ClickZ SEO Tools Buyers Guide
2 likesā¢657 views
This document serves as a buyer's guide for enterprise SEO tools, detailing the evolution of organic search and outlining the role of technology in modern marketing. It emphasizes the increasing importance of SEO as a sophisticated marketing channel while showcasing market leaders and emerging trends like mobile-first indexing and voice search. The guide aims to help marketers select appropriate technology partners by providing insights into various platforms without issuing explicit recommendations.
ClickZ SEO Tools Buyers Guide
- 1. In partnership with Platforms evaluated Buyers Guide Enterprise SEO Tools Helping you choose the right technology partners
- 2. Notes
- 3. ..................................................... Contents page 1About this guide 2The state of organic search today 6Company profiles Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 20 22 24 26 28 30 .......................................... ................................... .................................... ........................................ ............................... ...................................... 3The role of an enterprise SEO tool 7The ClickZ & Search Engine Watch customer survey Introduction Keyword analysis and tracking Technical SEO Content marketing Backlinks and social media Customer experience Analytics and reporting Final scores and summary 33 35 38 41 44 47 50 53 ................................. ....... ............................... ........................ ........... .................... ................. ............ 01 ..................................................... 02 ..................................................... 11 4Picking the right technology for you ..................................................... 14 5Scope and methodology ..................................................... 18
- 4. 1 About this guide The pace of change in todayās world is phenomenal. The average Fortune 500 company1 took 20 years to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion. Today, we have seen Uber, Slack, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest & Square get there in under three. Computing power continues to accelerate each year (largely following Mooreās Law) and the democratization of technology driven by its plummeting cost, increased access to funds and a rising entrepreneurial culture means that start-ups are upending even the most established businesses. As marketers, we have been on the sharp end of technological disruption as we look to track, target, monitor and engage with our customers. You have to remember that Google was only born in 1998 and that in 2011 there were only 150 tracked marketing technologies. Fast forward to the present day and the average attention span is only 8 seconds, 80% of the US population3 own a smartphone, and there are over 5,000 marketing technologies2 . The power of technology is revealed all around us (look at Netflix, Uber, and Airbnb, for example), so it is no surprise that it has become the single biggest factor enabling businesses to gain an advantage over their competitors. This is reflected by the fact we now spend 33% of our marketing budget on technology, which has just surpassed the 32% spent on advertising4 . If you combine all of this together, and add in the huge costs associated with adopting a new technology, the crowded landscape, integrations with legacy technology, management of stakeholders and the long onboarding periods - choosing the right technology can be equated to being dropped into the middle of a minefield and your job is to lead your team to safety. But donāt worry! At ClickZ, we are here to help. As one of the largest digital marketing communities in the world, we have access to knowledgeable and insightful experts in all digital marketing disciplines. Our new series of buyerās guides will avail of this expertise by canvassing opinions on a range of market- leading technologies, in the hope of facilitating more successful decisions for other members of the community. We provide no explicit recommendations on which platforms are superior, as their effectiveness will be determined by a companyās circumstances. We do, however, aim to create a clear view on the areas in which each of the main technologies excel, and the types of company that typically benefit from their services. Each guide will be accompanied by an event in London and New York and we welcome your feedback on how to improve this document. Sam Lawson Head of ClickZ The average enterprise has over 1,200 cloud-based technologies. 1 World Economic Forum White Paper, Digital Transformation of Industries: Digital Enterprise 2 Chiefmartech.com 3 Statista 4 Gartner - CMO Spend Survey 2016-2017
- 5. 2 The state of organic search today The reports of SEOās death have been greatly exaggerated. If anything, SEO has truly entered the mainstream over the past decade rather than receding into the background. Where once it was seen as a murky practice based on link buying and keyword stuffing, there is now a common consensus that SEO is a sophisticated, long-term marketing channel. Undoubtedly, organic search has changed in a number of significant ways over the last decade, often in response to Google algorithm updates. However, in some important ways, SEO has also remained the same essential practice it always was. People want information and they search for it; the most reputable, authoritative resources will be served in response to their queries. Search engines have become much more effective in bridging this gap between searchers and content. Brands must work harder than ever to ensure that they gain valuable market share, but the rewards for a successful SEO campaign are great. The numbers substantiate this claim. SEO remains a very significant source of online traffic, driving an average of 51% of clicks to any website5 . Moreover, 2017 saw search (both organic and paid) overtake social media as the largest source of referral traffic across the Web. 5 Brightedge Organic search remains the core tenet of this significant traffic referral source. New research shows that the SEO share of search clicks is remaining relatively constant, with 66% of desktop queries resulting in an organic search click. Search vs. Social: Share of Visits 60% 40% 20% 0% Social SearchBased on activitx aggregated from 250,000 sites and 400+ millions unuique monthly visitors Aug, 13 VisitShare Apr 12 May 16Dec 14 Sep 17
- 6. 3 Mobile is the key growth area, of course, and it is here that we are met with a more complex set of circumstances. Yet, it is clear that SEO still takes up a much larger proportion of the total number of search clicks than its paid counterpart. More and more of the traditional SERP is now owned by Google, both through their content and their ads. This explains the gap in the charts above, where a large number of searches go unaccounted for. A resultant phenomenon is the āno-click searchā, where Google satisfies the userās intent without having to send them to a third-party site. We see this in quick answers and voice search responses, but these trends have not yet taken over commercial queries. Deskop Organic vs. Paid CTR, Google US (Nov. 2015 - Feb. 2018 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 3.4% 71.6% Desktop Organic CTR Desktop Paid CTR Data via Jumpshot, compiled by Rand Fishkin Nov, 2015 2.6% 66% May, 2016 3.4% 65.3% Nov, 2016 3% 64.3% May, 2017 3% 65.8% Oct, 2017 3.8% 65.8% Feb, 2018 Mobile Organic vs. Paid CTR, Google US (Nov. 2015 - Feb. 2018 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2.5% 66.6% Mobile Organic CTR Mobile Paid CTR Data via Jumpshot, compiled by Rand Fishkin Nov, 2015 1.8% 59.6% May, 2016 2% 42.7% Nov, 2016 2% 42.9% May, 2017 2.7% 41% Oct, 2017 3.1% 39% Feb, 2018 https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-data-how-googles-organic-paid-ctrs-have-changed-2015-2018/
- 7. 4 The growth of the no-click search is particularly marked on mobile and, with the mobile-first index finally launched, we should look to the trends on these devices to see where the industry is headed. In essence, SEO has evolved into something entirely new over the last five years, but yet retains its recognizable core as a blend of technical and creative skills. Its rewards are not easily reaped, but they are there for those willing and able to invest the resources. As a result, it is unsurprising that brands are projected to spend $79.27 billion annually on organic search services and technologies by 2020. No-Click Searches, Desktop vs. Mobile, google US (Nov. 2015 - Feb. 2018) 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Desktop No-Click Searches Mobile No-Click Searches Data via Jumpshot, compiled by Rand Fishkin Nov, 2015 May, 2016 Nov, 2016 May, 2017 Oct, 2017 Feb, 2018 33.4% 28.4% 40.4% 34% 57.3% 34.7% 57.1% 35.7% 58.9% 34.2% 61.3% 34.3% Total U.S Spending for SEO (2008-2020 in $ Billions) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Source: Borrell Associatesā Trends in Digital Marketing Services 2016 $11.44 $15.97 $22.10 $34.27 $42.35 $48.28 $55.11 $60.73 $65.26 $68.89 $72.02 $75.23 $79.27
- 8. 5 Moreover, 21% of respondents to our community survey are C-Level employees at their company. This further highlights the elevation of SEO and its close alignment with modern business strategy. We can also see that the vast majority (93%) of brand marketers proactively engage in organic search - a higher proportion than for any other channel. These statistics paint a picture of a burgeoning industry and at a broad level that is an accurate portrayal. The SEO landscape is constantly changing, however. As such, these impressive but rather nebulous numbers only tell us so much. After all, organic search has evolved into a sophisticated, multi-device conversation between brands and consumers. Moreover, 21% of respondents to our community survey are C-Level employees at their company.This further highlights the elevation of SEO and its close alignment with modern business strategy. Digital marketing activities used bx marketers and agencies Source: SEMPOās 2016 State of Search report SEO Paid Searc Social media marketing Social media advertising Digital display marketing Email marketing 95% 93% 89% 85% 72% 84% 77% 69% 71% 68% 51% 78% Agencies/consultants Marketers
- 9. 6 Just some of the trends shaping the industry today include: AMP everywhere RankBrain, Machine Learning, and AI Progressive Web Apps Hyperlocal search Mobile-first index Voice search Visual search More, better data The increased presence of paid listings The convergence of SEO and content The prioritization of these various strands will change depending on the industry, but there is no denying their ongoing significance. Retailers, for example, will want to align SEO with their Shopping strategy and local search will be of vital importance. Financial services companies, meanwhile, will focus heavily on their content marketing strategy, from Quick Answers through to supporting content for their transactional pages. In essence, strategies will respond to consumer journeys and preferences, which vary greatly from industry to industry. Just ādoing SEOā isnāt doing enough any more. So, where exactly is all of this money being spent? Which SEO services and technologies deliver the best returns on so much investment? The first port of call is to know where people are searching. At a macro level, it is clear from a recently released Jumpshot study that the SEO landscape is now at a mature level if we consider the major search engines in the US: Just ādoing SEOā isnāt doing enough any more.
