SEO is a great way to increase your traffic and get more business. It also has the potential to help your bottom line, especially if you use Google Ads.
Google Ads are ads that appear on the side of search results pages. These ads can be targeted based on keywords, location, device type, and more. The goal of Google AdWords is to create more relevant ads for users so that they click on them instead of other sites.
Here are some tips for optimizing your website with Google Ads:
Make sure that all pages have unique titles and descriptions so people know what each page is about.
Use keywords in your content so they appear in searches related to those terms.
Link back to other websites so they get credit when someone clicks through from one site and lands on another one with similar content or products.
Google Free Seo Tools
1. Google Analytics
If you’re not yet using Google Analytics, I recommend you start as soon as possible. There is no other data source that provides high-quality and detailed information like Google Analytics. In a Google-dominated era, it’s what we have to work with. Most of the other data tools simply piggyback on Google’s data using the API.
Assessment
You can’t ignore Google Analytics. Virtually all the actionable and important data about site visitors, traffic, etc., comes from this critical source.
More Information
- How to Setup Google Analytics (Video)
- How to Get Actionable Data from Google Analytics in 10 Minutes
2. Google Search Console
If Google Analytics is the air that an online marketer breathes, then Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) is the food that the online marketer eats.
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The word “webmaster” in the former name is a bit of a misnomer. The tool is for more than webmasters. It’s for SEOs. The very focus of the tool has to do with “search” and “optimization.”
Some of GSC’s best insights come from just glancing at the dashboard. SEOs and marketers need to keep up with the dashboard on a regular basis.
Google Search Console provides some of the same data as Analytics, but in a simpler and more straightforward way. There’s less tweaking you can do with the numbers, but easier access to them.
One of the most important datasets is the link data. (Search Traffic → Links to Your Site → More). Staying up to date with toxic backlinks is one of the most essential steps in off-page SEO.
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If you ever have to deal with the dreaded manual penalty, or are routinely disavowing stubborn spam links, you will become very familiar with Google Search Console.
Assessment
Clearly, Google Search Console is indispensable. You need the data, you need the tools, and you need the power. I wish that more SEOs saw the value of the tool and used it more.
More Information
- A Beginner’s Guide to Google Search Console (Yoast)
- How to Setup Google Search Console (Video)
3. Ubersuggest
Ubersugest is an all-in-one SEO tool designed to help you win the game of SEO. A big part of SEO success is knowing what you’re doing, what your competitors are doing, and how to adjust your strategy to take advantage of holes in the market.
Getting started with Ubersugest is as simple as typing a domain or keyword into the search bar.
From here, you gain instant access to a report for your chosen domain or keyword.
For the sake of this post, I want to focus on the keyword search capabilities of Ubersuggest. It’s a great alternative to the Google Keyword Planner tool, which has lost some of its luster over the years.
After running a search for your primary keyword, here’s how you can use Ubersuggest to uncover related keywords to include in your content.
Step #1: Click “Keyword Ideas”
Located in the left sidebar, click “Keyword Ideas” to be taken to a comprehensive report.
Step #2: Review the Results
This is where the fun begins. You’re provided a long list of keywords related to your seed keyword.
There are four columns with corresponding data for each keyword:
- Volume: Average number of monthly searches the keyword has on Google.
- CPC: Average cost per click for a Google Ad for the keyword.
- PD: Estimated competition in paid search (the higher the number, the more competitive).
- SD: Estimated competition in organic search (the higher the number, the more competitive).
While this data alone is helpful, I want you to drill down deeper. Let’s keep going.
Step #3: Click on a Keyword
For example, if you want to rank for the keyword phrase “content marketing agency,” click on it to access the following.
Now, there’s no question as to what you need to do to reach the first page of Google. This data allows you to address points such as:
- How much traffic you can reasonably expect to receive for each position on page one
- The number of backlinks for your page one competitors
- The number of social shares for each URL
Use this data to create content that’s 10x better than your competitors.
Step #4: Filter Your Search
After you gain a clear overview of related keywords that align with your company and its goals, turn on the filter feature to narrow your search. Here’s an example.
You can set additional parameters, but this is where I like to start when searching for long-tail keywords.
You want to uncover keywords with enough search volume to move the needle, without focusing on anything that has an extremely high SEO Difficulty score.
Even though it cuts out more than 400 keywords, you’re left with 12 that match your exact criteria. “Content marketing examples” is one of the best keywords on the list, despite an average monthly search volume of only 1,000. It has the ability to drive highly targeted traffic to your website, and with an SD of 17, you have a good chance of ranking.
