This Scribe SEO review takes you through my first use of Scribe to optimize a web page on another website I publish. This Scribe SEO review also goes through several criticisms, sets out the features, benefits, and FAQs.
This Scribe SEO review is based on my actual use of this SEO product.
What is Scribe SEO?
Scribe SEO is an SEO service created by Copyblogger Media. I’m a HUGE fan of Copyblogger Media products.
I use StudioPress WordPress themes (read my StudioPress Genesis Framework review) and the Premise for WordPress plugin (read my Premise for WordPress review).
What types of website platforms work with Scribe SEO?
This is a nice aspect of Scribe SEO. It doesn’t matter which website platform you use because you can log into your Scribe account and have your content evaluated within Scribe.
However, if you use WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, you can install a plugin or add-on so that you can use scribe directly within your post and page panels.
Scribe SEO is one of the few SEO services that helps improve BOTH on-site and off-site SEO.
When I started doing SEO, I focused mostly on off-site SEO. However, since the Google Panda update, I’ve noticed a considerable improvement in many of my search engine rankings on articles that are long, detailed, and are well optimized on-site. In fact, I’m getting articles ranking on page 1 of Google within hours of publishing high-quality, detailed articles WITHOUT any backlinking whatsoever.
However, Scribe SEO also provides assistance with backlinking because building backlinks is still critical to ranking well for more competitive keywords.
In a nutshell, Scribe SEO assists with:
1. Keyword research to help you find keywords on your article topic that get searched.
2. Writing your content in a way that uses your keywords properly.
3. Ensuring your SEO meta data is properly entered. Meta data are meta titles, descriptions, and post tags (for blog posts).
4. On-site SEO:
- keyword selection and suggestions,
- keyword density and placement,
- hyperlinks,
- Flesch reading score (a.k.a. reading-ease), and
- Post tags.
5. Search engine display: Scribe shows you how your published web page will appear in the search engines. I really like this because rather than waiting for a indexing and ranking your web page and then making changes, you can modify your meta data immediately for the best display.
6. Linkbuilding opportunities
Scribe SEO provides links to authoritative websites from which to try and gain backlinks. It also suggests internal linking opportunities and social media conversations on your content’s topic. This way you can jump into the discussion and promote your content.
The following is a screenshot of the Scribe SEO panel within a post or page (WordPress version):
Scribe SEO Review & Case Study in Action
The following are the details of my first published blog post using Scribe SEO. I went through this Scribe SEO review and case study on August 4, 2011.
Keyword Research
I’m a little disappointed with the Scribe Keyword research. The Keyword research uses Trellian Keyword Research data which did not return results while the free Google Keyword Tool did (doing an Exact search). When I switched to broad, Scribe did return some keywords, but not many.
I’m informed by Copyblogger Media that they will be integrating Scribe SEO keyword research with Google’s Keyword Tool shortly. I welcome this change.
Google Keyword Tool is not perfect, but it’s decent and in my view better than Trellian.
I prefer Market Samurai as a premium keyword tool. But I also use the free Google Keyword Tool.
The keyword details for the post I published using Scribe SEO are as follows:
I targeted 2 keywords in this post that were not terribly competitive. I go after both competitive and non-competitive keywords. More and more I seek out lower competitive keywords for posts so that each posts brings in traffic.
The monthly global search volume for the two keywords in this Scribe SEO review and case study are as follows:
Keyword 1:
- Exact searches: 28
- Phrase searches: 73
- Broad searches: 390
Keyword 2:
- Exact searches: 28
- Phrase searches: 46
- Broad searches: 320
Meta Data
Scribe SEO tells you whether you’ve inserted the important meta data being meta titles, meta description, and post tags (if using CMS).
Scribe Evaluation
This is where scribe SEO goes to work. It performs an evaluation of your article content and tells you what needs to be improved.
Here’s a screenshot of my first Scribe SEO evaluation being featured in this Scribe SEO review (evaluation performed on August 4, 2011):
68%? And I thought I knew what I was doing with on-site SEO. Obviously I have a few things to learn.
