Moz Review 2025: My Honest Experience With Its SEO Features

Moz is a great tool with helpful features like Domain Authority, and I find it easy to use.

I’ve been using the Moz Pro Medium plan for some time now, so I’ve had the chance to explore its features and how effective it is compared to its competitors.

Quick Moz Review Summary:

Moz wasn’t as good as other tools like Semrush in some ways. For example, Moz doesn’t have as many keywords in its database. Also, its competitor research tools don’t always give me enough information to understand how my competitors are doing.

But Moz doesn’t overwhelm me by offering a ton of features like its competitors, including Semrush, Ahrefs, etc.

In this review, I’ll share my honest experience with Moz, its strengths and weaknesses, and whether it’s the right fit for your SEO strategy.

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Quick Introduction to Moz

Moz began in 2004 as SEOmoz, founded by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig.

It began as an SEO blog and online community where SEO experts shared research and ideas on increasing search traffic.

In 2013, SEOmoz rebranded to Moz and expanded its product offerings to include tools for link building, keyword research, and site auditing.

Moz offers easy-to-use tools to help SEOs of all kinds. Its primary audience includes;

• SEO professionals
• Bloggers and website owners
• Small businesses
• Agencies and teams
• Media and advertising platforms

Essential Stats & Facts of Moz:

• Keyword database of 1.25 Billion monthly keyword volumes and 800+ million keyword suggestions
• Backlink database of 45.5 trillion links, 8.7 trillion URLs and 1 billion domains
• SERP data of over 25 billion historical SERPs and 440 million SERPs collected monthly
• Track and manage more than 75 locations with Moz Local

Key Features: Moz offers a comprehensive set of SEO tools, including:

• Keyword Research: Identify and analyze target keywords with metrics like search volume, difficulty, and organic click-through rate (CTR). 
• Link Analysis: Analyze backlink profiles, including metrics such as Domain Authority, inbound links count, and linking domains count.  
• Rank Tracking: Easily monitor keyword rankings over time and compare mobile versus desktop visibility.
• Site Audits: Conduct technical SEO audits to identify and fix issues that may affect your SEO rankings.
• On-Page Optimization: Get highly relevant recommendations to optimize your content.
• Competitive Analysis: Identify your competitors, analyze their top content, identify keyword gaps, etc.

Moz also offers a 30-day free trial to new users.

Grab 30-Day Free Trial Now

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Ease of Use

Moz’s user interface is simple and user-friendly, offering a dashboard where I can access various SEO tools. 

Its interface provides simple navigation, including features such as keyword research, link analysis, site audits, and rank tracking.

Here’s what its interface looks like;

As shown above, I can find all the Moz tools in one place, neatly organized in a user-friendly interface. 

Initially, going through all the features that Moz offers, like keyword research, site audits, and backlink analysis, may seem challenging. But Moz provides a ton of free tutorials, guides, and webinars that help beginners effectively use their tools.

If I need any help with their tools, I can email them using this contact form. However, they don’t offer a live chat feature or phone support.

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Essential Features of Moz: An Insider View With Merits & Demerits

Keyword Research

Moz’s Keyword Research tool is good at helping me craft a solid keyword strategy. This tool allows me to easily uncover high-value keywords that are highly relevant to my target audience.

Finding relevant keywords is always challenging for most people. With Moz, I can identify relevant keywords, which gives me enough data, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and organic click-through rates.

To get the most out of this tool, I start by typing a seed keyword, picking a database, and then exploring related terms and their metrics.

Once I click the Analyze button, it will show me all the relevant metrics.

As shown above, I can quickly discover;

• My keyword’s estimated monthly volume
• Organic CTR (the number of search clicks for the keyword)
• Difficulty score
• Minimum DA (an excellent metric that gives me an idea of the minimum DA required to rank for that particular keyword in the top 10 results).

While picking keywords with the Moz keyword tool, I always prioritize keywords with moderate difficulty and high potential traffic. Here, the “Minimum DA” score metric is helpful.

Also, for each keyword, it shows me the primary search intent so I can create the RIGHT content for my audience.

When I scroll down a bit, I get hundreds of relevant keyword suggestions along with question keywords, which I can use in my content to rank for long-tail keywords and voice searches.

