If you’re asking this question, it means you want to improve SEO but are thinking of doing it independently. The short answer is no, but the longer answer is a bit more complicated.
For those of you who don’t know: Screaming Frog is an excellent crawler for people looking to do a technical audit on the site. The advantages of the crawler are that it’s cheap relative to other enterprise solutions. It crawls an entire website, which itself is an advantage. Many web-based crawlers in software such as Semrush or Ahrefs usually have a limit to the number of pages you can crawl based on your subscription level. In most cases, Screaming Frog for an entire year costs less than a month of those subscription services. We should point out that Semrush and Ahrefs do much more than a technical crawl, so comparing prices isn’t really fair.
The main drawback to Screaming Frog is that it’s a desktop-based crawler, so crawling a big site could create issues with computer speed. Ideally, you could run your crawl on a separate laptop. And of course, with any desktop-based crawl, the connection to your internet can create interruptions. This all means, if you have a big site (say over 100,000 URLs) crawling on a desktop can be a pain.
I should be clear, too, that I own a license to Screaming Frog and use it as one of the many tools we use when evaluating our clients' websites. It’s far from the only tool we use, but there are things that I really enjoy about it, and can give me some helpful insights.
So if I like it, why discourage the average website owner from using it? It’s not that it can’t provide value, but as with anything else, the data is only as good the context you have for it and the changes it prompts you to make.
It’s a bit like having a blood test and then reading the results for yourself. Do you know what a good range is? Do you know what it means to be out of range? Do you know which numbers to prioritize and how to treat the problems with priority? Probably not.
That's my issue with most crawls, you can do it yourself. What do the results mean to you, and how do you figure out what to prioritize? Not every “error” or “issue” you’ll see on a crawl is worth your time. And there are times when crawls don’t show you things that actually need to be resolved. So, if you want to learn SEO and figure using Screaming Frog and your website as a lab rat, then by all means. If you know enough to be dangerous and want to DIY your SEO, do it.
But if you’re serious about getting SEO right for your business, then invest in real SEO experts. Even if that isn’t us, I can assure you that there are many qualified SEO experts, and I’m happy to make recommendations and referrals if our company isn’t right for you.
If you're seeking comprehensive SEO services beyond tool-based audits, our team offers expert guidance, strategic insights, and tailored recommendations to elevate your website's performance and drive tangible results.
No Comments.