[Last updated: May 1, 2016]
After ranking literally thousands of keywords and tracking the progress of dozens of sites, the Authority crew has used its fair share of SEO tools. We’ve taken that knowledge to bring you the best, show you what they are used for, and who will get the most out of them. Our top spot this year goes to Ahrefs.
Best Overall: Ahrefs
Overview: Any SEO pro or business actively trying to rank for competitive keywords using links will use this tool every day. Ahrefs is used in small (0-50 employees), medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Link analysis is crucial to most SEO efforts, and Ahrefs is the best tool on the market to do it. You’ll be getting more than detailed link data, though. Ahrefs has continued to develop and create high-value add-ons that are all included in the monthly cost. Research KW’s that are ranking based on links (obviously) and the types of content (e.g. top lists, reviews) and use that intel to create a better page in both form and function. You can track the position of multiple keywords, and with plans starting at $99/mo, getting a return on your investment should be easy enough. Honestly, this tool doesn’t have much downside and delivers more value than the rest. As long as Ahrefs keeps innovating and crawling on a massive scale (12 trillion links and counting), they’ll be a viable solution for any business needing to improve their SEO.
Read our full Ahrefs review here.
Best for Enterprise: Searchmetrics
Overview: Series ranking tools for big enterprise customers. Over a dozen tools to move the needle on keywords large and small. Searchmetrics is used in medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Enterprise is at the forefront of their homepage which makes it clear who they hope to serve. There is an “essential” plan for small ventures, but the difference in features is drastic. Brands like eBay, Yahoo, and about half of the fortune 500 list trust them with their rankings; not a bad resume. As you may imagine, it’s complex and takes a team to manage, but new features arrive all the time and the data provided is invaluable to large SEO campaigns. Content crawled by Searchmetrics is ranked by depth and relevance to help your team create better content than the competition and make serious headway in the SERPs. Mobile is taken very seriously since over half of all internet time is spent on phones and tablets, and you can see how mobile-friendly your content is easily. A big feature that helps enterprise clients is traffic forecasting based on past data and current SEO efforts. Small biz clients will want to sit this one out, but it’s the best option for big business, and a good option for mid-sized companies hoping to catch up to the big fish.
Read our full Searchmetrics review here.
Number 3: Majestic
Overview: Link analysis that allows you to find new opportunities and stay away from spam links to maximize your juice. Majestic is used in small (0-50 employees), medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Aside from Ahrefs, Majestic is one of the best link analyzers around. A couple of proprietary metrics set them apart from the rest, and help you do one thing; stay away from spammy links. Negative SEO from competitors or other unsavory tactics can have an effect on rankings. Disavowing may help, but it helps to understand everyone who is linking to your site. In addition to keeping out spam links, you’ll be able to figure out who’s linking to who in terms of your competition. Often times sites in similar categories will link to one another sharing juice and bump up in the SERPs. Majestic’s “Clique Hunter” will allow you to see large groups of sites that have done this and give you the potential to find large natural link networks in your niche. A great service for small and mid-sized companies who are looking for high-value opportunities and want to keep away from toxic links.
Number 4: SEM Rush
Overview: Finding keywords for your brand is important, but this tool allows you to find out exactly what KW’s your competitors are ranking too. SEM Rush is used in small (0-50 employees), medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Take your competitor’s URL(s), plug them into this tool, and you’ll have everything you need to know to rank alongside them. It’s not just about tracking links and finding KW’s. SEM Rush will help you find what keywords the other guy is ranking for AND the pages of their site that get the most traffic. Being able to see where someone else has done well and do it better is insanely valuable to help rank. Advertising and PPC will be easier with our number 3 choice, too. Competitor’s terms will be available to dissect, giving you a leg up on your own PPC. Crafting headlines and product descriptions will be easier with all of the data right in one place. If you’re in an industry with heavy competition and need all the help you can get, or if you’re ahead and want to stay that way, SEM Rush can help.
Read our full SEM Rush review here.
Number 5: SEOMonitor
Overview: SEOMonitor is a clever way to see which keywords are being found by Google and compare it to site traffic in an insightful way. SEOMonitor is used in small (0-50 employees), and medium companies (51-1,000 employees).
Summary: If you need to know the keywords that are bringing in organic traffic, SEOMonitor is a tool that delivers. Utilizing the API of Google Analytics along with their software they will help you figure out where the visits came from. A unique feature to this monitoring service is deciphering “brand” from “non-brand” traffic. Essentially, you’ll be able to see the difference between visitors who knew who you were beforehand and those that didn’t. This intel is valuable in conversion tracking and content planning. That non-brand traffic will also be utilized to see the increased reach of your SEO efforts. The more that haven’t been introduced to your brand, the better your organic rankings for key terms have become. A great tool for mid-size businesses looking to boost brand awareness and to better organize incoming traffic.
Read our full SEOMonitor review here.
Number 6: SpyFu
Overview: Every keyword, paid ad, and organic search result that your competitor has been going after for the past 9 years delivered to you in a report. SpyFu is used in small (0-50 employees), and medium companies (51-1,000 employees).
Summary: SpyFu can help any business get a detailed look at the competition’s advertising campaigns. Figuring out who the top spenders are for your money keywords, track ad placement and rankings for thousands of KW’s, and get all of the data into detailed reports helping both your SEO and PPC ads. A special feature called “Keyword Kombat” will help you find new keywords that competitors are ranking for, but you’ll have to come up with a content/link building strategy on your own. SpyFu can help small businesses gain an edge on bigger companies not fully utilizing SEO. Large enterprises will find it a bit too specific and possibly included in a higher-priced SEO tool made for big businesses.
