Best Value for Product in This Space

When looking for an option to assess client sites, I need SEO software that works consistently and without bugs. It's also helpful that it's affordable compared to the other services offering a similar scraping of SEO data from a website. Given that it's a flat annual fee, I find that far superior to the high monthly costs. And as noted, it just works. If you're an SEO professional, there will be no real learning curve to use it.

Pros

The software works exactly how it's intended to work, and the layout is intuitive. Once you've assessed a website, the output of links, metadata, word counts, and headers is all dead simple to understand—and even more, it's dead simple to sort the details as needed.

Cons

I wouldn't say that the interface is either attractive or sophisticated. It's looked exactly the same for many, many years. It's not flashy, but it easily displays the data you need, so it's a small compromise that you don't even really notice.

A crawling tool that every SEO should use

Pros

Screaming Frog is the tool that allows you to evaluate your website as if you were the Google spider, that is, it is a crawler that allows you to evaluate each and every technical component at the SEO level.

Cons

The tool at a general level is incredible, it is important to configure correctly according to the specific need you have, two winners of all the options you have: Connections to Google Analytics apis, Google Search Console and Ahrefs. Information architecture viewer.

It works, mostly

Needed to identify thousands of pages linked across 13 websites. I thought it did that, but later found a lot missed. Not sure if that is the software or my use of it.

Pros

On the surface it seems easy. Point at a domain and you get a list back. So easy to use and get what you need. I think. But see cons...

Cons

I didn't always feel like this was crawling every page. Maybe it is a config issue, because the interface can be confusing. Yearly license fees make it not attractive.

Technical SEO at your fingertips

Screaming Frog helps me quickly identifying website issues that are typically red flags for clients, allowing fast improvement while running triage on future items identified from the site crawl.

Pros

I needed to pull real-time crawls of extensive client sites. The free plan allows 500 URL's, which is a good start for small sites, but the Unlimited access from a paid plan is essential for any mid-size or enterprise sites. Easy data export into CSV for documentation or graphical manipulation. Super simple interface and navigation that isn't bloated with design complexity.

Cons

Some data fields could have include a better description of what they are pulling for values. A simple question-mark adjacent to the field would help, rather than having to hunt down documentation on their site. The user-interface hasn't been updated in ... well, ever. That could be improved, though I like the simple aesthetic, which I'm sure helps the application run quickly.

Best Tool for Crawling; Tech SEO Must-Have

- works exactly as advertised - best crawl tool on the market; multiple crawl setting to test security and site structures - precise reporting and native download of data - Sitemap management tool works well; very useful for larger site management with over 5K pages/types

Pros

- easy to use and configure - reliable output of detailed lists of errors, issues, and optimization ideas - segmented reporting allows experienced users to zero in on specific issues - Sitemap.xml tool is top-notch and solves issues for large site implementations

Cons

- the interface looks dated; learning curve to know where to find different views and data - needs to up updated regularly (not really a con -- users need to adapt) - limited documentation in the tool (need to consult the website for Knowledgebase)