have to be more options than rankerx, it does a lot but also comes with a monthly subscription which is pricey if you don't need all the functionality.
Anyhow, I'm new as well and haven't tried any tools yet. Though I did some research and it looks like to me that GSA SER and ScrapeBox + some additional plugins are solid options. Though I'm not sure how it works after latest google updates because a lot of info I've read was written prior 2018.
Waiting for pros to show up and share their lists of To-Go Tools
We are waiting for you to show up and share your go to strategies so we can then tell you the tool to use.
My point is simply your going about it backwards, IMHO. You should say
"This is my strategy to rank, it works, Im doing it manually, but I need a tool to automate it."
Then I or anyone else comes along and says "Oh sure, you can automate that by using Scrapebox to do X and Y and then Z can be done by tool A." etc...
In my experience, people that excel in the long term don't start out asking about automation tools, because an automation tool is only there to scale something you are already doing. If you have no idea or strategy and your just jumping into a tool hoping its going to do something for you that you can't do for yourself now, your going to lose long term and more often then not, in the short term too (these days). In days gone by you could win in the short term by just bombing away with this that or the other tool, I made a lot of money selling such services.
However you need a strategy now. Bill Gates said "Scaling an inefficient system only scales the inefficiency". The point is if you are slightly off even in your strategy and you ramp up with an automation tool your going to be ramping that part thats off.
I guess Im just trying to say that starting from a tool perspective is putting the cart before the horse.
For example, Scrapebox is spectacular. Its an indispensable tool for Internet Marketing, almost no one would argue this.
But a tool is only as good as its master, so I wouldn't even tell you to go buy scrapebox, because maybe you found some great ranking method and scrapebox isn't the best fit. Its not likely that it couldn't play some part of it, but its just an example. The developer would tell you that. I mean I have had people come to me and say I want to do X and then Y and how can I use scrapebox for that, and Im like, well its just not the best tool, there is a free tool over here that does it like httrack or Xenu
I mean I know for a fact that there is some functionality that they did not build into Scrapebox because Xenu can already do it, and its free. Ive read more then once in the scrapebox sales thread where the developer has sent people to Xenu or other free tool.
When I started with scrapebox I was doing manually processes and looking for ways to automate them. When I start with a new tool I still approach it the same way. When I first reverse engineer what its doing, and then how can I do this manually. Then when I understand it in a browser and often a debugger, then I formulate what I want to do. Then I go back to the tool and I can get it to do what I want. I can jump onto a new tool and sort it and be running with it because I approach it from what do I want to do, and THEN how do I get the tool to help.
Ive written the help files/tutorials for either partly or largely for SEO tools when I was given the tool with literally zero instruction. They hand me the exe and I figure it out. Now thats not for everyone, but the Bill Gates approach of sorting whats going on while its small and then automate just flat works.
In an effort to make this long post even longer... lol
to the OP:
You said "Times flies, Google updates, and tools become not so relevant."
Thats somewhat true, simply because if a tool was built for a specific strategy and that strategy no longer is effective, then the tool is no longer effective. Sometimes.
But largely, again IMHO, this is a backwards way of thinking and what is causing the limitation is that your way of thinking is not relevant to the current issue. If you think from, ok how do I do this manually, what does a tool actually do, then you can often find creative uses for tools that you didn't otherwise think of.
I mean don't get me wrong, Ive been where you are, I approached things from a singular perspective. Maybe your not there, and your just looking for input in a creative way and thats fine too. I mean I can't read your mind and don't know your true intent, you might be an expert. But based on your statements Id encourage you to stop and rethink. Start with "Time flies, Google updates, and how I (bit focus on I here) was using tools became not so relevant, so how are people using tools today, what are your strategies. Let me understand so I can see how I can change how I have been using the tools and better understand how to use new tools".
Im sure thats probably what you really meant, but its too easy to slide into a pattern of a certain thinking, and it sounds like your in that pattern and Ive seen too many times that pattern of thinking is a thinking that causes you to lose or at least not win at the level that you could otherwise.
An example - Im using automation tools right now sell tshirts for Amazon Merch, and Im not using them for SEO. Or rather the traffic isn't coming from google or any search engine. If I approached tools from the normal pattern that often runs around on BHW, I wouldn't be able to do what I am doing and what Im about to do.
My 2 cents.
