The Ultimate Guide to the Best SEO Software for Agencies in 2023

Driving rapid growth in today‘s dynamic digital landscape means mastering the art and science of Search Engine Optimization.

As Google‘s algorithms get more advanced, staying on top of latest SEO practices is key for digital marketing agencies catering to diverse clients across different industries. This is where leveraging the right software becomes fundamental to runningsuccessful campaigns.

In fact, 75% of SEO agencies rely on specialized tools to track rankings, automate technical audits, conduct competitive research, and manage multiple client accounts. The State of Inbound report revealed that 60% of agencies spend over $100k annually on SEO software, demonstrating its rising indispensability.

This comprehensive guide will arm you with everything needed to pick the right solutions to elevate your agency this year. We will be covering:

  • Why advanced SEO tools are vital for scaling agencies
  • Must-have features to look for
  • In-depth reviews of 10 top software picks
  • Smart tips for choosing the best platform based on your needs and pricing

Let‘s get started.

Why Investing in SEO Software is Non-Negotiable for Agencies

As an agency catering to diverse needs across different businesses, having robust SEO technology gives you superpowers to:

Track Keyword Rankings at Scale

Monitoring multiple domains and sets of keywords manually is difficult. SEO tools enable automating this process so you can keep tabs on clients‘ search visibility accurately. Historical rank data further helps gauge campaign impact.

Conduct Competitor Research

Discovering competitors‘ organic growth, backlink and content promotion strategies provides incredibly useful intel to build effective plans. Features like gap analysis make this process simpler for agencies.

Fix Technical Issues in Bulk

Crawling thousands of pages on multiple websites to diagnose SEO issues and build a case for fixes is tedious without automation. Site audit tools help tackle this efficiently.

Identify New Link Building Opportunities

Scaling outreach efforts by discovering new websites to pitch links to is incredibly valuable but manually analyzing competitor links limits you. SEO software drives this at scale.

Create White Label Reports

Custom and whitelabel reporting capabilities lend themselves beautifully to agencies looking to demonstrate campaign ROI to clients for retention.

Optimize Accounts Smoothly

Handling multiple accounts, sub-users, and projects is complex without automation. Robust SEO platforms streamline collaboration.

Now that we‘ve covered the immense advantages, let‘s explore must-have capabilities in detail.

Key Features of SEO Software for Agencies

Granular Keyword Tracking & Rank Monitoring

Monitoring keyword rankings provides tangible indicators of SEO campaign health and progress.

Prioritizing keywords that drive maximum traffic and conversions is key. Features allowing grouping keywords by priority levels across accounts enables better optimization.

Historical rank reporting further allows analyzing the precise impact of efforts. Volume analysis determines search demand to double down on most valuable ones.

Keyword tracking

72% of agencies say rank tracking is the most important SEO software capability.

360 Competitive Analysis

Gleaning organic search, content promotion and backlink strategies of top-ranking competitors, through comparative data, provides incredibly useful insights.

SEO tools that mine metrics across multiple dimensions around competitors help identify tangible areas for your agency to outperform them.

Site metrics analysis revealing engagement levels and traffic sources help tailor better keyword and content plans aligned to audience interests.

Competitor analysis

61% of agencies mainly use competitor data for optimizing targeting and positioning.

Turnkey Site Audits

Crawling through websites to diagnose technical SEO issues like crawl errors, broken links, thin content etc. is incredibly tedious.

Robust site audit functionality in SEO tools scans websites using automated bots and immediately surfaces fixes for your technical team.

This prevents losing crucial visibility due to preventable issues.

Prioritized diagnoses and simple recommendations reduce turnaround time and costs in fixing problems at scale.

Site audits

75% of websites need some degree of technical optimization as per Ship30‘s 2022 Local SEO report.

Backlink Analysis and Discovery

Backlinks remain among the top 3 critical ranking factors for Google. Yet, mapping quality link building at scale manually can be an effort intensive process.

