Are you tired of buying ANOTHER SEO tool?
Really? Well, me too. Welcome to the club.
In the search engine optimisation world, there are an endless amount of tools and services to buy to rank your client or product.
I’m talking from experience. I’ve been running my own agency since 2015. I’ve bought so many SEO tools it’s ridiculous.
If I added up all the money, from all the SEO tools I’ve bought, then subtracted the ones that are actually good (there are a few, but not many), that number would scare the crap out of me. I could’ve bought a nice car with that money.
So, because I don’t want to feel like I just waste my money for no reason, I don’t calculate that number. But I know I wasted a lot of money on SEO tools that were completely worthless.
That’s why I writing this post for you.
My Experience Buying Too Many SEO tools.
You see, I haven’t made all bad decisions. I’ve been running my own successful search marketing agency since 2015. I’ve got some clients and I’m really good at ranking them at the top of competitive Google searches.
I’ve gotten way better over the years. And smarter. And one of the things I noticed, is that I’m now using just a few SEO tools and services. And I’m better at executing SEO than ever before.
I just wanted to tell you my experience, because my story of buying way too many SEO tools seems pretty common.
Let me guess, you can relate?
Please tell me I not the only one who has wasted time and money (and limited brainpower!) on way too many tools/services.
And so on…
But there is one tool I’ve been using from the beginning and I’m still using now, as I write this. That SEO tool is SERPed.net.
It’s the only tool I’ve been using since I started working in search, that I still continue to use.
First of all, let me tell ya that SERPed does a whole lot of stuff. It’s like a Swiss Army Knife. It actually does way more things than I even know how to use.
So, in the interest of giving you valuable information, and not wasting your time, I’m just going to focus on the three things I use SERPed for my agency.
This turned into a very long article (I can go on forever about all the different ways I use SERPed), so I made a video that you can watch here:
SEO Website Analysis Tool: WebSite Explorer
This is what I use SERPed for the most. Period. I’m constantly analyzing client websites, competitors that rank at the top of searches I’m going after, researching for possible link opportunities, researching possible domains I want to purchase (I used it to research this site you’re reading now, before I bought it), the list goes on and on.
The specific tool inside of the swiss army knife of SEO that is SERPed.net is the Site Explorer.
Inside look at Site Explorer
There is a ton of info here. You can see that SERPed.net pulls data from Moz and Majestic (which cost $179/month and $99/month respectively).
Now, I’m going to tell you how I use this tool.
How I Use SERPed
First, I always look at both the www and non-www version. It costs the same about of monthly credits to look at the either the root domain or the sub-domain, as it does to see both.
So, I always look at both.
I take a quick glance at the DA (domain authority). DA is a rough measure of a website’s “strength”. This is useful when analyzing competition.
Next I glance at the Citation Flow and Trust Flow. I spend a grand total of maybe 1 second looking at these numbers. All I’m really looking for here, is if something looks out of whack. In this example, everything looks fine.
What’s way more important to me, is the Unique Domains linking to the site. This is important.
What you can’t see (because I couldn’t fit it in the pic) is right under is SERPed’s proprietary “Spam Score.” It is a scale of 0-17. I don’t know what they use to rate this.
But, I like to see a zero for this score. If I see a 9/17, that doesn’t scare me away from the site, it’s just a reminder for me to dig a little deeper.
From here, I click the button on the left that says Metrics. Specifically I want to know how many unique IP’s are linking to the site. In this case it’s 17 (with www.) and 18 (without www.).
Ok, wow. I just realized I’m over 700 words and I’ve barely even scratched the surface of what I look at in the Site Explorer.
You may be getting bored. Sorry! I get really into this stuff. I’m going to sum up Site Explorer right now.
In closing, I ALWAYS look at the Anchor Text. It super easy and fast to check for spam or quality. And sometimes both.
Next I check the View Backlinks tab. I take a similar approach as I do with Anchor Text. This difference is you can go a lot more in depth with the links. Sheesh, I could write a whole article just on links.
Ok, then. In the interest of saving you time and not boring you to death, that’s all I’m going to say about the Site Explorer inside of SERPed.net.
