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Software purchases are crucial decisions for businesses, and there are several platforms available to support these decisions. From industry analysts to review platforms, each offers its own unique perspective on software solutions. However, it can be overwhelming to navigate through multiple platforms in search of the best software reviews. In this article, we provide a quantitative analysis of the influence of industry analysts and review aggregators in specific software categories.
The Importance of Defining the Best
Before assessing the quality of software review platforms, it is important to define what constitutes the “best” in this context. To ensure an objective and data-driven assessment, we focus on measurable metrics. One such metric is popularity, which serves as a good proxy for the quality of non-artistic content.
Both industry analysts and review aggregators primarily rely on search engine traffic. Therefore, we can use the share of traffic from search engines as a measure of popularity. According to similarWeb data from February 2022, the following platforms receive significant traffic from search engines:
- Trustradius: 86%
- Capterra: 80%
- AIMultiple: 80%
- G2: 78%
- Everest Group: 59%
- Gartner: 53%
- Forrester: 42%
Google is the most commonly used search engine, making it an important tool for assessing the popularity of software review websites. By analyzing where Google users go after conducting a search, we can determine the relative popularity of different review platforms.
Measuring the Traffic of Software Review Sites
To measure the traffic of software review sites, we utilized tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs, which provide estimates on the number of visitors each webpage receives from Google. These estimates are based on the interest in search queries and the rank of individual webpages in those queries.
For our analysis, we focused on the top 5 global economies (excluding China) based on GDP: the United States, Japan, Germany, India, and the UK. By examining the traffic data for these countries, we can gain insights into the popularity of software review websites.
Identifying the Top Software Review Websites
To identify the top software review websites, we conducted two analyses for several emerging AI-related solution areas: one in October 2020 and another in January 2022. We focused on the traffic generated by queries containing the target keyword or its synonyms.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
RPA has been a rapidly growing technology within the global enterprise software market. In our analysis, AIMultiple emerged as the market leader in terms of traffic generated from Google searches related to RPA.
Conversational AI
Conversational AI, which includes chatbots, has seen significant adoption in recent years. AIMultiple was again the market leader in terms of traffic generated from Google searches related to conversational AI.
Synthetic Data
Synthetic data is an emerging topic with various applications, such as training AI systems when real training data is scarce or restricting third-party access to sensitive data. As an emerging market, there are limited online reviews and industry analysts active in the synthetic data space. AIMultiple had almost 100% share of voice in this market.
Data Annotation/Labeling
Data annotation and labeling are crucial tasks for training machine learning models. AIMultiple emerged as the market leader in terms of traffic generated from Google searches related to data annotation and labeling.
Data Science/AI Consulting
Consultants specializing in data science and AI play a vital role in developing machine learning models. AIMultiple once again led the competition by a wide margin in terms of traffic generated from Google searches related to AI consulting.
Limitations
While this analysis provides valuable insights, it has a few limitations. First, it does not account for the Chinese market, which requires a different methodology. Additionally, the analysis focused on specific keywords and may not capture all relevant traffic. Lastly, the analysis is based on available data from specific countries and may not represent the global market accurately.
In-depth software reviews are essential for businesses making software purchase decisions. By analyzing the influence and popularity of industry analysts and review platforms, businesses can make more informed choices. AIMultiple consistently emerged as the market leader in various software categories, making it a valuable resource for software buyers and vendors.
For more in-depth research and to explore top vendors in different software areas, visit https://www.scrollreads.com/.
