I want to use a recent experience to talk about a major misconception in SEO. The title of this post says it all: Use SEO tools as your helper, not your guide.
Here is the context.
Another agency reached out to me recently. They don’t have SEO experience. They knew that I did. They asked if I could handle a one-time fix for a client of theirs.
This client had an Ahrefs subscription. And that subscription told them they had a big problem.
The SEO "Big Issue"
When the client ran an audit crawl, Ahrefs came back with a scary result. It said there were 300+ pages linking to a broken page. It labeled this as a major error.
So, they took that audit synopsis and fed it into ChatGPT. They asked why their SEO wasn’t doing well. ChatGPT looked at the error and said, “Hey, you need to fix all these broken links.”
So the agency reached out to me. They said, “Hey, for a one-time fee, can you fix this?”
But here is where it got messy. They just passed the summary over. They didn't send the actual export or the CSV spreadsheet of the broken links.
The Wild Goose Chase
Crawl settings are different for SEO tool. I have an Ahrefs account, but when I ran the crawl, it didn’t give me the URLs that were wrong (crawl settings and access might be different). I wasn't seeing the same error the client was seeing.
That’s an issue with these SEO tools. They aren't all the same.
I tried a few different angles:
- I used Sitebulb to run a crawl. I wanted to see if I could find the specific URL.
- I fixed some things Sitebulb found, but the client was still seeing the issue on their side.
- I used Ubersuggest to see what was wrong.
- It found a completely different issue that Sitebulb missed.
I fixed that issue too. And yet, the client’s Ahrefs account still said the issue wasn't resolved.
(NOTE: It also could be my lack of understanding of how to use these tools to their fullest potential haha.)
Finally, I got direct access. I used LastPass to log into the client’s Ahrefs account. Their configurations were different because they had domain ownership and settings I didn't have.
Once I was in, I figured it out.
One URL to Rule Them All
It wasn't 300 broken pages. It was a singular URL.
One URL was linking to a 404 error. Because it was on a template, it showed up everywhere.
I went into the backend of the website. I found the one URL. I fixed it.
The site health score boosted immediately. I think they were at 67% healthy. They jumped all the way to 92% or 96%. It was a major jump. From one URL.
Project = Success (sort of…)
I did what I was paid for. The site is healthy.
But their traffic is still in decline.
This is why I say: Use SEO tools as your helper, not your guide.
These SEO tools are great tools. They’re a helper to show you some things that are wrong, how to fix them, and what potentially to do next. You shouldn’t trust it alone to tell you how to grow.
Fixing errors, those are foundational things. But it’s just one aspect.
If you just take a summary, throw it into ChatGPT, and try to determine your entire business strategy? You’re going to lose.
You need someone with actual expertise to go in and see what’s going on.
In this case, I didn't have direct access to the main client to tell them the hard truth. Yes, technical fixes keep the site clean. But this won't boost rankings. This won't get more traffic. You need an expert to set a strategy for unique, useful content.
Not All SEO Tools Are The Same
Different tools show you different things.
- Semrush is going to be different than Ahrefs.
- Ahrefs is going to be different than Screaming Frog.
- Screaming Frog is going to be different than Sitebulb.
- Sitebulb is going to be different than Ubersuggest.
Did you like my use of a listicle there? ha Even other comparison articles will bring in other SEO tools out there like this one: The 6 Best Seo Tools
Keep moving around. See what’s going on. But hopefully, you have someone with expertise who can actually help you. You need to figure out the problem, resolve the issue, and then move forward with a better strategy for useful content.
What I want you to do next:
Hey, schedule a call with me to talk about SEO. That’s it - free and easy.
