Disclosure: Some of the links you’ll encounter are affiliate links. If you click and buy something, I’ll get a commission. If you’re reading a review of some precious metals company, please understand that some of the links are affiliate links that help me pay my bills and write about what I love with no extra cost to you. Thank you!
Jump here: SEMrush vs Spyfu in 2023- Overview| Semrush vs. SpyFu: Competitor Analysis| Semrush vs. SpyFu: Keyword Research|SEMrush vs. SpyFu- Pricing Plans and Cost| SEMrush vs Spyfu 2023 FAQ|SEMrush vs Spyfu 2023 (Conclusion)
SEMrush vs SpyFu in 2023…
Which SEO tool is better for doing a thorough competitive analysis?
Below I break down both SEMrush and Spyfu and below you’ll learn which tool will be the right pick for you.
Stay tuned!
Table of Contents
SEMrush vs Spyfu in 2023- Overview
SEMrush
SEMrush is an all-inclusive platform for keyword research, market insights, site audit, SEO and PPC competitor analysis, position tracking, on-page SEO, backlink analytics, and more. With 55+ apps and features within the SEMrush platform, you will find all your marketing needs met within a single dashboard.
SpyFu
Since 2006, SpyFu has helped businesses to design their SEO and PPC strategies.
SpyFu is a marketing tool that helps you monitor and deconstruct your competitors’ strategies so you can outrank the in Google and earn more money.
As you’ll see below the biggest benefit of SpyFu is the tool’s ease of use and usability, but its biggest drawback is that it only shows you data for the US and UK markets. So if yure not targeting those markets, Spy Fu might be useless to you.
Semrush vs. SpyFu: Competitor Analysis
To develop an effective marketing strategy, you must evaluate the entire landscape of what’s happening. By studying your competitors’ marketing efforts, you’ll know what they’re doing right, and where they’re missing the mark, and this in turn will help you succeed faster.
Both Semrush and SpyFu can cover a wealth of data about your competitors. But which one is more feature-packed and gives the most accurate insights?
SEMrush Competitive Analysis
With Semrush, you can identify your paid and organic search competitors and analyze what’s working for them
Here’s the data SEMrush can uncover about your direct SERP competition:
- SEO (Organic Research, Keyword Gap, Backlink Analytics, Backlink Gap);
- Local SEO (Listing Management, Review Management, Position Tracking, Site Audit, On-Page SEO Checker)
- Advertising (Advertising Research, PLA Research, Display Advertising, Keyword Gap, Keyword Magic Tool, Keyword Manager, PPC Keyword Tool)
- Content Marketing (Post Tracking, Topic Research)
- Social Media (Social Media Tracker, Social Media Poster, Social Media Analytics)
- Trends (Traffic Analytics, Market Explorer, EyeOn Monitoring)
Let’s quickly examine a few valuable features of Semrush.
How to View Organic Competitors and Their Top Performing Keywords?
Navigate to: SEO > Competitive Research > Organic Research > Enter domain, subdomain, or URL
Or, to identify your organic competitors, add your domain in the search box.
Organic Research overview report shows your website’s traffic, keywords, top-performing pages, and competitors.
Visit Competitors to see a list of all other sites competing with your site for the same keywords.
Click on any organic competitor to learn about their top-ranking pages, keywords, position changes, and more.
To see your competitor’s top organic keywords, go to Top Organic Keywords and click View all organic keywords. (This list is often too long. Use filters to get the most appropriate ones.)
Click on any keyword to see important keyword metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and competition level. Use this data to strategize your content.
How to View Competitor Backlinks?
Under the SEO menu, scroll to Link Building > Backlink Analytics for an overview of your competitors’ backlinks.
Go to Referring Domains to see competitors’ backlink profiles. Use this data for link building for your website.
Similarly, to decode your paid competitors’ data, navigate to Competitive Research > Domain Overview.
Next, scroll to Advertising Research > Enter your competitor’s domain. This section shows data about the domain’s paid keywords, average monthly paid traffic, and traffic cost.
How to See Your Competitors’ PPC Ad Copies?
To see your competitors’ PPC ad copies, go to Advertising > Advertising Research > Ad Copies.
Use advanced filters to get the most relevant information for your PPC campaign.How to Track Social Media Competitors?
