When moving from non-conversion to conversion-based bidding, Google appears to automatically enable broad match on campaigns.
This affects existing exact and phrase match keywords, converting them to broad match without user confirmation.
Why we care. Advertisers switching to conversion-based bidding could unknowingly have their keywords shifted to broad match. Broad match can drastically alter campaign targeting, leading to spikes in irrelevant clicks.
The response:
Advertisers, including Navah Hopkins from Optmyzr, flagged the issue, raising concerns about wasted budget and campaign performance.
Navah led the criticism, reminding us that she isn’t one to just disapprove of Google with no cause – “Those of you who know me know I’m usually pretty balanced when it comes to Google “choices” but this is a pretty horrible one (especially for those who aren’t as comfortable with Google Ads).”
Harrison Jack Hepp (Founder of Industrious Marketing) questions what happens to the original keyword – “Ugh, now I’m wondering does it pause the old keywords or remove them? Not exactly a simple change in most campaigns”
Christi Olson (Sr. Director Digital Marketing) expresses how self-serving Google strategies are – “Google has always prioritized what makes them the most $$ … not what is efficient or effective for ad spend. It’s not shocking.
Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin responded, stating this behavior is not expected and is under investigation.
Be smart:
Regularly audit keyword match types after changing bidding strategies.
Monitor campaign performance closely and revert any unintended broad match changes.
The bottom line. While Google reviews the issue, advertisers should stay vigilant. Overlooking keyword match toggles could mean the difference between a controlled PPC strategy and runaway ad spend.
Starting December, Google will expand its “Abusing the ad network” policy to explicitly disapprove ads pointing to destinations penalized for violating Google Search spam policies.
The details:
Ads directing users to websites subjected to manual actions under Google Search’s Spam Policies will face automatic disapproval.
Site owners impacted by manual actions are notified through Google Search Console, giving them a chance to rectify issues.
The move aims to curb deceptive practices where advertisers attempt to drive traffic to spammy or manipulated web pages that have already been flagged by search enforcement teams.
Why we care. This update directly ties PPC performance to a site’s overall search health. If a site receives a manual action for violating Google’s spam policies, not only will organic traffic suffer, but paid campaigns driving to that destination will also be disapproved.
Neglecting site quality could now cut off both organic and paid traffic, amplifying revenue losses and disrupting marketing strategies.
Between the lines:
This enforcement raises the stakes for PPC managers (as well as SEO managers) . Sites hit with manual actions could see a direct impact on ad campaigns, not just organic search performance.
You will need to monitor Google Search Console closely and resolve any manual actions to prevent ad disapprovals.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/google-search-1920-800x457-teNRVM.jpeg?fit=800%2C457&ssl=1457800Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-12-24 14:05:422024-12-24 14:05:42Google tightens ad policies to align with Search spam rules
Finding competitor keywords is essential to building your SEO strategy.
Why?
Because they show what’s working for others, highlight opportunities, and uncover gaps in your approach.
At Backlinko, we’ve spied on Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush’s keywords for years—and found many opportunities.
For instance, Ahrefs gets an estimated 2.5k monthly organic visits from the keyword “website authority checker.”
But this is only part of the story.
The page targets over 1.7k keywords and drives an estimated 30k monthly organic visits.
Clearly, A LOT of people are interested.
So we published a free tool with a supporting blog post on the same topic. Now this page ranks for 1,000 queries and gets over 13k clicks a month from Google.
That’s the power of finding competitor keywords.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
What competitor keywords are and how they fit into an SEO strategy
How to find and analyze these keywords, step-by-step
Where to integrate them into your content and SEO plans
The Power of Using Competitor’s Keywords for SEO
When you find competitors’ keywords, you uncover what content they’re ranking for.
But it’s more than just ranking for a specific keyword.
Think bigger: You’re getting a snapshot of your competitors’ SEO strategy.
Competitor keywords reveal opportunities to boost your SEO in three ways.
First, spotting patterns in your competitor’s keyword strategy and capitalize on gaps.
Say a competitor is going after terms like “best vegan protein powder.” But they might be ignoring budget-conscious customers.
That’s your chance to swoop in and target keywords like “affordable vegan protein powder.”
The goal?
Position yourself to win over the segments they’re missing. Whether it’s budget-friendly options, niche markets, or untapped audiences.
Second, understanding their focus.
Whether they’re targeting broad, high-traffic terms or niche, long-tail keywords.
Say a competitor is focused on targeting top-funnel keywords like “online course platforms.”
Here, you can take a different route.
Why not target bottom-funnel queries like “how to create an online course for free?”
It will help you reach an audience ready to buy.
Third, building a content plan based on your strategy.
Finding competitors’ keywords gives you ideas for a content calendar.
Use them to plan your next topics, decide on content formats. And, finally, create content that meets your audience’s needs better than anyone else.
Now, you’ll learn techniques to find competitors’ keywords.
Step 1: Identify Your SEO Competitors
If you want to find competitors’ keywords, focus on SEO competitors.
These are websites competing with you for similar keywords and rankings.
They may not even be direct business competitors.
Start with a manual search and analysis.
Imagine your business is in the crypto space.
Think of relevant keywords that your potential customers might use.
Like “best crypto platforms 2024.”
Search the keyword on Google.
Take note of the websites that rank for this keyword.
In our example: Investopedia, Alchemy, and NerdWallet.
These are your content competitors.
Next, check the “People also ask” box.
It’s a good tool for finding additional keywords and content ideas.
Now, let’s explore another method for finding competitors.
Click the “View all 35.3K competitors” button to show your rivals.
Now, locate the “Com. Level” column.
You’ll see a percentage showing keyword alignment with your competitor.
For Backlinko, Ahrefs has a 35% competitive overlap, and Moz has 25% overlap.
Both are close content competitors.
Now that you’ve identified your competitors, it’s time to analyze their keywords.
Step 2: Find Competitor Keywords Using Tools
By examining the keywords your competitors rank for, you can uncover opportunities to improve your SEO strategy.
This step will help you find the exact terms your competitors are targeting and how you can potentially outrank them.
We’ll continue with our Backlinko example.
Since we identified Moz as a competitor, let’s enter its URL into the Organic Research tool.
Click “Search.”
In the “Overview” section, you’ll immediately see key data such as the total keywords Moz ranks for, their traffic volume, and the estimated cost of that traffic.
Click the “Positions” tab to view a detailed list.
Here, you’ll find important data:
“Keyword positions” for each term
“Intent” showing the user’s goal behind searched query
“Traffic” generated from these keywords
“Keyword volume” (searches per month)
“Keyword difficulty (KD%)” telling you how competitive each keyword is
You can use this information to identify high-value keywords your competitor is targeting and analyze their performance.
How?
Look for keywords with high search volume but lower keyword difficulty.
Use filters to narrow your search and focus on the most promising keywords:
Set the position filter to “Top 10”: Focus on keywords where your competitors rank high but you don’t
Adjust the volume filter to “101-1,000 searches per month”: Target keywords with moderate volume so you actually drive organic traffic to your website
Set keyword difficulty (KD%) to “Possible”: Target keywords where you can rank without having to go all-in on building external backlinks
These filters help you pinpoint keywords that offer a good balance of traffic potential and achievable competition.
For example, a keyword like “seo terms” gets 1K searches per month. And has a KD% of 46.
Not bad.
Create better content and optimize it to close gaps and outrank your competition.
Pro tip: Don’t stop at organic keywords—check what terms your competitors are paying for, too. Using tools like Semrush’s Advertising Research, you can uncover the keywords they’re investing in. These paid keywords signal strong opportunities for your SEO campaign.
Step 3: Expand Your Keyword List Through Research
Nuanced research helps you better target and prioritize audience-focused keywords.
In the end, it helps you expand your keyword database in ways that align with your overall strategy.
Let’s explore more advanced techniques to find competitors’ keywords.
Customer Feedback Analysis
Customer feedback is one of the most underrated sources of keyword inspiration.
Customers often use natural terms not found in keyword tools.
By diving into reviews, you can discover keywords that reflect real customer needs.
Let’s say you’re competing with a project management tool like Monday.
Analyze customer reviews on platforms like G2, Trustpilot, or even Google Reviews for local businesses.
They might reveal phrases like “Monday.com prevents copying and pasting data without exporting.”
These kinds of comments give you direct insight into the pain points users are facing with competitors’ products.
And they’re a perfect example of long-tail keywords that you can tackle.
For instance, paste “project management software with data import/export” into Google search to see how saturated the space is.
Here, GetApp’s software comparison page ranks organically in the top spot.
Monday’s competitor, Asana, is also present.
This indicates that content creators see value in addressing this specific pain point for users.
If you’re selling project management software with data import and export features, you could create a blog post or comparison page.
These pieces help attract frustrated users seeking better alternatives.
Private Communities
Your competitor’s private communities like Facebook Groups, Slack channels and Discord servers are gold mines for keyword ideas.
Simply watch what people talk about. You’ll discover:
Questions they ask (that aren’t being answered)
Problems they face (that you could solve)
Terms they use naturally (not marketing speak)
For example, let’s say you’re competing with Nike Training Club.
Join a few fitness Facebook groups where their users hang out.
You might spot people asking about:
“Best bodyweight exercises for beginners”
“Home workout equipment”
“Affordable fitness gear”
These terms could be perfect keywords that a competitor isn’t targeting yet.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-12-23 15:41:262024-12-31 17:32:30How to Find Competitors’ Keywords to Boost Your SEO
SEO has changed significantly over the last decade, largely because Google has continuously updated its algorithms to improve search results. These updates aim to better understand user intent, reward high-quality content, and discourage manipulative practices. From foundational changes like Panda and Penguin to more recent updates like the November and December 2024 core updates, each has shaped how websites rank and how we approach optimization. Below is a look at some of Google’s most impactful updates and what they mean for SEO today.
The Panda update marked a shift in SEO by targeting low-quality content and spammy practices. It penalized sites with thin content or those created solely to manipulate rankings, such as affiliate-heavy pages. Over time, Panda became part of Google’s core algorithm, reinforcing the need for meaningful, high-quality content that provides real value to users.
2012 – Venice
Google’s algorithm update Venice was a noteworthy update, as it showed that Google understood that searchers are sometimes looking for results that are local to them. After Venice, Google’s search results included pages based on the location you set, or your IP address.
2012 – Penguin
The Google Penguin update focused on eliminating manipulative link-building practices. It penalized sites with spammy or paid backlinks, shifting the focus to earning genuine, high-quality links. By 2016, Penguin became part of the core algorithm, emphasizing the importance of ethical and relevant link-building strategies.
2012 – Pirate
The Pirate update addressed copyright infringement by penalizing sites with repeated DMCA takedown requests. It aimed to reduce the visibility of websites sharing unauthorized content, ensuring legitimate sources were prioritized in search results. This update highlighted the importance of respecting intellectual property online.
2013 – Hummingbird
The Hummingbird update improved Google’s ability to understand the meaning behind search queries. Rather than focusing on individual keywords, it considered the entire phrase to deliver more accurate results. This shift encouraged natural, conversational content and reduced the need for over-optimized keyword stuffing. It also laid the foundation for advancements in voice search and semantic search technology.
