SE Ranking Review: The Best All-Inclusive SEO Tool on the Budget?

Last Updated on 4 months by Christopher Jan Benitez

SE Ranking may not be a sexy choice compared to other tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and others. However, it is arguably the most sensible choice for SEOs looking for the most value for their buck.

SE Ranking covers everything you need from an SEO tool and continues to improve over time. At this rate, this tool can become a dark horse in years to come.

Click the button below to access the SE Ranking free trial!

What is SERanking?

SERanking.com helps you stay on top of search engine results pages (SERPs).

The software takes pride in its accurate keyword rank tracker feature for different search engines.

Users can monitor their sites’ keyword rankings to make sense of their site’s SEO performance.

Through the years, however, the tool has come into its own as a full-suite SEO tool.

It now lets you conduct a competitor analysis to get an overview of the sites in the same vertical as yours.

You can search for their backlinks to find link building opportunities that you can capitalize on.

If you want to focus on new and lost links to your site, SE Ranking lets you do that as well.

But before I further get ahead of myself, let’s start with SE Ranking’s onboarding process, which paves the way for the use of all its features.

SE Ranking Features

Setting up the rank tracker

setting up the rank tracker - se ranking review

Once you’ve signed up for an account at online.seranking.com or https://online.seranking.com/, you need to add a website that you want to optimize for or track.

connecting google analytics

After clicking on “Next,” you will be asked to connect your Google Analytics. It would be best to connect your account here to uncover data from the analytics tool and transfer them to SE Ranking. This feature is perfect for agencies creating SEO reports for clients.

adding keywords on se ranking

Enter the keywords that you want to rank for your site pages.

If you don’t have any ideas on the kind of keywords to include here, you need to find keywords using the software’s Keyword Suggestion tool, which you can do later.

If you can’t move to the next step, if you leave them blank, enter random keywords in the meantime. To proceed to the next step, click on the “Search Engines” tab.

tracking keywords from which search engine

Once you’ve chosen your keywords, you need to choose the search engine that you want to track.

You then need to wait minutes or hours to see your search results. The duration of the search depends on the number of keywords you entered. The more keywords, the longer it will take for SE Ranking to track your search ranking for the keywords you entered.

rank tracking google usa on se ranking

It will take time until SE Ranking finishes tracking the ranking of your site pages for your keywords. Once done, you will see their exact and accurate SERP position for your chosen database.

You can choose the frequency on which the tool tracks your keyword tracking – daily, every three days, and weekly. If you pick rank checking every three days or week, you get at least a 20% discount from your plan.

If you want to see how accurate the tool is when looking for your site page’s organic rankings? Check out SE Ranking location changer by clicking here to see how your webpages rank on different Google databases.

se ranking location changer

se ranking free 14-day trial

Implement an online marketing plan

online marketing plan on se ranking

Once you’ve set up your ranking, SE Ranking offers a quick way for them to get on board with all things SEO!

The online marketing plan is a checklist of things businesses need to do to optimize their site. This feature is perfect for people without any idea how to launch their SEO strategy.

The list covers a wide range of optimization techniques you must perform. Doing them helps you make a site that’s easily found on Google in the long run. This feature makes SE Ranking easier to use compared to other SEO and digital marketing tools.

Conduct keyword research

If you don’t know which keywords to optimize for, you can use the keyword research tools of this  SEO analysis tool.

The goal of your research is to find keywords with relatively high search volume and low competition.

keyword suggestion tool

Enter the keyword in the search bar. You can type the topic or niche of your site.

long tail keyword search

After clicking on “Start Search,” a new window opens. You will see tabs for Similar keywords and Long-tail keywords drawn from your seed keyword, similar to what Long Tail Pro does.

When choosing keywords, you need to find the search volume if you are targeting organic search. The higher the search volume, the easier it is to be found on Google.

Ideally, you need to choose long-tail keywords (at least four words in a keyword phrase). This is because they have lower competition compared to phrases with fewer words.

There are other metrics you can see in the keyword suggestion tool. However, these are only helpful if you are doing Google Adwords.

Note: Use other keyword research software to unearth more ideas and insights.

Perform competitor research

competitor rank tracking

To better understand your site’s SEO performance, you need to look at how your competitors are doing for the same keyword you’re ranking for.

Clicking the Competitors > Top 10 on the menu bar will show you the graph of the top 10 SERP positions for keyword tracking.

From here, you will immediately see sites you need to watch out for if you want to rank on the first page of Google for your target keyword.

top 10 serp positions of competitors

Scrolling the page below will show you the pages of the top 10 results for your keyword. Each competitor page is broken down into its respective Alexa Global Rank, Moz DA, and backlinks.

