This review has been a long time coming. SERPAssist has easily been one of the most in-demand and most talked-about link-building tools since it was released and I’ve never before had so many people specifically request I review a particular product.
So, what’s so special about SERPAssist? Is it just another gimmick or can it truly set itself apart from other link-builders? And is it poweful enough to compete with (or even surpass) SENuke?
Read on to get the full scope.
SERPAssist Overview
| Name: | SERPAssist |
| Creator: | Dave ? (last name not known) |
| Medium: | Link Building Tool |
| Price: | $77/month |
SERPAssist is a tool that automates certain aspects of link-building. This is certainly not a novelty. However, the user interface and approach used in SERPAssist are very different from what you may be used to with the typical submitters and automators out there.
You can create complete backlink networks using a simple diagram tool and then send that complete network to SERPAssist to build. To see exactly what I mean, check out this video:
SERPAssist Link-Building Features
As demonstrated in the video, the thing that sets SERPAssist apart from it's competitors is the unique way in which the link-building is automated. You can map out an entire backlinking campaign using an easy drag-and-drop system and all of the account creation, registration, CAPTCHA solving and submission tasks are done completely automatically. It can take several days for the tasks to get completed, but since there's no extra work on the part of the user required, that really isn't much of a concern.
The only real work you need to do is create spun articles to post to the free blogs and embed your backlinks within. Here's an example of a link-network that can be created with just a few minutes of work, in SERPAssist (assuming you've already written your spun content):
There are three types of backlinks you can build to your sites, using this tool:
- In-post links from free blogs (e.g. LiveJournal, tumblr, vox)
- Bookmark links from social bookmarking sites
- Profile links from forum profile pages
Problems...
As impressive as the technology behind all this is, there are some major issues with the software, at the time of this writing.
For example, SERPAssist apparently only submits to four different forums for profile links. That's not exactly a wealth of link sources. And the profile links don't show up in the URL reports, so there's no way to check how long they stay alive. Because of this, the profile links are practically a non-feature, at this point.
Bookmarks all come from only 7 different sites and they also don't show up in the URL report. In my eyes, this makes the bookmarks more of a neat extra than a full feature of their own. What you're left with are the free blog posts and those also come with some limitations: On several of the blogging platforms, SERPAssist is unable to submit more than one post, meaning that you'll have lots of new blogs with just one post and only a few "growing" blogs that have new content added to them as you keep using them to build more links.
Clearly, a blog that gets updated regularly is more valuable as a source of links than lots of single-page blogs...
So, in essence, what you get with SERPAssist is a very sophisticated tool for building link-wheels and link networks using free blogging platforms.
In my opinion, SERPAssist has the potential to become the most powerful and useful link-building tool ever, but it's definitely not there yet.
Results
I've seen good results using SERPAssist in conjunction with other link-building tools and methods. Unfortunately, as long as it's mixed in with other tools, it's very hard to tell how much of a ranking increase can be attributed to it.
In a couple of tests I did using SERPAssist on it's own, to promote a particular page for targeted keywords, I saw only minimal movement in rankings. Since most of the links come from Web2.0 blogs and each link needs to be placed manually on the link-map, it actually takes quite a lot of time to build a good amount of links. More problematic than that: I ran out of space, on one of my tests. There's no good way of scrolling through or expanding the area of the link-map. On one of my tests, I basically created links until there was no space left on the screen and that still wasn't enough to get the page in question a significantly higher position in the SERP.
Conclusion
I finally stopped using SERPAssist, because I did not see clear enough results compared to the time I spent setting up links with the system. I can imagine that SERPAssist could work well on low-competition keywords, where a link wheel and a few bookmarks might be enough to get a page one ranking. For higher competition keywords, the links I could get with this system just didn't have enough pulling power compared to higher quality links or greater volume of links created by other systems.
I still believe that SERPAssist has the potential to become a very powerful link-building tool, but it's simply not there yet.
Hi Shane,
I just finishes watching both videos over at your YouTube channel. Awesome channel by the way!! That’s a heck of lot of great content you’ve been piling up over there.
