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Introduction to Blog Seo Tools.
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The Ultimate List of the 54 Best SEO Tools (Free & Paid)
Kelly Lyons
Dec 02, 2021
24 min read
The best free and paid SEO tools
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Free Keyword Research Tools
Free On-Page SEO Tools
Free Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting Tools
Free Local SEO Tools
Free Link Building Tools
Google Tools
Other Free SEO Tools
Paid SEO Tools
Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting Tools
On-Page SEO Tools
Keyword Research Tools
Link Building Tools
Local SEO Tools
Other SEO Tools
Final Thoughts
Here are the absolute best free and paid SEO tools available, broken down into categories so you can find exactly what you need.
From link building to local SEO, keyword research, and more.
Check out the full list of our favorite 54 SEO tools below.
Free Keyword Research Tools
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a fan-favorite SEO tool that uses Google’s autocomplete data to find out what users are actually asking.
Once you input your search, you can view results as a mind map or as a list. You can also export data to a CSV file.
AnswerThePublic tool
Image credit: AnswerThePublic
Why we like it: AnswerThePublic organizes results based on question words, making it easy to perform topic research.
AlsoAsked
AlsoAsked leverages People Also Ask data to provide and organize information based on your search. You can research directly on the site or export your findings to a CSV file or a graph.
As of writing, AlsoAsked is in Beta period, so users have free access to the “Bulk” account that includes 1,000 searchers per month. Once the Beta period is over, the free version will offer 10 searches per month.
AlsoAsked tool
Image credit: AlsoAsked
Why we like it: While this tool is useful for keyword research in general, it also provides a great way to organize an outline for individual pieces of content by showing you related topics to your search.
QuestionDB
Input a broad keyword, and QuestionDB will come back with related topics as well as specific questions users ask.
QuestionDB tool
Why we like it: QuestionDB is another useful topic generator. We especially like that it offers related topics mentioned in questions; you can find related keywords or popular topics you may have missed otherwise.
Search Response
Search Response uses People Also Ask data to provide popular questions people are actually asking online. Input a keyword or phrase, and it delivers PAA questions based on popularity as well as groups topics similar to the Keyword Magic Tool.
Search Response tool
Why we like it: In addition to the People Also Ask tool, Search Response offers a tool called “People Also Search For” that shows what people look for next if they bounce off a page from their initial search.
SEO Keywords Spelling Checker
Using the Google Suggest feature, this keyword research tool checks if the keyword you entered is written in the way people search for it. If it’s not, you can tweak your keyword to match the more popular phrasing.
SEO Keywords Spelling Checker
Why we like it: Because these suggestions come from Google, they reflect what’s trending in real-time. This is a quick way to ensure you’re taking trending topics into consideration.
Free On-Page SEO Tools
SEOquake
SEOquake is a free browser extension that lets users conduct on page SEO audits, examine internal and external links, check for broken links, and more without leaving their browsers.
SEOquake extension
Why we like it: The SERP overview tool (pictured above) shows a range of data for each result. You can also click any of the numbers to get a for in-depth report.
Rank Math
Rank Math is a popular WordPress SEO plugin, with more than 300,000 installations to date.
And for good reason — it presents Google Search Console and Google Analytics data right in your WordPress dashboard, provides a Rank Tracker tool, monitors 404 errors, generates Schema Markup, and much more.
Rank Math WordPress extension
Why we like it: The free version provides plenty of great options on its own, but if you do decide you need to upgrade, the annual rates are reasonable (starting at $59).
It can be overwhelming to switch between a number of tools and websites, so it’s a huge bonus that Rank Math is available right from your WordPress dashboard.
Yoast (Free Version)
Yoast is another handy WordPress plugin with both free and paid options. It’s a staple for many SEOs, as it takes care of the majority of technical SEO issues for you.
setting canonical URL in Yoast
Image credit: Yoast
Why we like it: Even if you aren’t a technical SEO whiz, you can use Yoast to ensure that your site meets technical SEO standards. And if you are experienced, it can still save you a lot of time. It also gives tips for optimizing content for readability.
Meta SEO Inspector Chrome Extension
This handy Chrome extension lets you view a page’s on-page SEO signals, including meta, headers, Schema Markup, external links, and more all from a handy dropdown.
Meta SEO Inspector screenshot
Why we like it: This on-page SEO tool is helpful for reviewing your own pages as well as taking a look at your competitors’. Plus, it’s handy to have all this information on one screen with just a simple click.
Free Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting Tools
SplitSignal
Take the guesswork out of SEO testing with easy-to-use SEO A/B testing. You’ll get data to show which of the changes you made are making an impact.
SplitSignal results
Why we like it: It can be difficult to prove the ROI of SEO to your clients, making the data you get from SplitSignal incredibly valuable. You can run these tests on any website platform and won’t even need to deal with complex code or request developer resources.
At the moment, SplitSignal is available via the Pilot Program only. Request a trial today to find out more.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is essentially the Bing version of Google Search Console. While Google’s version is more advanced, Bing’s version is helpful if you’re trying to optimize your site for Bing.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Why we like it: In recent years, Bing has made notable improvements to the interface of their Webmaster Tools based on customer feedback.
It also offers a solid keyword research tool. You can filter your results for “related keywords”, “question keywords”, and “newly discovered keywords” to further refine your results.
Semrush Site Audit (Free Version)
Even if you don’t have a paid Semrush account, you can audit up to 100 pages per month with a free account. Auditing your website pages will help you to understand areas in which you can improve for better optimization.
Semrush Site Audit Report
Why we like it: We may be biased, but one of our favorite things about Site Audit is that you can hover over “Learn more” next to each issue or error to learn what you need to do to fix it.
Sloth
Sloth helps you use Cloudflare Workers, along with their extensive network of global data centers, to set 301 and 302 redirects, implement hreflang, conduct A/B testing, modify your robots.txt file, and even collect log files.
Sloth process
Image credit: Sloth
Why we like it: Sloth is especially useful for SEOs working on enterprise sites. You can implement solutions like redirects and hreflang tags without nearly as much effort.
Sloth lets you use Cloudflare Workers to execute JavaScript on the side without impacting the underlying infrastructure, which means you are able to clear any obstacles to get your tasks done.
Hreflang Tag Teting Tool
Google’s John Mueller has previously said that implementing hreflang is one of the most complex parts of SEO; using Merkle’s Hreflang Tags Testing Tool is one way to make it that little bit easier to check for any errors.
Merkle hrelang testing tool
Why we like it: This tool spots problems with hreflang implementation within minutes, and understands the alternate URLs and the targeted region.
Diagnosing such issues can be time-consuming and frustrating, but when you are able to see the annotations presented in a clear format, spotting that one incorrect tag couldn’t be simpler.
Free Local SEO Tools
PlePer Local SEO Tools Chrome Extension
PlePer offers tools and shortcuts for local SEOs. You can get detailed stats regarding any business’s Google listing in Maps, Local Finder, and Knowledge Panel.
PlePer local SEO tool
Why we like it: The Chrome extension format offers a useful way to research your local competitors. If you do decide you’d like to dive a little deeper, PlePer also offers paid options that start at $10 per month in addition to heftier enterprise options.
GMBspy Chrome Extension
This extension lets you view categories set for other businesses. Because these categories can influence what appears in the Knowledge Graph, it’s a good step to take in your competitor research.
GMBSpy local SEO tool
Why we like it: While category information is public, it can be tricky and occasionally time-consuming to sift through HTML in order to find it.
This is a quick way to keep tabs on competitors as well as find optimization opportunities for your own listing.
GMB Everywhere Chrome Extension
This local SEO tool is similar to GMBSpy, but offers more features.
In addition to accessing the information on business categories, you can perform basic audits in addition to audits specific to reviews, Google Posts, and Google Maps.
GMB Everywhere extension
Why we like it: As a free tool, GMB Everywhere provides a wealth of information. Basic audits allow you to access information regarding competitors’ post strategy, post frequency, and post content.
You can compare your strategy to ensure you’re putting enough time and effort into your listing.
Free Link Building Tools
Hunter
With Hunter, you can save hours of outreach by finding professional email addresses related to your business in seconds. If you’re using the free version, you’ll get 25 searches and 50 verifications per month.
Hunter link building tool
Why we like it: Reaching out for backlinks and expert quotes can be time-consuming work. With Hunter, you save a lot of that time for other tasks — even with the free version.
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
HARO is a handy (and mutually beneficial) tool that lets you respond to specific requests for sources or quotes in various industries.
This helps the reporter get accurate information and can help you get more backlinks and more coverage for your brand.
HARO sends source request emails, broken down by industry, each day. If you believe you are a good source for the request, you can respond. However, it’s ultimately down to the reporter to decide which source or quote to use.