2014 – Pigeon
Another bird-related Google update followed in 2014 with Google Pigeon, which focused on local SEO. The Pigeon update affected both the results pages and Google Maps. It led to more accurate localization, giving preference to results near the user’s location. It also aimed to make local results more relevant and higher quality, taking organic ranking factors into account.
2014 – HTTPS/SSL
Google introduced HTTPS as a ranking signal to encourage secure web connections. Sites using HTTPS gained a slight ranking advantage, promoting better data encryption and security for users. While initially a minor factor, it signaled Google’s growing focus on user safety and set the stage for security becoming a standard expectation online.
2015 – Mobile Update
Known as “Mobilegeddon,” this update prioritized mobile-friendly websites in mobile search results. As mobile usage surpassed desktop, Google aimed to ensure a better experience for users on smaller screens. While the immediate impact wasn’t drastic, it marked a clear shift toward mobile-first indexing, emphasizing the importance of mobile optimization for long-term SEO success.
2015 – RankBrain
RankBrain introduced machine learning to Google’s algorithm, helping the search engine interpret unfamiliar or complex queries. It analyzed past searches to predict the most relevant results, even for terms it hadn’t encountered before. While you can’t directly optimize for RankBrain, creating clear, helpful, and user-focused content ensures your site aligns with its goal of improving search relevance.
2016 – Possum
In September 2016 it was time for another local update. Google’s algorithm update Possum update applied several changes to Google’s local ranking filter to further improve local search. After Possum, local results became more varied, depending more on the physical location of the searcher and the phrasing of the query. Some businesses, not doing well in organic search, found it easier to rank locally after this update. This indicated that this update made local search more independent of the organic results.
The Speed Update made page load time a ranking factor for mobile searches, building on its previous importance for desktop. Slow-loading sites were more likely to see a drop in rankings, especially on mobile devices. This update reinforced the need for fast, seamless user experiences, encouraging site owners to prioritize performance optimization.
2018 – Medic
The Medic Update was a broad core algorithm change that heavily impacted “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) websites, such as health, finance, and legal sites. It appeared to prioritize expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in content, especially for topics affecting users’ well-being. While it wasn’t exclusively aimed at medical sites, it underscored the importance of credible, accurate, and user-focused information.
The BERT update (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) enhanced Google’s ability to understand the context of words in a search query. By analyzing words in relation to the ones around them, BERT improved how Google interpreted natural language and intent. This update particularly helped with more conversational or complex queries, making search results more accurate and relevant. For content creators, it emphasized the value of clear, natural writing that directly addresses user needs.
The Page Experience update introduced a new ranking signal combining existing factors like mobile-friendliness and HTTPS with Core Web Vitals. These metrics measured real-world user experience, focusing on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. While content quality remained the top priority, this update emphasized the importance of delivering a smooth and user-friendly browsing experience.
Announced in 2021, MUM introduced a powerful AI system capable of processing information across multiple formats and languages. It can analyze text, images, and videos to deliver more comprehensive answers to complex queries. For example, MUM can combine insights from various sources to provide layered, context-rich results. This update signaled Google’s focus on deeper understanding and more diverse content delivery in search.
First run in April 2021, these updates prioritized detailed, insightful product reviews over thin or generic content. Google rewarded reviews that showed expertise, included real-world usage, and helped users make informed decisions. It’s a key update for affiliate and e-commerce sites focused on providing genuine value. The update ran multiple times over the years.
2022 – Helpful Content Update
The Helpful Content Update targeted low-quality, unoriginal content designed primarily to game search rankings. Instead, it rewarded “people-first” content—material that genuinely answers user questions and provides a satisfying experience. Sites with lots of unhelpful or shallow content saw declines, while those focused on creating valuable, user-centric content were prioritized. This update reinforced the importance of writing with the audience in mind, not just search engines.
Between 2023 and 2024, Google rolled out a mix of core and spam algorithm updates to enhance search quality and combat manipulative practices. Core updates focused on refining how content is evaluated, rewarding pages that provide high-quality, relevant, and trustworthy information. At the same time, spam updates targeted tactics like keyword stuffing, spammy backlinks, and low-quality AI-generated content. These changes reinforced Google’s priorities: surfacing helpful, user-focused content while penalizing manipulative SEO strategies.
2024 – Site Reputation Abuse
Google is cracking down on site reputation abuse, including parasite SEO. This tactic involves using trusted domains to host unrelated third-party content, like payday loans or casino reviews, to manipulate rankings. Sites caught violating this policy risk manual penalties, which require removing or noindexing the problematic content to recover. Legitimate uses of third-party content, such as syndicated news or user-generated material, are still allowed when properly managed.
Google algorithm updates: What’s next?
Google continues to refine its search algorithms with a growing focus on AI-driven search experiences. Recent advancements, such as Google AI Overviews, show a shift toward providing users with more intuitive and context-rich results. These tools combine AI to summarize complex topics, pull insights from multiple sources, and answer broader questions in a concise way.
Looking ahead, we can expect updates to further enhance understanding of search intent, prioritize high-quality content, and improve how information is presented. At the same time, technical factors like site speed, mobile usability, and security will remain essential. For website owners, the key is to stay adaptable by focusing on creating helpful, accurate, and user-centered content while keeping an eye on emerging AI trends in search.
Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) offers more than just a list of links. Its layout can change based on what you’re searching for, presenting various SERP features tailored to your needs. You might see different elements like featured snippets, shopping options, or local listings and also AI Overviews. Understanding these can help you navigate the results more effectively. This guide will help you identify and differentiate between the paid and organic results you encounter.
Search features are elements on a search engine results page (SERP) that provide information beyond the standard list of links. They include things like featured snippets, image packs, and knowledge panels. These features make it easier for users to quickly find answers and relevant information in search results.
Google Search is really rich with information these days
A new SERP feature: Google AI Overviews
AI Overviews are a new feature in Google’s search results. They use artificial intelligence to create concise summaries that answer user queries quickly. These summaries appear at the top of search pages, providing immediate information without the user needing to click through links, although links are provided. This feature helps users find the information they need faster and increases the visibility of diverse websites.
Google AI Overview provide a new way of accessing information from search
It depends on what you’re searching for
What the result page looks like largely depends on what you are searching for. If you’re searching for a product you can buy, Google will show shop results on the SERP. For example, when we searched for hockey equipment for an eight-year-old, Google showed us this:
An example of a product search on Google
This results page starts with shopping results, with images on top. On the left-hand side, you will see all kinds of filters to fine-tune your product search as well. To enter the Sponsored section, you must pay Google – note the word ‘sponsored’ in the upper left corner. After those results, the first is an ad, which is another paid result. And then the organic results start.
However, if you’re searching for information about the planet Neptune – because your son is writing an essay about that – you’ll encounter a different-looking SERP:
Different searches show different SERP features on Google
These search results do not show any paid or sponsored results. At the top, you’ll see an AI Overview for the topic, and on the right, you’ll notice a knowledge graph with lots of information about the planet Neptune. There’s even an interactive diagram to learn more about what Neptune looks like.
The default page of Google’s search result is a page on which different results appear. Google decides which results fit your search query best. That could be ‘normal’ results, but also news results, shopping results or images. If you’re searching for information, a knowledge graph could turn up. When you’re searching to buy something online, you’ll probably get lots of shopping results on the default result page.
Google Search has many options than just regular search
You can apply some filters on the search results yourself if you want to. You can, for instance, click on ‘images’ if you’re searching for an image. This allows you to browse through images only. You can also choose ‘shopping’, ‘maps’, ‘forums’, ‘videos’, ‘news’ and ‘more’.
Google shows both paid results and organic results. It can be pretty hard to notice the difference between the two. The ads usually appear on top of the search results. Sometimes it’s only one ad, but Google can show more ads as well. This depends on how many people search for a certain search term and who wants to pay for it.
There are many sponsored listings in Google
You’ll recognize the paid result by the word Sponsored shown in front of the link to the website. The shopping results in Google are also paid results: a company pays Google to appear in the shopping results. If you want to advertise on Google, you should check out Google Adwords.
Organic results
Google’s organic results are all non-paid results. According to Google’s algorithm, the organic results shown first are the best fit for the user’s search query. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves the chances of ranking in organic search results.
Snippets
The search result page consists of a number of snippets. A snippet is a result Google shows to the user in the search results. A ‘normal’ snippet usually looks like this:
A regular Google snippet
Google shows the title in blue, the URL in grey, and a description of the page. You’ll also encounter rich snippets on the SERP. A rich snippet shows extra information between the URL and the description. A rich snippet looks like this:
A rich result as shown in Google search
In this snippet, a picture of the ice cream is added. You can see the recipe’s rating and the time it takes to prepare this type of ice cream. A rich snippet contains much more information than a normal snippet does.
Besides snippets, images, videos, news results, shopping results and maps, Google also shows some other elements on the SERPs.
Knowledge Graph panel
The Knowledge Graph Panel appears on the right side of the search results. According to Google, this information is retrieved from many sources, including the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia. Information from the Knowledge Graph is used to answer spoken questions in Google Assistant and Google Home voice queries.
An example of a knowledge graph panel Google search feature
People also ask
This box appears somewhere between the organic search results. It’ll suggest questions related to the search query you typed in. You’ll encounter these related questions in the organic search results if you’re searching for Minecraft. Clicking on one of the suggestions will directly answer the specific question.
Google’s People also ask search feature
Featured snippets
A featured snippet, aka answer box, is a highlighted search box that answers the question you type in the Google search bar. This featured snippet box is situated above the regular organic search results. Featured snippets often appear as a paragraph or a bulleted list, accompanied by an image.
Featured highlight answers directly at the top of the Google search results
When you search from something locally, the Local 3-pack can show up to highlight three related local businesses. It’s a Google search feature that provides information such as business names, addresses, phone numbers, and customer reviews. This feature is often integrated with Google Maps. It helps users find directions and learn more about local businesses.
This search feature shows three local result based on the query
Image pack
The image pack search feature shows a collection of images related to a search. Typically shown in a grid or carousel format, they allow users to quickly browse visual content without leaving the search page. For some searches, images are a better fit than just regular links or other SERP features.
An example of an image pack in Google’s search results
Top stories
Top stories is a search feature on Google that displays the most recent and relevant news articles. This section typically appears near the top of the search results, highlighting breaking news and timely updates. It includes headlines, publication names, and often images to quickly inform users about current events.
Google’re Top stories feature shows the most important news
Conclusion about SERP features
Google’s search engine results pages can show various elements: the search results (so-called snippets), AI Overviews, a knowledge graph, a featured snippet, an answer box, images, shopping results, and more. Some of these elements will show up depending on the type of query and the data Google finds. You can add structured data to your page so Google can show a ‘rich’ snippet, providing more information about your product or recipe, for instance.
