For about 8 months after launching Startup Cafe Digital (my agency business), I genuinely believed that free SEO tools were all I needed to help me crush it in both business and blogging.

To be fair, we weren’t offering SEO services back then like we do now, but we were helping our clients with content creation and content marketing.

My team and I would register for free trials with Semrush, Moz, and other premium SEO tools, and of course, rely heavily on the free Keyword Planner tool from Google Ads for keyword research and content planning.

But eventually, I hit a wall in my agency journey where just relying on Keyword Planner and trial runs of Semrush and Moz wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Having been impressed with Moz and Semrush, I finally decided to take the plunge and invest in Moz, and a few months later, Semrush for keyword and competition analysis.

Up until then, I didn’t even realize what I was missing out on.

With tools such as Semrush and Moz, you get to take your SEO game up a notch and come out with truly astounding results for your blog, business, and clients.

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably deciding whether to invest in one of these SEO tools.

You may have tried the free version of one of these or both these SEO tools and are now considering whether it’s worth upgrading to the full version.

Well, you’ve come to the right place.

Even if you’ve never tried any of these SEO tools, please read this post to learn more about their features and how you can leverage the power of these tools to improve your site’s search rankings.

In this post, I’ll compare two of the most popular SEO tools on the market and see how they compete against each other on features, ease-of-use, and pricing.

Semrush vs Moz (at a Glance)

Here’s a quick snapshot of the two tools — for an in-depth comparison, go through the whole article.

Winner and Best Overall
Semrush	Moz
Semrush isn't just a tool for me — it's my SEO sidekick! From elevating my blogs to powering our agency's client strategies, its features are game-changers. If you're looking to turbocharge your business or blogging journey, Semrush is your ticket to the top.	Since co-founder Rand Fishkin's exit from Moz, there's been a noticeable dip in the value proposition of Moz Pro. I'd suggest giving the 30-day free trial of Moz a shot and then deciding if it's worth investing in.
Product Rating: 4.8	Product Rating: 3.9
Starts at $129.95/mo	Starts at $99/mo
Extensive keyword research capabilities Detailed site audit features Competitive analysis insights Backlink tracking and analysis Content optimization recommendations Advertising and PPC data insights	Widely recognized proprietary metric for domain strength Useful for optimizing local business listings Browser extension gives instant SEO insights Moz's Q&A forum and blogs are resources for learning and support
Can be overwhelming for beginners Higher cost compared to some alternatives Access to historical data requires higher-tier plans	Expensive for the features offered Data is not as accurate or updated as Semrush Limited keyword and backlink data Cluttered UI Reporting feature lacks depth.
Start Your Semrush Pro Trial	Start Your Moz Pro Trial

Winner and Best Overall

Semrush

Semrush isn't just a tool for me — it's my SEO sidekick! From elevating my blogs to powering our agency's client strategies, its features are game-changers. If you're looking to turbocharge your business or blogging journey, Semrush is your ticket to the top.

Product Rating:

4.8

Starts at $129.95/mo

• Extensive keyword research capabilities
• Detailed site audit features
• Competitive analysis insights
• Backlink tracking and analysis
• Content optimization recommendations
• Advertising and PPC data insights

• Can be overwhelming for beginners
• Higher cost compared to some alternatives
• Access to historical data requires higher-tier plans

Start Your Semrush Pro Trial

Moz

Since co-founder Rand Fishkin's exit from Moz, there's been a noticeable dip in the value proposition of Moz Pro. I'd suggest giving the 30-day free trial of Moz a shot and then deciding if it's worth investing in.

Product Rating:

3.9

Starts at $99/mo

• Widely recognized proprietary metric for domain strength
• Useful for optimizing local business listings
• Browser extension gives instant SEO insights
• Moz's Q&A forum and blogs are resources for learning and support

• Expensive for the features offered
• Data is not as accurate or updated as Semrush
• Limited keyword and backlink data
• Cluttered UI
• Reporting feature lacks depth.

Start Your Moz Pro Trial

Key Takeaways

• Semrush stands out for comprehensive keyword research, site audits, competitive analysis, and backlink tracking, with a vast database of over 20 billion keywords.
• Moz offers strong domain and page authority metrics, valuable for optimizing local listings and providing free SEO insights through its browser extension.
• Both tools are excellent, but Semrush is recommended for its extensive features and accurate data, making it a favorite among SEO professionals and agencies.
• Pricing reflects the value, with Semrush starting at $129.95/month and Moz at $99/month. Semrush‘s higher cost is justified by its broader capabilities and more accurate data.
• Free trials are available for both tools, allowing users to explore features before committing.

What is Semrush?

Just giving a search on Google with the keywords “SEO tools” will show you exactly how complicated and crammed up the SEO world is.

There’s a tidal wave of resources out there and while most of these tools are loaded with features, they can make our lives complicated.

But most bloggers, SEO professionals, and digital marketing agencies will agree that Semrush probably provides the best bang for buck.