Moz keyword tool also gives me SERP analysis for the target keyword;

As shown above, I can quickly identify the top 10 pages and their Ranking Keywords count, Page Authority, and Domain Authority. The SERP analysis feature allows me to evaluate current search competitors and pick the right keywords.

Compared to tools like Ahrefs or Semrush, Moz keyword tool is less comprehensive regarding competitor insights like CPC value, but its keyword suggestions are good enough for most people. 

You can read our unbiased comparison of Moz vs Semrush for more details.

Overall, Moz’s Keyword Research tool helps me identify relevant keywords that are easy to rank for. Also, it simplifies the keyword research process by NOT overwhelming me with unnecessary data.

Backlink Analysis

Backlinks play a key role in increasing my site’s SEO rankings. I need to understand how my competitors are building links and what toxic links are harming my rankings.

Moz’s Link Explorer tool is powerful in understanding and improving my website’s backlink profile. This tool helps me analyze the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to my site and competitors’ sites.

To get started with this tool, I enter my website’s URL in the Link Research tool and click on the Analyze button.

It instantly gives an overview of my site’s backlink profile.

I can see my site’s domain authority (DA), linking domains, inbound links, and the total number of keywords for which my site ranks.

Moz link research tool shows me recently discovered and lost linking domains;

When I scroll down, it shows me a list of all the recently discovered and lost links.

I can also discover all the top websites linked to me, along with the top pages with the highest page authority (PA).

Also, Moz’s Spam Score helps me identify potentially harmful backlinks that could hurt my site’s rankings. 

I can easily find all the links with high spam scores, so I can take the necessary steps to disavow them or improve my link profile.

One downside of Moz Link Explorer is that it might not show all the websites linking to yours, and the backlink information might not be as up-to-date as other SEO tools.

Overall, I find Link Explorer to be a very helpful tool. It helps me understand how many sites are linking to me (along with the toxic sites) and gives me ideas on how to make my website rank better than my competitors.

Competitor Research

Competitive research is essential for any online business that wants to succeed in a crowded niche.

I’m in a digital marketing and SEO niche, which is really competitive. So, I must understand what strategies generate the best results for my competitors.

Here’s where Moz’s competitor analysis tools come in handy and how I use them.

To begin, I go to True Competitor under the Competitor Research tool on Moz.

I entered my website’s URL and preferred the country to find my competitors.

After clicking Find Competitors, I can see my domain listed along with its Domain Authority. 

Right below that, there’s a list of my top 25 competitors, giving me a clear view of who I’m up against.

Besides the DA metric, the tool also shows me the following;

• Overlap: This shows the percentage of keywords I share with a specific competitor, where both of us are ranking in the top 10.
• Rivalry: It’s a 1-100 score that combines my Domain Authority (DA), the competitor’s DA, keyword overlap, keyword volume, and rankings to reveal my biggest competitors.

To analyze my chosen competitors, I select them using the checkboxes on the left and click Compare Competitors.

From there, I’m taken to the Keyword Gap section of Competitive Research, where I can see the keywords these sites are ranking for and identify gaps I can target.

Here’s what it looks like;

As shown above, I can see all the ranking keywords along with;

• Keywords that are ranking in top positions (1 to 3 positions and 4 to 10)
• Page authority and domain authority scores

Once I scroll down a bit, it will show me a list of all the keywords that I can improve rankings (compared to my competitors);

Also, I can click on the “New keyword opportunities” to identify a list of all the keywords my competitors rank for, but I don’t.

See that? I get a list of all the missing keywords that I can rank for along with essential metrics, including;

• Monthly search volume
• Difficulty of each keyword
• Traffic lift (The estimated amount of traffic I could gain by surpassing my competitor in rankings for this keyword)

However, Moz’s competitor analysis tools feel a bit underwhelming compared to those of its competitors like Ahrefs, Semrush, etc. 

For instance, both Semrush and Ahrefs provide more in-depth backlink comparison, traffic analysis, and keyword gap insights, which are missing in Moz.

All in all, Moz’s competitor tool is easy to use and efficient enough for in-depth competitive analysis. 

