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Compare WebCEO, IBP (Internet Business Promoter), SEO Elite, Market Samurai, SEO PowerSuite: popular SEO tools comparison

How do you pick out the best SEO software and make sure every hard earned cent that you pay for it pays you back? Check reviews of different search engine optimization tools and choose the software that'll work best for your online business.

Web CEO, IBP (Internet Business Promoter), SEO Elite, Market Samurai and SEO PowerSuite are the most widely-used search engine optimization tools out there, and all promise you growth of rankings and profits boost. But just like any thing you're buying, SEO tools have good and bad points standing behind their promises, and it's better to take a chance and weigh the pros and cons before investing your money into a particular website optimization and promotion tool.

This comparison will help you figure out if the software you're planning to use will do all you need to promote your websites. That's your chance to not simply compare the top four SEO tools, but see the most valuable and unique features of each software pointed out.

You'd better take a careful look to choose what better suits your needs. These tables show you a brief overview of important features. And for detailed SEO software reviews and screenshots, click the software titles here or in the tables.

Feature Web CEO IBP (Internet Business Promoter) SEO Elite Market Samurai SEO PowerSuite
Keyword research     Not included in SEO Elite    
Free version Yes Yes (very limited)   Yes (12-day trial) Yes
Number of keywords suggested Free Edition — 5
StartUp Edition — 10
SmallBiz Edition — 50
Pro Edition — 1000
Unlimited in all editions   Unlimited in all editions Unlimited in all editions
Daily world searches Yes Yes (not in free version)   Yes Yes
Number of competing sites Yes Yes   Yes Yes
KEI Yes Yes (not in free version)   No Yes
Highlighting words with high KEI Yes No   No Yes
Different keyword suggestion mechanisms No Yes   Yes Yes
Google Keyword Suggestion No Yes   Yes Yes
Yahoo! Search Assist No No   No Yes
Ask TypeAhead Search Suggestions No No   No Yes
Mixing keywords No Yes   Yes Yes
Misspellings No Yes   No Yes
Choice of types of misspellings No No   No Yes
Keyword Combination No Yes   No Yes
Length of keyphrase No No   Yes Yes
Your current ranking for each keyword No No   Yes Yes
Customizable workspaces No Yes   Yes Yes
Advanced workspace filters No No   A limited set of filters Yes
Runs on Windows Yes Yes   Yes Yes
Runs on Mac OS X No No   Yes Yes
Runs on Linux No No   No Yes
Quick search through keywords No No   No Yes
Wizards Yes Yes   No Yes
Inner explanations of SEO notions No Yes   Yes Yes
Google API key Yes No   No Yes
Yahoo! API key No No   No Yes
Bing API key No No   No Yes
Data migration to spreadsheets No Yes   Yes Yes
Generating keyword reports No No   No Yes
Emailing reports to clients automatically No Yes   No Yes
Keyword data available for printout No Yes   Yes Yes
Saving reports in PDF (HTML) No Yes   No Yes
FTP upload of reports to make them available online No No   No Yes
Scheduling keyword research and reporting tasks Yes Yes   No Yes
  Web CEO IBP (Internet Business Promoter) SEO Elite Market Samurai SEO PowerSuite
Writing optimized content (onpage optimization)     There's no explicit function in SEO Elite, just some on-page analysis present in section 1. Not included in Market Samurai  
Creating optimization strategy based on competition research Yes Yes No   Yes
Unlimited number of sites to check Yes Yes Yes   Yes
"Stop" words (omitting or indicating articles, prepositions and other words search engines don't take into account) Yes Yes No   Yes
Number of keywords to enter and analyze 3 max 1 Keywords not entered — the software analyzes only those present on the page   Unlimited, but 3 is recommended
Choosing the search engine for which to optimize the webpage No Yes No   Yes
Optimization rate of the page No Yes No   Yes
Optimization rate of each page element No Yes No   Yes
Optimization score of the webpage No Yes No   Yes
Main onpage factors Yes Yes No   Yes
Main offpage factors Yes Yes Yes   Yes
Display of keywords, as viewed by search engines Yes No No   Yes
Clear display of each page element No Yes No   Yes
Recommendations for optimized content Yes Yes No   Yes
Keyword density analysis Yes Yes Yes   Yes
Unlimited number of keywords for density analysis Yes No Yes   Yes
Displaying the number of page elements containing a keyword No No No   Yes
Displaying words other than specified keywords No Yes N/A   Yes
Analyzing words other than specified keywords No No N/A   Yes
Comparison with competition Yes (not in free version) Yes No   Yes
SEO tips in the report Yes Yes No   Yes
SEO tips in the software No Yes No   Yes
Wizard Yes Yes No   Yes
Google API key Yes No Yes   Yes
Yahoo! API key No No No   Yes
Bing API key No No No   Yes
Data migration to spreadsheets No No No   Yes
Generating onpage optimization reports Yes Yes No   Yes
Emailing reports to clients automatically No No No   Yes
Reports available for printout Yes Yes No   Yes
Saving reports in PDF (HTML) No Yes No   Yes
FTP upload of reports to make them available online Yes Yes No   Yes
  Web CEO IBP (Internet Business Promoter) SEO Elite Market Samurai SEO PowerSuite
Link Building          
Finding quality link partners in the leading search engines Yes Yes Yes Among Web 2.0, blogs and forum only Yes
Search for potential partners among sites linking to your competitors Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Finding sites that already link to you No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Scanning links from a specific webpage No Yes No No Yes
Checking potential link partners' Google PR No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Checking link partners' link popularity No No No Yes Yes
Checking link partners' Alexa rank No Yes Yes No Yes
