Hi All.

Today my article is going to be  a review of two high quality, cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) SEO applications, Advanced Web Ranking, and Advanced Link Manager.

The ranking report software, Advanced Web Ranking, produced by Caphyon, is an, All-Purpose SEO software with tons of features. It covers all aspects of Search Engine Optimization, from Keywords to Search Engine Submission, to Reports, to PageRank, and even includes project management.

Let’s start off with keywords. For any serious SEO Marketer, keywords are one of the most important aspects of any campaign. Advanced Web Ranking can help you come up with keywords by integrating with services like Google Keyword Suggest and WordTracker. Already have keywords? Advanced Web Ranking allows you to import keywords from an existing website or a file. Once you get your keywords ready, AWR has a feature called keywords builder, which helps you create compound keywords, as well as group together your current keywords. AWR can also help you find the relevance of your keywords by integrating with the WordTracker Service (both free and paid subscription).

Next let’s talk about search engine submission. AWR has an awesome feature called “The Submitter” that guides you through the indexing of your site to search engines. Not only does it help you submit to the popular engines, but in total it submits your site to more than 400 search engines.

Of course the main feature of Advanced Web Ranking is the ranking part. The normal ranking technology checks your ranking in the major search engines by how close to the top result your site is for designated keywords. The software displays informative evolution charts of your ranks. It includes charts for Current Rank, Keyword Rank, Search Engine Rank, and the Visibility Rank.The software then goes beyond that with tons of added features. First, it allows you to see your ranking in Google PageRank, which gives you a second point of view for Google, the most popular search engine in the world. A feature I really liked about Web Ranking that most other softwares don’t include, is the Proxy feature. Say you have a client who lives in another country, or who is trying to advertise in another country. Just use the proxy feature, and it will allow you to route your connection through a computer in another country to get the most accurate information possible.

A really nifty feature of AWR is the Extended Data view. It allows you to select a specific keyword, and then compare all of the websites that you have loaded into the software. This is a great tool to check how certain sites are comparing to others. This feature also allows you to see “number of potential competitors,” a great statistic if you are writing a marketing plan or a business plan.
The last set of features for AWR that I found useful were the reports. Not only do they look good, but they provide all of the information I talked about above…and more. For example the Competition Report shows the information for selected site side by side for specific keywords, a great tool when analyzing the competition and where you need to spend the most effort.
After using the program, the only con I found was that it lacks integration with Google AdWords. This doesn’t surprise me though, as Google AdWords is technically SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and not SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I give Advanced Web Ranking a 4.5/5. It is an excellent software, and any serious marketer should think about getting it.

Advanced Link Manager, Link Popularity Software

Made by the same company, Advanced Link Manager is also cross-platform.

Although this is a more specialized tool, if you are in the Web Marketing business you know how valuable links are, both outgoing and incoming, and Advanced Link Manager is an invaluable tool. The two main sets of features are:

• Analyzing your Websites link popularity
• Finding potential link partners

The first set of tools that Advanced Link Manager offers, analyzing your websites link popularity, is an excellent tool if you are thinking about executing a link exchange campaign. First, the software allows you to find out who links to your site, and what keywords they use. Using this data, the software allows you to track the links over time, and see the trends that take place as you execute a link popularity campaign. The software also allows you to analyze the competition, so you can see the link strategy they us and where they get their links from. Another great feature of this software is allowing you to automatically allowing you to keep track of your paid links. If you purchase a link on a website or link farm, you’ll know when the link disappears, so you can make sure you don’t get ripped off. Another great features is the outbound links tool. If a paid link provider has too many links on one page, the links are not valuable and will not be worth the cost.

Advanced link manager allows you to analyze the number of outbound links on a page, so you can make an informed purchase.
The second major feature that advanced link manager has is allowing you to discover potential link partners. If you can find a link partner in your industry, it will greatly help both of your search engine ratings. Another great feature is that the software allows you to gather information about potential link partners, so you can find the best possible partner to share links.

Overall, ALM is great software, and should be considered along with Advanced Web Ranking by an serious marketer. You can buy both enterprise version (recommended for Search Engine Marketers) programs in a bundle for $600. A small price to pay considering the benefit you will recieve.