SEO Elite is a tool by Brad Callen for analyzing the strength of sites you’re trying to outrank in the search engine page results (SERPs). It compiles “all” of the backlinks for any site you want to look at, including your own. You do it one URL at a time, and it returns important info like whether the link is dofollow, what its anchor text is, and what each backlinking site’s pagerank is.
Yahoo Site Explorer does the same thing. It’s free but it doesn’t tell you about dofollow, anchortext, or pagerank. You have to look that info up manually.
The problem with SEO Elite is also its advantage: it works out of a database that the company compiles once every day and a half or so, instead of directly out of Yahoo Site Explorer. That’s good because it’s fast–obtaining this data is very browser-intensive, so a temporary Google and Yahoo IP ban with the captcha is a sure thing if you use other tools. Link-Assistant has a lovely little tool called “SEO Spyglass” that tries to do everything Callen’s tool does but better, running directly over Yahoo Site Explorer instead of a private database. And it does–except that the search takes literally all freakin’ day (sometimes two) if you don’t want your IP to get banned. The same goes for all the other free tools (SEO Book, SEOquake, SEO for Firefox) that run over Yahoo Site Explorer.
The bad thing about SEO Elite? It’s not complete. I bought it in January, relied on it as complete, and then in March I started digging around in Yahoo Site Explorer and found several high-PR sites backlinking to my competitors that SEO Elite never showed me. I was still within the refund window and I almost sent it back, but I weighed my options and realized there is nothing else out there that gives me a competitor evaluation in a reasonable time frame.
So I use SEO Elite to screen niches and individual keywords for competitiveness. It allows me to eliminate 90% of the ones that are too competitive, then drill down into the ones I’m on the fence about by using YSE. Here’s how: With SEOquake or SEO for Firefox, you can sort all of the backlinks to the site in question by their PR. If the competing site is a 4, then it probably has a couple of 4s and 5s backlinking to it. For all the 4s and 5s backlinking to your competitor, you should look for that backlink on their sites and determine (1) whether it’s dofollow or nofollow, and (2) whether the backlink is anchored on the keyword you’re competing for. SEOquake will put a strikethrough on nofollow links if you set it up that way in preferences, but for anchor text, I usually end up going into “view source” and looking at the HTML. It’s a time-consuming process.
I work in “borderline” niches with a lot of PR3 and PR4 competition–the ones Mark and Court say “maybe” on, because their earning potential is so much higher than the low-hanging fruit with only PR1 and PR2 competition. If it’s too competitive, SEO Elite will probably let me know, and I’ll reject that niche. If it passes SEO Elite, I do the final step of running a manual check in Yahoo Site Explorer before I commit to the niche and buy a domain name for it.
SEO Elite is still a valuable tool used by many internet marketers that I respect, including Griz, Splork, and Justin Briggs. If you buy it, get the one-time purchase for $167 instead of the $47 a month recurring subscription. You can do this by changing “index2″ to “index1″ in your browser window when you reach the buy page. The interface is clunky, the tutorials are useless, and the support staff is surly and hard to deal with, but in my opinion it’s still the best tool out there to do what we do.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Passive Income // May 2, 2009 at 2:05 am
So you don’t think its a scam then
I don’t like Callen’s marketing methods and I would never pay a monthly fee for the product but yes its a good tool I use daily. Its very useful for tracking your own sites progress up the SERPS for their keywords too – though I run that overnight cause it does usually ban me!
I also like Market Samurai – same sort of price – again works off their own database – so sometimes you get yet another result- but its a bit quicker for the first pass analysis . Lissie
2 Walter Brown // May 2, 2009 at 8:07 am
Thanks for the review of SEO Elite. I bot it and never used it much but after watchingt he Link Vids and the fact that it’s used by Griz and your review I will be revisiting it for back links.
3 Lorecee // May 2, 2009 at 9:40 am
LOL, no it’s not a scam. But you haven’t experienced p’d off until you’ve tried to deal with their tech support people. OMG. I guess the amazing thing is that even with all the downsides I still kept the tool–that’s how much I need the information it gives me.
4 BPharis // May 27, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Would you recommend the tool for a rookie?
5 Lorecee // May 27, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I was a rookie when I bought it and it served me well. Its basic interface is easy to use and understand, although I still don’t take advantage of all its features.
If you’re keyword sniping as recommended by the Keyword Academy, then I think it’s important to look at your competitors’ anchor links as well as their PR. Court recommends just looking at PR to save time, but checking anchors allows me to tackle PR3 and 4 competitors that I would have ruled out under his system. There aren’t a whole lot of keywords with decent income potential and only PR2 or less competition on page 1.
In a year or two I think there will be better tools out there to do the same thing. Take a close look at Market Samurai before you make up your mind. Both SEO-E and MS work out of databases so you can check your competitors without getting a captcha ban.
6 Vinay // May 28, 2009 at 11:37 am
Just wondering… since SEO Elite works out of a database, and if you are working on a very small niche- would SEO Elite have the required data.
7 LarryG // Jul 28, 2009 at 12:16 am
Lorcee…I just asked over at Grizz’s site if anyone had used this, and low-and-behold you have already written an article for me on the topic. Thanks
Which would you prefer at this point MS or SEOElite?
Also, wanted to let you know about a small social networking site I have set up for people that I have worked with in the past, and for people they trust. The site is for us to exchange ideas and concepts and help each other when necessary. If you would like to know more about it, you can email me and I will give you the address.
Thanks again for the article written just for me!
8 Lorecee // Jul 31, 2009 at 12:28 am
Hi LarryG: good timing, as I’m about to pick up another 10 days of Market Samurai and will write a follow up post comparing it with SEO Elite. I got a lot of search requests for this, so thanks for the suggestion.
9 Lorecee // Jul 31, 2009 at 12:29 am
Vinay–sorry i missed your post. SEO Elite does not have the required data for a very small niche. I’ll report soon whether Market Samurai’s database is any better.
10 John // Apr 25, 2010 at 10:13 am
I bought SEO Elite .. found it hard to use .. MS seems easier . The support on Elite STINKS .. flat out useless. The help files are useless as well .. so its hard to find someone to help get a noobie on his/her feet with the software. You just have bite down and figure it out on your own … shame ..