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Cision Communications Cloud vs. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A

    Screaming Frog

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AN/A

    $149

    per year

    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Paid Version
    $149.00
    per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    No answer on this topic
    Screaming Frog
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    28 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    27 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    27 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    27 Answers
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    SEO
    Comparison of SEO features of Cision Communications Cloud and Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    6.6
    53 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Keyword analysis00 Ratings7.020 Ratings
    Backlink management00 Ratings5.023 Ratings
    SERP ranking tracking00 Ratings7.09 Ratings
    Page grader00 Ratings7.122 Ratings
    Competitive analysis00 Ratings7.827 Ratings
    Site audit / diagnostics00 Ratings8.353 Ratings
    Site recommendations00 Ratings7.824 Ratings
    Task management00 Ratings3.09 Ratings
    SEO Channels
    Comparison of SEO Channels features of Cision Communications Cloud and Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    7.0
    37 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Local SEO00 Ratings5.017 Ratings
    Social SEO00 Ratings7.112 Ratings
    Mobile SEO00 Ratings7.823 Ratings
    Global SEO00 Ratings7.829 Ratings
    SEO Platform & Account Management
    Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Cision Communications Cloud and Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    6.1
    42 Ratings
    32% below category average
    Multi-domain support00 Ratings7.831 Ratings
    Integration with web analytics tools00 Ratings4.435 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Serpstat
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Yoast
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Google Trends
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    8.6
    (55 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    7.7
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    7.9
    (18 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudScreaming Frog
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cision
    For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    Screaming Frog SEO Spider is well suited to auditing brand new websites, when you need a quick, holistic view of the websites technical issues. Its great for providing a top line view of a websites architecture, perhaps for a new business approach where you need to assess the scale of work to maintain a website. Its also a useful tool in situations where you might need to see whether a large scale change in the website has taken place, you can see word counts, pages and their https response codes. Screaming Frog may be less useful if you need an idea of the customer experience on a website, it doesn't really provide information that helps assess how fast a website loads, what issues might come up when trying to convert or faults with the payment process. Screaming Frog is largely a technical SEO focused tool, it also can't assess the quality of a websites, layout or the quality of the content used on the website. As mentioned, its niche, but very useful within that niche.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cision
    • Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
    • The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
    • The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
    • The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    • Crawling client sites of up to thousands of pages. Gives you almost every tool that you need to do a proper SEO audit.
    • Custom extractions using CSSpath, Xpath, or Regex. I'm not even a techy, but their support section here is a huge help with the provided examples.
    • Customer service and support - Dan is ALWAYS very prompt to respond with helpful answers on Twitter if needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cision
    • In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
    • Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
    • After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    • Requires Java. This isn't a huge deal as many computers already have it installed, but it's yet another 3rd party component.
    • The free version has a crawl limit of 500 pages per site. This is fine for smaller sites, but if you're running a big e-commerce site then you'll need to pay for Pro version.
    • The user interface isn't very pretty. This is an analytics tool so it doesn't really have to be, but it might be helpful for improving the overall user experience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cision
    While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    The tool has become integrated into our teams daily workings and I have yet to find a tool other than scremaing frog to replicate all of our use cases for it. It's a great tool and we're sticking with it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cision
    The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    The main problem of Screaming Frog SEO Spider is it being an offline software which limits itself to a single pc and that creates problem when multi user agents want to get involved or even work on it, it’s a difficult task to collaborate on it and do research for keywords at one place
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cision
    Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cision
    For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.
    Incentivized
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    Screaming Frog
    Screaming Frog is a relatively primitive system, and doesn't need to be supported by devs or other software. Screaming Frog does interface directly with some programs that are most needed (Google Analytics, Search Console, Page Speed Insights), so that's convenient. It isn't widely supported by other programs, but it also doesn't need to be.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Cision
    The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cision
    There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    If the software was a little easier to use for beginners, there really wouldn't be an issue
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cision
    It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    Screaming Frog SEO Spider is probably the best non-client facing SEO audit tool in terms of technical SEO. There are other tools on the market that do a more complete job of keyword tracking, competitive analysis, and backlink profiles...however, for analyzing the technical SEO health of any website, Screaming Frog is the best
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Screaming Frog
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cision
    • Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
    • Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
    • Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
    Incentivized
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    Screaming Frog
    • Increased employee efficiency - We spend many less hours tracking down and reporting simple meta tags.
    • Better Client Servicing - We are able to ensure we have a total look at a client's site before we recommend anything.
    • True Pricing Structure - We are able to more accurately predict how much help a client may need based on factors such as size of site, number of redirects, proper use of meta tags, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.