Navigate to: Social Media > Project > Set Up > Social Media Tracker > Add competitor.
Enter your competitor’s brand name or domain in the search box and click ‘Find Profile’ to see all their social media pages. You can add up to 20 brands and track the performance of 100 social media pages, though that seem like it’s too much
Once you’ve added your competitors’ social media pages, click ‘Start tracking companies to get an overview of their social media analytics, audience, posts, engagement, and top content.
Pro-Tip: When you enable social media posting on Semrush, your social media pages automatically get included in the tracker. Scroll down to see your social media performance against your competitors.
Doing Competitive Analysis with SpyFu
To perform a competitive analysis on SpyFu, enter your competitor’s domain in the search box. You’ll get a detail of the domain’s top organic keywords, monthly SEO clicks, backlinks, and top pages.
How to Track Organic and Paid Competitors?
To view organic and paid competitors, navigate to SEO Research > Competitors and type your domain.
Click on any of your competitors’ domains to get an SEO report. This will show the site’s organic keywords, monthly SEO clicks, page 1 keywords, inbound links, and more.
How to See Your Competitors’ Top-Ranking Organic Pages?
View your competitor’s top-ranking pages in organic search by clicking ‘Top Pages’.
Similarly, you can click on any of your paid competitors’ sites to get their PPC report and know the domain’s paid keywords, monthly PPC clicks, monthly PPC budget, and other PPC metrics.
Navigate to ‘Google Ads Advisor’ to view your competitor’s domain recommendations.
How to View Your Competitors’ Google Ads Campaign History?
Visit ‘AdWords History’ to browse your competitor’s Google Ads campaign history. You’ll know their most trusted keywords, estimated monthly clicks for those phrases, and their cost per click.
This is helpful if you want to replicate your competitors’ ad strategies.
Which Tool is Better for Competitive Reach?
Now that you know the main ins and outs of Semrush and SpyFu, what’s the verdict? Based on our gathered information, SpyFu does a decent job and offers many functional capabilities. However, Semrush is the winner if you’re looking for a robust platform with a suite of tools.
Here are a few reasons why Semrush has more of an edge:
- SpyFu has no ‘Brand Monitoring’ and ‘Social Media’ tracking, which are too crucial for competitive research. And your analysis is incomplete if you don’t monitor your competitors’ social media presence and online brand mentions.
- SpyFu’s competitive data looks small compared to the large volume of in-depth data on Semrush.
Semrush vs. SpyFu: Keyword Research
There have been several updates to Google’s algorithm over the years, but keyword research has remained crucial for the success of an SEO campaign.
Not only does researching keywords help you understand user intent, but you’ll also get insight into your target audience’s needs and what they’re looking for online.
(Note: remember to schedule a regular SEO site checkup to ensure you’re using the most relevant keywords.)
Semrush and SpyFu get you tons of keywords to help you craft content that will satisfy inquiries and increase the probability of a higher search ranking.
Let’s analyze both below!
Doing Keyword Research with Semrush
Type your target keyword in the search box.
It’ll open a ‘keyword overview report’. This summarizes all major keyword metrics such as:
- monthly search volume;
- related keywords;
- CPC (Cost Per Click);
- keyword difficulty;
- SERP competition;
- keyword variations;
- etc.
Note: with SEMrush keyword research it’s also possible to extract popular keywords for a selected region or a country. This is extremely valuable if you’re doing local SEO. For example with a self storage marketing agency.
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
For in-depth keyword analysis and finding long-tail keyword ideas for your niche, try SEMrush’s ‘Keyword Magic tool’ by going to SEO > Keyword Research > Keyword Magic Tool.
Type your seed keyword in the search box and this will generate a list of keyword suggestions. Sort them by using keyword groups located at the left.
Sort the groups either by volume or by the number of keywords. Also, you can rule out a group of keywords by clicking the eye icon next to the group.
You’ll also be able to use the ‘Questions’ filter to generate a list of question-based keywords.
Save the keywords used in your SEO or PPC campaigns to Keyword Manager. Keyword Manager collects real-time metrics for your target keywords. So every time you come back, you have fresh insights.
How to Use The Topic Research Tool
Besides traditional keyword research tools, you’ll have Topic Research tools in Semrush’s Content Marketing toolkit. It shows relevant topics, subtopics, questions, and headlines that you can add to your content.