- 10. 7 The Google ecosystem remains dominant, even if its form has adapted greatly over the years. Looking at a snapshot of total web searches for February 2018, we can see that Amazonās share of the total remains small, at 2.3%. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Where Web Users Search (Nov. 2015 - Feb. 2018) Google Web Search Google Image Search Google Maps Bing YouTube Yahoo! Other 62.6% Google 22.6% Google Images 4.3% YouTube 2.4% Yahoo 2.3% Amazon 2.2% Bing 1.4% Facebook 1.3% Google Maps 0.5% Pinterest 0.4% Twitter
- 11. 8 For commercial queries, there is reason to believe that this will grow - driven by mass adoption of Amazonās smart home devices - but Google retains a stranglehold on the broader search market in Western countries. Voice-first devices will continue to grow in popularity and this will change how consumers search, but the core engines that underpin this will be Google-based, while Amazon will become more important as a result of the companyās aggressive growth strategy. On the whole, however, the trends are well-established and we know where we need to achieve visibility if we are to grow our organic search traffic. We may know that Google dominates in the West, but that doesnāt necessarily inform a strategy. The next area to investigate is how marketers aim to gain a competitive advantage through SEO. A growing area for the last few years has been content marketing, for very clear and logical reasons. Search engines need trustworthy ways to evaluate the quality of a page and it is hard to achieve this without analyzing the pageās content. Backlinks remain essential markers of a high-quality page, but people tend to link to pages with good content. All roads lead to content, which has seen this discipline rise to become the foremost priority for digital marketers: 42% 39% 30% 30% 29% 26% 26% 15% 7% Content Marketing Search Marketing Social Media Retargeting/personalisation Cross channel campaigns Attribution Mobile optimisation Programmatic advertising Social commerce (e.g Facebook Marketplace) AI (Voice search, digital assistants, chatbots) Virtual realitx / Augmented reality Ad blocking Smart hubs (e.g Amazon Echo, Google Home) Visual search (e.g Pinterest, CamFind) Other 5% 5% 4% 4% 11% 2% Voice-First Device Footprint 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2014 2015 VoiceLabs Analysis combined with research from CIRP, KPCB and InfoScout MillionsofDevices 2016 2017 Which of the following areas do you believe are the top priorities for you business in 2017?
- 12. 9 āContentā is such a wide-ranging field that it covers everything from text to images and videos, plus a lot of different assets in between. Google wants to provide the most accurate results possible, which means interpreting and serving the full array of content formats a user may want to see. This has a very visual impact on the search landscape, which typically takes the following format on a desktop device: The pervasiveness of paid listings is hard to ignore and the space is condensed further when we shift to a mobile device. The number of organic search listings on page one is showing some interesting variation too: The advent of infinite scrolling mobile results6 means that this view on the SERP landscape may soon be redundant. Ten blue links are gone for good. 6 https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-switches- infinite-scrolling-mobile-search-results/248599/ Organic Results by Count 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Moz research - Dr Pete Meyers) 150 584 1,212 686 2,433 4,909 241001
- 13. 10 Both the aesthetics of the SERPs, and the mechanisms that drive them, have changed fundamentally. Amidst so much flux, people are still clicking on SEO results en masse. 51% of online traffic comes from organic search and competition for attention is fiercer than ever. SEO may still depend on technical skills, creative nous, and industry experience, but it has also developed into a mature discipline with a seat at the table in many board meetings. In short, it has never been more important to choose our battles wisely. Device usage is shifting towards mobile-first, paid listings are more prominent than ever, while both voice search and visual search are bringing new ways for consumers to discover content. Beneath the shiny surface of these relatively nascent trends, the core components of SEO are just as important as they ever were. Technical SEO is actually increasing in significance, while the link building industry continues to develop in sophistication over time. Therefore, a blend of technical, creative, and interpersonal skills is required to devise and implement a successful strategy. Organic search budgets are increasing, but simply spending the most money offers no guarantee of success. That has always been the innate attraction of SEO; the traffic may be āfreeā, but it takes a lot of time, effort, and expertise just to be in a position to compete. Of course, picking the right technology partners can go a long way towards gaining a competitive advantage. Even the best SEO team in the world is only as good as the tools at their disposal. Summary Creative InterpersonalTechnical Clark Boyd Author of the Buyers Guide to Enterprise SEO Tools
- 14. 11 The role of an enterprise SEO tool There is an evolutionary development that takes an SEO technology from āspecialistā to āenterpriseā level. Although different companies take different routes to this end goal, it is a common ambition for any technology that carves out a position in the SEO landscape. Some aim to perfect their data set in one area before branching out, while others aim to grab the fertile enterprise land and improve their offering from there. Whether a vendor starts as a backlink specialist, a keyword tracker, or a content marketing platform, it adds to its armory over time and often aims to bring this suite of tools together in one āenterpriseā package. So, what is it that defines an enterprise tool? There are numerous facets to this answer and its application will depend on the context of each business, of course. However, we can still identify some clear patterns. There is an understandable desire among marketers of all levels to regain some control over their SEO data. Enterprise SEO tools aim to achieve exactly this. They perform a number of vital functions and bring these together into one, comprehensive dashboard. When they perform their function well, they unify disparate data sets and automatically generate insights. A real challenge within the organic search industry is that we often have to question the data we see, even when it comes directly from Google. Search Console is highly valuable (especially in its latest iteration), but enterprise marketers need more insight than this one dataset can provide. For brands that manage international SEO efforts, the complexity increases further still. Large companies need reliable data from multiple sources that can be turned into actionable insight. As a result, these vendors are also battling to build their own proprietary datasets, whether for keyword research, backlinks, or site crawling. This provides customers with a competitive edge; put simply, those with the best data and the most advanced tools will be in a great position to develop their strategy. There is an understandable desire among marketers of all levels to regain some control over their SEO data. Enterprise SEO tools aim to achieve exactly this.
