Let’s face it. There is a lot of hype and misinformation when it comes to who can do what within search engine optimization. And, ultimately not a lot of transparency. If you’re considering Searchmetrics or BrightEdge as your SEO platform, you owe it to yourself to get all the facts. This side-by-side comparison highlights the differences between both platforms as of March 1, 2017, based on available information and to the best of our knowledge without a warranty as to the accuracy of the displayed information.
- - - A Side-by-Side Comparison - - -
Searchmetrics and BrightEdge are the largest Enterprise SEO and Content Performance platforms globally.
- - - Comparison Chart - - -
BrightEdge | ||
---|---|---|
General | ||
Company founded | 2005 | 2007 |
Awards | 17 | 12 |
Number of users | > 100,000 | 20,000 |
Free accounts | ? | |
Languages in User Interface | English, German, Spanish, French | English, Japanese |
Mobile App for Android and iOS | ? | |
On-demand Research | ||
SEO data | ||
Competitive SEO analysis | ||
SEO Visibility (on a weekly basis) | ? | |
Mobile Visibility (SEO & PPC on a weekly basis) | ? | |
Paid Visibility (on a weekly basis) | ? | |
PPC keyword data | ? | |
PPC competitive analysis | ? | |
Keyword Research | ||
Universal Search data | ||
Content Performance on page level | ? | |
Size of data base | > 250 billion pieces of information regularly updated |
2 Billion pieces of information |
Backlinks on-demand | ? | |
Social links on-demand | ? | |
Countries for on-demand analysis | 28 | 14 |
Historical data | since 2009 | since 2014 |
Update cycle | weekly, monthly | monthly |
Some facts about the Searchmetrics Research Cloud
- Searchmetrics Research Cloud, is a huge data and content repository that provides access to more than 250 billion regularly updated pieces of information like keywords, search terms, social links, backlinks, rich media and content information.
- The Content Performance area of the Research Cloud is able to immediately provide users information on a URL’s SEO Value, a URL’s direct competitors, and what keywords that URL ranks for.
- Searchmetrics provides historical data for up to the last 7 years.
- Searchmetrics allows on-demand access to SEO, PPC, Content, Backlinks and Social Data for over 130 million different domains in 28 countries.
- Searchmetrics SEO Visibility Score is a reliable and accurate indicator of the size of your online presence. It is often quoted by reputable media sources, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Bloomberg News.
Database size (last updated January 06, 2017) | |||
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Believe facts not words. At Searchmetrics, we believe in transparency. We'd like to invite everyone to test our platform and compare it against BrightEdge. We don't want to tell you we have the largest database, we want to prove it. So test the BrightEdge DataCube against the Searchmetrics Research Cloud for yourself. Below is just one example for one country. But actually you can run the test with any domain you want. We don't want to limit your choices. |
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nba.com | Searchmetrics Research Cloud | BrightEdge Data Cube | |
SEO | Visibility | Desktop SEO Visibility: 355,275 | Ask them for Data Cube score |
Total keywords | 162,121 | 138,189 ? | |
Page 1 keywords | 99,311 | 55,892 | |
Mobile SEO | Mobile SEO Visibility: 340,551 | Ask them for their score | |
PPC | Visibility | Desktop Paid Visibility: 954 | No PPC Data available |
Total keywords | 1,216 | ||
#1 keywords | 1,050 | ||
Mobile Paid | Mobile Paid Visibility: 18,291 | ||
Links | ∑ Backlinks total | 59,179,875 | Can they ensure the quality of their external data sources? |
Referring domains total | 75,986 | ||
Social | Social Visibility | 6,810M | No on-demand analysis |
Social Links | 2,310M | ||
105,410 URLs | |||
Google+ | 24,279 URLs | ||
14,449 URLs | |||
4,709 URLs |
BrightEdge | ||
---|---|---|
SEO Project Management | ||
Universal/Blended Search | since 2008 | since 2012 |
Backlinks/Social Links (project based) | ||
Dashboards | ||
Number of elements in report | 100 | 20+ |
ROI Reporting/Forecasting | ||
Task Management | ||
Competitive benchmarks on keyword tag level | ||
Jira Integration | ? | |
Integrations | ||
Web Analytics integrations | ||
Page based traffic integration | ||
Google Search Console Integration | ||
Adobe Experience Manager Integration | ||
Content Creation & Optimization | ||
Guide authors through content creation process | ? | |
Insights into seasonality of demand | ? | |
Understand semantic relationships between topics | ||
Understand search intent | Automatic with Deep Learning insights | ? |
Onpage | ||
Onpage recommendations | 120 | +32 |
Typical # of crawled pages | 10k to 2 million | 5k to 50k |
Visibility Guard | Automatic identification of the most valuable URLs and daily crawling for onpage issues with integrated alarm system | Not available |
Customer Success | ||
Help Center/Online Training | ||
Dedicated Client Success Manager | ||
Training & Certification program | ||
Executive Support & QBRs | ||
API | ||
Public API | api.searchmetrics.com | BrightEdge connect api |
It all began with the release of the free SEO toolset linkvendor.com in May 2005 as part of the diploma thesis of our founder Marcus Tober. Linkvendor evolved quickly to one of the most visited SEO pages and that was the beginning of Searchmetrics. We have always supported transparency and openness. We offer free accounts and release a lot of free information and data. And we plan to continue doing so.
5 things Searchmetrics can do
that BrightEdge CAN'T
#5
Content Performance on Page Level