Assessment
You can do a lot more than keyword research with Ubersuggest, but it’ll definitely help in this department. With this, you have what you need to select keywords that allow you to create killer content that’s destined to rank.
You can also add the free Chrome extension to use Ubersuggest right from the SERPs.
More Information
You can learn more by reading The Guide To Keyword Research.
4. MozBar
Knowledge is the name of the game with the MozBar. When you think about it, SEO has a lot to do with knowing the right stuff. The MozBar helps you discover the right stuff at a glance.
The MozBar button sits right up in your browser toolbar — the place where all the action is going on. Click on the MozBar, and you generate an instant report on the website you’re visiting.
You can position the MozBar at the top, side, or bottom of your browsing window at all times.
The toolbar has three main categories of data — Page Elements, Page Attributes, and Link Data.
Page Elements displays the nuts-and-bolts of on-page SEO. There’s a lot of information accessible at a glance. You can see the various tags — title, description, H1s, etc.
Page attributes shows some below-the-surface onsite optimization features, such as robots, rel=”canonical” and load time. Additionally, you can find out on-page link data.
The Link Data tab has ranking factors and more information on a site’s links. Complete information is available only with a paid subscription.
Assessment
The MozBar’s true power is available to those who subscribe, and it’s a service worth the money. If you’re still in startup-cash-strapped phase, though, the folks at Moz are kind enough to provide this robust version of their tool at no cost.
More Information
- Guide to Mozbar
- It is available for Firefox and Chrome, Windows or Mac.
- Download it here.
5. SEOWorkers Analysis Tool
The Analysis Tool allows you to plug in a website URL — any website, even if it’s not yours — and generate a report.
SEOWorkers doesn’t provide anything new, but it does help to save a lot of time in analysis. Also, it provides background information on the data.
The report is quick and detailed.
Some of the data, like the HTTP Headers Check is under-the-hood stuff that you wouldn’t normally think to check for.
Other analyzed features provide helpful icons to show you if you’re doing well, or if you need to pay attention to something:
Here is SEOWorker’s unique feature. They teach you about SEO in addition to showing you the SEO data that matters. Within each analyzed category, the report provides a detailed discussion.
The keyword analysis is comprehensive. It displays head terms (single keywords), and two-, three-, and four word keyphrases (longtail keywords).
Assessment
SEOWorkers provides a lot of information, and some of it is different from other SEO and reporting tools. However, it can be information overload.
For the experienced SEO, the discussion in each section is superfluous. For new SEOs who are still learning the tricks of the trade, it could be useful.
More Information
- SEO tips from SEOWorkers
- Other SEO tools from SEOWorkers
6. WooRank Website Reviews
At first glance, WooRank’s Website Review appears to be just another freemium website analyzer. Upon closer, inspection, however, it gives handy insights into some not-so-obvious stuff.
You can analyze any website, and generate a report in seconds.
WooRank first displays a “Top priorities section. Unfortunately, here’s one of the downsides of the tool. Somehow, it thinks that I have a 404 error, lack a favicon, and don’t have a robots.txt file. All of these are inaccurate.
For example, when I click on “Blog,” in the SEO report section, I receive this message.
I’m nonplussed, since content marketing is kind of my middle name, and my website definitely has an active blog.
On to more positive things.
The geodata is insightful, although Analytics provides similar information.
Social shareability is another helpful section. Few free analysis tools are able to aggregate this much social network data in a single place.
The most outstanding feature of WooRank that I want to point out is the mobile section. Few free SEO analysis tools provide this level of data and perspective.
That being said, Google does offer a free Mobile-Friendly Test.
Assessment
For its ease, interface, and amount of data, WooRank gets high marks. Unfortunately, not all the data seems to be accurate.
One of its major tools, the mobile optimization overview, can also be viewed using free tools from Google, so it’s not really revolutionary anymore.
More Information
- WooRank Extension
7. Neil Patel SEO Analyzer
We’ve already covered Ubersuggest, but there’s another tool in there that you need to be aware of — our SEO analyzer. (It used to be a separate tool, which is why I gave it its own number.) It really is a valuable tool — and it’s totally free.
Just plug in your URL, and the tool will spend about 10 minutes crawling your site.
The visual layout is clean and intuitive, providing plenty of crucial information including estimated traffic score, SEO score, and backlinks.
It will also tell you if you have any broken or blocked pages.