I use Semrush for pretty much everything I do. I use it to find new keyword opportunities, do backlink analysis, fix site issues, and to spy on competitors’ keywords.

At Startup Cafe, we use Semrush to help our clients rank better in search engines for competitive keywords and check data on how their competitors are utilizing SEO and SEM.

If you know the current state of SEO, you know just how important long-tail keywords and low-competition keywords are. And that’s exactly the kind of data Semrush provides.

In fact, Semrush has the largest keyword database in the industry (over 20 billion keywords) and you can easily obtain thousands of keyword variations for your target keywords.

Semrush is also second to none when it comes to providing the most accurate search volume data for keywords.

Whether you’re using it to improve the SEO of your posts or to bolster your Google Ads campaigns, you can rely on Semrush to present the most accurate and relevant metrics for your target keywords.

How to Use Semrush

If you’ve never tried Semrush before, then you can read this section to know how to start. Others can skip this part of the post and move on to the next section to read the rest of the article.

To get started, you’ll need an active Semrush account. If you don’t have one, you can register for a free Semrush account using the link below.

This will give you free access to Semrush‘s PRO plan for 14 days.

Once you’ve registered and logged into the Semrush dashboard, you’ll find the default search bar like the one shown below. If you’d like data on SEO traffic, navigate to Organic Research from the main navigation menu.

Next, you can type the domain name of your competitor to see the keywords they are ranking for. For this example, I plugged in the Semrush website to examine the keywords they are currently ranking for.

The results for your search should look something like this:

Scroll down till you find the Top Organic Keywords section and click “View all” to see all the organic keywords of the target domain.

The next step is to set filters to find the top 10 keywords for which your competitor is ranking for (this is just an example. You can set any parameters you deem fit for your competitive analysis).

If you’re analyzing a large website, make sure the monthly search volume for these keywords is at least 1,000+. Once you’ve applied the filters, the results page should look something like this:

Once you have the data for the top 10 keywords that your competition is ranking for, you can optimize your own keyword strategy and content to make sure your website ranks well for each of these 10 keywords.

In some cases, your competition may already be a big player in the market with several backlinks and other SEO factors to back them up.

In such cases, what you can do is chase ‘low-hanging fruits’ aka long-tail keywords with low-to-medium competition.

These are the keywords where the search volume is low, but the traffic is high since there is little to no competition.

For example, let’s say you own a meditation retreat in Singapore and you’d like to increase the search traffic to your website.

Instead of trying to optimize your site for the keywords ‘meditation retreat’, you can optimize your site for keywords ‘buddhist meditation retreat in singapore’ which is a long-tail keyword with low search volume, but good traffic.

The best part about Semrush is that you can check not just Google ranking results, but also Bing.

You can also check how your website and your competitors are ranking in over 120 countries.

With the paid version of Semrush, you get the following features:

• Site Audit – This is one of the best features that Semrush offers. You can do a site audit to find and fix the issues with your website. Semrush offers ‘health percentage’ of your site and notifies you via email whenever the health percentage of your site is at risk.

• Position Tracking – Semrush‘s position tracking tool is widely recognized as the most accurate position tracking tool on the market. With the pro version of Semrush, you can select up to 500 keywords and see how your website is ranking on search engines for these keywords. You can frequently monitor your site’s search visibility on both desktop and mobile, and take the necessary steps to optimize your rankings for critical keywords.

• Backlink Audit – With the Backlink Audit tool, you can conduct deep link analysis and identify toxic backlinks that may be hurting your site’s rankings. Semrush also sends you email alerts whenever the tool spots suspicious backlinks. Once you’ve identified all the toxic backlinks to your site, you can use Semrush to create a disavow file, which you can then submit to Google Search Console.

• SEO Reports – If you run an agency, you know the importance of sharing weekly reports with your clients to track progress towards your goals. Semrush has the best reporting features amongst all premium SEO tools. You can choose from any of the ready-made report templates the tool offers, and all reports can be exported as PDFs.

You can even schedule PDF reports to be sent to you via email at regular intervals.

Scheduled reports are available even with the most basic plan ($129.95/mo).

With the Guru plan ($249.95/mo), you can create branded reports by placing your company logo and name at the top of each report to give a personal touch to your SEO reports.

With the Business plan ($449.95), you can take it to the next level by creating white label PDF reports by customizing the look and feel of your reports.

You can do all these and more with a PRO subscription of Semrush.

My suggestion would be to first try their free 2-week trial and use all these features yourself.

I personally use Semrush‘s Guru plan ($249.95/mo) because of the higher limits and the fact that you get access to Semrush‘s Content Marketing toolkit. This toolkit includes 6 amazing content marketing tools to help level up your content and beat your organic competitors in SERPs.

To learn more about Semrush‘s Content Marketing Toolkit, refer to this in-depth guide on Semrush’s content marketing features.

