Semrush
SEO and marketing suite with keyword research, backlink data, site audits, rank tracking and competitor analysis.
- Free plan or free version
- Developer API
- Writes or rewrites content with AI
An all-in-one SEO suite puts the main research jobs behind one login: keyword research, a backlink index, a site audit crawler, rank tracking and reports on what competitors rank for. The appeal is that the data lines up. A keyword you find in research can go straight into a tracking project, and a competitor's top pages link through to the keywords and links behind them.
The suites differ less in features than in their data. Each company runs its own crawler and builds its own keyword database, so search volumes, difficulty scores and link counts never match between tools. None of them sees Google's real numbers. Use one suite consistently so the trends you watch come from the same source, and check anything that matters against Google Search Console, which reports what Google actually recorded for your own site.
Most suites now add AI features on top: drafting content from a brief, suggesting titles, summarizing a competitor's page, or tracking how a brand appears in AI answers. These are useful shortcuts, but they sit on the same keyword data and inherit its limits. A draft written to match a keyword list still needs an editor who knows the subject.
What a featured listing costs ยท from $99 a month
SEO and marketing suite with keyword research, backlink data, site audits, rank tracking and competitor analysis.
SEO toolset built around a large backlink index, with keyword research, site audits and rank tracking.
Moz's SEO suite for keyword research, link analysis, site crawls and rank tracking, home of the Domain Authority metric.
SEO platform with rank tracking, site audits, keyword and backlink research, often used by agencies for client reports.
A set of simple SEO tools (KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, SiteProfiler) sold together.
Keyword, site audit and backlink tool from Neil Patel's company, with a limited free version and a Chrome extension.
SEO platform with keyword research, competitor analysis, backlinks, audits and rank tracking.
Estimates traffic, channels and keywords for any website, used for competitor and market research.
How to choose comes down to what you do every week. Link-heavy work favors the suite with the index you trust for backlinks. Agencies with many clients care about project limits, user seats and white-label reports. A small business that checks rankings once a month may do fine with a lighter tool and the free Google tools. Most suites offer a trial or a limited free account, so run the same few domains through two of them and compare what you would actually use.
Two practical checks before you commit. First, look at how credits or row limits work, since heavy keyword exports can use up a plan quickly. Second, check whether the suite covers the country and language you work in, because database depth varies a lot outside the largest markets.
Think about the people who will log in, too. A suite that only one specialist understands tends to sit unused when that person is busy. Look at how easy it is to share a project with a writer or a client, whether reports can be scheduled, and whether exports land in a format your team already uses, such as Google Sheets or Looker Studio. Those details decide whether the data gets used after the first month.
Each company builds its own estimates from clickstream data, its own crawls and Google Ads ranges, then models the rest. The numbers are educated guesses. Compare trends inside one tool, and use Google Keyword Planner and Search Console for Google's own figures.
It can be, if you use it weekly for research and tracking. If you only need occasional keyword ideas and a health check, free tools such as Google Search Console, Google Trends and the free tiers listed here may cover you until the site grows.
No. They are each company's own score for a site's link profile, useful for comparing sites quickly. Google does not use them. Treat them as a rough guide to link strength and look at the actual linking pages before you decide anything.
They are handy for outlines, title ideas and first drafts tied to keyword data. Review every draft for accuracy and add what only you know about the subject, since search engines and readers both look for pages that add something new.