It will also share in SEO issues, see how your site performs on mobile, and actually give you tips on how to improve your site.
Assessment
Personal bias aside, I think that my website analyzer provides a very helpful perspective both on your own site, and especially on a side-by-side comparison of your competitors.
8. ClickFlow
When it comes to growing your traffic, most marketers default to creating new content, building new backlinks, and so on.
The ClickFlow Content Decay Tool is different—it shows you old pages on your site that are no longer performing well. These outdated posts are great candidates for a content refresh.
First, you’ll want to connect the Content Decay Tool to your Google Search Console.
Once ClickFlow imports your data, you’ll see a report that shows you the pages on your site that have lost the most search traffic over the past 12 months.
From there, you can update these posts to win back lost traffic. Simply expand upon your content, add examples to make it more thorough, and cut any outdated references.
Assessment
If you choose to upgrade to a paid ClickFlow account, you can even measure your content refreshes.
ClickFlow will show you the impact that updates have on your traffic and rankings, on a page-by-page basis.
9. Anwer The Public
Answer The Public leverages Google Suggest to find all of the questions people may have related to any industry or keyword.
Just type in a keyword and it will give you a laundry list of questions people are searching for related to that keyword.
Similar to Ubersuggest, it also shows you comparison and preposition-related keywords.
Assessment
What I like about the tool is it presents the information in an interesting visual format. It’s also ideal for content ideation. Many of the questions can be used for FAQ sections or headers.
SEO doesn’t just exist on Google. You can also rank higher on Amazon, YouTube, Bing, and tons of other sites.
10. Keyword.io
KeywordTool.io uses the same concept as Google Suggest, but for a handful of sites like Amazon, Play Store, and YouTube.
If you are performing SEO on sites other than Google, you should check out KeywordTool.io.
Assessment
There are tons of free tools for SEO for Google. However, there are other search engines to consider. KeywordTool.io is a fantastic tool for your SEO aresenal.
11. FAQfox
FAQfox is a neat little tool that finds you questions people want to answered based on any specific site you want information from.
For example, you can type in the word “marking” and quora.com as the URL, and it will show you category based questions people are asking on Quora.
You can do this for Reddit or any other site you want keyword or content ideas from.
Assessment
Great content should answer users’ questions. This free SEO tool can help you find the questions users are asking so you can address them.
12. Google SERP Preview Tool
Have you noticed that some listings on Google get cut off because the title is too long?
A big misconception is Google uses character counts for meta tags. In reality, they count pixels.
Google SERP Tool will tell you how many pixels your meta tags contain and if they will get cut off by Google.
It also shows you a preview of what your web pages will look like on Google.
Assessment
The preview Google shows in the search results can drastically impact your click through rate. This neat tool lets you see what users see in the SERPs.
13. Pagespeed Insights
Speed is everything. The faster your site loads the better you will rank, especially when it comes to Google’s mobile index.
Pagespeed Insights tells you what you need to fix for your site to load fast on any device.
It doesn’t matter if you are optimizing for tablet devices, desktop, or mobile, this tool will tell you what to fix.
Assessment
This tool is free, easy to use, and provides must-have information to help you speed up your site load time.
14. SEOptimer
SEOptimer is a simple tool that gives you a technical overview of your on-page SEO as well as your content.
Simply plug in your URL, and the tool provides a free SEO website audit and recommends tasks you can complete to improve your site’s SEO.
Assessment
Not sure where your SEO is going wrong? This tool breaks down things like page speed as well in addition to showing you how your website loads for both desktop and mobile devices. You can even see social sharing data.
15. XML-Sitemaps.com
XML Sitemaps generates a sitemap for you that you can submit to Google Search Console. A sitemap helps search engines crawl your website, but its might feel too technical for small businesses or SEO newbies. This tool makes it super simple.
best free seo tools wordpress
Best free SEO tools for WordPress
1. Pingdom Speed Test
Pingdom Speed Test is a simple tool that enables you to measure exactly how long your site takes to load – down to the millisecond. Just enter the URL of the site you want to test, pick one of the available server locations, then sit back for a few seconds while it produces a detailed report.
Aside from load speeds, Pingdom will also compare how your site stacks up against their database and archived tests, and provide you with a list of performance insights you can put into action to improve your metrics:
Now, you might not care too much about how fast your site loads as long as it’s quick enough, but search engines do. So, if you want to boost your Google rankings, even shaving a couple of milliseconds off your page speed might just be the ticket to get there.