Rank Tracking

Rank tracking is all about monitoring your current keyword rankings in search engines like Google.

I must keep an eye on my rankings to determine how effective my site’s SEO strategies are. 

Moz Pro offers a Rank Checker tool for monitoring keyword performance and search rankings, offering a clear view of how my site performs over time. 

Here’s how I use it for rank tracking;

To start, I just need to drop in a keyword and URL (exact URL or subdomain). 

If I select the Subdomain option (under the URL tab), I can determine if that term ranks for any page within that subdomain. Rank Checker will then identify and display the specific URL with the highest ranking for my target keyword.

Also, I can select a search engine and country to help me get the right ranking data.

That’s it; I can instantly see the performance of that particular keyword and URL, along with other keyword metrics.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, the above keyword ranks in the #8 position on Google US, which has a search volume of 50 and a keyword difficulty of 34.

One thing I liked about Moz rank checker is that it also offers a handy feature called “On-Page Grader”. It helps me understand how well optimized my page is for my target keyword and where I can improve. 

Here’s what it looks like;

As shown above, I can easily find out what’s missing and what I can do to improve its optimization.

I can also add essential keywords to track their rankings automatically, saving me the time and effort of manually checking positions.

However, Moz’s rank tracking lacks real-time updates.

Overall, Moz’s rank checker does the job by identifying fluctuations in rankings and allows me to check rankings in various search engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Google Mobile.

On-Demand Crawl (Site Audits)

Moz’s On-Demand Crawl feature lets me instantly analyze my website for technical issues like broken links, duplicate content, and crawl errors. This tool helps me quickly evaluate the health of my site, up to 3,000 pages.

To begin using this tool, I’ll click the “On-Demand Crawl” and enter my website’s URL.

Once I click on the Analyze button, the tool will crawl my entire site and give me a report that looks like this;

As shown above,  I can see there are over 214 issues that I need to fix to improve my site’s UX and overall SEO score.

The issues are categorized in several ways, including;

• Critical crawler issues (which need an immediate fix)
• Crawler warnings
• Metadata issues (issues with meta descriptions and titles)
• Redirect issues
• Content issues (such as thin content)

When I scroll down a bit, Moz’s on-demand crawl gives me recommended suggestions to fix those issues.

I can also specifically pick each major issue to see what can be done to improve its rankings.

Here’s a thin content issue on one of my pages;

Reviewing the page, I can focus on adding more valuable, detailed information that addresses user intent. 

That said, when comparing it to Semrush’s site audits, Moz’s tool feels limited. Semrush provides more comprehensive reporting, including health scores, advanced filtering, etc.

In a nutshell, its interface is clean, and I can easily find major SEO issues that are preventing my site from getting better rankings.

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Pros & Cons of Moz

Pros of Moz Tool	Cons of Moz Tool
Moz is known for its DA (Domain Authority) metric for evaluating a website’s overall authority.	Their navigation could be more straightforward to use.
Great for backlink analysis, as it has the biggest backlink database with 40.7 trillionlinks.	Limited Keyword Database compared to other premium tools like Semrush or Ahrefs.
Accurate rank tracking.
Moz offers hundreds of free SEO guides, tutorials, and videos on how to use their platform.
It offers a basic plan costing only $49/mo, suitable for small businesses or startups with only one website.
Offers a free 30-day trial
Provides you with 24-hour online support
Create Keyword Lists to manage your topics easily.
Moz Local tool helps you easily create and manage your local business listings across multiple directories.

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Moz Pricing Plans

Moz offers four pricing plans, including;

1. Starter
2. Standard
3. Medium
4. Large

Quick note: Make sure to check out the Moz free trial before you invest in any of Moz’s plans to see if it’s worth your money.

1. Starter plan

Moz offers a more budget-friendly option called the “Starter” plan for small businesses or startups with just one website, starting at $49 monthly ($39/mo if billed annually).

This plan offers:

• Access for one individual.
• Monitor the performance of a single website.
• Track the ranking of up to 50 keywords per month.
• Crawl and analyze up to 20,000 pages of your website each month.
• Starter SEO Tools: Includes essential features like keyword research, competitor analysis, MozBar Premium (browser extension), website tracking, and 24/7 online support

2. Standard plan

This is perfect for small businesses and most website owners, costing $99 monthly ($79/mo if billed annually). It includes core tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, and site audits. This is Moz’s most valuable plan.

