SEO subscriptions are among the more expensive tools a website owner buys. Their data is also based on estimates, so it pays to test them against what you already know.
Use your own site as the benchmark
Google Search Console shows real clicks, impressions and average positions for your site. Before trialling any SEO tool, export a list of your top queries and pages from Search Console. You will use it to judge the tool's estimates.
Test keyword research
- Pick ten keywords from your Search Console data.
- Look them up in the tool.
- Compare the tool's estimated volume with the impressions you actually receive for queries where you rank near the top.
No tool will match exactly, but the relative order should be sensible. If the tool says a keyword is ten times bigger than another, your impressions should broadly agree.
Test the site audit
Introduce a few known issues on a test page — a missing title, a broken link, a page blocked by robots.txt — and check whether the crawler finds them. Also note how many reported "issues" are not really problems for your site.
Test rank tracking
Track a handful of keywords for a week, and spot-check positions manually in a private browser window for the same location. Remember that results vary by location, device and personalisation.
Check the limits that affect you
SEO tools usually limit:
- projects or websites;
- keywords tracked;
- pages crawled per audit;
- reports or queries per day;
- users per account.
Map these to your real workload. Agencies and multi-site owners hit limits much faster than single-site bloggers.
Don't forget the free options
Google Search Console, a crawler with a free tier, and careful content planning can take a small site a long way. Our free SERP snippet preview and slug generator cover common on-page tasks.
When you are ready to compare paid platforms, start with our SEO tools category.
Tools mentioned in this guide
Semrush
SEO Tools
SEO and marketing platform for keyword research, competitor analysis, site audits, backlinks and rank tracking.
Writesonic
AI Tools
AI platform for drafting articles, marketing copy and SEO-oriented content.
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