Among the three tools, the links column is the most important metric. Every factor on the page of your competitors is a byproduct of one’s link building strategy. Therefore, the more high-quality links you generate for your site, the higher it will rank in search results.

Therefore, you must determine the backlinks of your top competitors and how to acquire links from those pages.

backlink research monitoring

Open the pages from the competitor page that you want to keep track of. Then open Tools > Backlink explorer.

Copy and paste the URL of your competitor pages and get their backlinks. An interstitial will open and recommend you to load unique domain links on the page. Click on “Get Backlinks” once done.

backlink list

Once the results are in, you will see the pages that link to specific pages on your site, the anchor text they used, and the Domain Trust.

From here, you can find the best competitor sites that you can acquire backlinks from. Domain Trust is a good indicator of a site’s authority. Filter the results so that the sites with the highest Domain Trust come out on top.

Aside from spying on your competitor’s backlinks, you can also profile the links from your site. For example, track new and lost backlinks over time and see how your backlinks affect your search ranking.

Run an on-page audit

You can use the platform’s SEO audit tool to understand your site’s performance. It shows areas you need to improve to boost your site’s SEO.

Click Tools > On-page SEO audit and click on the “New page audit” button.

Once the results of the site audit are in, you will see the overall score of the audit in a visually appealing manner. The score is determined by the different SEO factors that the audit uses to check your site.

se ranking website audit

The SEO analysis tool shows the SEO errors and warnings you need to correct and improve for a higher score.

As of 2021, the website audit tool underwent major tweaks to the satisfaction of its users. Below are some of the things they improve with it:

  • Speed – The all-new audit feature can scan 1,000 pages in 2 minutes. That makes analyzing your site and clients much more efficient!
  • Comprehensiveness – Check websites across 110 SEO parameters relevant to the site’s performance on Google organic search.
  • Organization – Issues and errors are grouped according to severity. This allows you to focus on critical mistakes on your site that you must address ASAP.
  • Hints – Shows suggestions on how you can fix your site’s problems. This is perfect for non-SEO website owners who want to squeeze the most out of their site!

You can download the audit for reference and make the necessary changes as the report recommends.

This could work as a suitable content writing tool as well. You can use the audit to improve the performance of blog content on organic search by improving its on-page SEO.

There’s also an On-Page SEO Checker aspect that lets you analyze a page for various ranking factors. The higher the score, the more optimized the blog post is, and the higher its chances of ranking on Google for its keyword.

web page seo audit

Use this feature to optimize blog posts and ramp up your blog SEO efforts.

If you want additional ideas on how to get the most organic traffic from your blog, there’s an SE Ranking SEO for blogger article you need to read here.

While the on-page audit is a great way to get an idea of your SEO strategy so far, the best way to use this SEO analysis tool is to generate leads for your site.

Create the widget for the on-page audit tool on your site

If you are running an SEO agency, the lead generator feature of this SEO agency tool is an excellent way to generate leads for your SEO business.

To create the widget, click on Tools > Lead Generator. Then, on the next page, click the Widgets link on the menu.

create a lead gen form for seo audit

Once you have determined the design for your widget, edit the copy of the web form to increase your conversion rate.

Once you’re finished, click on “Save changes” to apply the changes you’ve made.

Next, add the widget’s code to your site or page.

free seo audit widget in practice

Visitors can fill out the form by indicating the URL and keyword so they can also get a copy of the audit for their site. From here, you can close a lead into a customer by exerting your expertise and helping them with their SEO needs.

Create customer SEO report

client seo report

Send your clients reports to keep them updated regarding their site’s SEO progress.

To generate a report using the software, click “Reports” on the menu and the “Generate reports” button.

You can create a customized report by adding the most relevant sections based on the KPIs indicated by the clients.

SE Ranking vs. SEMrush

One of the tools that SE Ranking is often compared to is SEMrush.

The latter is one of the most popular marketing tools in the market—we’re not just talking of SEO tools here.

SEMrush possesses features that provide in-depth insights to supercharge your marketing strategy, from social media to content.

SE Ranking, unfortunately, doesn’t have the same firepower that SEMrush has. But its constant improvements over the years and very affordable pricing compensate for its deficiencies.

To learn more about which tool is the right one for you in this SEMrush vs SERanking battle, click here.

SE Ranking Pricing

The flexible pricing of SE Ranking per month is one of its highlights.

Bigger businesses will enjoy the Essential plan if they want to take their established online presence to the next level.

