November 21, 2019

Grading the extreme complexity of search appearance: Morningscore review

Grading the extreme complexity of search appearance: Morningscore review

This post originally appeared in the November 21, 2019 issue of The Content Technologist with the email subject line "How algorithms work" and an essay about breaking down search and content algorithms.

I have 71 SEO tools in my giant Content Technologist database, wherein I identify and review a slew of martech tools that don’t make it to the email pages of The Content Technologist. Many good SEO tools are on the market for different kinds of SEO operations, and Morningscore is one of them.

As stated above, SEO is complex and the barrier to understanding isn’t low. Advanced SEO pros want a lot of features, customization and options to build their measurement strategies and understand their performance. Enterprise-level tools like Brightedge, Conductor, Searchmetrics and SEMRush have many aspects and features to track website performance against many ranking factors.

But sometimes you just want to look at a number or a grade. Sometimes you don’t want to look through lists of links and charts. SEO tools aren’t known for aesthetics, and sometimes it’s nice to look at a pretty UI. Enter Morningscore, an SEO grading and analysis tool.

At a glance: Morningscore

Morningscore provides entry- to intermediate-level SEO analysis and tracking functionality, assigning websites a score based on organic search rankings and visibility. The constant challenge of SEO is proving economic value and ROI, so the Morningscore grade represents the approximate dollar value of SEO actions. It’s a proprietary-ish metric, calculated from an algorithm where the ranking signals are Google’s data on monthly search volume, traffic and PPC value.

There are ups and downs to demonstrating SEO value with a single metric, but it’s a good start for users who unfamiliar with organic search tactics and forced to prove their value. Morningscore’s gamification also makes it more fun than most of the other tools on the market. The tool provides the following widgets, among others:

  • Keyword research, grouping and tracking
  • Website health/audit and task-list constuction
  • Performance forecasting
  • Backlink monitoring and suggestions
  • Competitive identification, change monitoring and gap analysis

Together, those are a fairly comprehensive SEO starter kit. I’d recommend Morningscore for businesses that are looking to launch an SEO initiative and want a tool that’s clear and concise.

Advanced SEO professionals will find themselves limited quickly, but they’ll also be jealous that their very advanced tools aren’t as pretty or fun as Morningscore.

SEO | optimization | content analytics

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