You can pay Google to make the snippet of your page end up high on the search results page as an ad. Or, you can optimize your pages for the search engines – and users! – so it will rank high organically. That’s SEO, and that’s what we write about!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-12-05 11:00:532024-12-05 11:00:53Features of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all SEO strategy for SaaS companies. The best SaaS SEO agencies will take the time to learn your business inside out and adapt their services to your goals.
Read on to find out what else separates the best from the rest, along with our recommendations for the top SaaS SEO agencies in today’s market.
How to Choose the Best SaaS SEO Company
Choosing the best SaaS SEO agency comes down to how well it can meet your requirements for factors like:
Services offered
Results they’ve delivered
Ability to scale services
Experience in your industry
Reporting and analytics provided
Pricing and deliverables
Discovery process
Ultimately, no single agency is a good fit for every business. But it’s worth understanding what separates the wheat from the chaff for each factor so you can choose the best agency for your needs.
Services
Effective SaaS SEO hinges on a comprehensive approach that usually includes:
Full-funnel keyword research
Competitive analysis
Product-led content creation
Digital PR and authoritative link building
Technical audits and fixes
Performance reporting and optimizations
If you hire a full-service agency, you should get all of the above (and then some).
The best full-service SaaS SEO agencies will likely go above and beyond by also focusing on other areas, such as:
Programmatic SEO opportunities to help scale content output and lead generation
In saying this, if you only need a specific service from the list above, a full-stack agency may be overkill. That’s where specialists or consultants are a better fit for some projects. For instance, content production is often a significant bottleneck that you can scale much easier if you outsource it to a dedicated SaaS content agency.
Specialist Agencies
Full-Service Agencies
Ideal if you: – Already have some in-house resources – Need a specific skills gap filled – Want to scale one area of your marketing quickly
Ideal for: – Avoiding the risk of over-hiring – Scaling at a comfortable pace – Leveraging experts in multiple areas – Streamlining communications across campaigns and channels
Results
All decent SEO agencies showcase their results somehow, usually by publishing case studies. But the best SaaS SEO agencies have case studies that connect specific actions to tangible business results, like improvements in:
New trial sign-ups
Demos booked
Marketing and sales qualified leads
Cost-per-lead
Closed deals
Revenue
While SEO-specific metrics, like rankings and traffic, are a good leading indicator of campaign performance, they don’t show bottom-line value. So, ideally, you should look beyond these metrics and scope out the tangible impact on core business objectives instead.
For example, here’s a SaaS SEO case study showcasing the approach, services delivered, and the growth in SQLs.
Scale
Whether you’ve decided to hire a specialist or a full-service agency, their ability to scale services to match your pace is crucial.
In your decision-making process, assess how well an agency might be able to adapt to the future needs of your business.
Consider things like:
What size companies have they worked with?
Are the services delivered in a fixed package or a flexible arrangement that you can scale up or down as needed?
How big is the team, and how well might they handle sudden influxes of new projects during busy times?
The best agencies will be able to scale with you well into the future.
Industry experience
Look for agencies with extensive experience working with other SaaS companies.
They need to implicitly understand just how different SaaS is from eCommerce or other types of business models. Many generalist agencies that work with all types of businesses don’t have this understanding and lean on cookie-cutter strategies for all clients.
Reporting
Reporting is a critical piece of any SEO service. It’s how you can keep an agency accountable for the services and results they’re delivering.
All good agencies deliver reporting from analytics tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEO tools like Ahrefs. The best agencies also align these reports to the metrics you track in-house via your CRM. Leveraging this mix of reporting technology will give you a complete picture of campaign performance and business impact, from rankings and traffic to leads and revenue.
If an agency doesn’t mention business metrics like qualified leads, demos booked, or cost per lead in its case studies, it’s likely they don’t track or report on these. It never hurts to ask if they can report on the metrics that matter most to you during your initial discussions. Or, even better, ask for examples of how they track pipeline impact with other SaaS clients.
Pricing
When looking for the best SaaS SEO services, pricing can be an arbitrary factor. For instance, which scenario is better?
A. You hire a cost-effective agency. In 12 months, you’ve barely broken even on the service. B. You hire a premium agency. In 12 months, they’ve delivered 2x return on investment.
In our book, option B is always better, no matter how big your investment is. In saying this, there is a point of diminishing returns with SEO, as with many other services. That is, there’s a point where spending more money won’t get you proportionally better results. So, you need to find a balance.
To work with most quality agencies, plan a monthly budget in the mid-high 4-figure or low 5-figure range as a starting point. If you’re growing fast and can afford to put more resources behind an engagement, aim for low to mid 5-figures per month for an agency that can scale with you.
The way we like to explain pricing to our clients is through the payback period. Often, a client can choose a lower engagement pricing tier that simply means we’ll work slower through the deliverables compared to our higher tiers. Essentially, you can achieve the same output, and likely results, for a similar price point on both engagement tiers. On higher tiers the client is paying more in the initial months, but also reaches ROI+ faster.
For example: One SaaS company chooses a $5,000/mo. engagement for 12 months to hit its organic growth goal. Another SaaS business chooses a $10,000/mo. engagement for 6 months to hit the same goal. The investment amount is the same, but the second company reach its goal, or payback period, faster. The decision between the two will often come down to risk tolerance, which should be addressed on the discovery call..
Discovery call
The discovery call is a great opportunity to vet your shortlist of agencies.
Most agencies will book a call to get to know your business and needs. It’s how they go about the call that makes all the difference.
During the call, consider these questions:
Has the agency researched your business, competitors and industry?
Did the agency provide any valuable insights on the call?
Did the agency explain how their process will meet your business needs?
What capacity can the agency operate in – strategic partner, extension of team, full-service?
How does the agency show business impact?
7 Best SaaS SEO Agencies
You now know how to evaluate the best SaaS SEO agencies. Here’s a list of the best in the market.
And yes, of course, my agency is on it
But as mentioned above, no agency’s an ideal fit for every business out there. We specialize in integrated search marketing strategies for SaaS brands. The other agencies on this list offer a different take, but are also reputable.
Either way, we’re confident you’ll find the ideal partner for your needs below.
Virayo – Full Service B2B SaaS SEO and Google Ads Agency
Virayo has proven track record of helping industry-leading B2B SaaS companies scale organic traffic, qualified lead volume and ARR, with its repeatable 7-step search marketing framework.
The agency has a selective client intake process, only taking on 1-2 new clients per month that it believes it can help scale, and is invested in growth.
“Over the last two years, Virayo has helped grow our organic traffic from around 6,000 organic visits per month to over 70,000 organic visits per month. More importantly, organic traffic is now the number one driver of new trial signups for our business.”
– Charlotte Morineau, CMO, Cedreo
Book a call with me
If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.
Powered by Search specializes in helping mid-market and mature B2B SaaS companies achieve unstoppable growth through its Predictable Growth Method. The agency focuses on scaling demos, trials, and sales, ensuring clients hit their revenue and pipeline targets efficiently.
Services Offered
SEO
PPC
Paid Social Media Marketing
Content Marketing
Full-Funnel Marketing Strategies
Results
Generated $11.1M in SEO Pipeline for a Data Privacy SaaS.
Delivered 135% of Paid Ads Pipeline Target for a CyberSec SaaS.
Doubled MQL to SQL Conversion with ABM for Named Accounts.
Testimonial
“I 100% recommend Powered By Search. They’ve completely transformed our paid media strategy. The results are incredible and we’re extremely happy with them.”
— Jill McCarville, VP Marketing, iWave
Kalungi – Full-Service B2B SaaS Marketing Agency
Notable clients: FleetRunner, Fraxion, Degrees of Change, Beezy, CPGVision
Kalungi offers “Growth-as-a-Service” for B2B SaaS ventures, scaling with their clients’ needs to increase speed and achieve ambitious growth goals. Specializing in outsourced marketing, Kalungi uses a proven playbook to support software entrepreneurs needing more time or expertise to build an in-house team.
Services Offered
Fractional CMO Services
Full-Stack Marketing Team
SEO and Content Creation
Paid Media
CRO
Branding Design
Web Development
HubSpot Management
Results
Boosted Patch’s MQLs by 1500%
Sourced $4.7M in pipeline for CPGvision
Enhanced CCD Health’s MQLs by 750% with full-service engagement
Testimonial
“Not only does Kalungi have the experience and expertise, they have the people to execute everything from establishing positioning and messaging to building websites and SEO. They’re an all-in-one solution.”
Directive Consulting excels in performance marketing and leverages a comprehensive customer generation methodology. Trusted by some of the world’s largest tech brands, Directive has driven over $1 billion in client revenue in the last decade. Their integrated approach combines Paid Media, SEO, Lifecycle Marketing, and more to meet growth goals efficiently and predictably.
Services Offered
Paid Media (Search, Social, Programmatic)
Content Marketing & SEO
Integrated Strategy Development
Marketing Operations Optimization
Creative Design & Video Production
Results
Generated over $1B in revenue for clients.
Trusted by 200+ tech companies.
Architected growth for major brands like Adobe and Amazon.
Testimonial
“Directive is our trusted performance marketing agency that really covers everything from paid media all the way to strategy. From day one, they helped us look at the right metrics that made sense to enable growth efficiency, and they gave us a good base for what we should be looking at going forward.”
— Jose Bormey, Head of Digital Marketing, Manta
SimpleTiger – SEO, PPC and Web Design for SaaS Companies
SimpleTiger uses a proprietary AI-empowered methodology to drive demand and convert customers. It offers clients keyword data intelligence, content optimization to target buyers at every stage of the buying journey, and holistic marketing efforts across organic and paid channels for maximum efficiency.
Services Offered
SEO
PPC (Paid Search & Social)
Content Marketing
Link Building
Web Design
Results
597% increase in organic traffic to the primary page target for Jotform.
1200% increase in first-page keyword rankings for Gelato.
Testimonial
“SimpleTiger fits their services around your specific SEO needs. After working with them, I am confident in my own SEO knowledge and can help my team out for quick decisions and questions.”
Codeless delivers high-quality content that achieves top rankings, specializing in SEO and content marketing for competitive industries. Their “Pillar and Post” strategy, combined with expert vertical writers and rigorous optimization processes, ensures that content reaches and resonates with the target audience, driving traffic, leads, and sales effectively.
Services Offered
SEO Content Strategy
Content Production and Management
SEO Advisory for SaaS brands
Results
Increased keyword visibility by 96.15% for Remote.
Boosted new organic keywords for Miro by 28,000 with 2,400 achieving 1st page rankings.
Testimonial
“By far the best decision we’ve made.” — Comment from monday.com highlighting the impactful results from Codeless’s content strategies.
Single Grain – Digital Marketing Agency for SaaS Companies
Single Grain is a full-service digital marketing agency focused on helping companies expand their business through strategic and effective digital marketing solutions. They excel in search engine marketing, and various other digital ad channels. Their team of expert marketers uses a data-driven approach to ensure the best return on investment, constantly innovating to keep their clients ahead of the curve.
Services Offered
SEO & Content Marketing
PPC: Google & Facebook Advertising
Conversion Rate Optimization
SaaS Marketing
Paid Social (across platforms)
Programmatic SEO
Results
Reduced cost per click by 41.37% while increasing leads for Nextiva.
