I've found SEMRush, Ahref, MozPro, Screaming Frog.. which do you use?

[Guest]

I'm new to Advanced SEO, I know some basics and want to get more into it, looking at tools.

The above mentioned tools, which do you use? Are they similar, should I go for 1 or all, what's the differences in a nutshell? Yeah I can read about it and spend a couple of hours or days learning what they do but would really appreciate some feedback to skip through purchasing and regretting

[Col]

One you're missing from the list is Airtable. It'll change your life.

[Matty]

Screaming frog only.
We're a $350k agency and don't spend money on SEO tools.

[Mike]

Semrush is the top option in my opinion as far as a suite of tools for basic audits, competitor research, market research, keyword data, and content marketing.

Screaming Frog is an awesome crawler. It's particularly useful if you are looking for something particular across a website.

Moz is a horrible value. They price themselves at about the same rates as Semrush and Ahrefs, but their tools are not at all comparable. If Moz was like $35/month, I would recommend it for someone new, but at its current price it is trash.

[Alex]

Eliminate Moz and add in Surfer. Screaming Frog is free for smaller sites. You don't need Semrush and Ahrefs when starting - which is better depends on what you do. If you do anything local then Semrush if you do affiliate then probably Ahrefs. If you do local maps then you probably also need Local Viking or Brightlocal - but only if you do local maps.

You will need a way to do audits (Semrush, Ahfefs, and Screaming frog), a way to do keyword and competitor research(Semrush, and Ahrefs), and a way to do on-page/content (Surfer SEO)

There are intricacies where some things are better than others or you may need to combine them. Ex: Ahrefs can help with internal linking suggestions - but that doesn't matter if you use linkwhisper (WP plugin) Semrush is better at position reporting and local volume/rankings than Ahrefs is (Ahrefs doesn't have local databases). Ahrefs is easier to use and provide quantifiable data than Semrush is - at least the UI is better and faster. Semrush is better at finding related keyword data (Because you can use the keyword magic tool all day long without extra fees - where Ahrefs charges for use) - but Ahrefs is a bit more accurate (Because Semrush groups keywords into groups without telling you)

Eventually you will learn no tool is perfect and combining them is better.

[Lori]

I so prefer Lightbulb to Screaming Frog. We also use SEMRush quite a bit and periodically test new ones.

[Kristina]

Screamingfrog + Ahrefs
Or
ScreamingFrog + Semrush
You need at least two for comparison and get a comprehensive audit.

[Anas]

My work is in content management and I tried both Semrush and Ahrefs, each for a year with different companies. You only need one because they do very similar and give almost the same metrics. I would say I am more comfortable with Semrush because it has the content template and topic research that helps you outrank your competitors with a higher quality content. In terms of keyword analysis both are identical I would say. Site audit and back links don't really know as it's less my day to day work, so won't be correct if I try to give my opinion.

[Amanda]

I love screaming frog as a crawler, but it is not like the other 3 you mentioned. If you’re just starting out, the free version of screaming frog will probably be sufficient.