I still remember when I was learning how to ride a bicycle.

My dad bought me a tandem bicycle, so I could learn to ride without having to worry about keeping my balance.

That tandem bike was perfect for little four-year-old me—a beginner’s bicycle for a new rider.

Later, I had to graduate to my own bicycle. But that tandem bike was the perfect fit for me at the time.

So, where’s your business in the journey of SEO?

For small businesses, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the incredible variety and complexity of SEO tools.

Some of these tools also carry very large price tags—obviously not ideal for your small, still growing business.

So, if you’re looking for the tandem bicycle of the SEO world, keep reading.

Today, we’re going to discuss SheerSEO, a fantastic place for your small business to start learning and succeeding at SEO.

Who Is Behind SheerSEO?

SheerSEO was created by software expert Eyal Aldema from Israel. He created the tool back in 2006 as an affordable option for those looking to automate their SEO process.

Knowing that so many businesses are finding SEO an ever more necessary part of business, SheerSEO was created to help keep track of SEO metrics and convert tedious work into a smooth, automated process.

So, what can SheerSEO do for you? Let’s find out.

SheerSEO Review: The Perfect Starter Tool for Small Business SEO

Keep Track of Your Rank

Want to know how you rank? SheerSEO makes it easy to import data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner.

This lets you see an accurate view of what’s going on with your keyword rankings.

Here you’ll see a small graph with your progress on each keyword, as well as any changes. You’ll also see the average search volume for each keyword, and how many impressions and visits your page had in Google’s results page.

Later, SheerSEO also allows you to see historical data for each keyword, giving you insights into how you’ve progressed over time.

While keeping track of your own rank is nice, it’s also good to know how you compare to the competition.

That’s why SheerSEO allows you to track up to 10 competitors’ websites. You can see how you compare on current keywords, or check out a graph that shows how you and your competitors have ranked over time for a certain keyword.

 

Manage Your Backlink Profile

When you enter the backlink section of this tool, the first thing you’ll see is a full list of all your backlinks.

This includes all relevant information and metrics about these incoming links, such as:

• Citation Flow and Trust Flow
• Anchor text
• Target URL
• Follow/No Follow status
• Date of discovery

Another handy metric that’s included is the Citation Flow Boost, which shows you how each particular link boosts your site’s Citation Flow. This metric is calculated based on the Citation Flow of the referring page and the amount of links that page has, allowing you to see the estimated value that each new link brings to your website.

You can also monitor selected backlinks by setting up alerts under the “Backlink Checker” tab for your most valuable backlinks. Once that’s done, you’ll see every time there’s a change with one of them.

This monitoring feature is useful, but personally I’d prefer if all your backlinks were automatically monitored, instead of you having to manually choose which are your most valuable links.

If you’re interested in how you compare to the competition, you can also keep track of the backlinks that your competitors are getting. Just add in their domains and check out who’s linking to them on the “Main Referrers” page.

Get More Backlinks

SheerSEO goes beyond just telling you what backlinks you have, but actually helps you find opportunities to get more!

To start, there’s the Directory Submission section.

All you have to do is fill out a profile for your directory submissions. Then, SheerSEO will help you find both free and paid directories that are relevant to your business. This list includes metrics such as Alexa Rank, Trust Flow, Citation Flow and the price of the directory.

Using the bulk action feature, adding your website to all these directories can be done with just a few clicks.

Another way to get new backlinks is by getting reviewed by bloggers in your field. SheerSEO also helps you do that.

First, fill out your review offers. You can create several different offers for different types of blogs.

Next, check out which blogs appear in your field that could review your product or company.

This list tells you everything you need to know, including Citation Flow, Alexa Rank and submission status. Using the handy little “send” icon, you can easily send off your request for a review to many different blogs at once.

Lastly, SheerSEO also allows you to order paid blog posts from different blogs. Just search for a specific category, see how much a paid blog post will cost, and order it all from the same page.

