When I first started taking SEO seriously, SE Ranking wasn’t even on my radar.
The only SEO tools I had ever heard about were Ahrefs and Semrush.
But then I stumbled across SE Ranking in a YouTube video.
And boy was I surprised!
SE Ranking is truly an all-in-one SEO tool that is capable of serving small businesses, enterprise customers, and the agency with 30 different websites to manage.
So keep reading to find out which features I like most, the pricing, support, my personal experience with it, and who I think SE Ranking is best suited for.
The SE Ranking TL;DR
First up, I know that you’re short on time and the chances of you reading this whole article are low. So I want you to hear the good stuff quickly so you can make an informed decision.
Here’s what you need to know about SE Ranking:
- SE Ranking is one of my top 3 SEO tools.
- SE Ranking is capable of serving small businesses, SEO experts, and agencies.
- SE Ranking’s ideal customer wants detailed SEO insights, fair pricing, generous usage limits, and social media metrics.
- The SERP tracker is one of the best on the market and I highly recommend it.
- The pricing is great compared to its competitors.
- The user interface is easy to understand, and fast to navigate.
- SE Ranking is featured in multiple articles on my site including Best SERP Tracking Tools, Best White Label SEO Tools, Best Enterprise SEO Tools, and SEO Software for Small Businesses.
SE Ranking features
SE Ranking core features
There are loads of features that make SE Ranking stand out in comparison to Ahrefs, Mangools, or even Semrush. I’d love to go through them all in this article, but that would be overkill. Here are the core features that stand out to me.
- Comes with a mobile app.
- There’s a content marketing product suite to improve your chances of ranking (similar to Surfer SEO).
- Highly intuitive UI/UX makes it easy for non-experts to read the data and reports.
- The most accurate rank tracker in the market (see the comparison here).
- Custom reporting that matches the business needs (i.e. local seo may be a priority).
- You can customize pricing if you need additional features or usage.
- The product suite contains a keyword grouper tool that can make your pages more relevant.
- The white-label product suite is advanced and can be hosted on a subdomain.
- A marketing plan feature that allows you to uncover hidden opportunities to grow your site.
- Enterprise customers can access the API.
- The content editor and AI writing assistant integrate with Google Docs.
- The Essentials Plan comes with 37,500 keyword checks per month and 40,000 website audit pages per account.
My favorite features
There are loads of features SEO tools have, and it would be a nightmare trying to go through every single one of them. But I have found two SE Ranking features that I really liked and you might too.
Index status checker: After writing hundreds of articles for my personal site and not seeing substantial growth, I started to get curious. It took months before I realized some of my core pages were not even indexed. I could’ve easily checked Google Search Console but I wasn’t using it as frequently and it doesn’t give me detailed insights about internal linking and clusters. SE Ranking has a tool designed to give you an overview in less than 10 minutes. Most tools offer this but it’s tucked away somewhere and sometimes only visible once you’ve completed a full website crawl/audit.
Content Editor: More SEO tools seem to be coming out with this feature, however, SE Ranking has a great interface and an accurate output. I actually canceled my Surfer SEO membership as a result of this feature. Especially since it’s directly integrated with my site data the recommendations seem more accurate.
SE Ranking pros and cons
Pros:
- Full suite product so it will cover all of your SEO needs.
- Also includes social media metrics.
- Custom reporting is available if required.
- No credit card is required on the free trial.
- Includes a content editor and content marketing tool (as good as Surfer SEO).
- Great competitor research tools (including historical data and volatility reports).
- Easy to use and an intuitive user interface (some tools have a steep learning curve).
- If you migrate from another SEO tool and purchase the annual plan you’ll get a free data migration.
Cons:
- Unlikely you’ll use every available feature.
- There is a small learning curve since the product suite is so large.
- The basic plan only allows you to track 250 keywords.
- Some of the more advanced features like the keyword grouper and the index checker require an additional fee depending on the plan (less than $0.005 but still annoying to me).
SE Ranking pricing
SE Ranking’s pricing is competitive in comparison to other software. Popular tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush have been too expensive for me given I work with smaller sites and have less advanced use cases. This is why I prefer SE Ranking instead of Ahrefs.
- Essential plan: $49/mo which is best for freelancers or new bloggers. I personally think this plan is all most users will need.
- Pro plan: $109/mo which is best for small agencies or teams.
- Business plan: $239/mo which is best for medium-sized agencies and large sites (i.e. 500k visits/mo).
- Enterprise plan: Requires a customer quote.
- All plans are 20% cheaper if paid annually.
SE Ranking support & documentation
This might be the last thing you consider when trying to find the right SEO tool, but from experience, it’s critical to consider it before signing up with a platform. Despite what companies promise you, the switching costs are real. So it’s important to ensure you have the appropriate support and documentation from day one.
The good news is that SE Ranking is trustworthy and reliable. You have multiple points of support including the following:
- Knowledge base
- Webinars
- SE Ranking Academy
- Blog
- API Documentation
- Support via chat in-app
How SE Ranking stacks up against the competitors
| SEO Software | G2 Review | Capterra Review |
| SE Ranking | 4.8/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Ahrefs | 4.6/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Mangools | 4.6/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Semrush | 4.5/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Moz | 4.4/5 | 4.5 |
| Accuranker | 4.9/5 | 4.8/5 |
| Similarweb | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 |
| Serpstat | 4.6/5 | 4.7/5 |
What I personally don’t like about SE Ranking
Overall, I really do like SE Ranking. I think it’s one of the best SEO tools on the market but it wouldn’t be a true review if I didn’t let you know what I personally don’t like about it. There’s one common theme I’ve found that has annoyed me a little bit.
I do not like how some of the tools require you to tediously adjust the settings for the feature to work properly. For example, the backlink checker should work fine once I connect my domain, there isn’t additional information required. However, it still does not load my backlink profile properly.
Apart from this, the marketing plan will only work if you’ve carefully spent time following each and every step. This includes making a very detailed list of your competitors, terms you want to target, etc. Whilst I see the value here, and it would likely force you into doing the research I find it overkill for an automated report that might not be capable of understanding nuances in your business.
My final thoughts
I wrote this review because I really do love SE Ranking and I wanted to dig into the features more than I typically would. For anyone that doesn’t use their SEO tools every single day for SERP analysis and keyword checks, I think this is perfect. It’s half the price of the other tools on the market and offers equally as much value (in some cases way more). The best part is that you can start a 14-day trial without your credit card.
Try SE Ranking for free below.
Frequently asked questions
Is SE Ranking accurate?
I’ve found SE Ranking to be fairly accurate, however, like all SEO tools, its accuracy is dependent on several factors including how frequently the tool's databases are updated and the algorithms it uses to process data. While SE Ranking can provide beneficial insights, it should be used in conjunction with other tools and strategies for a comprehensive understanding of your SEO performance. Specifically, Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Is SE Ranking better than Ahrefs?
Both of these tools are highly regarded and I think the best-suited tool for you will depend on your use case. I personally prefer the user interface of Ahrefs because it’s the tool I first learned how to navigate, however, the pricing is not appealing. SE Ranking offers far better value for money at the entry-level point.
Do you need Surfer SEO if you sign up for SE Ranking?
This will depend on your requirements, however, I do not think Surfer SEO is necessary with an SE Ranking subscription. The Essentials Plan includes 15 articles and 25,000 words for the AI writer. This comes with three plagiarism checks and a google docs integration. For $49/mo this is insane value, and remember, this is on top of all the other SEO tools included.