Here’s the important takeaway. Site Explorer is just 1 of the super useful tools that come with a SERPed.net subscription. It is the tool I use the most (by far). I’d pay the entire price of the subscription just for the Site Explorer. And it’s also cheaper than all of it’s competitors.
Keyword Analyzer: Industry Best Keyword Difficulty Tool
Next up is the Keyword Research section of SERPed. The Keyword Research section has 4 keyword tools to help you find traffic.
– Ultimate Research
– What Ranks Where
– Keyword Analyzer
– Long Tail Keywords
Continuing with the theme of this Review, I’ll tell you what tools I use. I’ve used all these keyword tools but I use What Ranks Where and the Keyword Analyzer, on a regular basis.
When I’m doing initial analysis for a possible client, I’ll run their website through What Ranks Where:
This is the first thing I look at when taking on a new client website.
As you can see in the image, you add their site, then you can select organic or pay-per-click (I always select organic because I do SEO), the number of keyword results you want to see (I usually select 100, but at a minimum 50), the database (all my clients are in the U.S.), whether you want the results by position (Google ranking) or traffic percentage, and finally do you want to check the whole site, or just a specific URL.
I always check the whole site.
And while I always have it sort results by Position instead of Traffic %, it doesn’t really matter because once the report is run, you have also easily sort by traffic %, without using any additional credits.
Once the report is run, the first thing I do is sort by Position. This shows me what the site is already ranking well for and give me some ideas.
Maybe the site is already ranking #3 for a high volume keyword that I can work to get them to #1 and really increase their traffic.
Or, maybe I see the site is ranking #13 for a keyword that I know is relatively easy and with a little work, I can get them to Page one and even into the top 3 of search results.
I use this same line of thinking to look for long tail keywords that will bring the site valuable traffic, that won’t take a lot of work. This is a great way to find some “quick hits.”
Another way I use this tool is to analyze a site that already ranks #1 for a keyword I want to go after. Since they are already successful, I can see what other keywords bring them traffic. I often find other valuable keywords, by researching what other sites at the top of competitive searches also rank for.
Once I have the keyword report, I mainly sort by Search Volume and then I’ll sort by Traffic %.
Why?
Because Search Volume will show me where the most trafficked keywords are. More traffic volume to my client’s site, means more business for my client.
And that pretty much covers how I use What Ranks Where. I use it to:
– find keywords (helps to make a list of valuable keywords)
– find keywords with a lot of searches (volume)
-find keywords that are already working and bringing in traffic to the site
Next Up: Keyword Analyzer or Keyword Difficulty Tool
This is the tool I see more and more top SEO’s using.
This is an interesting development I’ve seen over the past 12-24 months. More and more of the top SEO experts are using this specific tool, the SERPed.net Keyword Analyzer.
I’ve been on 100’s of SEO webinars and watched video’s of the top guys/gals. One thing I see more and more of, is a lot of these folks using this tool to gauge Keyword Difficulty.
For some reason, and I don’t know exactly why, the industry is saying this tool is extremely good and useful.
I think this is funny because this is the only “paid” Keyword Difficulty tool I’ve used (because it came as one of the many useful tools in SERPed.net).
I’ve used a few of the “free KW Difficulty tools” and they were mostly useless.
Ok, enough rambling. Here’s what’s important to know.
How To Judge if a Niche is Profitable Or Will Lose YOU Lots of $$$
Before your start an SEO campaign, it’s important to know what your getting into. I’ve seen so many get this wrong, and I’ve made this mistake (!) myself.
And it sucks.
Knowing how competitive a niche is can be the difference between you making a pretty penny and losing tons of money, feeling depressed and anxious, and having angry clients. For these reasons alone, the Keyword Analyzer basically pays for your SERPed subscription.
Let me explain…
If you take on a client that wants to rank for a keyword like “los angeles dui lawyer” the chart of the first 10 search results (pictured above) will be covered in Pink.
Pink means difficult or very competitive. Pink means an authority site.
A little bit of pink is ok. A lot of pink means you may want to pass on the project. Or come up with another angle to get traffic.
There are 2 problems with seeing a lot of pink in the results of the Keyword Analyzer.
The first is that you need to make sure you charge accordingly.
