for recipes to make at home.

That’s why the SERP results have a featured snippet with posts catering to that search intent. 

Type of Content That Caters to Informational Search Intent:

  • Long-form blog posts
  • Explainer videos
  • Educational articles
  • How-to posts

When you’re writing posts for this search intent, your focus should be on providing value through your content and explaining a concept/tool/feature. 

You can add relevant product links in the post. But make sure it doesn’t come as pushy or unnatural in the context of the topic.

B. Navigational Search Intent

Users with this search intent usually want to navigate to a particular website or page. They may even search for a business name to find its website and other related information.

If a user searches for “Snapchat,” they are usually looking to visit the platform. That’s an example of navigational search intent.

navigational search intent

As you can see, Google understands the user search intent. That’s why the first result that of Snapchat’s homepage. 

For this type of search intent, you should ensure that your business has good online visibility. When someone searches for your business on Google, they should be able to find the website and contact details easily. 

However, keep in mind, that you’ll only get traffic for this search intent if users are actively searching for your business. 

Type of Content That Caters to Navigational Search Intent: 

  • Homepage
  • Landing pages

While creating content for this search intent, you should use the main keywords related to your niche, industry, and business. 

Users who visit your website with navigational search intent may only have limited information about your business. To get ranked and get more traffic, you should write clear and concise copy that communicates what your business is all about. 

C. Commercial Search Intent

Some users want to make a purchase but only after they do some research online. Such users have the willingness to spend money but they are exploring their options, investigating facts, and comparing prices.

commercial search intent

In the above example, the user is checking out options for electric guitars within a specific budget. In the featured snippet, you can see a list of the top 8 options so that the user gets the information they are looking for easily. 

Phrases like “Under $1000” or “discount” show the purchase intent of the user. A listicle comparing different options satisfies the user intent here. 

Type of Content That Caters to Commercial Search Intent: 

  • Listicles
  • Reviews

When writing content for commercial search intent, ensure that you write about all the factors that are important to make a purchase decision. You can also include purchase links to convert some traffic into paying customers.

D. Transactional Search Intent

Users with transactional search intent are looking to make a purchase online. They already know what their requirements are and the options available.

After research, they’ve zeroed in on their preferred choice and want to make a purchase right away.

transactional search intent

In the above SERP results, you can see that the pages ranking at the top all lead to the product page. For such search queries, Google might even share featured snippets as the first result. 

Type of Content That Caters to Informational Search Intent: 

  • Product pages
  • Reviews

As you can see from the examples listed above, all types of search intent require unique content to satisfy the needs of the reader.

A user who is searching for the best mobile phone won’t find a post on “the history of mobile phones” relevant. They want to know which mobile phones are available for them and where they can get the best deal.

By gauging the search intent of keywords and articles ranking in the SERPs, you can create more tailored content.

Check the search intent in your competitors’ posts closely. Based on that, you can improve your SEO content strategy.

8. Conduct a Technical SEO Audit

Conducting a technical SEO audit of your competitors' websites allows you to identify their technical strengths and weaknesses. This can help you develop a strategy to outperform them in search engine rankings.

While conducting a technical SEO audit of your SEO competitor websites, here are the things you should look at

  • Site Speed: Analyze the loading speed of the website and identify the elements that are causing slow loading time.
  • Mobile Responsiveness: Check whether the website is optimized for mobile devices or not.
  • Crawlability: Verify if search engine bots can crawl and index all the pages on the website.
  • Site Architecture: Analyze the site's structure and hierarchy, including the URL structure, internal linking, and sitemap.
  • Technical Errors: Check for any technical errors, such as broken links, 404 pages, or server errors.
  • Security: Verify if the website has an SSL certificate and is properly configured for secure browsing.
  • On-page SEO elements: On-page optimization plays a critical role in how search engine bots crawl and understand the content on a website. On-page optimization includes elements such as:
    • Meta description: Notice how your competitors are writing their meta description tags. Think of the meta description tag as a pitch that tells users what the page is about and why they should check it.

      meta description
      In the meta description on SERPs, look for the usage of keywords, CTA, and conciseness.

      Google crawlers may not always use the description added in the meta description tag. However, they do use the tag to create featured snippets.
    • Titles: Check the title tag along with the title for the shortlisted web pages. Keep in mind that Google may rewrite title tags to include the site name or highlight a relevant keyword.

      Sometimes you may find that exact match keywords aren’t in the title. That’s why take a look at both while checking your competitor’s web pages.

      titles in serps
    • URL structure: A strong, hierarchical URL can help Google understand how your website is structured. While looking at the URL for competitor web pages, check the keywords added along with the categories mentioned.
      url structure hierarchy example

      If you are trying to outrank a competitor, you will need to look at the URL structure to understand the site hierarchy and categories.
    • <h> tags: Google pays attention to <h> tags as it helps them get context about the content on a web page. Plus, they improve the readability of the content. Here is an example of H2 and H3 from a blog post on my website:

      heading tags example
      Google crawlers may also use <h> tags to pick data for featured snippets. When analyzing competitor web pages, check how they are using <h> tags to organize their sub-sections in an article.

If you want to learn how to use these SEO elements effectively on your website, please check out my post on on-page SEO.

9. Analyze Your Competitors’ Top Pages

After keyword research and analyzing SERP results, you need to gain a better understanding of your SEO competitors’ top-performing content. And by that, I mean you want to find your competitors’ content that earned them maximum links. 

Getting quality backlinks is one of the most important ranking factors on Google. If you want to outdo your competitors, you need to find where they are getting the most links from.

While all major SEO tools offer an option for backlink analysis, I like using Moz for this, mainly because it is super convenient and free to use.

Here’s how to check pages with the most number of backlinks using the Link Explorer by Moz:

Step 1: Enter the domain name for which you’d like to check the top pages in the search box for Link Explorer.

moz link explorer screenshot

Step 2: Check the section for “Top Pages on this Site.”  The pages that have the highest Page authority are the top pages you need to focus on.

Step 3: For in-depth information, you can click on the section for a detailed overview. To sort the list according to Page Authority, you can change the status code to “200-OK.”

You can also export this data to a CSV file to check later.

