A complete list of the most popular SEO Tools

Software tools and applications are an SEOs best friend. They fine tune the research and strategy procedures required to plan the best SEO strategies. From competitor analysis to backlink monitoring, keyword research, content gap analysis, keyword tracking, technical SEO auditing and more.

In this article we will include a variety of free and paid SEO tools that are truly game changing.

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a powerful tool provided by Google that allows website owners, webmasters, and SEO professionals to monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot the presence of their websites in Google search results.

Search Console is completely free and provides a huge amount of data regarding your websites organic search performance in Google. This tool is one of the most important and valuable assets you have as an SEO.

Here’s a breakdown of its key functionalities:

1. Performance Tracking: Detailed insights into how a website performs in Google search results. Users can view data such as clicks, impressions, click-through rates (CTR), and average position for different search queries, pages, countries, and devices.
2. Index Coverage: It allows users to monitor the indexing status of their website’s pages and identify any issues preventing Google from crawling and indexing them properly. This includes errors, warnings, and valid pages, helping users ensure that their content is discoverable.
3. URL Inspection: This feature allows users to inspect individual URLs on their website and see how Google crawls and indexes them. Users can also request re-indexing for specific pages, which can be helpful for ensuring that recent changes or updates are reflected in search results quickly.
4. Sitemaps: Google Search Console allows users to submit XML sitemaps, which helps Google discover and index the website’s pages more efficiently. It also provides insights into the status of submitted sitemaps, including the number of indexed pages and any errors encountered during the crawling process.
5. Mobile Usability: With the increasing importance of mobile-friendly websites for SEO, Google Search Console includes a mobile usability report that identifies any issues affecting the user experience on mobile devices. This helps website owners optimize their sites for mobile users and improve their search rankings.
6. Performance Enhancements: By analysing search query data at a page and domain level, users can analyse the data and make relevant changes and optimisations. This is particularly useful for on-page optimisations, as users can see all of the keywords a page is ranking for, with their average positions. Allowing the user to make adjustments based on good or bad keyword performance. It also allows you to identify if two or more pages are competing for the same keyword (keyword cannibalisation).

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a tool that can be used to track the performance of your website. Offering tools that allow you to track, analyse and interpret the behaviour of your website visitors.

At its core, Google Analytics tracks website traffic, including metrics such as the number of visitors, page views, session duration, bounce rate, and more. For SEO these metrics can be particularly useful on a page-level basis. As it allows users to analyse which of their pages are performing the best in terms of user engagement.

It also provides information about the sources of traffic, including organic search, paid advertising, social media, referrals, and direct visits. The fact that it tracks such a wide variety of traffic sources is an advantage over the likes of Google Search Console, which will only track organic traffic from Google. This allows you to see traffic numbers for other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and others.

Furthermore, one of the key functionalities of Google Analytics is its ability to segment data, allowing users to analyse the behaviour of specific groups of visitors based on criteria such as demographics, geography, device type, and user behaviour. This segmentation enables businesses to gain deeper insights into their target audience and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

3. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is an innovative tool that looks specifically at on-page SEO. Helping digital marketers, SEO professionals, and content creators in optimising their written content for search engines.

At its core, Surfer SEO utilises advanced algorithms and data analytics to analyse and compare various on-page SEO factors against the top-performing pages in search engine results. This comprehensive analysis covers a wide range of elements, including keyword usage, content structure, word count, backlink profiles, and more.

Users can upload their content draft in to the tool and receive actionable tips and guidance to improve their content. A content scoring system is provided so you can track the improvements you make.

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a full package SEO toolset designed to help businesses and marketers improve their online visibility, analyse competitors, and optimize their digital marketing strategies. At its core, Ahrefs provides a suite of tools and features that allow users to:

1. Site Audit: Ahrefs crawls websites to identify SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, and other technical errors that could affect search engine rankings.
2. Keyword Research: Users can discover new keyword opportunities, analyse keyword difficulty, and track keyword rankings across search engines.
3. Backlink Analysis: Ahrefs offers extensive backlink data, allowing users to analyse their own backlink profile as well as that of competitors. This helps in identifying link building opportunities and assessing the authority of websites.
4. Competitor Analysis: Users can gain insights into their competitors’ strategies by analysing their top-performing content, keywords, and backlinks. This information can be used to refine one’s own SEO and content marketing efforts.
5. Content Explorer: This feature allows users to discover popular topics and content ideas within their niche, helping them create engaging and relevant content that resonates with their target audience.
6. Rank Tracking: Ahrefs tracks keyword rankings over time, allowing users to monitor their SEO performance and identify areas for improvement.
7. Site Explorer: This tool provides in-depth insights into any website’s organic search traffic, backlink profile, and top-performing pages.

5. Answer the Public

Answer The Public is a digital tool that serves as a powerful resource for generating insights into popular search queries on the internet. Developed with a user-friendly interface, it provides a comprehensive visualisation of data derived from search engine autocomplete suggestions.

This tool offers a wealth of information, categorised into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabetical, and related searches. By aggregating and presenting this data in an easily digestible format, Answer The Public enables users to understand the prevailing interests, concerns, and curiosities of online audiences.

This tool is perfect for general market research, content ideas or wider SEO strategy and content gap analysis.

6. Grammarly

Grammarly is a comprehensive writing assistant tool that serves as a virtual proof-reader. The tool is great for ensuring your SEO content is written to a high standard and free from grammatical errors.

At its core, Grammarly works by scanning your text for grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, and spelling errors. It offers real-time suggestions and corrections to help improve overall readability. Beyond basic grammar checks, Grammarly also provides insights into sentence structure, word choice, and writing style, helping users refine their content.

Grammarly is available as a web-based application, browser extension, and desktop application, making it easily accessible across various platforms and devices. It seamlessly integrates into popular writing platforms like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and social media platforms, ensuring a smooth writing experience wherever you go.

The free version of Grammarly which will give you everything you need for basic grammatical fixes. For users looking for more advanced features, the premium version is available. Offering the ability to rewrite full sentences, integrate inclusive language, detect plagiarism and more.

7. Semrush

SEMrush is a comprehensive, robust platform for search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, content marketing, and competitor analysis. It is a direct competitor of Ahrefs, which you can also find on this list.

One of SEMrush’s standout features is its ability to provide detailed analytics and metrics related to keyword research. Users can uncover lucrative keywords relevant to their niche, assess keyword difficulty, track keyword rankings over time, and identify potential gaps and opportunities in their SEO strategy. This data is invaluable for optimising website content and generating new content plans.