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SpyFu

SpyFu

Overview

What is SpyFu?

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…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

SpyFu has proven to be an invaluable tool for conducting competitor research and analysis in the advertising industry. Users have praised …
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Smooth and Easy PPC Research Tool!

9 out of 10
September 01, 2022
I use SpyFu for researching competitor PPC campaigns and keeping an eye on their strategies. I find it helpful to see what keywords they …
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SpyFu- give it a tru!

8 out of 10
May 19, 2022
Incentivized
We are looking for help with ranking our website in both paid and organic searches. SEO keyword research can be overwhelming, and we did …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 14 features
  • Competitive analysis (50)
    9.1
    91%
  • SERP ranking tracking (43)
    8.1
    81%
  • Keyword analysis (51)
    6.9
    69%
  • Backlink management (39)
    5.9
    59%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Basic

$39

Cloud
per month

Professional

$79

Cloud
per month

Team

$299

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Using Spyfu to Find Leads for a B2B Google Ads or SEO Agency - SpyFu Review and Demo For B2B Leads

YouTube

Jeff Demo 07 - Using SpyFu for Local SEO YouTube

YouTube

SpyFu Review Video Demo - Excellent or Scam?

YouTube

Domain Ad History Demo, Part 2 | SpyFu Domain Ad History

YouTube

Domain Ad History Demo, Part 1 | SpyFu Domain Ad History

YouTube

Spyfu Review: Pros, Cons, and Alternatives (+ Demo)

YouTube
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Features

SEO

Core features related to search engine optimization

7.2
Avg 7.8

SEO Channels

Features related to optimizing your website for specific channels

7.7
Avg 7.6

SEO Platform & Account Management

Features related to scalability and integration of the SEO platform

8.7
Avg 8.4
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Product Details

What is SpyFu?

SpyFu Video

SpyFu Demo

SpyFu Competitors

SpyFu Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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 keyword areas vis-a-vis rival actors in the same or contiguous marketing space. Published pricing starts at $79 per month with the Basic plan, for Google, Yahoo & Bing research, 6 years of historical access, unlimited access to SpyFu's tools, but somewhat limited access to leads and domain contacts keyword rank tracking. The $139 Professional plan gives full access to UK data and doubles the rank tracking of keywords from 400 to 800, and provides custom branded (white label) reports and API access. the $999 Agency plan gives team access (10 user logins) and unlimited tracking and reporting capabilities.

Moz Pro and RavenTools are common alternatives for SpyFu.

Reviewers rate Competitive analysis highest, with a score of 9.1.

The most common users of SpyFu are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(132)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

SpyFu has proven to be an invaluable tool for conducting competitor research and analysis in the advertising industry. Users have praised its ability to provide strong directional insights for evaluating search advertisers, allowing them to understand their potential clients' past PPC efforts and identify opportunities for new campaigns. With its keyword research capabilities, users have been able to optimize their AdWords campaigns and allocate budgets effectively, ensuring that they are targeting the right keywords and avoiding spending on ineffective ad campaigns. SpyFu's SEO insights have also been highly beneficial for users, enabling them to assess the effectiveness of their SEO efforts and identify areas for improvement. By analyzing competitors' backlinks, users have been able to enhance their own backlink profiles, improving their website's authority in search engines.

The software has matured over time and added new elements, making it an integral part of users' arsenal for competitor research and baseline SEO analysis. Users have particularly praised SpyFu's ability to deliver a domain's ad history, which has helped them remain competitive in paid search. By identifying profitable keywords and uncovering low-hanging fruit through keyword tracking and competitor analysis features, users have been able to drive successful SEO campaigns. SpyFu's impact on search marketing ventures cannot be overstated, as it provides users with a powerful edge over their competitors in the search engine space.

In addition, SpyFu has become widely utilized for SEM and SEO business intelligence. Its comprehensive insights into competitors' monthly spending, ad copy, keywords, and SEO rankings allow users to gain valuable information for strategic decision-making. The tool has proven effective in pivoting campaign strategies quickly based on the insights provided by SpyFu. Users have found it instrumental in competitor analysis and strategizing marketing programs, helping them understand the competition landscape and assess viability within given budgets.

Furthermore, SpyFu has been used for various purposes such as analyzing potential keywords, conducting SEO data research, gaining insights into how search engines perceive websites, establishing baselines, conducting competitive analysis, and performing marketing and brand audits. Its advanced competitive keyword research capabilities have allowed users to collect thousands of keywords for themselves and their competitors, providing a wealth of data for analysis and optimization. SpyFu's auto-generated SEO reports have also been vital to the success of SEO efforts, providing users with comprehensive insights into core keywords and identifying new opportunities or challenges. Additionally, the estimation of competitors' monthly AdWords spending by SpyFu has provided valuable information in highly competitive fields.