Once you get the list, click on the URLs listed to check the content. Pay attention to the topic idea, and how the content is written.

Based on that, you can improve upon the existing content. Some tips to make your content better than your competitors:

  • Break your content into multiple sub-topics.
  • Add sub-topics in H2 and H3.
  • Include bullet points to make your content more scannable.
  • Add relevant images, videos, GIFs, and other multimedia content.
  • Quote thought leaders.
  • Include reliable statistics.
  • Answer frequently asked questions related to the topic.

If you want more such tips, you can check out my post on, “How to Write Content that People Will Love to Read and Share.”

10. Conduct Competitor Link Analysis

Link gap analysis or competitor link analysis helps you identify sites and web pages that link to your competitors but not to your website. With this data, you can discover good links that may be easier to get.

These links are easier to obtain because:

  • They have already demonstrated an interest in your industry or niche.
  • They have published content related to the keywords you are targeting.

To get links from these sources, you can reach out to them and show them that you can provide them with better content than your competitors.

In my experience, this strategy gives you a better-than-average chance of earning a link. 

How to Check Backlink Gap Using Semrush

Before you go for link gap analysis, it’s a good idea to conduct a backlink audit for your website. That way, you’ll be able to understand what your backlink portfolio looks like. 

After that, the next step is to find relevant pages that link to your competitors but not to your site. Here is how to conduct a link gap analysis using Semrush:

Step 1: Go to the “Backlink Gap” tool on Semrush and enter all the domain names that you’d like to compare. For this example, I am comparing two skincare brands: Glossier and Fenty Beauty.

backlink gap tool on semrush

Step 2: Take a look at the table and the graphs to get a quick comparison of the competitors’ backlink profiles. With the trend graph, you’ll be able to figure out which competitor has more backlinks.

For our comparison, Glossier clearly has the bigger backlink portfolio among the two brands.

backlink gap analysis on semrush

Step 3: Scroll down to check the referring domains that send backlinks to the domain names you’ve entered. By default, the tool is programmed with a “You-Domain” setting. That means you’ll see link opportunities that you can reach out to.

reffering backlinks domain

You can target these websites to gain the backlinks your competitors have. In Semrush, you can also filter the domain results in five different ways: Best, Weak, Strong, Shared, and Unique. 

Here is what these filters mean:

  • Best: This is a list of domains that link to all your competitors but not to you. 
  • Weak: This is a list of domains that link back to you less often than your SEO competitors.
  • Strong: This is a list of domains that point to your website but not to your SEO competitors.
  • Shared: This is a list of domains that point to you as well as your SEO competitors.
  • Unique: This is a list of domains that point to only one specific domain.

Currently, Semrush can only show a trend graph between different domains. But if you want to compare different sub-domains from the same domain name, Semrush won’t be able to provide you with the backlink trends. If you want to compare the backlink profiles of multiple domains at once, you can use also use Semrush’s Bulk Backlink Analysis tool. Using it, you can compare up to 200 URLs simultaneously.

6 Mistakes You Should Avoid While Conducting SEO Competitive Analysis

After having conducted SEO competitive analysis multiple times, I’ve understood it can be an overwhelming process for beginners. After all, it involves much more than looking at your competitors’ website metrics. It also requires an understanding of their content and overall digital marketing strategy. 

To ensure that your SEO competitive analysis is as effective as possible, avoid these common mistakes:

1. Not Defining Your Goals Clearly

The first mistake to avoid when conducting SEO competitive analysis is failing to set clear goals. Without clear goals, it will be impossible to determine the success of your analysis. 

Is your focus on boosting traffic, increasing conversions, or reducing the bounce rate? 

Before you start SEO competitive analysis, set clear goals about what you want to achieve. Include what you want to achieve along with a defined time frame and how you will measure your progress.

Additionally, it is important to clearly define the scope of the analysis. Determine which competitors you will include and the metrics you’ll track.

2. Solely Relying on Metrics

Do not rely solely on metrics to determine the success of a competitor’s strategy. It is important to understand their content strategy, including:

  • Topics covered
  • Type and quality of content published
  • Frequency of their posts

Additionally, research their link-building strategy, including the types of links they acquire and the sources they use. This can help you create an informed content strategy and ensure that you are producing content of a higher quality than your competitors.

3. Focusing Only on Organic Search

When conducting an SEO competitive analysis, it is a mistake to focus exclusively on organic search. Your competitors may be using paid search, social media marketing, and email marketing, which you also take into account. 

Analyze the channels they are using and the strategies they are employing to determine which tactics are working best. It will also help you identify opportunities for your own website.

4. Focusing on the Number of Keywords

Another mistake to avoid while conducting SEO competitive analysis is focusing too much on the number of keywords that a website is targeting. 

While this is important to look at, it is also important to look at the type of keywords they are targeting. 

Are they ranking for high-traffic keywords with low competition or low-traffic keywords with high competition?

Understanding the level of keyword difficulty will help you gauge how well the website is ranking for those keywords.

5. Not Checking Your Own Progress

Don’t lose sight of your own progress while keeping an eye on your competitors. Track how you are doing with respect to your goals and how much progress you are making. 

Check if your SEO efforts are paying off and if you’re able to move up in the rankings.

SEO competitor analysis is only effective if you clearly know where you stand in relation to your competitors.

6. Not Conducting Mobile-Specific Competitor Analysis

Over 60% of the internet population use mobile phones to go online. Because of the increasing number of mobile phone users, Google even rolled out mobile-first indexing.

mobile-first indexing on google-infographic
Image via Pixyzen

With the introduction of this system, Google crawls the mobile version of a website first. If it is not available, only then Google crawls the desktop version.

It’s evident that the mobile site is the driving factor for ranking and indexing. That’s why it’s important to conduct a mobile-specific competitor analysis.

While checking your competitors’ websites for mobile optimization, here is what you should look for:

  • Responsive design
  • Mobile page loading speed
  • Mobile content quality
  • Placement of ads

Ideally, a website should provide a smooth user experience on desktop as well as mobile devices. If you see errors or temporary image loss, the site might not be properly optimized for mobile devices. 