SEO agencies will have their hands full with the Plus and Enterprise plans. However, if you enjoyed the features of the SEO software ratings, choosing either plan above will help you carry out SEO in the best interests of your customers and leads.

The great thing about its pricing is you can increase the keywords and frequency of the keyword checks.

For example, the Optimum Plan currently tracks 250 keywords daily. If you change the frequency of keyword checks to every three days, the cost goes down to $31.2/month.

se ranking price 2

And if you want its other features and not its keyword ranking, you can decrease the frequency of keyword checks to every week. This will turn your Optimum Plan to $23.4/month!

At the same time, if you want to track more keywords with your Essential Plan, you can choose to track 500 keywords, increasing your monthly costs from $39/month to $54/month.

Finally, you can further customer the subscription price by changing the payment period from monthly to every three months, every six months, every nine months, and years.

FUN FACT: Did you know that SE Ranking LTD (lifetime deal) was available in 2017 from Appsumo for $49? That includes 250 keywords to track, website audit for 25,000 pages, 5,000 backlinks to monitor, white-label + custom domain, and other features! Unfortunately, that was the only time SE Ranking ran an LTD and there are no signs of the platform running another one again.

Regardless of your budget for an SEO tool, you’re sure to find the best deal for you with SE Ranking!

SE Ranking review: Pros and cons

Pros

  • By far the most affordable SEO platform in the market.
  • The lead generator tool is also a great addition to your SEO toolbox as an agency
  • Online marketing plan feature is also a great way to onboard businesses into the complex world of SEO.
  • The reporting feature is killer as is considered one of the better SEO reporting software reviews out there.

Cons

  • SE Ranking doesn’t have enough juice to provide comprehensive data.
  • Doesn’t produce as much data compared to more premium tools.

Pro: By far the most affordable tool in the market

Given the features included in the software, as well as the flexible pricing options, SE Ranking is hard to beat.

The $39/month should be just right for startup agencies to provide their customer manage their SEO needs.

Con: SE Ranking doesn’t have enough juice to provide comprehensive data

As a beginner’s SEO ranking tool, SE Ranking is everything you imagined it to be.

For more seasoned SEO specialists, however, it’s not enough to help people make informed decisions about their sites.

For example, the backlink analysis is dodgy to use and doesn’t provide enough data for individual pages that can help SEO specialists get their hands dirty.

Also, the keyword suggestions are somewhat thin and don’t produce

Pro: Lead generator tool is also a great addition to your SEO toolbox as an agency

It compares favorably to tools like MySiteAuditor and other audit tools. The only downside with SE Ranking’s lead generator is you can only audit a limited number of sites per day. However, unless you’re attracting many signups to your audit, this issue shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Con: There are features that SE Ranking can do without

For example, the ability to schedule social media messages is a nice touch on top of its SEO features.

However, it’s not comprehensive enough as a social media management tool for your website.

It’s best if SE Ranking focuses on refining its SEO features instead of offering features outside its scope of interest.

Pro: Online marketing plan feature is also a great way to onboard businesses into the complex world of SEO

There’s so much you need to do to optimize your site and get in the good graces of Google and others.

SE Ranking cuts the jargon and makes everything much more palatable for businesses to follow and observe SEO.

Pro: SEO reporting feature is killer

You can schedule custom reports to be sent to clients automatically. You can also create pre-structured templates for specific leads to use them every time instead of having to build one from scratch.

If you charge a customer based on how much you increased their ranking for specific keywords, the results-based invoicing also covers that.

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SE Ranking Reviews from Customers

SE Ranking Review: Verdict

  • FEATURES
  • USABILITY
  • DATA
  • VALUE FOR MONEY

Conclusion

Based on this SE Ranking review, the tool has an easy-to-use and intuitive system that allows you to pick up SEO immediately.
The onboarding for its rank tracking feature could use some work, but the Online marketing plan checklist makes up for it. Users should view the checklist first to understand better what they need to do using the software.
However, the biggest draw of this SEO platform is its price.
Whereas most tools charge unrealistic prices to get hands-on data, SE Ranking makes SEO even more accessible through its flexible pricing that’s perfect for all digital professionals, from freelancers to SEO agency owners.
SE Ranking isn’t without its drawback. The rank tracker is strong enough, but it won’t satisfy people who want daily updates for their search rankings. In addition, the backlink analysis could use some work, while the social media feature is a nice but ultimately unnecessary feature of the tool.
Nonetheless, I recommend SE Ranking for beginners and online marketing professionals who need help tracking their keyword search rankings.
4.6/5

se ranking all in 1 seo ad