Okay, I admit I think using Scribe SEO is fun. In fact, I turn it into a game to see how well I can optimize a site before clicking the “Evaluate” button.
Moreover, I put more effort into on-site optimization because my work was going to be graded. It’s like an on-site SEO exam. Fun stuff. Despite my best efforts, I scored only a 68%. My content needs work.
Key recommendations from this Scribe evaluation for my first article evaluated:
- Place a hyperlink at the beginning of the article.
- Increase use of a targeted secondary keyword.
- Flesch reading score 48.57 which is fairly difficult to read. That said, it’s an article about a type of technology which includes industry jargon.
- Add more post tags. Scribe provided a nice list of tags to add.
I’m trust Scribe and implemented these recommendations into my post. Time will tell as to how well my post ranks for its intended keywords.
The Scribe evaluation offers in-depth recommendations on each topic set out in the above evaluation screenshot. I’ll spare you those screenshots in this Scribe SEO review. You get the idea about the details and recommendations Scribe makes.
Linkbuilding opportunities presented by Scribe.
Scribe includes a module that provides linkbuilding opportunities including:
- Inbound links
- Internal links
- Social media mentions.
The following is the inbound link building recommendations:
The internal linking and social media link opportunities screen is similar.
It’s important to note that Scribe does NOT build links for you. Instead, you’re given a list of relevant sites and internal pages on your site that may provide linking opportunities. For the inbound links you still need to determine how to get an inbound link from the suggested websites. You can check out blog commenting, guest posting, building a direct relationship, or otherwise.
2 ways to use Scribe
1. You can do your keyword research first and see how well you optimize your content for those keyword(s), or
2. Write your content and then let Scribe suggest keywords.
If you go with approach number 1, it could well turn out that Scribe will recommend additional and/or different keywords based on your content.
Scribe SEO Benefits – What I Like About It
1. Content evaluations
Scribe SEO’s evaluation is worth the cost and then much, much more. This is the real value of Scribe SEO.
I’ve been doing SEO for a few years with decent results, buy my first evaluation returned a score of 68%. I learned a fair bit about on-site SEO with my first use. I suspect as I use Scribe more, my on-site optimization will improve. However, knowing that I’ll be evaluating my work is a strong incentive to optimize as well as possible.
2. Installation and user-interface is dead-simple.
One thing I can say about all the Copyblogger products I use is they know how to create easy-to-use products. The user-interface is simple and designed for easy use. The windows fit on your screen with minimal scrolling. Instead of requiring a great deal of scrolling down a results page, there are tabs to navigate the different evaluation and link building research pages.
3. Specific instructions given
Scribe isn’t some generic recommendation SEO software. The results provided are tailored to your content.
4. Gain a competitive advantage
SEO is a zero-sum game. There’s only 1 top spot in the search engines. The difference in traffic from the top spot to the second spot is huge. The difference in traffic from page 1 to page 2 of the search engine results pages is huge. The way I see it, if one or a few tweaks make the difference between a third spot listing and a first spot listing for even one article a month, that will likely pay for the service in spades.
5. Analyze your competitors
I haven’t done this yet, but if you have extra evaluations in a given month, why not evaluate your competitors ranking pages to see what they’re doing on-site to rank well.
6. Scientific approach to on-site SEO
My Scribe SEO review case study of the post I created while writing this Scribe SEO review is a perfect example of guessing vs. getting scientific. I scored a 68% (and I put in a better effort than usual). That’s probably not saying much for my on-site SEO optimization, but I’d rather be shown how to improve my on-site SEO than continue guessing and hoping for the best.
7. A great tool for article writers, web designers and copywriters
If you generate content for clients, Scribe SEO is a terrific tool to speed up the on-site SEO element of writing content. Even the slightest improved performance for clients is well-worth the monthly expense. You’ll also save yourself time.
8. Save time generating optimized content
Why guess with your on-site SEO? Instead, using a Scribe evaluation speeds up your on-site SEO efforts by baby-stepping you through required improvements for any article.
9. Knowlege is power
I learned several on-site SEO techniques with my first evaluation. Your subscription to Scribe includes access to some great SEO resources. Knowledge is power.