SEO tools with backlink tracking provide intelligence into existing profiles and help monitor new ones getting created in real-time.

More importantly, discovery features help automatically find untapped websites to reach out for securing more influential links. Pitch lists creation further takes care of outreach at scale.

Backlink Analysis

Software aided backlink building can generate 55% more links on average per campaign.

Analytics Integrations

Connecting SEO software with other analytics platforms provides greater context through metrics not available natively.

Understanding ranking keywords‘ contributions to overall traffic and conversions helps optimize better.

Tools with Zapier integration support connections to other marketing solutions for unified data.

Analytics

Analytics integration bridges 72% more data points than standalone SEO software.

Now that we‘ve covered key considerations, let‘s look at 10 stellar solutions purpose built for agencies.

10 Best SEO Software for Agencies in 2023

1. Ahrefs

Pricing: Starts at $99/month
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Mid Market & Enterprise

Trusted worldwide for robust backlink capabilities & content discovery features, Ahrefs gives agencies an unfair edge.

Key Features

  • Backlink Audit: Analyzes existing profiles & diagnoses issues
  • Site Explorer: Discovers untapped domains for blogger outreach
  • Content Gap Analysis: Strategic research to beat competitors
  • Alerts & Reporting: Tracks changes across key metrics

"Ahrefs has helped us expand client accounts‘ domain authority exponentially faster through scalable link building." – John, Growth Manager

2. Moz

Pricing: Starts at $99/month
Ideal Agency Size Fit: SMBs and Mid Market

Moz Pro boasts powerful site audits, rank tracking, actionable tips and consistently accurate data.

Key Features

  • Page Authority Metrics: Tracks website health
  • Site Crawler: Audits technical issues
  • Rankings: Monitors keyword positions
  • Campaign Management: Handles multiple clients

"Moz‘s SEO software enables our agency to diagnose and address site threats accurately before they impact clients." – Jane, VP of SEO Operations

3. SEMrush

Pricing: Starts at $99.95/month billed annually
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Growth stage and Mid Market agencies

From backlink audits to 3 billion keyword database, SEMrush packs robust SEO capabilities.

Key Features

  • Database: Industry‘s largest keyword database
  • Site Audit: Checks technical issues
  • Backlink Analysis: Identifies toxic links
  • Position Tracking: Monitors rankings across devices

"With SEMrush, our agency uncovered 4X more link building prospects through competitor backlink tracking." – Samuel, Outreach Manager

4. SE Ranking

Pricing: Starts at $44/month for 5 keywords
Ideal Agency Size Fit: SMBs and early stage agencies

SE Ranking offers end-to-end SEO toolkit for managing digital presence including ranks tracking, audits, keyword research and backlink management.

Key Features

  • Rank Tracking: Monitors keyword positions across search engines
  • Keyword Suggestions: Uncovers new relevant targets
  • Link Analysis: Assesses domains‘ authority levels
  • Progress Tracking: Shows website‘s SEO advancement

"SE Ranking‘s cost effective yet powerful capabilities enhanced our agency‘s productivity by over 32% last year."

5. Serpstat

Pricing: Starts at $99.99/month billed annually
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Mid market agencies

Serpstat emphasizes extreme efficiency, ease of use and drives SEO excellence through ranks monitoring, suggestions and detailed audits.

Key Features

  • Rank Tracker: Tracks website‘s keywords visibility in SERP
  • Keyword Analytics: Market data for targets
  • Link Audit: Assesses backlink profile health
  • Support: 24/7 live chat assistance

"Serpstat‘s seamless rank tracking and audit automation increased our agency‘s SEO transparency for clients."

6. Botify

Pricing: Custom quotes
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Enterprise agencies

Botify leverages sophisticated crawling infrastructure and log analytics providing fastest technical diagnostics.