Verdict: Semrush is a top-notch SEO tool, which is used and trusted by SEO gurus throughout the world. If this is the first time you’re investing in an SEO software, then Semrush is the tool you should opt for because it allows you to perform advanced SEO tasks with ease.

From keyword research to competitive analysis to technical SEO audit, you can trust Semrush to arm you with useful data to help you rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). In other words, you’ll be improving your site’s SEO by leaps and bounds.

Is it worth paying over $100 a month? Yes, and it’s worth every penny. When used to its potential, the ROI is pretty strong with this one.

What is Moz?

Started way back in 2004 by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig, Moz first started as an SEO consulting company before they developed their first SEO tool.

Rand Fishkin is immensely popular in the SEO community, and deservedly so. His Whiteboard Friday videos are a must-watch and his brilliant book Lost and Founder should be required reading for all entrepreneurs and marketers.

Though Fishkin is no longer at Moz (he left the company in 2018 to launch SparkToro), he’s still in the board of directors and an integral part of the company and its ethos.

I’m a big fan of Rand Fishkin and his content. He’s one of the few SEO thought leaders who can be considered an influencer.

But when it comes to Moz’s flagship SEO tools, I’ve mixed feelings.

Like Semrush, Moz is an all-purpose SEO tool that you can use for site audit, backlink analysis, keyword research, and so on.

But that’s where the similarities end.

Read on to learn about my reservations about spending $100 a month on Moz.

How to Use Moz

To get started, let’s talk about some of the good things that Moz offers.

The best part about Moz is that pretty much everything good about it is FREE.

So if you’re on a shoestring budget and don’t want to invest in SEO tools yet, but still want to ensure that your site ranks well, then the free services offered by Moz are industry standard.

All of these tools below are free and you can use them to improve the search visibility of your site:

• Link Explorer – You can track your link profile and uncover link building opportunities using this free tool
• Keyword Explorer – Helps you find the best keywords in your niche
• MozBar – Perhaps the best among free tools offered by Moz, MozBar is a Google Chrome extension that offers you a glimpse into any site’s Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA), both crucial metrics, on a regular basis.

Your site’s PA and DA change on a monthly basis, so it’s important to keep a watchful eye on how your site is measured in these terms. Moreover, you can perform keyword research and link analysis of the sites you visit right from the browser bar (like shown below) without having to access the dashboard. You can get your MozBar Chrome extension for free here.

If you’re using Moz for free, then you can perform up to 3 searches per day. For the example below, I gave a search on “Moz.com” to find their DA and PA and to get a fair idea about their backlink profile.

Now to the part that isn’t that good.

Having been impressed with the free services offered by Moz, I decided to take the plunge for paid subscription and found myself a little underwhelmed.

I didn’t mind paying the $99 per month price for standard subscription as long as the tools offered were worth that sum.

Being a fan of Rand Fishkin, I so wanted to like Moz Pro, but it fell short of my expectations.

I found myself using it less and less and canceled the subscription to look for better and cheaper alternatives.

Having said that, Moz by no means is a bad SEO tool.

I still use their free tools such as Link Explorer and MozBar for SEO to keep a track of my sites’ PA and DA.

Moreover, Moz has some incredible SEO and content marketing resources that you can check out for free here.

If you’re a beginner, then Moz has some of the best resources that you can read to familiarize yourself with SEO tactics. Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO is perhaps the best SEO resource if you’d like to learn the basics of SEO.

They also have an amazing blog that I visit regularly.

Whiteboard Friday, a video series featuring started by co-founder Rand Fishkin, is something that you should tune in to every week.

But if you were to ask me if I would ever subscribe to Moz Pro again for $99/month, my answer would be No.

I’d like to emphasize that this is my personal experience with Moz.

There are people who swear by Moz and they may be able to elaborate more on the paid services offered by Moz. Perhaps they’ve been able to spend more time with the tool and used it to its full potential.

For me, everything good offered by Moz is free and if you had to invest in an SEO tool, I’d recommend Semrush.

Semrush vs Moz: Which SEO Tool Should You Buy?

If you were to compare the free tools offered by each of these platforms, both have their own strengths and limitations. But if we were to compare the features offered under paid subscriptions, then I’d highly recommend Semrush over Moz.

I use Semrush for pretty much every SEO task that I do. Not just for my own blogs, but also for my agency business where we offer SEO services to our clients.

In my opinion, Semrush is a must-have tool if you want to grow your business as well as your blogging career.

The sheer amount of data available on Semrush can be overwhelming at times, but they have excellent training materials and product guides to help you every step of the way.

Their support team is really helpful and they organize weekly webinars that you can participate in to hone your SEO skills.

Moz, on the other hand, is expensive for the features it offers.

The best thing to do would be to try the free 30-day trial of Moz and probably then decide to take a plunge if you like the product.

Like I said, your experience with the product may differ and you may find value in the paid services which they offer.

On the other hand, if you had to invest in a powerful SEO tool, then Semrush has all the features you need and more. Give it a try!

