Hike SEO is an AI-driven software that simplifies complex search engine optimization processes. It is a user-friendly SEO tool designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Hike SEO has comprehensive features, including keyword research and tracking functions, on-page SEO analysis, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring. This SEO tool helps identify and target relevant keywords, improving your content's visibility in search results. It achieves this by optimizing meta tags, headings, and the overall content structure. They claim to have built a community of over 4,000 small businesses. Hike SEO is available across 70 countries.
Users have different experiences with Hike SEO. One Reddit commenter believes it is worth considering because of its 14-day free trial. It only costs $59 monthly if you want to give it a test run after the trial period. He considers Hike SEO a good enough alternative to Semrush and Ahrefs.
Another Reddit commenter shared a screenshot of his website performing better without Hike SEO.
I’ve been optimizing and ranking websites for over a decade. I can say from experience that broad keywords in highly competitive niches are hard to rank. Search engines need time to crawl and index websites before they recognize improvements. It is a lot harder to see the results of your SEO efforts. I turned my focus on ranking for local keywords instead. It is less competitive, and leads are more likely to convert. I made a stable and sustainable income by building and optimizing simple websites for local service providers. This Hike SEO review uncovers all the tool offers. It discusses the different products, pricing tiers, and target users of Hike SEO. I’ll also share Reddit and YouTube reviews, plus results from Hike SEO users.
Hike SEO Pros And Cons
Hike SEO Pros
User-Friendly Platform: Hike SEO is known for its intuitive interface. It is suitable for small business owners with limited SEO knowledge.
Tailored Recommendations: It offers step-by-step guidance on effectively optimizing for Google’s algorithm.
Cost-Effective: Budget-friendly option for businesses who can't afford an SEO expert.
Transparent Pricing: Product pages and pricing tiers are posted on their official website. Hike SEO offers a 14-day free trial.
Hike SEO Cons
Limited Advanced Features: It might be too basic for bigger businesses that need advanced functions.
Dependency on the Tool: Heavily relies on the platform for SEO strategies. This limits independent learning.
Limited Data Access: Hike has a less comprehensive database compared to robust, enterprise-level tools.
Price
Hike SEO software costs $59/month; Hike SEO software + agency management costs $209 monthly
Refund Policy
Launched in 2018 by Kieran Headley & Andrew Allen
Origin
14-day refund policy on all packages
Reputation
A beginner-friendly SEO tool designed for small businesses; a cheaper alternative to enterprise SEO tools
How Does Hike SEO Help You Reach the Top of Google with Just a Few Hours a Month?
Hike SEO helps you reach the top of Google by identifying relevant keywords. The tool helps optimize content around those keywords. It provides on-page SEO analysis by assessing title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content structure. It then offers suggestions on how to improve the content. Hike conducts technical audits. This identifies website issues like broken links, slow page speed, or crawl errors that could impact search rankings. Another feature of Hike SEO is it lets you analyze your competitor’s SEO strategies. This tool is helpful for beginners because it lets you benchmark performance and identify business opportunities. It ensures the website is optimized for mobile devices to maintain search rankings.
Hike SEO handles backlink analysis and management by analyzing the existing backlinks of the website. It evaluates backlink quality and relevance and suggests strategies for rebuilding them. This process helps websites build authority in their niche. The top features of Hike SEO are keyword research and rank tracking, and on-page SEO analysis. It’s also great for competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring and analysis. Site audit and technical SEO checks are also top features of this software.
What Are The Different Products of Hike SEO?
Onsite Optimizer: Hike SEO’s Onsite Optimizer uses AI to provide automated SEO recommendations and implement them quickly. It's a free digital product for Hike subscribers. The onsite optimizer can be setup in under 5 minutes. The tool adheres to Google’s guidelines and ensures search-engine-friendly optimizations. Acting as a virtual SEO agent, it delivers content, meta descriptions, headers, and more, streamlining the entire SEO process.
Hike Local: After connecting your Google profile, Hike Local identifies missing optimization opportunities and provides clear instructions on what to fix. It's a free feature for Hike users that lets you make all necessary changes directly within the platform. Everything else is automatically updated on Google.
SEO Academy: An all-in-one platform that teaches the basics of technical SEO, site audit, and backlink-building. It's a free training for Hike users. The modules are all video-based. There are also quizzes and action tasks, so you can apply what you learned.
White-label SEO software: This feature is available for all Agency Growth plan users. It empowers agencies and resellers to create their SEO tool. They’ll have their domain, logo, colors, and login images. White-label SEO tools let you capture leads directly from your website. You can also customize what your customers can see and do within the platform. It is free for Agency Growth plan users, except for the Merchant Centre upgrade.
What Can You Get From Hike SEO?
Hike SEO Software
A complete SEO toolset designed to help businesses manage their SEO without relying on an agency. The software is ideal for improving your Google Business Profile, enhancing local SEO efforts, and addressing both on-page and off-page SEO needs.
Hike SEO Software Cost: $59.99 monthly or $35.99 per month billed annually. Yearly payers are billed $431.99 at the point of purchase, saving 45% off monthly pricing.
Inclusions of Hike SEO Software
Onsite Optimizer: Quickly implement SEO recommendations without logging into your CMS. This makes it easy to follow an SEO checklist for continuous optimization.
Full SEO Toolsuite: Manage keyword research, competitor analysis, link building, and more. This tool suite supports off-page SEO strategies, such as link-building, for better authority and rankings.
Tracking & Custom Reports: Monitor performance with customizable reports pulling data from Google tools.
AI SEO Expert: Assists with strategy and SEO-friendly copy creation. All changes are applied directly to the website. This feature can help boost your Google My Business profile and local search visibility.
AI SEO Expert: Assists with strategy and SEO-friendly copy creation. All changes are applied directly to the website. This feature can help boost your Google My Business profile and local search visibility.
Help & Learning Resources: Hike SEO users get unlimited customer support and personalized onboarding. They also get access to the SEO academy and guided monthly webinars.
Hike SEO Software + Agency Management
This package is designed for users who don’t have time to use Hike. A dedicated account manager will help in setting up and managing their SEO strategy and account on the Hike SEO platform.
Hike SEO Software + Agency Management Cost: $209.99 monthly or $185.99 per month billed annually. Yearly payers are billed $2,231.99 at the point of purchase, saving 15% off monthly pricing.
Inclusions of Hike SEO Software + Agency Management
Account Manager: The client gets a dedicated account manager who sets up your account and launches your SEO strategy.
SEO Strategy & Implementation: SEO management includes keyword research, page optimizations, and content creation for three pages every month. Clients get a custom 6-month strategy reviewed bi-annually.
Blog Content: Hike SEO clients get one SEO-optimized, 700-word blog post each month. These blogs contain optimized keywords from research.
Monthly Call & Report: The business’ strategy is refined through a 15-minute monthly call. A detailed report is then sent back to the client for progress tracking and strategy refining.
Who Is Hike SEO For?
Hike SEO is for businesses who can't afford expensive SEO agencies or don’t have time to learn SEO themselves. According to the creators, the tool addressed the challenges small businesses face with SEO. This comprehensive tool builds custom strategies, generates action plans, and tracks key performance. Hike SEO is specifically for:
Small business owners looking for SEO improvements and online visibility
Freelance digital marketers managing multiple clients' SEO needs
E-commerce entrepreneurs who want to drive more organic traffic to their online stores
Local service providers like plumbers and electricians who want to rank in local search results
Bloggers who want to optimize their content for search engines
Content creators who want to increase their reach by ranking on Google
Hike SEO is suitable for beginners because it breaks down complex SEO processes into manageable daily activities. It also offers account management for those who don’t have time or need assistance with the tool. Hike provides a clear to-do list format for SEO tasks. Learning resources in the program include video tutorials that explain SEO concepts. There are step-by-step guides for each optimization task and a knowledge base of best SEO practices. These metrics help beginners navigate complex SEO concepts.
What Does Reddit Say About Hike SEO?
A commenter said on Reddit that Hike SEO might be doctoring reviews. There's only one Trustpilot review, and it's a negative one. The reviewer said the tool is too basic.
The reviews are not necessarily fake. However, Hike might be cherry-picking only the good ones.
Another Reddit commenter said that Hike SEO is the worst service they ever used. He said the rep only talked to him for 5 minutes and cut him off because they ran out of time.
This Reddit commenter took a screenshot of Hike SEO's site test. He captioned his post with "their own site needs help". This screenshot showed 37% site performance, and 84% SEO performance.
What Does YouTube Say About Hike SEO?
Corey is skeptical about Hike SEO. He sees it as another SEO tool aggregating data without offering significant value beyond keyword research and tracking. He feels that many SEO tools, including Hike, provide vanity metrics and unnecessary features that don’t directly contribute to improving SEO performance. Corey points out several limitations of Hike SEO.
He mentions that its website audits and backlink tracking are redundant and are not that useful. Backlinks are crucial because they signal to Google that your content is valuable. If you want real traffic that yields actual results, purchase high-DA backlinks. These links come from sites with high domain authority or ranking. Their scores are typically above 70.
Business4Beginners Gives a Step-by-Step Walk-Through of Hike SEO
Business4Beginners, a platform that gives business advice to UK startups, reviews Hike SEO. They claim it’s one of the highest-rated search engine optimization tools for small businesses. It is designed for business owners with little SEO expertise. Hike provides personalized, step-by-step instructions for new SEO users. It has comprehensive features like keyword research, content creation, technical SEO fixes, and backlink opportunities. The platform delivers clear and easy-to-understand reports on search engine traffic and keyword performance. It helps optimize Google Business Profiles and find backlink opportunities. Its "Journalist Outreach" feature also assists with media coverage.
Are The Clients of Hike SEO Getting Results?
Yes, the clients of Hike SEO are getting results. Among them is Mike Fuller who highly recommends the tool. He says Hike is "in a language that anyone can understand".
After using Hike SEO, Mr Cricket Hockey first page target keywords grew from 0 to 56.
Tidi-cable only had 1 ranking keyword before using Hike SEO. It now ranks for 5 highly competitive broad terms on page 1 of Google. One keyword ranked above Amazon.com.
They also saw significant increase in traffic, from 517 visitors to 2184 per month.
Is The Hike SEO Worth It?
Yes, Hike SEO can be worth it because it offers a cost-effective solution compared to hiring a full-time SEO expert or agency. Small businesses with limited budgets get premium SEO tools and strategies for a fraction of the cost. Hike offers automatic SEO audits that regularly check your website’s health. This provides specific recommendations for improvement, including the latest SEO changes. Hike ensures your site stays compliant with search engine updates and best practices, often integrated into SEO software solutions. It helps small businesses rank in local searches and attract nearby customers.
Hike SEO vs Other SEO Software
Hike SEO | Other seo software |
|---|---|
Hike SEO: Beginner-friendly SEO platform for small businesses. It offers AI-driven recommendations, keyword tracking, and competitor analysis. | SEMRush: Software for keyword research, competitor analysis, and technical SEO audits. SemRush has a massive database of over 20 billion keywords and 800 million analyzed domains. |
Hike SEO: Provides a complete SEO strategy beyond just on-page SEO. There’s also keyword tracking and backlinks management. | Yoast: A WordPress plugin for on-page optimization that assesses meta tags and content readability. Yoast has been installed over 5 million times. It is highly customizable for SEO campaigns. |
Hike SEO: Automated SEO tool for small business owners with limited technical expertise. Features easy-to-understand reports and keyword tracking. | Ubersuggest: Offers keyword research, SEO audit, backlink data, and competitor analysis. Ubbersuggest gives insights on traffic estimates and low-price keyword suggestions. |
Hike SEO: Targets small businesses with automated recommendations. You don’t need deep technical knowledge to use this tool. | Moz Pro: Just like Hike, Moz also offers keyword research, backlink analysis, and site audits. It has a domain authority metric and database with over 40 trillion links. |
Hike SEO: Helps with keyword tracking, SEO recommendations, and performance reports. | Ahrefs: One of the most powerful SEO tools on the market for backlink analysis, keyword research, and site audits. Ahrefs boasts the largest live backlink index with over 3 trillion links. It’s the go-tool for advanced SEO tasks. |
Hike SEO: Automates SEO processes for small business owners through step-by-step guidance. | Rank Math: A WordPress SEO plugin similar to Yoast. Rank Math offers more free features like schema markup, Google Analytics integration, and keyword optimization. It is lightweight yet powerful for on-page SEO. |
Hike SEO: Basic SEO audit and optimization functions. No direct content creation features. It can only integrate with a content management systems. | Ippei's Content Writer: SEO content creation with agentic workflow based on 10+ years of SEO experience. It researches Google's SERPs for up-to-date and factual content. |
What Is Hike Affiliate?
Hike Affiliate is Hike SEO’s in-house affiliate program. The Hike platform gives a 30% lifetime commission for every customer they refer. Bloggers and digital marketers can make an online side hustle through this program. There are no upfront costs and hidden fees. Anyone can join the program and earn commissions right away.
Affiliates should subscribe to a Hike SEO plan before earning commissions. Then, they must submit an online registration with their email address. A verification code is sent to the email address. Affiliates should agree with Hike's terms of use to complete the signup process. Once they’re in the program, affiliates get promotional materials like banners and links. Their affiliate dashboard lets them track and analyze sales and commissions.
Who Is Andrew Allen?
Andrew Allen is the co-founder and director of Hike. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Leeds and has a diverse business background. He used to manage SEO campaigns in the retail, financial, and eCommerce sectors before building his own SEO tool. Andrew handles direct-to-consumer strategies and partnerships at Hike SEO.
He is also the director of another SEO management company called theWebShed. Their Onsite Optimiser Tool won the “Best Software Innovation” award in 2018 at the European Search Awards. Before creating these tools, Andrew held several SEO-related roles. He used to be the Global SEO Manager at Claire's Inc. He managed global SEO strategies for Europe and North America. Andrew was also the SEO Account Director at Punch Communications. He oversaw SEO campaigns for major brands like Sony Mobile and Barclaycard. Head of eCommerce SEO at Creare Group was also one of his significant roles. He led an SEO team that managed eCommerce campaigns and developed key optimization processes.
Who Is Kieran Headley?
Kieran Headley is an experienced SEO consultant and entrepreneur. He co-founded Hike SEO in 2018 and theWebShed in 2016, both SEO platforms, with Andrew Allen. Before this, he was the Head of Search at Climb Online. He grew the company’s SEO department and helped increase its revenue to over £1 million in just nine months. Kieran also managed SEO for clients at Creare. He developed internal tools and systems with them. He earned his Higher National Diploma (HND) in computing at Leicester College. He is also a certified Google Analytics expert.
Is SEO Worth It for Small Business?
SEO is worth it for small businesses because it improves online visibility and organic traffic. It increases leads generated from the websites and improves the domain’s authority. SEO boosts customer loyalty and increases ROI. Proper SEO implementation brings relevant traffic to the business website. Local SEO strategies also enhance their reputation in a specific area. They help capture "near me" searches and increase visibility in local directories. SEO tools like Google Analytics track the growth of website traffic.
SEO is worth it because it builds long-term organic visibility for the small business. It is more cost-effective compared to paid traffic. Paid ads stop generating traffic once you run out of budget, but SEO maintains its traffic without continuous ad spend.
Is SEO Still Relevant in 2024?
SEO remains relevant in 2024 because organic search continues to be a key driver of traffic. BrightEdge reports that organic search accounts for 53% of global website traffic. Ahrefs also found that small businesses that invest in SEO gain 1.2K more monthly visitors within six months. Optimizing for search also enhances user experience and boosts conversions. HubSpot data shows that websites optimized for SEO achieve a 2.5 times higher conversion rate than those that are not. Effective SEO practices benefit businesses, digital marketers, and content creators. It is important for long-term, sustainable business growth.
Conclusion: Leverage SEO and Generate Passive Income With Local Lead Gen
Leverage SEO and generate passive income with local lead generation by owning ranked sites. This business builds simple websites for local service providers and ranks them on Google. Local service-based businesses like plumbers, electricians, and pest control rely heavily on new leads for consistent profit. These industries constantly need customers, making the lead generation model sustainable.
While Hike SEO is user-friendly and great for beginners or small businesses, it lacks some of the more advanced features found in other SEO tools. It does not offer in-depth backlink analysis, competitor keyword tracking, and comprehensive site audit tools. Businesses might quickly outgrow Hike SEO as they require more complex SEO tasks. It's suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. It might be inefficient for the expansive SEO campaigns of large enterprises.
Leverage SEO to build and rank sites. Owning ranked sites is more sustainable than running an SEO agency. Each site can generate $500 to $3,000 per month. Once you've successfully ranked and rented one site, it's easy to replicate the process with multiple service websites. I've been in the local lead gen biz since 2014. I make $52K passive income monthly from all the sites I own and manage.