On-Page Optimization

The people behind SheerSEO know that the path towards better on-page optimization isn’t always clear.

That’s why this tool shows you how your pages are doing, and what you can do to improve them.

First, check out your keyword density. SheerSEO analyzes the words you use on individual pages, and shows you the density and weight of the keywords you’re using.

Next, check out how the pages and posts on your website compare to the top 10 Google results for different keywords.

This content benchmarking shows you exactly which keywords you’re missing out on, and how the competition compares.

An interesting feature of this tool is that, when you click on any given keyword, you’ll see where the top 10 results on Google have used this keyword throughout their page, URL and ALT text.

Lastly, it’s time to get your own customized list of SEO tasks to optimize each page.

This list is sorted by importance, showing you what needs to be done first. When a step hasn’t been completed, you’ll see the action that’s required in order to optimize this page to its maximum potential.

Analyze Your Social Success

Part of SEO is your business’s success on social media. SheerSEO also allows you to check out what’s going on with your brand online.

For now, this feature only allows you to analyze Facebook and Twitter.

In this section, you’ll see a chart with historical data on your social media metrics, and a list of how your pages have all succeeded on social media.

SheerSEO Pricing

The best part about SheerSEO is the price—it starts at just $7 per month.

Let’s face it: There aren’t many other SEO tools that come that cheap.

However, this light package includes very few features. To get all of the features, you’ll need to pay at least $15 per month.

Agency plans start at $25 per month with five domains tracked, and go up to $199 per month with 50 domains tracked.

All in all, this tool is really a steal.

Things We Love and Things We Don’t

Pros

• Excellent starter tool for those new to SEO or small agencies. If you’re a little unsure of your footing, or not quite willing to dish out a lot of money on a more extensive SEO tool, SheerSEO is a great place to get your feet wet for a fraction of what most other SEO tools cost.

• Wide range of features that cover what you need. SheerSEO doesn’t skimp. If you want to get SEO done, you can do it with this tool.

• Actionable tips that help those with less experience in SEO. Getting direct, practical advice about how to improve on-page SEO is a great feature for those who are new to SEO.
  

Cons

• Interface isn’t very user-friendly. With all text against a plain, gray backdrop, this tool could use some color. I also found the tab names to be misleading—for example, the complete list of backlinks is under the “Main Referrers'” tab, while the “Backlink Checker” tab only holds the backlinks you singled out for monitoring.

• Social tracking would be better with more than just two social networks. While this social data is a start, more social networks and more metrics would make this feature a lot more useful.

• Packages include a low number of keywords to track. So, eventually your business will probably grow out of this tool.

Is SheerSEO Right for Your Business?

If you’re a small business who’s just starting to optimize their site for SEO, then SheerSEO could definitely be for you.

This tool is also great for small SEO agencies that are just starting to get their feet wet.

However, this tool won’t work for large-scale operations.

Just like the training wheels on your first bicycle, SheerSEO can guide you through the somewhat overwhelming world of SEO until you understand it fully.

So, start your SEO journey with SheerSEO!

 

Hold Up, We Have Something for You!

CoSpot readers can now receive a free trial of the Monitor Backlinks SEO tool.

If you’re looking for a rank tracker with a little more oomph, you’re going to love Monitor Backlinks.

It offers an excellent keyword rank tracker and backlink management tool, similar to SheerSEO.

You’ll get valuable, actionable insights on your keyword rankings, SEO metrics, backlinks and competitor SEO strategies.

The main difference is perhaps the ease of use—Monitor Backlinks is a great tool for first-timers and anyone who doesn’t like to spend time figuring out the bells and whistles of their new software.

It’s also designed to grow with you accommodate the needs of growing, large-scale and even enterprise-level operations.

Take advantage of the trial period to compare both Monitor Backlinks and SheerSEO, then choose what’s best for you.

Claim your free trial of Monitor Backlinks today!