Moz vs Semrush: Pricing

In this section, we’ll briefly examine the pricing plans offered by both these tools.

Moz Pricing

These are the Moz Pro pricing plans as of August 2020:

• Standard – $99/mo (ideal for beginners)
• Medium – $179/mo (ideal for startups)
• Large – $249/mo (ideal for small businesses and agencies)
• Premium – $999/mo (ideal for large agencies and businesses)

Note: You can save 20% by switching to annual pricing.

Semrush Pricing

Semrush increased their prices in early 2023. This is Semrush‘s current pricing structure:

• Pro – $129.95/mo (ideal for startups and bloggers)
• Guru – $249.95/mo (ideal for SMBs and marketing agencies)
• Business – $499.95/mo (ideal for enterprise and large businesses)

Note: You can save up to 17% by switching to annual billing.

Final Verdict: Semrush vs Moz

I’ve had a fantastic experience using Semrush. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Having said that, I’d like you to approach these tools without any preconceived notions and form your own judgment in deciding which tool is more suited for your business and website.

Which is why I’d urge you to try these tools for at least two weeks, or maybe even a month, before forming an opinion.

Luckily, you can grab a free trial of both these tools and get access to most of their top features.

To summarize this post, here’s a visual breakdown of how Semrush compares with Moz on key parameters:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is Semrush better than Moz?

Yes, Semrush is often considered better than Moz for its extensive keyword research capabilities, detailed site audits, competitive analysis tools, and accurate backlink tracking. Its broad database and precise data analytics offer deeper insights for optimizing SEO strategies.

2. What is the difference between Moz and Semrush?

The main difference between Moz and Semrush lies in their focus and breadth of features. Moz is known for its domain and page authority metrics, making it useful for beginners and those focused on local SEO and link building strategies. It offers a user-friendly interface and valuable educational resources.

Semrush, on the other hand, provides a more complete suite of SEO tools, including robust keyword research features, comprehensive site audits, competitive analysis, and backlink monitoring features. It also boasts a larger keyword database and offers more in-depth data analytics, making it better suited for advanced SEO professionals and agencies looking for detailed insights and actionable intelligence to enhance their SEO strategies.

3. Are there any free trials available for Semrush and Moz?

Both Semrush and Moz offer free trials, allowing users to explore their features before making a financial commitment. Semrush offers a 14-day free trial, while Moz provides a 30-day free trial.

4. How does Semrush‘s keyword database compare to Moz’s?

Semrush boasts the largest keyword database in the industry with over 20 billion keywords, offering thousands of keyword variations and detailed search volume data. Moz also provides a robust keyword research tool, but Semrush‘s database is more extensive and provides deeper insights.

5. What are the pricing plans for Semrush and Moz, and how do they compare?

Semrush’s pricing starts at $129.95/month for the Pro plan, with higher-tier plans available for advanced users. Moz’s pricing begins at $99/month for the Standard plan, with options for larger businesses and agencies. Semrush‘s higher pricing is reflective of its more comprehensive features and larger keyword database.

6. Which tool is better for backlink analysis, Semrush or Moz?

Semrush is generally considered better for backlink analysis due to its extensive backlink tracking and analysis features, along with the ability to identify and disavow toxic links. Moz also offers backlink analysis tools, but Semrush provides more detailed insights and actionable data.

7. Can Semrush and Moz help with local SEO?

Moz is particularly useful for optimizing local business listings due to its focus on local SEO tools and metrics. Semrush also offers features for local SEO, but Moz’s tools are specifically designed to improve visibility in local search results.

8. How do Semrush and Moz support content marketing efforts?

Semrush supports content marketing with its Content Marketing Toolkit, offering tools for content creation, optimization, and performance tracking. Moz provides insights into keyword opportunities and SEO optimization, but Semrush offers a more comprehensive suite of tools for content marketers.

9. Can I use Moz for free?

Yes, you can use Moz for free, especially through its MozBar tool. MozBar is a free browser extension that provides instant SEO insights about websites, including metrics like Page Authority and Domain Authority.

10. Which SEO tool is best?

Among the plethora of SEO tools available, Semrush consistently ranks as the top choice for many SEO professionals and digital marketers due to its comprehensive array of features.

Moz, once at the forefront of SEO tools, now finds itself outpaced by competitors like Ahrefs and SE Ranking. Ahrefs is renowned for its robust backlink analysis features, while SE Ranking, while SE Ranking offers a versatile, all-in-one SEO platform for detailed website audits, keyword tracking, and competitive analysis.

Google’s own suite of tools, like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, also provides essential data for SEO at no cost.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on June 3, 2016 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness. 