Navigate to: Content Marketing > Topic Research
Select your location, enter your target keyword, and click “Get Content Ideas”.
It’ll display subtopics for your target keywords. Use these headlines or questions to create your new blog posts.
Doing Keyword Research with SpyFu
Type your competitor’s domain in the search box.
Once it shows the overview report, navigate to Top Keywords and click view all organic keywords at the bottom.
Use filters to get the most relevant keywords for your campaign.
For traditional keyword research, visit Keyword Research and enter your keyword(s).
You’ll get a summary of all major keyword metrics like:
- monthly search volume;
- estimated clicks;
- related keywords;
- questions.
How to Use Google Ads Templates?
Finally, you have Google Ads Templates, which are pre-written ad for PPC written by the copywriters over at SpyFu to get your Google Ads campaigns up and running.
Just go to:
PPC Research > Google Ads Templates > Choose a Template
It’ll download all ad templates of that specific industry, and you can easily import them to your Google Ads account.
SEMrush or SpyFu- Which Tool is Better for Keyword Research?
Semrush does exceptionally well here.
It gives you the most apt keywords and analytics for your niche in addition to new keyword ideas and semantically-related long-tail keywords. To top it off, Semrush also does a good job of providing topics and subtopics that meet your target audiences’ needs.
Use them in your blog posts, product page, or PPC to increase their visibility in Google and other search engines.
SpyFu works well for surface-level data if you’re looking for more of an overview than an in-depth analysis. Also, SpyFu’s data is confined to the US and UK, limiting its reporting capabilities if you’re located outside these regions.
Semrush vs. SpyFu: User Interface Ad Usability
Semrush and SpyFu have strengths and weaknesses in UI and have gone through many redevelopments over the years.
If you’re new to using SEO tools, you might find it challenging to navigate through all tabs and attributes of Semrush. Conversely, SpyFu has an easy interface, and its simplicity makes it a beginner-friendly SEO tool.
Consider your business goals and whether scalability is essential. If so, you may eventually outgrow SpyFu.
In this case, Semrush is also the winner.
SEMrush vs. SpyFu- Pricing Plans and Cost
SEMrush Pricing
Here’s the current SEMrush pricing structure:
- SEMrush Pro – $119.95/month (perfect for start-ups);
- SEMrush Guru – $229.95/month (for SMBs and marketing agencies);
- SEMrush Business – $449.95/month (suitable for large businesses.
As you can see the basic Semrush paid plan (SEMrush Pro) starts at $119.95/month, and you ca save up to 17% by switching into annual billing.
| SEMrush Plan | Monthly Price | Yearly Price | Free Trial | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $119.95/mo | $99.95/mo | Yes | 17% discount on yearly pricing |
| Guru | $229.95/mo | $191.62/mo | Yes | 17% discount on yearly pricing |
| Business | $449.95/mo | $374.95/mo | No | perhaps, upon agreement with SEMrush |
| Custom | Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush | Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush | Free trial availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush | Discount availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush |
Pro tip: Because of its higher limits, many marketers take SEMrush Guru plan. But if you’re a beginner, taking a Pro Plan may work for your immediate needs, and you can always upgrade later to SEMrush Guru if needed.
Spyfu Pricing and Cost
The big plus of SpyFu is its free plan, with which you can do unlimited searches.
- Free – $0/month (unlimited searches, ten search results)
- SpyFu Basic – $39/month (unlimited searches, 5k tracked keyword rankings per week)
- SpyFu Professional – $78/month (15k tracked keyword rankings per week +custom reporting )
- SpyFu Team – $299/month (40k tracked keyword rankings)
| Spyfu Plan | Regular Pricing (Monthly) | Yearly Price (Discounted) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Basic | $33/mo | $39/mo |
| Professional | $79 | $58/mo |
SEMrush vs Spyfu 2023 FAQ- Your Questions Answered!
My SEMrush vs Spyfu comparison guide would be incomplete without a thorough FAQ section, agree?
#1- Does Spyfu Offer a Free Trial? What About SEMrush?
Spyfu doesn’t offer free trials of their services? With SEMrush, you can get a 14-day free trial. Click the link you just saw to learn more about it.
#2- Does Spyfu Offer a Lifetime Deal of their Services? What About SEMrush?
