22/01: PPC Web Spy Reviewed

Brad Callen, the man behind such programs as Affiliate Elite and SEO Elite recently released a new piece of free software called PPC Web Spy. Brad's previous offferings have achieved great sales and high acclaim from marketers and SEO folks, so PPC Web Spy seemed worth a little attention.

The software is basically a keyword research tool and claims that it enables users to spy on the keywords that Adwords advertisers are bidding on and using in real time. After installing the software, users will see some additional information on their screens when conducting a search on Google - the most noticeable being a green button under each sponsored result entitled "view keywords". Clicking on the button allows you to see a selection of the keywords being used by the advertiser in question including the cost per click, the amount of clicks they are getting for each and the position they hold in the sponsored listings for each keyword.

The website for PPC Web Spy contains a full demo video so you can see it in action for yourself.

Now, I've seen one reviewer blast the software as a useless piece of junk, claiming that it does nothing that you cannot do for yourself and although that is true, to a degree, a lot depends on your knowledge levels. For those experienced with Adwords and PPC who can confidently navigate their way around Google's webmaster tools, it could be said that PPC Web Spy is a bit of a white elephant but to my mind it does offer some very useful shortcuts and makes some interesting data far more easily accessible.

Whether you are a PPC advertiser or not, the software can give some useful insights into the keywords you need to be targeting and offers a quick route to alternative suggestions. In short, it's a helpful tool and as it costs nothing there is nothing to lose by giving it a try.

As with a lot of free tools there is an upgrade option available and this is where the aforementioned reviewer got a little hot under the collar. Those who upgrade the software are able to view a lot more keywords than with the free version and I would say that in itself that is not really worth the upgrade cost. The second benefit for those who upgrade is an interesting viral element that is explained in the video. Basically, any upgraded member who refer others to the free version will be able to get their Clickbank, PayDotCom and Amazon affiliate links appearing at the top of the results when those free users conduct a search on Google. This depends on them having PPC Web Spy installed and activated on their computers and will extend not only to direct referrals but also free users who they give the software away to.

The real problem with this is that most of the users are going to be marketing focused and it's debatable how likely they might be to click on your affiliate links and buy through them. That can certainly be called into question. All I can say is that it doesn't do any harm to spread your affiliate links in any way you can.

PPC Web Spy works only with Firefox too. Would I recommend it? I think on the face of it, my answer is yes - I've found it pretty useful when looking at search results and as a free tool there's nothing to lose for potential users. Would I recommend the upgrade? That's a trickier question and will depend a lot on how much benefit you think the viral aspect might deliver for you. I upgraded myself, partly so that I could write this review having used the software. I've recouped my investment several times over, so obviously others feel that the upgrade was desirable. Don't think that PPC Web Spy will lead to internet milllions overnight but use it for keyword research and you should be reasonably happy with it.

TCH