To get a mobile-specific analysis of any website, you can take Google’s Mobile-Friendly test. Let’s say, I want to check if the homepage of Lonely Planet is mobile-friendly. For that, I just need to enter the URL and click on “Test URL.”

Using Google s Mobile Friendly Test

After analyzing the page for a minute or two, Google shows that their page is mobile friendly. This is a good starting point to check any website’s mobile-friendliness.

Additionally, you can also check the page loading speed of any page using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

google page speed insight results

Google evaluates any web page’s performance based on how quickly the browser can render the first bit of content and the loading time of the largest visual. It is based on six main metrics and is calculated on a scale of 0-100.

For Lonely Planet, Google shows that the overall performance is “25.” While that is low, the site scores really well in terms of SEO, accessibility, and best practices. 

google page speed performance

Ready to Conduct SEO Competitor Analysis?

SEO competitive analysis is necessary to gain insight into the current state of your market and to ensure that your website is well-positioned for success. 

By studying the search engine optimization tactics of your competitors, you can identify opportunities for improvement and develop a strategic plan to outrank them.

Additionally, it is important to measure the success of your own SEO efforts by tracking your rankings and the overall performance of your website. 

With regular analysis, you can stay ahead of the competition and drive more traffic to your site. 

Do you have any questions related to SEO competitor analysis? Please feel free to mention them in the comments section. I will be happy to answer your questions.

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Backlinks 101: All You Need to Know https://shanebarker.com/blog/backlinks/ https://shanebarker.com/blog/backlinks/#respond Tue, 14 Mar 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://shanebarker.com/?p=70959 If you want your website to rank on SERPs, you need quality backlinks

Google and other search engines see backlinks as ‘votes’ of confidence from other websites. They are a critical in achieving higher search engine rankings and driving more organic traffic to your web pages.

Backlinks help you establish credibility, as they indicate that other websites trust your content enough to link to it themselves. 

The more quality backlinks you have, the higher the chances that your site will rank in search engine results pages.

That’s why backlinks are a vital component if you want to build a solid SEO strategy

Since I started my website, I’ve worked tirelessly on building a rich and diverse portfolio of backlinks. 

Currently, my website has 200K+ backlinks from over 12.7K referring domains.

Shanebarker.com backlink profile Semrush screenshot
Image via Semrush

I’ve built it from scratch, so I know what it takes to build a solid backlink profile. 

In this post, I’ll give you a quick overview of different types of backlinks and how you can gain

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are links from one web page to another. They are also referred to as “inbound links” or “incoming links”. Backlinks can come from many sources, including blogs, social media posts, and other websites. 

Here is an example of a backlink I received from Forbes:

Example - Backlink received for shanebarker.com from Forbes
Image via Forbes

When you click on this link on the Forbes website, the link redirects to my website's home page

Backlinks are important for search engine optimization (SEO) because they indicate that a web page is popular and trustworthy. 

When search engines crawl the web, they take into account the content of a page and the number and quality of backlinks pointing to that page. 

If a website has more backlinks than other websites with similar content, it is likely to rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

This can lead to more website traffic and, ultimately, more success for the website.

To earn backlinks, you can reach out to other reputable websites in your industry and request them to share your content and link back to your website.

What’s the Difference Between a Link and a Backlink?

When it comes to SEO and web development, link and backlink are often used interchangeably. 

Technically, these two terms are different and understanding the difference between them is essential for creating an effective online presence.

A link on a website is simply a connection from one page or document to another. 

For example, if a website includes a link to another page within the same site, this is referred to as an internal link. 

Backlinks, on the other hand, point back to your website from another external source.

what is backlink shanebarker

Search engines use these links to determine the credibility of a site and its content. 

For example, if a website has many high-quality backlinks, search engine algorithms will consider this site to be more authoritative and trustworthy than one with fewer links.

Why Are Backlinks Important?

Backlinks are important because they indicate to search engines that your site is reliable. When other sites find your content valuable enough to link back to it, Google views your page as an important resource. As a result, it acquires authority and can rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The more high domain authority (DA) websites and pages linking to a particular page, the higher its authority within that network. But that’s not all. 

Here are some of the other benefits you can gain from earning quality backlinks:

  • Get more referral traffic: A well-placed backlink on a website that is relevant to your niche can get you more traffic on your site. 
  • Build authority and trust: Backlinks are like endorsements from other websites. If you can get backlinks from authoritative websites, it increases your 
  • Build relationships: Link building campaigns can help you build relationships with clients or other businesses in your niche. These relationships can also lead to 
  • Boost brand recognition: With branded anchor texts, your backlinks can make your brand more recognizable. 

Link building offers benefits beyond just boosting your search visibility. Take it from me: They are the foundation of building a solid website.

Types of Backlinks

When search engines were in their nascent stage, marketers would spam or pay to get the top rankings. To counter this practice, Google introduced a system to differentiate genuine links from spammy ones. 

Google separates backlinks into two types: Dofollow Links and Nofollow Links. Here is how they differ in terms of value and how they affect your website:

1. Dofollow Links

Dofollow backlinks are the type of links that pass the authority and value of one webpage to another. These are the links that search engines look at as votes of confidence in your website. 

what are dofollow links shanebarker

When you get a dofollow link, the PageRank value of your webpage increases. If you want to rank higher on Google, you should aim to get dofollow links for your website. 

However, not all dofollow links are considered healthy. 

If a dofollow link comes from a suspicious website or if you get it by breaching the search terms of service, you’re likely to get in trouble. 

Google may penalize you or, in serious cases, de-index your website.

2. Nofollow Links

Nofollow links may not always pass value (also called link juice) or authority from one webpage to another. 

They contain a “nofollow” attribute that tells search engines that it is a nofollow link. If you’re focused on link building, you do no want want to get nofollow links.

what are nofollow links?

However, you can use the nofollow attribute when you want to tell Google not to associate with your website or crawl the linked page from your site. 

Here is a code sample for a nofollow link:

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”https://cheese.example.com/Appenzeller_cheese“>Appenzeller</a>

Along with the nofollow attribute, Google announced two new attributes in 2019 to identify sponsored links and user-generated content. 

Here is how the new link attributes on Google work:

  • rel=”sponsored”: Google crawlers use this attribute to identify links that are created for sponsorships, advertisements, and other compensation agreements.
  • rel=”ugc”: Google crawlers identify links with the “ugc” attribute as user-generated content. You can add them to forum posts and comments. 

Google treats all three link attributes — sponsored, ugc, and nofollow — as hints that indicate which links they should exclude or consider within their Search options. 

In addition to these hints, they also use other signals to understand how they can analyze links and use them within their system. 

How to Check Your Dofollow and Nofollow Links

Considering how important backlinks are for SEO, I make it a point to periodically check the ratio of my dofollow and nofollow links. 

It helps me figure out if all my outbound links are qualified correctly. 

If you’ve got a small website with just a few web pages, you might be able to keep an eye on it manually. But with a bigger website like mine, you need an automated solution. 

I like to use Semrush’s Backlink Analysis tool to get a quick breakdown of my link attributes.

Here is my current dofollow vs. nofollow link ratio:

If you want to check your own backlinks on Semrush, here are the steps you can follow:

Step 1: Go to Semrush’s Backlink Analysis Tool and enter your domain name. I am going to enter “shanebarker.com” in the search tab.

Step 2: Go to the Backlinks tab. 
Step 3: Check your link attributes there.

Link Attributes - Shanebarker.com
Image via Semrush

You can check link attributes for 10 domains for free per day on Semrush. 

What Makes a Good Backlink?

Not all backlinks are good ones. Some of them are more valuable than others. If you want to build a good backlink portfolio, you need high-quality backlinks.

which factors affect the quality of a backlink

Here are the main attributes that contribute to the overall backlink quality:

1. Relevance

Google places a strong value on the relevance of backlinks. This is because users are more likely to click on links connected to the content they are reading. 

Let’s say, I add two links on my page – one about bats and the other about SEO. Google is going to look at the latter as more valuable. 

I have over 25 years of experience in the SEO industry. Regularly, I publish posts on SEO on my blog. That’s why Google considers my links related to SEO as more relevant. 

Even the readers on my website are more likely to click on content that is related to SEO rather than something I write about bats. 

Links from websites that aren’t relevant aren’t likely to harm your website. But relevant links from websites in the same or related niches carry value. 

2. Domain Authority or Domain Rating

If you get a backlink from a strong web page, you’re likely to get more authority transferred than you would get from weak ones. 

To ascertain if a web page is strong for Google, you should look at two metrics: Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA). 

Moz has introduced these two SEO metrics, not Google. However, they give you a fair understanding of how well a website can rank on the Google SERPs. 

Here is a quick overview of what DA and PA mean for a website: 

Domain Authority or DA is an important SEO metric that shows how trustworthy a site is. This metric assigns a score between 0 to 100 to all websites. The higher the score, the higher its trustworthiness. 

Trustworthy websites that have large number of quality backlinks have a DA of 100. Here is the DA score for YouTube.com:

domain authority - moz report for youtubecom
Image via Moz

On the other hand, smaller websites that have fewer quality backlinks will have a lower DA score.

Generally, a DA score between 50 to 60 is considered good. If a website has a DA score above 60, that is excellent. 

However, keep in mind that DA is a metric that is relative. There is nothing absolutely good or bad. The scores are evaluated on a comparative basis within a competitive landscape. 

If you have a new website, your DA score will begin from 0. As you gain authoritative backlinks over time, your DA score is likely to increase. 

How to Determine the Domain Authority of Any Website 

If you want to check the Domain Authority (DA) of your website or your competitors, you can follow the steps below:

Step 1: Go to Moz’s Free Domain Authority Checker tool and enter the domain name for which you’d like to check the Domain Authority. 

For this example, I want to check the DA of a very popular site, “buzzfeed.com”

moz free domain authority checker
Image via Moz

Step 2: When you click on, “Check Authority,” you’ll get a quick overview of the Domain Authority, Linking Root Domains, Ranking Keywords, and Spam Score.

moz free domain authority checker results for buzzfeed-com
Image via Moz

Step 3: Scroll down to find the sections on “Top Pages by Links” or “Top Linking Domains.” From this list, you can also check the Domain Authority of your top linking domains.

Moz Free Domain Authority Checker - Top Pages by Links and Top Linking Domains
Image via Moz

Step 4: Check the new and the lost linking domains over the past 60 days at the end of the report. Since Buzzfeed is a popular website, there is a lot of activity in the graph for linking domains.

Discovered and Lost Linking Domains - Moz Free Domain Authority Checker
Image via Moz

In addition to DA, you should look at the Page Authority (PA) of a web page to determine its strength. It is assigned on a scale of 0 to 100.

It works like DA, except it is for only one web page instead of the entire site. 

Page Authority is calculated based on more than 40 factors. All the data needed to calculate the PA of a web page comes from the Mozscape web index. 

Among these factors, Moz does not look at keyword density or content optimization. 

To calculate the PA of web page, Moz uses a machine learning model to find which algorithm best correlates with the thousands of SERPs that they predict against. 

Based on that specific calculation, Moz assigns a PA value to a web page.

Page Authority is a logarithmic scale. This means that it is easier for you to grow your PA from 25 to 35. However, it is much more difficult to grow your PA from 75 to 85. 

How to Check the Page Authority of Any Web Page

To check the Page Authority of any web page, you can go to the Link Explorer on Moz. Then, follow the steps given below:
Step 1: In the search box, enter the URL for which you’d like to check the Page Authority. Then, click on “Get Free Link Data.”

moz link explorer-check page authority
Image via Moz

Step 2: Enter the required information to create a free account on Moz. 

Step 3: Finish the verification process for your Moz account. Once you are done, Moz will show you the report.

Step 4: Check the Link Explorer overview to get the PA along with the DA of any web page.

moz link explorer-page authority report
Image via Moz

Step 5: Scroll down to check how the Page Authority of a web page has changed over time. If a page has gone viral, you’ll see a sudden spike in the PA of a web page.

moz link explorer-changes in page authority over time
Image via Moz

Step 6: Check the break down of the follow vs nofollow links on a particular web page. You can also find the top followed links along with their page authority.

check dofollow vs nofollow links-moz link explorer
Image via Moz

Step 7: Check the top anchor text and the linking domains with their DA at the bottom of the report.

moz link explorer-check anchor text and linking domains by da
Image via Moz

You can also download the details related to the Page Authority of any web page in the CSV format. If you want to save the PA and DA data for later use, this option is really helpful. 

