Why should you use Seo Software For Agency?
If you’re using the right SEO software, you can optimize your clients’ sites to rank higher in search results, get more traffic and leads, and drive more conversions.
But if you aren’t using the right SEO software for agencies, all of those benefits are out of reach—and so are the clients who are looking for an agency that can deliver them.
Seo Software For Agency is built with agencies in mind: it’s easy to set up and use, it integrates with your existing CRM, and it’s packed with features that let you manage multiple clients’ accounts all at once.
Seo Software For Agency
Agencies are some of the heaviest users of software and automation in their day to day tasks. With over 2000 agency customers, here at SEOptimer we’re privileged to get unique insights into agency life, workflows and the tools that are used, and are hoping to share that knowledge with you. Some of the things we’ve observed, are that:
- Staffing makes up the biggest chunk of an agency’s cost base, and so any tooling and automation that can make work quicker and easier is an immediate win – hence SaaS tools are heavily used.
- SEO projects have a big range of manual tasks, and need of specialized data and insights. Simply put, without SEO software, digital agencies drown in manual work and can’t efficiently scale and become profitable.
- It’s common for agencies to use many SEO tools. Due to unique client requirements and functional needs, it’s very rare for one SEO tool to deliver on all the functionality a digital agency needs. Here at SEOptimer, we know we play a role in a broader workflow that includes several other key tools.
What software features are best for SEO Agencies?
This list of the best SEO Software for agencies covers a wide array of tools and each has their specific features. Digital agencies who perform SEO services for their clients usually have 6 main functional requirements:
- Site auditing: everything starts with a site audit. This process involves many checks related to the on-page SEO factors of a page encompassing metadata, content, links, pageload speed, user experience, social and more (this is what SEOptimer platform specializes in)
- Website crawling: this involves crawling an entire site (yes, every single page) – to find potential SEO issues that are holding back a site from ranking
- Keyword rank tracking: this process involves tracking the position of your pages in search results for your target keywords
- Backlink tracking: this feature tracks and audits the number and quality of sites that link back to you
- Content optimization: this involves auditing and refining the content – as in the actual words on the page – and the structure of your page to help outrank competitors
- Outreach: this assists you with workflows and discovery to identify target blogs and publications who you can reach out to in order to pitch your content / links to gain backlinks from authoritative websites
With these six typical features in mind, we compiled this list in collaboration with 18 SEO experts from some of the top SEO and digital agencies around the world. Our goal was to understand how these tools fit into their workflow and what features they utilize to deliver outstanding client results.
Meet the 18 SEO Experts
These SEO experts come from a diverse array of digital agencies around the world with an equally diverse roster of clients and industries. But one thing is common across everyone – they all rely on SEO software to deliver high-quality SEO projects to their clients.
- Bryan Philips, Head of Marketing at In Motion Marketing 🇦🇺
- Ashley Regan-Scherf, Executive Content Writer at RGC Advertising 🇦🇺
- Aqib Noor, Content Specialist at Puppetbrush 🇨🇦
- Jasween Narang, Senior SEO Executive at Elsner Technologies 🇮🇳
- Umarah Hussain, PR Specialist at Surge Marketing Solutions 🇬🇧
- Richard Kennedy, Owner at Arken Marketing 🇬🇧
- Martina Nakov, SEO Specialist at Best Response Media 🇬🇧
- James Oliver, Director at Evolved Toaster 🇬🇧
- Matt Thomason, SEO Consultant and Founder at Witney SEO Guy 🇬🇧
- Brandie Erisman, Owner at Riverview Lane 🇺🇸
- Veronica Fernandes, SEO Expert & Writer at Creative Media Technology 🇺🇸
- Cary Haun, Technical SEO Specialist at Twelve Three Media 🇺🇸
- Timothy Josiah Haynes, VP of Content & SEO at Clara 🇺🇸
- John McGhee, Managing Partner at Webconsuls 🇺🇸
- Jake Peterson, SEO Specialist at ATIBA 🇺🇸
- Nathan Sebastian, Content Marketer at GoodFirms 🇺🇸
- Solomon Thimothy, Co-Founder at Clickx 🇺🇸
- Jon Torres, SEO Marketer and Founder at JonTorres.com 🇺🇸
How to choose the best agency SEO Software
As with most software, it’s difficult to know whether a piece of software will suit your agency without rigorously testing it first. Look for tools that offer free trials so you and your team can evaluate them properly before committing.
Some tools are low-cost while others in the enterprise SEO agency software space can be very expensive. Thankfully, all the tools included on our list are either free or low cost making them ideal for most digital agencies.