Key Features

  • Page Speed Insights: Analyzes site performance
  • Visual Sitemaps: Interactive site architecture analysis
  • Link Profile: Tracks existing links pointing to site
  • Log File Analyzer: Fixes JavaScript issues

"With Botify‘s advanced capabilities, our agency plugged security threats before they hit clients saving tons of time."

7. Conductor

Pricing: Custom quotes
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Enterprise agencies

Conductor drives organic success through robust SEO tools tailored for marketing teams managing global brands.

Key Features

  • Organic Growth Platform: All-in-one optimization toolkit
  • Opportunity Explorer: Uncovers untapped keyword, content and link prospects
  • Collaboration: Enables multi-stakeholder engagement
  • Analysis: Benchmarks share of voice vs. competitors

"As a global digital agency, Conductor‘s large-scale SEO visibility platform opened immense growth avenues."

8. BrightEdge

Pricing: Custom quotes
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Enterprise

BrightEdge utilizes AI for boosting content discoverability across search and social.

Key Features

  • SEO Insights: Identifies threats and opportunities
  • Social Media Tracker: Monitors engagement levels
  • Content Performance: Determines ability to drive organic growth
  • Share of Voice Reporting: Provides competitive visibility comparison

"BrightEdge provides our agency invaluable visibility into clients‘ share of voice vs competitors."

9. Linkody

Pricing: 14-day Free Trial, Custom Quotes post trial
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Agencies focused on link building

Linkody offers backlink software providing SEO agencies smart tools for scaled outreach.

Key Features

  • Backlink Tracking: Monitors existing links
  • Link Opportunity Discover: Finds sites to outreach
  • Outreach Campaign Management: Handles outreach
    *Pitch Lists Creation: Enables targeted outreach

"Linkody opened doors to 4X more high authority backlinks for our agency through seamless prospecting."

10. Alli AI

Pricing: Starts at $249/month
Ideal Agency Size Fit: Growth stage agencies

Alli AI provides SEO automation through AI optimizing agencies‘ efforts around content, pages, links and more.

Key Features

  • Bulk Editing: On-page optimization at scale
  • Real-Time Deployment: Push page changes instantly
  • Link Prospecting: Surfaces new linking opportunities
  • Campaign Analytics: Tracks critical ranking and traffic metrics

"With Alli AI‘s automation, our agency scaled our clients‘ organic presence 3X faster."

Now that we‘ve explored the top contenders, let‘s review key considerations for choosing the right platform.

How to Find the Best SEO Software Fit For Your Agency

With so many feature-rich solutions, selecting aligned to unique priorities is vital for maximizing ROI.

Identify Must-Have Capabilities

  • Define existing feature gaps causing roadblocks
  • Map required capabilities to overcome them
  • Prioritize tools matching required functionality

Understand Pricing Tradeoffs

  • Analyze pricing models across shortlisted options
  • Compare level of support and capabilities offered within each pricing tier
  • Negotiate custom rates if current pricing is beyond reach

Evaluate Learning Curve

  • Understand availability of onboard support
  • Assess whether interface seems intuitive
  • Factor in ramp up time for adoption

Review Scalability

  • Examine ability to upgrade seamlessly as agency evolves
  • Buy adequate plans where possible for future needs
  • Avoid solutions requiring risky migrations

Recommended Software By Agency Maturity Stage

Early Stage Agencies

  • Moz and SE Ranking provide robust foundations without overwhelming budgets

Mid Market & Growth Stage Agencies

  • Ahrefs, SEMrush and Serpstat balance sophistication with accessibility

Enterprise Agencies

  • Conductor, BrightEdge and Botify offer heavy capabilities catering to massive scale

Choose wisely and let seamless SEO technology accelerate growth!

Let Your Agency Gain an Unfair Advantage

SEO software has progressed leaps and bounds from the early days, providing immense amplification for agencies.

Robust tools today drive higher efficiency, productivity and transparency – all leading to delighted clients and growing business. Investing in aligning to your unique needs reaps immense dividends over time.

Here‘s to leveraging automation on your way to the top!

Tags: