Building the right tech stack to support your search engine optimization (SEO) workflows can be challenging, as there are so many different tools to choose from. However, when it comes to managing link building campaigns, SEO Spyglass is the software you need to add to your toolkit.
In this article, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of SEO Spyglass. We’ll look at how this tool works and what features it brings to the table. From there, we’ll weigh its pros and cons before briefly reviewing a few alternatives.
What is SEO Spyglass?
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SEO Spyglass is a backlink tool from SEO Powersuite. It is used to conduct backlink audits, providing marketers and website owners with critical information about the domains that link back to theirs.
This tool generates in-depth backlink reports to help track results from backlink-building campaigns. SpyFu also enables you to identify spammy links to disavow. Plus, it lets you compare your website’s backlink profile against your competitor’s backlink profile.
This tool is free to download. It also has a free plan, which is suitable for users who are just getting started. However, paid plans are available for users with more significant needs.
Key features of SEO Spyglass
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SEO Spyglass offers several powerful tools for streamlining backlink-building efforts. These include generating backlink reports, report exports, and data sorting.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these valuable features.
Backlink reports
The flagship feature of SEO Spyglass is the backlink reporting functionality. These backlink reports let you see who is linking to your domain. In addition to the general overview of backlinks to a domain, you can also see anchor text used in backlinks, track referral traffic from backlinks, and more.
Another critical element of the backlink report is the penalty risk assessment. It lets you know which backlinks might be harmful to your site. This information is helpful since it helps you decide which links to disavow if necessary.
What’s nice about these backlink reports is that you can also access your site’s backlink history. You can see when you gained and lost backlinks throughout the history of your domain.
Report exporting
SEO Spyglass also supports report exporting. The reports are white-label, and you can easily customize them to match any brand.
Plus, you can generate and export HTML and PDF reports on Enterprise plans. Paired with the white-labeling capabilities, this is very useful for SEO agencies managing campaigns for several websites.
Advanced data filtering
Spyglass SEO offers advanced data filtering options in its reports. This is very valuable because it enables users to understand better the nature and quality of the sites linking to their domains.
Miscellaneous tools
In addition to the flagship features of the product, such as backlink auditing, SEO Spyglass has a variety of other tools to support your link building efforts. These include:
- Task scheduling for monitoring new backlinks
- Domain strength assessment (similar to domain authority or domain rating)
- Penalty risk assessment of linking domains
- Automatic app updates
Who needs SEO Spyglass?
SEO Spyglass is a valuable tool for marketing professionals, small business owners, bloggers, and website owners looking to improve their SEO and drive more traffic to their sites. It is most useful for people executing a link building campaign or taking inventory of past links built.
Since SEO Spyglass has plans at various price points, it’s accessible regardless of your budget.
SEO Spyglass pricing
SEO Spyglass has three pricing plans: Free, Professional, and Enterprise. Here’s how they compare.
Free
The Free plan from SEO Spyglass is forever free. Users on this plan can check unlimited websites and find 1,000 backlinks. It also enables you to compare the backlink profiles of up to two websites. This plan doesn’t allow users to export data or create reports in either HTML or PDF formats.
Given the confines of this plan, it’s a great starting point for many marketers or SEO professionals. But, for additional features, you might consider the platform’s other plans as we’re going to discuss now.
Professional
The Professional plan costs $129 per year. It allows users to check unlimited websites, find unlimited backlinks, and compare six different websites at once.
Like the Free plan, the Professional plan limits report exporting. You can generate white-label reports, but they live within the platform.
Enterprise
The Enterprise plan costs $259 per month. Users on this plan can check an unlimited number of websites and find unlimited backlinks. On this plan, you can compare up to eleven websites simultaneously.
The Enterprise plan unlocks access to report exporting. You can generate reports in various formats and customize them with the branding of the site the report is for. This is a nice touch if you present the report to your team or client.
This plan is geared toward users who are carrying out advanced link building projects. It’s also great for agencies that manage SEO campaigns for multiple websites.
Pros and cons of SEO Spyglass
Like any tool, SEO Spyglass has benefits and drawbacks. Let’s weigh the pros and cons.
Pros
- The software is feature-rich
- It’s free to get started, and paid plans are relatively inexpensive
- It’s compatible with all of the most popular operating systems
- The software is regularly updated to provide a stellar user experience
- It’s very easy to use
- It’s easy to add other tools from SEO PowerSuite when downloading
Cons
- Some essential features are gated for users on Free and Professional plans
- It requires a download (as opposed to an in-browser tool)
Reviews from SEO Spyglass users
SEO Spyglass has positive reviews from past users, with an average of 4.5-star ratings on G2, Capterra, and Get App.
Here’s what one happy user had to say:
Hundreds of other users remarked on how valuable the entire SEO PowerSuite toolkit is for supporting SEO initiatives.
5 SEO Spyglass alternatives
Although SEO Spyglass is an excellent solution for auditing backlinks, you should consider a few alternatives.
1. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a great starting point for conducting backlink audits. This free resource is a collection of Google’s business tools that help marketers make the most of its search engine.
This tool generates a basic report that includes top-linked pages, top-linked sites, and top-used anchor text. Plus, it helps identify toxic links. Semrush states that toxic links are known as bad links (harmful links), and they go against the search engine guidelines on links, as their main purpose is to boost SEO performance and not to provide value to users.
Search Console is much more basic than SEO Spyfu and the other tools we will cover, but it’s useful for basic audits. It’s also helpful if you don’t have a significant SEO budget since it’s free.
2. Moz
Moz’s Link Explorer is another excellent alternative to SEO Spyglass. This tool showcases useful information about backlinks to your domain, including spam score, page authority, domain authority, follow/nofollow link counts, and more. These are all important for your SEO performance. For example, according to Backlinko, the more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher chance you’ll have for better search engine rankings.
Although it’s not explicitly connected to backlink audits, Moz has a domain analysis tool to assess the strength of your domain. The key difference between the two is that SEO Spyglass uses a scale of zero to ten, and Moz’s domain authority assessment uses a scale of zero to 100.
With a free trial, Moz’s Link Explorer allows users to retrieve ten monthly backlink audits. While these audits only report the top fifty backlinks, it’s a helpful way to get started before deciding if you’d like to upgrade to a paid one. However, even on its paid plans, Moz is relatively budget-friendly, with plans starting as low as $39 per month.
3. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is a multi-purpose SEO tool that offers a Backlink Checker. The Backlink Checker generates a report that includes the referring domain, anchor text, target URL, and type of link (follow or no follow). It also consists of the “Domain Trust” score, equivalent to SEO Spyglass’s Domain Strength analysis.
SE Ranking is a bit different from the other tools we’ve discussed so far because it includes various content marketing tools, including an AI writer and content editor.
The Backlink Checker is free to use. However, paid plans start at $52 per month for users with more needs.
4. Semrush
Semush is a popular marketing tool that offers various features to streamline your SEO efforts, including backlink analysis and auditing. It lets you find crucial information about your site’s backlinks, including referrers, link types, and more.
The Semrush backlink audit tool accesses a database of more than 43 trillion links, currently the largest backlink database available.
Semrush costs $139.95 per month, but you can try it for free for a limited time. Considering the price, this tool is best suited for users who are looking for a platform that provides full-service SEO support.
5. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another popular SEO tool that offers backlink auditing capabilities. The platform’s “Site Explorer” can generate a backlink profile for your website that includes a detailed breakdown of all external links to your domain. The profile includes the referring page, domain rating, domain traffic, linked domains, anchor text, target URL, and more.
Like Semrush, this full-service SEO tool is a bit pricier than the others we’ve covered. It starts at around $125 per month for a “Lite” plan starts at around $125 per month.
SEO Spyglass FAQ
Although we’ve covered a lot of ground regarding SEO Spyglass, you may have some additional questions. Here are some common questions users have when determining whether SEO Spyglass is the right tool for their tech stack.
Will SEO Spyglass automatically secure backlinks for me?
No, SEO Spyglass is meant to help you audit backlinks to your domain. It doesn’t place backlinks for you.
Does SEO Spyglass replace a link building services?
No, SEO Spyglass doesn’t replace the work of a link building service. It’s simply a tool to streamline link building initiatives.
What operating systems is SEO Spyglass compatible with?
SEO Spyglass is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux.
How much does SEO Spyglass cost?
It’s completely free to get started with SEO Spyglass, and for many users, the free plan is sufficient. However, SEO Spyglass offers Professional and Enterprise plans for $129 and $259 per month, respectively. The plan you choose depends on the scale of your backlink-building efforts.
Does the software update regularly?
Yes, the software is updated regularly to improve the user experience and provide the best results continuously.
What other tools does SEO PowerSuite offer?
SEO PowerSuite offers various other tools to support your organic search initiatives, including RankTracker, Website Auditor, and Link Assistant. When you download SEO Spyglass, you can choose which other tools to include in your dashboard.
Although you can purchase SEO PowerSuite individually, it’s worth checking out the price of bundling these tools if you want to use more than one. If you’re using the entire suite, you’ll get a better bang to consolidate them into one subscription.
Wrapping up
SEO Spyglass is a valuable tool for conducting backlink audits. Its plans range from free to an affordable $259 annual subscription, making it accessible to marketers with any budget.
Although SEO Spyglass is a helpful lin -building tool, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. An experienced SEO agency that offers backlink support is a surefire way to ensure the success of your backlinking initiatives.
Looking for a reliable backlink service provider to help you supercharge your SEO initiatives? Look no further. uSERP is here to help. Book a call today to learn more about how we can support you in reaching your link building goals.