Because they are both very important metrics, I would recommend you to check out the DA or PA for your website or web page. 

It’ll help you figure out where you stand in the competitive SEO landscape. 

3. Quality of Other Links

The link value that you get from a backlink also depends on the quality of other backlinks on the website. While it may seem unfair, Google understands that any website that may have a lot of spammy links isn’t very trustworthy. 

If a website links to spam sites or get links from spammy websites, it devalues all the other links that it has. 

Keep this in mind when you evaluate the quality of backlinks that you are getting. 

Even if you are reaching out to another website to get a backlink, check other links on their site first. You want to make sure they are discerning when adding links and only link back to trustworthy sites.

4. Placement of the Link

Where a web page places a link also impacts how much authority it passes to another web page. That’s because users are more likely to click on links that are prominently placed on web pages.

I would recommend you to get backlinks wherever they are easily visible and fit the context of the topic. A well-placed backlink lands users to relevant resources.

To highlight the link, sometimes websites use a color or font that makes the text stand out. The goal is bring readers’ attention to your backlink.

When you are pursuing links on other websites, make sure you are clear about the placement that you’d like. After all, you don’t want your backlink to end up in the footer where very few users will notice it. 

5. DoFollow vs. Nofollow Links

As we already discussed, dofollow links pass on value and authority from one web page to another. If website owners do not tweak the HTML for any given link, it is a dofollow link by default. 

On the other hand, nofollow links still take a user from one website to the other. 

But they might not have much SEO value. Websites add them only if they are adding a link to a low-domain authority website that may hurt their own rankings. 

Google does not allow you to pay for links, so some websites might also use them for sponsored posts. 

When you reach out to other sites for backlinks, make sure you ask specifically for dofollow links if you want to improve your rankings.

6. Anchor Text

Anchor text is the underlined, clickable text that leads you to another link. If you get a backlink where the anchor text is closely linked to the page content, Google assigns it more value. 

In fact, Google mentions anchor text as an influencing factor in rankings in their original patent

The reason behind propagating anchor text to the page it links to is – It helps them search for non-text information. 

Plus, it also expands their overall search coverage for documents with fewer downloads.

If you reach out to other websites to gain backlinks, you may not always have control over the anchor text they will use. However, you should make sure that the anchor text is related to your content. 

The idea is to give Google crawlers some context on what page the link leads to. 

For example, given below are the backlinks I’ve received for my post on social media marketing tools. As you can see, the anchor text for the backlinks acquired is partially or directly related to the main keyword, “social media marketing tools.”

semrush backlinks-result for post on social media marketing tools
Image via Semrush

Google considers all of the above mentioned factors while assessing the quality of a backlink. Remember, getting backlinks isn’t just a numbers game. It’s all about the quality of your backlinks portfolio. 

How to Analyze Your Backlinks Using Different Backlink Analysis Tools

There are multiple free backlink analysis tools available that you can use to analyze the backlink profile of any website. 

Using these tools, you can even audit your own backlink portfolio and find out if you have any toxic links. 

Here are the best backlink analysis tools you should check out:

1. Semrush – Most Popular Tool

Semrush’s all-in-one SEO toolkit has four robust tools for backlinks: Backlink Analytics, Backlink Audit, Link Building Tool, and Bulk Analysis. 

With over 43 billion backlinks, it has one of the largest backlink database available out there. 

Using these tools, you can discover new backlinks and spot deleted backlinks easily. You can also get insights into your competitors’ most authoritative backlinks via their Backlink Analytics tool. 

If you want to keep a tab on multiple competitors, you can do that easily using the Bulk Analysis tool. It allows you to enter 200 domains at once. 

After you’ve analyzed their backlinks, you can export the results to CSV or XLSX documents. 

How to Analyze Your Backlinks Using Semrush

I’ve been using Semrush for a while now, and I recommend it to everyone who wants a comprehensive backlink report. The best part is that it’s super easy to use. Here is how you can analyze backlinks for any domain on Semrush:

Step 1: Go to the Semrush Backlink Analysis Tool and enter your domain name.

Semrush Backlink Analytics Tool

Step 2: Go to the Backlinks Tab to get an in-depth look at your backlink profile. 

Check your referring domains, monthly visits, outbound domains, keywords, and total backlinks at a glance on the dashboard.

backlink analysis for shanebarker-com in semrush

Step 3: Here you’ll get a breakdown of your backlink types. As you can see from the screenshot below, most of my backlinks come from the text. And some of them come from images.

backlink analysis for shanebarker-com in semrush

Step 4: To check your website’s top linking phrases, you can go to the “Anchors” Tab. 

Here you will see a detailed breakdown of all anchor texts in use. From the given chart, you’ll also be able to check quickly if there are any unusual spikes across a single non-branded anchor text.

semrush backlinks anchor text.png

Step 5: Go to the Referring Domains Tab to check the domains that link back to your website. You will also be able to see the country and authority score for each domain.

semrush referring domains tab

Step 6: If you want to check which web pages on your site are most linked to, you should check the “Indexed Pages” tab. By finding these pages, you can gain insights into what kind of content is working for you.

semrush referring domains tab

I would recommend you to sort the results by domains so that you can easily find the posts that have gained links from unique websites.

Step 7: You can compare how your backlinks stack up against your competitors. At once, you can compare your profile to five competitors using the Backlink Gap tool.

backlink gap on semrush

I have covered the basics of what you can do with the Semrush Backlinks Analytics tool here. But it has rich functionality and you can use it to really dig deep into your or any domain’s backlink data.

For more details, you can read the Semrush review post on my blog.

2. Serpstat – Best Value For Money

Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform that is one of the most popular growth hacking tools for SEO out there. 

When it comes to Serpstat’s backlink analysis, the features as well as the interface are similar to Semrush. If you want to find which domains would be great for link building, you can check the Trust Rank and Page Rank on Serpstat. 

The good thing about Serpstat is that it has five different pricing plans that are designed keeping the needs of freelancers, SMBs, and big marketing agencies in mind. 

Their paid pricing plans range from $55 per month to $399 per month

How to Analyze Your Backlinks Using Serpstat

Once you’ve signed up for any of the paid plans for Serpstat, you can analyze your backlink data in just a few minutes. Here are the steps you can follow to analyze your backlinks on Serpstat:

Step 1: Enter the domain name for which you want to analyze the backlinks. Choose the location from the drop-down list. You can choose any country or even google.com from this list.

HomePage Serpstat
Image via Serpstat

Step 2: Sign up for Serpstat for their free or paid pricing plan. 

Step 3: Select the “Backlink Analysis” option from the toolbar on the left. Serpstat will give you a quick overview of how a particular URL is performing. 

Check the overview sanction to get a quick look at how well your backlink profile is performing.

serpstat backlink analysis report
Image via Serpstat

Step 3:  The Overview section is quite detailed. You can check SDR distribution, top anchor backlinks by popularity, distribution by type of backlinks, and new and lost backlinks.

serpstat backlink analysis overview
Image via Serpstat

Step 4:  At the end of the overview, you can also see the TLD map. In it, you can check the total number of domain zones and the overall ratio of zones by region.

Serpstat Backlink Analysis TLD Distribution
Image via Serpstat

Step 5: For websites with very large backlink profiles, Serpstat doesn’t show information related to top pages, anchors, and links intersecting. 

However, the same information is available for smaller websites.

serpstat backlinks anchors
Image via Serpstat

Pro Tip: Use the Serpstat Website SEO Checker Chrome Extension to find out the key SEO metrics for any website quickly.

3. Linkody – Best For Beginners

Linkody is an online SEO tool that has a free backlink checker. While the free tool doesn’t provide in-depth data, it is great for SEO beginners. Using Linkody, you can easily check the total number of backlinks and referring domains for free.

In addition to it, you can also check the domain authority, target URL, anchor text, hosting country, source URL, and relationship type. 

If you want access to more features and a complete overview of your backlink profile, you should sign up for their paid plans. 

It also enables you to access the quality of each backlink properly. 

How to Analyze Backlinks Using Linkody

In this section, I am going to show you the link data that you can get for free from Linkody. If you want to analyze your backlink profile using Linkody, here are the steps you can follow:

Step 1: Go to Linkody’s free backlink checker tool and enter the domain you want to analyze.

linkody backlink checker
Image via Linkody

Step 2: Check the main metrics including DR, backlinks, referring domains, and unique IP. 

What’s unique about Linkody’s backlink report is that they also show the number of educational and government websites linking back to the domain. 

This is important data because backlinks from websites that have domain extensions .org, .edu, or .gov tend to give stronger backlinks. That’s because these websites are likely to be more credible and trustworthy. 

Of course, that isn’t the case always. But it does help to keep track of these backlinks in your portfolio.

linkody backlink checker-report for forbes
Image via Linkody

Step 3: Check the top referring pages along with anchor text and the target page. 

In the list, you can also check the strength of the backlink profile of the referring domain. The last column shows if it's a dofollow link or nofollow link.

You can export this report to CSV format and use it later.

linkody backlink checker-forbes backlink analysis
Image via Linkody

If you want the basic metrics, Linkody’s free version is good. 

However, if you want access to more metrics and in-depth data, you’ll need to use the paid version. Before you commit, you can try it for 30 days for free. 

I’ve picked these three backlink analysis tools such that they cover the needs of amateur and experienced marketers. 
If you want to check out more options and learn about their features, check out my post on the best backlink analysis tools.

How to Gain High-Quality Backlinks: 7 Ways You Should Try Out

Building a rich backlink portfolio is important for any website, but that doesn’t mean you should opt for low-quality links to fill your portfolio. 

Google's PageRank algorithm emphasizes more on the quality of backlinks to a website when determining its SERP ranking. 

John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, clearly states that one high-quality link from a trustworthy source is more valuable than millions of low-quality links. 

“Or there could be one really good link from one website out there that is, for us, a really important sign that we should treat this website as something that is relevant because it has that one link. I don’t know, maybe from like a big news site’s home page, for example. So the total number essentially is completely irrelevant.”

  • John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate

To understand how Google assesses backlinks, you can check out Mueller’s full interview here:

High-quality backlinks are links from websites that come from websites with a high Domain Authority (DA). Typically, it is a website that is well-established within a niche and trusted by users as well as search engines. 

Multiple quality backlinks can help a website achieve higher SERP rankings better than just one or two links. The ideal scenario is to get as many high-quality backlinks as possible. And how can you achieve that? 

Here are some strategies you can use to gain high-quality backlinks for your website:

1. Write Guest Posts

One of the best ways to earn quality backlinks is to write a guest post for another website. 

Wherever it is relevant, you can insert links to your case studies, posts, infographics, or other resources. Additionally, you’ll also get attribution and more brand visibility.

Typically, big websites welcome content from guest authors as it gives them fresh content. 

Without putting in much time and effort, they get new content to publish on their website.

And you get a backlink in return. 

It’s a win-win situation.

How to Find Websites For Guest Blogging

When you are looking for guest blogging opportunities, look for websites in your niche with a similar target audience. Your content should be interesting and relevant to the readers of the site that you want to write for.

Regardless of the industry or niche you’re in, here are some ways to find websites that have guest blogging opportunities:

1. Use Advanced Search Operators in Google

If you want Google to find you the exact match keyword for any phrase, you can add it between quotes. To find guest posting opportunities, you can use the following search terms:

  • [Add your niche] + “Submit post”
  • [Add your niche] + “Write for us”
  • [Add your niche] + “Guest post guidelines”
  • [Add your niche] + “Contribute an article”
  • [Add your niche] + “Contribute guest post”
  • [Add your niche] + “This is a guest post”
  • [Add your niche] + “Guest column”

For example, let’s say you’re a business owner in the pet food industry. If I type, “Pet food + “Write for us,” these are the SERP results you get:

How to Use Advanced Search Operators in Google to find Guest Posting Opportunities - example
Image via Google

With this technique, you’ll be able to find sites that are popular and indexable in your niche. Once you find a list of relevant websites for guest posting, make a list, and check their Domain Authority and monthly traffic.

