I will be doing several reviews of a newly launched SEO software RankSense by Hamlet Batista. To make the most of my reviews I encourage you to download a free trial version and test the options I’ll be describing. That’s very easy: just download the tool and it will guide you through the whole installation process.
Besides making the SEO process much easier by automating and semi-automating it, the software gives you an idea of how this analysis should be properly performed. Today I will be looking into the keyword and competitive research tasks because this is something I’ve been continuously posting on recently.
RankSense performs exhaustive step-by-step analysis starting from keyword selection task:
With it you have three options to choose from (or to combine):
- keyword selection based on your own content;
- keyword selection based on your competitor’s content;
- keyword selection based on a core term;
- keywords selection based on your site current rankings.
What’s more you can also edit advanced options to give more weight either to a term search volume or to its competition volume.
After that comes thorough keywords analysis that includes estimated traffic and competition evaluation.
Once you are ready with your refined keyword list, you can to move onto detailed competition analysis for each of the selected terms:
The software finds your competitors and instantly shows their important characteristics: age, traffic, PageRank/importance, etc for you to choose the most interesting sites for further competitor’s on-site SEO analysis:
This task provides you with the following essential information (for all page elements: text, page URL, page title and meta tags):
- a competitor’s page keyword density;
- a competitor’s page keyword prominence (keyword appearance at the top of the page);
- a competitor’s page keyword weight (keyword bolded, in the heading, etc).
As far as you can see, tons of unique valuable solutions to make your life easier - all in one tool. So go ahead and test it yourself. Also please let me know which features you would like me to describe in more detail next time.
Comments
43 responses so far ↓
Search Engine Optimization Journal on Mar 19, 2008 at 10:44 am
Definitely downloading this software. Although we have our own favorite keyword research software, we are always open to discovering new ones! Will be interesting to see how this one fairs over the others!
Ann Smarty on Mar 19, 2008 at 10:57 am
@Search Engine Optimization Journal: and please let me know your feedback! I’ll need your opinion for my following reviews. Thank you!
Hamlet Batista on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hi Ann,
Thank you very much for reviewing our software! The keyword selection tool also recommends keywords that you are currently ranking but not on the first page of results :-)
Ann Smarty on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:25 am
@Hamlet: thanks! I’ve included this into the option description… My fault - I have been testing it with a brand new site that is not yet ranked at all; so I missed it.
WebSite Design Orange County on Mar 19, 2008 at 2:49 pm
What, no Mac version!
Hamlet Batista on Mar 19, 2008 at 3:10 pm
We promise to work on a mac version in the near future. I think you can run the software under emulation at the moment.
Jaan Kanellis on Mar 19, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Any tool that gives weight to a mythical factor like keyword density or prominence cant work that well.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 19, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Jaan - In reality is not density but a normalized term frequency. Rarity is TF * IDF, also known as term weight. I will have the developers change the text.
Jaan Kanellis on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Well telling people they is some target density or frequency for the page is like telling them they should stuff keywords in their title.
This is a dead theory and really has no point in SEO today. Writing for the search engines is dead. Writing for the people is what works.
Search Engine Optimization on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Will give it a try and let you know our feedback. It is somehow the same as Wordtracker recent release of their new keyword : GTrends Tool
Hamlet Batista on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I partially agree with this.
Writing for people is the most important thing. I personally recommend to write for people first and to write naturally. However, your advice of ignoring search engines is rather naive, IMO.
If it was like you are saying, and I just write for people, my page will be ranking first for all major search engines for the same keywords. If you look around, you will see that in reality that is not the case. Do the same popular search in each one of the top search engines and you will see different results.
Each search engine gives more weight to some things more than another. So, if you want to target any particular search engine, you want to study a single top ranking site and try to learn why the search engine thinks it is so special by looking at the use of the keywords in the on-page profile and the off-page one.
