The use of PPC/SEO competitive intelligence (CI) in digital marketing has been steadily increasing over the past decade, and today there is such a wealth of free and affordable tools around, that even the most professional and experienced marketer would have difficulty choosing the ‘right’ one.
In this article, the our SEO Expert provide an overview of the services, features, and data coverage offered by the current leading providers in PPC/SEO competitive intelligence (CI). In fact, most of the services offer a free trial, so we’d encourage you to give whichever appeals most a go yourself!
What is PPC/SEO competitive intelligence (CI)? It’s next-level SEO, and though it’s been around for quite a while, it’s now becoming a more refined, sophisticated, and streamlined tool. It’s a method of ethical, legitimate, competitor research which helps you achieve the very best for your business through your SEO.
What can it do for me? SEO CI can help your business leap over competitors in a single bound, race faster than a speeding bullet to stay several steps ahead of their next move, and, with a bit of insightful interpretation, steam forward with more power than any locomotive to take the lead in industry best practice. All without donning any odd capes or embarrassing lycra onesies.
Who does it? SEMrush, SpyFu, iSpionage, BuzzSumo, Screaming Frog, Serpstat, and WooRank, just to name a few. They’re mostly - well, all - located outside Australia and so some only have limited if any access to Australian data. However, it’s a fast-moving area, so if one provider doesn’t have what you need right now, our seo specialist suggests keeping an eye open, because they might be the next innovator.
Who does it best? Good question. It’s really for you to decide, according to your business and marketing needs now and as they change over time. Below we’ve provided a glimpse of three of the most popular specialist services in PPC/SEO competitor intelligence among Australian marketers.
SEMrush
Overview
• SEMrush is a digital market intelligence SaaS company founded in 2008, and based in Boston, US.
Features
• On its 10th Anniversary in September 2018, SEMrush released its Competitive Intelligence Toolkit 2.0.
• It provides a comprehensive and detailed suite of CI services in SEO, SEM, paid advertising, content, SMM, and PR, and is tailored to meet the needs of larger teams and businesses.
• The CI Toolkit 2.0 is comprised of five sets of tools: Big Picture, SEO, Advertising, Content and PR, and Social Media.
• The key tools provided included Traffic Analytics, Domain Overview, Organic Research, Keyword Gap, Backlink Analytics, Backlink Gap, Advertising Research, Display Advertising, PLA Research, Brand Monitoring, Topic Research, Post Tracking, and Social Media Tracker.
• SEMrush provides possibly the most comprehensive toolkit available, and is probably best suited to those who live and breathe SEM, who need highly customised competitor SEO data, and where sales and revenue generation are critical targets.
Pros
• The tools have great user experience design and are so easy to use
• It can provide a range of data granularity, from the broadest overview to the finest detail.
• If your digital marketing costs seem to be spiralling in the wrong direction, this tool provides some fantastic ways to bring it back within budget.
Cons
• For a software subscription with such a well-reputed, reliable, and sophisticated service, you do pay for what you get.
• While it does encompass a broad variety of search engine marketing techniques, it provides its strongest focus on Google-related methods, such as AdWords.
Australian Coverage
• In April 2016 SEMrush introduced improved services for Australia, with significant increases in keywords, domains, and organic positions, so that the Australian database contained over 12m keywords, over 11m domains, and 100 organic search positions.
SpyFu
Overview
• SpyFu is a search analytics company which started in 2005 and is based in Arizona, US.
Features
• With SpyFu you can search for any domain within its area of data coverage and find all of their listing information on Google, including AdWords keywords purchased, every organic position, and all of the changes they’ve made to their Google advertising for over a decade.
• Its tools allow you to increase your website traffic, track keyword rankings, and build connections, partnerships, and sales leads.
• There are three sets of tools provided by SpyFu: PPC Competitor Research, SEO Competitor Research, and Keyword Research Tools.
• Each of the tools offered under these categories aim to assist you in finding out what your competitors are doing, showing you how to adapt these techniques for yourself - ideally at lower cost - and monitoring the PPC, SEO, and Keyword activity of your own business and the competition to stay ahead. SpyFu Kombat is particularly useful, as it lets you enter three domains and compare their keyword data.
• SpyFu is useful for those who are either starting or refreshing their digital campaign and seeking to build competitor data by generating competitor and keyword lists.
Pros
• SpyFu’s longer history means it has built up a database with greater historic reach, and the ability to research the ad history of your competitors is very helpful.
• SpyFu as a smaller, more specialised service, means it can offer better deals and discounts for those with simpler needs.
Cons
• Even if you don’t require Australian coverage (see below), the data it provides for other countries (presently only US and the UK) is national and not geo-targeted.
Australian Coverage
• Presently focuses on national data for the US and the UK through Google.com and Google.co.uk, respectively, and only catches some data from other countries where they rank high enough in the results.
iSpionage
Overview
• In true intrigue style, there’s little to no information that can be found on iSpionage or elsewhere about its beginnings, history, and mission. There is, though, a lot of information available about what others think of it, by way of reviews and its appearance in a number of popular blogs.
Features
• iSpionage promises to help you drive targeted traffic, generate more leads, and increase conversion rates.
• iSpionage provides tools in three areas: Competitor Research, Campaign Watch, and Lead Lists.
• Competitor Research lets you discover your competitors’ most effective keywords, their ad copy, and to save images of their landing pages for further reference and analysis.
• Campaign Watch sets up an automated alert system for you to receive your competitors’ marketing strategy details on a regular basis by email. It provides updates whenever competitors change their SEM strategy, PPC campaigns, or landing pages, and offers full- funnel visibility, from acquisition to conversion.
• It’s a great tool for starting a new campaign quickly from scratch for a small to medium- sized business with a less complex digital strategy.
Pros
• Offers some helpful learning resources for those just getting started in PPC/SEO CI
• Provides support by chat, email, and phone.
• Access to white label competitor reports
• Covers Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
• Their proprietary keyword effectiveness index is unique and unmatched by other providers
Cons
• Its PPC and SEO keyword database has the shortest reach of the three providers reviewed, going back only seven years.
• Team offering for larger businesses could be improved
• Data accuracy and comprehensiveness can be a little less than expected
Australian Coverage
• iSpionage helpfully keeps an updated record of the data coverage it provides in the website footer, and at 15 May 2019 it held over 35M keywords, 156M ad copy, 20M domains, across Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, for Australia, among US, UK, and Canada.
Conclusion
Our PPC Management Agency have concluded that there’s no best or worst PPC/SEO CI tool around, it’s more about what’s best for you.
There are, however, a few common factors among the variables that we’ve identified to help you make that decision, and they include:
• whether you’re a sole operator or employing staff;
- Each provider offers different packages and deals for individuals and teams
• the size of your business;
- The bigger the business, the more comprehensive service you would need
• the location of its market;
- Find the provider that offers the best data coverage for where you operate
• the complexity of your existing marketing strategy; and
- The more complex your strategy, the more detailed, specific, and sophisticated
capabilities needed in the tool.
• level of support you need
- Some providers may offer support through offering an in-depth knowledgebase
and community, while others provide 24-hour chat or other means of contact.
If you can define those aspects - hence, knowing your business - check out the relevant review sites, and invest some time in a free trial of the service that most closely matches those needs, you’re well on your way to knowing your competition, and winning the next battle.