If you’re an existing Semrush user, here are some resources you can check out to make the best use of your Semrush subscription:

• 10 Actionable Things You Can Do with Semrush to Boost Your Traffic
• How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research: The Definitive Guide
• Semrush Site Audit: 10 Most Overlooked Features
• How to Use Semrush to Crush Your Competition
• 15 Lesser-Known (Yet Super Effective) Semrush Hacks
• How to Use Semrush .Trends to Deconstruct Competitor Strategies
• ChatGPT + Semrush: How to Use ChatGPT with Semrush for SEO Success
• How to Use Semrush to Maximize Your Content Marketing ROI

Here are some more comparison posts featuring Semrush that you may find useful:

• SEO Tools Showdown: Semrush vs Ahrefs vs Moz Pro vs SpyFu
• Semrush vs Ahrefs: Which SEO Tool is Better?
• Semrush vs Mangools: Which SEO Tool is Better?
• Semrush vs SpyFu: Which Competitor Analysis Tool is Better?
• Semrush vs Ubersuggest: Which SEO Tool is Better?

The post Semrush vs Moz: Which is the Best SEO Tool? appeared first on 99signals.

Fortunately, there are top-notch SEO tools like Serpstat that make this complex task easier.

If you haven’t used this tool before, please check out our detailed review of Serpstat here and sign up for a free account.

To put it briefly, Serpstat is essentially a marketing tool that allows you to perform various SEO (and PPC) tasks such as keyword research, competition analysis, backlink audit, and position tracking.

But what really differentiates Serpstat from other SEO tools is its affordability factor. There is a free plan available that allows you to get data for up to 30 queries and get access to position tracking and site audit features.

And when you want to upgrade, the paid plans start from $69/month, making it one of the most affordable all-in-one SEO platforms on the market.

As you’ll discover in this how-to guide, Serpstat can help you:

• Research long-tail keywords
• Fix on-page and technical SEO errors
• Do competitive analysis
• Analyze your backlinks and find new link building opportunities
• Optimize PPC campaigns

Ready to improve your site’s SEO with Serpstat? Let’s get started.

Exclusive offer: Try Serpstat for free for 7 days

12 Ways to Use Serpstat to Improve Your Site’s SEO

1. Perform Site Audits to Fix Errors

The first task you should do after logging into your Serpstat account is to perform a site audit to identify and fix technical SEO issues with your site.

To do this, simply follow these steps:

• Go to My Projects > Add New Project
• Enter your domain, your domain name, and then hit ‘Create’

Within a few seconds, Serpstat will present an audit summary that looks like this:

From the summary, you’ll be able to see your site’s Serpstat Domain Optimization (SDO) Score and the total number of errors on your site, classified into 3 categories: high, medium, and low priority errors.

When you click on the corresponding number against each error type, you’ll be able to see a detailed description of each error and suggestions on how to fix it.

Take a thorough look at all the errors on your site, paying special attention to high priority errors as these are the errors that can really hurt your site’s SEO.

Note: If the SDO score of your site is between 85-100%, it’s a healthy site from an SEO perspective and you’ve done a good job keeping it error-free.

2. Collect Benchmark Data

The next thing to do would be to use Serpstat to view the current performance of your site in organic and paid search channels. This information will give you a fair indication as to what aspects of your site you need to improve in order to rank higher in SERPs.

To do this, enter your domain into the search box, select the ‘Root domain’ option from the drop-down, select the location, and hit ‘Search’.

Serpstat will then give you a high-level overview of your site’s performance across different areas — organic keywords, PPC keywords, keyword position distribution, competitors in organic search, rank tracker, and more.

This data will give you a good indication of whether your traffic is increasing or decreasing, if your rankings have improved or deteriorated, and other metrics.

Export this data onto a PDF or spreadsheet and revisit these metrics to check whether your SEO efforts are proving effective.

3. Identify Your Organic Competitors

The next task is to identify your site’s top organic competitors. These are the sites you’re competing against in search engines and share common keywords with.

Enter your domain into the search bar and navigate to:

Website Analysis > Domain Analysis > SEO Research > Competitors

Serpstat will display a table of your top organic competitors based on relevance, common keywords, and visibility share.

In the example above, I entered my own domain in the search bar and found that Neil Patel is one of my top organic competitors because of the common keywords and visibility we share.

Along similar lines, click on common keywords to see how you are ranking in SERPs in comparison to your closest organic competitor.

Missing keywords data will show you unique keywords that your competitor is ranking for. If these keywords are relevant to your business, this data will be invaluable to you while crafting your content strategy.

Export this data onto a spreadsheet for manual review and sorting.

Pro Tip: Make sure you download this data at least once a month to keep a track of your top organic competitors.

Exclusive offer: Try Serpstat for free for 7 days

4. Review Your Competitor’s Top Performing Content

What are the top-ranking pages on your competitor’s site? What kind of content is fetching them the best organic search results? This is what we should aim to uncover next.

Enter your competitor’s domain into the search box and then head to:

Website Analysis > Domain Analysis > SEO Research > Top Pages

This report will show your competitor’s top pages ranking in Google’s Top 100 results. It will also show you the organic keywords, social shares, and potential traffic each page generates from organic search.

In the example above, you can see that a blog post on ‘Social Media Templates’ drives organic traffic of 16.4K visitors per month to Hootsuite.

