SpyFu vs. Upwork

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.

Incentivized

I would recommend Upwork to a colleague as a solution to workplace issues. Our company has utilized Upwork to vet out potential competitors as well as partners in a lengthy data analysis project, as well as given our engineering team extra hands when implementing new products, projects, and features. This has allowed our company to stay on track with projects without in-house manpower.

Incentivized

• Keeping a tab on competitors organic and inorganic activities
• Helps identify where the competitor is getting the backlinks from.
• Identify competitors top content and the keywords that's bringing them traffic
• Get proper information of their current and past ADS run on Google.

Incentivized

• Allows us to filter freelancers by location. This is especially important when working across time zones.
• Upwork is one of the only freelancing websites that actually provides a filter for US based contractors; and they rigorously verify this.
• Huge candidate pool. You're almost guaranteed to find a few individuals who specialize in whatever you're looking for.
• Allows both fixed bid and hourly. Each one is useful for different kinds of projects.

Incentivized

• As with any database, their keyword database has limits, so the data returned is relative to their database, not necessarily the full picture.
• When SpyFu database or scoring chances, the data provided can spike, thus causing confusion among stakeholders, we're reporting to.

Incentivized

• In my opinion the worst customer service. It is impossible to contact them via phone, and they are not transparent about their decisions.
• I feel they don't have the freelance community's best interest in mind. Their focus is on the companies that pay. Freelancers are disposable.
• They charge ridiculous fees to the freelancers that are the ones that need the money the most because they are the ones starting their businesses. It is like if your employer charges you for coming to work.

Incentivized

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 is an easy to use tool, and has a self -explanatroy dashborad to generate the data needed to provide insights into any B2B SEO and PPC campaign. It is not comprehensive, but it certainly provides good enough insight to make it a valuable part of any agency tool stack

Incentivized

I have earned a lot on Upwork and I would always recommend it to my fellow peers and people who have skills and are looking independently and remotely from the comfort of their home. Once you get successful in developing a good profile on Upwork revenue target are more easier to achieve.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Support has been great. Rarely have I ever had an issue that has required support but when I have they have been great. I did have to interact with support to confirm my identity and the process was easy and quick and support was helpful to know what I needed to do to accomplish that task.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Upwork is better suited for finding contractors that you can have ongoing relationships. Compared to Fiverr, it's a much easier process to find qualified designers rather than one-time contractors to design simple things for you. The interface is easier to use as well and the billing management makes it so much cleaner and easier to know how much we're spending and how contractors are logging work hours.

Incentivized

• Helping us track our ranking.
• It helps solve the problem of ambiguity when it comes to Google Ads. It makes the strategy more clear.
• You can sift through lots of different online analytics to find the information, but it takes way too long. SpyFu has it all in one place!

Incentivized

• We have gotten close to 50% of all of our clients through the platform.
• Upwork backs the work done through the platform, so no matter what the client or person you are working with does, you get paid for the work that you do. You aren't left hanging after doing hours of work for a client and then never getting paid for it.
• Made it easy to communicate with clients from different parts of the world and set up partnerships and agreements in an easier fashion. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a unique skill set.

Incentivized