If a client wants to rank for “los angeles dui lawyer” you need to charge them a very high monthly fee to cover the costs of the amount of work you will need to do to rank highly on the first page search results.
If you don’t know this going into the project, you may end up quoting a price that is way too low. And you’ll end up working your ass off and not making any money, or losing money. Or just plain not having the resources to compete at that level.
You have to know how competitive the niche is before you get into it. The Keyword Analyzer can save your ass.
Better to say NO to a project, then to get in over your head.
I’ve seen so many SEO’s make this mistake. The simply didn’t know how competitive the niche was. They didn’t charge the client enough for the project. The SEO loses their shirt, becomes miserable, then loses their client.
DON’T DO THIS.
Instead, “Know before you go.”
Run the target keywords through the Keyword Analyzer first. If you see a ton of authority domains that each have 1,000’s of referring domains pointing to them, then you might want to pass.
On the other hand, if the report comes back looking like the photo pictured above of “sacramento dentist”, then you’ll know that there is money to be made.
For “sacramento dentist” there are 2 Yelp listings (lots of authority), then the rest is all smaller local dentist sites. You’ve got a green light to start an SEO campaign for a Sacramento Dentist.
Sometimes the Keyword Analyzer report shows a ton of competition, sometimes not.
I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t assume how easy or tough a niche will be. I just run the report, then I make my decision once I have useful information that I can make an informed judgment with.
How SERPED.net Can Help You Rank In Google Maps
The Citations Scanner:
You want to get your business to rank at the Top in the Google Map listing, right?
Of course you do.
Everyone wants to be in the top of Google Maps because thats what Google places at the top of a search engine results page (SERP).
It’s valuable real estate.
Here’s how SERPed.net will help you get there:
Let’s say you want to rank your client in the Google Maps for “Sacramento Dentist”. Well, check Google and see which 3 dentists Google is ranking in the Maps.
Then run each dentist listed through the Citation Scanner (pictured above).
You’re checking these 3 because these are the websites that are already winning in Goolge Maps. We want to see what is already working, then copy that.
How To Use The Citation Scan:
I will name the report, the same name of the website that’s ranked in Google Maps. Next, I run the report based on the business name.
I select the categories that are important to my client’s business, then I run the report.
Once the scan is complete, I can see all the business listing (a.k.a. Citations) that my competitors have.
Can you see how this information is SUPER useful?
Google is telling me the sites that are doing what Google values (because they’re ranked in the Maps), then the Citation Scanner, will tell me all the citations (business listings) that they have.
Once I have this list, I go and get the same citations for my client, that the top listed (competitors) have.
You see? I get to look at what the top websites are doing and copy that.
But it get’s even better.
Because you’ve run reports on the top 3 listings. Websites usually don’t have all the same listings. So you can go and get the best business listings from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranking sites.
This gives you, or your client’s site, a serious advantage.
How Does This Benefit You?
If you look at services like Whitespark ($17/month for cheapest paid plan) or BrightLocal ($29/month for cheapest plan), they have a monthly fee to pay. This is just for their Business listing or Citation tool.
I like both Whitespark and BrightLocal, but since I already have SERPed.net, I don’t need to spend more money on those services.
I have the tools I need right inside of SERPed.
Not only do you save $$$ with SERPed, you are also saving time.
How, you ask? By not having to go to another website, login, the run the scan.
All your tools are in One Place with SERPed. This allows you to save time and money, which allows you to SCALE YOUR BUSINESS.
Why You Need SERPed:
Can you see how this tool can save you time and money?
Instead of having a bunch of different tools for link research, keyword analysis, citation research, etc., you can just have 1.
You don’t have to log into a bunch of different site.
You just log into 1.
You don’t have to remember to pay for a bunch of different monthly invoices. Just pay 1.
I haven’t even scratched the surface of what all this tool can do, it just too vast. I’ve simply highlighted some of the main tools that I use everyday.
***This article is a work-in-progress. I’m using it to promote SERPed.net, because I think the tool is awesome and I use it all the time in my SEO agency. This article isn’t finished. I’ll keep updating.
If you have any questions, please Comment Below. Is this article providing value? Would you like clarification on something? Just let me know and I’ll answer any comments below. Thanks.