Choosing an SEO tool for audits and monitoring...

As an agency we are constantly working on SEO projects for clients and we use a raft of tools and software. Last count it was 14 different tools to analyse, monitor and report on Keyword Research, Search ranking, Site performance and Competitive analysis.

There are a lot of good tools out there ( Moz, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic) - many which we use when doing client site audits, but the majority cost a considerable amount each month, and we are often asked once we have completed SEO audits 'what is the best single platform to monitor my own site from now on?'

For all but a few of our clients, spending £500-600 per month on a suite of specialist tools just isn't viable, so we have gone through all the available 'All rounder' platforms to find one that we would recommend. We reviewed them on the basis of the following:

• Keyword Research - Find new keywords to focus on with your SEO efforts
• Rank Monitoring - Whilst we try to play down the importance of position over actual traffic and conversions - this is still a useful metric
• Site Audits - regular checking of the site to make sure everything is all Ok
• Competitive analysis - Monitor activity of competitor websites
• Ease of Use - Most of our clients aren't trying to be SEO experts - they are just trying to make sure their site is running effectively
• Price. - Because this is a regular monitoring tool it needs to be cheap enough to run consistently

We short listed the following candidates from an original list of 26 - based predominantly on Feature set vs Price:

1. Woorank
2. SE Ranking
3. Positionally
4. Nightwatch
5. SEO Powersuite
6. Bruce Clay SEO Toolset

Individual reviews of each platform is for another time, so we will cut to the chase; Out of the 5 the top two were WooRank and SERanking. Out of these two there was one that provides a comprehensive tool set, was easy to use and was at an affordable price:

...and the winner is... SE Ranking

This platform was easy to use with a modern clear UI and had all the tools you would want on a month to month basis for monitoring your site, as well as good integration with the google Search console, analytics etc and some good social network integration. It also allowed to you adjust pricing based on how often you want to track your SERPS (Search engine ranking positions) - every day, every 3 days, every week etc, We thought this was ideal because you don't really need to monitor ranking daily once you have optimised your site so being able to keep the cost down was great. You also got 20% off for annual subscriptions which could bring you costs down to under £5 per month!! Pricing was also in UK Pounds and they have a UK office in London which is always helpful.