- 15. 12 The customer experience is also a significant differentiator in the transition from specialist tool to enterprise platform. Enterprise technologies will contain a wide range of features and will couple this with a sophisticated approach to client relations. Many of the vendors we interviewed are focused on acting as strategic advisors to their clients, rather than just providers of data and technology. For the largest brands, this will be a vital consideration - especially if they do not have a large in-house SEO team. While no replacement for an SEO specialist, an enterprise SEO tool - and the expertise these vendors bring - can certainly augment the capabilities of a smaller team. For smaller brands, the list of requirements may be more specific. The added cost that comes with a dedicated account manager may not be worth the investment, relative to the potential rewards. In some instances, a self- serve platform will be a more fitting solution, especially if a brand avails of a strong team of SEO specialists. As such, our analysis aims to cover these differing needs.All of these tools are valid options for enterprise SEO, and they all perform at least the majority of the following functions: Site crawling Backlink tracking Content marketing Workflow tools SEO performance reports Keyword research and tracking It is worth noting SEO is so varied and complex that marketers do not expect one platform to do everything exceptionally well. Many of our readers noted this in their feedback to our survey. They do, however, need to know the areas in which certain platforms are strong and weak, in order to complement them with specialist tools if needed. An SEO software suite may do an excellent job of keyword tracking, technical SEO recommendations, and performance reporting, but it may not provide access to accurate backlink tracking. In such an instance, brands will often seek out a specialist backlink tool like MajesticSEO. Equally, a platform may excel at content insights and keyword tracking, but not go into the gritty detail that is required for technical SEO. In such a situation, a marketer may opt to invest in a tool like Botify to ensure full coverage in such an essential area. This picture is reflected in our survey dataset. 76% of respondents use their enterprise SEO tool for keyword research, while 65% use it for rank tracking and 59% regularly use this technology to analyze their competitors. Percent Keyword Research 76% Rank tracking 65.1% Technical SEO 52.5% International SEO 20.7% Backlink tracking 49.2% Competitor Analysis 58.6% SEO project management 34% Value
- 16. 13 Furthermore, 44% of respondents invest in just one SEO technology, which means that this can be a business critical decision. The challenge is that it can be difficult to get an honest opinion on which tool is the most suitable for you, when so many have a vested interest in promoting one tool over another. Typically, the only way to find out for sure is to sign up for a licence and learn from experience. That is why we have developed this guide. We want to pool the experiences of industry leaders and practitioners worldwide to provide clear, trustworthy opinions on the strengths of each technology so that our readers can make more effective decisions.
- 17. 14 Picking the right technology for you All of the vendors covered in this guide provide sophisticated solutions in the 6 core areas of assessment. What we want to bring to light are the subtle differences that can help advertisers make the right decision for their business. To understand which vendor is the right partner for you, it is advisable to go through the following process. Define your decision criteria Research Decision & implementation Product Demos Draw up the business case These criteria will typically include: Step 1: Define your decision criteria Digital strategy Business objectives SEO budget Technology budget Proposed start date Legacy technology One output from these discussions should be an evaluation scorecard, containing the features that you feel are essential for your business when selecting a vendor. These criteria should also be weighted based on their relative importance. For some brands, it will be essential to have a platform that manages international search engine rankings, generates content marketing ideas, and identifies toxic backlinks at scale. For others, having a technology partner that incorporates the latest machine learning technology will be important, as this can lead to profitable insights from analytics data that may otherwise go unnoticed.
- 18. 15 These are only two out of thousands of potential scenarios, but this starts to highlight the significance of deciding up-front exactly what you value most from an enterprise SEO tool. Furthermore, as one respondent in our survey put it: Donāt expect an SEO platform to do the work for you - you will still need your own SEO strategy. Have a clear idea of what you want a platform to provide and keep that as first priority. Donāt get distracted by other features or trendy functionality that you might not really need. Partnering with a vendor or switching to a new platform will entail some level of investment from any business. Before engaging with vendors, it is essential to get buy-in from your company and prove why this investment will bring significant returns. According to a recent study, 69% of marketers7 feel that budget is the main restricting factor when it comes to their business investing in new marketing technology, while 35% state that difficulty of implementation is an obstacle. Step 2: Draw up the business case 7 Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2016 Whatās holding your company back from implementing new marketing technology? Budget Difficulty of implementation/integration Internal resistance to change Lack of executive buy-in Lack of information Lack of interest Nothing meets our needs We donāt need newmarketing technology Other 69% 35% 33% 22% 10% 10% 7% 20% 3% Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2016
- 19. 16 Figure out which of these factors may constrain you, before putting together a business case that helps overcome them. The benefits included within this business case may be: Increased ROI from search Increased productivity through task automation and better insights from data Transparency for all stakeholders in reporting dashboards More efficient spending of ad budgets Access to new innovations and features For each stakeholder you would like to convince, there will likely be a different weighting attached to each criterion. For example, the CMO may prioritize the ROI the platform will bring, while a specialist may be more focused on the insights the technology will provide. Make sure to tailor your proposal to cater for these criteria within your audience. Always look at the decision-making process with organizational buy-in in mind. How will this platform also help other departments understand the importance of SEO? The next stage is to conduct some research on the vendors that best suit your needs. Guides like this one serve as helpful resources, and peer recommendations remain hugely influential. Online reviews and case studies also provide useful context, but always consider the source of this content. If the person or business has different requirements of the technology than you do, their opinions on its efficacy are not always that impactful. This discovery phase is essenial, so it is worth drawing up a longlist of vendors to evaluate against your selection criteria. A mixture of peer recommendations, analyst reports, testimonials, and a review of the vendorsā respective websites will provide some color and allow you to whittle the list down to a small selection of potential technology partners. It is at this stage that most advertisers will engage with vendors to set up some meetings. Step 3: Research 53% of marketers8 report that product demos are a significant determining factor when choosing a marketing technology partner - a higher percentage than was reported for any other factor. Step 4: Product demos 8 Walker Sands 2016
- 20. 17 This is to be expected, as demos often provide the first live interaction with a platform. However, enterprise SEO technologies contain a huge array of sophisticated features and it is entirely possible to miss out on some key capabilities in a product demonstration. Keep in mind the features that matter most for your business and ask questions that keep the conversation on track. Some example questions to ask during a demo: Can we migrate our historical rankings data to this platform? Is it possible to manage our Google My Business listings through this software? Do you have proprietary data sets, or do you use an API to pull in data from other companies? Does the platform integrate with our existing analytics software? Does it cost more to track keywords by device and by location? Are there additional fees to use advanced or custom features? How frequently are keyword rankings updated? Of course, this list of questions could extend much further and will depend on each companyās requirements. It is recommended to draw up a standardized list of questions to answer for all vendors, as this will give everyone a chance to respond on an equal footing and remove some bias from the decision process. If at all possible, have a trial period. Ask as many questions as possible in the evaluation process about every single area of SEO and go as in-depth as possible. Try and tie your goals / metrics to their costing. If at all possible, have a trial period.Ask as many questions as possible in the evaluation process about every single area of SEO and go as in-depth as possible.Try and tie your goals / metrics to their costing. More than half of marketers (57%) say three to five people are typically involved in martech purchasing decisions at their companies. If you have prepared and used a scorecard throughout the process, this should help when it comes to arriving at a joint decision among the relevant stakeholders. Given the importance of an enterprise SEO platform, decision-makers will usually include senior marketers, from VP to Director and CMO. Understand what matters for each party and use this knowledge to frame your proposal. When you are ready to proceed with a particular vendor, it is time to negotiate a contract, define the length of the agreement, and agree on commercial terms. It is also a good idea to ask for references from the vendor, as current clients will be able to provide a lot of insight into the experience of using the platform over a longer period of time. The onboarding process is a vital part of the new partnership, so make sure you have set aside enough time to engage with this fully. Many brands dedicate one person to this process, which ensures that someone in the business can be a champion for the technology and help others maximize its potential. Step 5: Decision and implementation
- 21. 18 Scope and methodology The core purpose of this guide is to help people who are in the market for new enterprise SEO tools to make more informed decisions. Our belief is that current customers of these vendors will have important, informed opinions to share and we have provided them with this platform in our survey. To draw up the survey, we had to draw some boundaries around exactly what constitutes an enterprise SEO tool. As discussed, this is a varied discipline and there are a lot of vendors who are worthy of consideration. Nonetheless, it seems clear that a comprehensive SEO suite will cover at least a few of the core SEO components. For example, keyword tracking, technical SEO reports, and performance dashboards. To narrow the field of vendors, we started by assessing the quantity of responses received in our customer survey for each company. This provided some initial shape to the list, which was then refined through consultation with our advisory board. The aim here has been to provide an accurate representation of the market, based on their popularity but also on their effectiveness. Moreover, we have wanted to provide a range of price points to cater for marketers with different budget levels. The scores seen in the final section of this guide have been weighted to incorporate the following elements: The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch customer survey (60% of total score): This quantitative research is comprised majoritively of closed questions, across all 36 of our sub-categories for assessment. Responses to the open questions at the end of the survey provide color to the scores, but have not been used to calculate them. Vendor interviews (20%): The guideās author and at least one member of the advisory board were present on a 90 minute call with each vendor in this document. All vendors were provided with the same brief and given the same amount of time to present to the panel. Scores were collated on a standardized sheet and shared with the rest of the panel afterwards. Industry expert advisory board (20%): Our advisory board has been chosen for their deep expertise across the full spectrum of SEO specialisms. Each member has scored the platforms for each of our 6 performance criteria areas and the scores have been averaged.