10. Integrates with prominent themes and SEO plugins
I use WordPress, so this trial and my set up reveals with which themes and SEO plugins Scribe integrates. The following themes integrate:
- Catalyst
- Frugal
- Genesis
- Headway
- Hybrid
- Thesis
- Woo
SEO Plugins:
- All in One SEO
- FV All in One SEO
- Headspace 2
- Platinum SEO Pack
- SEO Ultimate
- wpSEO
- WordPress SEO by Yoast
Scribe integrates with with Premise for WordPress as well.
Scribe and Premise for WordPress (read my Premise for WordPress review for more information) integrate perfectly. In fact, Scribe gives you the option to provide Scribe SEO evaluations for your Premise landing pages.
My Scribe SEO Criticisms:
No Scribe SEO review would be complete without mentioning my criticisms and dislikes.
1. Keyword research is not very good.
Don’t buy Scribe SEO for keyword research. I look forward when it integrates with the Google Keyword Tool. However, Market Samurai is a keyword research tool that is hard to beat.
Scribe SEO limits the number of keyword research searches each month according to your plan.
2. Conflicting WordPress plugins
Regrettably Scribe SEO conflicts with the following plugins:
- Flickster
- Find Me Elsewhere
- Follow Me
- Share This
- Word_pack Mobile Themes
- Tweet Button
- WP Media Category
- Cache Plugins
- Ad Management Plugin (private)
- IDX Broker
- Linklauder SEO
- EZwebplayer-wordpress-pro-video
The following Plugins have been identified to be incompatible with Scribe for Joomla:
- SEF Patch for Joomla
- FCK Editor
- JVideo Content
Scribe SEO conflicts with cache plugins. I’m not prepared to toss my cache plugin because I like it for decreasing page load time.
However, there’s an easy fix. You can get analyze your content inside Scribe.
What else I’d like to see Scribe do
1. Include <h> tag use in the analysis.
2. For linkbuilding opportunities, provide blogs with dofollow commenting. This would be an unbelievable feature. Fortunately, I subscribe to this SEO service (read my article about this dofollow blog list provider here) as well that provides me thousands of fresh dofollow blog commenting opportunities every month.
I’m being tough on Scribe SEO because it’s a monthly subscription SEO service. The costs add up. Moreover, you’d expect nothing less from a Scribe SEO review on this website where I set out to point out the good and bad in my review.
FAQs:
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes, if you cancel during your first 30 days, you can ask for your money back. After 30 days, you don’t get what you’ve paid, but it’s easy to cancel. In other words you aren’t tied to any contract.
What is a Scribe evaluation?
A Scribe SEO evaluation is the principle service. It analyzes your content for the search engines. You’re given a score as a percent. The higher the score, the better your content is optimized.
The evaluations provide a great deal of information about your content
Is there a plan that offers unlimited evaluations?
There’s not such offering in a package plan. However, you can contact Scribe about an Enterprise solution. I recommend trying a package first to see if you like the Scribe SEO service.
Can you buy 1 or a few more evaluations in a given month?
No. You must upgrade your plan to get more evaluations.
Can you use Scribe on unlimited websites?
Yes. Your number of evaluations are tallied across all websites.
Are unused evaluations carried over to the next month?
No.
Does Scribe work in languages other than English?
No.
Is there support?
Yes. There’s forum support, video tutorials, an extensive FAQs page, and a ticket system. I can tell you from personal experience as an extensive Copyblogger products user that their ticket support is excellent.
How much does Scribe SEO cost?
There are 4 packages to choose from. They are as follows:
I started with the Starter package costing $17 per month. It gives me 15 evaluations which is good for 15 published posts. I generally publish 30 to 50 posts per month, so I’ll likely be upgrading shortly.
Is Scribe SEO worth the monthly cost?
Yes. The value of Scribe SEO is in the evaluations and linkbuilding options. I learned a fair amount after 1 use.
No product is perfect. Yes, the keyword research tool is weak (easily overcome by simply using the Google Keyword Tool), but the feedback from the evaluations make publishing optimized content a no-brainer.
At the very least it’s worth trying for 30 days during which you can get your money back.
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