These are some of the biggest deciding factors when choosing the right SEO software for your agency:
- Breadth of functionality: after assessing your functional needs (above) make sure you define your ‘SEO tool stack’ so that you have adequate coverage. There are likely to be overlaps but that’s ok. Most digital agencies prioritize their core features then look for best-in-class tools to deliver each one
- Accuracy: this can be hard to assess but the typical approach is to benchmark two or more tools against each other at the same task. For functionality like site auditing, sometimes the ‘accuracy’ here might come down more to softer measures like how information is displayed and your preferences for the report format and customizability
- Cost: there’s no denying cost is a big deciding factor for most agencies. Clients want value for money and so too should agency owners expect bang for buck from software vendors. When weighing up software monthly fees, consider the cost per month vs the cost per hour for someone on your team with the right expertise to fulfill the task without software. Often, software tools are a no-brainer when it comes to ROI
- Innovation: the SEO industry is moving at a considerable pace with new developments, algorithm tweaks and best practices changing all the time. Try to get a read on how often each tool updates their tech and rolls out new features. Check the tool’s blog and social media profiles – when did they last announce a new feature? Was it last month or 2 years ago?
- Ratings / reviews: most reputable SEO software has been thoroughly reviewed and rated online. Look to trusted review sites like G2 and read what others have said about each tool you’re considering
With all these factors in mind, nothing beats hearing from industry peers and finding out what their go-to SEO tools are, so let’s dive in…
The 18 best SEO Software for agencies according to SEO experts
1. SEOptimer
Jasween Narang, Senior SEO Executive at Indian digital development agency Elsner Technologies uses SEOptimer.
Jasween relies on SEOptimer, one of the leading SEO audit and reporting tools for digital agencies.
“For technical SEO site audits there are many tools available on the market. In 2018 we were using another other tool for this but it was lacking some features so we decided to switch to SEOptimer. I used the free version initially and found it to be one of the best tools I’ve used for SEO audits.”
Jasween recommends SEOptimer because:
- It provides you a list of accurate on-page & off-page issues on any website
- Provides you a list of your keywords and ranking with the location along with changes in position (you don’t need to buy another tool to check keyword ranking and performance)
- The audits cover other aspects of SEO such as usability, technical SEO, performance and even social media
- Last but not least, this tool is very affordable and easy to use
2. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Matt Thomson, UK-based SEO Consultant and Founder at Witney SEO Guy uses Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT).
AWT is Ahrefs’ free SEO monitoring tool for auditing sites, checking backlink data and highlighting top-performing keywords.
Matt likes AWT because it helps put things into perspective for his clients and allows them to see key metrics such as backlinks, organic traffic and Ahrefs Domain Rating at a glance.
“I tend to start most client relationships with an SEO audit and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is really useful for this. The only thing it isn’t so good for is competitor research tasks. But I’ve introduced Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to a number of clients and they love it. Especially the fact that it’s free!”
Ahrefs position AWT as somewhat of a competitor to Google Search Console (GSC) and compare themselves to GSC across a number of primary features:
3. Google Search Console
Umarah Hussain, PR Specialist at UK digital agency Surge Marketing Solutions uses the full suite of Google tools including Google Search Console (GSC).
GSC is the essential search performance insight tool from Google. GSC’s 4 key metrics that should be tracked for every client include:
- Total clicks from organic search
- Total search impressions (on the search results page)
- Average CTR (Click Through Rate) from search result page to website
- Average Position (rank on the search result page)
Umarah shared an example GSC summary with me from one of her client websites (shown above). As can be seen, total clicks constantly fluctuate each week.
“I use GSC at every stage of a project including setting up clients to checking their coverage issues (404’s, 301’s and everything in-between), to disavowing any toxic links they may have. I also make use of the queries users are searching for to improve on the pages they’re landing on most often.”
She optimizes web page content and keywords based on insights gained using GSC and other Google tools such as Google Analytics and PageSpeed Insights.
4. Screaming Frog
Cary Haun, Technical SEO Specialist at Colorado-based digital agency Twelve Three Media uses Screaming Frog.
Screaming Frog is a website crawler enables data extraction from a website for the purposes of finding SEO issues like broken links, unoptimized metadata, duplicate content and other SEO issues.
According to Cary, Screaming Frog’s main advantage is its versatility. One can either get a quick snapshot of a website’s internal linking structure, or deep dive into a specific issue as to why a certain URL could be misbehaving.
“Screaming Frog is indeed a quintessential tool for efficient SEO work. Both beginners and seasoned SEO specialists alike can find things to learn from this tool. It encourages a hands-on approach to SEO by letting the user get their hands dirty, presenting them with data in a raw yet accurate manner.”