- 22. 19 The output of this process is a score out of 5 (1 being low, 5 being high) across the following areas: Technical SEO Content marketing Backlinks and social media Customer experience Analytics and reporting Keyword analysis and tracking Within each category, there are 6 sub-categories. The final section of this guide provides full detail on the scores received by each vendor for all categories and sub-categories in scope. This provides some breadth to the scope of our analysis, spanning everything from technical SEO and content marketing, through to other important aspects like usability and pricing. ClickZ provides no explicit recommendations on which vendor to partner with and offers no endorsement of any particular company. The ClickZ expert advisory board Nick Wilsdon Global SEO Lead, Vodafone Paul Shapiro Director of Strategy, GroupM Luis Navarrete Gomez Global Head of Search, LEGO Ali Haris SEO & Growth Manager, Macyās
- 23. 20 Company profile Dmitry Gerasimenko CEO ClickZ overview Ahrefs has quickly become a staple of many SEO toolkits, based on the depth of its backlink data and the comprehensive nature of its site audit capabilities. This came through in our survey, with 80% of Ahrefs users stating that they use the tool for backlink tracking. Its approach to this field is sophisticated, taking into account the traffic that backlinks refer to a domain rather than focusing purely on the acquisition of a link in itself. The new technical SEO audit tool is a significant improvement to the platform Igor Pikovets CTO Tim Soulo CMO and helps to position Ahrefs as a real contender in this space. With a range of further innovations in the pipeline, the companyās ambition now is to provide a comprehensive SEO solution to compete with the established enterprise tools. Built on a robust dataset and an increasingly lengthy list of useful performance tools, Ahrefs is in a good position to challenge in the enterprise space, but there is still room for improvement in its reporting and content marketing capabilities. Founded HQ Key People 2010 Singapore Backlinks Site Audits Keyword Research Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey)
- 24. 21 Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) Ahrefs crawls our site daily, and you can quickly see changes that have an impact on rankings. Love Ahrefsā capabilities in this regard! Ahrefs has outstanding people working behind the scenes, and they do a great job of supporting the platform. Ahrefs vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary 5 4 3 2 1 Ahrefs Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting ā ā
- 25. 22 Company profile Jim Yu CEO & Founder ClickZ overview BrightEdge is an established leader in the enterprise SEO space, with over 50% of Fortune 100 companies using the technology today. The platform was initially built on its keyword research and rank tracking functionalities, which remain popular today. In fact, 83% of BrightEdge users in our survey conduct their keyword research using this technology, while 85% also use it for rank tracking. The BrightEdge platform has developed significantly of late, evident through the Lemuel Park CTO & Founder Albert Gouyet VP of Operations introduction of functionalities that address other needs of SEO practitioners. In 2014, the company launched Data Cube, which provides performance insights at a keyword, URL, or domain level. The Data Cube was the most commonly-cited highlight of the platform by current customers, followed by the strategic insights the technology unveils. In 2015 the successful launch of its content performance marketing methodology helped shift the ways marketers approached the convergence of SEO and Content Marketing. The following year, they introduced DataMind, a deep learning technology that powers the prescriptive page optimization recommendations, technical SEO audit and automated new content topic insights. Recently, the company has taken an AI-first approach that is driven by products like Data Cube and DataMind (deep learning technology that is natively integrated into the platform) and launched an SEO automation application called BrightEdge Insights. This brings together data driven insights into an intuitive interface and presents just a few well vetted actionable recommendations each week. The company provides dedicated customer success manager for every customer. BrightEdge covers almost all the bases in this report and covers them very well. Customers also stated that while the features are excellent, costs can rise quickly for larger, more complex websites with a lot of ranking requirements. Overall, BrightEdge is the most comprehensive solution in our review for enterprise-level SEO. Founded HQ Key People 2007 Foster City, San Mateo, CA Kevin Bobowski SVP Marketing
- 26. 23 Innovation Data Strategic Insights Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey) Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) The DataCube is by far one of the biggest benefits to using this platform over others. Quality and consistency at scale. A lot of other platforms get really messy with enterprise sites or large portfolios, but Brightedge is hard to beat for all-purpose, Enterprise SEO. 5 4 3 2 1 BrightEdge Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting BrightEdge vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary ā ā
- 27. 24 Company profile Seth Besmertnik CEO & Co-Founder ClickZ overview Conductor is one of the established players in the enterprise SEO market and it will be fascinating to see how the companyās recent acquisition by WeWork will fuel new innovation. Plans are already afoot to build a team of over 100 engineers, which will undoubtedly accelerate the pace of development. Strategically, Conductor has selected to partner with specialist platforms to provide customers with access to the best tools on the market. Technical SEO analysis comes via DeepCrawl, SEMrush is used for backlink data, and Dragon Metrics provides Baruch Toledano Chief Product Officer Marc Chabot VP of Sales data for Asian markets. Many brands will view this as a strength, as it shows Conductorās willingness to work with another provider to ensure its customers get access to the best possible features. Others may see it as a drawback, if they already have licences with these other companies and want an enterprise solution that is driven by proprietary data. Conductor really excels in how it uses this data to identify insights and use these to shape working practices. The workflow tools in the platform are among the best we reviewed and allow simple delegation of tasks to different teams. 57% of survey respondents use the software daily, a significant lift on the average across our dataset of 46%. This further highlights how deeply entrenched the technology can become in a companyās way of working. Conductor is a sophisticated enterprise tool that combines external data sets with proprietary data and technology to help marketers get better results from content and SEO. Founded HQ Key People 2010 New York, NY,
- 28. 25 Audience Data Content Marketing Keyword Discovery Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey) Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) Conductor is great for a multi-stakeholder content team with advanced knowledge of SEO Integration with other third party vendors means customers benefit from a range of innovations 5 4 3 2 1 Conductor Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting Conductor vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary ā ā
- 29. 26 Company profile ClickZ overview It would be hard to argue that any organization (other than Google) has had a bigger impact on the SEO industry than Moz. Mozās founder, Rand Fishkin, has recently left to work on another venture, but his efforts with the team at the company he started really put SEO on the map with mainstream marketers. The Moz Pro tool suite follows the companyās original mission to make SEO accessible and successful for any business. Open Site Explorer, powered by the Linkscape index, remains an endlessly useful tool for backlink analysis - a real area of strength for Moz Pro. New tools like the Keyword Explorer provide an insightful look into the contemporary SEO landscape, taking into account factors such as the no-click rate for each keyword. There are 500,000,000 keywords in this database too, so it has value for organizations of any size. The software contains metrics such Domain Authority and Page Authority, both of which are industry standards and are used by marketing teams beyond SEO to assess organic search efforts. Moz Pro is backed up by the Moz community, comprised of 280,000 active members. Plans are in the offing to add a managed service element to the software, which should see Moz Pro step more fully into the arena of āenterprise SEOā. As it stands, Moz Pro is instinctively a more attractive package for smaller businesses as a one-stop shop for SEO, as it does lack some of the features larger sites require, such as content marketing workflow tools. Just 27% of Moz Pro users in our survey said it was the only SEO technology they invest in, which does further enhance the picture of this platform as a very effective collection of tools rather than a comprehensive enterprise-level suite. With a new link index due to launch imminently, Moz Pro is in a period of transition and looks set to come through this as a much-improved and still highly valuable software suite with an approachable price point. Sarah Bird CEO Adam Feldstein Chief Product Officer Neil Crist VP Product & Engineering Founded HQ Key People 2004 Seattle, WA