Measuring your own website's popularity over time No No No Yes Yes
Sending personalized emails using customizable templates Yes Yes No No Yes
Email variables Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Bulk email correspondence Yes No No No Yes
Automatic cycle of email correspondence Yes Yes No No Yes
Receiving and organizing emails from your link partners No No No No Yes
Automatic email address mining Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Generating link pages No Yes Yes No Yes
Customizable link pages No Yes No No Yes
Do the generated links pages support categories? No Yes Yes No Yes
Manageable workspaces No No No Yes Yes
Filters for partner lists Yes No No No Yes
Checking if link partners link back to you Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Displaying the status of a link partner and managing statuses No Yes Yes No Yes
Updating multiple link partners' properties at once No Yes No No Yes
Built-in browser to view websites and generated links pages No Yes No Yes Yes
Finding and autocompleting link submission forms No Yes Yes No Yes
Making your links page available online via FTP No Yes No No Yes
Google API key Yes No Yes No Yes
Yahoo! API key No No No No Yes
Bing API key No No No No Yes
Data migration to spreadsheets No Yes No Yes Yes
Generating link building reports No Yes No No Yes
Emailing reports to clients automatically No No No No Yes
Reports available for printout No Yes No No Yes
Saving reports in PDF (HTML) No Yes No No Yes
FTP upload of reports to make them available online No No No No Yes
  Web CEO IBP (Internet Business Promoter) SEO Elite Market Samurai SEO PowerSuite
Competition research for link building   This module is not present in IBP, some data gets collected, but is not organized      
Building linking strategy based on competition research No No No No Yes
The domain of the linking site Yes No No No Yes
The exact URL from which the backlink stands. No Yes No Yes Yes
TLD research No Yes Yes .edu and .gov links only Yes
Ability to find sitewide links No No No Yes Yes
Google PageRank of a domain No Yes No No Yes
Google PageRank of each page No No No Yes Yes
The number of outbound links No Yes Yes No Yes
The total number of links on a webpage No Yes Yes No Yes
Link value of a potential backlink No relevance No No Yes
Marking pages that may provide the best link value No relevance No No Yes
Page's title Yes No Yes No Yes
Does a page really link back? No Yes Yes No Yes
Link's anchor text No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Link's anchor URL No Yes No Yes Yes
IP address of the linking site No Yes Yes No Yes
Country of the linking site No No No No Yes
Retrieving contact info Yes Yes No No Yes
Yahoo! and DMOZ listings Yes No No No Yes
Alexa traffic rank No Yes No No Yes
Domain age No No Yes No Yes
Google API key Yes No Yes No Yes
Yahoo! API key No No No No Yes
Bing API key No No No No Yes
Data migration to spreadsheets No No No Yes Yes
Generating link strategy reports No No No No Yes
Emailing link strategy reports to clients No No No No Yes
Reports available for printout No No No No Yes
Saving reports in PDF (HTML) No No No No Yes
FTP upload of reports to make them available online No No No No Yes
  Web CEO IBP (Internet Business Promoter) SEO Elite Market Samurai SEO PowerSuite
Checking performance (tracking rankings for keywords)          
Indicate how your site ranks for each keyword Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rich search engine choice Yes Yes No 3 Yes
Selecting multiple search engines based on country and language Yes Yes No 3 Yes
Research as many keywords as you like Yes 10 in free version
Unlimited in a paid version
Yes Unlimited Unlimited
Number of search engines used at a time Unlimited 1 in free
Unlimited in a paid version
5 3 Unlimited
Number of search engine result pages to check Unlimited 3 in free version
Unlimited in paid version
Unlimited, but pages after first rarely get correctly parsed Unlimited Unlimited
Manageable workspaces No 1 in free version
Unlimited in a paid version
No Yes Yes
Customizable filters No No No No Yes
Competition for keywords Yes No No Yes Yes
Number of searches No No No Yes Yes
KEI for keywords No No No No Yes
Advanced search safety settings Yes Only human emulation No Using proxies only Yes
Google API key Yes No Yes No Yes
Yahoo! API key No No No No Yes
Bing API key No No No No Yes
Human Emulation Yes Yes No No Yes
Random User Agents rotation Yes No No No Yes
Competitors' rankings Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Adding keywords from the keyword suggestion tool Yes No No Yes Yes
Integrated keyword research No No (keyword research is made in a separate tool) No Yes Yes
Adding keywords from a text file or a spreadsheet Yes No No Yes Yes
Typing in keywords manually Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Adding many keywords at a time No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Adding color markers to keywords Yes No No No Yes
Displaying keyphrase length No No No Yes Yes
Wizards No No No No Yes
Comparing ranking results from different dates Yes Yes Yes Only last checked Yes
Comparing ranking results with the best/poorest result Yes No No No Yes
Viewing results grouped by SE or by keyword Yes No No Yes Yes
Preferred SEs Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Reports view Yes Yes No No Yes
Displaying meta descriptions of webpages Yes No No No No
Progress Graphs Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Setting time period for which to build a progress graph No No No No Yes
Data migration to spreadsheets No Yes No Yes Yes
Generating ranking reports Yes Yes No No Yes
Emailing reports to clients automatically No No No No Yes
Reports available for printout Yes Yes No No Yes
Saving reports in PDF (HTML) No Yes No No Yes
FTP upload of reports to make them available online Yes No No No Yes
Scheduling rank checking and reporting tasks Yes Yes No No Yes

