Dilemma: which SEO tools to stack?

Hi everyone,

After a few years of being out of SEO, I decided to get back into it. Fully white-hat to begin with since I'm entering very easy niches and the main goal is to build some case studies.

For the past days I've been looking at tools, but I can't find 'the' toolset to work with.

What I'm looking for regarding functionality is the following:

- Rank tracker

For obvious reasons I want to track the rankings of my keywords.

- Link management

I'd like to keep track of the links that I build (i.e. keeping track of placement dates and so on).

- Link indexer

A service where I can index my built links.

- Backlink tracker

To find competitor links.

- Social Signals

Implementation of a social signal counter would be highly preferred.

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I have two options in mind:

SEO Powersuite

+ One time payment
+ Every function I'm in need of, I think (?)

- Running on local PC
- No automated updated unless apps are running

Mangools

+ Running in cloud
+ Interface
+ Online report sharing (automated if needed)

- Monthly pricing
- No white label reports

MOZ / Ahrefs

Don't see the benefits any longer with their new pricing models. It's so expensive!

----

Looking forward hearing what you think the right choice for me would be.

What's your priority there? To save costs or to have a tool that has all of it? I personally use different tools for different services. A bundle-type of service that has a lot of tools is usually very expensive.

For competitor and personal backlinks as well as competitor keywords, I use Ahrefs.
For keyword research, I use Google Keyword Planner.
For rank tracking, I use a service that is focuses only on keyword rank tracking. In this past, it was Serpbook.

Dude,
I had between Mangools and Ahrefs
I used straight 2 weeks of free services and wanted to see if i could go with them. IT was pain in the ass to combine all those free seo tools
and finally I bought Ahrefs it's $500 more but Mangools to my opinion lacks a lot of other useful seo tools that ahrefs has.
I think when you wanna really make it nice and comfortable you should go for the best on the market - Ahrefs

i found ahrefs the best. It showed me many more backlinks to my site and my competitors’ sites than all the other combined. So more expenive? Yes, but you get waht you pay for.

I only use ahrefs. After using ahrefs, majestic, moz, and semrush for an extensive period of time, ahrefs was the only one I felt had accurate data.

RankViewer said:

What's your priority there? To save costs or to have a tool that has all of it? I personally use different tools for different services. A bundle-type of service that has a lot of tools is usually very expensive.

For competitor and personal backlinks as well as competitor keywords, I use Ahrefs.
For keyword research, I use Google Keyword Planner.
For rank tracking, I use a service that is focuses only on keyword rank tracking. In this past, it was Serpbook.

Click to expand...

To be honest, saving costs and having all tools in one place. What made you go for services spread across places and which Rank Tracker did you use?

jenyap said:

Dude,
I had between Mangools and Ahrefs
I used straight 2 weeks of free services and wanted to see if i could go with them. IT was pain in the ass to combine all those free seo tools
and finally I bought Ahrefs it's $500 more but Mangools to my opinion lacks a lot of other useful seo tools that ahrefs has.
I think when you wanna really make it nice and comfortable you should go for the best on the market - Ahrefs

Click to expand...

I get your point, but I feel like I'm not going to use 75% of their tools and therefor overpay easily.

bigmansyndrome said:

i found ahrefs the best. It showed me many more backlinks to my and my competitors’ sites than all the other combined. So more expenive? Yes, but you get waht you pay for.

Click to expand...

This I very well understand. However as said to @jenyap I believe that I won't be using many of Ahref's tools and thus overpay for services I won't be using.

JamaicanMoose said:

I only use ahrefs. After using ahrefs, majestic, moz, and semrush for an extensive period of time, ahrefs was the only one I felt had accurate data.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback! Still find it hard to believe Ahrefs gets better info compared to say Mangools. Any additional arguments on this matter?

Ahrefs is a game changer, but isn't cheap.
Semrush is improving too now.

BrandingBaw said:

To be honest, saving costs and having all tools in one place. What made you go for services spread across places and which Rank Tracker did you use?



I get your point, but I feel like I'm not going to use 75% of their tools and therefor overpay easily.



This I very well understand. However as said to @jenyap I believe that I won't be using many of Ahref's tools and thus overpay for services I won't be using.



Thanks for your feedback! Still find it hard to believe Ahrefs gets better info compared to say Mangools. Any additional arguments on this matter?

Click to expand...

I am telling you since you are here on BHW and planning to multiple projects related to SEO and marketing, and you have a choice to go for Ahrefs - go for it

MisterF said:

Ahrefs is a game changer, but isn't cheap.
Semrush is improving too now.

Click to expand...

Care to elaborate?

jenyap said:

I am telling you since you are here on BHW and planning to multiple projects related to SEO and marketing, and you have a choice to go for Ahrefs - go for it

Click to expand...

I get your point, Ahrefs is great. But, the price is steep and above all: I won't be using all of their functions and thus will be paying for things I don't use. That doesn't sit right with me. If only they offered modular pricing...

SEO Powersuite

+ One time payment

They have always some update and you need to pay for the updates or they will stop working. Their sales page is very misleading

danixD said:

SEO Powersuite

+ One time payment

They have always some update and you need to pay for the updates or they will stop working. Their sales page is very misleading

Click to expand...

Wow. Upon closely reading I found https://www.link-assistant.com/prices.html#search-algo-updates.

SEO PowerSuite is no longer an option. What a disgusting trick to mislead people like this.

Ahrefs is the best tool to use to check the keyword competition, it's search volume, backlinks, competitor's backlinks. semrush and moz are good but ahrefs is much better as compared to semrush and moz.

So, people tend to lean towards Ahrefs. Who has expierience with Mangools and is willing to share it?

Anyone has more to add?