- 30. 27 Link Index Keyword Explorer Price Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey) Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) The greatest strength of Moz Pro is that everything is in one place. Link reports, ranking reports, errors are all in one software platform. Other platforms require 2-3 different tools to get this same data. MozPro is very easy to get working with. The customer support and ease of which you can train new employees on using it is phenomenal. 5 4 3 2 1 Moz Pro Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting Moz Pro vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary ā ā
- 31. 28 Company profile Marcus Tober CEO & Founder ClickZ overview Led by industry influencer Marcus Tober, Berlin-based Searchmetrics contains an impressive array of organic search tools. The companyās core focus is on bringing transparency to what is an at-times opaque industry through analytics and machine learning. This has recently manifested itself in some new data visualizations that really help marketers maximize the value of the huge amounts of data at their disposal. Searchmetrics does a fantastic job of grounding content marketing efforts in performance data, helping marketers to Volker Smid CEO Dirk Wolf CFO prioritize their efforts. For example, it will recommend content that could be updated to gain a rankings boost, rather than suggesting an entirely new page. The search visibility charts are also a favorite, as they display the expected traffic a site receives from SEO and this can be compared to competitors for a quick performance snapshot. Searchmetrics contains data for paid search alongside SEO and, while this resource is far from complete, it can still be used for some indication of a siteās visibility across both search channels. As an enterprise SEO package, Searchmetrics is comprehensive and provides an ongoing stream of useful insights in its news feed interface. Founded HQ Key People 2005 Berlin, Germany Content Marketing Competitor Insights Keyword Analysis Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey)
- 32. 29 Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) Searchmetrics is excellent for keeping track of what is working for our competitors, so that we can strategize a solid plan going forward. The content marketing insights in this tool really make it stand out - we can use these directly to plan our content calendar. 5 4 3 2 1 Searchmetrics Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting Searchmetrics vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary ā ā
- 33. 30 Company profile Oleg Shchegolev CEO & Co-Founder ClickZ overview SEMrush started out as a tool developed by an agency to make their lives easier but, such was its popularity, it soon attracted a mass audience in the marketing community. Its appeal saw it grow into a standalone tool and since then, it has continued to evolve into a sophisticated suite of search analysis technologies. The success of the tool is built on the reliability of its data and the intuitive functionalities that allow marketers to derive insights quickly. One SEMrush customer described the platform as āreally a collection of great Dmitri Melnikov Co-Founder & Chief Operational Officer Eugene Levin Chief Strategy Officer tools pulled togetherā and that is an apt summation of the software as it stands today. SEMrush provides access to a lot of tools (over 30) for a low price, with plans starting at $99 per month. 89% of survey respondents that use SEMrush use it for keyword analysis, but the companyās ambitions extend far beyond this and content marketing is an ongoing areas of focus. Having just secured $40 million in funding, we should expect to see a host of new features over the next 12-24 months. SEMrush also analyzes data for paid search, social media, and display advertising, which means this tool has something of a unique market position within this competitor set. The core audience for SEMrush as it stands is the SME market, but with the upcoming improvements to the software package it could emerge as a real enterprise SEO contender soon. Founded HQ Key People 2008 Trevose, PA
- 34. 31 Customer feedback (taken from the ClickZ survey) The platform is really a number of separate tools pulled together. Semrush have made sure that the workflows enable the tools to work together, giving a fairly seamless experience. SEMrush is a comprehensive SEM/SEO/Social solution and it is outstanding for competitive intel. 5 4 3 2 1 SEMrush Comp. Average Keyword analysis and tracking Assessment Category Technical SEO Content Marketing Backlinks & Social Customer Experience Analytics and reporting SEMrush vs. Competitor Set Performance Summary Cross-Channel Insights Link Index Keyword Database Platform strengths (taken from the ClickZ survey) ā ā
- 35. 32 Feature Comparison Keyword research database Rank tracking Mobile/Desktop rank tracking International rankings GMB management Site crawl Link index Toxic link indentification Social signals tracked Automated insights Content ideation Outreach management Client success representative Analytics integrations SERP analysis 5.7B Keywords All content types 160 countries 70+ trillion links Twitter, Facebook Pinterest 907M pages in content index 24/7 customer support Billions of data points All content types 175 countries 100ās M of pages Integrations with all major web analytics providers Proprietary index + SEMrush index All content types 500+ international cities, 47 languages. Exclusive partnership with DeepCrawl Integrations with all major web analytics providers Exclusive partnership LinkResearchTools Via LinkResearch tools Google Plus, YouTube, Twitter Via LinkResearch tools All content types 25 Trillion Links 1+ Billion keywords All content types 130+ countries Up to 2 million URLs Integrations with all major web analytics providers Google Plus, YouTube, Twitter 4.5+ Billion keywords 160+ countried Integrations with all major web analytics providers 6,100,000,000 URLs crawled per day 5 social networks
- 36. 33 Our survey base of over 1,000 marketers is comprised of a wide range of job roles, split slightly in favor of client side advertisers: The ClickZ & Search Engine Watch customer survey As explained in the Scope and Methodology section, the ClickZ and Search Engine Watch customer survey contributes 60% of the total scores given to each vendor in the sections below. The majority of respondents hold a senior-level position within their organization, with 56% reporting that they are C-Level, VP, Head of department, or Director. The other 44% are either at Manager or Strategist level, which gives a balanced perspective on the needs of each company when it comes to selecting a technology partner. 57% Client Side 43% Agency 30.6% Manager 5.3% VP What is your level of seniority? 20.9% C-Level 15.3% Director 13.2% Strategist 11.4% Dept. Head 5.3% SVP
- 37. 34 Almost half (46%) use this technology daily, with a further 36% making weekly use of their SEO platform: This further highlights the importance of these platforms, as they are typically the go-to technology for strategic insights and performance updates. The most popular uses of an enterprise SEO tool are keyword research, rank tracking, and competitor analysis. This is to be expected, as these are foundational elements of any SEO strategy. A very sizeable proportion of respondents also use their technology for technical SEO, backlink monitoring, and project management. There are notable trends within these usage patterns across our full data set, but certainly no uniformity in how such a varied audience uses these technologies. If we segment the audience by seniority, we find that heads of department are the group that uses an enterprise tool for project management most frequently. C-Level staff are most interested in the competitor insights they can glean from the platform, while almost 90% of Managers use their tool for rank tracking. We can also see that across the board, an organization wants support across our six key assessment areas, discussed in detail in the next section of this guide. How often do you use this technology? 36% Weekly 45.9% Daily 10% Monthly 8.1% Quarterly Which areas of SEO do you use this platform for? 80 60 40 20 0 Keyword research 79.9% Rank tracking 76.5% Technical SEO 61.8% International SEO 22.6% Backlink tracking 54.4% Competitor analysis 68.1% SEO project management 37.8%
- 38. 35 Keyword analysis & tracking These queries are grouped together into keyword categories that can inform everything from site structure to content and link building. Marketers need to know how their audience searches, both in terms of their language and their behaviors. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for keyword analysis and tracking: Whether typed, tapped, or spoken, most searches start with a query. Keyword research: Does this technology help users to identify new keyword targets? Keyword suggestions: Does this platform suggest additional keywords that are relevant to a brand? Keyword tracking: How accurate is the rank tracking in this technology? International research: Is it possible to research keywords in international markets? Local SEO: Can users track and manage their local SEO efforts within this software package? Visibility checks: Does this platform allow for quick visibility checks against competitors? Unsurprisingly, all vendors scored well across this section, as it is a core functionality for any enterprise SEO tool. There were some noteworthy variations within the sub-categories, however.