BrightEdge is unable to deliver the detailed URL-level content performance analysis for webpages that Searchmetrics can. Searchmetrics offers the capability to quickly identify ranking keywords for any URL on-demand, calculate the SEO Value for that URL, and then ultimately determine and assess that URL’s content performance and weaknesses against its competition. With such extensive keyword and URL information, users are able to customize and expand their workflows to unveil their competitor’s content strategies as well as other internal pages that may be cannibalizing traffic reach.
BrightEdge is unable to deliver the detailed URL-level content performance analysis for webpages that Searchmetrics can. Searchmetrics offers the capability to quickly identify ranking keywords for any URL on-demand, calculate the SEO Value for that URL, and then ultimately determine and assess that URL’s content performance and weaknesses against its competition. With such extensive keyword and URL information, users are able to customize and expand their workflows to unveil their competitor’s content strategies as well as other internal pages that may be cannibalizing traffic reach.
#4
Holistic Crawling for Site Structure Optimization
BrightEdge can't crawl your website holistically to identify opportunities to optimize your site structure. Their crawl is limited to a couple ten thousand pages, which is not enough for large enterprise websites. If you have a large website, the most valuable content is often deep within the site structure of your domain. Searchmetrics’ deep crawling capabilities identify problems with specific pages and give better advice based on more crawled pages. In addition, BrightEdge crawls on a weekly basis. Searchmetrics crawls are customizable, so clients can crawl their most important pages daily, and a larger chunk of the site on a weekly basis.
BrightEdge can't crawl your website holistically to identify opportunities to optimize your site structure. Their crawl is limited to a couple ten thousand pages, which is not enough for large enterprise websites. If you have a large website, the most valuable content is often deep within the site structure of your domain. Searchmetrics’ deep crawling capabilities identify problems with specific pages and give better advice based on more crawled pages. In addition, BrightEdge crawls on a weekly basis. Searchmetrics crawls are customizable, so clients can crawl their most important pages daily, and a larger chunk of the site on a weekly basis.
#3
Visibility Guard Protection
BrightEdge doesn’t offer a solution that can automatically identify your most important and most valuable pages, while also crawling them on an hourly basis for onpage errors. Fortunately, Searchmetrics can with its Visibility Guard. The Visibility Guard is an automatic alert system that proactively identifies business-threatening onpage errors before search engines do. Visibility Guard enables our users to take preemptive action before any critical errors are picked up by Google, potentially damaging online presence and ultimately decreasing revenue. With the Visibility Guard, you can maintain your performance and reduce risks due to website updates, technical changes or website re-launches.
BrightEdge doesn’t offer a solution that can automatically identify your most important and most valuable pages, while also crawling them on an hourly basis for onpage errors. Fortunately, Searchmetrics can with its Visibility Guard. The Visibility Guard is an automatic alert system that proactively identifies business-threatening onpage errors before search engines do. Visibility Guard enables our users to take preemptive action before any critical errors are picked up by Google, potentially damaging online presence and ultimately decreasing revenue. With the Visibility Guard, you can maintain your performance and reduce risks due to website updates, technical changes or website re-launches.
#2
PPC Insights for Improved Search Strategies
BrightEdge can’t show PPC insights like campaigns, ad titles, rankings and competitive data to enhance SEO campaigns. PPC works much faster than organic search, and therefore is also a great indicator on how to improve SEO campaigns.
BrightEdge can’t show PPC insights like campaigns, ad titles, rankings and competitive data to enhance SEO campaigns. PPC works much faster than organic search, and therefore is also a great indicator on how to improve SEO campaigns.
#1
Historical Data for Penalty & Google Update Identification
BrightEdge’s DataCube can’t show historical trends for the last couple of years, especially how websites develop their SEO Visibility over time and correlate against Google updates, or show events like re-launches or penalties. Searchmetrics owns and crawls historical data since 2008. You instantly see penalties and Google updates even if they happened years ago.
BrightEdge’s DataCube can’t show historical trends for the last couple of years, especially how websites develop their SEO Visibility over time and correlate against Google updates, or show events like re-launches or penalties. Searchmetrics owns and crawls historical data since 2008. You instantly see penalties and Google updates even if they happened years ago.
Research ehow.com in BrightEdge and compare the results with Searchmetrics.
We know you will be impressed with the accuracy of our SEO Visibility index. Searchmetrics began collecting historical data in 2009.
BrightEdge began collecting historical data in 2014.
We know you will be impressed with the accuracy of our SEO Visibility index. Searchmetrics began collecting historical data in 2009.
BrightEdge began collecting historical data in 2014.


Aidan Beanland, Yahoo Inc

Maxime Rauer, Manager, Natural Search, eBay

Luc Levesque, VP SEO, TripAdvisor

Steven Ray Marshall, Director of Web Marketing, Ring Central

Andrew Heaps, Operations Director, Epiphany Solutions