Look for sites with high DA and high traffic. Your backlink profile will have more mileage if you’re able to get links from such sites. 

2. Find Influencers in Your Niche Who Write Guest Posts

If you already know influencers or top bloggers in your niche who write guest posts often, you can follow in their footsteps. 

Here’s how you can go about it:

  • Find a reputed influencer in your industry or niche who writes guest posts often. For this, you can use the Advanced Search Operators in Google. 

    Let’s say you want to find guest posts that I’ve written. You can search for, “guest post” + “shane barker.” In the SERPs, you’ll be able to see some marketing guest blogging sites.
How to Find Influencers in Your Niche Who Write Guest Posts - example
Image via Google
  • Make a list of websites they write for.
  • Reach out to those websites.

If you search for the most popular influencers, you will likely find trusted and high-authority websites. However, some of those sites may only accept submissions from websites that have an established online presence with good domain authority.

Before you reach out, it’s a good idea to check these websites and read their guest post guidelines or requirements. 

3. Find Your Competitors’ Backlinks

By checking your competitors’ backlinks, you can find great guest post opportunities for your website. All you need to do is go to any backlink analysis tool and find your competitors' backlinks. 

From the list, you’ll be able to find some guest posting opportunities. You can also filter out all the results such that you can only see active, dofollow links.

For instance, if you look up backlinks for “shanebarker.com,” you can check the source URL in the results you get. 

If it’s a website relevant to your niche, you can add it to your list and reach out to them.

how to find your competitors’ backlinks-example
Image via Semrush

This method is great if you find guest opportunities from small to medium-sized websites. A large website will have a long list of backlinks which makes it difficult to analyze them and find relevant results.

Using the above three methods, make a list of sites you find worth checking out. Next, filter your guest blogging target websites based on the following metrics:

  • Domain Authority or Domain Rating
  • Referring domains
  • Content relevance and quality
  • Profiles of other guest authors
  • Placement of guest author, bio, and link
  • Engagement of other guest posts

After evaluating all the sites on your list, I would recommend you to segregate them into different categories: High-Authority Websites, Mid-Tier Websites, and Low-Tier Websites.

You should remove websites that publish spammy content or have very low Domain Authority (Below 30). 

When you look for content ideas, keep in mind the category of website that you are writing for. 

High-authority websites will demand fresh, original, and relevant content ideas. They will also require more research as they are likely to accept only high-quality content. 

However, because their backlinks provide more value, high-authority sites should be your first priority.  

Mid-tier websites won’t require as much work. If you want to build many backlinks quickly, your focus should be on getting backlinks from this category of websites.

The last category should be at the end of your priority list. Avoid getting backlinks from low-tier websites. You risk your reputation when low-tier websites associate themselves with you. 

2. Appear on Podcasts

If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know I am a big fan of podcasts. And if you’re new here, you should check out the Marketing Growth podcast that I host. 

I love hosting podcasts because I get to interact with other experts in the industry and expand my knowledge on a wide range of subjects. 

But what’s in it for the guests?

More brand visibility and awareness. 

Whenever a guest appears on my podcast, I add a link to their social media profiles on my website along with their bio.

In the resources section on the podcast page, I also add a link to their website.

getting backlinks from podcasts-example

When you give a podcast interview, you’re almost guaranteed a backlink on their site. 

To use this strategy, begin by finding podcasts in your industry through a quick Google search. You should be able to find many listicles. 

A quick Google search will give you listicles that mention the top podcasters in your industry and even country. Reach out to them and tell them why you’d like to get featured in their podcast. 

Once the conversation moves forward, you can pitch ideas for your podcast episode. Ideally, you should pitch topics that you’d like backlinks for. 

And, of course, the topic should be relevant to the podcast audience as well.

3. Sign Up on HARO

HARO or Help a Reporter Out is a free service that offers an easy way to earn backlinks from credible sources. It connects journalists to sources across a wide variety of fields around the world for free.

Journalists are always looking for trusted sources to verify the information and add quotes to their stories. When they can send queries, subject matter experts can answer them on the platform itself.

Getting backlinks from HARO - homepage screenshot
Image via Help A Reporter

To begin receiving queries, you can sign up for free on the platform. The HARO sign up process requires basic information. It’ll take just a couple of minutes.

haro registration
Image via HARO

Once you’re registered, you can get more online visibility and give your PR strategy a good boost.

I’ve received queries from noteworthy publications like the New York Times and the Business Insider on HARO.

But here’s the thing:

You might receive dozens of queries that have nothing to do with your niche or industry. Your inbox can get really cluttered with such irrelevant emails.

To ensure that I only check useful queries, I’ve set up a filter on Gmail. Here’s what I’ve do:

  • Go to the Search Options filter.
  • In the “From field, add “haro@helpareporter.com.”
  • In the “Subject” field, add “[HARO]”
  • In the option for, “Has the words,” add all the keywords you’d like to monitor. To add multiple keywords, you can add the OR operator.
  • Set the time frame for which you want to check the results.
  • Click on search and check the results to ensure all the displayed results are relevant. 
  • If the results seem fine, click on “Create filter” in the search options.

Here’s what your search options should look like:

how to use haro to find backlinking opportunities
Image via HARO

Once you set up this filter, you’re going to see only relevant queries.

While this strategy can get you good backlinks, don’t expect that all journalists will link and cite you. Many of them may be talking to multiple experts, so they may pick a different source to quote. 

If you want to increase the chances of getting featured, make sure you choose only relevant areas of expertise while creating your profile

You’ll get a wide range of options to choose from. But don’t get swayed – keep your preferences focused on your field.

haro preferences
Image via HARO

Once it’s set up, you should only respond to queries where you have enough experience and knowledge. 

Pitching routinely beyond your main areas of expertise can put you at risk of being removed from HARO. 

Also, make sure your responses are original and unique. If the HARO editors find your content plagiarized, they can remove your account from the platform. 

4. Write Reviews and Testimonials

Write sincere reviews or provide testimonials for tools or services you genuinely use. This way, you can provide valuable information to your readers, and build your backlink portfolio. 

