SpyFu is the eponymous SEO and PPC research platform from the company in Scottsdale, Arizona focused on "spying" on competitors, or basically using their behaviors to refine your own through keyword and content analysis, and backlink poaching. This positional search engine optimization and paid listings management platform touts the ability to lower costs and raise rankings via a Kombat-oriented approach... basically a cute way of saying "it makes comparisons" of how well your site does in niche…
$39
per month
Textmetrics
Score 6.1 out of 10
N/A
Textmetrics (formerly Webtexttool) aims to help content creators create rank-boosting web content. The tools key differentiator is big data Textmetrics creates predictive data, by analyzing the data of users (anonymously). 20.000+ user generated texts are analyzed and compared to real-world outcomes. The best performing outcomes are used to better its real-time optimization tips. Value prop: More website…
If you have a Google ads PPC campaign and then I would say this is more or less essential if you want to know what your competitors are doing. You can get very useful data out of it even if you subscribe for one month. And the pricing is very reasonable. Even if you don't use Google ads, I would say this is still useful for your SEO/SMO team since it gives you a great idea of what keywords and traffic your competitors are working on.
I honestly can't think of a scenario where WebTextTool (TextMetrics) would not be valuable for anyone writing content intended for publishing either online or in print media. If the intent is for print media, then even if you completely ignore the SEO section of the analysis, all of the other analysis tools intended for content are incredibly insightful and helpful. These days, even print media almost always ends up online in some form or another on the publisher's website or in a digital format of the publication. So the SEO tools can still give a little boost in reworking or rewording some parts to make sure they will be effective not only in print but online as well.
WebTextTool (TextMetrics) assumes that each uploaded or typed in the article is intended for online publishing, mostly in a blog type environment. While this is a perfectly understandable assumption in this day and age, it shouldn't be so difficult to ask the question of whether the content is intended for online or print media.
The "Credibility" section tends to be a little too harsh for my taste. Depending on the style of writing and the type of content, "too many adjectives" is too subjective a metric to apply to all writing ( still, I do get why they try to do it).
This is a little nitpicky, but I'd prefer to see how many projects and credits I have left to use on the dashboard page as opposed to having to click over to my account. A dashboard should show everything that a user needs to see in one shot.
Love this tool but would like insights from all 3 major search engines not just Google. I would also like deeper understanding of the placement for local businesses on Google Places/Maps. Insight into mobile search rankings and best landing pages per industry would also help :) Overall, SpyFu is a necessity for serious search marketers.
SpyFu comes with a link to tutorial videos. I recommend you watch them. The software is capable of so much you really need to watch the videos and learn how to get the most out of it. When I have a question 90% of the time it's there. When it isn't, and I reach out to them, support is always quick and concise.
I only had to reach out to TexMetrics once when initially getting my account setup after signing up. The response was swift, and they addressed my question completely. I've had no other issues since I began using TextMetrics, so based on that one interaction, I have to give them a great score. I assume that it is still the same as when I reached out that one time (at least I hope it is!).
I was surprised to find I preferred Semrush when it comes to keyword research. SpyFu is great (and less expensive than Semrush), but I felt the data Semrush provided was vaster than SpyFu. I was able to get more competitors spending insights in Semrush than SpyFu. Overall, I liked the ability to use both in our keyword research for both paid and organic marketing.
