Tools and providers
Part of Before you buy SEO tools, split the licence from the data
Building an evidence register for SEO tools
Build an evidence register for SEO tools with dated claims, source tiers, confidence levels and checks against your own account data.
What to take away
A marketing manager in Leeds renewing three SEO seats has to justify the spend before the quarter closes. Evidence that survives scrutiny is written down, dated and traceable.
- Name the decision firstrenewal, replacement or expansion.
- Sort sources into three tiersvendor pages, public framework records, your own account data.
- Log each source with the date you checked it, because vendor pages change quietly.
- Score vendor claims against your own crawl and rank data before signing.
Match Evidence to Decision
What decision are you making?
Renewal -> Use your own usage data
Replacement -> Use feature comparisons
Matching sources to the decision you are making
Renewals, replacements and expansions each need different evidence. A renewal rests on your own usage data. A replacement rests on feature comparisons, and an expansion on cost per seat and how seats are counted.
Name the decision in one sentence before you open a browser. "Review renewal for three seats" is a decision. "Look at SEO tools" is not.
Set a time budget as well. A renewal with a fixed end date needs evidence assembled in days, not weeks. Write the deadline at the top of the register so the searching stops when the date arrives.
Vendor documentation and what it can carry
Vendor pages are usually the only current source for pricing tiers and seat rules. They are marketing documents, so record them as claims, not findings. Semrush's mid-market solution page shows how one platform positions itself for larger buying teams.
Screenshot the page and note the URL, because a price shown in April may not exist in July. That shows who the vendor expects to serve.
Public framework records as a cross-check
Public sector procurement leaves a dated paper trail. Applying to the G-Cloud framework explains the service details a supplier, including an SEO tool vendor, must publish to sell to UK public bodies. Those records are structured and versioned; private sales pages are not.
Borrow that format even if you never sell to the public sector. If you are still mapping categories before scoring anything, the SEO tools and supplier guide for 2027 lists the vendor set first.
Building a source register
A register is a plain table. It stops a selection decision resting on whoever spoke last in the meeting.
Source Register Fields
- Claimwhat is being asserted
- Sourcewhere it came from
- Date checkedwhen you verified it
- Source tiervendor, public, or own data
- Ownerwho is responsible
- Confidencehigh, medium, or low
Fields worth recording
Record six fields for every claim: claim, source and date checked. Add the source tier, the owner and a confidence value, which can be high, medium or low, and anything marked low needs a second source before it reaches a budget paper.
The date matters most, because pricing pages and feature lists are edited without a changelog. Add a short notes column for anything a colleague would need to read the row.
A worked example with labelled costs
Take an illustrative two-person in-house team. Two seats at £180 each cost £360 a month. A local listing tool at £25 per location across six locations adds £150. The total is £510 a month, or £6,120 a year.
Add the annual total to the register so the next reviewer can see it. Before pricing that listing tool, check what the product covers: Moz Local's local SEO features lists the capabilities you are buying.
Testing evidence before you commit
Triangulating vendor claims
A claim earns a place only when two independent tiers support it. A pricing page plus an invoice from your own account is strong. Two vendor blog posts are weak. High confidence means you could show the evidence to a finance director without flinching.
Ask the vendor for the claim in writing with a date. Record the claims you drop too: a rejected claim stops the same argument returning next quarter.
Review points after purchase
Set review dates at 30, 90 and 180 days. At each, compare active users with the seats you pay for. A team of eight using three seats is funding shelfware. Cancel or downgrade seats you cannot fill. The tool implementation in England guide covers the handover and training work that sits between signing and steady use.
Common questions
How many sources should sit behind one selection decision?
Three or four is enough for a routine renewal. A replacement that touches several teams needs more.
Should I pay for third-party benchmark data?
Only if the benchmark maps to your own sites and markets. Off-the-shelf rankings rarely match your query set, and they date quickly.
How long should the source register be kept?
Keep it for the life of the contract plus one renewal cycle, so the next buyer can see what changed.
Do public sector records help private buyers?
They show how a vendor describes its service in a fixed format. That is a fair check on how stable the product's positioning is.
