Market Samurai

Market Samurai is no doubt one of the most popular marketing tools in the Internet marketing community. This multi-purpose tool is the start of most projects to many, including me. Despite being in a constant beta stage, the software built on Adobe AIR (which makes it available on all computer platforms, including PC, Mac and Linux) is reliable and often updated via an auto-update feature.

Note: Market Samurai free trial is available

To begin the in-depth review, let’s look at the currently available features:

Market Samurai Modules

In addition to these 8 modules, there’s one “coming soon” module for Adwords.

Rank Checker

Rank TrackerThis module is for tracking your rankings in Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You can track unlimited number of domains and unlimited number of keywords (up to top 1000 results per SERP). It tracks the position in SERPs (broad match and phrase match keywords), PageRank, and backlinks. The data for each keyword, domain and url is displayed in a table, historical data is displayed in charts.

Since this is my most used feature of Market Samurai I do have some caveats. It works very well and is easy to use with few keywords, but it gets very slow and cumbersome when the number of your tracked keywords grows. Additionally, I would like to see multi-project management in one place, rather than having to open each project separately just to update the data (it’s a tedious task when you have many projects). Other than that, it works pretty well.

Keyword Research

Keyword Research

This is the main module and where the tool has started, it does what you would expect from a keyword tool. In this regard I wouldn’t say that Market Samurai is any special as compared to other popular tools, such as Keyword Elite. It allows you to enter the seed keywords and get a list of keywords from Google that you can further analyze.

It provides a wealth of information about keywords, including estimated SEO traffic, estimated AdWrods traffic and CPC, SEO and PPC competition, commercial viability, SEO and Adwords value, and it allows you to filter keywords by all of this data. It’s easy to select individual keywords and use them as a seed in a separate tab.

SEO Competition

SEO Competition

This module is the extension to keyword analysis for SEO. This is one of the stronger sides of Market Samurai in the depth of analysis it provides. Here you get the breakdown of the first page of results in Google for your keyword with the competitive data, such as PageRank, domain age, different types of backlinks, keyword metrics and cache info. The competitiveness of results is indicated by colors (green to red – easiest to hardest) for each data value.

For further analysis you can examine PageRank and anchor text of the backlinks of each result. Not only does it give you the number of high PR backlinks but also where those backlinks come from specifically and what anchor text they have. You can see the anchor text distribution as well.

This gives you an exact blueprint of backlinks that your competitors have, which you can replicate to achieve similar or better results.

Domains

A recently added feature for easily finding new, expiring and dropped domain names. To find aged domains you need a DomainFace account.

Monetization

Allows you to quickly find affiliate programs from Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction and PayDotCom affiliate networks. It allows you to filter offers by keyword, commission, categories and language.

Find Content

Allows you to find content in some of the biggest article directories, blogs, YouTube, Flickr, news sites. For each page it finds, it gives you such information as how many copies have already been published on the web, the PR and backlinks to the page, keyword density, and date published. For directories like EzineArticles, it even extracts the article in a ready to publish state. It’s a handy tool to find content for your site.

Publish Content

A publishing tool with WordPress and WordPress integration. Here you can add your WordPress blogs and WP Direct accounts, and manage/publish the content you have found.

Promotion

This module allows you to find backlink opportunities in such sources as popular Web 2.0 properties, blogs and forums. For each page it finds for your keywords, it shows the data for PR, backlinks, whether the links are nofollow, and if they use pingbacks.

Now that I’ve gone through all the modules, let’s sum it up with the strengths and weaknesses of the software that I can see from my experience with it.

Market Samurai’s Strengths

The biggest strength’s of Market Samurai in my opinion are its SEO research features. Coincidentally I use it mostly for that so perhaps my opinion is a little biased, but looking at the features at a glance, you can tell that it’s this tool’s focus. Its ability to provide aggregated and in depth competition data is a valuable tool for SEO assessment.

I can also mention the wealth of features that it has, as well as constant improvements that the guys bring to the table. When I’ve bought it almost 1.5 years ago it was just a keyword research tool, it’s gone beyond that, even though its main focus is still keyword research. Also worth to mention the fact that all updates came free, I only ever had to pay once when I bought it.

There’s also a trial version with the main modules available and a 30 day money back guarantee after you buy it.

Market Samurai’s Weaknesses

As much as I like it, there are still some thing that I think MS lacks. First of all, there’s a considerable slowness of the sooftware with big amounts of data, especially on slower computers. I think speed is something to improve upon.

Also, I think it would do with a better project organization. Every project you create is a file that you have to open each time from the hard drive. The list of recent projects helps a little but its capacity runs out quickly. And since you can’t work with more than one project at a time, working with many of them is a hustle. I’d like to see some multi-project organization, especially with regards to the rank tracker.

Other than that, it’s a great software, I’d give it 9.5/10.

If you want to test Market Samurai, grab a free trial here (it’s a free download)

47 thoughts on “Market Samurai”

  1. I have to agree with you about the speed of Market Samurai. The trouble is that it has so much data to collect I can’t see how it can get much faster than it already is. But even with this “weakness” it still out performs the rest of the competition and is a tool I can’t see myself being without. I haven’t seen anything else that gives the competition results as in-depth or combines the ad making and monetizing.
    Just noticed you have included “Find Content” twice!

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  2. Thorough review. I learned about this software in DP Forum. I’ll definitely check it out. You shown that it does much more than I dreamed it might.

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  3. Well, I just found out this new Internet Marketing tool and was wondering whether is it effective or not? Then I researched google to find out the review here. Though I like the review, I don’t understand, why WOT has given a red mark to this website? Is there any malware hidden in this site or just WOT reviewers on the wrong side. Somebody please explain?

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  4. Hi Palla,

    I haven’t heard of WOT before, had to Google it. I don’t know what’s up with that, nor do I care. There’s not any malware or anything on this site, I’m sure of that. Browse around and do your own judgment.

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  5. Hi Palla,

    I have been using Market Samurai for over a year now and I still have NOT found any thing else that comes near it! If you are going into the IM business, I suggest you get Market Samurai. You be glad you did…trust me 😉 Market Samurai RULES!!

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  6. I have used this software for 12 months and since I was an SEO virgin when i started and now I have a successful SEO business. I am certainly happy with the results. It is a great tool.

    However, I do agree with the speed issue. But its a small price to pay for such good software

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  7. I have market Samurai. I use it for a local SEO/ Web Design business. It’s always the start of all my projects, because it takes all the information that you could spend lots of time collecting elsewhere and makes it accessible in one place.

    For those of you saying it’s slow: uncheck the Microsoft data option; that’s what really takes the big amount of time. Everything else is pretty speedy.

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  8. I have to say that the speed at which MS opens ‘anything’ is a nightmare…compared to WEB ceo it is slower than a dead inanimate object!!

    And once you get beyond ten keywords it becomes harder to manage.

    Finally, it seems to be producing incorrect URL and ranking data at the moment!!

    So I am now moving back to WEB ceo to run side by side comparasons! See how I get on!!

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  9. Will not name any other packages, but MS is defo something I would not spend money, nor time with.
    There are a lot of free tools out there producing pretty much the same results.
    I am really happy to be proven wrong by someone and really be pointed to some feature I cannot leave without and is ONLY available in MS.

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  10. Sure, there’s nothing you can’t do with the Google’s keyword tool, Google itself, etc. The question is how much time you spend doing that and if a paid tool can help you save time.

    I’m not gonna argue that you must buy a software to do something. If you can get away with free tools more power to you. But MS works, it’s a well made and supported program, and I don’t see any reason why I would stop using it or why I wouldn’t recommend it.

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  11. Having second thoughts on this. I might be able to do most of the stuff without it or with other free tools, but having all these features centralised in one single software packaged does save quite a bit of time. From this point of view alone, I am thinking I’ll probably buy it as soon as the trial expires.
    Unrelated perhaps … but from your experience what do you think about IBP and Power SEO? Would these 2 ad any extra to MS .. or their features are already available in some form in MS?

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  12. Well.. this is really a very useful and powerful tool that if you learn to use you’ll never want to let it anymore…
    Because it makes your life a lot more easy and produces great results … i recommend this tool to everyone who is in the IM niche !!! 😉

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    • What do I think? Well, I’ve bought it almost 2 years ago for a one time payment that is now long forgotten. I still use the program today and I get free updates. Sounds like a great deal to me.

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  13. Great concept and features, but after trying it out, wow it bogs down. Also, I was getting incorrect date on the pr and bl data returned. I think I would buy it if they get the bugs out.

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    • @Akbar: I’ve never heard of SERPattacks. There are many of these tools around, can’t possible try them all.

      @LoveShackToys: Be sure to report it to their support, if there’s a bug it will be fixed, they update regularly and often.

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  14. How about SERPattacks?? Is it worth buying? I am currently thinking buying SERPattacks from Jayson Yanuria. He is the same guy who created Tweetattacks… any suggestion gentleman.?

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  15. Oh ! I got wrong to understand about payment.
    1st time I think pay $97 per 7 day and renew every 7 day
    Now I understand payment 1 time only and free update. Right ?

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  16. I have tried several paid tools. Everyone sound so real and so perfect. But the fact is totally contradictory. I am looking for a stable and automate tool that produces real monetary result without spending so much time on my PC. Does MS have any automate features ? Can it really help me to make money online ? Or the IM may say to monetize.

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    • >I am looking for a stable and automate tool that produces real monetary result without spending so much time on my PC

      You’re looking for something that defies all logic and all laws of physics in existence and those yet to be discovered. Sorry for the sarcasm, but what you’re looking for doesn’t exist and can’t exist.

      A tool only helps with a certain task, like MS does with keyword research. But keyword research doesn’t automatically result in monetary return, unless it’s your job, i.e. someone is paying you to do it. It is only a part of an online business and is only as good as your business itself, which for the most part is a result of hard and smart work.

      Reply
  17. I purchased this program about two months ago..but the site was experiencing alot of issues from google algorithm update. I havent really found a use yet for MS as some of their features have been disabled….but I have been told
    they have a great team in place and will come up something shortly to make this a great program again.

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  18. Carl-

    I’m on the fence about this… do you think it is worth getting? Any word on if MS code has been updated since Google did their Farmer update?

    In it’s crippled form is it still worth getting?

    Thanks

    Reply
  19. It’s not crippled, it’s been months since the technical difficulties due to Google updates took place, it’s working at full capacity long ago.

    There’s a completely free trial version with main functionality and all you need to give them to get it is an email address. Try it and see for yourself.

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  20. I am a huge fan of Market Samurai. I did a review on my site and recommend it to my subscribers. After trying different tools, this is definitely the best and I find myself using it every day.

    It gets continuously updated and refined, so it is always up to date. I found it because I was looking for a keyword search tool, but when I got it I realized I had got an awful lot more. I would recommend to anyone who buys it to really put the effort into understanding all it can do – it is immensely powerful, but like any tool, it can only be as good as the person using it. But in this instance, you can certainly not blame the tool for any shortcomings.

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  21. I’ve bought Market Samurai myself. It’s the best all round marketing superweapon you could ever get your hands on, and it just absolutely trashes ALL the competition for “Must Have” Keyword and SEO all-in-one tools.

    In the next several weeks I am going to be making a really powerful report available on my personal Blog Site which will enable anyone reading it to go forth and be able to flat out start making money with this awesome tool, with a simplicity and clarity of understanding you would never have believed possible! (so you can all look forward to that! ;o) .

    To those of you who are experiencing functionality and speed/performance problems with it, I would say to you (as an experienced and highly knowledgeable pc engineer) that you shouldn’t be, and that the causes will almost certainly be that your computer is too old and slow to be able to run it properly or right, OR your Windows installation or Windows Registry is getting all messed up, (and this in turn will be causing Market Samurai to run slugglishly on your machine or to seriously malfunction or performing very poorly to how it actually should be!
    Guys, you CAN take my word for this, because I can assure you that I DO know what I am talking about!

    Market Samurai is a GREAT tool – and if you still don’t believe me, just go check out the reviews about it on
    http://www.imreportcard.com (which is a very good product and people review site that you can truly trust). . .

    This site is pretty good too, by the way!

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  22. Have been using Mkt Samurai now for over 6 months and must say its the most powerfull tool I have.
    The tool is constantly updated and is very easy to use.
    Just check IM Report card for tons of impartial reveiws.

    A great tool and highly recommended.

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  23. I will be checking out the trial version of Market Samurai to help rank my new website. It looks like a better deal
    Then SEO P***** S****. Thanks

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  24. I look forward to try the software. Will the software work on MAC and is it possible to have more than one installations? Please let me know… THANKS.

    Cheers
    Kokkeskole

    Reply
    • Yes, it will work on a Mac, since it’s an Adobe Air based app.

      As for the installations, there’s this clause in its EULA:

      2.2 License Limited to two computers: You will not have Noble Samurai Software installed, accessed, displayed, run, shared or used concurrently on or from more than two different computers, including a workstation, terminal or other device

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  25. I purchased the Samurai barely two weeks now… at first it’s great and then it suddenly became weird… the loading time seems to be going to hell… Though I am only using a 100 Mbps Broadband Connection and a Quadcore Processor but I could not believe that this program will take at least 8 minutes just to generate 2 phrases in keyword research tool.

    I updated the program per instruction of the samurai team only to end up being alert to every update and sending the debugging info back to them.. If my memory serves me right, I bought Market Samurai to help me find at least the best keywords but why I ended up as a “trouble-shooter”?

    Holy Spaghetti! I now ended up using the Google keyword research tool, It is free and generates same keywords as that of Samurai.

    Just stating the fact here, nothing more.. so for those who are curious enough then try buying the product and then prove me wrong…

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  26. Just Started the above web site today and unfortunately don’t have much there yet. Any marketing ideas? Free marketing ideas? No scams.

    WOT is a web site rater that anyone can give ratings on. It does not necessarily mean that the ratings are true. For instance, a software company that does not like what a web site is saying about their products can give bad ratings about that web site, even though the info is true, and WOT will relay the report they got into bad ratings. I also have WOT but I have some other Internet security software as well and there was no bad signs from either one of my other two security features.

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  27. I was searching for reviews on Market Samurai and your site was on first page and you have helped me to decide to proceed with the trial version. I just bought a course to promote Amazon products and this MS tool was mentioned by the author but as an option. From your detail review above, I can now understand why and what the author is trying to teach us newbies on SEO traffic.

    This MS tool is a must for newbies!

    Shahril

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  28. One of the things I love about Market Samurai is that it allows you to reverse engineer the backlink structure of the sites you are competing against. In other words, you can see where your competition is getting their backlinks — so you can then grab backlinks from the same properties. This feature alone is worth the price Market Samurai. During the past few months Market Samurai was having some difficulties delivering this information to their users. But they now have this issue resolved.

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  29. As with many other purchasers of Market Samurai – we have just gone back to using Google keyword research tool. Its faster and gives same info. Market Samurai knows this and is trying to land niche in article syndication market but have not jumped into that fray yet as we run an ecommerce site.

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  30. I held out on purchasing marketing samurai for a long time until recently. I do agree that it is slow in gathering information, but I like the seo and competition ranking capabilities. If I’m wanting to compete for a certain keyword it’s nice to be able to see my top 10 competition for that niche. Of course, some would argue you can do that for FREE with seoquake, but I do like having everything in one program. That’s for the honest review.

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  31. I’m just coming to the end of my free trial and am deciding whether to purchase or not. It’s good to find a genuine and honest review from somebody who uses the software rather than the usual affiliate hype.
    Thanks for sharing this great review.

    Reply
  32. I just brought this cause of this review! Thank you for the information!! I thought you could just do some keyword research but I am pleased it allows you to track your progress! That’s mainly why I brought it. Although I’m confused about the 100 terms I can use per month… Will I have to pay again next month or is it a one off payment?

    Reply
    • The new keyword tracker is now a paid monthly service because Google has made it impossible for the tracker to work as it used to (from your computer) and now it needs servers to run. Here’s a post about it with rates:

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  33. We tried Market Samurai and found it not suitable for our purposes. We are happy SEO PowerSuite owners. It never let us down and gives us lots of features and traffic, of course 😉

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  34. Never had problems with Market Samurai until they stopped supporting Google. This is the main search engine today, so I had to find an alternative – finally stopped at SEO PowerSuite toolkit

    Reply

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