Running an agency can be a fulfilling experience, especially when you get to make your clients happy. However, to do that, you need the help of the best SEO software for agencies.
Although an organization can do a lot of the SEO work manually, it can be time-consuming and prevent you from focusing on other important aspects, such as scalability.
How do you know which SEO tools are the best to use? Let’s dive into it!
Feature Considerations When Choosing the Best SEO Software for Agencies
When it comes to SEO optimization, you will rarely find a single software that covers all the bases. You’ll find that some of the best agencies in the world use a combination of SEO tools, software, and methods to improve their ratings.
Below are some important points to keep in mind as you choose SEO software.
1. Keyword Rank Tracking
Tracking performance is a must-have in any online enterprise, this is especially important for a solid SEO strategy, so try to find software that fulfills this.
SEO is built heavily on keywords. Therefore, being able to know how well your clients’ keywords are ranking will enable you to create impactful strategies. You won’t just be traveling blindly and hoping that you rank for certain keywords.
2. Site Auditing
A site audit is one of the first services you’ll offer your clients as an agency. Naturally, you want SEO tools you can rely on to do the job well.
You want an SEO tool that can check how well your on-page SEO optimization is working. Some of the on-page SEO elements it should focus on include metadata, images, content, links, user experience, and load speed.
3. Backlink Tracking
Quality backlinks are another essential part of SEO. Therefore, a tool that can check the quality and quantity of the backlinks on your client’s site can give you invaluable information for creating your SEO strategy.
You’ll know whether to get more quality backlinks or focus on other SEO optimization aspects.
This brings us to our next point. How do you find these quality backlinks?
4. Backlink Outreach
Good SEO software will tell you which authoritative websites you should reach out to to get quality backlinks.
This process is creating a network of high-quality links to sites outside of the main site used.
5. Website Crawling
Here’s another essential part of SEO. Crawling your clients’ sites to find any problems when it comes to SEO optimization.
Find a good software that will diligently crawl each and every page and give you a report of what you need to improve on.
6. Content Optimization
Content is at the heart of SEO because we’re creating content for humans. Therefore, the better the content you’re generating for your clients, the better their sites will rank and the more traffic you’ll get.
Therefore, you want to get an SEO tool that will ensure that the words on the page and the structure of your content are properly optimized for your reader and search engines.
Best SEO Software for Agencies
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is one of the biggest names in the SEO industry, and for good reason. This SEO giant has 5 core features that will allow you to get results for your clients. In addition to being incredibly effective, this SEO software also offers you great value for your money.
a) Site Audit Tool
The site audit tool allows you to discover any SEO problems on your client’s website. For example, you’ll be able to know if there are any broken links, slow-loading pages, and so on. A nice part of this audit is that the process is automatic.
This also means that you can deliver faster results to your clients, which then gives you enough time to scale up your business.
b) Keyword Explorer
If you want a keyword research tool you can rely on, look no further than Ahrefs keyword explorer.
This SEO tool gives you information like keyword difficulty, search volume, and more. As a result, you’ll be able to make better decisions on what keywords to target that will give you better results.
c) Site Explore
This SEO tool allows you to know what your competitors are doing. In addition, you’ll be able to analyze your competitors and see what’s working for them.
d) Content Explorer
The content explorer tool allows you to learn from the top-performing content on the internet. With these insights in hand, you’ll be able to create content that converts.
e) Rank Tracker.
This tool allows you to track how well you’re ranking. This information will allow you to create strategies that work because you’ll have reliable data to work with.
2. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO software that comes with an array of tools to speed up your operations.
Some of the features that come with this software include:
- Keyword research tool
- Keyword rank tracker
- Website audit tool
- Backlink checker and monitor
You’ll also be able to undertake competitor research, analyze your client’s social media platforms and create a marketing plan.
Therefore, you offer social media management services to your clients, this is good SEO software to use.
3. SEMRush
You know that a company that’s trusted by Tesla and Forbes knows what it’s doing. SEMRush is s powerful SEO software that allows you to do content marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, and undertake competitor research without needing other software.
You’ll be able to access over 21 billion keywords, run website audits, create and track your PPC campaigns, analyze competitor websites, schedule your social media content, and so much more.
4. Conductor
Conductor is an SEO software made for marketers. This software allows you to create content that gets found on the web.
You’ll get to create content that provides great value to your readers, answers their questions, and solve their problems.