Web CEO, IBP (Internet Business Promoter), Market Samurai and SEO PowerSuite all have free versions — you can use them before you decide to make a purchase. SEO Elite doesn't provide a free or trial version. Therefore, we tested Web CEO, IBP, Market Samurai and SEO PowerSuite free and paid and SEO Elite paid. All tools ran smoothly on Windows, and we didn't see any crucial bugs in WebCEO, IBP, Market Samurai or SEO PowerSuite. (Please note that SEO PowerSuite also works on Mac OS X and Linux without restrictions.)

Take a look at more detailed reviews of these SEO tools to make the best choice:


And if you're already using any of the above tools WebCEO, IBP (Internet Business Promoter), SEO Elite, Market Samurai or another commercial web site promotion tool you can get SEO PowerSuite at an indecently low price. Just go here to claim your competitive discount.. Note that this offer may end any time.


Even if you don't own any other search engine optimization tool, you can save some cash with SEO PowerSuite.

Comparison was done in 2009. Quite sure there may be updates to any of these web promotion/management programs. We're going to update this comparison, so if any new features appear in the reviewed SEO software (WebCEO, IBP, SEO Elite, Market Samurai or SEO PowerSuite), we'll try to mention them here. If you see any omissions or errors, please let us know!


33 reasons why SEO PowerSuite is the standard for SEO 33 reasons why
SEO PowerSuite is the standard for SEO
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