As far as WordPress goes, there are lots of ways to help improve your page speed times, and we recently covered ten of them in a two-part series: 5 Quick Wins to Speed Up WordPress Load Times and 5 More Quick Wins to Speed Up Your WordPress.
2. KWFinder
KWFinder allows you to search for detailed information about specific keywords. All you need to do is enter a seed keyword into the search bar, click “Find Keywords”, and wait a few seconds for KWFinder to calculate your results.
KWFinder reports show you how popular the keyword you’re searching for is, how the popularity of that keyword has changed over time, and related keywords you might want to consider:
Each keyword listed is also given a “Keyword Difficulty” or “KD” rating. This is calculated from Link Profile Strength using a system created by Mangools, the creator of KWFinder. Keywords are rated on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being the least difficult and 100 being the most difficult. The KD is highlighted in red, yellow, or green, so you can see which keywords are easy to rank for at a glance.
KWFinder does offer premium plans, but visitors to the KWFinder site can search for two keywords per day without signing up. You can also register for a free plan with up to five keyword searches per day. This is more than enough to suit the needs of most small business websites.
3. Chrome DevTools
The Chrome DevTools is a suite of web development and debugging tools built right into the Chrome browser. They include an elements panel (which enables you to manipulate your site’s CSS and see how the changes look in real time), a console that provides you with real-time diagnostics, and a networks section with insights regarding your site’s performance, among many others.
However, our primary interest lies with the Chrome DevTools dedicated to providing page performance and loading speed insights. To gain access to these free SEO tools you must first install Google Chrome, then head to the site you’ll be testing. Right-click anywhere on the page, select the Inspect option, and once there, click on the Network tab. Finally, press the F5 key to begin your first test:
Once the test is complete, you’ll be presented with a list of every single request made to the site and how long it took to complete, as well as an overall loading time. This list will show you which elements need to be optimized, but the usual suspects tend to be images, CSS, and JavaScript. We covered image optimization in a previous article, and both CSS and JavaScript can be easily dealt with too, by pressing a suitable plugin into service.
4. Alexa
When referring to Alexa, we must make a distinction between its free Site Overview service and its premium marketing stack, which only offers a short free trial period. Since we’re talking about free SEO tools, we’ll be focusing on the former and how it can help you improve your Google rankings.
Alexa keeps track of your site’s global and countrywide rank using its own algorithms alongside historical data, which enables you to see how your performance progresses over time. The Site Overview also breaks down the countries your visitors are coming from, which is useful from a geo-targeting perspective:
Most importantly, you’ll be shown a rough outline of your top performing keywords in search engines. Using this data, you can decipher the content that’s performing well, then use the information to either schedule more related posts for your WordPress blog, reinforce low performers with better content, or simply retire shoddy keywords.
5. Google Keyword Planner
The Google Keyword Planner enables you to obtain search volume data and historical trends for the keywords you choose, analyze how much competition there is for them, and dissect information on related keywords organized according to relevance:
With this data in hand, you can quickly select highly performing keywords and build your WordPress posts around them. These keywords can also be used in conjunction with the Yoast SEO plugin to help improve your Google rankings.
6. Google Trends
Google Trends is a powerful free SEO tool all by itself, but it shines when used alongside the Google Keyword Planner.
While the planner enables you to identify potential future keywords for your content, Google Trends provides you with hard data concerning keyword interest using Google’s vast database of search histories. You can even use the tool to compare interest in multiple keywords at once, and break down the regions for which they’re most relevant:
Historical trends can be an influential factor when determining the viability of keywords. For example, did you know that interest in WordPress themes usually peaks each year around January and February? A savvy WordPress blogger would heed this data and schedule a theme roundup around that time.
7. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is a free extension for Chrome and Firefox that integrates directly with Google Search, Google Analytics, eBay, and other major websites to show you keyword information in real time. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on how Keywords Everywhere integrates with Google Search.
Every time you search for something on Google, Keywords Everywhere will present you with two lists of keywords: one list of automatically-generated relevant keywords and a list of keywords also searched for by people googling the same thing. Search volumes, CPC (Cost-Per-Click), and Competition levels are also displayed.
Keywords Everywhere is particularly great for anyone who manages a WordPress blog because you can use it to generate ideas for Focus Keywords. This makes it easier for you to choose SEO-friendly article ideas at the outset, rather than trying to force an ill-fitting keyword onto an idea you’ve already written about.
Conclusion
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