Achieved a 44% increase in organic sessions for BatteriesPlus.
Testimonial
“Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business The Single Grain team has been instrumental in providing us with forward-thinking, growth-impacting marketing support. Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business.” — Yaniv Masjedi, CMO, Nextiva
Choose the right agency for your SaaS business
Hiring a SaaS SEO agency is a big investment for most companies. Getting it wrong can be costly.
Use the evaluation criteria above to shortlist agency candidates, and then schedule discovery calls with each one to better gauge the right partner for your business.
Book a call with me
If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-10-12 10:18:002024-12-31 18:04:377 Best SaaS SEO Agencies For Pipeline Growth
If you want to learn how to use Semrush for keyword research, you’re in the right place.
In this tutorial, we’ll cover everything from topical and competitor keyword research, to gap analysis and topic clustering.
Semrush has a number of powerful keyword research tools – Keyword Manager, Keyword Magic Tool and Keyword Gap – that will enable you to do it all.
We’ll also cover working examples for each of the main keyword research use cases so you can immediately start implementing the training in your business.
If you don’t yet have a Semrush account, you can use this 14-day free trial link to get access to all the features covered in this guide so you can follow along step-by-step.
If you prefer video, I’ve put together a comprehensive over-the-shoulder tutorial below that walks through seven ways to do keyword research with Semrush:
Disclaimer: This article does contain affiliate links. If you purchase a tool through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links are one of the ways I fund the blog. Thanks for the support!
Find Existing Keyword Opportunities With Semrush (Template Included)
The first way you can use Semrush for keyword research is to identify existing keyword opportunities.
Specifically, find all the keywords with search demand that your website is already ranking for in positions 4-15.
Here’s how to do it:
Open the Semrush SEO Toolkit and go to the Organic Research >> Positions report:
This will generate a report showing all the keywords your website is ranking for in the top 100 positions.
Next, you’ll need to apply some advanced filters. These will vary from business to business, but I’ll typically use Position, Volume and Keyword Difficulty (KD).
To illustrate, here are the filters I’d use for my website:
Position: 4-15
Volume: 100+
KD: 0-49
These filters will extract keywords that my website is already ranking for on page one or two, that have search demand, and aren’t ultra competitive.
Review the remaining keywords and add any that you’d like to target to a new list.
This is usually the best place to start when you’re working with a website that has an existing content footprint as you’ll be able to capture some quick organic traffic gains.
Note: I’ll typically segment keyword opportunities into two lists – Existing and New.
This will make it easy to see which keywords have already been added to a list inside Semrush.
Existing keyword research template
If you’d prefer to analyze keyword data outside of Semrush, I’ve created a template that you can use to automate a lot of the filtering and formatting.
Simply export all the keywords your site is ranking for in positions 4-15 and paste them into the template. The template will organize all the opportunities in descending search volume and add color coding so you can quickly spot the keywords that are already ranking the highest with the lowest SERP competition.
I put together a full video walk-through of the template below:
Semrush existing keyword research template.
Competitor Keyword Research With Semrush
One of the fastest ways to find new high-intent keywords is to analyze your competitors.
Semrush provides several different ways to perform competitor keyword research. We’ll walk through each one and look at some working examples.
Semrush Top Pages report:
For this example, let’s pretend we have a beard products ecommerce business and are looking for some new target keywords.
One of the competitors might be Beardbrand.
I’d enter that domain into the SEO Toolkit and go to the Organic Research >> Pages report:
The report shows which pages are driving the most organic traffic to their website. You can see what percentage of total organic traffic each page is generating, along with the total number of keywords the page is ranking for in the top 100 positions. You can also click through to view all of those keywords.
This is great insight, but let’s take it a step further.
Since this is an ecommerce website, we’d want to prioritize product-related keywords as these will present the best direct monetization opportunity.
One way to do this is apply a URL filter to only return product pages.
For example, we can see that Beardbrand houses all of its product pages under a /products subfolder:
As a result, I’d add a URL contains /products filter to the report.
Now I can see 22 product pages that are driving the most organic traffic to the website. This would be the best place to start the keyword analysis.
You can use competitor subfolder analysis for any type of business.
Let’s pretend that you’re a personal injury lawyer in Florida. One of the competitors might be Dolman Law Group. After reviewing their main navigation, I can see that all the services pages are nested under the /legal-services subfolder:
As a result, I’d apply a URL contains /legal-services filter in the Pages report, or just enter the subfolder into the main search bar, to see which services pages are driving the most organic traffic to their website and check to make sure our firm was also targeting those keywords.
But, what if your competitors don’t organize content into subfolders?
You can use keyword modifiers instead to uncover the highest intent opportunities.
For example:
If I was analyzing a competitor for my website I would apply the following filters:
These filters will return the best keyword opportunities for affiliate monetization.
Repeat this process for your top organic search competitors. You can find these by search for your main product or services keywords in Google, or look at the Competitors report in Semrush which shows the websites with the most keyword overlap:
If you want to learn more about performing competitor subfolder analysis with Semrush, check out the video tutorial below:
Find low competition long tail keywords with Semrush
You can use Semrush to extract low competition long tail keywords from your competitors.
Here’s how to do it:
Enter your competitor into the Semrush SEO Toolkit and navigate to the Organic Research >> Organic Positions report.
Apply the following filters:
Position: top 20
Volume: 100+
KD: 0-49
Word count: 4+
You’ll get a set of potential long tail keyword targets that have search demand and a low level of competition.
If you still have a large list of keywords to review, increase the minimum volume filters or add an additional URL filter to focus on a specific section of your competitor’s website.
For example, you could only analyze the /legal-services folder:
Keyword Gap analysis with Semrush
Semrush’ Keyword Gap tool makes it easy to find all the valuable keywords (both organic and paid) that one, or multiple competitors rank for, but you do not.
In Semrush:
Enter your root domain – e.g. robbierichards.com
Enter up to 5 competitor domains – e.g. http://marketingarsenal.io/
Click the green “Compare” button
First, you can view missing keywords to check all the keywords your competitor ranks for, but you don’t:
Next, you can check weak keywords to see all the keywords where you rank lower than your competitor(s):
These could be keywords that require content optimization or even a new dedicated piece of content to rank higher.
When performing keyword gap analysis inside Semrush, I’ll usually add some advanced filters to streamline the keyword set down to the most relevant opportunities that have search demand and aren’t ultra competitive. This makes the analysis faster, and helps narrow in on the most immediate opportunities.
For example, I’ll add the following filters:
Competitors in Top 10:
If I see a competitor with a comparable domain authority ranking in the top 10 positions it tells me that I also have a chance of ranking in the top 10 as long as I create quality content and any necessary backlinks.
Volume: 100+
I want to make sure there is enough search demand to warrant targeting a keyword.
KD: 0-29
I want to start with low competition keywords.
Similar to the previous section, you can also add keyword modifiers to trim the keyword set down further.
For example, I might also add a keyword containing “software” or “best” filter to surface the best affiliate monetization opportunities:
Scan down the list and add any new targets to your master keyword list.
Subfolder gap analysis with Semrush
Subfolder gap analysis is another way you can use Semrush to quickly identify high-value keyword opportunities for your business.
Let’s return to a couple of the previous working examples to illustrate.
Local business
Fellerman Law is a competitor of Dolman Law. If they wanted to quickly see all the service-related keywords that Dolman Law was ranking for, but they are not, they could analyze their /legal-services/ subfolder.
Enter your root domain – e.g. https://www.fellermanlaw.com/
Enter your competitor’s subfolder – e.g. https://www.dolmanlaw.com/legal-services/
Click the green “Compare” button
Add the Position, Volume and KD filters again to first focus on the quick-win opportunities.
Scroll down and we can see 163 Missing Keywords that Dolman is ranking for in the top 10, but Fellerman is not targeting.
Fellerman could now scan down the list and select relevant keywords to create new service pages for and start driving more qualified organic to their website.
This subfolder analysis process can be applied to any type of business.
For example:
Ecommerce businesses: analyze competitor /product or /category subfolders.
AdSense business: analyze competitor /blog or /category subfolders to find high volume, low competition keywords that you can rank for quickly and drive loads of eyeballs to ads.
The key to this strategy is to look for the subfolders that contain keywords that align directly with your website’s monetization model.
I have created a dedicated video tutorial for this strategy here.
PPC-organic gap analysis
Semrush’ keyword gap analysis tool is unique in that it enables you to analyze paid vs organic keyword gaps.
A couple use cases include:
Find all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you are not.
Find all the keywords you rank for outside the top 3 positions, but are not bidding on. These are areas where you may need to provide some paid aircover.
Find all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you are not targeting as part of your organic strategy. This will highlight higher-intent keyword gaps.
Provide paid aircover
Let’s pretend Semrush wanted to provide air cover for all the keywords that they were not yet ranking inside the top 3 positions.
Enter your paid root domain – e.g. https://www.semrush.com/
Enter your organic product subfolder – e.g. https://www.semrush.com/features/
Click the green “Compare” button
Next, they could add a Position and Intent filter:
Now, we can see a list of keywords that Semrush is ranking for outside the top 3 positions, and is not currently bidding on in paid search.
Semrush could scan down the list and select any high-priority keywords that they want to bid on until they rank in the top organic position.
Identify high-value keyword gaps
You can use Semrush to identify all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you don’t currently rank for in the organic search results. The idea here is that if a competitor is bidding on a keyword, chances are it’s going to have high-intent and the potential to drive conversions.
In the Semrush Keyword Gap tool:
Enter your root domain – e.g. https://www.copper.com/ – and select Organic keywords
Enter your competitor’sroot domain – e.g. https://www.pipedrive.com/ – and select Paid keywords
Click the green “Compare” button
Scroll down to the Missing Keywords report and select any high-intent keywords that you are not already targeting.
Note: because paid keywords will typically have higher intent, they will usually have a higher level of competition. As a result, you might also start with a maximum KD filter to trim the opportunities down to the most realistic targets.
Generate topical keyword Ideas with the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
However, the real power of this tool lies in the advanced filtering options.
For instance:
My blog monetizes primarily through affiliate marketing. As a result, I want to rank for keywords that people are searching for during the consideration stage of the buyer journey where they are actively evaluating different types of solutions and/or deciding between specific products.
Since I write about SEO-related topics, I would enter relevant category keywords – keyword research, link building, rank tracking, etc. – with those consideration stage modifiers.
In the Keyword Magic Tool:
Enter an investigational intent modifier – e.g. “best”
Add an Any keywords filter containing core category keywords – e.g. “keyword research, link building, ranking tracking, technical SEO, on-page seo, content optimization, seo reporting, local seo, competitor analysis, seo audit” etc.
This will return a list of solid consideration stage keyword opportunities. But, I wouldn’t stop there.
Next, I would look for keywords that show a user is actively comparing the products that I promote against competitors.
Add 3 comparative keyword modifiers – e.g. “alternative, competitor, vs” – and select “Any keywords” in the Include Keywords filter:
From the results, we have 584 potential keyword targets. These mid-funnel terms include “Ahrefs vs Semrush, Moz vs Semrush, Serpstat vs Semrush, SpyFu vs Semrush etc”.
