Best SEO Software 2020

We've reviewed the best SEO software systems on the market. Use these tools to help identify keywords to target, analyze backlinks and monitor your rankings over time.

Best All-In-One SEO Platforms

All-in-one SEO platforms are complete toolkits that can be used to support a broad range of online search projects. These solutions include all of the tools found in specialty point solutions. For example, they can be used for keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor research, keyword rank tracking, website audits and even business listings management.

SEMrush

SEMrush

All-In-One SEO Platform Best Overall SEO Software
Rating:
Price: $99.95 per month
SEMrush is the best all-in-one search software tool for keyword research, competitive analysis, position tracking, and more. It will save you hours finding new high-volume keywords to target in paid and organic search, give you visibility into your competitors' online marketing tactics, and help you monitor your website's SEO performance.
Pros:
  • Keyword research tool to discover popular search terms for paid campaigns & high-volume keywords to target with SEO
  • Competitive analysis tool to identify your top competitors & spy on their online marketing tactics
  • Excellent keyword rank tracking tool to monitor how well your site is ranking on Google over time
Cons:
  • DeepCrawl and Screaming Frog are superior for on-page SEO auditing
  • Ahrefs is slightly better for backlink analysis
  • More expensive than free tools like Google's Ads Keyword Planner
Ahrefs

Ahrefs

All-In-One SEO Platform Best for Backlink Analysis
Rating:
Price: $99 per month
Ahrefs is a powerful all-in-one SEO search software tool that can be used for backlink analysis, keyword research, competitive research, SEO audits and more. It is the best solution for content marketers that are focused on generating backlinks.
Pros:
  • Excellent for backlink analysis
  • Keyword tool helps you keep track of your rankings for various keywords over time
  • Competitive analysis features allow you to see other websites' best performing pages by backlinks and traffic
Cons:
  • Organic search traffic estimates may not be accurate, but this is true for most SEO tools
  • Keyword rank tracker updated less frequently than SEMrush
  • Does not provide traffic analytics for competing domains
Serpstat

Serpstat

All-In-One SEO Platform
Rating:
Price: $69 per month
Serpstat is an all-in-one search tool that is used by 250,000 users globally to improve their performance in online search. With features like keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and site auditing, you can optimize your search efforts and maximize your website's traffic and visibility. If price and an ability to track a high volume of keywords is paramount, then Serpstat is an excellent option.
Pros:
  • Includes all major features for keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and site auditing
  • Competitive analysis feature allows you to discover and analyze your top competitors’ keywords and backlinks
  • Serpstat’s entry plan allows you to track 15,000 keywords vs. 500 keywords in SEMrush
  • About 30% cheaper than Ahrefs and SEMrush
Cons:
  • Backlink analysis reports return a fraction of the data compared to Ahrefs and SEMrush
  • Data visualization for the keyword rank tracker is somewhat confusing
  • Customer support is offline after 2PM EST, but generally responds to ticket in one business day
Moz

Moz

All-In-One SEO Platform
Rating:
Price: $99 per month
Moz helps streamline several of the key tasks that a business should master to rank well in search engines, such as keyword research, backlink analysis, ranking tracking, site auditing, and page optimization. Moz also provides several proprietary metrics, which can offer important insights that help you better understand your website's current standing in search engines, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Pros:
  • Useful set of features, and large variety of tools for conducting SEO research
  • Continuously updated with new features
  • Cloud-based for easy access from anywhere with an Internet connection
  • 30-day free trial allows you to test the software fully before committing
Cons:
  • Imposes limits on tools to prevent you from exceeding "standard" usage amounts
  • Only provides access to SEO tools; does not actually provide any services or consulting to help you understand the insights gained from those tools
  • UI is less modern, and more difficult to navigate compared to some competitors



Best Keyword Research Software

Keyword research software is built to help online marketers identify keywords to target with organic and paid search campaigns. These tools offer different ways to find keywords, conduct competitor & keyword gap analysis, and generate related keyword reports. They provide information on each keyword such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and estimated CPCs.

SpyFu

SpyFu

Keyword Research Software
Rating:
Price: $39 per month
SpyFu is a keyword research and competitive intelligence tool that is used by digital marketers to improve their performance in online search. More specifically, SpyFu can be used to identify the most profitable search terms in your competitors' paid and organic search campaigns.
Pros:
  • Robust tool for finding new keywords to use in paid and organic search programs
  • Competitive analysis tool makes it easy to discover your top online competitors
  • Database has over 13 years of Google data
Cons:
  • Keyword research tool lacks some information found in more expensive alternatives like SEMrush
  • Very basic keyword rank tracking capabilities
  • Not ideal for backlink analysis or site audits
KWFinder

KWFinder

Keyword Research Software
Rating:
Price: $26.91 per month
KWFinder is an intuitive keyword research tool design developed by Mangools that is a great for conducting basic, and even more advanced, keyword research. It's a popular alternative to other options on the market, such as Moz and Long Tail Pro, due to its strong focus on simplicity and its ability to help find and evaluate long tail keywords that are easy to rank for. While KWFinder is Mangools' flagship product, the company has expanded their suite of SEO tools to include SERPWatcher (rank tracker), SERPChecker (Google competitor analyzer), LinkMiner (backlink analyzer), and SiteProfiler (website analyzer). Overall, KWFinder is an excellent option, especially at the lower pricing tiers, which should suit most peoples' needs.
Pros:
  • Presents all relevant information needed for keyword analysis in one convenient location
  • Helpful in identifying long tail keywords that are easier to rank for
  • Offers additional SEO tools, including a free browser extension
Cons:
  • Doesn’t support competitor keyword research
  • Lookup and search result restrictions can be restricting
Long Tail Pro

