TrustRadius Insights for RavenTools are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Responsive Customer Service: Many users have expressed their satisfaction with RavenTools' customer service team, which has been described as highly responsive and helpful. Reviewers consistently report quick response times and assistance within 24 hours when reaching out for support.
Easy Data Presentation: A significant number of users appreciate how RavenTools presents data in a format that closely resembles Google Analytics. This similarity makes it easier for users to navigate and understand the data, allowing for seamless integration across various platforms.
Simple Setup Process: Users find the setup process in RavenTools to be straightforward and user-friendly. After linking their accounts, they notice that the tool automatically populates relevant data, eliminating the need for manual entry or configuration.
RavenTools Reviews
16 Reviews
Professional, Scientific, and Technical ServicesMarketing & Advertising15Translation & Localization1
RavenTools has helped our team streamline reporting processes, we use RavenTools to track website and SEO metrics as well as have connected the reporting tools to our advertising tactics including, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Ads, and Geofencing ads. This helps us have a centralized report that is sharable with clients to provide monthly insights into progress and successes as it comes to our Marketing and Advertising campaigns.
Pros
Provides easy, seamless reporting with scheduling
Connects with all important marketing/advertising avenues
Easy to use online platform
Cons
Takes a bit to fully understand the RavenTools software interface
Keyword research tool can be hard to use
Likelihood to Recommend
RavenTools really helped us streamline monthly reporting tactics. We pre-created reports that are scheduled to send out monthly, the best part was they were easy to edit and quick to change prior to them sending out monthly. RavenTools would give great feedback in regard to website insights, Google analytics, SEO, and advertising online.
VU
Verified User
Contributor in Marketing (Marketing & Advertising company, 11-50 employees)
RavenTools is used in some way for all of our clients. We most frequently use it to create monthly reports, but also utilize its audit tool to keep track of client website performance.
Pros
This is a great program for reporting to clients. There is easy integration for Adwords, Analytics, and Search Console.
The keyword tracker feature allows us to monitor keyword rankings.
The website audit tool helps us identify site issues in order to resolve them. We typically run this feature once a month for all of our clients.
Cons
The analytics in the tool and the Google Analytics dashboard have been known to be out of sync, but this doesn't happen very often.
The reports occasionally have glitches, such as overlap of different modules.
The keyword tracking tool does not provide easy tracking of rankings over time.
Likelihood to Recommend
RavenTools is particularly useful for developing WYSIWYG reports for clients. These reports are fairly superficial, but typically all you'd need for clients. It may not be appropriate if you need to drill deep into Google Analytics in your reporting.
RavenTools is used in our marketing department as a tool for both our own business and our customers. We primarily use it for website audits for SEO purposes because it makes addressing issues with search easy to fix. We also use it to track who is linking back to our sites.
Pros
The interface is simple and user-friendly.
The reports are intuitive and easy to create.
Summary screens make quick-views each morning a breeze.
Cons
The reports are very amateurish. The graphs are too big and the size can't be changed. Even with the customization they offer (adding your logo) the reports are too basic looking to present to clients. They are also all in black and white, which is a huge issue for us. They're just not impressive enough to show clients.
The keyword ranking system is difficult to understand because they use a different method than some other search ranking monitoring services that are on the market. They aren't very good at explaining the discrepancies between their software and their competitors'.
Customizing the reports is too time consuming.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for small businesses with easy to manage social platforms or those who are looking to improve search ranking. Their in-depth site audit tool is the primary reason we've been a customer for so long.
For big businesses with active social presence on several platforms or those who need to provide impressive reporting, this software would not be the best fit.
VU
Verified User
Director in Marketing (Marketing and Advertising company, 1-10 employees)
RavenTools is used by the digital marketing team to track SEO, keyword performance, and other digital metrics to supplement Google Analytics reporting on our various websites, primarily as an SEO keyword tracking and reporting platform. It isn't used by other departments outside of marketing, although they do receive portions of the reporting.
Pros
Reporting of keyword activity on our various sites
Helping plan new SEO strategies based on existing trends
Evaluating competitors' sites when planning SEO for new pages
Cons
It was difficult when the tool stopped providing keywords used for organic Google searches a few years ago.
When the product we repositioned as a digital marketing platform vs. an SEO platform, use of it as a standalone SEO package became more difficult
Many elements of the program overlap with other reporting and tools we already have from other vendors, and need to be supplemented with additional details before our reports are ready to share internally.