I can try to rank for these keywords and showcase why Semrush might be a better solution, and subsequently drive referral traffic that converts into commissions.
Note: The Keyword Magic tool also groups keywords by Popularity and search demand:
This is an extremely handy feature if you have a large keyword set to review and aren’t sure how to streamline it with the advanced keyword filters at the top of the table. Simply review the groupings and click into the one that appears most relevant to your business.
Find question-based keyword opportunities with Semrush
Scroll down the list and look for relevant product or service-related questions your ideal customer might be searching for at the top, middle and bottom of the funnel.
For example:
As I scroll down the list I can see people asking questions around like:
How to select a CRM system?
How to maintain a CRM database?
Most of these question keywords are relatively low-competition opportunities:
Tip: you can use Semrush’ Intent and Grouping filters to quickly surface the highest intent opportunities:
If you want to learn more about using Semrush to generate question-based keyword ideas, check out the video below:
Create Topical Keyword Clusters with Semrush
Note: I’ve included a video overview of the Semrush keyword cluster tool at the end of this section.
Semrush enables you to create keyword clusters from scratch, as well as cluster existing keyword lists.
To illustrate, let’s return to our personal injury lawyer example.
If I wanted to generate keyword clusters from scratch, I’d click Create List and then enter up to 5 seed keywords, along with a domain for added context:
The tool returns 50 clusters containing 900 keywords.
In the table you can see:
Intent
# of keywords in each cluster
KD %
Aggregate search volume across the keyword cluster
Semrush will flag “high ranking potential” keywords. These are terms with high volume and relatively low KD percentages.
Scrolling down the list we can see some interesting results that fall outside typical top-level service pages:
Click to open a cluster and you’ll see all the keywords along with their respective search intent, KD% and search volume metrics.
Tip: It’s important to review the Content references section because you want to understand if you need to optimize an existing page for this cluster, or create a new dedicated URL.
For example:
After hovering over the URLs in the reference section I can see that the competitors are ranking with dedicated pages for the “hit and run attorney” keywords.
As a result, I’d create new sub-service landing pages to target those high-intent clusters.
You can also use Semrush to cluster an existing keyword list.
From the Keyword Manager, select the second option to create a list:
Paste in your existing keyword set:
Semrush will automatically cluster all the keywords.
Here’s what it looks like after I uploaded 214 keywords that I’m interested in targeting:
I Like How Semrush Tools Are Integrated
One of the things I really like about Semrush is that its keyword research tools are all integrated.
Once you have finished building your target keyword list in Semrush, you can select keywords and send them to the Position Tracking tool to monitor rankings or transfer them to the SEO Writing Assistant for content production and on-page analysis.
These integrations make it easy to scale your content workflow and monitor performance over time, all without having to leave the platform or rely on other standalone SEO tools.
Level-Up Your Keyword Research With Semrush
You now know how to use Semrush to extract high-value keyword opportunities for any type of business.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2023-07-02 06:44:362024-12-31 18:04:38How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research (Including Template and Examples)
Pretty much all rank checkers let you track multiple keywords across multiple locations, devices, and search engines. But only the top-performing tools allow you to track hundreds of keywords daily, or even better, refresh them on-demand.
Let’s face it: ranking positions change quickly.
And the only way to keep pace is by using the fastest daily rank tracker.
So, how do you choose the best daily rank tracking software?
In this post, we’ll examine the key features to consider and then examine the top 10 daily rank tracking tools. Take a minute to see which solution is right for your business. Each tool is
AccuRanker – best standalone daily rank tracker. Semrush – best daily rank tracker that is part of an all-in-one SEO platform. Nightwatch – accurate and affordable standalone daily rank tracker. Pro Rank Tracker – affordable solution with strong reporting capabilities. SERPWatcher – accurate and extremely intuitive daily rank tracking solution. Advanced Web Ranking – standalone tool with great white label reports. Wincher – simple and affordable solution for Google only. SE Ranking – affordable all-in-one platform with daily rank monitoring. Authority Labs – effective for automating daily updates and reporting. Ranktracker – all-in-one platform with a solid rank tracking feature. Search Console – free option.
Disclaimer: This article does contain some affiliate links. If you purchase a tool through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links are followed by (aff) in this article. Thanks for the support!
Key considerations when choosing a daily rank tracking software
Let’s start by exploring the 7 key features you need to consider when choosing a daily rank tracker.
Accurate (on-demand) ranking data:
Accuracy plus frequency is critical to daily keyword rank tracking.
Ranking positions change rapidly, so you’ll need to choose rank tracking software that has accurate daily updates, plus the option to run an on-demand refresh as required.
For example, AccuRanker (aff) updates your ranking data daily, plus you can run an instant on-demand refresh when required:
(Image: Refreshing rank data on-demand inside AccuRanker.)
Scalability across keywords and users:
Next, you want to ensure the daily rank tracking software can accommodate the number of keywords and users your company needs. Also, consider how pricing changes as you increase the number of keywords and users. For instance, does each price plan scale in line with your requirements?
Location, device, and competitor tracking:
Keywords perform differently across locations and devices, so you’ll need a daily rank tracking tool that measures those variations. You’ll also want your daily rank tracker to run competitor comparisons so that you can benchmark your performance.
(Image: Filtering rankings by device and location in Semrush.)
Support for multiple search engines:
Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu (Chinese), Yandex (Russian), YouTube, Amazon – which search engine is most relevant for your business? When selecting your daily rank tracker, make sure it supports the right search engines for your business.
For example, AccuRanker (aff) lets you choose from multiple search engines:
(Image: Tracking keyword rankings across multiple search engines in AccuRanker.)
SERP feature monitoring:
SERP features such as snippets, images, videos, and local maps dominate search results.
If traffic suddenly increases or decreases, it could be due to gaining or losing a SERP feature on your keywords, so tracking them daily is crucial.
For example, AccuRanker’s Aggregated SERP Analysis tool (aff) lets you track the movement of 50+ different SERP features across all of your keywords, while the SERP Feature Ownership graph shows which keywords you rank for but don’t yet own the SERP feature:
(Image: Monitoring keyword SERP features in AccuRanker.)
Historical rank performance:
As keyword rankings fluctuate daily, you’ll want your software to show you the historical trending performance over different periods across different locations, devices, and search engines.
For example, Semrush’ Position Tracker (aff) provides the historical daily ranking performance for the last 60 days. After the 60 days, you can view weekly snapshots of historical rankings:
(Image: Historial ranking performance in Semrush.)
White label reporting:
Besides monitoring the latest on-demand ranking data, you’ll also want the option of generating progress reports for your colleagues or white label reports for your clients.
For example, ProRankTracker (aff) includes current rankings, progress, comparison, and benchmark reports:
(Image: Creating and scheduling custom reports in Pro Rank Tracker.)
AccuRanker (aff) includes built-in white-label reports, plus it integrates with third-party tools like Google Data Studio for enhanced visual reports:
(Image: Third-party reporting via AccuRanker and Google Data Studio.)
10 Best Daily Rank Trackers for 2023
Now it’s time to check the top daily rank tracking software.
Some of these tools are dedicated standalone rank trackers, while others are part of all-in-one SEO platforms.
But all of these daily rank trackers have most, if not all, of the features covered above.
Let’s dive in…
AccuRanker
AccuRanker (aff) is the world’s fastest and most accurate standalone daily rank tracker that lets you refresh keyword rankings whenever you need them. It’s trusted by more than 32,000 companies, including IKEA and Kinsta.
Key features:
Run instant on-demand updates of ranking data.
Select pricing plans based on keywords and unlimited users.
Track daily keyword rankings across multiple search engines, including Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, and YouTube.
Compare side-by-side keyword ranking with your competitors.
Monitor 50+ SERP features, including snippets, images, videos, and local map packs, for all of your keywords.
Add tags, notes and dates to easily filter and segment ranking data.
View the historical daily ranking performance of individual keywords.
Generate and schedule white-label rank tracking reports.
Create visual reports with Google Looker Studio integration.
Integrates with Google Search Console and Adobe Analytics.
Landing Pages report maps ranking data to Google Analytics data to show the correlation between rankings, traffic and revenue.
Pricing:AccuRanker starts at $116/month for 1,000 daily tracked keywords.
Semrush (aff) is an all-in-one SEO platform trusted by over 10 million marketing professionals and used by leading brands, including Tesla, Samsung, and IBM. Its Position Tracking Tool (aff) lets you track daily rankings at different locations on mobile and desktop, and compare them to your competitors. It also ranked highly in our expert poll of the best rank trackers.
Key features:
Collect accurate daily keyword ranking data.
Select pricing plans based on the number of keywords and users.
Track keyword rankings nationally, regionally, and locally on desktop or mobile.
Tag your keywords to allocate them into relevant segments.
Get notified of the crucial position changes.
Analyze daily SERP feature movements, such as snippets, images, videos, and carousels.
Nightwatch is one of the most accurate standalone daily rank trackers that lets you track your rankings on all leading search engines down to the ZIP code level. It’s trusted by companies of all sizes, including Shopify, Scotiabank, and Booking.com.
Pricing: Nightwatch starts at $32/month for 250 daily tracked keywords.
Pro Rank Tracker (aff) is a standalone daily rank tracker trusted by over 60,000 SEO agencies and brands worldwide, including Fuel Online, Just Internet Solutions, and GoGoPrint. Its state-of-the-art algorithm gives you fast, accurate, on-demand keyword ranking results.
Key features:
Get automatic daily ranking updates, plus on-demand refreshes.
Select pricing plans based on keywords and additional users.
Follow international and local rankings on desktop and mobile.
Track keyword rankings on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon, and YouTube.
Monitor SERP feature movements, including local listings and map packs.
View historical ranking performance and competitor comparisons.
Generate multi-lingual, white-label “live link” reports with daily or on-demand updates.
Pricing: ProRankTracker starts at $13.50/month for 100 daily tracked keywords.
SERPWatcher (aff) is an easy-to-use daily keyword rank tracking tool. It’s part of the Mangoolsall-in-one SEO platform used by more than 25,000 customers and trusted by big brands, including Airbnb, Alexa, and Adidas.
Key features:
Get daily ranking updates.
Receive significant rank changes via email alerts.
Select pricing plans based on keywords and additional users.
Track keyword rankings at country, state, and local levels on desktop or mobile.
Share interactive reports using a link.
Pricing: SERPWatcher starts at $29.90/month for 200 daily tracked keywords.
Advanced Web Ranking provides fresh daily, weekly, or on-demand keyword rankings. Over 24,000 leading brands and agencies trust the standalone rank tracker, including Microsoft, Amazon, and MoneySupermarket.
Key features:
Get accurate keyword rankings daily or on-demand.
Track location-specific keyword rankings at a city, state, or country level on desktop or mobile.
Get granular local rank tracking down to the GPS coordinates.
Track daily rankings on multiple search engines, including Yandex, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, and YouTube.
Monitor all types of Google SERP features and compare ranking with your competitors.