The unique thing about Conductor is that they are people-focussed first. This means that when they say that they’ll help you create content that will resonate with your readers, they mean it.
5. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is an SEO tool that allows you to get good keyword phrases for your target keywords.
You’ll get to know what phrases people are using when they search for your client’s products and services.
With this insight in mind, you can create content that speaks to your client’s customers directly by using their language.
If creating good content is a big part of the services you offer, you definitely need this SEO tool. It goes way beyond the usual keyword research and allows you to delve into the mind of your readers and customers.
6. Moz Pro
Moz Pro is another big name among SEO professionals because it delivers on its promise of quality traffic, higher rankings, and measurable results.
This SEO software comes with useful tools that are easy to use. This means that you won’t have to train your new employees how to use it every time you get a new hire. Instead, they can figure it out without much hassle and get to work to optimize your clients’ sites.
Another great thing about Moz Pro is that you can start with a free trial. This is how much they believe in themselves. They know that once you see the results, you’ll have no choice but to step into a paid plan.
You’ll be able to track your keywords and track your competition to see what’s working for them. Another thing you’ll be able to do is to know what questions your audience is asking and create content based on that.
7. Clearscope
Clearscope is the perfect software to aid you with SEO writing. Their goal is to help you create content that drives organic traffic.
By streamlining the SEO writing process, you’re able to create highly relevant content that speaks to your client’s customers. In addition, you can choose from the available three paid plans. These include essentials, business, and enterprise plans.
Check out our cool and in-depth guide on how to write amazing SEO-friendly content for more tips on creating content that converts.
8. Botify
Botify is one of the best website crawlers out there. So if your main focus when looking for SEO software tools is to get a reliable website crawler, Botify is it.
Their goal is to enable you to save time, reduce risk, and increase website traffic which then increases revenue.
9. SEOptimer
Here’s another website crawler that will help you identify any issues with your clients’ websites. In addition to being shown what’s going wrong, SEOptimer also gives you recommendations of what to do.
SEOptimer is great for small businesses. Therefore, if you’re just starting out and don’t really need huge software to start with, you can use this tool.
10. Keyword Tool
This SEO agency software is a great alternative to Google Keyword Planner. If your agency doesn’t specialize in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), but you still want the insights from Google Keyword Planner, this is the next best thing.
Some of the data you’ll be able to get from using this SEO tool include search volume, Cost per Click (CPC), and trend.
Another thing that makes this the best SEO software a great option is that it allows you to rank for long-tail keywords. By finding out what the customers would be searching for, you’ll be able to target your keywords better.
The fact that you’ll have access to Google autocomplete means that you can get brilliant title ideas for your content.
11. Screaming Frog
Some of the services you’ll get while using this UK-based SEO agency include PPC management, link building, SEM, social media marketing, and more.
The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is known for being an amazing tool to carry out a technical SEO audit with.
12. Ranktracker
Ranktracker is designed for startups as well as established agencies. This software allows you to track your ranking on search engines, monitor your backlinks, research keywords, and analyze your competition.
Ranktracker not only provides a nice array of features for optimization, but it also contains ways to earn money and add backlinks.
You get all of this information on your dashboard and are able to make the necessary adjustments to improve your ranking.
13. ContentKing
ContentKing offers you real-time site auditing. You also don’t use any of your computer’s resources because the process is cloud-based. This also means you can access the reports at any time.
The 24/7 SEO monitoring means that you’ll be able to fix any problems that arise on your clients’ websites before the search engines come and crawl those pages.
14. Moz Pro
Moz Pro is another big name among SEO professionals because it delivers on its promise of quality traffic, higher rankings, and measurable results.
This SEO software comes with useful tools that are easy to use. This means that you won’t have to train your new employees how to use it every time you get a new hire. Instead, they can figure it out without much hassle and get to work to optimize your clients’ sites.
Another great thing about Moz Pro is that you can start with a free trial. This is how much they believe in themselves. They know that once you see the results, you’ll have no choice but to step into a paid plan.
You’ll be able to track your keywords and track your competition to see what’s working for them. Another thing you’ll be able to do is to know what questions your audience is asking and create content based on that.
15. Mangools
Finally, we have this software that is a collection of easy-to-use applications that will make your life easier.
With this software, you can carry out website analysis, Google SERP analysis, backlink analysis, keyword research, and more.