Anyway…just wanted to say thanks again for all your hard work and efforts to help people out with “the rest of the story”…the WHOLE truth..etc.
Your approach, attitude and fair balance is truly great. Your sincere desire to see the best for others will certainly be well rewarded in time.
Highest Regards,
Jeff
Thanks for your comment!
Shane,I agree 100% with your assessment of SerpAssist. I subscribed for awhile and just did not see the results I expected for $77/month.
There were plenty of glitches. Submitting content to certain sites just seemed to get hung up forever in the system.
The premise of the program is incredible, and there is really nothing else like it on the market. Unfortunately, it’s just a little short of its promises right now.
I will probably subscribe again once some of these issues have been worked out. The developer, Dave, is a one-man show, and he desperately needs some help. Good guy, good program; just needs to do a little more tweaking before I’m ready to invest that much money.
On another note, Shane, I really appreciate your thorough and honest reviews on IM products. Nice to see someone put the interests of his readers ahead of padding his own wallet.
Thanks,
Norma
Hi Shane, awesome review.
Have you come across Rank Builder from Alex Goad. I am testing that but would like to get your feedback what you think in terms of it’s capability and value compared to some of the software you have tested.
Thanks, Andi
Hi Andi,
All I know about Rank Builder is that it’s a relabeled Link Builder Pro (which I had a brief look at, a while ago).
It definitely doesn’t deliver what the sales-page promises, but it’s a decent submission tool. If you’re into getting profile links, it’s also quite useful. Nothing earth-shattering, but a good enough link builder, I’d say. :)
Shane, if I scheduled everything to be done as soon as possible, how much could I expect to be done in 7 days trial?
You can schedule as many tasks as you like in the 7 day trial. It will probably take a few days for any task completion to get started, but once it gets rolling, it seems capable of dozens of tasks in a day, if not hundreds.
Thanks :)
Is there possibility to choose where You want to put certain articles? And where certain anchors are going to point the links to or is is completely random? I don’t see possibility to pre-choose that on video.
How about pinging – can I turn it off?
Hey Shane,
Any updates on your results yet?
Hi Roland,
You’re right, I need to update this article. I never saw significant results. Not enough to justify the price, anyway. I can imagine that SERPassist is okay for longer-tail keywords, but for the medium-sized competition I like to go after, it just didn’t seem to have enough pulling power.
Hello Shane,
Stumbled across your videos on Youtube because the one on SERPassist did not work, and I am very glad I did.
I use Rank Builder and although over the last 2-3 months they have added new features such as article, press and bookmarking submissions, it really is part of a game plan rather than the plan.
A few web 2.0 sites ranked, but most of the others I never saw ranked. Have you tried SubmitInMe.com? They have packages for certain things you want done and is not a monthly fee which is sometimes better I feel.
Anyway, thank you for your honest assessment. It is such a breath of fresh air amidst all the trash out there with only $$$ in their eyes.
Hi Shane,
Thanks very much for the honest and insightful appraisal of SerpAssist. I only really heard about this tool today (while researching another product on WarriorForum). Anyhow, after bouncing around various reviews and sites I finally found your videos on Youtube. It was great to get an honest no-bullshit review!
I currently use SEnuke. I find it very powerful but find the interface less than inspiring. I find myself drawing big diagrams on A3 paper to figure out what I’m doing.
So, I immediately got excited when I saw this product! However, based on your findings I’ll leave it for now.
SEnuke is supposed to be relaunching (SEnuke X) with a diagramming/scheduling facility.
Do you use SEnuke? If not what current SEO tools do you use / recommend?
Hi Neil,
Thanks for your comment!
I personally don’t use SEnuke. It’s overpriced for what it does, IMO.
SENuke X does sound promising, but it’s also being forever delayed, it seems. I’ll certainly check it out once it’s released.
would love to hear the latest of serpassist VS senuke X ??? from what I hear you can actually setup a blog network and have serpassist post to that blog network automatically.. is that correct??