When building a website and brand there are several things that you need to do to be successful. However, there is very little on the online side of things that is more important than SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and by improving it you will get more clicks on your website.
SEO tools will enable you to optimize your SEO far more efficiently than you would be able to normally. You are saved from doing tedious keyword research and data analysis.
Instead, you are able to spend your time building your business in other ways. That being said, you will not have that luxury if you do not pick the right SEO tools.
Here we will provide 10 great options for people that are looking to improve their SEO while saving time.
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs provides subscribers with several SEO tools that should help you optimize your website.
The Site Explorer provides an in-depth look at your organic search traffic, as well as backlink profiles of websites and URLs that visitors came from.
Users will also be able to see if their competitors are doing paid search advertising and where they send their paid traffic.
The Keywords explorer enables users to generate thousands of excellent keywords and ideas. This will enable you to produce more content that is viewed by more people.
Additionally, the site audit feature analyzes the SEO performance of each page on your site. So, you will be able to see exactly which pages are holding you back from ranking as high as you would like.
There are four pricing models available to users.
- Lite – $99 per month, get access to all site features, but you will only be able to use each feature in a limited capacity.
- Standard – $179 per month, the standard plan with each feature accessible at standard capacity. Most users will be satisfied with this plan.
- Advanced – $399 per month, upgrade your plan to three users, enabling you to get three times the work done.
- Agency – $999 per month, this plan is best for users that have multiple websites as it allows up to five users to work at a time.
2. Google Search Console
The Google Search Console enables users to improve their performance on the Google search engine.
Users can optimize their search with search analytics, and they can submit sitemaps so that Google has the freshest version of your site.
All users will receive email alerts when there are issues on your site, minimizing your downtime.
Finally, all users will get access to tools that show how Google sees your pages. You can take this information to improve your site pages.
- The best part about Google Search Console is that it is completely free.
3. SEMRush
SEMRush is one of the best SEO tools available to website owners because it gives users access to several valuable resources. Those resources include blog posts, eBooks, podcasts, and webinars with information on how to improve your SEO.
Some of the most popular SEO tools for users to use include keyword research, on-page SEO, and competitor analysis.
Keyword research enables users to track and target the best keywords to bring traffic to their sites.
On-page SEO lets users audit their own pages so that you can improve each page’s SEO.
Finally, the competitor analysis feature enables you to increase your website traffic by analyzing successful strategies used by your competitors.
There are three payment plans available to prospective subscribers.
- Pro – $120 per month, this plan is for people new to marketing and SEO, as well as users working with small in-house teams.
- Guru – $230 per month, this plan expands on features provided by the previous plan and is for SMEs, growing agencies, and marketing consultants.
- Business – $450 per month, this plan includes every feature on the site at maximum capacity, and it is for large agencies and enterprises.
4. KWFinder
As you might expect, KWFinder is an SEO tool that is exclusively for improving and optimizing your keywords.
There are several features for users to use including tools that let you find hidden long tail keywords and your competitors’ keywords.
You will also get access to some tools that will help suggest certain keywords to you.
There are three pricing plans available for users to subscribe to.
- Mangools Basic – $49 per month, 100 keyword lookups per day, 200 keyword suggestions of 700, and analyze up to 25 competitor keywords.
- Mangools Premium – $69 per month, the standard plan that increases the numbers on each of the basic features.
- Mangools Agency – $129 per month, this plan includes all features on the site at maximum capacity and is meant for larger agencies.
5. Moz Pro
Moz Pro is one of the best SEO tools to help you reach your SEO goals. It lets you audit your own site to see where it is lagging. You can track your Google rankings to see how you perform against your competitors when searching for certain keywords.
All users will also get access to backlink analysis that lets you see metrics from a variety of sites.
There are four payment plans for users to subscribe to.
- Standard – $99 per month, great for business owners new to SEO that need to learn the basics.
- Medium – $179 per month, get full access to keyword research tools. This plan is purchased by most users.
- Large – $249 per month, this plan provides the best value per dollar for businesses and agencies that are serious about improving their SEO.
- Premium – $599 per month, this plan is only needed for large SEO focused companies and large marketing teams.
6. Majestic
Majestic gives users access to several SEO tools including the site explorer tool. This tool lets users see external backlinks, referring domains, and referring IPs.
The keyword generator tools provide keywords for users so that they do not need to spend time generating them themselves.
You will also receive a standard report of your SEO analytics so that you can properly adjust your SEO model to generate more traffic.
There are three payment plans available.
- Lite – $50 per month, for small audits and prospecting groups.
- Pro – $100 per month, for agencies, domain traders, and SEO consultants.
- API – $400 per month, for agencies that need extra power and data.
7. Google Trends
Google Trends has been around for a long time and is one of the best SEO tools for tracking what people are searching for.
Business owners can use this tool to track what keywords people are looking for so that they can switch up their content production to fit those keywords.
- Google Trends is free to use.
8. Siteliner
Siteliner is an SEO checker tool that helps you avoid duplicate content.
Google penalizes sites with duplicate content, and this tool will help you avoid that penalty. Even if you are not plagiarizing purposefully, it is possible for commonly used phrases to generate these penalties.
However, if you use this tool, you will be able to see if any flags pop up before you click publish.
- Siteliner is free for everyone to use.
9. Fat Rank
Fat Rank is one of the best SEO tools for analyzing site performance. With it, you will be able to see how certain pages and keywords are performing.
You can add keywords to your engine to see how your pages perform compared to your competitors.
For example, the tool will tell you if you do not rank in the top 100 results. If that is the case, you are not ranking for that particular keyword. You can then take steps to improve your ranking.
- Fat Rank is a free Chrome extension that can be added to your browser in just a few clicks.
10. Screaming Frog
Finally, Screaming Frog is considered one of the best SEO tools by experts.
The tool lets you know if you have duplicate content or errors to fix. It also provides you with areas where you can improve in your link building.
Notably, the SEO Spider Tool allows users to crawl through over 500 URLs, tracking their performance. You can use this information to improve your site pages.
There is a free and paid version available.
- Free – Find broken links, analyze page titles and meta data, review meta directives, discover duplicate pages and a crawl limit of 500 URLs.
- Paid – $149 per year, get access to every feature on the site including Google Analytics Integration, Search Console Integration, and an unlimited crawl limit.
All of the SEO tools discussed above are great options for new and experienced website owners.
The best way to determine which SEO tools are best for you is to figure out which areas you are lacking in beforehand. You can then download tools to fit your needs.
Residing in Ontario, Canada, Alex is a full time freelance writer. He’s been in the business for 4 years and is an SEO and WordPress expert.
