BrightEdge vs. Google Ads

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BrightEdge
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
BrightEdge is an enterprise-level SEO (Search Engine Optimization) platform from the company of the same name in San Mateo, California. It includes customizable dashboards, reporting, forecasting, SEO recommendations, backlink management and competitive analysis. It covers local, global, mobile, social and content centric SEO. Presently BrightEdge's platform supports the marketing efforts of many well-brands, like Nike, Microsoft, and Netflix.
$0
per month
Google Ads
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Pricing
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Offer A
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer B
$1500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer C
$3000
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Considered Both Products
BrightEdge
Chose BrightEdge
I found BrightEdge to be more intuitive to use and that the onboard training offered matched my team's learning style. They are an innovative SEO leader that takes time, energy, and effort to learn your unique business and challenges. Purchasing an enterprise level SEO platform …
Chose BrightEdge
Better keyword tracking and reporting, however Ahrefs is easier to set up and faster in some cases. Ahrefs keyword search volume is better and more accurate. Competitive analysis is similar, Ahrefs simply does not have the charting capabilities that BrightEdge has and the …
Chose BrightEdge
Price is definitely a factor in comparing Google Analytics or Google AdWords Keyword Planner against BrightEdge. If you can afford it, I recommend keeping your Google products and adding in BrightEdge to give you the most robust landscape analysis possible. Once you start using …
Google Ads

