Google Trends vs. SpyFu

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Trends
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Trends is a search engine optimization software solution offered by .N/A
SpyFu
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
SpyFu is the eponymous SEO and PPC research platform from the company in Scottsdale, Arizona focused on "spying" on competitors, or basically using their behaviors to refine your own through keyword and content analysis, and backlink poaching. This positional search engine optimization and paid listings management platform touts the ability to lower costs and raise rankings via a Kombat-oriented approach... basically a cute way of saying "it makes comparisons" of how well your site does in niche…
$39
per month
Pricing
Google TrendsSpyFu
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Basic
$39
per month
Professional
$79
per month
Team
$299
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google TrendsSpyFu
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google TrendsSpyFu
Features
Google TrendsSpyFu
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Google Trends
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
SpyFu
6.6
Ratings
16% below category average
Keyword analysis10.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Backlink management4.60 Ratings6.00 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking10.00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Page grader10.00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Competitive analysis9.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics7.00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Site recommendations10.00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Task management6.20 Ratings6.10 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Google Trends
10.0
Ratings
27% above category average
SpyFu
5.8
Ratings
27% below category average
Local SEO10.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Social SEO10.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Mobile SEO10.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Global SEO10.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Google Trends
3.7
Ratings
78% below category average
SpyFu
7.2
Ratings
16% below category average
Multi-domain support5.80 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools1.60 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google TrendsSpyFu
Small Businesses
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Search Console
Google Search Console
Score 9.0 out of 10
Google Search Console
Google Search Console
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google TrendsSpyFu
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.4
(0 ratings)
7.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google TrendsSpyFu
Likelihood to Recommend
Google Trends is appropriate in so many scenarios, but I definitely suggest it for content ideas and inspiration. Many people utilize it after already writing their content to add in popular phrases or words, but that is not enough. The platform should be used prior and during the content creation process so that you can use the data to see what your audience/customers are interested in at the moment and create the content based on their interests. It can help, but I find it much less appropriate to use it after your article, eBook, etc. is already written. Maximize on this useful tool by ensuring the topic you're writing about is relevant in the first place before simply adding in popular keywords. An article that's written based on what's trending will be far more successful than an article that solely has popular phrases added to it.
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If you have a Google ads PPC campaign and then I would say this is more or less essential if you want to know what your competitors are doing. You can get very useful data out of it even if you subscribe for one month. And the pricing is very reasonable. Even if you don't use Google ads, I would say this is still useful for your SEO/SMO team since it gives you a great idea of what keywords and traffic your competitors are working on.
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Pros
  • Allows you to search keywords and phrases in certain locations to see search volumes, this is huge and helps us be successful with our Google Ad campaigns.
  • Shows us insights into trending topics which allows us to stay in the know and apply any relevant trends to current clients.
  • Year in Search and Trending Topics provides us great inspiration for our ads
  • Being able to search in certain locations gives us a ton of help when setting up campaigns and doing our keyword research for clients.
  • Being able to compare multiple keywords or search terms side by side is extremely helpful.
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  • Keeping a tab on competitors organic and inorganic activities
  • Helps identify where the competitor is getting the backlinks from.
  • Identify competitors top content and the keywords that's bringing them traffic
  • Get proper information of their current and past ADS run on Google.
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Cons
  • Top charts: would be nice to include top charts for the current month.
  • Explainers: would be good to have some information buttons next to graphics and charts to show in depth what criteria go into making those charts.
  • More images: would be interesting to see trending image searches.
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  • As with any database, their keyword database has limits, so the data returned is relative to their database, not necessarily the full picture.
  • When SpyFu database or scoring chances, the data provided can spike, thus causing confusion among stakeholders, we're reporting to.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Love this tool but would like insights from all 3 major search engines not just Google. I would also like deeper understanding of the placement for local businesses on Google Places/Maps. Insight into mobile search rankings and best landing pages per industry would also help :) Overall, SpyFu is a necessity for serious search marketers.
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Usability
Google Trends is very easy to use. you just search for a certain keyword or phrase, and it tells you how often that keyword or phrase is searched, where in the world it is searched, and over the last decade, how often it is per year.
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SpyFu is an easy to use tool, and has a self -explanatroy dashborad to generate the data needed to provide insights into any B2B SEO and PPC campaign. It is not comprehensive, but it certainly provides good enough insight to make it a valuable part of any agency tool stack
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Support Rating
I haven't needed to use any support for Google Trends. However, I've used Google's support in general and it's a hit or miss. Usually, there's a long wait or they don't understand my problem. They are the only ones that can help, so sometimes I feel stuck. They prioritize paying customers for sure.
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SpyFu comes with a link to tutorial videos. I recommend you watch them. The software is capable of so much you really need to watch the videos and learn how to get the most out of it. When I have a question 90% of the time it's there. When it isn't, and I reach out to them, support is always quick and concise.
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Alternatives Considered
I've used SEMRush, while more of a SEO Manager than keyword trend analyzer, it does have that option as it does relate to SEO management, but between the two, its nice to have the option in SEMRush, but Google Trends is better at doing the trend analyzing than SEMRush is.
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I was surprised to find I preferred Semrush when it comes to keyword research. SpyFu is great (and less expensive than Semrush), but I felt the data Semrush provided was vaster than SpyFu. I was able to get more competitors spending insights in Semrush than SpyFu. Overall, I liked the ability to use both in our keyword research for both paid and organic marketing.
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Return on Investment
  • I can't really give a measurement of how Google Trends has directly contributed.
  • Since Google Trends is free I would have to say that it is all positive ROI.
  • I can say that Google Trends definitely makes it easier to accomplish my business objectives of delivering the most relevant and insightful advice to my clients regarding their SEO, Social Media Publishing, and Online Advertising.
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  • Helping us track our ranking.
  • It helps solve the problem of ambiguity when it comes to Google Ads. It makes the strategy more clear.
  • You can sift through lots of different online analytics to find the information, but it takes way too long. SpyFu has it all in one place!
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