Item: Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Rating: 10
Author: Alyssa O'Mara

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Screaming Frog for every one of my clients. It allows me to quickly see if there are any underlying issues with their web pages that can be addressed to help with their rankings or usability. One crawl and I can filter in many ways to view just the data I need.

Pros and Cons

Allows me to see what pages can be indexed by the search engines
Shows me quickly if there is any meta information missing

If I am working with a larger site it's difficult to get Screaming Frog to scan the whole site. I have to stop the scan and reset some settings to get it to work and even then I have had issues.

Return on Investment

It is super helpful when I am quoting a new job. I can see where there are issues without spending a lot of time when I don't have the job yet.

Alternatives Considered

SEMRush

Screaming Frog is different than a tool like SEMRush. It is a crawler that allows you to see the data like Google would see it when they crawl your site. A tool like SEMRush, or MOZ, gives you more analysis around SEO for the website you are reviewing. I wouldn't want to be without either tool.

Support Rating

I haven't needed support very often, but the few times I have sent an email I have gotten a thorough response the next day. They do publish updates quite often, which are free with your yearly subscription.

Key Insights

Do you think Screaming Frog SEO Spider delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Screaming Frog SEO Spider's feature set?

Yes

Did Screaming Frog SEO Spider live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Screaming Frog SEO Spider go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Screaming Frog SEO Spider again?

Yes

Other Software Used

SEMRush, Xero

Likelihood to Recommend

Screaming Frog is great when you know what you're looking for. If you don't understand meta information, status codes, reditects, canonicals and other technical aspects of a website, then it's not the tool for you. It won't have a popup that gives you guidance, it just gives you the data, in an organized fashion, so that you can do the research you need to optimize a website. If you are newer to SEO you either need to learn what all of these things are, or use another tool that will put the results into layman's terms.

Screaming Frog is An Excellent Tool for SEO

Overall Satisfaction with Screaming Frog SEO Spider