BrightLocal vs. Google Trends

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BrightLocal
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
BrightLocal is a search engine optimization tool that tracks search rankings, builds citations, and monitors online reviews and stresses local search performance.
$39
per month
Google Trends
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Trends is a search engine optimization software solution offered by .N/A
Pricing
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
Editions & Modules
Track Plan
$39
per month
Manage Plan
$49
per month
Grow Plan
$59
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsBrightLocal offers custom enterprise plans for businesses with more than 50 locations.
More Pricing Information
Features
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
BrightLocal
6.7
12 Ratings
15% below category average
Google Trends
8.4
33 Ratings
8% above category average
Keyword analysis7.08 Ratings9.931 Ratings
Backlink management4.05 Ratings4.67 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking7.711 Ratings10.012 Ratings
Page grader7.52 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Competitive analysis7.611 Ratings9.019 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics9.98 Ratings7.07 Ratings
Site recommendations6.64 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Task management3.46 Ratings6.24 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
BrightLocal
8.6
13 Ratings
12% above category average
Google Trends
10.0
23 Ratings
27% above category average
Local SEO8.613 Ratings10.020 Ratings
Social SEO7.96 Ratings10.014 Ratings
Mobile SEO10.04 Ratings10.015 Ratings
Global SEO7.72 Ratings10.023 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
BrightLocal
9.2
11 Ratings
9% above category average
Google Trends
3.7
10 Ratings
78% below category average
Multi-domain support8.59 Ratings5.84 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools9.910 Ratings1.610 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
Small Businesses
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights
Score 9.9 out of 10
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.3 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.7 out of 10
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(14 ratings)
9.5
(33 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.5
(2 ratings)
6.4
(6 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrightLocalGoogle Trends
Likelihood to Recommend
BrightLocal
If you are a local business owner or marketing agency catering to local businesses, BrightLocal is a must have software. It has everything you need to track your local marketing efforts and to identify opportunities to make improvements, all at a very reasonable price point. You can also create nice looking reports to send to clients which are simple to create.
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Google
Google Trends is appropriate in so many scenarios, but I definitely suggest it for content ideas and inspiration. Many people utilize it after already writing their content to add in popular phrases or words, but that is not enough. The platform should be used prior and during the content creation process so that you can use the data to see what your audience/customers are interested in at the moment and create the content based on their interests. It can help, but I find it much less appropriate to use it after your article, eBook, etc. is already written. Maximize on this useful tool by ensuring the topic you're writing about is relevant in the first place before simply adding in popular keywords. An article that's written based on what's trending will be far more successful than an article that solely has popular phrases added to it.
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Pros
BrightLocal
  • When we use BrightLocal's citation building service, I know that we're getting quality citations done right. Their staff will email you with any questions and always double check the information before creating inaccurate citations.
  • I love that BrightLocal is very quick about making changes when requested. For example, if we can't find a city on the drop-down list, you can chat them and they'll add it. Or if a report is pulling incorrectly, they'll re-run it within a reasonable timeframe.
  • BrightLocal has a lot of different reports that are easy to send to your clients. You can even add them to a web-viewable dashboard so that your client can simply bookmark a link and view their reports when they please.
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Google
  • Google Trends shows me geographic locations where a particular topic may be useful for advertising.
  • Google Trends allows me to drill down into those locations to metro and city levels where I can focus on exactly what local business clients need to know.
  • Google Trends allows me to identify and qualify search terms that my client's need to optimize their websites and social media content for.
  • Google Trends shows me what people are talking about in a specific location over a specific period of time. This is a great way to know what I should be posting on social media.
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Cons
BrightLocal
  • Up and down rankings were not always right on with the local search, but only off by one or two spots
  • It felt like it was only used for local SEO, and I know there are more features, just never got to them.
  • Didn't seem useful for every single client in the way Ahrefs or Spyfu did
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Google
  • Top charts: would be nice to include top charts for the current month.
  • Explainers: would be good to have some information buttons next to graphics and charts to show in depth what criteria go into making those charts.
  • More images: would be interesting to see trending image searches.
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Usability
BrightLocal
No answers on this topic
Google
Google Trends is very easy to use. you just search for a certain keyword or phrase, and it tells you how often that keyword or phrase is searched, where in the world it is searched, and over the last decade, how often it is per year.
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Support Rating
BrightLocal
Although their customer support has always contacted me, they have not always been helpful. Many times I've had reports or information disappear with them telling me they had no record of it, even when I had reports that the information was in there. There are times when their system did have bugs and the support was able to help me there. Overall, the support staff is there but they cannot always do much and need to wait for their development team to get back to them which often takes a long time.
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Google
I haven't needed to use any support for Google Trends. However, I've used Google's support in general and it's a hit or miss. Usually, there's a long wait or they don't understand my problem. They are the only ones that can help, so sometimes I feel stuck. They prioritize paying customers for sure.
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Alternatives Considered
BrightLocal
Thryv reached out to me about 3 weeks before signing up with BrightLocal. While all of their features were impressive, there were only about 3 features that I would have used. Thryv wanted $200 per month for their service, which I found to be way overpriced for what I was wanting to use it for. I selected BrightLocal because it had the features I wanted at a lower price and then add ons. After using BrightLocal for a week and speaking with Becki, a customer service executive, I have discovered more features that I would use on BrightLocal than on Thryv.
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Google
Overall I think that Ahrefs is a better product when it comes to really drilling down and getting all the data that you need in order to understand a given behavior or problem. Ahrefs is much more powerful in its feature set but does not have the same level of overall data/visual data representation that Google Trends does.
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Return on Investment
BrightLocal
  • BrightLocal's ranking reports have helped us better serve our clients' SEO needs, especially local SEO.
  • Reporting is nicely accomplished with their online client report dashboards.
  • Negative: some of their software defects are glaringly obvious take forever to fix, creating a number of awkward moments when we talk our clients through their reports.
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Google
  • Google Trends has shown me when a keyword is no longer working for my website so that I can adjust the content accordingly.
  • It shows me seasonal differences so I can adjust my PPC budgets to be on pace with the trends.
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ScreenShots

BrightLocal Screenshots

Screenshot of Location SummaryScreenshot of Local Search Rank CheckerScreenshot of Local Search GridScreenshot of Local Search AuditScreenshot of Google My Business AuditScreenshot of Citation Tracker