- 39. 36 Ahrefs contains a host of useful features for keyword analysis and boasts a database of almost 6 billion keywords. This was reflected in its scores for this category, which were high for both keyword research and keyword suggestions. Like all its competitors, this vendor provides users with access to sophisticated SERP analysis tools, which allows for in-depth analysis of performance by content type. BrightEdge, powered by the Data Cube, also scored very well across this assessment category. In particular, customers cited its ability to pinpoint queries to attack or defend as a highlight of this technology. This is driven by BrightEdgeās visual parsing technology, which constantly monitors the SERP landscape and identifies new keyword opportunities. Rankings can also be pulled on a daily basis on request, which will appeal to marketers that require more than a weekly update. With support for over 160 international markets, BrightEdge is a comprehensive package for keyword analysis. Conductor has servers in over 16,000 locations, which allows for keyword tracking at city, state, or country level. This was a key contributing factor behind the platform receiving the second-highest score for keyword tracking. Conductor also has a variety of new features to help customers avail of the rich snippets opportunity, in line with the competition. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Keyword Research International Research Local SEO Keyword Tracking Visibility Checks Keyword Suggestions
- 40. 37 Moz Pro performed well in this category, with the Keyword Explorer drawing particular praise. This tool is excellent for strategic keyword analysis, as it combines Google and clickstream data to provide search volume ranges that can be used to project traffic. It also does a great job of suggesting new keywords that are semantically related to an existing keyword set. Moz Pro is also the only vendor in this guide that provides Google My Business management within the software suite, which will be a key consideration for many retail businesses. Searchmetrics has developed some new technologies to improve its keyword analysis offering, including automatically generated tags that categorize keywords. For some brands, for example a travel or airline company, this will be a very welcome feature for dealing with large keyword sets. Searchmetrics also scored very highly for its visibility checks, which are a favorite at agencies for new business purposes and help brands spot-check their performance versus competitors. SEMrush has a database of over 4.5 billion keywords and the new Keyword Magic tool allows marketers to get the most out of this resource. SEMrush is also very useful for its historical data, which goes back to 2012 and provides a panoramic view of a brandās recent SEO performance. The SERP snapshots feature is also great for taking a look at the different content features that rank for a particular query. As with all other platforms in our assessment, SEMrush provides access to rankings across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices.
- 41. 38 Technical SEO It is also a means of improving performance on an ongoing basis, however. Large-scale technical audits are a staple of many SEO campaigns, but the technical work should continue throughout. The most sophisticated technical SEO platforms will provide daily insight from log files on how, when, and where search engines are making requests to your domain. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for technical SEO: Technical SEO is an essential foundation for any digital marketing strategy. At a basic level, it ensure that search engines can access, crawl, and index a siteās content. Crawl capabilities: Is this platform capable of crawling websites and reporting on technical errors? New innovations: Does this vendor release new technical SEO innovations that help a brandās performance? Technical recommendations: Does this platform make recommendations to help a siteās SEO performance? Meta data: Is it possible to analyze and improve meta data in this platform? Status code errors: Are errors, such as soft 404s, highlighted automatically in this technology? Technical audits: Is there a technical audit functionality within this software package? Technical SEO is a wide-ranging field that encompasses a variety of specialisms, which is reflected in the spread of scores within this category.
- 42. 39 Ahrefs drew praise for its updated site audit tool, which can crawl and report on JavaScript elements within each page. Importantly, this feature integrates well with the other data sources available within Ahrefs, such as the traffic and backlink metrics. As a result, Ahrefs does an excellent job not only of identifying technical errors, but also of demonstrating the impact that rectifying these issues has on performance. BrightEdge also contains a proprietary crawling technology that automatically alerts users when new issues or opportunities are encountered. Customers praised the pace of innovation within this platform, but it did not score quite so highly for the effectiveness of its technical SEO recommendations. This is perhaps a natural by- product of automation, as users should be aware that SEO expertise is still required to assess and implement the recommendations. Conductor scored well across all sub-categories, including a 4.7 for its crawling capabilities. It should be noted that Conductor partners with technical SEO platform DeepCrawl to provide many of these features, but customers were generally very satisfied with their sophistication and effectiveness. These technical recommendations can then be synthesized with performance data within the Conductor interface. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Meta Data Status Code Errors Technical Recommendations Technical Audits New Innovations Crawl Capabilities
- 43. 40 Moz Pro is an established player in the technical SEO arena and its site crawl functionality has recently been revamped. This vendor received higher scores from smaller businesses with a smaller set of URLs to analyze and the on-page grader was singled out as a handy tool for SEO checks on a URL-by-URL basis. Searchmetrics contains an advanced crawler with a range of user-agent options that can identify ongoing technical issues. It can also calculate the performance impact that fixing these issues could have using features such as an āinternal link juice calculatorā. As a result, Searchmetrics performed well for the scope and accuracy of its technical audits. SEMrush is another vendor that has recently overhauled its site audit technology, further demonstrating the essential nature of technical SEO for any organic search strategy. Although this was not the strongest area of scoring for SEMrush, many customers commented that the platformās technical SEO capabilities are improving all the time and its scores for technical audits and crawl capabilities were very competitive.
- 44. 41 Content Marketing Content marketing is not strictly an SEO practice, as its application has an impact on all marketing channels. That said, SEO tactics can inform successful content and ensure that it reaches the right audience. Equally, content marketing can attract high-quality backlinks and improve user engagement rates, all of which can increase SEO rankings. As such, the two disciplines go hand in hand. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for content marketing: The convergence of SEO and content marketing has been of the foremost trends shaping the industry for the last decade. Content ideation: Does this platform help users to generate new content ideas, based on search and competitor data? Competitor insights: Is it possible to track and analyze competitorsā content marketing activities? Content metrics: Is the list of content marketing metrics comprehensive enough for a brandās SEO requirements? Content and SEO integration: Is content viewed as a contributing channel to SEO performance within this platform? Audience insights: Are insights generated from content data that can be used to inform other marketing activities? On-page SEO: Can users analyze and improve their on-page content through this software package?