#3- Does Spyfu Offer a Refund Guarantee of their Services? What About SEMrush?
Spyfu offers a 30-day refund guarantee of their services. SEMrush offers a 7-day refund guarantee.
Read about SEMrush money-back policy here.
#4- Does Spyfu Offer a Coupon Code? What About SEMrush?
Spyfu currently doesn’t offer any coupon codes. SEMrush coupon code used to exist while they were on Berush affiliate platform, but ever since they moved over to Impact Radius those promo codes are no longer working.
#5- Is There a Cracked Version of Spyfu? What About SEMrush?
There is no cracked version of Spyfu. Don’t fall for that scam. It’s apply to get you to download viruses ad malware don’t your computer.
It’s the same thing with SEMrush, i.e., there is no working downloadable cracked version of SEMrush.
#6- Can I Get Spyfu via Group Buy? What About SEMrush Group Buy?
You can’t and shouldn’t be getting Spyfu vi group buy. These groups only offer short-term access to premium tools and before long their accounts get banned and you lose your money on a non-working tool.
SEMrush group buy is also an ineffective way of getting SEMrush.
#7- Can I Get Spyfu via Spyfu Premium Cookies? What About SEMrush Cookies?
Spyfu premium cookies is an illegitimate and infective way of getting a Spyfu premium account for free. You’ll basically be stealing it and it’s simply not the way to go. Not to mention that premium account cookies expire all the time and to get them you have to join some blogger’s Telegram group where you’d get marketed to all the time.
It’s not worth it.
It’s the same thing with SEMrush, so read my SEMrush premium cookie guide to learn what to do instead.
#8- Dos Spyfu Have an Affiliate Program I Can Join? What about SEMrush?
Spyfu has an affiliate program you can join here.
SEMrush also has an affiliate program you can join. and you should as SEMrush affiliate program is very lucrative.
#9- Dos Spyfu Have a Black Friday Offer This Year I Can Join? What about SEMrush Black Friday Deal?
Spyfu doesn’t offer a Back Friday deal this year. SEMrush does offer Black Friday deals this year.
#10- Does Spyfu Have an Appsumo Deal I Can use? What about SEMrushAppsumo Deals?
Neither Spyfu nor SEMrush offer Appsumo deals.
#11- Does Spyfu Have a Chrome Extension I Can use? What About SEMrush?
Spyfu doesn’t offer a Chrome extension you can use.
SEMrush offers an official SEO extension called SEOquake.
You can use SEOquake with all popular browsers, and it’s free to use.
Read my SEOquake guide next!
#12- Is Ahrefs A Better Alternative than Spyfu or SEMrush?
Similar to SEMrush, Arefs is an all-in-one SEO platform that offers many more capabilities besides just competitor research.
So, Ahrefs is a better alternative than SPyfu if you need to do more than just research your competitor.
It’s the same thing with SEMrush.
Read my SEMrush vs Ahrefs guide next!
#13- Is Google Analytics A Better Alternative than Spyfu or SEMrush?
Google Analytics is not a suitable alternative to Spyfu and SEMrush. Google Analytics is a tool that tells you what going on with your website, but it’s useless at telling you what your competitors are doing to rank so well.
Spyfu and SEMrush can examine your competitors ad that’s their advantage over Google analytics.
Bottom line: use Google Analytics with either Spyfu or SEMrush.
Read my SEMrush vs Google Analytics guide next!
SEMrush vs Spyfu FAQ- all your questions answered! Click To TweetSEMrush vs Spyfu 2023 (Conclusion)
Semrush and SpyFu are both excellent SEO tools that’ll give you key insights, refine your marketing strategy, and have a competitive advantage. Semrush has more of a competitive edge here because of its wide range of features and granular insights.
SpyFu still does an excellent job of giving more high-level overviews and comes with a free plan (if that matters to your business). Whichever option you choose, rest assured that you’ll be in a better position to improve your SEO rankings and stay one step ahead.
Nikola Roza
Nikola Roza is a blogger behind Nikola Roza- SEO for the Poor and Determined. He writes for bloggers who don't have huge marketing budget but still want to succeed. Nikola is passionate about precious metals IRAs and how to invest in gold and silver for a safer financial future. Learn about Nikola here.