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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Ahrefs

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AAhrefs is an SEO tool providers. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides a suite of tools including a component for backlink & on-page SEO analysis, online brand mentions tracking, and domain comparison tool for competitor analysis, etc. They refer to themselves as β€œthe largest index of live backlinks.”

    $99

    per month

    BrightLocal

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ABrightLocal is a search engine optimization tool that tracks search rankings, builds citations, and monitors online reviews and stresses local search performance.

    $39

    per month

    Pricing
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Editions & Modules
    Lite
    $99.00
    per month
    Standard
    $179.00
    per month
    Advanced
    $399.00
    per month
    Agency
    $999.00
    per month
    Track Plan
    $39
    per month
    Manage Plan
    $49
    per month
    Grow Plan
    $59
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Detailsβ€”BrightLocal offers custom enterprise plans for businesses with more than 50 locations.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Considered Both Products
    Ahrefs
    Chose Ahrefs
    Actually, I still use SEMRush and BrightLocal. Majestic, though, just didn't compare and certainly didn't have all the features that Ahrefs offers.
    Incentivized
    Chose Ahrefs
    [Semrush and Ahrefs] serve different functions
    Incentivized
    Chose Ahrefs
    The closest competitor to Ahrefs Site Explorer would likely be SEMRush. Ahrefs seems to have a significantly larger amount of data to work with. They claim that their service is powered by the second most active crawler in the world, next to Google.
    Incentivized
    BrightLocal
    Chose BrightLocal
    I like both of these SEO tools. Working in agency it was nice because I had access to both. At the current company I work at I use SpyFu because our focus is on key words more than local SEO. I would be happy to try out BrightLocal again in the future sometime though
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    37 Answers
    86%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    33 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    38 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    SEO
    Comparison of SEO features of Ahrefs and BrightLocal
    Feature
    Ahrefs
    7.8
    71 Ratings
    1% above category average
    BrightLocal
    6.7
    12 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Keyword analysis9.668 Ratings7.08 Ratings
    Backlink management8.569 Ratings4.05 Ratings
    SERP ranking tracking9.467 Ratings7.711 Ratings
    Page grader5.261 Ratings7.52 Ratings
    Competitive analysis9.469 Ratings7.611 Ratings
    Site audit / diagnostics8.064 Ratings9.98 Ratings
    Site recommendations5.660 Ratings6.64 Ratings
    Task management7.032 Ratings3.56 Ratings
    SEO Channels
    Comparison of SEO Channels features of Ahrefs and BrightLocal
    Feature
    Ahrefs
    7.5
    62 Ratings
    1% below category average
    BrightLocal
    8.6
    13 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Local SEO8.450 Ratings8.613 Ratings
    Social SEO6.147 Ratings7.96 Ratings
    Mobile SEO6.046 Ratings10.04 Ratings
    Global SEO9.656 Ratings7.72 Ratings
    SEO Platform & Account Management
    Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Ahrefs and BrightLocal
    Feature
    Ahrefs
    8.9
    59 Ratings
    5% above category average
    BrightLocal
    9.2
    11 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Multi-domain support9.456 Ratings8.59 Ratings
    Integration with web analytics tools8.429 Ratings9.910 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Small Businesses
    Nozzle
    Score10 out of 10
    Nozzle
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Advanced Web Ranking
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Advanced Web Ranking
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Search Console
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Search Console
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.7
    (76 ratings)
    8.6
    (14 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (14 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AhrefsBrightLocal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Ahrefs
    Ahrefs is a must have in the SEO toolbox. It is one of the leading tools in the industry for serious SEO research. It can do almost everything you need on the non-technical side of SEO. In my opinion, it is not great if you need a detailed technical tool that identifies errors and helps with fix suggestions. In that instance, I think there are better tools on the market. But - for content and keyword related tasks, I think it's must have.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    If you are a local business owner or marketing agency catering to local businesses, BrightLocal is a must have software. It has everything you need to track your local marketing efforts and to identify opportunities to make improvements, all at a very reasonable price point. You can also create nice looking reports to send to clients which are simple to create.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Ahrefs
    • I have been using this platform in my organization to develop several SEO tools to help to grow our website much.
    • It has all the main features which include competitor research, keyword research, website audit, content research, and rank tracking.
    • I have been using all these functions in the organization for several purposes. It provides complete information and complete performance details of the SEO.