One search engine might love the anchor text, while another love a balance of anchor text and keyword in the title, another the keyword in the URL, etc. We don’t know for sure, but we can try to model whatever a top ranking site is doing and hope to be seen as relevant and important. :-)
Cheers
Hamlet Batista on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Great! Thanks. I didn’t know about that tool. I will check it out. Please note that keyword research and competitive analysis is only a fraction of what our suite can do :-)
Jaan Kanellis on Mar 19, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Hamlet my point is I CAN totally ignore the search engines when I write and expect to rank for the keywords in my content. If I do other basic SEO techniques like title tags, internal architecture, back links, etc. Keyword density is bunk.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 20, 2008 at 12:26 am
Jaan - I am sure you will rank somewhere if the keyword is in the content, but not necessarily where you’d want to rank. My point is that I want CONTROL over where I rank; search engines and positions.
Most sites ranking for non-commercial queries are not doing any SEO effort and they rank, so in reality if you want to rank you only need to write content and attract as many links as you can. Anyone can do that, no need for SEO for that. But most people with commercial interest want to rank for keywords that will make them money and they also want to rank high.
I am not talking about optimal keyword density garbage. I believe that is a myth.
My software gives specific recommendations so that your use of your target keywords matches a top ranking competitor. It is well documented that search engines look at metrics such as term frequency, term weight, proximity, capitalization of words, words in headings, etc. So, if you want to beat a top ranking competitor, you better do better than they are doing.
You prefer to ignore all that and just write content naturally. Great. That’s how I do it too on my blog, but I also don’t try to get links to my blog with other anchor text than my name. I am not trying to SEO my blog, so I get a bunch of random search referrals. I rank #9 for “advanced seo” on Google but nowhere in the rest of the engines. :-)
Doug Heil on Mar 20, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I think people should read “Jaan’s” comments again and again and try to understand why some silly SEO tool is NOT what you need to be successful.
Matter of fact; not even close. Not only are you relying on some tool to tell you how to do research and how to so-called optimize your pages, but you are failing miserably at actually learning what SEO is and means. This is no different than any tools in the past like webposition, etc. None I’ve ever reviewed or tried in eleven years is worth two cents…. not even worth free.
It’s totally amazing why and how these tools are allowed to be promoted virtually everywhere,… and are promoted multiple times, over and over again.
Please read Jaan’s comments again as he/she is the only one so far in this thread who actually gets it.
Sorry; but I have to call it as I see it. If people don’t speak up in this industry, the sheep follow the sheep who follow the sheep, who then follow the sheep.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Doug - Thanks for your comment. I am not surprised to see some of my peers feel threaten by my tool, but I can assure you that I am only trying to automate some of the tedious tasks; not replace your job. :-)
There will be always things that require the creative/human element.
It is funny that you did not take the time to research what the tool does nor did you try to make a single intelligent argument.
Why exactly do you think the tool is not worth your time?
Ann Smarty on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:04 pm
@Doug Heil - it’s funny to hear that from the person who has obviously (judging from your comparison) never tested the functions I was describing. Looking at merely one angle (and please mind this is only one of various other options - I just couldn’t describe all features in one post) and focusing only on one analysis you can’t possibly judge. And please note, I’ve urged the readers multiple times to test the tool to see for themselves - that’s not blind promotion or whatever you might call it.
I would be more than happy to discuss your points once you have any grounds…
Doug Heil on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:16 pm
No grounds? I’ve got plenty of grounds for you Anne.
Tools don’t work. There is a ground for you. :-) That’s an educated opinion from one who has been educated. It’s also an opinion of one who has been around the block a few times.
It’s not promotion? Then what is your point about promoting this tool if it’s not promotion? It surely is not to help a website owner as these types of tools never do that.
Doug Heil on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Further; I am very sorry again, but this blog post/article or whatever actually looks like some kind of paid review.
The post is not using the nofollow tag on any of the many links in it. The post has two links to ‘ranksense’ domain and one link to the owner of ranksense…. TWO different domains are being linked in one single paragraph.
Call me stupid, but I do not think the SEO community can be this naive to think this post is not promotional in nature, and may well be a paid review.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Doug - The beauty of a free trial is that you can determine the usefulness of the tool for yourself :-)
I am sure you will change you mind if you try it.