Likelihood to Recommend
RavenTools is not as well suited for a pure SEO tracking platform as it was years ago, but for people with minimal SEO tracking needs it can still function appropriately. It wasn't as useful for our company for SEO so we eventually added Moz.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Marketing (Translation and Localization company, 1001-5000 employees)
RavenTools was being used to manage the online presence of multiple clients looking for SEO optimization and PPC and SMM campaigns. I was the only individual involved in using the product, but the custom reports we were able to generate for clients and sales meetings were key to the company's closing of content strategy contracts.
Pros
Actionable Reporting - the data that was generated such that clients could pick up and understand the information presented to them.
Cons
SERP Tracking - compared to MOZtools, Raven's SERP tracking is a bit more difficult to handle. Having easy to use actionable dashboard charts are something that was sorely needed.
SEO Management - it may not be the bread and butter of the suite, but I feel like Moz does this better. It was why I switched over to Moz.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is better suited to manage a paid search campaign rather than SERP tracking. Maybe I went in expecting something different, but once they lost their ability to do SERP tracking, even though it isn't something that determines the success of your campaign; it made it more difficult to speak to client's concerns because all they care about are SERP rankings.
VU
Verified User
Analyst in Marketing (Marketing and Advertising company, 1-10 employees)
RavenTools was used by our Search Marketing department for keyword research, competitor research, areas of opportunity, and positioning monitoring. It was later abandoned as the search team began looking at different options and eventually moved to another product.
Pros
Cross-competitor research
Rank tracking
Keyword research
Cons
Overall learning curve could be improved
I wouldn't mind seeing webinars or videos on tricks to get to most of the product
Managing keywords was a little goofy with a long list
Likelihood to Recommend
I love how quick it is to get your site set up and integrated with the other tools you're already using and compile all that data in a single place. It makes new set up of new accounts very quick and easy.
RavenTools was used by my organization to monitor keyword ranking and traffic for search engine optimization projects. We used its reporting capabilities to provide white labeled SEO reports to show progress on search engine marketing projects. Reporting on keyword ranking and traffic can be problematic since Google's "not provided" keyword data update, and RavenTools offers an adequate solution to this issue.
Pros
SEO keyword rank tracking
White label reporting capabilities
Aggregating report data from multiple platforms (AdWords, Bing, SEO, etc.)
Cons
More detailed reporting from AdWords
Additional customization options for reports
Smarter SEO site auditing - it can review things using rigid criteria, but doesn't offer the kind of nuanced analysis that a trained SEO analyst can deliver.
Likelihood to Recommend
RavenTools is better for report aggregation than it is for measuring SEO and PPC performance. Much of its capability can be replicated via automated reports in AdWords/Google Analytics, but if you want to save some time in setting that up, RavenTools might be useful for you and your organization.
RavenTools is used everyday by our search marketing department. We've found it an invaluable tool for tracking outreach, contact information, opportunities, log in details, and other important information for specific sites on a client-level basis. In addition RavenTools connects with the Google Search Console, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, and uses Majestic SEO's backlink data in reports. My favorite tool for new clients is the site audit, which renders a simple but powerful report highlighting issues that need to be fixed like semantic data, visibility issues, and duplicate content or title tags. I highly recommend RavenTools for other SEOs and content marketing teams!
Pros
Organizes contact details, outreach, and log in information for websites.
Reports: Audits, analytics, performance.
Easy Integration via browser extensions and API key.
Cons
The chrome extension is very glitchy, please fix.
I would like to be able to compare one client's links to another's and be given a list of sites that ones has a link from but not the other.
Likelihood to Recommend
RavenTools is well suited for online marketers and content marketers. I don't think it is necessarily the best tool for paid search marketers because they do not need all of the link tracking and outreach tools in the software.
I currently work in-house at a large, publicly traded online marketplace. When I used RavenTools, I was at a very small (between 10-15 people) SEO agency. RavenTools was the primary link building tracking, social media monitoring, and reporting tool, as well as a secondary keyword tracking tool. As I generated most of the reporting I was the primary user of the tool, but most folks dipped into it now and then as necessary.
Pros
Reporting—this was by far the thing that RavenTools did best, in my estimation. The reports the tool created looked sharp and authoritative, and were very modular and customizable. This is no small thing when you work in an agency and need to provide reporting to clients.
Link tracking—this was sort of like a proto-Buzzstream, a CRM-esque tool that enabled users to identify link prospects, links acquired, and the like. A nice feature (pretty ubiquitous now, but still valuable) was tracking those links, so if they went away you could act on that.