Build in-depth, white-label reports and share them via a URL link.
Integrate ranking data with third-party tools, such as Google Data Studio.
Pricing: Advanced Web Ranking starts at $99/month for tracking up to 7,000 keywords.
Wincher is a simple, flexible, and powerful standalone daily rank tracker. It’s used by thousands of people in almost 150 countries, including companies like Philips, SVT, and Bonnier.
Key features:
Get daily keyword rank tracking updates and refresh data on-demand.
Scale with pricing plans based on keywords and unlimited users.
Track your keyword rankings in a specific country, region, or city location.
View competitor rankings and get notified if they overtake you or vice versa.
Select from 130+ Google search engines and track which keywords have SERP features.
Evaluate up to 6 months of ranking history for any added keywords.
Generate on-demand white-label reports.
Create great-looking reports with the Google Date Studio integration.
Pricing: Wincher starts at $39/month for 500 daily tracked keywords.
SE Ranking (aff) is an all-in-one SEO platform with a 100% accurate keyword tracking tool. Leading brands like Zapier, Trustpilot, and Hunter Engineering Company use its daily rank tracker.
Key features:
Check your keyword rankings daily, every 3 days, or every week.
Scale your pricing plan based on the number and frequency of keywords to track and the subscription period.
Track your rankings by country, region, city, or zip code level.
Check Google, Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube rankings for all locations and devices.
Monitor keyword SERP features, including snippets, videos, maps, and Google Ads.
Compare up to 20 competitors’ keyword rankings.
Share white-label reports via a custom domain.
Pricing: SE Ranking has a scalable pricing structure starting at $39.20/month for 250 daily tracked keywords.
Authority Labs is a reliable and accurate standalone daily rank tracker that even lets you recover those “not provided” keywords. It’s trusted by marketers and industry leaders worldwide, including Mint, Jobing, and Symantec.
Key features:
React to changes with daily keyword rank tracking.
Scale with pricing plans based on keywords and unlimited users.
Rank Tracker is an all-in-one SEO platform that includes a daily rank tracker to keep track of your site’s rankings in real time. It’s used by marketers from leading companies, including Apple, Red Bull, and Adidas.
Key features:
Get daily email notifications for any significant ranking changes.
Track keyword ranking globally, nationally, and locally on desktop or mobile.
Compare ranking movements side-by-side with your competitors.
Track any language on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex search engines, plus GMB and local rankings.
Monitor your keyword SERP features like shopping previews, maps, or reviews.
Get an instant visual overview of your historical rank tracking progress.
Send daily, weekly, or monthly white-label reports.
Pricing: Ranktracker has subscription plans starting at $24/month for 100 daily tracked keywords.
Google Search Console is a free all-in-one platform with tools and reports to help you measure your overall search traffic and performance. While you can’t add specific keywords to track (like the premium daily rank tracking software above), you can monitor your daily rankings.
Key features:
Analyze daily keyword rank tracking updates.
Sort ranking data by keywords, pages, countries, devices, search appearance, and dates.
Export data to Google Sheets, Excel, or a CSV file.
Pricing: Google Search Console is free to use.
Which Daily Rank Tracker Are You Going to Try?
There are several things to consider when searching for a daily rank tracker. You want software that provides:
Accurate (on-demand) ranking data.
Scalability across keywords and users.
Location, device, and competitor tracking.
Support for multiple search engines.
SERP feature monitoring.
Historical rank performance.
White label reporting.
We looked at the best daily rank tracking software – 5 standalone rank trackers and 5 rank tracking tools from all-in-one SEO platforms.
That’s a lot of tools! But here are my recommendations:
If you’re looking for a robust standalone daily rank tracker, then AccuRanker (aff) is my top choice.
On the other hand, if you want a daily rank tracker that’s part of an all-in SEO platform, then the Semrush Position Tracker (aff) Position Tracking Tool is excellent.
Let us know in the comments which daily rank tracking software you’re using.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2023-06-16 14:31:002024-12-31 18:04:3810 Best Daily Rank Tracking Software for SEO [2023 Edition]
Are you looking to get your hands on a free trial of Semrush?
You’re in the right place.
I’m guessing you already have an idea just how powerful the Semrush toolset can be for analyzing competitors and building profitable online marketing campaigns.
It’s the toolset I’ve been using for years at my SEO agency to produce consistent results for our clients.
But, until you actually take Semrush for a test drive, you really can’t appreciate how powerful it is.
In fact, Semrush (aff) is continually adding new Toolkits that provides its 6M+ users insane value.
It’s no longer just a leading competitive analysis tool. It truly is an all-in-one digital marketing platform that provides SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC and social media marketing capabilities.
And it’s the reason why it’s been voted the “Top Tool” by hundreds of SEOs and digital marketing professionals across numerous categories:
Not sure which free trial – Semrush Pro, Guru or Business – is right for you? Don’t sweat!
I’ll walk you through the different Semrush plans, introduce all the Toolkits, and show you how to get the most out of your free trial so you can determine if it’s the right tool for your business and/or clients.
I’ve partnered with the team at Semrush to give you exclusive access to extended free trials, so you can take your time exploring and testing all the functionality the platform provides.
Disclaimer: This article does contain affiliate links. If you purchase a tool through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This is how I fund the blog and its promotion. Thanks for the support.
Which Plan is Right for You? Semrush Pro vs. GURU Comparison:
Both of these plans come packed with tools and features to boost your online marketing. But which one is right for you?
If you’re a freelancer, blogger, or in-house marketer with a limited budget, then the Semrush Pro (aff) plan will likely be the best option.
You’ll have access to 28 advanced tools to manage your SEO, PPC and Social Media projects.
If you’re a professional SEO consultant or an agency that services numerous clients, then you’ll be best-suited to the Semrush Guru (aff) plan.
It has all the same tools and features as the Pro plan, plus you get access to Historical Data, Branded Reports, extended data limits, and the new Content Marketing toolkit.
For instance, you can track more projects, crawl more pages, track more keywords, and access more results per report – perfect when you’re working with clients that have larger data sets.
The table below highlights some of the key differences:
PRO
GURU
BUSINESS
Projects
5
15
40
Results per report
10,000
30,000
50,000
Page crawls per month
100,000
300,000
1,000,000
Keywords to track (daily position updates)
500
1,500
5,000
Scheduled PDF reports
5
20
50
Branded PDF
reports
Historical data
Looker Studio Integration
API Access
How to Activate Your Semrush Free Trial:
#1: Select your Semrush plan and click one of the buttons below to sign up for a free trial:
#2: Register with your email address and chosen password, and then click on the orange ‘Create your account’ button:
#3: You’ll see the Semrush billing page pre-populated with your Pro or Guru subscription details and zero charges showing in the “Today’s charges” field.
Go ahead and enter your billing information:
Note: Semrush will charge a nominal amount to your credit card to check its validity. Don’t worry – once confirmed, it will be refunded. Rest assured, you won’t be charged a penny until your Semrush trial period ends and you decide to continue as a customer.
#4: Now scroll down the page to make the most of your Semrush free trial.
Editor’s note: Already have a free account to upgrade? No problem. Just log into your account through this link (Pro) or this link (GURU) and activate the free trial of either plan.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Free Trial of Semrush (Toolkits and Use Cases)
Got your free trial activated? Excellent!
Now, you have 14 days to determine if it’s the right tool for you, so let’s get started.
Below we’ll walk through a few immediate action items to help you get the most value from the Semrush tool set from day one.
Remember, you’ve got full access to the entire Semrush tool set with your free trial. So we’re going to check some of the practical applications you can use in each major toolkit.
Note: I have also included some actionable video tutorials below.
Semrush SEO Toolkit
Analyze how your competitors are driving organic traffic at the subfolder, page, and individual keyword levels with the Organic Research reports, so you can quickly scale your organic traffic across each stage of the funnel.
Find stacks of long-tail keywords (with specific search intent) and expand the organic footprint on your pages with secondary keywords using the Keyword Magic Tool.
Semrush has the largest, and most accurate database, containing over 20B keywords.
Analyze competitor backlink profiles so you can find, check, and manage thousands of link building prospects in seconds with the Link Building Tool. In addition, the Backlink Audit Tool allows you to quickly find and analyze potentially toxic links.
Track keyword rankings at national, regional, and local search level across any device – mobile, tablet, and desktop – with the Position Tracking Tool. All users on all Semrush plans get access to daily ranking updates on all devices, which is one of the many features that sets it apart from competitors.
Run technical Site Audits and optimize your content with the On-page SEO Checker, so your pages soar in the SERPs.
Generate a list of URLs and their primary keyword targets, automatically or manually, with the On-Page SEO Checker. And then analyze the content quality, semantic and secondary keyword gaps, backlink opportunities/gaps, and on-page elements such as titles, heading tags, etc.
Manage local listings and track GMB rankings.
Use the SERP Analysis tool to evaluate the content types, page authority scores, and backlink counts for competing URLs in the SERPs and qualify keyword opportunities.
Perform Gap Analysis for both keywords (at the URL, subdomain and domain levels) and backlinks.
Get a top-level view of how much paid traffic your competitors get each month, the number or keywords they bid on, the estimated budget, and the historical trends with the Advertising Research reports.
Scrutinize the ad copy your competitors are using to win the click, so you can create winning ads with the Ad Builder.
Use the Ad History reports to find out which ads have been in rotation the longest and uncover which ad copy has a proven track record of success.
Analyze all the landing pages competitors are using to convert paid traffic and discover where they are targeting ads on the Display Advertising network.
Identify which display ad creatives – image, text and HTML – the competition is using, and which properties – websites, YouTube channels and videos – they are displaying ads on.
Use the PLA Research reports to unearth the pricing strategies of your competitors, so you can optimize your PLAs with better titles, descriptions, and pricing.
Use the PPC Keyword Tool to build and organize keyword lists into groups, and set negative keywords, etc. Then download everything to a CSV file and import into the Google Ads Editor.
Perform a Paid Keyword or PLA Gap Analysis to see which keywords or shopping ads your competitors are running, but you are missing. You can then add them to your PPC keyword list in Semrush, and even export them to the Google Ads editor.
Analyze and measure all aspects of your digital marketing with 12 reports – including site health, position changes, visibility trends and more – in one Projects dashboard, so you can spot at a high-level where the immediate weaknesses and opportunities exist in your digital marketing campaigns.
You can filter the ‘My Projects’ dashboard to show only projects you own or those that have been shared with you from different Semrush accounts.
Build professional branded campaign reports with pre-built reporting templates and the simple drag-and-drop Report Builder (aff) before sharing with colleagues or clients:
You can pull data from all the Toolkits – e.g. SEO, PPC, etc. – plus external data – e.g. Google Analytics, Search Console, and Google My Business – and then drop your logo on the report.
Editor’s note: With a Business subscription, you can also use the Semrush connector to add your data directly into custom Google Data Studio reports:
Image: Semrush data populating in a custom Google Data Studio SEO report.
Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit
Use the Content Audit tool to conduct a thorough audit of your website’s content so you can understand what content should be optimized, and what can be removed.
