Are SEO Group Buys Safe? | What You Should Look Out For
SEO group buys are a way for businesses to share the costs of an SEO campaign.
When speaking about SEO group buys, we are mainly discussing group purchases of SEO tools. They can generally be quite expensive and some businesses will choose to share the cost of the tools to keep their monthly outgoings down.
There are certain risks that come with SEO group buys and in this article, we will discuss what to look out for in these kinds of group purchases and whether it is something you should be considering.
What Is an SEO Group Buy?
- What Is an SEO Group Buy?
- Are SEO Group Buys Safe?
- Are SEO Group Buys Legal?
- Is Group Buying just for SEO?
- What Are The Most Common SEO Tools?
- Are Group Buy Ahrefs SEO tools safe?
- Conclusion
SEO group-buying is where multiple users combine their money together to purchase an SEO tool.
Some of the main SEO tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush can be really quite expensive for an individual on a monthly basis. However, these tools are extremely useful for businesses and in particular, for marketing agencies that rely on the data these tools produce to make informed, strategic decisions.
SEO group buys can be a cost-effective way to run your key SEO tools. However, people do question how safe this actually is and whether you can put yourself at risk by trying to minimise costs.
Are SEO Group Buys Safe?
SEO group buys can be safe so long as the right precautionary measures are in place. Now, depending on what tools you are sharing and the setup which you are using, it will really depend on how secure or sensitive your shared information is.
Sharing of private information
For instance, if you have private business information and data that could be revealed by the sharing of a particular tool, this will leave you prone to that information becoming available for whoever may be sharing it. It also comes down to trust and whether you trust the people that you are sharing a particular tool with.
Are SEO Group Buys Legal?
Whilst SEO group buys may not be illegal, tool providers will try and get around this by restricting your usability.
Some SEO tools will have different rules when it comes to their account sharing policy. SEO group buys basically are another way of saying “account sharing”. In an ideal world, of course, any SEO tool provider will want you to pay the full premium for the relevant package.
There are some tools however that restrict access for different devices. On a standard plan with Semrush for instance, if you are logged in to multiple devices, it will log out the devices that are inactive and request you to log in again. The same is for Ahrefs and a lot of other SEO tools.
Is Group Buying just for SEO?
Group buying is certainly not just for SEO related products. Anything that may be of a considerable cost that could be a potential asset to a business is something that people may consider group buying with colleagues.
It can be a sensible decision for a business owner to go about group buying and of course, not one person will own the asset but everyone can benefit in one way or another.
Group buying is great for tools of any kind. Especially in SEO where shared access is simple – you create a shared login and password and sign in to any device.
What Are The Most Common SEO Tools?
There are a number of useful SEO tools that can enhance your SEO research and analysis efforts.
Some of the most common free and SEO tools include:
- Ahrefs
- Semrush
- Google Search Console
- Google Analytics
- Moz
- Screaming Frog
- Google Data Studio
- Google Adwords
- Google Trends
Whilst some of the tools mentioned above are completely free, Ahrefs, Semrush and Screaming Frog come at a premium.
These paid SEO tools can certainly be expensive so it’s reasonable to understand why people would rather look for a cheaper alternative.
Are Group Buy Ahrefs SEO tools safe?
There are a number of group buy platforms where you can access Ahrefs for cheap. However, you are running the risk here of sharing your access with people that you do not know.
As one of the leading marketing tools, Ahrefs is certainly a must for any SEO business. The issue is that the monthly cost for the standard package is well over $150 per month. Hence why people consider SEO tools group buy websites.
You should be very careful of using these kinds of websites and I would personally recommend if you are going to share an account, to do it with people that you know or work with directly.
Conclusion
To summarise, are SEO group buys safe? I would say if you are looking to share tools with people that you know, then certainly do it. You need to be prepared that you may be sharing sensitive business data and you need to be able to know and trust whoever you are sharing your tools with.
With Ahrefs for instance, there is a site audit tool where you can connect your Google Search Console account. If you are doing this on a shared account, you run the risk of hackers getting access to your website information.
There are SEO group buy websites out there that will steal sensitive information and whilst they may offer a significantly cheaper price, you are then leaving yourself prone to people seeing all kinds of sensitive data.
Many SEO tools can be quite expensive and not really provide you with the insights you need. You should only invest in SEO tools if you really believe that they will give you insights that you are missing with the free tools that are available.