Ahrefs vs. Contently vs. SE Ranking

Ahrefs is a must have in the SEO toolbox. It is one of the leading tools in the industry for serious SEO research. It can do almost everything you need on the non-technical side of SEO. In my opinion, it is not great if you need a detailed technical tool that identifies errors and helps with fix suggestions. In that instance, I think there are better tools on the market. But - for content and keyword related tasks, I think it's must have.

Incentivized

It's helpful for top of marketing funnel writing that we can sometimes lose sight of because we are so ingrained in the product day to day. Contently is also helpful for long written pieces and ebooks that will take a significant amount of employee time to put together. I avoid using Contently for mid to bottom funnel marketing writing because my team will often have greater insight into the product function or use-case or product release, making them more adroit to the tone of the written piece and able to produce the content quickly.

Incentivized

SE Ranking is a fantastic tool if you are a marketing agency or freelancer looking for a single tool for the majority of your SEO work. It also includes B2B tools like their lead generation widget and white label reports that can help you generate new leads for your business. It would get 10 stars if their database was larger to accommodate research for small geographic areas, but they are always expanding their database so it may just be a matter of time. Research SE Ranking has pricing plans available for every budget.

Incentivized

• I have been using this platform in my organization to develop several SEO tools to help to grow our website much.
• It has all the main features which include competitor research, keyword research, website audit, content research, and rank tracking.
• I have been using all these functions in the organization for several purposes. It provides complete information and complete performance details of the SEO.
• It provides us the detailed keyword research with volume, CPC, and other information.

Incentivized

• Consolidating my work in one place to make my work life easier
• Contently is unique from other content marketing organizational tools in one key way. It hands you a network of freelance professionals eager for delegated work.
• You can search through a database of professionals to find the perfect person for your given project. Find individuals in your budget offering the exact skills and experience you need.

Incentivized

• Rank racking. It’s really important for us that the ranks are tracked accurately.
• Monitoring of changes made on the website. We’ve found this feature really useful.
• Reports. This includes auto reports and manuals. We can easily and quickly create reports to check our SEO progress month by month.

• Can't export graphs: some graphs within the tool would be useful as an export. Unfortunately, exporting them is not an option.
• No "blanket" reporting options: though Ahrefs is excellent for gathering and exporting intel/data, there are no blanket SEO reports provided. Exporting data is great, but simple report exporting would make it better.

Incentivized

• I have been using it for 3.5 years, and have had no response from potential clients.
• The portfolio section is pretty easy to use, but I don't love the format.
• Since I'm not a client, I don't know just how easy it is for them to find new freelancers or how often it is actually used.
• Probably more suited for some types/concentrations of freelance writers, like finance, tech, or healthcare.

Incentivized

• I really don't think SE Ranking has many flaws. They are also rolling out an app at the moment - SE Ranking Pro - need to test that one.
• Some more video tutorials on the site on how to use some tools would be helpful.
• More in-system popups would be more helpful too.

Incentivized

Their index is too vast to ignore when looking at a complete backlink profile. We find links in Ahrefs that do not appear in any other link detection tool. For this reason, it's a must for our agency to use for the foreseeable future. Plus, it's very affordable considering the data you get

Ahrefs is very easy to use - you can jump right in and understand most of the assets. Overall, the dashboard snapshots give a very good picture of inbound link activity. For deeper analysis of historical trends, the system can become cumbersome, making it hard to do full work without exporting and reformatting the data.

They had a huge update recently and the platform is now even better. Although not all the tools are yet in the new design.

Ahrefs has always been responsive when there's been a technical issue with the site. There are usually very little problems, but if there are, they announce it on their social media accounts which keeps its customers informed. Email support is prompt and the customer service people are very helpful, knowledgable and friendly.

Incentivized

I'm giving them a 10, but honestly, I've never reached out to them. I do see them putting out regular content on social media, so they might be responsive to questions there as well as regular customer support. In their posts and communication, they do seem to value their community, so hopefully, they have good customer support. And I've seen them asking for pitches from their community to publish well-paid articles during this stressful coronavirus time, and I really appreciate that.

Incentivized

The support is great but they don't have 24/7 support. And time zones can also be an issue sometimes. On the other hand there are plenty of guides and videos around to get yourself started. I never really needed support for "big" issues. And the help I got was good enough.

Incentivized

Majestic and Ahrefs are really close in terms of tool. Ahrefs does offer competitive comparison and they do have a more up to date data base. Majestic however has a more comprehensive historical view of sites which is also extremely valuable. Majestic also offers a link velocity chart that is missing on Ahrefs. Ahrefs makes up for this with their links gained/lost calendar which Majestic is missing.

Incentivized

I also opened an account with Skyword in 2019, which is a similar service. The person that recommended it was a travel writer, and since I've done that as well, I thought it might be a better fit. To this point, I've received no work from it either, and don't hold out a lot of hope. As previously mentioned, where I think Contently does well is by giving you an online portfolio, additional resources like a blog for learning, and a rates database for publications.

Incentivized

SE Ranking is better than Serpstat or MOZ or Ahrefs when it comes to tracking keyword rankings, but it lacks in every other SEO category, such as onsite and offsite SEO metrics, content analysis, etc... It's a good choice for agencies that are interested in tracking keywords for their clients, but other than that it underperforms in every other SEO category.

Incentivized

• Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped with any comprehensive backlink analysis and backlink profile management we've had.
• Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped tremendously in getting manual penalties lifted for certain sites.
• Aherfs Site Explorer has been helpful in identifying 404 error pages.

Incentivized

• Contently contributors have produced some great inbound marking posts and creative materials saving our marketing team significant time allowing them to focus on more strategic plans for the business.
• The amount of time Contently has saved our internal creative writing staff has more than paid for itself!

Incentivized

• The website "health" report has allowed us to fix things that Google might find strange or cause us to lose rankings, which has been very helpful.
• It's given us more visibility into what exactly our SEO management company is doing and how they are performing, and if things are changing or not. It's very easy to see right from the dashboard.
• Being able to see how our competitors stack up against us has helped us know where to improve, what to focus on, and how to be even better.

Incentivized