Cary uses the tool’s Site Structure feature to visualize a site and how all the pages are (or are not) linked to each other. People understand things in many different ways and with different methods as well.
“Me personally, I am more of a visual learner despite my occupation being primarily text-based. So, being able to see the site ‘all at once,’ if you will, is very helpful with communication for both myself and the client.”
5. Google Analytics
John McGhee, Managing Partner at Tennessee-based digital agency Webconsuls uses Google Analytics (GA).
Most websites rely on Google Analytics to track and report on their website traffic. And like most digital agencies, John and his team use Google Analytics frequently for tracking client traffic performance.
“It’s free and it provides elaborate insight into your website’s performance. We use this to analyze performance and inform content decisions.”
Analytics helps identify not only how many users visited your site, but also how they interacted and behaved after visiting.
“It also has a very underrated content section called ‘Content Drilldown’ that helps identify what content users relate to and interact with the most.”
John and his team use GA’s Content Drilldown feature to inform mostly design, content, and internal linking website changes. They tie the metrics to the user journey in a logical way. For example, in the screenshot (above), the ‘web-design-portfolio’ has a lower bounce rate than the ‘web-design’ page.
“One tactic would be to make a more prominent link to the web design portfolio page from the web design page. This leads to fewer users bouncing from the web design page, sends them to a page users find interesting, and helps overall website metrics.”
Some pages won’t apply, and that’s where the logical aspect of it comes in. For example, some pages with a comparably high bounce rate have form submission actions on the page, so the bounce rate isn’t as big of a consideration as it would be on other pages.
6. Local Viking
Aqib Noor, Content Specialist at Canadian digital agency Puppetbrush uses Local Viking.
Local Viking is a Google My Business (GMB) management tool that enables local stores to schedule posts, manage ratings, and protect their listings from malicious user edits – all from a single dashboard.
Aqib uses Local Viking to monitor progress which makes reporting much easier. He says Google has been overhauling the way it provides results for local queries. As a result, he’s seen Google’s local algorithm weighing proximity as a rating factor more heavily.
Aqib uses Local Viking’s GeoGrid search tool (shown above) to track the local map rankings of businesses on Google. Each node can be clicked to see where & how competitors are ranking based on each location. With enabled GPS extraction, Aqib and his team can connect with listings & optimize by tracking locations that lack visibility.
“When you show a potential client, the areas in which their position ranks poorly, it immediately piques their interest in GMB optimization.”
For bricks-and-mortar clients, local SEO is the battleground. But GMB can become unwieldy if you manage lots of locations across several clients. Consolidating your local SEO activities into a GMB management tool like Local Viking could be a great move.
7. HARO
Ashley Regan-Scherf, Executive Content Writer at Australian digital agency RGC Advertising uses HARO (Help A Reporter Out).
HARO is a popular connection platform whereby journalists or publishers can submit a ‘callout’ – typically this includes a brief of what they are writing and the kind of submissions they want. Then, expert sources can respond to the callout and ‘pitch’ the journalist or writer in a few paragraphs that answers the brief.
HARO helps websites build quality backlinks fast. Backlinks are essentially a hint to search engines that others endorse your material. Building great backlinks takes time, but HARO is a great resource that can help speed up the process and ensure your website is as effective as possible. Every weekday, HARO sends three source request emails, one for each sector.
“HARO is a great SEO tool to help build a website’s backlinks. Backlinks are particularly beneficial to SEO because they reflect a ‘vote of confidence’ from one location to another.”
If you see a request that matches your clients’ industry and can quickly provide a quote, you should answer the query, and then if yours is selected as a source, you might end up in the final article.
“Even if you don’t have much PR expertise, resources, or a large budget, you will always benefit from HARO’s opportunity to gain authoritative backlinks with minimal effort and money.”
Ashley shared an example with me above where she responded to a callout from SmallBizClub. Her great submission was then accepted and published in their final article titled ’13 Digital Trends for Retail Success’.
8. Exploding Topics
Nathan Sebastian, Content Marketer at American agency review site GoodFirms uses Exploding Topics.
The tool shows rapidly growing topics that are yet to be covered by most people. Exploding Topics returns topics that are yet to enter the trending category but the keywords are already being searched online.
By creating content around these soon-to-trend topics, you can achieve high-ranking positions before the topics become too competitive.
“A unique feature of the tool is that it categorizes the topics into three categories. First are the exploding topics that are currently trending. Second, are the regular topics that are gaining popularity slowly with time. Lastly, peaked topics that were trending but are now declining in popularity.”
Nathan thinks Exploding Topics is better than Google Trends in a way because it allows you to choose topics without even entering a keyword. All you have to do is select a category and the tool displays multiple topics that you can work with.