Ann Smarty on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:39 pm
@Doug Heil: with all due respect, I disagree. A tool is something that I as an SEO can’t do without: don’t you perform kerword research? don’t you check backlinks? don’t you use WP plugins (if you have a blog) that partially automate some SEO steps with a blog? Without tools (and I openly state it here) SEO as I know it is impossible. Like I said multiple times, I encourage people to use tools ’smartly’ - meaning that tools can make life easier and make you see things you would have missed without them (that’s also to your point about promotion). Understanding how a tool works is very important (like understanding how a SE works). Tools do help in organizing and categoring knowledge. So, I am sorry to disagree but that’s my point.
Ann Smarty on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:45 pm
@Doug Heil - and the links don’t use nofollow just because that was not paid for btw (nofollow is used for paid links like I am sure you know) - just like I didn’t use nofollow for any of the tools I’ve reviewed multiple times here :)
Doug Heil on Mar 20, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Actually no Anne; I don’t use any tools for what you speak of. I do use stats tools and log files however. They show a bunch about what keyword phrases are doing well and which ones are not doing well, and they also show long tail possibilities, etc. It’s amazing what you can find and do by simply evaluating your stats and logs.
I guess I don’t see the need to be constantly promoting someone’s tools out there. I think I’ve seen this particular tool promoted by a few different people on “quite a few” different websites.
I think we all get that this tool wants to be seen and heard from out there. :-) I just don’t like it when people try to make you think something is not promotion when it clearly is exactly that.
My take on blog posts like this is that it’s in the very best interest of the owner of the blog to make sure links in it are not being given a boost in the se’s….. unless of course that owner is fully and completely endorsing the product being promoted and trusts it totally.
Loren Baker on Mar 20, 2008 at 5:30 pm
doug, this is not a paid review. would write more but on the plane.
Kevin Althuas on Mar 20, 2008 at 5:57 pm
If someone would develop software like this for the OS X platform… :-)
Colin Rowley on Mar 20, 2008 at 8:33 pm
So, the possibility of developing a web-based version of this FIRST never crossed your mind? Seems like RankSense is second-rank. Next time, think ahead before you invest a pile of money into a piece of software that only a portion of people can use. Either launch it for both PC/Mac platforms, launch it web-based, or don’t launch it at all.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 20, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Colin - RankSense analyzes your traffic log files as part of the process. That is very impractical for a web based tool, plus you have the IP limitations of most APIs the software uses.
You can run the software perfectly on a Mac via emulation. Some customers are running it under Mac and Linux that way.
Supporting Mac is a significant investment. We plan to do that for the next major release.
Ann Smarty on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Sorry, guys, Hamlet’s comments are automatically being removed by the system…
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:05 pm
“Supporting Mac is a significant investment. We plan to do that for the next major release.”
Yeah Hamlet, judging from the comments in this post it sounds like there is a definite demand :)
Loren Baker, Editor on Mar 20, 2008 at 11:15 pm
@ Doug “My take on blog posts like this is that it’s in the very best interest of the owner of the blog to make sure links in it are not being given a boost in the se’s….. unless of course that owner is fully and completely endorsing the product being promoted and trusts it totally.”
Um, Doug, blogs link out. It’s natural and the most organic thing we can do. Blogs have been linking out for years and will always continue to do so. The Internet is built upon this behavior.
Hamlet does a lot of marketing of his product, both paid and in public relations. The more a product is marketed, the more people will use it, the more those users will write about it… Marketing 101.
Annie evidently finds value in RankSense, and felt it worthy of review. This is a blog about search, search marketing, search engines and other technologies in the industry. RankSense falls into that spectrum.
This is not something new at Search Engine Journal to discuss or review different technologies in the industry.
Doug Heil on Mar 21, 2008 at 8:50 am
That’s fine Loren. As long as you don’t care who you link to, linking out is just fine. I’m not talking about Hamlet here, as I don’t know him at all, but blogs like this run a big risk by just linking out to be linking out with no vetting involved.