This plan offers:

• Access for one individual.
• Monitor the performance of up to three websites.
• Track the ranking of up to 300 keywords per month.
• Crawl and analyze up to 400,000 pages of your websites each month.
• Standard SEO Tools: Includes a comprehensive suite of SEO tools such as keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, unlimited scheduled reports, MozBar Premium (browser extension), website tracking, and 24/7 online support.

3. Medium plan

This plan offers generous usage limits and comprehensive keyword research tools, making it the ideal starting point for most users. It costs $179 monthly ($143/mo if billed annually).

This plan offers:

• Access for two individuals.
• Monitor the performance of up to ten websites.
• Track the ranking of up to 1,500 keywords per month.
• Crawl and analyze up to 2 million pages of your websites each month.
• All Standard Tools & More: Includes all the features of the Standard plan, plus increased quotas for SEO tools, the ability to create branded reports, and access to report templates.

4. Large plan

This plan is particularly useful for larger businesses and agencies that require a comprehensive suite of SEO tools and extensive data. It costs $299 monthly ($239/mo if billed annually).

This plan offers:

• Access for three individuals.
• Monitor the performance of up to 25 websites.
• Track the ranking of up to 3,000 keywords per month.
• Crawl and analyze up to 5 million pages of your websites each month.
• All Medium Features & More: Includes all the features of the Medium plan, plus increased quotas for SEO tools.

Get 20% OFF on Moz Annual Plans

Note: Want to save more on Moz Pro? You can subscribe annually and enjoy a 20% discount on ALL Moz plans.

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Top 2 Alternatives to Moz

Although Moz is a great tool, it’s NOT for everyone. Here are TWO of the best Moz alternatives with their pros and cons.

1. Semrush

I would consider Semrush as the BEST alternative to Moz for two reasons;

• Semrush offers over 55 tools, including content marketing, PPC analysis, and SEO. 
• It also has a more extensive database for backlinks and keyword tracking.

The main downside of Semrush compared to Moz is its pricing, with plans starting at $129.95 per month. On the other hand, Moz Pro is more affordable, with its basic plan starting at just $49 per month.

You can read my unbiased Semrush review to find its detailed tutorial.

Pros:

• Semrush is an excellent value for money, offering over 55 tools, including keyword research, site audits, content marketing, etc.
• It has a huge keyword and backlink database, which is especially useful for competitive research.
• Offers an in-depth site audit tool that helps you find and fix all the major SEO issues on your site.

Cons:

• There’s a big learning curve for new users, as Semrush offers too many tools.
• Semrush only offers a 14-day free trial (compared to Moz’s 30-day free trial).

2. SpyFu

SpyFu can be a great choice if you’re looking for affordable alternatives to Moz. Also, SpyFu’s pricing starts at just $33/mo, which makes it suitable for most website owners and small businesses. 

However, SpyFu’s database is not as extensive as Moz’s regarding backlink analysis and the depth of keyword research. Additionally, SpyFu doesn’t offer local SEO tools, unlike Moz.

For more information, read my review of SpyFu to see if it’s worth your money.

Pros:

• Offers exclusive tools for advanced PPC research for advertising campaigns and keyword analysis.
• It is extremely affordable compared to its competitors including Moz, Semrush, etc.
• You can search without limits and export as much data as you want.

Cons:

• The backlink database is smaller than Moz’s and lacks in-depth data.
• SpyFu doesn’t offer a free trial (compared to Moz’s 30-day free trial).
• SpyFu’s data accuracy is not that good!

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FAQs

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Final thoughts

I’ve found that Moz is a valuable tool for some people. I REALLY liked their Keyword Explorer and Link Explorer tools, which can come in handy in finding great keywords and link prospects.

However, it’s NOT as comprehensive as its competitors, including Semrush or Ahrefs.

If you’re unsure, I recommend trying Moz’s 30-day free trial first. Explore their platform, try all its features, and see how it works for you.

Did you find my Moz tutorial helpful? Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments.