I recently restarted my freelance career as a SEO and online marketing extraordinaire! After setting up my business (finding clients, doing presentations, finding an accountant, etc.), I settled down to sourcing my SEO software. Having previously worked with an agency, you use their SEO tools and software for metrics and reporting. Working on my own, I had free reign to choose my own tools for reporting and research. After conducting a formal poll (I asked for suggestions on Twitter), I started looking at which program was going to be easy to set up, operate and maintain without breaking the bank.
One of the suggestions I received was for Advanced Web Ranking. It’s a program I’ve used previously and, according to a quick Google search, a tool loved by SEOs, marketing managers and analytics specialists worldwide.
About Advanced Web Ranking
There are four different licenses you can choose from depending on your needs and the size of your campaigns. After a quick look around, the Enterprise license looked like the one best suited to SEO. It offers a website auditor; keyword difficulty tool; local search results (super important for small businesses); data export capabilities; custom filters; keyword research using Google AdWords, SEMRush and Wordtracker; multiple proxy server capabilities; and custom Google localization.
My Favorite SEO Tools
For the last month I’ve been playing around with the software, setting up my SEO client’s campaigns and getting a feel for how to use the software program (hopefully correctly). While I’m sure I’m far from being a power user, so far I’ve found 5 tools that are my favourites.
Integration with Google Analytics
If you work in SEO, you rely on your Google Analytics results as a barometer of your website’s success. Advanced Web Ranking can be integrated into your campaigns, shortening your workload and reporting duties.
Analyzing Website Rankings Over Time
Another way that SEO specialists base their success is the progress of their website’s rankings over a period of time. Advanced Web Ranking gives you the ability to chart rankings over a specified period of time (which is true of other software) and it also allows you to compare your website’s progress with that of it’s competitors.
Managing Multiple Clients
Almost all SEO consultants work with multiple clients. The Advanced Web Ranking dashboard lets you switch between clients/campaigns easily with their dropdown menus.
Comparison Ranking
It’s not always enough to know where your website ranks but where your competition ranks too. Advanced Web Ranking allows you to keep an eye on your competition’s rankings seamlessly and with minimal effort. Just fill in the info and automatically run the reports alongside your own.
Social Media Marketing Metrics
The newest addition to the SEO arsenal is social – as in social shares, followers, and referral traffic. Although I haven’t had a chance to delve into this part of the software yet, the website states that I will be able to:
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- Track social shares
- Monitor multiple Twitter accounts
- Track Facebook company pages
I’m looking forward to tracking my social accounts with it and see my social ROI.
In the end, the SEO software you choose for research and reporting will be dependent upon the size of your campaign and what you’re comfortable with. For me, the SEO tools in Advanced Web Ranking are outperforming my expectations and giving me all the data I need for my online marketing clients.