Item: SpyFu
Rating: 9
Author: Elias Van Son

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

Provides competitive intelligence
Provides SEO ranking history
Suggests negative keyword additions

Accuracy of competitor PPC spend could be improved (we have proven this against our own URLs)
Relevancy of Google Ads keyword "Buy recommendations"
More complete (far-reaching) view of Ad Histories

Most Important Features

Competitors' monthly PPC spend, using only their URL
Competitors' ad copy and ad positioning
PPC keyword suggestions and other recommendations

Return on Investment

Having "insider" knowledge of Competitors has had a positive impact on building trust with our marketing clients
Insights from SpyFu have provided us with solid reasoning for our clients' budget expansion and increased spend
Using SpyFu (even the free tools they provide) has been more cost-effective than using their competitors like Semrush and Moz

Alternatives Considered

I spent years exclusively using Semrush for this kind of competitor PPC data, and have used Moz in the past on several occasions. I feel that SpyFu is more well-rounded and provides deeper insights than these other products, and honestly, it's just more updated as well. Easier navigation, cleaner look, and more reliable insights.

Key Insights

Do you think SpyFu delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SpyFu's feature set?

Yes

Did SpyFu live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of SpyFu go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy SpyFu again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Google Ads (formerly AdWords), Google Analytics, Semrush

Likelihood to Recommend

As a Paid Search specialist, SpyFu has helped me provide my clients with metrics for their direct and indirect competitors: average monthly spend, lists of competitor keywords, examples of ETA and RSA ad copy, and even this new "K6mbat" feature where we can position ourselves head-to-head against any competitors to see how we stack up in the market.

Clean, comprehensive Competitor insights

Overall Satisfaction with SpyFu