The top 11 SEO software tools: Which one is right for you?

July 10, 2014

Perhaps the most arduous part of devising a search strategy is just getting started. There are a lot of tools out there, all at different price points and with different features. Locating a vendor that suits your needs is no simple task.

So we’re here to help. Our team of SEO specialists conducted numerous interviews, demos, and trials in order to bring you a matrix of the top 11 SEO software tools available.

The comparisons below are a starting point for your search, offering baseline insights into important areas like ease of getting started (“deployment”) or the ability to monitor your ROI – aspects that are tough to gauge when going by a website or sales pitch. The total cost to your business will vary according to differing fee structures and schedules, so “pricing” is a relative comparison. Also, vendors often have special features that go beyond the scope of this matrix, so this analysis is by no means all-inclusive.

Here are the questions we ask:

1. Monetization: How will optimization translate into dollars?

2. Keyword Research: Can we track ranking, determine search traffic and find suggestions and synonyms for keywords we’re already using, and see how these keywords rank across all search results (ex. news or images)?

3. Backlink Features: Can we see which sites are linking back to our site(s), manage those backlinks and get recommendations for sites we should request links from or build links on?

4. Competitor Monitoring: Can we see link metrics and ranking for competing sites, and manage and monitor data about those competitors?

5. Integration: Does the tool integrate with Google Analytics and Social Media APIs like Facebook and Twitter?

6. Page Ranking: How is page strength gauged – through a page/domain score and/or Google Pagerank?

Here are the tools we evaluated:

BrightEdge
Moz
Raven
Conductor
AuthorityLabs
UpCity
Advanced Web Ranking
web CEO
Analytics SEO
HubSpot
seoClarity