Do you also spy time-to-time on your competition? Don’t feel ashamed to admit it. Because unless you are mark with exposure similar to Apple, you kinda have to it.
The reason is simple.
Discovering which KEYWORDS are your competitors using, helps you stand out with your content.
You shouldn’t have any moral issues with this type of spying. It is almost necessary to do it in order to make your break-trough on to the first page of the search engines.
Let’s see if SPYFU is really the best unlimited SEO and PPC keyword research tool as claimed.
Also, I will answer the question if there is a Spyfu free trial.
Name:Â Spyfu
URL:Â www.spyfu.com
Founders:Â Michael Roberts
Price:Â FREE to join (limited access and results)Â
Anual plans are BASIC for $33, PROFFESSIONAL for $58, or TEAM for $199
Overall Rating:Â 4.8 out of 5
What is it?
Firstly, Spyfu free trial does not exist. There is FREE MEMBERSHIP option though, what can serve you for the time you want to discover its functions.
Once again, Spyfu is KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL for extended use. (PPC, SEO).
How to use it ?
While on the Spyfu website, you will see search bar straight away.
There you want to type the website of your COMPETITOR and with matter of seconds, you will see detailed information about their TRAFFIC.
Think on in-depth data showing paid vs organic traffic, organic keywords per post, monthly SEO clicks, top ranked pages and keywords.
Additionally, you will get the results every better keyword research tool provides, such as particular keywords with their search volume and position on Google. The same applies to backlinks. (With the FREE MEMBERSHIP you get to see just the first 5 results in each category though).
Below you see the extended functions Spyfu is providing.
When you get the most relevant results, you can export it for you as a PDF form.
How much does it cost?
As you see below, the pricing is very affordable. The membership differences are rather slight, so I think that with the basic you can go already really far.
Especially if you are small business or if you are starting out.
The features that are the same for all memberships:
- unlimited search results
- unlimited data reports
- unlimited domain overviews
On the other hand features, which differ per membership (more expensive has more options/results) are:
- weekly tracked keyword rankings
- top lists results sales leads & domain contacts
- API rows returned
For who is it for?
Website owners, who want to have a “spy” look on their competition.
Obviously, it serves you as well, if you want to use it as “standard” keyword research tool meaning you want to find the best KEYWORD for your post or your PPC campaign.
Things I like about Spyfu
Free Version aka Spyfu free trial
This allows you to have a look what this service does without spending a cent before.
It is great way to explore it, without risking anything.
It is not per se free trial in real sense, (what could have been maybe better) however, it still allows you to get decent overview what to expect.
Extended Results
I wrote some already. Generally the outcome of your research would include in-depth data related to SEO, PPC and therefore related keyword research.
Additionally, there is backlink outreach and list builder.
Lastly, I am going to mention fantastic stuff like (estimated) CPC (cost per click). That is pure holy grail for advertisers.
Organic and Paid Results
Both categories of people will find it valuable. If you are driving your traffic pure organically you’ll get lots of relevant info starting from SEARCH VOLUME of particular keyword to SERP analysis.
Also, for advertisers there is detailed overview of your competition.
For instance what their PPC campaigns look like( their keywords used, the CPC, etc.)
Things I didn’t like about Spyfu
Just Google Results
Google is undoubtedly the largest search engine, alone in the U.S. it enjoys 70% of the traffic. (In the rest of the world it is even bigger portion).
But, it look to me like Spyfu creators forgot there are other search engines.
Mostly Yahoo and Bing, with their ads being much more affordable and the traffic being more targeted, you can make your business ultra successful purely using Bing for instance.
Inaccurate Results
Not always though, but it does happen.
You see, I use Jaaxy keyword tool, and I know their results are very super close to accurate results.
How I know that? Because I see where I am ranking on google or bing, and under which keyword, so I can see it in reality.
Indeed by comparison of these two results the numbers are different.
Data Could be Overwhelming
On one side you will be bombarded with in-depth outcomes of each search.
On the other hand, it can be a bit overwhelming to find the relevant information. Especially if your traffic is coming organically for instance and you really don’t need to see the PPC and CPC.
Spyfu Alternatives
SEMRush
I like that Spyfu is providing comparison table to the popular SEMRush.