Once you’ve written a review or added testimonials on your website, reach out to the company that you’ve written about.

Do some digging to find the most relevant point of contact at the organization. Sometimes you can directly find the contact details of people in the marketing department on their website.

If you can’t find that information, write to them at any given email address or DM on any social media platform. 

Craft a short message that highlights how their service or tool helped you and ask them if they share your testimonial or review. 

Most companies are likely to welcome your offer to feature you on their site because it helps them build trust. 

When they post your review or testimonials on their website, they are likely to link back to your web page. Using this strategy, you can even get featured on the Success Stories page. And if you write an in-depth review with solid data, you could even make it to the Case Studies page. 

Here’s an example of how the Comedy Club got featured on Aweber’s Success Stories page.

Using testimonials to get backlinks - Aweber example
Image via Aweber

When you click on their story, you get details on how Eastville Comedy Club used Aweber and what their favorite feature is. 

At the end of the Success Stories page, they’ve added a link to the Eastville Comedy Club’s homepage.

using testimonials to get backlinks-aweber and eastville comedy club example
Image via Aweber

5. Find Broken Links

Broken links offer a great opportunity to get high-quality backlinks from other websites in your niche. The idea is simple: Find broken links and show a way to fix them. 

To get started with this strategy, first, you need to find:

  • Websites that have changed their name or shut down
  • Links moved to a new URL
  • Websites that don’t offer a mentioned service anymore
  • Links that haven’t updated their resources
  • Pages that give a 404 error

To find such pages and websites, you can use any backlink audit tool and look for indexed pages and errors for any target URL

You’ll get a list of web pages with links that can’t be crawled.

indexed pages-semrush-find broken links
Image via Semrush

You can even enter your competitors’ URLs to get a solid list of backlinking opportunities. Once you have a list, it’s time to identify content that is worth linking to. 

Look for broken links that you’d like to land yourself. Next, find content on your website that can replace a broken link. 

If you don’t have any published content that is related, write fresh content around the topic.

Make sure you create a post that is comparatively better than the one that is linked to. If you need tips, you should check my post on how to write great content.

Reach out to the site owner and ask them if they would like to replace the broken link on their site with your content. 

To find the contact address, you can check out the About Us or Contact Us section on a page. 

If you still can’t find it, you can send a specialized platform like Hunter.io to find their email address.

Hunter.io homepage
Image via Hunter.io

Once you’ve got the contact details, it’s time to draft an email. 

Here is a sample outreach template that you can use for link building through this strategy:

Hello [Name],

I read your post on [Enter Topic] when I was researching on [Enter Related Topic]. I found it very engaging and would love to promote it in my newsletter. Currently, I have [Add number] subscribers. 

There’s only one issue: A link in the post takes you to the error page. Here’s the broken link: [Add URL]. 

It would be great if you could fix the broken link, so we can include the post in the newsletter.

We have a post on a similar topic on our blog. Please feel free to use that link in your post: [Add URL] Please let me know what you think about it.

Thank you,

[Add name]

In my experience, it may take a couple of email exchanges before you get a backlink. So, be patient if you don’t get backlinks right away.

6. Create More Infographics

This strategy is a personal favorite. I love creating infographics for three reasons: 

  • You can break down complex ideas into an easily digestible form.
  • They are more engaging than simple text.
  • They are shareable, linkable assets.

When you create an infographic, you can add value to your content while also creating a linking opportunity. It’s a great way to boost your visual marketing and SEO game at once.

Here’s how you can use infographics to get backlinks:

To design an infographic that has the potential to go viral, pick a topic that is engaging and relevant. Next, spend some time on research so you can add well-researched statistics to your content. 

You can use free design tools like Canva or Visme to create your own infographics. Or, if you want professionally designed infographics, you can also hire a graphic designer. 

Once your infographic is ready, it’s time to reach out to other sites that write similar content. 

Tell them that you’ve got an infographic that complements their blog topic and share it with them. Don’t be pushy, just ask them to check it out and link it if they’d like. 

I’ve used this strategy too, and managed to gain some backlinks organically. Here’s an infographic I created for my post on AI chatbots and challenges:

Infographic on AI Chatbots - Backlinking Opportunities

For this post, I received 8% of the backlinks in the form of images. I know it’s not a huge number. But I want to tell you that it’s possible to gain backlinks from infographics.

getting backlinks from infographics

If you want to increase your reach, you can also post them to infographic submission websites. Some of them are free, while others might charge a nominal fee to promote your infographic. 

7.  Find Resource or Pillar Pages

Resource pages or pillar pages are dedicated to providing in-depth information about a particular topic. Typically, they include a list of related links and resources. 

For instance, on my website, I have a resources page on SEO tools. In the post, I’ve mentioned the best tools for backlink analysis, keyword research tools, content optimization, and more.

find pillar content to find guest posting opportunities

Let’s say, you have a related post on any sub-headings. If you’d like to get a backlink, you can send me an email and ask me if I’d like to add a link to your post.

Here’s a sample email:

Hi Shane, 

I stumbled across your post on SEO tools, and I thought it was a great read. I noticed that there is a section on [Add topic heading] in the post. 

Recently, I published a massive guide on the same topic on my blog. Please check it out, it might be worth adding to your web page: [Add link].

Best,

[Your Name]

This is a quick way to get a backlink from resource pages in any industry. To find such pillar pages or resource pages in your niche, you can use the following search terms on Google:

  • “Useful resources” + Keyword
  • “Additional resources” + Keyword

Websites create resource and pillar pages so that they can provide consolidated information to the readers and link to other web pages. 

That’s why, it’s easier to get backlinks from these pages.

Are You Ready to Get More High-Quality Backlinks For Your Website?

Link building requires a lot of time, patience, and effort. Getting backlinks is important to show search crawlers that you have credibility. But remember, there are no shortcuts to link building. 

Don’t buy low-quality links just to inflate your backlink numbers. 

Remember: Quality is everything, not the quantity. Use the strategies mentioned in this post to get high-quality backlinks and boost your search rankings.

Do you have any questions related to backlinks? Please feel free to mention them in the comments section. I’ll be happy to answer them in the comments section for you.

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