No answer on this topic

Features
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
7.3
48 Ratings
5% below category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Keyword analysis7.448 Ratings00 Ratings
Backlink management7.041 Ratings00 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking8.045 Ratings00 Ratings
Page grader5.040 Ratings00 Ratings
Competitive analysis7.748 Ratings00 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics8.245 Ratings00 Ratings
Site recommendations6.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Task management8.941 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
9.0
46 Ratings
18% above category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Local SEO9.037 Ratings00 Ratings
Social SEO9.031 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile SEO9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Global SEO9.035 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
8.7
46 Ratings
3% above category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Multi-domain support9.036 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.445 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
-
Ratings
Google Ads
6.9
11 Ratings
8% above category average
Ad campaign creation00 Ratings7.711 Ratings
Ad deployment00 Ratings7.310 Ratings
Display advertising00 Ratings7.410 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings7.411 Ratings
Sequence targeting00 Ratings6.510 Ratings
Contextual advertising00 Ratings6.810 Ratings
Social advertising00 Ratings5.25 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
-
Ratings
Google Ads
7.2
11 Ratings
5% above category average
Ad dashboards00 Ratings7.111 Ratings
Ad performance reports00 Ratings7.911 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings7.311 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings7.211 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings6.511 Ratings
Ad Auctions
Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Product A and Product B
BrightEdge
-
Ratings
Google Ads
8.0
10 Ratings
5% below category average
Ad bidding00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Small Businesses
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Serpstat
Serpstat
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(80 ratings)
8.6
(126 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(35 ratings)
9.6
(21 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(12 ratings)
7.5
(17 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(14 ratings)
9.0
(8 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.3
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrightEdgeGoogle Ads
Likelihood to Recommend
BrightEdge
BrightEdge is great for large companies and large SEO teams since it's pricey but worth it if you have a large team or organization using it. For small businesses, I would use a different tool like Semrush because of the price and the variety of tools it offers.
Read full review
Google
Google Ads is a useful advertising tool to build brand exposure and generate lead volumes for your chosen product. Whilst it can be costly at times due to competitor bidding strategies and requires constant monitoring to ensure campaigns perform as expected, it typically provides the desired quality and quantity of leads for custom budgets.
Read full review
Pros
BrightEdge
  • Instant - Keyword research tool is by far our team's favorite item on the platform
  • DataCube - We are able to uncover competitive gaps and hone in on specific sets of pages using filters containing our business product assortment attribute.
  • Professional services have been attentive when asking for changes
Read full review
Google
  • Automated targeting via Smart Shopping campaign. It's one of the best campaign types in Google Ads. In the beginning, you may see lower revenue and ROAS, but once you give some meaningful time to your campaign, it is most likely to perform well.
  • Smart bidding strategies: Google Ads has developed some really great bidding strategies such as maximizing conversion and maximizing conversion with ROAS settings. Based on one's requirement and their goal with revenue and target ROAS, they can choose the appropriate bidding strategy.
  • Reporting: A business owner and advertising must know about their audiences, how their campaigns have been performing, what's working and what's not, and for that reason, powerful, effective reporting is needed, and Google Ads provides rich details reporting that covers almost every aspect of a business.
Read full review
Cons
BrightEdge
  • The storybuilder feature isn't anything outstanding. I feel like I can get the same type of data and format from Google Data Studio.
  • I feel like the Hyperlocal feature is still very junior compared to other features. It provides you good insights, but you have to set all the data fields before you can get a picture as well as it doesn't really give you an idea of how you can improve.
  • The mobile SEO solution is a good concept, but it needs some tweaks to be better, especially when building out a mobile story builder. Some of the data isn't simple to read and the mobile keywords functions don't also account for voice searches.
Read full review
Google
  • If you don't know what you're doing, it will be a costly mistake. You need to target ads, and it is difficult the first time to do that.
  • There isn't a feature to run an add for a couple set date spans, just hours you want to run them or a single date span.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BrightEdge
I would renew, as I don't feel there is a product out there that would have the impact on our SEO efforts as effectively as BrightEdge. It provides the information I need and integrates with other tools like Google Webmaster Tools, to truly have the depth of information that makes their suggestions for SEO changes so valued.
Read full review
Google
I think Google Ads is good for getting your company out there and becoming more visible to potential customers in general. However, for specific product launches, social media advertising might be a better fit. Also, our user base is younger so social media is a better channel for our target audience.
Read full review
Usability
BrightEdge
Because it depends on the feature, it's either easier or not to use. Some of them, not being particularly friendly, I no longer use, and I focus on the ones where insights are easy to understand and data seems well-elaborated.
Read full review
Google
This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
Read full review
Support Rating
BrightEdge
This is a area where the BrightEdge team really shines. Their commitment to training and product support is unmatched not only for SEO platforms, but life in general. I often find myself wishing my internet provide and similar would go to BrightEdge for training on support and attitude. I would rank them an 11 if I could.
Read full review
Google
We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
Read full review
Online Training
BrightEdge
No answers on this topic
Google
Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
BrightEdge
For the most part it was seamless. The load time of clients was a little long, but otherwise was quite easy.
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
BrightEdge
While relatively expensive, Brightedge really does offer the best quality product but just as importantly (if not more so) the level of client/agency support. We have biweekly training with the entire team to continually stay up to date on Brightedge's offerings and strategies. They also offer the ability to do ad hoc reporting using some of their tools that can help us win new business and recommend Brightedge to additional clients, expanding our business as well.
Read full review
Google
Our agency invests heavily in Google Ads (particularly paid search advertising) on behalf of our clients relative to competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo because Google is the top search engine in the world. Google collects the most search data which enables the company to improve its AI to drive better performance for agencies and brands. As such, our paid search and app install campaigns always start with Google. If a client has a large budget, we will allocate media dollars to other search engines, but in some cases, the entire search budget goes to Google because we see the best returns.
Read full review
Return on Investment
BrightEdge
  • We have only started with BE a few months ago and so I don't have any hard numbers from an ROI perspective, but i can say that what we spent on BE is a fraction of what we were spending with agencies and we are actually getting results by doing this ourselves. From that perspective we have seen a cost savings.
  • With focused SEO campaigns and projects we have been able to move the needle on our SEO rankings for specific products and services. This is going to have a great impact for us in 2019 as we have some specific product goals and campaigns for 2019 that we have been working to build up over the last couple months of 2018.
Read full review
Google
  • Google Ads is often one of our highest ROI channels, especially when you factor in branded ads.
  • Depending on the stage your business is in, search ads can be really powerful from an ROI perspective, providing an investment with a very high spend cap.
  • If you do not manage the campaigns well though, you can quickly spend a lot of money on nothing. So make sure someone is keeping an eye on your account.
Read full review
ScreenShots