I owe much of my success to research.

I was never afraid to roll up my sleeves and spend countless hours studying what my competitors were doing to dominate a certain blog niche.

SpyFu has enabled me to save time on competitor research and allowed me to use my time and energy more efficiently.

I was immediately taken aback by the amount of information I was getting from SpyFu and how easy it was to find keywords for the content I wanted to share on my blog.

I liked its intuitive interface, which allowed me to switch between domain overviews and keyword research results in a single click.

The best part is that SpyFu’s Basic and Professional plans aren’t expensive. Thus, making them a great option for experienced bloggers, e-Commerce retailers, and companies that don’t have high marketing budgets.

Despite all the platform’s advantages, I don’t think it is an ideal option for novice marketers because the wealth of information it offers can be overwhelming.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through SpyFu’s core functionalities and use my experience to help you decide if this search analytics platform is the right solution for you. So, let’s get started.

What is SpyFu?

Developing a blog without SEM and SEO strategy is like running around in the dark, hoping you’ll hit a light switch.

A platform like SpyFu will help you hit that light switch without wasting time running around in the dark trying to guess which keywords are the best for the topics you’d like to cover or how to improve your website’s position in the SERP rankings.

Aside from doing keyword research, SpyFu lets you research domains, conduct SERP analysis, or conduct PPC (Pay Per Click) research for specific domains.

Its tools are similar to those you can find at SEMRush or KWFinder, with the only difference being that SpyFu doesn’t have a real-time tracking engine.

Its data isn’t updated daily, so metrics like search volume, the number of clicks, or cost per click serve primarily as trend indicators.

The platform is constantly evolving, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect updates that would enable its web scraping technology to publish the data it gathers instantly.

Be it as it may, SpyFu grants users insight into vital metrics that allow them to devise an SEO strategy or discover keywords with high numbers of monthly clicks.

Here are some of the most important information you can acquire with SpyFu:

Organic keywords for a specific domain
An overview of the domain’s Google Ads history
Monthly estimate of SEO click value
Most valuable keywords for a domain
Domain’s total number of paid keywords
Monthly search volume for a keyword
Backlink suggestions for a keyword

Finding ways to use this data to your advantage is the trickiest part of using SpyFu, and I suggest reading the platform’s blog and tutorials to discover PPC strategy tips or learn how to optimize websites for SEO.

Who Should Use SpyFu?

I don’t recommend using SpyFu if you’re new to digital marketing.

Its tools exceed the keyword research and SEO optimization needs of most small business owners.

Making sense of all the data you can gather with SpyFu requires a good understanding of SEO practices and considerable digital marketing experience.

On the other hand, marketing agencies, large teams of content creators, and companies with advertising departments can benefit from the information they acquire through SpyFu.

You don’t have to create an account to get a taste of the platform’s capabilities.

Inserting the domain or keyword you want to research into the search bar on the home page will give you an overview of the basic metrics for the term or domain you’re researching.

Doing preliminary research in this way will help you determine if SpyFu is the right tool for you.

SpyFu Key Features

You can start enjoying the full power of SpyFu’s features as soon as you create an account.

The platform’s 7-day free trial period lets you test the platform’s tools before you opt for one of the monthly or annual plans.

The interface is intuitive, and you can switch between the following tabs while conducting research:

Domain Overview
SEO Research
PPC Research
Keyword Research
Backlinks
List Builder
Tracking
Reports

Each tab has a toolbar that provides users with quick access to different research tools.

Domain Overview

All you need to do to start researching a domain is type an address into a search bar. SpyFu’s Domain Overview tab will display the data, and you can scroll down the page to gather the information you need.

The information will be presented in the following subsections:

Domain Overview
Competition
Shared Keywords
Top Keywords
Top Pages
Google Ads Advisor
Google Ads History
Ranking History
Inbound Links

Each section displays relevant data as graphs, lists, or diagrams.

So, you’ll be able to find information like organic and paid traffic comparisons, the domain’s paid keywords, or Google Ad recommendations within the Domain Overview section.

Scrolling down to the Competitor Shared Keywords section will enable you to gather information like potential keyword waste, missing keywords, or discover which keywords the domain doesn’t buy but its competitors do.

You can find the platform’s top organic and paid keyword suggestions for a domain you’re researching, along with SEO clicks, Cost per Click, and Monthly Cost information in the Top Keywords section of this tab.

SpyFu’s Google Ad buy recommendations are located near the bottom of the page. You can click on the Add button next to an ad you’re interested in if you want to keep track of its performance.

SEO Research

Jumping over to the SEO research tab will enable you to see the overview of the domain you’re researching.

Here’s a quick look at some of the information you can collect from this tab:

Domain’s estimated monthly clicks
The value of the site’s monthly SEO clicks
Pie chart of inbound links

The SEO Research tab has seven subsections:

Competitors
Shared Keywords
Top Keywords
Inbound links
Top Pages
Ranking History

So, heading to the Top Keyword section will give you an overview of the domain’s most valuable keywords, newly ranked keywords, keyword click gains, and losses.

The Ranking History section shows you the site’s organic clicks, organic keywords, or average position over the period of three months to two years.

For a more detailed view of each section, you can click on the tab located below the search tab.

You just have to click on the Competitors tab, which features an extensive list of the domain’s top competitors, to find out more about the site’s organic competitors.

Moreover, you can quickly sort the results based on Overlap, Common Keywords, Number of Keywords, Monthly Clicks, or Monthly Value of Clicks parameters.

PPC Research

Having access to the monthly PPC overview of your competitor’s domain can help you find out how many keywords they’re using, the number of PPC clicks they’re getting monthly, and the size of their PPC budget.

SpyFu’s PPC Research tab also gives you an insight into the domain’s most successful paid keywords, and you can sort them based on these criteria:

Volume
Cost Per Click
Ads
Paid Clicks
Mobile Searches

In addition, you can use a variety of search filters such as monthly cost or keyword difficulty to remove all keywords that don’t fit your search criteria.

The Google Ads Advisor feature lets you see which ads for a specific domain SpyFu recommends buying and which competitors already purchased a paid keyword.

SpyFu offers a broad spectrum of customizable Google Ads templates you can use to set up a campaign for the paid keywords you selected.

However, you must download the Google Ads Editor, and you’ll need an active Google Ads account in order to use SpyFu’s template.

Keyword Research

Besides researching domains and their organic or paid keywords, you can also use SpyFu to research long tail and short tail keywords.

Navigating the Keyword Research tab is easy since you just have to scroll down the page to move from one section to another. This tab offers information that falls into these categories:

Keyword overview
Related keywords
Advertiser history
Ranking history
Backlinks
Bulk upload
SERP analysis
Google Ads advisor

The Overview section provides a wide range of information about the keyword you’re researching. You can use it to find out the keyword’s monthly search volume or discover similar keywords.

In addition, the Keyword Overview section includes keyword suggestions, difficulty scores, and questions you can use to create content related to a particular keyword.

This section also displays data gathered from Google, so you can easily find out its global search volume, cost per click, or monthly cost.

The platform’s keyword research tools allow you to learn more about advertisers who are already using a keyword you’re interested in and provide you with a list of backlinks that improve your ranking for that keyword.

Besides the ranking difficulty score, the SERP Analysis tab contains information such as:

The number of homepages that rank in the top 100 results for a particular keyword
The number of URLs and titles that contain the keyword
The estimated worth of monthly clicks
Domain Diversity

The Ads Advisor feature generates the buy recommendations based on the keyword’s potential monthly clicks, cost per click, monthly impressions, and monthly cost values.

Backlinks

This SpyFu feature generates backlink suggestions that can help you rank highly for a keyword you’re interested in.

The most common backlink types SpyFu recommends are:

News
Blogs
Gov/Edu
Websites with affiliate links
Forums

The platform generates backlink lists with thousands of suggestions. You can use these parameters to sort a backlink list:

Domain strength
Domain’s monthly organic clicks
Page’s monthly organic clicks
Ranked keywords
Outbound links

Also, you can choose how many backlink rows you want the platform to display. You can preview each link by clicking on the Add button next to it and clicking View.

The link will open in the Projects window, where you can rate it, add tags or create notes for the contacts you approve.

List Builder

The List Builder feature enables users to search for top domains or keywords.

The top domains tab contains the following lists

Domains that spend the most on Google Ads
Domains with the most organic traffic
Companies with phone numbers
Highest organic companies with Twitter accounts
Companies with social media
Companies with email
Companies without social media
Companies without a blog

You can find these lists in the top keyword section:

Keywords with the highest cost per click
Keywords with most clicks
Most expensive keywords
Most expensive doctor keywords
Auto insurance CPC ranks

Users can contact SpyFu if they want to generate custom keyword or domain lists, but this service isn’t free, and its cost depends on the list you request.

Even though it isn’t a lead gen platform, SpyFu allows users to acquire contacts based on parameters such as keywords, industry, location, available contact info, SEO click, or Google Ads budget.

Tracking and Reports

Setting up a project that lays down the groundwork for your content strategy or Google Ads campaign is a simple task that doesn’t take much time.

You can start a new project from the Tracking tab or by extending the sidebar on the right of SpyFu’s interface.

Creating a project will give you quick access to the domains or keywords you research and enable you to monitor their ranking.

Also, the platform will generate weekly updates for the domain’s PPC and SEO rankings.

You can generate reports for small, medium, or large domains to create a document that contains all the research you’ve done on a domain and compares it with its top competitors.

The maximum number of Recon reports you can generate in a month depends on the subscription plan you choose.

How Much Does SpyFu Cost?

Anyone can try SpyFu for free because all website visitors can insert a domain or a keyword they want to research into the search bar on the platform’s homepage.

The results the free version of the platform displays are limited, and you must choose a subscription plan to gain access to all SpyFu’s functionalities.

