SEMrush vs SpyFu 2019 Review: Don’t Buy Before You Read This

SEMrush and SpyFu are two of the most prominent keyword research tools out there. Both of these tools can help you uncover hidden gems that your competitors are profiting off of and can also help you discover some of your own.

In this comparison post, we will put both these tools head to head across a variety of categories. You will learn which tool has a better database of keywords, backlinks, ad analytics data and much more.

We have tried both, but only use one to this day. Which one? Keep on reading to find out.

SpyFu Review - A Competitive Keyword Analysis Tool

Since its launch in 2005, SpyFu has evolved significantly, with its team taking pride in their product and releasing a multitude of features. The ability to uncover your competitors’ PPC and SEO strategies are its prime features.

Is there more to SpyFu’s appeal than affordable pricing and an unlimited data offer? Let’s find out:

1. Keyword Research

SpyFu keeps things simple with a single seed keyword. That’s right! You just need one keyword to get started. As soon as you type it in, tons of practical data will unfold in a neatly organized presentation. Monthly searches, CPC, and other standard features aren’t exactly worth writing home about, so let’s talk about the more interesting ones.

The following three features stand out to us the most:

• Average Ad CTR - To put it simply, this is how often users click on an ad when searching that keyword. This data is sourced directly from Google Adwords.
• SEO Difficulty - It’s better than nothing, but definitely not the most reliable one. We have compared the data across many campaigns and sometimes it can be completely off the mark. There are far superior options out there.
• Expected Monthly Organic Clicks - You don’t have to imagine what the top spot on Google could do for you. SpyFu tells you exactly how many clicks you can expect each month.

So SpyFu is quite capable when it comes to keyword research. Their data is sourced from Google, among other credible sources. For keyword research from scratch, it is for sure a solid choice.

2. Competitive Analysis

SpyFu was made to spy on your competition. It says as much in the name.

Here are some of the things that you can do:

• Find your closest competitors instantly. Just enter your domain name and the program will take care of the rest.
• Check your competitors’ biggest keywords, whether it’s organic SEO or Google Ads.
• Get a list of all the ads your competitors have ever advertised for. If someone has been advertising for a while, you bet they’re making a profit.
• Get an estimate on your competitors’ ad budgets.
• Get a complete history of your competitors’ rankings and backlinks.

As far as the “spying” is concerned, SpyFu definitely lives up to its name.

3. Tracking Results

An SEO powersuite is not complete without a proper toolset to track your results. The folks behind SpyFu know as much.

The following are some reports that they provide to give you a 360 view of your campaign’s success:

• A weekly report on your SEO and PPC rankings across both Google and Bing.
• A report on your aggressive competitors. If someone is investing heavily in their SEO, you know it’s time to fight back.
• This one is a bit tricky. While there is no weekly report on your active backlinks, you can enter your domain on the “Backlinks” page to get a fresh list.

Overall, SpyFu is decent at tracking results, but we’ve definitely seen better.

4. Backlink Analysis

SpyFu has a unique approach when it comes to backlink analysis. While it does offer a traditional method of sizing up your domain against your competitors, the keyword based analysis is quite interesting.

You begin by entering the keyword you want to rank for. SpyFu then analyzes all the top pages ranking for that term and checks each of their the backlink profiles. You are then presented with a list of the top backlink opportunities within your niche.

So there’s a major focus on quality over quantity here, although that may not be by design alone. The backlink database of SpyFu is significantly smaller than that of many competitors and so you might be missing out on some opportunities.

5. Ease of Use

The UI is gorgeous. However, as far as usability is concerned, it just feels confusing. While definitely not bad by any standard, it could use some work, especially in the arraignment of data, more so in the “Keyword Research” tab.

On a similar note, SpyFu is not exactly the most popular tool out there, so the number of tutorials and resources are limited. However, the official documentation is quite in-depth and covers everything you need to get started.

6. Value for Money

This is the biggest selling point of SpyFu. As of the time of this post, the price starts at just $39 per month.

While the set of features is indeed limited, even their cheapest package rivals some of the premium packages of their competition. You get a decent number of tools and you get unlimited data for each. Sounds like a sweet deal to us.

Final Rating

SpyFu has plenty of brilliant features, but it’s quite lacking in many areas. That being said, the affordable pricing along with plenty of usage points does tip the scales in its favor, to some extent.

As such, we give SpyFu a solid 4 out of 5. Check out SpyFu’s free trial here.

SEMrush Review - An Online Visibility Management Platform

What started as a simple in-house tool 10 years ago has turned into a massive portfolio of marketing solutions. SEMrush is a LOT more than just some keyword research tool. From social media posting to brand reputation management, it offers something for everyone.

