Businesses need every edge when it comes to digital marketing. The competition is fierce and they’re doing everything they can to get the edge over you.
Search engine optimization for both national and local search is a vital part of business growth, but it isn’t easy. The key to a proper SEO and digital marketing campaign is data. You need to use data to create and change your marketing plan to optimize conversions and goals.
There are many SEO tools available, both free and subscription-based, to use that give you the best chance against the competition by providing useful data. We’ve found 10 of these tools that you need to have in your SEO arsenal.
1. Google Analytics Free SEO Tools
Google has the lion’s share of search traffic and the most advanced search algorithm, so it’s no surprise that their analytics platform is the choice for most businesses.
The free tool provides extensive information on website traffic, page popularity, customer information, and much more. It’s an incredibly complex program, but well worth understanding. It’s free for small to medium-sized businesses and filled with vital information.
Google also has free tutorials on how to best use the platform in Google University.
2. Learn Google Search Console
Google Analytics shows what happens when people reach your site. Google Search Console shows how they got there and how well your site runs.
Keywords are an important part of SEO and Search Console shows you what search queries people used to get to your site. It also has several tools for website analysis, schema markup, and much more.
Search console is also free and much easier to understand than Google Analytics. Google recently redesigned the platform to make it more user-friendly and easier to navigate.
3. SEMRush for Paid Tools
One of the leaders in SEO and digital marketing tools is SEMRush. It’s a subscription-based platform that has tiers for various business sizes and needs. It’s an all-in-one tool that helps with keyword selection, keyword tracking, content creation, ad management, and much more.
It’s a leader in the industry and has a healthy blog and help section so you can understand and use all the tools available. The platform also routinely adds new tools in beta.
SEMRush is costly, but you can’t beat how it helps you understand your site and how people interact with it.
4. Consider Moz for Local and National SEO
Moz has been around for a very long time. It’s a robust platform for both local and national search. Business profiles rank well on Google, but many times they have incorrect information. Moz Local lets you provide the correct information to the biggest profile aggregators, so the information is correct.
Like SEMRush, Moz has many tools available for keyword optimization and more. It’s also a subscription service, but many consider it worth the cost.
Understandably, small businesses may have a difficult time purchasing several subscription services, so consider a digital marketing agency. You pay a fee, and they have access to all the best subscription tools.
5. Get Faster Crawls with Ahrefs
While SEMRush is the industry standard, Ahrefs is number two. It has its own crawler that is optimized for speed, so you get results fast. In addition, it has many of SemRush’s tools.
It helps with keyword discovery and tracking. It finds all your backlinks and provides detailed information about them. You can track mobile and desktop keywords and much more.
Ahrefs isn’t quite as robust as SEMRush, but if you’re looking for speed and an easy user interface, then it’s one of the best around.
6. Screaming Frogs is a Weird Name, But Effective
Businesses use website audits to find the common SEO issues most websites have. The problem with most audits is they’re too complex for people to understand. A 200-page PDF or Excel document isn’t helpful unless you’re an SEO expert.
Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider quickly crawls sites and provides simple to understand audits. You start fixing the issues right away instead of spending hours trying to decipher the meanings of the other audits.
Audits scare people by design, so having something simple and easy to read lets you create an issue hierarchy of what to fix first and how.
7. Try Out SE Ranking
This is another complete suite of SEO for the entrepreneur that wants everything in one place. It includes a keyword selection tool, keyword grouper, marketing plan, audit, and much more.
It has an intuitive interface and is easily used by amateur or expert.
8. Find Elusive Keywords with LongTail Pro
Keyword tools often provide for common keywords, but for the more elusive long-tail keywords, you’ll want a specific tool. Long-tail keywords are longer phrases that are less competitive, but also have less volume.
LongTail Pro gives you access to these keywords, so you can implement them into your marketing plan.
9. Run Campaigns with Serpstat
Serpstat is another all-in-one tool that provides a wide number of functions such as position tracking, keyword research, and competitor research, but lacks the high price tag of the industry-leading tools.
It’s not as robust, but if you just need simple research without the big price tag, then it’s for you.
10. Choose Authority Labs for Multiple Websites
When dealing with multiple websites and trying to create an overall marketing plan you need a tool that Authority Labs. It includes local rank tracking, mobile rank tracking, featured snippet tracking, and more.
You can use these for any website you want to add fuel to your marketing fire. The company has four tiers of pricing depending on your needs. Authority Labs is all about tracking, so keep your campaigns up-to-date with these online marketing tools.
Choose the One Best for You
Each of these SEO tools can help you with your online marketing. The key is to find the one that best fits your needs. If you don’t want to search through all these, then consider a digital marketing agency to help with all your needs.
If you want to learn more about search engine tools, then please contact our experts today.
