What tool do you use to Spy on your competitors

[shaggard]

Curious what everyone uses to find out how many links the comp has along with what keywords they use etc...

[Groovystar]

I used to use SEO Quake for everything. Got to be careful and make sure I'm not going to be needing Google for the next hour or so, and I use it briefly, because Google seems to think it is automated queries and shuts its search down on me. So I use that less now. Now I generally use backlink watch and PR checker.

Interestingly, in my niche, there is little to no SEO! Competition is through the online Warrior cats and roleplaying community itself and my site is one of the very few that benefit so directly from google! There are even a lot of them that don't want SE traffic because they believe it brings in low quality roleplayers. They would rather stay small and specialised. But bear in mind these are hobby sites. There are many, many small ones and only about 5 or 6 large ones.

[shaggard]

I am hearing more and more about SEO Quake. Ironically, they say the same thing about the Google ban, which makes me leery about trying it out.

[Groovystar]

Yeah it's a FF plugin but Google obviously does not like it. Probably because it does auto-pull information straight from their SE about every site you browse. If you use it, use it carefully and sparingly. There are other ways to get the same info they just take longer.

[shaggard]

currently i use alexa toolbar and seobook toolbar

Although I need to learn how the alexa ranking works. It seems a bit odd to me.

[HorseStall]

Here are a list of a bunch of competitive analysis tools you may find useful they are all free Competitive Analysis Tools