To keep things consistent, however, let’s see how it fares against SpyFu across the same categories:

1. Keyword Research

SEMrush is a pioneer when it comes to competition based keyword research. Competitive keyword research has been their USP from day one. When they launched, it catapulted their brand to the very top in no time.

How does it work? First you have to make a list of your competitors, which is kind of annoying to be honest. But once you do that, you can check all of the keywords that your competition is receiving traffic from.

We really like the fact that it arranges keywords by the percentage of traffic that they account for. This is really powerful as you can discover some amazing keyword opportunities in a short amount of time.

What if you’re more into the traditional method of keyword research? You know, adding one or more keywords to get a bunch of related keywords. While SEMrush did not have this for a long time, they did finally cave in to the pressure and hence came the Keyword Magic tool. It generates a massive list of related keywords along with all of the important metrics such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and much more. By the way, the keyword difficulty score is much better than that of SpyFu.

As far as keyword research is concerned, SEMrush is easily one of the hardest hitters out there. They have our approval for sure.

2. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is at the very core of this marketing platform. For SEO, you can check your competitors’ top pages, all of the backlinks that they currently have and the ones that they have lost, and of course, their top keywords.

For advertising, you can see which keywords your competitors advertise for and for how long. You get an insider’s look into their ad campaigns from day one. What they started with, the changes that they have made, and even the ad copies that they use. Need inspiration for your ads? It does not get better than your competition’s top performing campaigns!

To sum it all up, SEMrush delivers big time on its promise of elite competitive analysis tools.

3. Tracking Results

SEMrush completely blows SpyFu out of the water in this category. It is arguably the best platform as far as tracking and reporting results is concerned.

Each report gives you a comprehensive update on all of your critical metrics, including:

• All of the keywords you’re ranking and your current position for each. You can also compare your current rankings to any period of time.
• Any changes in your backlink profile, such as links gained or lost. It might be worth investigating why you lost a link and you could possibly get it back by contacting the website owner.
• A detailed report on your progress relative to your own competition. If someone is gaining up on you quickly, it might be time to kick your efforts up a notch.

4. Backlink Analysis

Nothing in life is perfect. The same is true for SEMrush as well. Its Backlink Analysis tool is lackluster to say the least.

First of all, they have the same annoying requirement of making a list of competitors before you can analyze their link profiles. Though this is just a quirk rather than a deal breaker, as the program can automatically make a list of your competitors for you.

While their link database seems to be larger than SpyFu’s, compared to other tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush only shows a portion of all the backlinks your competitors have. With that being said, it is not the worst performer either and is good enough for finding the top backlinks of your competition.

To sum it up, while SEMrush is a bit better than SpyFu for backlink analysis, it is still quite bad when compared to other players in this category.

5. Ease of Use

We have to admit, at first glance, the user interface feels cluttered and overwhelming. There’s just so many elements fighting to grab your attention. But once you use it a few times, it starts to grow on you. Everything is organized under precise sections which makes it really easy to navigate once you get used to it. We personally love it.

They also have excellent documentation that goes really in-depth on many aspects. We’re also a big fan of their blog.

The massive popularity of SEMrush means that there is an abundance of guides and tutorials out there. The community is quite passionate so it’s easy to find help and discover innovative ways to make the most out of this platform.

6. Value for Money

It’s time to address the giant elephant in the room. SEMrush is prohibitively expensive for most beginners. Even the cheapest package, at $99 per month, comes with severe limitations. The worst of which, in our opinion, is the lack of access to historical data.

With that out of the way, we think SEMrush is still a great value for money if you take into consideration all of the tools that you get. We know it’s cliche, but you really do get what you pay for.

Final Rating

SEMrush is a digital marketer’s dream come true. However, that dream comes with a hefty price tag of $99 per month minimum for relatively limited access. Keeping that in mind, we give SEMrush a solid rating of 4.5 out of 5. Check out SEMrush’s free trail here.

Which One Should I Get?

Your choice depends entirely on your own specific requirements. While both tools are fairly capable, each has its own pros and cons.

If you have a tight budget and only need the basics to get started, SpyFu might be just what you’re looking for. It offers a decent amount of features with tons of usage points at rock bottom pricing. You can get started with just $39 a month. Click here to learn more about SpyFu.

While SpyFu’s pricing is attractive for sure, it falls short in almost every other metric when compared to SEMrush. With an abundance of practical solutions, SEMrush can take your digital marketing strategy to the next level. If you’re serious about your marketing strategy and can afford it, SEMrush is your best bet without a doubt.

So which one do we still use to date? SEMrush! Visit their official website to check out all the cool things you can do with it.

If you think we missed something or have any thoughts on this topic, please let us know in the comments below.

Have you seen our awesome Facebook group? We have some really interesting people in there, so don’t hesitate to join and say hi.