Read our full SpyFu review here.
Number 7: MuckRack
Overview: Reach out and get free publicity from major publications. MuckRack is used in medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Getting free press is more valuable to some businesses than others, but it never hurts. MuckRack makes it easy to find and pitch journalists and high profile bloggers from one place. A bit like HARO, but with a little more help from the company itself. Your message and pitch need to be solid, but it can be picked up by large circulation publications (e.g. NYT, FastCompany) which make for valuable links and tons of traffic. Product launches, new market entries, and major changes can be potential “stories”. Enterprise customers and any business in a broad industry (like e-commerce) will find it the most useful. If you have a super-targeted ideal customer, this may not be a service that interests you. However, if you have a newsworthy pitch it’s worth the effort.
Read our full MuckRack review here.
Number 8: Bright Edge
Overview: One of the few enterprise specific tools on the market, Bright Edge takes a holistic approach to SEO and puts a ton of tools and value into a few available products. Bright Edge is used in medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Another enterprise specific tool, Bright Edge has some impressive customers (including Nike and Microsoft). Specializing in content marketing, this is a holistic tool that is geared toward helping the biggest rank for even more terms. Not only will you be able to utilize their software and system to develop campaigns and content, but you can manage a team of dedicated content creators and SEO team members as well. This one tool helps you with four key steps: Identify demand, benchmark the competition, create and optimize content, and measure and monitor results. Bright Edge doesn’t even market to smaller businesses, but mid-sized companies who are focused online would find it useful to propel your brand forward.
Read our full Bright Edge review here.
Number 9: Raven
Overview: An auditing tool that will show you what’s wrong with your site’s SEO and the play by play to getting it fixed. Raven is used in small (0-50 employees), and medium companies (51-1,000 employees).
Summary: One of the first steps in SEO is to get your own house in order. Before you go link building and competition hunting, your site needs to be the best it can be. Raven has one of the best site auditing tools available, bar none. While some agencies offer “free site audits”, many of them use this tool to do it. If you want details on why your site is performing poorly down to the content on each page (up to 10,000 pages/site) this tool can deliver. Not only will you receive what’s wrong, but get a detailed and easy to read set of steps to resolve all issues. Enterprises who are focused on SEO won’t find a good use for Raven, but small and mid-sized companies will be able to utilize it for immediate results.
Read our full Raven review here.
Number 10: Moz
Overview: Tons of analytical data translated into terms you can understand and the instructions to achieve better rankings. Moz is used in small (0-50 employees), and medium companies (51-1,000 employees).
Summary: Moz has come up with some metrics that help gauge the value and weight of pages across the internet. Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) have helped SEO’s and marketers see how Google views their own pages as well as craft link building strategies to rank sites. Several tools have been added to the box, but each come with a separate fee. If your business is local, Moz has one of the only tools on our list that has a specific product to help analyze and rank for Local SEO. While the tools are helpful, most decent sized companies with intricate SEO campaigns may not find their tools as useful as others, they are a fantastic option for beginners and smaller ventures.
Read our full Moz review here.
Number 11: Wordtracker
Overview: Find long tail keywords that Google isn’t showing you and the detailed competition stats to help you rank for them. Wordtracker is used in small (0-50 employees), medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: Keyword research is a part of most of the online tools we’ve listed at Authority, but this one is unique. Most KW tools simply import and dissect data from Google’s keyword planner, but Wordtracker helps you find terms that aren’t available in the GKP. Naturally, these KW’s may be easier to rank with fewer people able to access them. You can also input a term and get a list of very similar keywords, great for using long tails to gain traffic. Wordtracker has become a favorite amongst SEO marketers and has an affordable price tag starting at $27/mo. Any size business could benefit from the unique variations on keywords to find easily ranked terms and gain visitors.
Read our full Wordtracker review here.
Number 12: Screaming Frog
Overview: After you’ve done all you can to rank, this tool will help you figure out the tech issues that are holding you back in the SERP’s. Screaming Frog is used in small (0-50 employees), medium (51-1,000 employees) and enterprise companies (1,000+ employees).
Summary: If your site has hit a plateau and isn’t ranking as high as it should, you could use a detailed site analysis. Screaming Frog is like having a man (or woman) on the inside of Google, telling you exactly what the algorithms are looking for in a site. This spider tool will crawl your site and discover what’s going wrong. Then, you’ll get a detailed report that will help you get back on track. The free version will help bootstrapped companies, but the paid version is only $99/year. While it’s not expensive, it is used by big named brands. Google themselves even uses Screaming Frog, which should have you pulling out your credit card right now.
Read our full Screaming Frog review here.
Number 13: Web CEO
Overview: A newer tool that hopes to bring most of your SEO needs under one roof. Several useful features at one price. Web CEO is used in small (0-50 employees), and medium companies (51-1,000 employees).
Summary: This company can be an all-in-one solution for small and mid-sized ventures looking to take their SEO to the next level. Over a dozen quality tools for one low price and everything can be easily managed by a single person or small crew. The free plan doesn’t offer much value, but the paid plans are perfect for anyone looking to rank for their KW’s. Not a great option for enterprises, especially with companies like Bright Edge and Search Metrics out there. That said, smaller companies can easily gain the upper hand on larger competitors who aren’t tracking progress in the SERPs.
Read our full Web CEO review here.
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