What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. It’s the practice of making sure your website is as visible as possible in search engines.
There are two main types of SEO: on-page and off-page. On-page SEO focuses on the content of your site. This includes how you structure it, what keywords you use, and how often you update content. Off-page SEO focuses on external factors like links to your site from other websites.
Why Should You Use SEO tools?
SEO tools make your life easier. They let you analyze your site and give you information about how SEO optimized it is. Different SEO tools offer different capabilities, all of which are important for business. Some of these capabilities are keyword research, website audits, rank tracking, and backlink data.
Who Should Use SEO Tools?
SEO tools are great for anyone who wants to improve a website’s SEO. You could be a blogger, an e-commerce site owner, a small business owner, or an employee at a large company. However, some tools are more appropriate depending on budget. If you’re a small company, use cheaper tools. If you’re at a big business with a lot of budget, you can use Enterprise tools.
What Types of SEO Tools Can You Use?
Website Crawling Tools
When optimizing your site, it’s important that you know how Google’s algorithm sees it. Website crawling tools crawl your site and give valuable information about technical SEO. This uncovers potential issues that prevent Google from indexing or ranking your site. You can then fix those issues and improve your rankings.
Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research is the process of finding what keywords your target customers search for. It’s a key part of any SEO strategy, because it helps you understand what search terms to target. You can see what keyword you’re already ranking for and optimize for them. Or, you can do competitor keyword research for untapped ideas.
SEO Backlink Tools
Backlinks are links on other websites that point back to your site. They’re important because they help search engines determine where your site ranks. The more backlinks you have pointing back to your site, the higher it will appear in search results. Backlink tools let you monitor when links are gained or lost, and why. They also provide valuable insights around competitor backlinks, which can guide SEO strategy.
SEO Tools Pricing
Free SEO tools
Free SEO tools are great for everyone, especially freelancers and small businesses.
If you’re a freelancer or a small business, it can be tough to compete with the big guys when it comes to SEO. If you don’t have the budget for fancy software or dedicated resources, you can keep up by using free SEO tools.
SEO Tools for Small Businesses
There’re plenty of paid SEO tools that won’t break the bank. Small businesses with budget can combine free and paid SEO tools to elevate strategy. Affordable tool options include MozPro, Majestic, and SpyFu. Small businesses should stay away from Enterprise tools as they’re very expensive.
Enterprise Tier SEO Tools
Enterprise-tier SEO tools are specifically designed for large companies with big budgets. These have capabilities big companies need, often including a designated support team. BrightEdge, which costs thousands of dollars a month, is an example of an Enterprise SEO tool.
The Best SEO Tools for Small Businesses
Here are some of the best SEO tools on the market:
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is considered one of the most reliable online SEO tools. It’s great for competitor keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and more. Ahrefs is the first tool used each day for most SEOs. It tracks organic website visits, identifies broken links, and shows how pages perform. Ahrefs can also help identify outreach for backlinks.
2. Majestic
The Majestic SEO tool is one of the oldest SEO tools on the market today. It allows access to a wide range of backlinks for their site and competitor websites. The Majestic million feature presents you with up to a million websites to collect SEO data.
Majestic SEO has site explorer features that gives you a complete backlink overview. In site explorer, you can see either a “fresh index” (data updated throughout the day) or a “historic index” (old data).
3. KWFinder
KWFinder is an affordable SEO tool that focuses on all things keyword research. The SEO keyword tool to determines the best keywords for your site. It also runs analytical reports on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This SEO tool provides search volume and keyword difficulty, and does competitor keyword research.
4.
Google Search Console is free to use for any website you own. All you need to do is prove you own it. Google Search Console allows you to monitor and report on your website’s performance. In the “Search Performance” tool, you can see what pages and queries are performing best in the SERP.
Google Search Console allows you to monitor your technical SEO as well. It identifies page indexing issues, security issues, redirect issues, and more. It will also provide ways to fix issues.
5. SEMRush
The SEMRush SEO tool has very similar capabilities to Ahrefs. Explore keywords, do competitor research, track rankings, and analyze backlink profiles. SEMRush also offers social media marketing, PPC, and content marketing features.
6. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is one of the best SEO tools for editing and optimizing content. Their “Content Editor” feature provides relevant keywords and real-time optimization scores to increase your site’s chances of appearing in Google search results.
Their “Keyword Research” tool allows you to perform keyword research in clusters. This is a great way to plan future content and build expertise in a specific niche.
The “Audit” feature tells you everything you need to know about a specific URL’s on-page SEO. If provides keyword suggestions based on competitive analysis, backlink suggestions, and guidelines around meta titles and meta descriptions.
7. Moz Pro
Moz Pro is a suite of tools that helps you analyze and optimize your website’s SEO. It gives you access to a wide range of information, including keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits, and more. Moz Pro has great ratings and a relatively inexpensive price point.
8. SpyFu
The SpyFu tool is great for competitor analysis. Features include a keyword magic tool, traffic analytics, content marketing insights, and more. With SpyFu, you can search any domain and see every place they’ve shown up in Google.
9. AWR Cloud
AWR is short for Advanced Web Ranking. Their main feature is keyword rank tracking which provides fresh daily data. It’s also great for local, as you can see geo-located rankings. AWR offers a free trial, so you can test it out before committing.
10. Deep Crawl
Deep Crawl is a powerful and comprehensive Enterprise SEO tool. It gives users a complete overview of their site’s technical health with actionable data and insights. These insights can increase SEO visibility and turn organic traffic into revenue. If you work at a big company and are looking for a comprehensive SEO tool, Deep Crawl is a great option.
11. Searchmetrics Essentials
SearchMetrics Essentials is another Enterprise SEO tool designed for large companies. It analyzes your markets, builds strategies for attracting them, and executes those strategies on a global scale. It can also perform content analysis for any page in real-time.
Conclusion
Now you know which SEO tools are best for you. From picking the right keywords, to tracking your rankings, to technical audits, SEO tools are a great aid for beginners and experts alike. SEO is a constantly evolving field, and keeping up-to-date with new trends and innovations is crucial.
Need help with your SEO strategy? Top-rated SEO company Intensify can help. Reach out today for a free consultation.