- 45. 42 Ahrefsā Content Explorer tool, which uses data from backlinks and search traffic to analyze topics, was a core reason for the platformās high score for content ideation. The Buzzsumo-esque feature helps with long-tail keyword research, as well as highlighting the topics that resonate with different audiences. As SEO continues to converge with content marketing, this tool proves invaluable for Ahrefs customers. BrightEdge has invested heavily in its content marketing offering, resulting in the launch of ContentIQ and the deep learning engine, DataMind. This vendor scored highest for its integration of these content marketing technologies with the core SEO features in the platform. This means that content is tied back to performance metrics, which is aided by the scope of the companyās index of URLs. BrightEdge did not score so highly for its content marketing workflow tools, but was highlighted as a very strong performer when it comes to generating insights to create more effective content. Conductor was another high scorer across this category, particularly for the usefulness of its content workflow tools. This vendor also allows admin users to select which features their different teams and departments see within the interface, helping to keep everyoneās focus on the right tasks. Content calendars can also be created and tasks can be assigned to different team members within the tool. These content ideas can be mapped to keyword categories and aligned to performance metrics. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Content Ideation Content & SEO Integration Audience Insights Content Metrics On-Page SEO Competitor Insights
- 46. 43 Moz Pro has refocused on its core suite of SEO tools recently, but does still provide useful tools to check the effectiveness of content on a domain. The on-page optimization score is helpful for brands that want to isolate a piece of content and assess how effective it is for SEO. Moz aims to develop this area further in the near future to increase the scope of its content marketing offering, but for now it is best used for content ideation and on-page content analysis. Searchmetrics scored highest in this category and plays host to a range of impressive content marketing features. At the heart of the platform is Content Experience, a technology that produces insights and content ideas based on search, traffic, and backlink data. Some of this data is pulled from Googleās ārelated questionsā and also from Quora. Like BrightEdge, Searchmetrics allows users to create content within the software and automatically suggest tips for optimizations as the author writes. SEMrush features the Content Analyzer tool, which audits the content across any domain to assess how SEO-friendly it is. Combined with the ability to research topics by state or metropolitan area, this reflects an increasingly sophisticated approach to content from SEMrush. Another key tool in this platform is the marketing calendar, a Hootsuite-style interface that allows users to create, schedule, and post directly to their social media channels. This vendor is also developing new workflow tools, but this remains a work in progress. Overall, each vendor has improved their content offering in line with the disciplineās importance for SEO. Most have excellent individual tools, so the next step is to bring these together into a workflow management interface that can be accessed by a range of users across the organization.
- 47. 44 Backlinks & Social Media Backlinks remain a fundamental part of this infrastructure and can make the difference between a successful SEO campaign and a link penalty. An enterprise SEO tool will identify link opportunities, highlight any potentially negative links, and many will also monitor competitor activity over time. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for backlinks and social media: Search engines need reliable ways to evaluate the relevance and authority of the trillions of pages in their index. Link tracking: Does this software track the quantity and quality of inbound links to a domain? Proprietary index: Does this vendor have its own link index or does it partner with a third-party? Toxic link identification: Is it possible to assess which links may need to be added to a disavow file within this platform? Opportunity identification: Can users identify new link opportunities and manage outreach within this software? Competitor analysis: Can competitor link activity be tracked on an ongoing basis? Social media tracking: Which social media metrics are tracked, and are they aligned with SEO performance metrics?
- 48. 45 Ahrefs established itself on the SEO tools scene based on the strength of its backlink index. It has since evolved into other areas, but this remains a particularly impressive area of the platform. This vendor scored well for the reliability of its link tracking and competitor analysis features, but it should be noted that it does not automatically detect and highlight toxic links. Ahrefs also contains a proprietary metric to calculate the strength of a website based on the quality and quantity of inbound links it receives. Known as Domain Rating, BrightEdge has developed a robust backlink index that drew praise from customers for the competitive insights it provides. Driven by integrations with MajesticSEO and Moz, BrightEdgeās index tracks link activity and ties this back to keyword, traffic, and conversion performance. In particular, customers from larger businesses gave high scores to BrightEdge in this category for its ability to synthesize backlink data with other information sources within one interface. It is also possible to manage backlinks by assigning them a status and delegating the activity to other users within the organization. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Link Tracking Competitor Analysis Social Media Tracking Proprietary Index Opportunity Identification
- 49. 46 Conductor partners with specialist LinkResearchTools (LRT) to provide backlink analysis, which gives customers access to a host of additional features. This vendor scored well for its ability to identify backlink opportunities and channel these into its workflow tools. As a result, users can start to approach potential outreach targets and track their progress within Conductor. Conductorās partner LRT created the Link Detox feature, which automatically detects low quality links. As such, Conductor scored very well in the toxic link identification sub-category. While no platform scored exceptionally well for its social media tracking features, Conductor was the highest scorer in our survey for this criterion. Moz Pro boasts an updated, proprietary backlink index containing over 25 trillion URLs. The newly-launched Link Explorer is a real highlight of this software and it brings additional value to existing features like the ability to discover lost, gained, or toxic links. Overall, this revamped index is among the most complete resources SEO practitioners can use. Moz Pro also features the industry standard metric for measuring the strength of a website, Domain Authority. Using the Moz Chrome extension (which has over 500,000 installs), users can view this metric in SERPs and on landing pages. Some survey respondents cited the ability to view only a few competitors at a time within Open Site Explorer as a drawback of this platform. On the whole, Moz Pro contains an excellent repository of data and is building the tools to help users derive maximum value. SearchMetrics was one of the highest scorers across this category. It contains a wide variety of link analysis and tracking features, including the capability to view new and lost links over time. Searchmetrics also shows the industry of the linking domain, as do all competitors in this category. Where it goes further is in its analysis of the traffic each link is sending to a website, a factor that is increasingly important as Google weighs the significance of each link. This vendor is also developing some new, engaging visualizations of its backlink data and it was this strength that saw it score highly with customers for its competitive insights. SEMrush was the highest scorer, on average, across this category. Its proprietary backlink index is a core strength of the platform and SEMrush also contains some excellent workflow tools to help marketers manage their outreach efforts. Similar to a specialist tool like Buzzstream, these features provide a great way to go from link opportunity to link acquisition. The Social Media Tracker, while not entirely comprehensive in its current iteration, is also the most effective tool for monitoring social media performance within this vendor list.
- 50. 47 Customer experience The tools in our guide are all sophisticated and will provide invaluable insights, and some brands want their technology provider to be a strategic partner too. This section also looks at price, which does largely go in tandem with the level of service a customer can expect to receive. There is a broad split between self-serve tools and managed services here. The level of importance that the scores in this section bring to each organization will entirely depend on the criteria for vendor selection. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for customer experience: At an enterprise level, customer experience can be a vital criterion for vendor selection. Onboarding process: How thorough is this vendorās onboarding period? Training: Is training provided for all relevant team members, and when new features are released? Cost: Does this platform provide value for money? Client support: Does this vendor provide support, both with technical issues on the platform and with SEO strategy? New innovations: Are new innovations released on a regular basis? Workflow tools: Can users manage SEO tasks and delegate to other team members within this software?
