SEO Spy Tools – 6 SEO Spy Tools to Research your Competitors
SEO Spy Tools
- SpyFU
- SEO Spy Glass
- Google Search Operators
- Yahoo! Site Explorer
- Google Ad Planner
- Google Trends for Websites
- Site Analytics Compete
In a previous post, SEO Keyword Research – Choosing Keywords for SEO, I mentioned the ability to spy on your competitors for SEO ideas. I’d like to expand on that in this post. Below is a list of free research & spy tools that will give you insight into a competitor’s SEO status. Seeing which keywords your competitors are ranking or bidding on may give you a few ideas for your own campaign. These tools should help you make more informed decisions regarding your search engine marketing campaigns. Not being first in the game isn’t always a bad thing. You can skip the growing pains and trial and error of the first comers and put all your time and resources into proven methods. Spy tools like this allow you to see which other sites are being visited by visitors to your website (as well as your competitor’s) can provide expanded knowledge on who your competitors are.
1-SpyFU
As the name implies, this tool is specifically geared towards spying on your competitors. The paid account is reasonable and since monthly plans are an option, you can always get your information in the first month. Unlike many other SEO spy tools, Spy Fu allows you to download a large amount of SEO ranking data into your spreadsheet. Their Spy Recon files also sound promising. Visit SpyFu Website
- Daily Adwords (PPC) Ad Budget
- Avg. Ad Position / # Advertisers
- Daily Organic (SEO) Traffic Value
- Paid vs. Organic Clicks Per Day
- Top 10 with free account, expanded and exportable list with paid account: Paid Keywords, Top Ad Competitors, Organic Keywords, Other Domains Owned
- Basic: Free
- Monthly Subscription: $59.95
- Annual Subscription: $395.00
- Visit SpyFu Website
2-SEO Spy Glass and SEO Power Suite
SEO Spy Glass is a software download and allows you keep track of your competitors, and their inbound links. It combines several powerful online tools (like Yahoo! Site Explorer) into one large automated package. Just enter a competitor’s URL and SEO Spy Glass will return your competitor’s inbound links, anchor text, Page Rank, and even the contact page for those linking websites. SEO Powersuite is a larger package which also includes Link Assistant, Rank Checker and other SEO tools. Visit SEO Spy Glass Website
- Competitor Inbound Links
- Inbound Links anchor text
- Pagerank
- Contact Page
- Misc. SEO factors (DMOZ listings, number of inbound links, Alexa rank, etc)
- Part of the much larger SEO Power Suite
- Free Limited Version
- Professional $99.75
- Enterprise $249.75
- Visit SEO Spy Glass
SEO Spy Tools – PPC Spy Tools
Here is expanded list of Google, Yahoo!, and other Search Engine operators.
3-Yahoo! Site Explorer
If you want to know who’s linking you or your competitors, this is probably the easiest way to do it. Furthermore, you can download the results into a spreadsheet.
4-Google Ad Planner
Part of Google’s Media Ad planner, this tool is geared towards helping PPC advertisers make more informed decisions regarding their ad placement. Enter a URL and get the following;`
- Other sites visited
- Keywords searched for
- Basic site metrics (Unique Visitors, Reach, Pageviews, Total Visits, etc)
- Visitor Demographics (gender, education, age, and household income)
- Filter by Country
- Price: Free
5-Google Trends for Websites
Google Trends allows you to see trends for keywords searches as well as site visits over a period of time. for Enter a URL and get the following;
- View trends in visits over time
- Other sites visited
- Keywords searched for
- Filter by Country
- Drill down into more specific regions (states)
- Compare multiple websites at once
- Price: Free
6-Site Analytics Compete
This is a very extensive tool and gives you a wide variety of metrics to compare and the ability to compare multiple sites over a period of time. The payment plans are a bit pricey but even the free account provides meaningful data. Enter a URL and get the following SEO spy data;
- View trends in visits over time
- Compare multiple websites at once (3 without logging in, 5 with free account, many more with purchase)
- Site Description
- Other sites visitied
- Keywords searched for
- Referring sources
- Basic site metrics: Visits, Unique Visitors
- With Pro Account: Reach, Attention, Pageviews, Pages/Visit, Visits/Person, etc)
- With Pro Account: Visitor Demographics (gender, education, age, and income)
- Price: Basic account is Free.
- Intro: $199 per month
- Standard: $299 per month
- Advanced: $499 per month
- Enterprise: Contact for Pricing
Go forth and research!
These are by no means the only Web or SEO spy tools out there. However, they are the tools I have found most valuable. Feel free to give your 2 cents on these tools and/or share other SEO spy tools that have worked for you.
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Comments
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