With its interface and growing catalog of advantages, SpyFu has met users' needs

Intuitive User Interface: Many users have praised SpyFu for its highly intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface. They appreciate the straightforward design and layout, which allows them to quickly access the information they need. This user-friendly interface has been mentioned by several reviewers, making it accessible to employees of all experience levels and easy for anyone to use and navigate.

Competitor Analysis: The ability to analyze competitors' advertising strategies and tactics is highly valued by users. Several reviewers have expressed their appreciation for being able to see what advertising has been done in the past. This feature allows them to gain insights into their competition's strategies, stay informed about their industry, and make data-driven decisions for their own campaigns.

Keyword Insights: Users find the keyword tool within SpyFu to be a great resource for understanding their website's performance as well as comparing it to their competitors'. Many reviewers have highlighted how this tool helps them identify top-performing keywords and compare them against their competitors' keywords. By optimizing SEO strategies based on these insights, users are able to stay ahead of the competition in search engine rankings.

  1. Lack of Clarity in Explanations: Some users have found that certain aspects of SpyFu are not well explained, leading to confusion and difficulty in understanding their purpose.

  2. Irrelevant Keywords: Several reviewers have mentioned that the keywords provided by SpyFu can be irrelevant to the selected business, which compromises the accuracy of the data.

  3. Graphs Difficult to Work With: The graphs in SpyFu have been described as challenging to navigate at times, indicating that they may not be intuitive or user-friendly.

The user suggests trying the free trial of SpyFu first and utilizing the on-boarding support provided. They highly recommend using SpyFu for SEO and PPC, considering it a great tool for competitive keyword research. Utilizing the help section and video tutorials is recommended. SpyFu is seen as worth the money, offering numerous features at a reasonable price. It is suggested to use SpyFu to stay competitive in advertising and to target specific issues with the help of the provided videos. For small businesses unable to afford SEO and PPC agency prices, SpyFu is considered a great investment. Trying SpyFu and upgrading are recommended, as it is easy to use, particularly for SEO purposes. Tracking competitors' ads, keywords, and spending using SpyFu is also advised. To improve digital marketing efforts, it is suggested to take advantage of SpyFu's capabilities. The tutorial videos provided by SpyFu should be watched for better utilization of the tool. For PPC professionals, SpyFu is considered a must-have. Running reports often and leveraging the information provided by SpyFu for informed business decisions are recommended practices. Taking advantage of reduced pricing for the trial period and the guided tour offered by SpyFu are additional suggestions. SpyFu is highly regarded as a great tool for competitive research and SEO analysis in online marketing. Considering SpyFu for gaining valuable insights and ensuring competitiveness online is suggested. Reviewers find it fast, easy to work with, and reasonably priced. For paid search analysis, utilizing SpyFu is recommended. The competition section of SpyFu can also be used to expand prospect pipelines with more companies.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 61)
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Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I used SpyFu to evaluate how competitors were advertising on Google Adwords. I used the text ad content, dynamic ad insertions, and display ads to create my own similar ads. I also used keyword targeting to create my own keywords to target based on competitors' keywords they use for bidding.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use SpyFu for researching competitor PPC campaigns and keeping an eye on their strategies. I find it helpful to see what keywords they are targeting, what ads they are running, and the competition’s estimated traffic levels. This helps me plan my own PPC strategy accordingly. I started using it a few years back and found it an in budget and easy-to-use PPC analysis tool. It just lacks a lot of insights on Organic traffic, or else it would have been my lifesaver tool!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our Google ads campaign management team uses Spyfu for competitor and keyword research. It helps us know which keywords our competitors are targeting, what kind of ads they are running and what is their organic and paid traffic like. It also gives us a rough idea of how much they are spending via google ads (although that data isn't exactly correct). It also has useful backlinks information. Lastly the Google Adwords buy recommendations are pretty good too. They might not be always relevant but they do often enough include good suggestions that we end up using them quite frequently.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use SpyFu as part of my SEO work for both competitor research and keyword research to inform SEO strategies for my clients. I also use their reporting tool to provide monthly snapshots for my clients to show the progress we are making during the implementation phase of their campaign.
Russell Pabon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I knew SpyFu was the real deal when our website's ranking rose by over a thousand positions in the same category in just a few weeks. It has become part and parcel of all our social digital campaigns. SpyFu has revolutionized our search marketing ventures by giving us an edge over our competitors in the search engine space. We use SpyFu frequently for keyword tracking, competitor analysis, and rank tracking while publishing our blogs.
Rohit Langde | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SpyFu mainly to find PPC keywords and keep tapping on our competitors. Though it offers SEO analytics and reports too in our company, we use it to find profitable keywords on which others are bidding/winning. Then, utilize them in our SEO campaigns to build organic traffic. Just plugin in the domain name (whether yours or competitor's) and you are done. It is a very straightforward tool!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I used the free version of SpyFu and was very impressed. It made me want to dig deeper into SEO and Google ads because, with tools like this, even a novice can become an expert. My favorite thing is that you can see the strategy of other successful dental practices and copy them.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are looking for help with ranking our website in both paid and organic searches. SEO keyword research can be overwhelming, and we did not want to spend hundreds of hours looking for the correct terms. We are a retail business primarily focused on the luxury space in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketplace.
Lisa Arrington | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu has been very helpful for compiling competitor data and identifying opportunities with this research. The usefulness in regards to using it for Paid Search is great! Specifically, SpyFu's capability to deliver a particular domain's ad history is very helpful in seeing what changes were made and how we can remain competitive.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The main purpose of using SpyFu for our website was to understand who our competitors were, where they were and what they were doing. Not only were we able to keep a tab on the organic activities of our competitors but also paid activities. Additionally, we were able to identify other similar files which we could have missed had it not been for the SpyFu's feature that allows us to do so.
All this allowed us to form more compelling strategy and outrun our competitor.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SpyFu periodically to monitor our search ranking, organic / paid traffic, and what keywords we are currently utilizing through our website. We also use SpyFu to monitor our main competitor's search engine ranking and to identify new keywords or opportunities for paid search. The primary goal of using this program is to rank higher in search.
Tyler Heaps | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu is a great tool for competitive research and paid search research. I like to conduct my research for all my paid ad campaigns and then export my results into a spreadsheet and find the most profitable keywords and other low-hanging fruit that I am not currently trying to rank for advertising. This has proven to be a very effective tool to conduct this research.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
At our full-scale marketing agency, we use SpyFu for SEM and SEO business intelligence. SpyFu helps us get an idea of our clients' competitors' monthly spending, ad copy, keywords, SEO rankings, and much more, allowing us to present findings and pivot campaign strategies quickly. A tool like this can take the "guessing" out of competitor conquest, or even defend our own brand name against competitor bids.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu is being used by my old organization Townsquare Interactive to find out about the company's SEO and PPC usage. We can do research on potentials client's advertising spend and see where they are ranking for certain keywords.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu is a great competitive tool. It may not have the most bells and whistles, but it does provide the primary function needed for search advertiser evaluations. We don't take the spend data as gospel from it, but it provides fairly strong directional insight for us to work with. The price isn't too bad either.
Jake Hundley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Spyfu to see what kind of competition our clients are facing and for what keywords their competition is targeting. It's also a good measure to see what our client's viability is with their given budget before we launch their campaign. We'll primarily use it to assess keyword rankings before we have enough data in Google Search Console.
George Louvis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu is used primarily by me. Although my marketing team has access to it, I tend to be the one that uses it the most. We use it to find good keywords to use for our clients, as well as checking out what competitors are using and looking at their ads. Being able to see what ads specific competitors have been running, when they run them and their budget is a tremendous advantage for us in putting together plans for our clients.
January 28, 2020