- 51. 48 Ahrefs provides excellent value for money, with monthly packages available at $99, $179, $399, and $999. It is also at the forefront of innovation with many of its features, so these packages provide access to a lot of insightful tools for a relatively low level of investment. It should be noted that Ahrefs access does not come with a dedicated account representative, but support is available at all times. The level of training scored lower for Ahrefs than other sub-categories here, as was also the case for Moz Pro and SEMrush. Although these three platforms do provide access to training materials, they were described as less comprehensive than those provided by BrightEdge, Conductor, and Searchmetrics. This is a trade-off that each brand must weigh up in association with the level of investment each platform requires. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Onboarding Process Client Support New Innovations Cost Training
- 52. 49 BrightEdge scored very well in this section for its onboarding and training. Customers stated that the process of getting started on the platform was smooth and comprehensive training is provided over a long period of time. BrightEdge also hosts a range of community events, which allow users to meet and discuss newly-launched features. This all contributed to positive feedback in the customer experience category. Some customers did note that, while the technology is thorough and impressive, it can be expensive if users want to track a lot of keywords across locations and devices. Once more, this decision will ultimately come down the each brandās perception of the value they receive for their investment. Conductor excelled in this category for the usefulness of its workflow tools. These features, combined with new innovations like Content Launchpad, allow clients to both analyze and affect their SEO performance in a very tangible way within the Conductor interface. The news feed style of the homepage, also in favor with BrightEdge and Searchmetrics, was viewed as a contributing factor to a positive user experience with Conductor. This vendor was among the more expensive options within the vendor list, but it does also provide access to an extensive and sophisticated list of technologies. Moz Pro has over 37,000 customers and has historically appealed more to smaller businesses, but plans are afoot to make a more concrete move into the enterprise SEO arena. This will mean adding client success representatives to the team, but for now Moz Pro is mainly a self-service platform. All new users are given a full demo on the platform and the Moz community forums also provide an invaluable set of resources, both for SEO questions and information about using the Moz Pro suite. Overall, Moz Pro was seen as great value for money, as it as datasets are reliable and its list of tools continues to grow. Searchmetrics scored very well for its client support and training initiatives, but customers did also feel there was room to improve on the training provided. This vendor was also one of the highest scorers for the quantity and quality of new innovations it provides, with plenty more on the horizon. SEMrush provides the best value for money in the list, according to current customers and our expert panel. With over 30 tools available and monthly plans starting at $99.95, marketers at small businesses will find everything they need in this platform. Those at larger organizations may want to invest in a comprehensive SEO suite, but also complement this with an SEMrush licence too.
- 53. 50 Reporting It is also not an efficient use of a search marketerās time to spend hours reporting on whether their work is working or not. Enterprise SEO tools can make sense of multiple data sources and display it in a user-friendly fashion. Reports can be tailored and scheduled to arrive in inboxes on a regular basis This type of reporting falls into the arena of diagnostic analytics. The more sophisticated tools on the market are moving on from displaying the āwhatā to revealing the āwhyā and the āwhat next?ā of SEO data. The ClickZ and Search Engine Watch community, along with our panel of expert advisors, gave scores across the following 6 sub-categories for reporting: Compared to other marketing channels, it can be challenging to prove the direct return on an investment in SEO. Reporting dashboards: Are the reporting dashboards comprehensive and customizable? Analytics integrations: Is it possible to link analytics accounts to this technology and view performance data alongside SEO data? Cross-channel capabilities: Does this platform help shape strategy for other marketing channels, such as SEM and Display? Content marketing: How effective is the reporting on content marketing campaigns in this platform? SEO performance insights: Are actionable insights generated from a brandās data sources? Automation: Does this vendor make effective use of automation to derive new insights and take over laborious tasks?
- 54. 51 Reporting was an area that showed a lot of variations within the survey scoring. Ahrefs does not integrate with analytics platforms like Google ANalytics, Adobe Analytics, or Google Search Console. This was viewed by current customers as something of a drawback, but this will likely only be an influencing factor for businesses seeking a true all-in-one solution. Equally, Ahrefs is currently developing a Report Builder tool, which may link with analytics platforms. Its current strength in this arena is the availability of content marketing metrics within reporting dashboards. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Reporting Dashboards Content Marketing SEO Performance Insights Cross-channel Integrations Automation Analytics Integrations
- 55. 52 BrightEdge is the leader in this field, based on our scoring results. Its reporting dashboards are highly customizable and the Story Builder allows marketers to tailor the narrative that their reports tell. Combined with the insights drawn from its deep learning technology and the widespread use of automation in the platform, BrightEdge provides a very comprehensive reporting solution. Analytics integrations are also available for all major technology providers. This vendorās lowest scores in this section were received for its cross-channel insights, particularly in relation to paid search, social media, and display advertising. No vendor performed particularly well in this regard, but other platforms do provide more advanced cross-channel features than BrightEdge. Conductor also provides a lengthy list of analytics integrations and does an excellent job of synthesizing this data with SEO reporting to provide new insights. Its interface was seen as slightly less user-friendly than those of BrightEdge and Searchmetrics, but on the whole COnductor received very positive feedback across this category. Its partnership with DeepCrawl also provides access to sophisticated technical SEO reporting, which some marketers will view as a key advantage. Moz Pro can create and send automated PDF reports to a range of stakeholders, including ranking dashboards and traffic data. These dashboards also include performance insights, which help marketers to make informed decisions about their SEO activities. In line with its lower price point, Moz Pro is less comprehensive than some others on the vendor list, but it does still report on the core metrics that matter to most businesses. Searchmetrics identifies patterns in performance data to create automated insights across the fulls cope of a domain, which will prove invaluable to SEO practitioners. The CMO dashboards are effective too, and can be tailored to suit a brandās particular requirements. Across the board, Searchmetrics scored very well in this section and its visibility checker tool was cited as the main highlight. SEMrush contains excellent dashboards, populated with proprietary data and data from a range of analytics packages, including Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Where it does fall a little behind the more expensive packages is in its uses of automation and machine learning-driven insights, which may be areas of attention after the recent injection of $40 million into the company from investors.
- 56. 53 Across the board, the highest average scores were received in the categories of keyword analysis and tracking, technical SEO, and backlinks and social. This is perhaps unsurprising, as most of these technologies started out by specializing in at least one of these areas before branching out into other areas of search marketing. The features that start to set enterprise SEO platforms apart include: The quantity of URLs that can be tracked and analyzed Use of machine learning to surface performance insights Automation of time-consuming tasks Levels of customer service and strategic insights Analytics integrations Content marketing tools Workflow management In these areas, it would be fair to say that BrightEdge, Conductor, and Searchmetrics form one group, while Ahrefs, Moz Pro, and SEMrush compete within another sub-group. This starts to show in some of our categories. For example, the biggest range of scores was seen in the analytics section, as the larger vendors have invested heavily here to create nuanced dashboards, while others keep a pure focus on their SEO tools. The most keenly-contested category, which contains a low level of differentiation in scores across all vendors, is backlinks and social media. This functionality is a must-have of any enterprise SEO tool, while analytics integrations tend to arrive at a later stage. That picture is not particularly well-defined, however, and it grows more complex with each passing month. BrightEdge is focused on AI-driven technologies to improve its content marketing suite; Conductor is extending its engineering team to fuel a new period of innovation; and Searchmetrics has an exciting roadmap of new features for content marketing and reporting. Simultaneously, Ahrefs is improving its reporting and analytics features significantly; Moz Pro has just launched a new link index and has ambitions to attract larger businesses; and SEMrush looks well placed to become a comprehensive search marketing suite, with new investment in the company helping to accelerate their progress. Final scores & summary The final scores across all 6 categories demonstrate just how competitive and sophisticated this field is. 4
- 57. 54 As such, we should expect the market to become even more competitive, which is great for marketers. Competition will inevitably breed innovation and this will help brands to get even more value from their data. The SEO industry has matured and moved into the marketing mainstream; fittingly, search marketers have more sophisticated technologies at their disposal than ever before. Ahrefs BrightEdge Conductor Moz Pro Searchmetrics SEMrush 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Keyword Research Backlinks and Social Customer Experience Content Marketing Analytics and reporting Technical SEO
- 58. 55 Notes
- 59. 56 Notes