RavenTools vs. Searchmetrics Suite

I would say RavenTools is most appropriate if you find you are spending a lot of time logging into different services and generating different reports from each. It's been a big time saver for us because we can compile all that data into one report and even generate a cover page and table of contents. This suite has also been beneficial for our sales team in that they we can provide detailed reports on the problems with their website before we even close the deal with them.

Incentivized

Searchmetrics does a great job when doing optimization of your content and keywords. It is less appropriate when doing off page optimization like backlinks.

Incentivized

• Centralize data points and resources to a single area and platform for easy access and review
• Visually present data to customers without being overwhelming or cumbersome in data overload
• Automate basic reporting and data consolidation to free up time for focusing on more strategic activities or executing desired plans and activities.

Incentivized

• Content optimization, give one or more keywords to Searchmetrics and the webpage you want to rank for those keywords. Searchmetrics will check your page and compare it with other web pages that rank for your given keywords.
• Competitor research, find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for.
• Keyword research, what keywords are you using and which keywords could be new opportunities for your project.

Incentivized

• The analytics in the tool and the Google Analytics dashboard have been known to be out of sync, but this doesn't happen very often.
• The reports occasionally have glitches, such as overlap of different modules.
• The keyword tracking tool does not provide easy tracking of rankings over time.

Incentivized

• A lot of competitor SEO research sites offer suggestions on how to improve SEO ranking or changes that could be made to page title or descriptions, but Searchmetrics is a research only product and does not offer suggestions.
• Not sure if all of their contracts have an auto-renew, but ours did and we missed the 30-day notice to opt out and are now stuck in a new full year contract...
• Adding mobile tracking requires a new contract and is an additional add-on

Incentivized

A year ago or so, Raven abandoned many of their organic rank reporting tools in an attempt to favor some Adwords intelligence. The market rebelled, as did I; in our desperation to find an alternative to Raven, none could be found and a great majority of users didn't want/need Adwords data. Months later, Raven reverted. I'd renew with Raven not just because nothing else cuts it, but because they are both trying to innovate, and listening to customers.

We are currently using an agency and do not need Searchmetrics services at this time. If we do need research metrics in the future, we will probably go with them. The only deterrent is that we got suckered into an additional year with them because we were a few days late on opting out of the auto-renew. Although I was very upset about getting stuck an extra year paying for services I do not need, that is probably the only issue I have with the company, so if you can avoid that, it's a pretty good product.

Incentivized

Certain areas, Social Media scheduling, could stand to undergo a complete overhaul. However, most of the RavenTools interface is easy to use. You will not have any issues getting up and running and should there be an issue, the customer service is really good. They also continue to preform updates that make the usability even better

RavenTools has some of the best Customer Support I have ever received. They are quick to respond and will keep you posted on the progress of your issue. You truly feel as if you are getting customized service. No human is perfect and I have had one situation in which I had to reach out multiple times, but overall I fully trust and approve of their process

As a user of Hootsuite Free for reporting and social media management, RavenTools is more robust and fully functional. RavenTools provides a simpler dashboard and interface. You have more control over reporting, analytics views, and it is more intuitive. The only advantages I would say Hootsuite has is the ability to add apps that connect directly with other software and social media post management. Long story short, there is a reason I choose to put funds behind RavenTools vs. Hootsuite.

We originally selected Searchmetrics because we got more bang for our buck. On the research end, we could do unlimited searches without the cost of the service going up. As for the historical data, we could store more trending data and do deeper research than we could with the competitor. The monthly fee was almost half (if i remember correctly, but it's been a few years) of what what we were paying before with a competitor.

Incentivized

• RavenTools has absolutely improved the reporting we provide our clients. We used to be mashing together dissimilar Excel reports. Comparisons between time periods was difficult to present and graphs had to be created manually with lots of time spent formatting them correctly.
• RavenTools has improved the efficiency with which we put together our reports. This frees us up to do more high-level thinking about recommendations and up-sell opportunities which ultimately leads to more revenue.

• It had a positive impact on the ROI. As the websites rank better the revenue raised.
• Searchmetrics Suite is an expensive product, it is too expensive for small websites.

Incentivized