The backlink analysis will give you insight as to whether you need to get more backlinks or not. Whether you decide to buy backlinks or not, you’ll be doing so from a place of information.
The best part about this software that gives it an edge over most of the others is that you get a 10-day free trial. In fact, you don’t even need to put down your credit card information during this free trial period.
Which softwares do you think will make a killer combination for your business? Let us know which you decide to go with and why.
Now that we’ve covered the main portion of the article, let’s move on to some more important information. Like factors to consider when choosing the best SEO software for your business.
What to Consider When Selecting the Best SEO software for Your Agency
1. Cost
This is a big one because you have to consider your return on investment (ROI) and your budget.
The best way to go about this, especially if you feel reluctant to spend your money on software, is to imagine how much it would cost you to pay someone to do the job the software will do.
Calculate the cost per hour of paying someone to carry out the taste the software would carry out. When you do this, you discover that investing in software is a better choice.
However, the plan you decide to go with is dependent on several factors, such as the number of clients you have and the tools you need.
2. Accuracy
It can be to measure the accuracy of the software you want to choose. Therefore, if you want to see how accurate it is at a certain task, you’ll need to can compare it with another side by side.
For example, you can compare how good Ahrefs is at site auditing with Screaming frog. This will be the same task but with different software. You’ll then be able to choose the one you feel is most comfortable.
3. Innovation
You want software that’s constantly moving with the times. This means that as you are choosing the softwares to go with, check how often they release updates.
You don’t want to accidentally be caught off guard by a Google algorithm update that can jeopardize your client’s websites because the software you’re using is outdated.
You can check their blog page or their social media sites for the latest update on their features.
4. Scalability
Agencies are constantly growing. Therefore choose a software that will allow you to scale your business easily.
You can check for features such as custom features and plug-ins that will improve the experience as you continue growing.
5. Good Customer Support
Good customer support is among the things that we take for granted until something happens and we can’t get the help we need fast enough.
Therefore, choose software that offers 24/7 customer support so that if something happens, you’ll be able to get the help you need very fast.
You can check the reviews for what people are saying about customer support or check to see if they’ve mentioned that they offer 24/7 customer support.
If you can get a good local software company that provides their mobile number for you to contact them whenever you want, the better.
6. Ease of Use
You want software that won’t be too hard to figure out. If you have to watch tutorials for days before you can start using the software, you may want to rethink your choice. However, this also depends on the SEO tool that the software is offering.
If you feel like the time investment is worth it, that’s okay. However, also keep in mind that your employees also need to know how to properly use it without much hassle so that work doesn’t lag behind.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Best SEO Software for Agencies
1. What are SEO tools?
SEO tools allow you to improve your search engine optimization strategies. In addition, they streamline the process so that you can focus on scaling the business and making the necessary adjustments.
SEO tools undertake site audits, website crawling, keyword rank tracker, and so on. Good tools will save you money because they often cost less than hiring someone to do the same job and paying them by the hour.
Also, by providing you with insightful data on how your client’s website is performing, you’re able to make the necessary changes and adjustments to the site.
2. Is SEO Software worth it?
Yes. They offer you valuable information that you can use to improve how well your clients’ sites rank.
They do this by crawling and auditing the site to find any problems that may be causing the site not to rank well. Some softwares, like SEOptmer, even give you recommendations on how to solve these problems.
3. What is SEO vs. SEM?
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and SEM stands for search engine marketing. SEO is the process of getting organic traffic to your website through optimization techniques such as keyword optimization and link building.
There are numerous benefits of SEO, including increased traffic which leads to increased leads for your client’s businesses.
On the other hand, SEM is about getting paid traffic to your website. So you can run PPC campaigns to get paid traffic to your website.
Final Thoughts:
Whichever tool or combination of tools you end up using, make sure you track the performance of each. There are some really powerful free and paid-for SEO applications that can improve the ranking of your content exponentially.
Each business must determine which of the mentioned tools works best for their company and goals, so take some time to try out more than one for a few months before making a decision.
Hopefully, this helps you in making a stellar ranking agency in both content and online reach.
Jacky Chou is an electrical engineer turned marketer. He is the founder of Indexsy, Far & Away, Laurel & Wolf, a couple FBA businesses , and about 40 affiliate sites. He is a proud native of Vancouver, BC, who has been featured on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes, Oberlo and GoDaddy.