Keyword research—RavenTools mashed up a few different sources of data—Keyword Planner (then the Keyword Tool), Wordtracker, and SEMRush—which provided a nice multifaceted range of data on keyword targets. This is valuable because none of these tools are individually entirely trustworthy, so it's good to get several options.
Social media monitoring—for our clients that needed this, this was a great tool. It was basically link tracking for Facebook, Twitter, and Google Alerts, but it pulled in the contextual post around the mention and you could assign sentiment to it.
Cons
Depth of toolset—This might have changed in the interim but the level of analysis the tools provided was very input/output—you input data in the tool, you get a report of the data you input. Monitoring was a nice layer, but you can't go wild with filters and entering a data wormhole like you can with seoClarity or BrightEdge.
"Useful" integrations—Raven was very much a tool built around reporting. When I say "useful," I don't mean to imply that the integrations were worthless—they just weren't things you could USE very well. They were more there to easily input into a report. The exception to this was the keyword research toolset.
Use as an enterprise tool—Agency life and in-house life are two very different things. This tool definitely satisfies the needs of the former more than the latter, especially for smaller agencies who are less integrated with their clients.
Likelihood to Recommend
The 6 rating splits the difference between agency and in-house. Agency, I'd give it an 8, especially if you have a lot of low-touch clients—the type that pay you a couple thousand a month for monitoring, reporting, and occasional consultation. If your agency has a more integrated model with regard to its clients, and you're in on calls all the time with different stakeholders in the org and doing work for the client every day, you're definitely bumping up against the limits of what Raven can do for you. And if you're in-house, I'd give this a 4. I can't see what RavenTools would do for you unless your internal customer really likes slick reporting and doesn't demand much from you, or unless SEO is a very small part of your job—in which case you're probably better off paying someone else to pull RavenTools reports for you.
VU
Verified User
Analyst in Marketing (Marketing and Advertising company, 1-10 employees)
RavenTools is being used to monitor the work that our SEO department has done to easily report to the client in an automated way each month. When covering numerous clients you always have to look for a way to manage your time efficiently, and effectively. Besides using the reporting module for each client, we also utilize the functionality of the PPC, Social Media, SEO, content and research functionality based on the clients goals they wish us to direct our attention to.
When researching for keywords, you want to make sure that the process in researching that you have created for yourself is time management friendly, effective, and a solid base to branch off of as you grow your SEO campaign. Creating content for numerous clients can be hectic, but with Raven Tools, it's a built in module that saves you from finding another software solution that will provide you quality content to use across your SEO and Social Media campaigns. As you can see, there are multiple departments within our company that use Raven Tools on a daily basis. The major thing I see Raven Tools addressing is cutting down on micro-tasking, which, if you're unfamiliar with the term, it's the small day to day tasks that can take up a large portion of your day, and add-up over the course of time to a lot of lost hours and days.
Pros
I believe RavenTools has a solid grasp on reporting to clients. With a wizard, templates and step by step help instructions for those who are new, this feature is a must use.
You can search a keyword to find out how competitive it is, as well as how easy or difficult it would be to rank for based on data you provide.
Social Media keyword monitoring is a great tool to use. Since social media websites are one of the most popular places to find your targeted audience, it's crucial you use a tool like this to do it correctly.
Though I'm not a big fan on the direction to paid advertisement participation, I cannot discredit RavenTools for my personal preferences. Their PPC module allows you to connect to your Adwords account and utilize the data with the insights and metrics which is great data to have if you find yourself going this route.
Cons
The one thing I think RavenTools can improve on is implementing Reputation Management functionality into it's application. Since Reputation Management is a crucial aspect companies are looking to have focused on and taken care of effectively, I believe that they can utilize their existing tools to get a great head start with this functionality. In my humble opinion they've had a great product over the course of seven years, and still do, however, keeping up with the marketing trends such as Reputation Management is a key factor in the longevity of their users.
Likelihood to Recommend
Like any marketing software, it's not going to target every single type of business that's out there. One type of business that comes to mind that it wouldn't be the most effective to use with is actors/actresses, and other entertainment careers. The key questions to ask during the selection process I believe is the easiest, and most effective at the same time would be "What online areas of your business are you looking to improve on, and on a scale of 1-10 (1 - being not very much and 10 - being very much), how interested are you in each of the areas that you just stated?"