SpyFu comes through

Frank Watson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu allows us to get insights into the terms used by competitors and helps us build a planned budget for paid search spend for new clients. It also now gives us insights into how our SEO efforts are faring. We can see what terms - either paid or organic - should be given attention. The information on the backlinks of competitors helps us discover places we should add to our client's backlink profiles. All in all this tool is an important part of our arsenal. I have been using it since the early days and am impressed with how the tool has matured and added elements.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SpyFu across the organization for competitive research and analysis of organic website traffic. It allows us to see how our own website stacks up to competitors as well as how our clients' websites compare to their competition. We also use it to identify organic search keyword opportunities for web content creation.
January 24, 2020

SpyFu- Under the mask

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu, along with other tools, allows us to see how people are accessing a potential client's website. We see a sample of what people have done in the past recent months — an example of organic terms that are puling up search results as well as some keyword research.
January 24, 2020

SpyFu Review

Ruben Diaz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use SpyFu to see what my competitors are using as some of their keywords. Competitive analysis. I use it to analyze potential keywords that I may want to add to our campaigns. On many occasions, I also use it to see SEO data. Most importantly is the SEM Keyword analysis, which also shows spent data.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SpyFu for PPC and SEO research. As an agency, we use it for our own purposes and for that of our clients. It's easy to by people on our team to quickly understand the cost of PPC terms and run competitive reports. We will run reports and send them to clients.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SpyFu is being used by my organization in a variety of ways. We are an agency that works with various businesses to solve numerous business issues in a number of different markets. SpyFu has helped to save time and to make overall marketing efforts more structured and strategized backed by validated data.
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