Long Tail Pro

Keyword Research Software
Rating:
Price: $37 per month
Long Tail Pro is a keyword research tool designed to help website owners find low-competition keywords to support their SEO strategy. It was developed in 2011 by Spencer Haws, an authority on internet marketing, after he became frustrated with the copious amount of tools needed and the time it took to find keywords that would be easy to rank for. Using Long Tail Pro, you can enter seed keywords (up to five at once) and get back hundreds of different suggestions and keyword variations. The software also allows you to analyze a list of keywords manually (if you have done prior research), and even assess your competitors' domains to uncover new keywords in your niche.
Pros:
  • Helps you identify keywords to target using proprietary KC (Keyword Competitiveness) score
  • Able to search multiple seed keywords simultaneously
  • Excellent SEO training videos for beginners
Cons:
  • Daily keyword search limitations can throttle your research
  • No search volume trend data



Other Top SEO Software

There are several SEO tools that specialize in specific use cases. The solutions below are tools used for keyword tracking, generating keyword ideas, content planning, and optimizing SEO in WordPress.

AccuRanker

AccuRanker

Keyword Tracking Software
Rating:
Price: $49 per month
AccuRanker is a keyword rank tracking tool used by over 20,000 companies worldwide to improve their organic search performance. AccuRanker customers can upload and monitor the SERP positions of thousands of search terms that drive traffic to their websites. The resulting insights on keyword performance on Google and Bing allow AccuRanker customers to measure and optimize their organic search programs.
Pros:
  • Full-featured keyword tracking solution at very attractive price point
  • Ability to import Google Analytics and Search Console data to automatically calculate advanced, valuable metrics
  • Clean interface despite richness of feature set
Cons:
  • Basic Plan lacks key features including competitor analysis
  • The solution is only for keyword tracking, not other SEO needs
Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest

SEO Software Best free SEO software
Rating:
Price: Free
Ubersuggest is a free SEO tool that helps you find new content ideas, learn about your competitors, and get keyword suggestions for your content. It acts much like other paid tools (Ahrefs, MOZ, SEMRush, etc.), save for more in-depth keyword analysis you might find with other products, so it could be an excellent option for freelancers who don't quite have the budget to spare for a pricey SEO tool.
Pros:
  • Completely free
  • Helps to identify keywords to target, as well as related keywords
  • Provides useful information for competitive analysis
Cons:
  • Some features are still being developed (backlink analysis, Content Ideas)
  • Website can be slow
MarketMuse

MarketMuse

Content Planning Tool
Rating:
Price: Over $1,000 per month
MarketMuse is a content planning tool that uses AI to pull data from all the top-performing websites on a particular search term. Based on that information, it makes recommendations about how long your piece on the same topic should be as well as the relevant keywords and subtopics to include. The short version is that it makes your job as a writer that much easier. If you’re a marketer, you can use their tool to create content briefs that you can pass along to your writing team.
Pros:
  • Saves content writers significant time by identifying key sub-topics to include in content as well as target keyword length
  • Allows you to quickly audit existing content to identify missing topics to boost SEO
  • Recommends best new content topics by analyzing your current website
  • Has partnerships with content agencies for companies that prefer to outsource content marketing
Cons:
  • MarketMuse is priced for enterprises at over $1,000 per month
  • No free trial to test the software
  • As with most SEO investments, can be difficult to determine the exact ROI on your investment
Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO

SEO Software
Rating:
Price: $89 per year
Yoast SEO is a search engine optimization plugin for WordPress users. It's currently the most-downloaded SEO plugin and has a near-perfect rating in the WordPress Plugins database. The tool has several helpful features in both its free and paid versions for almost anyone who focuses on optimized content for search engines, from beginners to experts. Not only can you use Yoast SEO to optimize content you've written in WordPress, but you can also use it to get your pages noticed in Google and Bing with its simple configurations of sitemaps, suggestions for cleaning up your URLs, and more.
Pros:
  • Excellent free version, though it only allows you to optimize for 1 keyword
  • Readability analysis provides actionable feedback to improve your site's ranking
  • Enables you to specify which pages on your site should be discoverable by search engines
Cons:
  • Free version has some limitations
  • Paid version is not as robust as other full-fledged SEO tools

SEO Software FAQs

SEO software is used by digital marketers for a variety of tasks including managing paid & organic search, building backlink profiles, conducting keyword research, and monitoring SERP positions. SEO software is a powerful way to increase traffic to your website and increase the visibility of your brand.
Here's the most popular types of SEO software:

  • Keyword research tools
  • Keyword rank tracking tools
  • Backlink analysis tools
  • Competitive intelligence tools
  • Website audit tools
  • Website crawlers
  • Content planning tools
In general, SEO software costs $100 to $500 per month depending on number of users, keywords, reports, and add-on features. If you’re just getting started or on a budget, solid search software tools like SpyFu and Serpstat have plans that start around $50 per month.
The best SEO software for you will depend on which features are most important to your business. For example, if you prioritize keyword research, rank tracking, and competitive analysis, then SEMrush is your best option. If your primary goal is to conduct backlink analysis, then you should consider testing Ahrefs.
The most popular SEO applications are SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz. SEMrush is the most popular out of these applications with over 4 million users.
The most common SEO software features are:

  • Keyword Research
  • Competitive Research
  • Keyword Rank Tracking
  • Backlink Analysis
  • SEO Site Audits
  • Content Research
  • Traffic Analytics
  • Listing Management
  • Social Media Management

SEO Research & Advice

SEMrush Free Plan Overview

By Bruce Hogan |

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