9. Mangools
Jon Torres, San Diego-based SEO Marketer and Founder at JonTorres.com uses Mangools.
Mangools is a multi-function SEO tool for keyword research, rank tracking, SERP analysis, backlink tracking and more.
“Like many businesses during the pandemic, I was conscious about minimizing expenses while getting the most value back. It is during that time I discovered I could integrate Mangools into my workflow, without shelling out the $400+ monthly subscription typical of popular alternatives.”
While some features like a Broken Link Checker are missing on Mangools, it still offers a handy keyword research tool, SERP analysis, and competitive research features.
“With Mangools, I can easily find high and low-competition keywords for my PPC/advertiser, long-tail keywords for my niche site clients, and a combination of both to enhance my online visibility management strategies.”
In using a lower-cost tool, Jon passes the savings on to struggling small business clients by offering more affordable SEO optimization packages that work. This means he can still make data-led decisions about his client’s SEO strategy and bring them real ROI without leaving them broke.
10. GTmetrix
Martina Nakov, SEO Specialist at UK digital agency Best Response Media uses GTmetrix.
The tool analyzes the page load speed of a site’s pages and identifies potential areas for improvement.
In the example (above) shared by Martina, we can see Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Speed Index, Time to Interactive and Total Blocking Time (TBT) are the main areas for improvement on this particular website.
“The great thing about GTmetrix is that once it is done analysing a web page, it lays out a bunch of actionable suggestions. For example, if un-optimized images are what is making your page slower, GTmetrix lists exactly which images are causing this issue and how you should fix them.”
Page load speed greatly affects the quality of a site and search rankings. Martina likes how GTmetrix summarizes all page speed performance to a single grade.
“If the grade is F, you know there’s a lot of work ahead of you!”
agency analytics
Running a marketing agency is hard. Clients can be unpredictable, competition is dense, you’re expected to stay on top of a superhuman amount of knowledge. You don’t have enough time for projects in production; you get anxious about how you will handle new ones. That’s where MashMetrics steps in.
We are an extension of the teams of the marketing agencies we work with. Whether our service is white-labeled or we are involved in one-on-one coaching sessions for your agency’s clients, we are the flexible analytics resource that enables you to easily do more great work.
Agency Analytics Clients We’ve Recently Worked for
Common Analytics Issues & Challenges of Marketing Agencies
Lack of clarity in campaign effectiveness
Lack of ability to prove campaign effectiveness to clients
Insufficient analytics expertise in-house
Inefficient reporting
Lack of confidence in data
Bandwidth too low for taking on new projects
Bandwidth too low for training up team members
Overwhelm stemming from the amount, variety and cost of premium analytics tools
Branko Kral
Branko Kral
Director of analytics at B King Digital
The Google Tag Manager framework by MashMetrics is now a standard we use for all our clients. The preset tags, triggers and variables It save us an incredible amount of time and cost. This increases our capacity to thoroughly tailor each measurement setup
The MashMetrics Process & Deliverables for Agency Analytics
As an expert marketing analytics agency, we help our clients to make sense of data, no matter where they are on the scale from lack of insight, to endless metrics from countless tools. We help define customer journey, recognize patterns and opportunities, and communicate the results. We follow our standard process, with deliverables executed in four stages.
Define
Analytics audit of the current analytics and reporting
Measurement plans that define the specs, sum up marketing goals and campaigns to be supported by analytics, define KPI’s, line out deliverables and plan of execution.
Most agencies have us implement the measurement plans for their clients. Some use the measurement plans to implement in-house, often with our continued guidance.
Setup
Standardize steps along with tailored steps of measurement implementation.
Google Tag Manager for a faster response time. We have a standard in-house framework that gives you a head start, so the tailoring can happen much sooner.
We help you select tools for a stellar stack for each client. We also help you learn how to use the martech very well.
Analyze
We help you allocate your client’s budget via thorough channel attribution and campaign comparison.
We determine what’s going on, why it is going on, what you can do about it, and what outcome you can expect.
Analysis is often the part where we coach up your own team members the most.
Report
Google Data Studio templates with continuous updates and custom tailoring.
Reports are interactive, storytelling and branded with your assets.
Find trusted analytics experts, so you can become your clients’ trusted analytics experts.
TALK TO US.
Analytics Tools We Implement & Integrate for Agency Analytics Clients
We prioritize analytics tools in the Google Suite – Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Optimize, Attribution, Data Studio. Some of our agency partners are on the stellar Analytics 360. We also love to apply Amplitude for customer journey tracking, Segment for data pipelines and DataBox for KPI alerts. Together, the stack of tools gives our clients a full picture of what’s going on.
Conclusion
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