    • It provides us the detailed keyword research with volume, CPC, and other information.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    • When we use BrightLocal's citation building service, I know that we're getting quality citations done right. Their staff will email you with any questions and always double check the information before creating inaccurate citations.
    • I love that BrightLocal is very quick about making changes when requested. For example, if we can't find a city on the drop-down list, you can chat them and they'll add it. Or if a report is pulling incorrectly, they'll re-run it within a reasonable timeframe.
    • BrightLocal has a lot of different reports that are easy to send to your clients. You can even add them to a web-viewable dashboard so that your client can simply bookmark a link and view their reports when they please.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Ahrefs
    • Can't export graphs: some graphs within the tool would be useful as an export. Unfortunately, exporting them is not an option.
    • No "blanket" reporting options: though Ahrefs is excellent for gathering and exporting intel/data, there are no blanket SEO reports provided. Exporting data is great, but simple report exporting would make it better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    • Up and down rankings were not always right on with the local search, but only off by one or two spots
    • It felt like it was only used for local SEO, and I know there are more features, just never got to them.
    • Didn't seem useful for every single client in the way Ahrefs or Spyfu did
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Ahrefs
    Their index is too vast to ignore when looking at a complete backlink profile. We find links in Ahrefs that do not appear in any other link detection tool. For this reason, it's a must for our agency to use for the foreseeable future. Plus, it's very affordable considering the data you get
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Ahrefs
    Ahrefs is very easy to use - you can jump right in and understand most of the assets. Overall, the dashboard snapshots give a very good picture of inbound link activity. For deeper analysis of historical trends, the system can become cumbersome, making it hard to do full work without exporting and reformatting the data.
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Ahrefs
    Ahrefs has always been responsive when there's been a technical issue with the site. There are usually very little problems, but if there are, they announce it on their social media accounts which keeps its customers informed. Email support is prompt and the customer service people are very helpful, knowledgable and friendly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    Although their customer support has always contacted me, they have not always been helpful. Many times I've had reports or information disappear with them telling me they had no record of it, even when I had reports that the information was in there. There are times when their system did have bugs and the support was able to help me there. Overall, the support staff is there but they cannot always do much and need to wait for their development team to get back to them which often takes a long time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Ahrefs
    Majestic and Ahrefs are really close in terms of tool. Ahrefs does offer competitive comparison and they do have a more up to date data base. Majestic however has a more comprehensive historical view of sites which is also extremely valuable. Majestic also offers a link velocity chart that is missing on Ahrefs. Ahrefs makes up for this with their links gained/lost calendar which Majestic is missing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    Thryv reached out to me about 3 weeks before signing up with BrightLocal. While all of their features were impressive, there were only about 3 features that I would have used. Thryv wanted $200 per month for their service, which I found to be way overpriced for what I was wanting to use it for. I selected BrightLocal because it had the features I wanted at a lower price and then add ons. After using BrightLocal for a week and speaking with Becki, a customer service executive, I have discovered more features that I would use on BrightLocal than on Thryv.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Ahrefs
    • Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped with any comprehensive backlink analysis and backlink profile management we've had.
    • Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped tremendously in getting manual penalties lifted for certain sites.
    • Aherfs Site Explorer has been helpful in identifying 404 error pages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    BrightLocal
    • BrightLocal's ranking reports have helped us better serve our clients' SEO needs, especially local SEO.
    • Reporting is nicely accomplished with their online client report dashboards.
    • Negative: some of their software defects are glaringly obvious take forever to fix, creating a number of awkward moments when we talk our clients through their reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Ahrefs Screenshots

    Screenshot of Analyze backlinks and keywords of any website to find opportunities for your organic traffic growthScreenshot of Check your website for 100+ pre-defined SEO issuesScreenshot of Get relevant keyword ideas supported by accurate SEO metricsScreenshot of Find the most shared and linked-to content on any topicScreenshot of Track your and your competitors' search rankings

    BrightLocal Screenshots

    Screenshot of Location SummaryScreenshot of Local Search Rank CheckerScreenshot of Local Search GridScreenshot of Local Search AuditScreenshot of Google My Business AuditScreenshot of Citation Tracker