The data obtained from here can help you come up with content ideas for your own site. Take a good look at your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses to create remarkable pieces of content for your site.

5. Find Your Competitor’s Top Performing Keywords

Along the same lines, you can unravel your competitor’s top-performing keywords.

Enter your competitor’s URL into the search box and hit ‘Search’.

Click on organic keywords to see all the keywords your competitor’s site is ranking for, along with ranking position, search volume, and competition in PPC.

Export the list of keywords onto a spreadsheet for manual review and sorting.

These are the keywords you’d want to target while creating your next piece of content.

Remember: If you want to rank higher than your competitor, you need to create content that is substantially better than the existing content that belongs to your competitors. Use data obtained from #4 and #5 to your advantage in creating killer content for your site.

6. Review Your Backlinks

You need to check your backlink profile from time to time and a tool like Serpstat can help you keep a track of existing as well as new backlinks for your site.

Type your domain into the search box and head to Backlink Analysis.

Serpstat will offer a brief overview of your site’s referring domains, pages, total pages indexed, referring pages, and so on. You also get to see Alexa Rank, Serpstat’s Page Rank, and Trust Rank metrics (similar to domain authority and page authority by Moz).

Below this data, you’ll be able to see a graph of your referring pages in the last 90 days.

If you scroll down, you’ll be able to see the number of new and lost backlinks for your site in the last 90 days, new referring domains in the last 90 days, and anchors that are frequently used on your site.

To do a complete backlink audit, click on ‘Referring Domains’. From here, you can see all the domains that are linking back to your site.

You can export this data onto a CSV or PDF file to revisit later or share as a report to your clients.

Exclusive offer: Try Serpstat for free for 7 days

7. Review Your Competitor’s Backlinks

It’s not enough to create content that’s better than your competitors. You also need to generate high-quality backlinks for every piece of content you create in order for it to outrank your competitors.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to spy on your competitor’s link profile and find new sources to obtain authoritative backlinks.

Type your top competitor’s domain into the search box and navigate to”

Backlink Analysis > Referring Domains

Pay attention to the total number of referring domains to your competitor’s site. If this is a large number, the chances are the domain authority of your competitor’s site is also very high.

Another aspect you need to monitor is the quality of backlinks your competitor is generating. Backlinks from high DA sites (in this case a high Serpstat Page Rank) indicates a strong link profile.

Spend some time researching your competitor’s link profile to unravel new ideas to build backlinks for your own site.

8. Find Long Tail Keywords

If you want to rank in Google SERPs quickly, then creating content with long tail keywords is your best bet.

Think of a topic you’d like to create content on. Let’s take “content marketing” as an example. Type the keywords into the search bar.

From the report, click on ‘Organic Keywords’ to view a selection of keywords on the topic. Serpstat will show you the keyword difficulty and volume for each of the keywords.

Ideally, you’d want to pick a keyword that has a low keyword difficulty score (less than 10) and decent volume (300-500).

These are the keywords with very little competition, meaning you can rank higher in SERPs much faster.

9. Identify Your PPC Competitors

If you use PPC ads to drive traffic to your website, then you’d want to find out who your paid search competitors are.

When you enter a keyword in the search box, you’ll be able to see data related to keywords, competitors for that keyword, ad examples, and ad research. You can even enter your URL in the search box and let Serpstat identify your PPC competitors.

Exclusive offer: Try Serpstat for free for 7 days

10. Gain Insights from Your Competitor’s PPC Campaigns

Gaining insights from your competitors’ PPC campaigns can help you:

• Create compelling headlines for your PPC ads
• Write better ad descriptions
• Optimize display URLs

To view your competitor’s PPC campaigns, type their URL into the search box and navigate to:

Website Analysis > Domain Analysis > PPC Research > Ad Research

From here, you can view your competitor’s PPC ad copies, the keywords they are bidding for, CPC value, and the volume of traffic they generate from Google on a monthly basis.

11. Track Your Search Rankings

Search engine rankings for keywords change frequently. So it’s important to stay ahead of the curve by keeping a track of position changes in SERPs for keywords your site is ranking for.

Navigate to Rank Tracker > Positions and click on ‘Add Keywords‘ to enter keywords that you’d like to track. You can even select tags or assign specific URLs for each set of keywords.

Once the keywords have been added, Serpstat will display a Rank Distribution graph which shows how your site ranks for the tracked keywords in Google Top 20.

Scroll down to track the ranking position of each keyword in SERPs as well as its search volume and position history.

Pro Tip: You can discover your competitors’ rankings for the tracked keywords by selecting them from the dropdown menu on the upper dashboard.

12. Increase Your Site Speed

Site speed is a key ranking factor on Google and other search engines. Websites with faster load times tend to rank higher in SERPs than websites that are slow. As such, it’s important to fix all the speed-related issues with your website.

Serpstat can help you identify page speed and UX issues on your site and suggest improvements for both desktop and mobile versions of your site.