Each plan comes with a seven-day free trial, during which you can get a taste of the full scope of the platform’s features.

The monthly billing plan is more expensive than the annual one, and you can save hundreds of dollars by choosing to pay for your SpyFu subscription annually.

Here’s a quick overview of the core features included in each plan:

PRODUCT NAME	PRODUCT DESCRIPTION	PRODUCT PRICE
Basic	10,000 rows of search results 100 PDF domain overviews 250 domain contacts and sales leads Six months of historical data 5,000 keyword rankings tracked weekly	$39 per month or $16 per month billed annually
Professional	Unlimited search results Unlimited data exports Ten years of historical data Unlimited PDF domain overviews API Access Custom branded reporting  15,000 keyword ranking tracked weekly 500 domain contacts and sales leads	$79 per month or $36 per month billed annually
Team	Everything included in the Professional plan plus: Five user logins 2,000 domain contacts and sales leads Ten large domain SEO reports  Unlimited Google Ads Advisor PPC reports	$299 per month or $149 per month billed annually

Is SpyFu Difficult to Use?

SpyFu is the most intuitive keyword and competitor tool I’ve ever used. Its interface is functional so gathering domain data or tracking keywords takes a minimum amount of effort.

Users who aren’t familiar with the basic SEO concepts will experience a steep learning curve when they join the platform.

SpyFu’s blog contains an abundance of learning materials that can help you figure out how to make money with your blog, do keyword research properly, or analyze your competitors.

SpyFu, in my opinion, is perfect for professional marketers and digital marketing agencies that need vast amounts of data to craft content strategies for their clients or create effective Google Ads campaigns.

Its robust toolset and advanced reporting features exceed the needs of most bloggers and e-Commerce entrepreneurs.

So, you should only consider using it if you already have a business that can direct substantial funds into online marketing.

SpyFu Tutorial: Creating an Account and Getting StarteD

1. Go to SpyFu and click on the Sign-Up button

2. The platform will direct you to its purchase page, where you can select a monthly or annual subscription plan. Click the Try it Free button to activate SpyFu’s seven-day trial period.

3. Provide your account and payment details in the Create Account window and click on the Create Account button to complete the process. Keep in mind that the platform takes $1 to make sure your card is valid.

4. Once your profile page loads, you can adjust your account settings, request keywords, invite team members to collaborate on projects or set up automatic reports.

5. You can create a new project from the platform’s Projects sidebar before you start researching domains and keywords.

SpyFu lets you import keywords you’d like to research for a project and organize them into groups based on their search frequency or traffic opportunities they offer.

6. Go to SpyFu’s Overview, SEO Research, PPC Research, or Keyword research tab. Adjust the regional settings and enter a keyword or domain into the search bar.

Does SpyFu Have Good Customer Service?

The platform’s blog and help center sections offer answers to most questions users might have.

In case you cannot find a solution to your problem at SpyFu’s help center or blog, you can contact customer support by clicking on the Chat widget in the lower right corner of the app’s interface.

The live chat option is available Monday through Friday from 6 AM until 5 PM. Optionally, you can try calling customer support or contacting them via email.

However, reaching the company’s customer support in this way can be difficult, and you may have to wait for a few days to get a response.

What are People Saying about SpyFu?

Most online reviews of the SpyFu platform are positive. The company’s Trustpilot rating is 3.7 on 144 reviews.

However, only 13% of reviews have rated the company as bad or poor, while 77% of reviewers think SpyFu is either excellent or great.

Most bad and poor ratings include complaints about the accuracy of the platform’s results and issues with canceling the subscription.

On the other hand, positive reviews focus on the software’s vast datasets and the quality of its tools.

SpyFu – Pros and Cons

[elementor-template id=”17628″]

Frequently Asked Questions about SpyFu

Does SpyFu’s Scraping Technology Have Limited Coverage?

The platform’s crawler collects data for specific regions and doesn’t include all information available on the Internet.

What Does SpyFu’s Kombat Feature Do?

The Kombat option helps software users identify keywords they must have and those they should avoid.

Can I Export Keywords and Domain Research from SpyFu?

Yes, you can export all keyword and domain research as PDF files and download them to your computer.

My Verdict: Is SpyFu Really the Best Keyword and Competitor

Research Tool?

There’s no doubt that SpyFu is one of the best search analytics tools on the market.

But, is it the best? Probably not.

Data accuracy is arguably its biggest weakness, as the PPC estimates you’ll get on SpyFu aren’t always realistic.

Still, SpyFu’s competitor and keyword research tools or SERP analysis features can provide companies or advertising agencies with the data they need to create content strategies or Google Ads campaigns.

I think the software offers excellent value for the money, as it is a more affordable option than SEMRush, Ahrefs, and other competitors that come with tools similar to SpyFu’s.

Meta: The extensive range of tools SpyFu offers makes it one of the most popular search analytics platforms today.

But is it better than SEMRush and other competitors? That’s what you’re going to find out in my SpyFu review.