As far as the tool goes; he stated above that the tool sees if you are ranking for a term or not. The tool…. the users browser has to scour a search engine like Google’s server in order to find out that info. That’s no different from what other tools do as well. I thought major engines did not like that and will block a users IP for doing so? Maybe I’m wrong about that. It’s certainly possible.
I do have someone who did download your tool to try it and will be finding out the info. I just can’t believe some tool will tell an owner, or a SEO how to optimize their pages, especially if based on some kind of keyword density thang or where words are on a page. None of that tells you anything…… my opinion of course. No tool can tell me how to construct my title tags or description tags either…. again, my opinion. Nor can a tool tell me how to structure my navigation and obtain good site architecture… my opinion. It cannot write the content for me either…. my opinion.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 21, 2008 at 9:27 am
Doug - RankSense doesn’t check your rankings by scrapping search engines but by studying your log files. I believe that is completely different from what you see out there :-) You said yourself that you like to mine your logs. RankSense is primarily a log analysis tool. I am glad you finally decided to have somebody check it out.
Regarding your other points … as I said, we are not trying to fully automate SEO. We are trying to simplify things and help avoid the tedious repetitive tasks. Machines can not write the content for your or come up with creative titles or link building ideas. Period.
Doug Heil on Mar 21, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Oh OK; I was under the impression you were trying to automate SEO. I’ve seen many blog posts out there about this tool and got that impression. Just wanted to point out that any tool out there can be something a “new” person to SEO might find kind of useful. It may be able to guide them to the general stuff involved with research and SEO. Just as I did along time ago, most will quickly realize that no tool can do SEO for you. Also; in my opinion, your target market should be new people. Anyone using such a tool as helping them with their own SEO clients is not well schooled or experienced in SEO to begin with and probably needs this type of tool.
And BTW: the person said the install crashed their puter. For right now; I can’t comment on the actual tool unless they get the damn thing installed. This person is a puter geek and server geek so it’s not a browser issue or computer issue either.
Hamlet Batista on Mar 21, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Ok. Please have your guy contact us at support at ranksense.com to diagnose the problem.
Harold Marzan on Mar 21, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Please have your guy contact us at support at ranksense dot com in order to diagnose the problem.
Lynne on Mar 21, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I would love to try your software, but it’s not available for Mac users. I never understand this - Mac users are loyal, they tend to have a higher per-capita income and they are on the internet at a higher percentage than Windows users.
Please, consider a Mac version.
Linda Bustos on Mar 24, 2008 at 11:25 am
I’m disappointed at the major controversy over whether a keyword research tool has value.
Search engine data (number of searches performed by everyone, not just what shows up in your logfiles) is extremely valuable market research. Wouldn’t you like to know if people search more for “flash drives” or “USB drives” if you have an ecommerce site? These are decisions you need to make when writing your title tags etc.
Keyword research can effectively be applied beyond SEO - PPC campaigns, even email subject lines.
I just don’t understand all the hatin’ on it.
Well, except for the Mac thing :)
seo tips on Mar 27, 2008 at 12:43 am
Sounds like a good program, looking forward to the free trial!
Sarosh Elahi on Apr 15, 2008 at 6:59 am
Hi all,
just wanted to know if the tool can generate keyword stats for UK websites as in my opinion word tracker and other tools of the sort have failed to provide comprehenssive search numbers for the UK market.
Hamlet Batista on Apr 15, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Sarosh - Yes. You can specify your target country and language.
Automotive Social Network on May 25, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I will still prefer my own set of research tools. Nowadays more tools are developed for the sake of development and does not help much.
Netcel SEO on Dec 10, 2008 at 11:35 am
I agree - A lot of tool are created to take data from the user rather than provide. Google provides a good suite of tools these days, I normally find they suffice.
Dave Gutterud on Apr 11, 2009 at 10:13 am
This looks more like a paid product endorsement than a review. And the comment stream seems to be here only for Hamlet to shoot down any contradictory view points. I’ve seen enough - I’ll look elsewhere for SEO help.
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