Implement actionable tips to create optimized content that’s loved by people and search engines, and based on the analysis of your Top 10 rivals in the SERPs with the SEO Content Template.
Analyze and measure your content performance – including guest posts and external articles – by tracking backlinks, rankings, and social shares in one place with the Post Tracking report.
Note: The Content Marketing Toolkit is only available with the GURU plan (aff).
Semrush Social Media Toolkit
Use the Social Media Poster to draft, schedule, and post content to different social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest – without leaving Semrush.
Monitor the social media accounts of your competitors so you can compare their growth and engagement levels with your accounts using the Social Media Tracker.
Get social media audience insights such as demographics, location, when your audience is online, and on which days.
Check which competitor content is getting the most engagement, and on which channels.
Boost social media ads and create new ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, directly within Semrush.
Semrush Traffic Analytics
Combine the power of SimilarWeb and Google Analytics in one tool.
Analyze ALL the traffic sources – direct, referral, search, social, and paid – across all devices and geographies, and compare engagement levels – visit duration, bounce rate etc. – between you and the competition.
Analyze every aspect of your competitors’ online traffic strategy:
Discover which channels (direct, referral, search, social, and paid traffic) drive the most traffic.
Examine which external URLs drive the most referral traffic.
Track which subdomains or subfolders get the most visits.
Check which pages/posts pull in the most organic traffic.
Determine which individual keywords generate the most traffic.
Analyze your competitors’ on-site engagement:
Track the performance of your competitors’ articles across social networks.
Monitor session duration and bounce rates across devices and channels.
Analyze your main paid search competitors:
See how much they’re spending on paid traffic.
Check which keywords they’re bidding on.
Study the composition of their ad copy.
See which URLs they are using to convert paid traffic.
Identify where competitors publish YouTube and display ad creatives.
And, that’s just scratching the surface.
Grab a free Semrush trial today (PRO or GURU) and see first-hand why millions use Semrush to perform deep competitor analysis, and build successful SEO and digital marketing campaigns.
FAQs
Can I create both a Semrush Pro and Guru account?
Semrush only offers one free trial per user, so make sure you pick the right plan:
If you’re a freelancer or blogger, then Semrush Pro (aff) will be perfect.
If you’re an SEO specialist or agency, then go for Semrush Guru (aff). This is the plan I use at my agency.
Is there a coupon or discount code?
No, there’s no coupon or discount code. This is a Free Trial that you access via the links on this page for either the Pro or Guru plan.
Can I start a trial without a credit card?
No, you’ll need to enter your credit card details when registering for the free trial. Your card will be verified and used for future billing after the trial period ends.
Can I cancel my Semrush subscription before the trial period ends without incurring charges?
Yes, if you want to cancel your Semrush subscription, you’ll need to send a cancellation request email to mail@semrush.com.
If possible, try to send the cancellation email from the email address associated with your account. Semrush will cancel your account within one business day.
Can I continue using a free account after trial cancellation?
Yes, after canceling your trial subscription, you will still be able to access Semrush on a free account. But please note that with a free account, your limits and access to some tools and reports will be severely reduced.
Semrush also provides a 30-day grace period after your cancellation. During this period, your Projects data is saved, so it’s available should you change your mind and decide to renew your account.
How long is the Semrush free trial?
It depends on which plan you choose.
Semrush doesn’t promote free trials on their website, but I have some exclusive trial links for the different plans:
Pro: 14 days
Guru: 14 days
How does Semrush compare to Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a fantastic SEO platform with a great UI/UX, and one that I use often. But it doesn’t have the breadth of insights that Semrush provides, especially around Traffic Analysis and Paid Ad insights. I wrote a dedicated post looking at Ahrefs vs Semrush here.
Can I continue using a free account after trial cancellation?
Absolutely! You can upgrade or downgrade to any plan that fits your requirements at any time.
Grab Your Semrush Free Trial Today
I’ve been using Semrush for years, and I can’t imagine trying to provide SEO services to my clients without it.
With so many toolkits, Semrush really is the all-in-one digital marketing platform that will give you a competitive advantage.
So what are you waiting for? Use one of the trial links below to get your free no-risk access to the entire toolset:
Semrush Free Trials: Test Drive Semrush PRO or GURU free for 14 Days
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2023-05-19 14:21:002024-12-31 18:04:38Semrush Free Trial: Test Drive Semrush Pro or Guru [Links Inside]
It allows you to perform keyword research, run site crawls and audits, analyze backlinks, track rankings, manage local listings, clean up citations, and bring data directly into the SERP via its SEO Toolbar.
But it’s not the perfect tool for everyone.
Some may think Moz is too pricey and want a more affordable or free alternative.
Others might feel the data limits for things like audit, keyword and backlink reports are too low on certain plans.
Others might prefer the UI and functionality of other standalone tools or all-in-one platforms.
In this guide, we’re going to look at the top 10 free and paid Moz alternatives, highlight their key use cases, and discuss how they compare to Moz.
For easy navigation, we’ve broken out the alternatives in the table of contents below:
Disclaimer: This article does contain affiliate links. If you purchase a tool through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks in advance for the support!
Best All-in-One Moz Alternative: Semrush
Semrush is a leading all-in-one SEO platform that has over 55 tools for Competitor analysis, Keyword research, Rank tracking, Content and Technical audits, On-page and Backlink analysis, white-label reporting, and in-depth PPC analysis.
Semrush is used by over 10 million users, including top brands such as Amazon, Tesla and Walmart.
Semrush provides an immense amount of data (aff) comprising 24B+ billion keywords, 142 geo-locations, 808 million domain profiles, and the fastest backlink crawler and largest database (43 trillion backlinks) on the market. That’s more than enough firepower to blow most other standalone SEO tools out of the water.
Editor’s Note:
Semrush is an essential part of my SEO and PPC toolset for personal and client projects that I’ve been using for over 8+ years.
And, most of the Toolkits integrate with each other.
Traffic Analytics
The Traffic Analytics (aff) tool lets you discover which marketing channels – organic, paid, referral, or social – drive traffic to any site. Plus, you can check estimated bounce rates, average visit duration, and other engagement metrics.
Enter any website, and you’ll discover:
Which channels drive the most traffic.
The categories of interest and brand preference of visitors.
Which websites drive the most referral traffic.
Which subdomains or subfolders get the most visits.
Which pages/posts pull in the most organic traffic.
Which keywords generate the most organic traffic.
Which regions and countries drive the most traffic.
The desktop vs. mobile traffic ratio and user engagement.
The other websites that your visitors are also visiting.
The Semrush Traffic Analytics report also allows users to check the traffic stats for up to 200 different websites in a single report. This bulk analysis is a huge time-saver for agencies and businesses trying to quickly identify key traffic channels, and referral partner sources in new or existing markets.
Editor’s Note:
The Traffic Analytics tool provides an all-access backstage pass to your competitor’s entire traffic strategy, which is something that Moz doesn’t provide.
If you’re interested in trying the Traffic Analytics tool, use this free 14-day trial (aff).
There’s a reason that Semrush was voted the best keyword research tool by over 130 SEO experts; it provides the largest, and arguably, the most accurate keyword database of any tool on the market.
That said, while the Moz keyword database (500M) is much smaller than Semrush’ (23B+), it does still provide one of the better keyword research tools on the market.
One of the top features is the SERP analysis breakdown. Similar to Semrush, users can view link data next to each ranking URL to better gauge competition, and more accurately qualify keyword opportunities.
Rank Tracking
The Semrush Position Tracking (aff) tool lets you accurately track mobile and desktop keyword rankings from country level, all the way down to the zip code.
This level of granularity has made Semrush a top-rated rank tracker, and a popular choice for agencies who need to monitor rankings for a range of clients targeting international markets all the way down to local businesses.
You can use the Position Tracking tool to:
Get dailykeyword ranking updates (including your competitors) across tags, devices, and locations.
View historical ranking performance from the last 7, 30, 60, or 90 days. You can also set custom date ranges.
Monitor SERP feature movements, such as snippets, images, videos, carousels, and ads, to quickly spot new opportunities.
Track ranking movements against competitors over time.
View ranking data in white-label SEMrush reports, or integrate with third-party reporting tools like Google Data Studio.
Import ranking data from other tools.
Editor’s Note:
The accuracy of Semrush’ desktop and mobile ranking data is the #1 reason I’ve been using the platform to track all the rankings for my personal projects, and agency clients over the past 8+ years.
I also really like having the ability to track SERP feature movements, and easily integrate ranking distribution data into third-party SEO dashboards.
You can track a larger number of keywords with Semrush (500) compared to Moz (300) on the respective starter plans.
That said, Moz does provide mobile and desktop ranking data across multiple search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, and Google. Right now, Semrush provides accurate ranking data that is updated daily for Google and Baidu (China).
Backlink Analysis
The Semrush backlink database contains over 1.6 billion referring domains to help you find all the domains linking to your website, and your competitors.
Examine your domain’s backlink profile for any suspicious or toxic links, and automatically create a disavow file to send to Google.
Editor’s Note:
The Semrush link building tool set has come a long way in recent years. The Backlink Analytics and Backlink Gap tools provide quality competitor link insights if you don’t want to pay for a dedicated link building tool.
In fact, the Semrush link database (1.6B domains) is now larger than Moz’ database (718M domains), and many other dedicated link building platforms.
The Backlink Audit tool is also a handy feature that makes it easy to quickly spot potentially harmful links across sites of any size.
Finally, Semrush’ Link Building Tool enables users to not only prospect, but also run outreach and track new links all within the Semrush platform. This feature means that you don’t have to pay for separate tools for prospecting and sending outreach emails.
Technical SEO Audits
The Site Audit (aff) tool is a powerful website crawler that allows you to quickly analyze any website’s health. The audit produces a prioritized list of issues, including duplicate content, thin content, orphaned pages, crawlability, and broken links, so you can see precisely where a website is struggling.
You can use the Site Audit tool to:
Inspect the desktop or mobile version of a site, plus include or exclude specific pages.
Compare crawls side-by-side to see how errors, warnings, and notices have changed over time.
Run on-demand audits and schedule auto re-crawls on a daily or weekly basis.
Editor’s Note:
I prefer to use the Semrush Site Audit tool, and currently use it to run monthly site crawls and technical audits for personal and client projects.
You can run technical site audits from one central SEO project dashboard, which is especially useful when managing multiple clients.
Semrush will give you an updated “health” score after each re-crawl.
One of the best features of the Semrush Site Audit tool is the ability to compare audits side-by-side to show progress over time, and send action items to external tools like Trello.
Moz also provides a site crawl and audit tool that identifies a range of technical site issues, and similar to Semrush, breaks them down into categories.
Local Listings Management
The Local Listing Management (aff) tool is an integration between Semrush and Yext that helps local businesses upload and maintain NAP listings.
Simply enter your NAP details once, and the Listing Management tool maintains the correct information on your website, Google Business profile, social networks, and important industry/niche directories.
Manage and publish local business information (NAP) to the major data aggregators, and dozens of authoritative directories, including Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Alexa.
Correct or adjust your NAP any time to make it more consistent across the web.