Generally, SEMRush is providing results that are less relevant (needed) and it is more expensive.
They do provide a FREE trial though, which is 7 days.
PROs
free trial
CONs
expensive, a lot irrelevant results
JAAXY
This is my favourite tool. It is more simple than those two above, therefore easier to navigate.
It provides me with all important results I need, such as: search volume, competing websites, estimated traffic for each keyword.
Additionally, I have access to site rank and page analysis (similar to SERP analysis here at Spyfu). Some extra tools are alphabet soup or google trends.
PROs
accurate, covers google, bing, and yahoo
CONs
few information about the competition, do not covers detailed PPC results
Do I recommend Spyfu?
I think that Spyfu can be great tool for you. It provides really in-depth results evenly for organic traffic builders or paid traffic builders.
Despite the fact there is not Spyfu free trial, it is possible to use the service for FREE (with limited access and results).
That is going to save you a lot of headache. If you would find the results useful you can then purchase one of the (affordable) memberships.
There is significant number of data you will deal with once you will use it. If that is what you searching for, then Spyfu is your choice. You can really leverage all the details for your great serving.
On the other hand, if you are small business or starting out, you would be ok with some more simple tool, like Jaaxy for instance.
Hey,
Keyword research is so important when it comes to your online business because it incorporates so much; blogging, YouTube videos, landing pages, website pages etc. Not enough people pay the right amount of attention to keyword research as they should.
Spyfu sounds like it could be a good help to your keyword research, but so does your other recommendation Jaaxy. I will let you know what one I work with and if I need any help then I will get in touch with you, if that is OK?
Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom. Thanks for your comment. You are completely right about the fact that keyword research tool is super important and therefore every website owner or you tuber should pay extra attention when choosing one. Indeed, Jaaxy can serve you more than well if you are small business. When you have bigger exposure and work with. more people it could be handy to switch to one of bigger ones, as Spyfu for instance. Let me know me one you are going to work with. Cheers
Hi,
It looks like a great tool and it is incredibly helpful to see how competitor’s websites are doing with rankings and traffic. Even if the free membership is limited, can you be a free member indefinitely? Is the TEAM membership aimed at companies and bigger businesses?
Hi Cristine. Yes, as far as I am concerned the FREE membership is indefinite. The TEAM membership should suit bigger organisations as it can be access from 5 accounts. The advantages compare to PROFESSIONAL are tiny.
I’ve seen Spyfu but never joined. To be honest, I also use Jaaxy, and feel you get plenty of information with regards keywords and competitor sites. As a premium plus member I have full access to all keywords which is fantastic. SEM Rush is far too expensive for me at this time, but I know it has a lot of good features. Thanks for sharing:)
You use Jaaxy as well? So, you know it is great solution for starters right? Yes SEMRush is way too expensive and not that complex as Spyfu. If you search for more results than Jaaxy provides I would suggest to try Spyfu -;)
In this review of spyfu it provides you with the best data for your organic traffic the free trial is useful to see if this platform will benefit you. After this you have to pay but you will not regret it in this article it explains the details of how it works. We are going to show everyone about this article it will benefit advertisers and marketers.
Cheers,
Mathew&Deloris
Hey guys,
thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment. Yes, indeed the free version is great if you want to discover and get around the platform. Feel free to let other join -;)
Hi Julius, Never heard of SpyFu but sounds like it would be a good little tool to get my head around. I currently use (not enough) SEMrush (Free Version) and UberSuggest (Free Version) I am pretty sure both of these can be used to find this sort of data and it has been in the back of my mind for a while now so yes I think this might be worth a go. I think by comparison I don’t think Jaaxy is really the same kind of tool – it is good for finding low hanging fruit keywords but not really competitor analysis. I think what you say in the beginning is bang on actually people that don’t spy on their competitors are going to be left at the bottom of the pile. Sooner or later I need to do this more so great post and maybe I will give SpyFu a try.
Hi Alex, indeed is Jaaxy more tool for keywords and rankings, but with its search analysis you will get piece of competition (on the first pages of search engines). In terms of precise words, posts, rankings and even traffic is Spyfu the option you should go. If you want to get insights into your competitors, it is wise to switch. Cheers