SEO Software

What is SEO software?

Search engine optimization software, more commonly known as SEO software, offers tools to help businesses optimize websites and digital content for search engine rankings. It enables users to identify trending keywords, analyze competitor data, track keyword performance metrics over time, and generate reports that measure the effectiveness of their SEO campaigns. 

The tool also offers features such as link-building opportunity tracking, which assists users in creating more authoritative links from other websites to boost ranking on search engines. Additionally, SEO software provides real-time site audits for website owners to address any potential issues related to technical search engine optimization or page-speed improvements.

What are some common features of SEO software?

• Backlink monitoring: Tracks website backlinks, also known as inbound or incoming links from other websites to your website, which are seen as a sign of trust and authority by search engines such as Google, to help SEO professionals identify new link opportunities, measure domain authority, detect broken or suspicious links, and audit competitors' backlinks for comparison.

• Keyword rank tracking: Allows users to track the ranking of their website keywords on major search engines, such as Google and Bing. It helps marketers identify the most effective keywords for their target audience and measure performance against competitors.

• Keyword research tools: Provides data on keyword volume, competition level, and estimated clicks/impressions to help users discover relevant keywords to target in their SEO campaigns.

• Audit management: Helps SEO teams monitor websites, detect potential issues with content or technical elements, analyze user behavior patterns, and track search engine rankings. It offers insights into their SEO campaigns to help teams identify areas of improvement. 

• Competitive analysis: Analyzes competitor websites and prepares competitive gap analysis reports to offer insights into keyword optimization and ranking, backlinks, domain authority score, and other SEO metrics.

What are the benefits of using SEO software?

• Optimizes website content: SEO analysis software comprises a suite of tools to optimize website content for search engines. It lets users analyze keyword relevance, perform backlink analysis, identify broken links, generate meta tags, and more. Using this tool, SEO teams can perform competitive analysis and test different SEO strategies—helping businesses increase organic traffic and improving ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).

• Improves website visibility: An SEO tool allows websites to target specific geographic locations or demographics with tailored SEO strategies. It helps businesses reach the right audience and ensure their web pages are well-optimized to rank higher on SERPs. The increased visibility generated from SEO optimization leads to higher organic traffic rates on websites—ultimately translating into better conversions and revenue growth.

• Facilitates keyword research: SEO software comprises a keyword research tool that helps users identify trending and the most relevant keywords for their website. Using this, SEO teams can improve their strategies by analyzing competitors' keywords, measuring the performance of existing SEO campaigns, and understanding consumer behavior trends.

What are the potential issues with SEO software?

• Inaccurate keyword results: Inaccurate keyword results lead to inadequate SEO optimization, hampering your website visibility, ranking on SERPs, and website traffic. Besides that, an SEO tool relies on accurate data to track progress and measure the success of your SEO efforts. Inaccurate keyword data can make it difficult to determine whether your strategy is working and leads to incorrect conclusions.

• Frequent algorithm updates: Search engines such as Google frequently update their algorithms to improve the relevance and quality of search results. It can cause issues with SEO software, as the software relies on parameters about how the algorithm works to provide website optimization recommendations. When the algorithm updates, these assumptions may be inaccurate, leading to ineffective recommendations for improving a website's ranking.

• Black hat SEO practices: Black hat SEO practices, such as keyword stuffing and link manipulation, can be potential issues with SEO software. It may recommend these practices despite search engines detecting and penalizing them. Relying on unethical practices can also harm a website's reputation and credibility with its audience.

How much does SEO software cost?

Most SEO platforms are priced on a “per month” basis, and their entry-level pricing plan ranges from $10 to $129+* per month. An enterprise product that’s priced higher may include additional features such as social media optimization, Google mobile rank tracking, integration with Google search console, search volume estimates, white-label reports, content marketing, and lead generators.

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of March 22, 2023.

Key considerations when purchasing SEO software

• Evaluate the suite of SEO tools offered. Most SEO software solutions have multiple pricing packages, offering different tools to optimize your website. Before making a choice, assess the suite of tools offered in each package and evaluate how they can support your business. Look for features such as keyword research capabilities, rank tracking, link analysis reports, competitor tracking analytics, and other on-page optimization components that could help boost your visibility in the search results.

• Analyze keyword research accuracy. Assess the ability of your shortlisted tool to provide accurate keyword results, including search volume, competition level, and more. It will not just help you identify keywords relevant to your niche or industry but curate an SEO strategy that best aligns with your business requirements.

• Determine the level of automation available. SEO software can automate several tasks, from keyword analysis and content optimization to link building. It helps reduce manual workload and improve efficiency while strategizing an SEO campaign. Determine the level of automation offered by your shortlisted SEO software tool to help you pick the right one for your requirements.

Sources

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from GetApp's SEO software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in GetApp’s directory that offer them. 

Disclaimer

This SEO software buyers guide was authored by GetApp's content team. We develop our guides using the author’s expertise, insights from 2M+ unique user reviews, and our proprietary data science algorithms to identify trends in user sentiment, preferences, and priorities. Some text was generated with assistance from AI tools.