Monitor and reply to all your customers’ reviews in one place and manage your ratings.
Editor’s Note:
Moz provides an industry-leading local SEO solution, especially when it comes to citation building, audits, cleanup, and review management.
Semrush integrates with Yext, which is handy if you want to get NAP data pushed out to the leading aggregators and directories.
That said, Moz is a top-rated local search tool, and would be the preferred option if you’re looking for a dedicated solution for managing local listings.
White Label Reporting
Semrush’s white-label Reporting tools (aff) enable brands and agencies to present a competitive analysis, and clearly show the performance of SEO and PPC campaigns.
You can also use the drag-and-drop widgets to build branded SEO performance reports that combine Semrush analytics with other third-party data, such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google My Business.
Generate reports from pre-existing templates or create your own custom template.
Build, save, and manage all your reports in the tool with a user-friendly interface.
Send regular reports automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Editor’s Note:
Similar to Semrush, Moz provides a quality drag-and-drop report builder that enables users to create custom-branded and/or white label reports from scratch, or using pre-built templates.
One feature that helps Semrush stand out is the ability to not only pull data from each of its toolkits, but also third-party sources such as Google Analytics, Search Console and Google My Business.
For many businesses and agencies, this functionality removes the need to invest in a dedicated SEO reporting tool.
Semrush also provides an integration with Google Data Studio on its higher paid plans.
Best Moz Alternative for Beginners: Mangools
Mangools (aff) is a user-friendly and affordable SEO toolset that makes it easy for any SEO (beginner to advanced) to extract valuable insights.
The easy-to-navigate 5-in-one toolset is used by big brands such as Airbnb and Adidas to perform keyword research, analyze SERP data, track rankings, analyze backlinks, and run top-level site analysis.
It has one of the nicest user interfaces of any tool on the market.
Here’s how you can use the Mangools SEO toolset:
KWFinder (aff) helps you identify long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty, either using seed keywords or your competitor’s domain. You get a list of keywords with search volume and a Keyword Difficulty (KD) “traffic-light” rating so that you can target the quick-win keywords.
SERPChecker (aff) lets you run localized SERP simulations for any country or city on desktop or mobile. You can see all your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, use 45+ different data points to evaluate SERP competition, identify the impact of rich snippets on SERP CTRs, and compare your website metrics against the competition.
SERPWatcher (aff) provides accurate daily ranking updates across more than 50,000 locations, including counties, cities, and DMA regions, across both mobile and desktop devices.
The Dominance Index (DI) shows if you’re dominating the search results for your tracked keywords.
LinkMiner (aff) allows you to analyze the power of your competitors’ backlinks with its Link Strength (LS) metric, which is powered by Majestic’s Citation and Trust Flow metrics, among others.
You can also preview link placements without opening a separate browser window. Save the best link opportunities to lists inside the application.
SiteProfiler (aff) lets you check the SEO metrics and authority of any website. You can check the health of a backlink profile, spot the most popular content, benchmark your website against other sites, and discover similar websites based on audience demographics.
Editor’s Note:
Mangools is an affordable, user-friendly Moz alternative that provides a ton of data in an easy-to-digest format.
LinkMiner contains 9.5 trillion backlinks and pulls in Majestic’s trust and citation flow metrics. And SERPWatcher provides daily rank updates across 52,000+ locations on any device.
The tool makes it incredibly easy to find high-value keyword ideas, and use several SERP data points to accurately qualify each opportunity.
Best Free Moz Alternative: Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free, easy-to-use SEO toolset with access to over 6 billion keywords and 1 billion pieces of content. Users can perform keyword research, topic research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and run SEO audit reports.
The free version provides limited data, but is still very handy if you’re looking for a free alternative to Moz. For example: you are limited to 100 keyword results per search.
You can use Ubersuggest to:
Discover which content is getting the most engagement – social shares and backlinks – in your niche.
Generate keyword suggestions, questions, comparisons, and prepositions based on what’s working for your competitors, plus what people are typing into Google.
View link and traffic estimates for each keyword inside the SERP report.
Monitor your backlinks and find opportunities for getting new high-quality links for your website.
Check your site for SEO issues, and get detailed instructions on how to fix them.
Editor’s Note:
While Ubersuggest won’t do everything or give you access to nearly as much data compared to Moz or Semrush, it’s still a fantastic free alternative.
Ubersuggest also has some paid plans ranging from $29 – $99/month, plus some special lifetime deals that offer more features and reports/queries per day.
Best Single Purpose Moz Alternatives
So far, we’ve looked at the best all-in-one, beginner, and free alternatives to Moz.
But, you might not be looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one SEO toolset like Semrush, and only want to invest in a tool for a specific use case, like local SEO, backlink analysis, SERP tracking, or site audits.
So, here are the best single-use case alternatives to Moz.
Best Moz Alternative for Backlink Analysis: Ahrefs Site Explorer
Ahrefs has the largest index of live backlinks and is the second most active web crawler after Google. Ahrefs is a clear leader when it comes to backlink analysis and link prospecting. That said, Ahrefs is also one of the top Moz alternatives for keyword research, technical site audits and competitor content analysis.
You can use Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to:
Analyze competitor link profiles to see which pages, content types, and topics get linked to the most.
Use advanced filtering to find the best competitor link prospects.
Find backlink gaps and also identify your competitors’ recurring link sources.
Analyze anchor text distribution, spot PBN activity, and potential malicious SEO attacks.
View traffic estimates for backlink sources.
Monitor the growth in backlinks, plus page and domain ratings.
Spot the source of broken, new and lost backlinks.
Use the Batch Analysis tool to pull link metrics for up to 200 URLs at a time.
View link metrics inside SERP reports and more accurately qualify keywords.
Identify which websites link to your competitors the most.
Best Moz Alternative for Keyword Research: Semrush
Semrush gives you access to an enormous database of 23B+ billion keywords through several integrated keyword research tools. One unique feature is that you can add keyword ideas to your master list (inside SEMrush) from various places, including the Keyword Magic Tool, SEO and PPC toolkits.
Best Moz Alternative for Rank Tracking: AccuRanker
AccuRanker (aff) is the world’s fastest (on-demand) and most accurate standalone rank tracker used by over 25,000 agencies, SEO professionals, and brands.
Not only does this platform allow you to gain granular real-time ranking data across all the major search engines, but it also enables users to tie ranking movements back to traffic and conversions.
You can use AccuRanker to:
Evaluate market penetration with its unique Share of Voice (SoV) metric.
Run accurate on-demand updates of ranking data.
Track keyword rankings across all major search engines, including Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, and YouTube.
Map ranking data to Google Analytics traffic, goal, and revenue data in the Landing Pages report.
Monitor 50+ SERP features, such as featured snippets, knowledge panels, images, videos, carousels, ads, and local packs, for all of your keywords.
The powerful site crawler quickly gathers data on almost every on-page and technical SEO element, including indexation, titles, headings, meta descriptions, site speed, UX, content length, duplicate content, broken links, file sizes, and more.
Screaming Frog can crawl any type of website. Users can configure the spider to crawl specific sections of a website, and only pull in certain metrics.
You can use Screaming Frog to:
Find indexation issues.
Evaluate page titles and meta descriptions that are too long, too short, missing, or duplicated across your site.
Find internal and external broken links (4xx), redirect errors (3xx), server errors (5xx), and issues with blocked resources.
Discover duplicate and thin (low) content pages.
Pinpoint large image files that cause slow site loading times.
Analyze internal link structure and uncover orphan pages.
Crawl and analyze JavaScript websites and frameworks, such as Angular, React, and Vue.js.
Use API connections to pull performance data – engagement, traffic, links and conversions – from third-party sources, such as Google Analytics, Search Console, Ahrefs, Moz and Pagespeed Insights, and map them to all the URLs in a crawl.
Sitebulb
Sitebulb is a user-friendly website auditing tool. It’s ideal for those who are less technical, as you can use the color-coded visual graphs and easy-to-navigate UI to quickly spot issues. Plus, you can follow the helpful hints to understand why it’s an issue and how to potentially go about solving it.
You can use Sitebulb to:
Find and fix duplicate content, titles, meta descriptions, and URLs.
Spot on-page issues, such as thin content and missing elements.
Discover problems with broken links or internal links to redirects.
Unearth crawling and indexing issues.
Use maps to visualize the internal link structure of a website.
Compare audits over time to see which metrics have improved.
Crawl and render Javascript websites just like the major search engines.
Build custom PDF reports that can be used to showcase results to a client, support sales prospecting, or highlight opportunities for the C-suite.
Editor’s Note:
Sitebulb has quickly become one of the leading website auditing tools on the market. It provides extremely actionable insights inside an easy-to-digest user interface.
If you find that Screaming Frog is a little hard to navigate, but Moz doesn’t provide enough data, then Sitebulb is a great alternative to consider.
Best Moz Alternatives for Content Analysis
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO (aff) is a data-driven on-page SEO analysis tool. It’s the latest addition to my SEO arsencal, and a tool I now rely on daily across personal and client projects.
The Content Editor is ideal for optimizing existing assets, and the SERP Analyzer makes it easy to create detailed content briefs for writers.
Surfer SEO integrates with Google docs, and has a free chrome extension (aff) that pulls estimated search volume data directly into the SERP.
You can use Surfer SEO to:
Build data-driven content briefs based on 500+ ranking factors.
Pinpoint the perfect keyword density, common words, precise copy length, page structure, headers, and more for your content.
Discover topical questions that potential visitors have and answer them within your content.
Find quick wins for your content and boost rankings immediately.
Editor’s Note:
I use Surfer SEO almost daily to optimize existing assets and build detailed content briefs for clients and personal projects. I cover it all in this review.
Ahrefs Content Explorer
Ahrefs’ Content Explorer is a great tool for discovering which content types for a competitor or an industry get the most traffic, social engagement, and/or backlinks.
It’s also integrated with other SEO tools in the Ahrefs platform, making it possible to view traffic, backlink, and engagement data for different content.
You can use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer to:
Find the most popular content on any topic, sorted by traffic, social shares, referring domains, and more.
Delve deeper into any content to see whether a page is gaining or losing backlinks and organic traffic over time with the in-line charts.
Reverse-engineer your competitor’s content marketing strategy.
Find broken link building opportunities with the live/broken filter and referring domains filter on a given topic.
Find unlinked brand mentions.
Identify high-traffic keywords that don’t require many backlinks to rank.
Best Moz Alternative for Local SEO: BrightLocal
BrightLocal (aff) is a leading all-in-one local marketing platform that can build, clean up and remove citations, generate and manage online reviews and reputation, audit Google My Business (GMB) information, and track local search rankings.
It’s trusted by thousands of marketers from agencies, small businesses, and multi-location businesses, including IKEA and Valvoline.
You can use BrightLocal to:
Grow, monitor, and respond to customer reviews on the sites that matter most to your business.
Track local search rankings in organic, local packs, maps, and mobile.
Audit and expand your citation profile.
Run SEO and GMB audits to improve local search performance.
Integrate with Google Analytics to track changes to traffic and conversions.