Navigate to Site Audit > Loading Speed and select your project.

The tool will then show all the errors you’d need to fix to improve your site speed.

Click on any of the errors to see suggestions on how to fix the issue on your website.

Conclusion

So these are some of the ways you can use Serpstat for SEO, PPC, and competition analysis.

If you like the free version of this tool, you can upgrade to any of their paid plans which start from $69/month.

Exclusive offer: Try Serpstat for free for 7 days

Hope you found this Serpstat guide useful. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and if you liked this article, please tweet it out using the link below:

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 19 September 2017 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance, freshness, and comprehensiveness. 

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• Semrush vs Moz: Which is the Best SEO Tool?

The post The Ultimate Serpstat Guide: 12 Actionable Ways to Use Serpstat to Improve Your SEO appeared first on 99signals.

In 2016 during a

In addition to RankBrain (Google’s artificial intelligence system), Lipattsev stated the other top two factors were: “Content and links pointing to your site.”

This should come as no surprise for those acquainted with SEO. It’s ancient knowledge that building quality backlinks is essential if you want to improve your site’s ranking for target keywords.

In the past, black hat SEO tactics were widely deployed to game Google’s algorithm and artificially inflate rankings. Fast forward to today, such tactics are no longer viable – seeking to exploit loopholes in Google’s algorithm will quickly get you penalized!

Fortunately, for those looking to build quality backlinks while remaining in Google’s good books, there are plenty of link building tools at your disposal.

Here are 5 essential link building tools used by SEO experts around the world that will dramatically improve your link building endeavors.

5 Best Link Building Tools

1. Ahrefs

If you’re taking link building seriously, Ahrefs should be in your arsenal. It has a gigantic link index database (updated daily), comprehensive backlink analysis tools, and a rapidly increasing number of content marketing functions. 

Site Explorer is the key feature of Ahrefs. It allows you to enter a URL and immediately view its inbound links.

Ahrefs gathers its data using a crawler, similar to Googlebot. Unlike other backlink checkers, Ahrefs has an enormous link index database and breaks down the data in extraordinary ways.

Being able to view backlinks by type, referring IPs and anchor text gives excellent insight into the backlink profiles and link building strategies of your competitors.

Regularly checking the backlink profile of your own site is important, too.

Ahrefs Alerts notifies you whenever you gain a backlink, lose a backlink, and get mentioned on the web. This enables you to build relationships with those mentioning your site, as well as determine which aspects of your link building strategy are effective and which you need to fine-tune.

Ahrefs also has a useful Content Explorer tool, which allows you to see what pieces of content are receiving the most engagement in a specific niche. This can help lead your own content marketing strategy and allow you to create content that resonates with your target demographic.

Additionally, the Ahrefs blog is a must-read! Its numerous articles provide highly actionable advice on how to boost your presence online and run successful link building campaigns.

2. Majestic

With the largest link index database in the world, Majestic is incredibly convenient. As with Ahrefs, you can break down each website’s links in detail (however, the way the data is presented is not popular with everyone).

This information is great for analyzing your main competitors, viewing their backlink profiles, and discovering new link building opportunities.

You can also use Majestic to determine the efficacy of your own link building strategies. After identifying the top domains linking to your site, you can build relationships with them to ensure that the links stay live and encourage them to give you more links.

You can also identify which pages on your site are receiving the most inbound links, so you know to promote them during your outreach link building campaigns.

3. BuzzStream

BuzzStream is a fantastic outreach management platform that enables you to manage relationships with sites that you want to generate links from.

Essentially, it’s a CRM system for link building with a variety of useful functions, including finding contact information, tracking social media, monitoring backlinks, and tracking outreach conversions.

BuzzStream provides useful statistics regarding the success of your email outreach campaigns, which helps you create more impactful email copy.

Researching backlink prospects, sending them emails, and managing their responses is infinitely easier when using a system like BuzzStream (compared to doing it manually with a spreadsheet and email account).

The ability to delegate tasks to team members is also crucial for those looking to scale their link building efforts. This makes outreach management much more efficient, particularly for remote teams where tasks are often assigned by email, and confusion over responsibilities can rapidly escalate.

4. LinkResearchTools

This is a highly comprehensive backlink analysis tool.

Among many of the metrics available in this tool is link velocity trend (LVT). This describes the speed of link growth to a domain, often measured in new links per month.

LVT helps you to determine which domains are building their link profiles naturally, and which may be using underhanded tactics to accumulate new links. An extremely negative LVT score indicates that the web has lost interest with the domain or page.

LVT is an important signal in the key feature of LinkResearchTools: Link Detox.

With Link Detox, you can scan your backlinks and identify suspicious links that can put you at risk of a penalty by Google. This is the only tool on the market that enables you to audit websites for toxic links, making it a crucial asset in your link building arsenal.

5. Buzzsumo

For content marketers looking to accumulate more backlinks, Buzzsumo is incredibly useful. The tool lets you see the types of content that generate engagement in your specific industry.

With these insights, you can produce content on similar topics that people are sure to resonate with (and link to).

BuzzSumo is also a great asset for influencer marketing. BuzzSumo has an influencer section where you can enter specific keywords and find out who is writing about specific topics.

You can also view the types of content these influencers have shared and receive updates every time they post or share new content. This information will help you create the kind of content that will immediately grab their attention! You can also quote these influencers in your content and kindly request that they share and link to it.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. From backlink analysis to content creation to conducting actual outreach to link opportunities, these five tools will have you covered.

Using them in combination will dramatically improve your link building efforts and will lead to increased organic traffic and rankings.

Related Articles

• 7 Best Competitor Research Tools to Spy on Your Competition
• 20 Questions to Ask Potential SEO Clients
• 25 Best Google Chrome Extensions for SEO

The post 5 Essential Link Building Tools Every Marketer Should Use appeared first on 99signals.

How do you determine the value of a good SEO tool? With so many SEO tools around and new ones being introduced by SEO veterans each year, how does one decide — what are the best SEO tools?

In my opinion, the most powerful and efficient SEO tools save time, energy, money, and exponentially increase the traffic of your website.

In this article, you’ll discover the 5 best SEO tools that can do all these and more.

Top 5 SEO Tools

1. Semrush

Semrush is the most popular SEO tool for keyword research and competitive analysis.

Hands-down the best competitive intelligence tool on the market, Semrush allows you to spy on your competition’s keywords and create outstanding content that ranks well in search engines.

It’s also useful for performing site audits, backlink analysis, and keyword position tracking. If you don’t have a subscription of Semrush, you really are missing out on some great opportunities to create content that outranks your competitors’.

Try Semrush Pro for free for 14 days

Learn more: Semrush Review: The SEO Tool Trusted by Experts

2. Ahrefs

When it comes to backlink research and audit, there is no better tool than Ahrefs. I’ve tried different tools to research on backlinks, but Ahrefs by far provides the most accurate and comprehensive information on backlinks on the market.

Ahrefs contains a wealth of link data — the number of backlinks a site has, the number of referring domains for a site, the link authority of a site, and a site’s backlink growth over time.

It’s also ideal for performing a backlink audit of your site because it also shows you the site’s broken links, anchor text density, lost links, and much more.

Sign up for a 7-day trial of Ahrefs for $7

Learn more: Ahrefs Review: More Than Just an SEO Backlink Analysis Tool

3. YoastSEO

With over 25% of websites across the world running on WordPress, you don’t have to second guess whether or not this is the right CMS for you.

WordPress has a plethora of SEO plugins, but YoastSEO is one of the most popular and favorite among the users. This is because it’s super easy to use, highly effective, and most of its essential features are totally free.

YoastSEO is an all-in-one SEO tool for WordPress which makes handling of all the basic aspects of on-page SEO look simple. You can easily set the meta tags for your pages, check keyword density and flesch readability score of your content, optimize your images, and much more.

In addition to managing the on-page SEO elements of your website’s content, YoastSEO can also help you create a sitemap and submit it to Google Webmasters.

Download YoastSEO for WordPress

4. Long Tail Pro

Long Tail Pro is a powerful research and blogging tool that is very popular among internet marketers and bloggers alike.

Launched in 2011, Long Tail Pro quickly became a popular tool among marketers and is now used by more than 70,000 marketers worldwide. It’s a highly-recommended tool by seasoned bloggers such as Pat Flynn and Matthew Woodward.

Long Tail Pro allows you to find high-traffic keywords with low competition. Using this tool, you can find profitable keywords in competitive niches, do keyword research, and analyze the top ten results for any keyword in your niche.

Limited Time Offer: Use Code ’99SIGNALS’ to get 30% off on any Long Tail Pro plan. Visit LongTailPro to save 30%

5. GTMetrix

Looking for an SEO tool that can gauge your site’s speed and provide useful tips to speed up your website? Then GTMetrix is the tool you should try. The GTMetrix report gives you a complete picture on how your site loads and helps you detect where the bottlenecks are.

It’s an excellent tool to test the performance of your website and all the essential features of GTMetrix are completely free.

Try GTMetrix for free

Summary and Infographic

So these are the 5 best SEO tools that we recommend to skyrocket your website’s rankings. What SEO tools do you prefer? Let us know in the comments section.

Here is an infographic which summarizes this article.

Related Articles

• 8 Best Keyword Research Tools to Boost Your SEO
• How to Get High Quality Backlinks (25 Proven Techniques)
• Local SEO Tools: 11 Best Tools to Improve Your Local Search Rankings
• 10 Technical SEO Tips to Instantly Boost Your Site’s Rankings
• 5 Proven Ways to Increase Domain Authority of Your Website (and Improve Your Rankings)

The post 5 Best SEO Tools That Will Skyrocket Your Rankings appeared first on 99signals.