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The industry-standard desktop website crawler for technical SEO auditing and link auditing.
Editor Review Breakdown
Product Overview
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is the leading desktop-based crawler software. Designed specifically for technical SEO engineers, it acts as a web browser spider that crawls and scrapes site links, gathering data on canonical status, headings, redirects, script errors, and structural layout anomalies.
Key Features
- Find broken links, errors and redirect loops
- Analyze page titles and meta descriptions
- Generate dynamic XML sitemaps
- Audit canonicals and duplicate content
- Integrate Google Analytics & Search Console APIs
Pros
- •Extremely fast and thorough technical analysis engine that crawls thousands of links in seconds.
- •Custom extraction allows users to scrape any text or structured data from HTML pages.
- •Outstanding JavaScript rendering support using standard Chromium rendering.
Cons
- •Cluttered, technical spreadsheet interface is intimidating for beginners.
- •Requires high local computer RAM memory to crawl very large sites (100k+ URLs).
- •Only licensed per individual computer seat.
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Browse SEO & SEM DealsPricing & Plans
Free
- 500 URL Crawl Limit
- Find broken links
- Analyze page titles
- Generate sitemaps
Paid License
- Unlimited Crawls
- Scheduled crawls
- JavaScript rendering
- API integrations
- Custom extraction
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FAQ
Is Screaming Frog a cloud tool?
No, Screaming Frog is a desktop client software that you download and run directly on Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu.
Can I use Screaming Frog for free?
Yes, the free version allows crawling up to 500 URLs per crawl with basic analysis tools included.
How often does Screaming Frog update its search database and ranking metrics?
Screaming Frog refreshes search volume, keyword difficulty, and domain authority metrics daily for high-traffic terms and weekly for long-tail keywords.
Does Screaming Frog support mobile and desktop rank tracking separately?
Yes, Screaming Frog allows you to track Google search engine result pages (SERPs) across mobile devices and desktop computers independently.
Can I track local rankings down to specific zip codes in Screaming Frog?
Yes, the keyword tracking module in Screaming Frog supports location-specific targeting, allowing you to track rankings at the country, state, city, or zip code level.
Does Screaming Frog provide competitor backlink auditing features?
Yes, Screaming Frog indexes live web links and provides an in-depth breakdown of competitor referring domains, anchor text distribution, and toxic links.
Can I schedule automated white-label PDF reports for clients in Screaming Frog?
Yes, you can configure Screaming Frog to auto-generate and email PDF reports with your own brand logo and colors on a weekly or monthly basis.
How accurate is the search volume data in Screaming Frog?
Screaming Frog aggregates clickstream metrics alongside historical search queries to estimate search volume with high statistical accuracy.