Categories: SEO

Top SEO Tools

SEO has been a hot topic for some time now, and it seems that the more time passes, the more critical it becomes.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is a toolbox which allows website owners to improve their search engine rankings by optimizing their websites.

When website owners optimize the content, although they might be doing it for the purpose of pushing their websites to the top of the search results, they are actually creating content that is more user-friendly and easier to read and navigate.

In other words, following the best SEO practices ultimately leads to creating content of better quality, which is suitable for the short attention span of internet users.

Although it might sound like a very complicated process, thankfully, on the quest for creating perfectly optimized content, website owners are not alone: various carefully created tools help them get the results they need.

Which takes us to our next point:

Types of SEO Tools

Since SEO is so significant for every business owner that manages his or her online presence, a large number of SEO software and tools are available. SEO tools basically point to the right practices that would help the content get ranked higher.

There are different types of such tools, but the main categories are:

Keyword research tools (basic keyword research and competitor-based keyword research)
Link building tools
Analytics Tools
On-Page SEO Tools
Technical SEO tools

Each of the tools that belong to the categories mentioned above can come in three versions: free, freemium and paid.

Top SEO Tools

Optimizing website content is so widely adopted, so, naturally, there is a seemingly unlimited pool of choices when it comes to SEO software.

However, not all SEO tools are going to give you the results you need – for the price you can afford.

Knowing that it might be hard finding the right tools that can satisfy your needs, we decided to create a list of the top SEO tools of each category, grouped according to their pricing.

Top FREE Tools

The Best Free SEO Tools for Keyword Research in Your Niche

Google Keyword Planner

Used for: Keyword Research

Price: Free

Features: In-depth information linked to the biggest search engine (yes, we are talking about Google), best for web pages in early stages of development, that need only basic SEO

Let’s start with the basics: the Google Keyword Planner is one of the most widely used keyword analytics tools out of the ones that are available at the moment.

The answer to why is that so is simple: GKP is entirely free. Apart from that, it is directly linked to Google AdWords, which is another addition to its “charm”.

The only issue with it is the limitations of information it can yield when it comes to other search engines.

Link Miner

Used for: Link Building

Price: Free

Features: Finds broken links

Link Miner is a browser plugin which you can use to both find broken links, as well as links which are leading to that broken page.

Google Analytics

Used for: Webpage Analytics

Price: Free

Features: Offers free insights on the site’s performance: understanding the origins of the traffic, the impact of individual pages, and analyzing the performance from year to year

Google Analytics is the must-have for anyone operating in the digital marketing world. It is a free platform which offers an analysis of different statistics on the site such as the efficiency of individual content, organic traffic, etc.

Open SEO Stats

Used for: On-Page SEO

Price: Free

Features: Free on-page SEO stats and quick SEO checks and edits of the page title, meta description, and the headings

Gaining insight into how good the on-page SEO is on your site has never been easier than with this free Chrome extension. This tool offers a quick and “painless” way to edit the content and achieve the perfect SEO score without having to go through the source code of the page.

Netpeak Spider

Used for: Technical SEO

Price: Free

Features: Offers a full crawl of the entire site

This free desktop app can help users to do a technical audit of their web pages and even gives recommendations on how to fix the encountered issues.

Top FREEMIUM Tools

The Best Free SEO Tools for Keyword Research in Your Niche

SEM Rush

Used for: Keyword and Competitor Research

Price: Freemium, paid after free trial period ends

Pros: Various ways to research the competitors (possibility to find traffic stats, Adsense CPC, search engine reports, the competitors’ backings, content, best keywords, etc.).

SEM Rush is one of the best known, and most loved tools of webmasters all around the world. They offer much more than just keyword research since they simplify the process to the maximum: instead of needing to add seed keywords to do competitor keyword research, SEM Rush gives you all the results you need by just asking for the URL address you want to focus on (yours or your competitor’s).

Finding short-tail and long-tail keywords has never been easier than with SEM Rush.

HARO (Help a Reporter Out)

Used for: Link Building

Price: Freemium, the paid version can be personalized and is more focused

Features: A service that acts as a connecting link between sources and journalists

HARO is a platform that offers an easy way to build authority by connecting the journalists that need a specific source, and the sources. The great thing about HARO is that it saves all that time that you would put in trying to pitch to various blogs that might not be the right for you. What HARO allows you to do is to pitch when there is already a demand.

SEO Tools for Excel

Used for: Webpage Analytics

Price: Freemium, yearly subscription per a machine, after the two weeks trial is over

Features: Possibility to analyze the key metrics of your webpage only by using Excel

This Excel plugin allows you to check the stats of your page such as word count, external links, social shares, the backings, etc., all using Excel.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Used for: Technical SEO

Price: Freemium, free version limited to crawling 500 URLs

Features: Scans the entire webpage and finds all problems with broken links, duplicate content, technical issues, secure and unsecure pages, etc.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider crawls the entire website and finds all kinds of technical information: audits metadata and page titles, shows broken links, creates a sitemap, etc.

As pages get more content, it is hard to keep everything on track, so a tool like this is merely a must-have.

Top PAID Tools

LongTailPro

Used for: Keyword and Competitor Research

Price: Freemium

Features: Possibility to find very detailed keywords for specific niches and micro-niches

LongTailPro is one of the most popular software for keyword research that allows users to go in depth and find detailed keywords connected to their niche or micro-niche sites.

Buzzstream

Used for: Link Building

Price: Paid

Features: A white-hat link building and customer relationship management software that allows users to create and successfully manage multiple outreach campaigns

Buzzstream is an excellent tool for managing your online presence by creating various outreach campaigns. However, the biggest problem of Buzzstream is that although it is extremely powerful, the users can feel its benefits only if they put in enough time and effort to learn how to use it properly.

Ahrefs

Used for: Link Analytics

Price: Paid

Features: An all-in-one SEO tool that is great for analyzing every part of the webpage’s operations and results

Ahrefs is known as the best link analysis tool currently available on the market since it has a nearly endless index that is updated daily. Another great thing about it is the user-friendly interface, which makes the application incredibly easy to use and navigate.

SEO Monitor

Used for: Technical SEO

Price: Paid

Features: Provides users with stats that, if used correctly, can immensely improve the ranking of the page

SEO Monitor is a software that creates SEO reports on various data on the site and the organic traffic connected to specific keywords, and, using this information creates SEO forecasts and recommendations for improvement.

Final Notes

Going through an endless list of SEO tools available at the moment, we tried our best to give a comprehensive guide when it comes to choosing the SEO tools that meet your needs.

Some tools are more powerful than others, but you should always keep in mind the stage of development in which your website is currently at.

If you are a more “seasoned” website owner, then investing in SEO tools will undoubtedly yield significant returns.

And if you are just starting out… you know what they say: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” The best option for your case would be to start with free tools accepting their limited possibilities, and later to upgrade to the paid versions as you learn more about SEO, your audience, as well as the message you wish to share.
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