Help a Reporter Out
Why we like it: HARO makes it easy for anyone to get great backlinks without spending much time on the outreach process. Even if you don’t have anyone on your team dedicated to content promotion, you can still get great results with minimal effort.
Streak
This Chrome extension is essentially a CRM built into your Gmail account. You can automatically capture data from contacts and emails, send personalized emails to contact groups, and get notified when people see your messages.
The free version offers all core CRM features, and paid accounts start at $15 per month.
Streak link building tool
Why we like it: Streak is also useful for team collaboration. You can automatically share emails, call logs, and more, as well as access data alongside emails so the entire team has context (as seen in the above image).
Google Tools
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a popular free tool that provides in-depth data about your website. Even if you rely on paid SEO tools, using GA is essential for analyzing site traffic over time.
It can also give you valuable insights about your audience, including where they’re located, what kind of device they use, and their demographics.
Google Analytics Organic Traffic
Why we like it: It’s the most cost-effective analytics tool (free!) for businesses of all sizes. Even if you’re an SEO novice, you can easily use Google Analytics to demonstrate success — or failure — with evidence and data.
Google Search Console
Another must-have tool for any SEO is Google Search Console. It allows you to measure your site’s search traffic, find out which keywords your site ranks for, and identify technical errors.
GSC reports common errors, including Index Coverage, Core Web Vitals reports, and Mobile Usability.
img-semblog
Why we like it: There’s no better way to identify and fix issues related to your Google search performance than straight from Google itself. It allows you to see the exact issues that Google sees when it crawls and indexes your site.
You can also:
Test individual URLs to see how Googlebot interprets them
Submit a sitemap
Request the indexation of a URL
Access information like clicks, impressions, CTR, and average positions of keywords
Access Search Analytics for Sheets and the Search Console Data Downloader by Dominic Woodman to enhance GSC capabilities.
Google Business Profile
If you run a business with a physical store, use Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) to claim your business listing and appear on Google Maps, in the Knowledge Panel, and in the Local Pack.
Optimizing your Google Business Profile profile is the first step you’ll want to take. Ensure your hours and address are correct, add photos and videos, and respond to all reviews. Doing so will help your business rank locally.
Google My Business Knowledge Panel
Why we like it: It’s possible to gain a significant competitive advantage if you are prepared to put in the time and effort to optimize your Google listing.
Your competitors might treat it as a “set it and forget it” task, which means they will miss out on opportunities to add new posts, keep Q&As up to date, respond to reviews, add photos, and upload offers.
Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio allows users to combine data from different Google tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to create interactive reports.
Google Data Studio screenshot
Why we like it: Data Studio is a great free reporting tool that shows real-time data and historical comparisons.
As stated by Google, “Blending sources can reveal valuable relationships between your data sets. Creating blended charts directly in Data Studio removes the need to manipulate your data in other applications first, saving you time and effort.”
Google PageSpeed Insights
Page speed is both a ranking factor and a user experience concern, so it’s important to stay on top of it. You can use this tool to understand your PageSpeed score as well as learn how to improve it.
Google PageSpeed Insights tool
Why we like it: PageSpeed Insights takes the guesswork out of optimizing the loading time of your site. It even prioritizes issues for you with clear suggestions and estimated time savings.
Google Mobile-Friendly Test
Google has been prioritizing mobile-first indexing for years now, so it’s important to keep your site mobile-friendly. All you need to do is paste a URL, and the tool will come back with specific mobile-usability issues to fix.
Google Mobile-Friendly Test
Why we like it: This user-friendly tool will let you know exactly how your page can improve. Mobile-usability errors include:
Uses incompatible plugins
Viewport not set
Viewport not set to “device-width”
Content wider than screen
Text too small to read
Clickable elements too close together
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a keyword research tool that helps you choose the right keywords for your ad campaign.
All you need to do is enter a seed keyword (or a specific URL), and you’ll receive keyword ideas in addition to details on average monthly search volume and competition level.
Google Keyword Planner screenshot
Why we like it: While there are certainly more in-depth keyword research tools out there, it’s helpful to know competition level and bid estimates from Google. It’s also a great high-level way to start brainstorming ideas for a campaign.
Google Trends
Unsure where to start with content planning? Google Trends is a handy topic research tool that provides insights on what people are searching and where they’re from.
You can search broad topics, compare two topics, or start by taking a look at recently trending topics.
Google Trends screenshot
Why we like it: Tracking the popularity of a topic relevant to your business can help you stay on top of trends. Or on the flip side, you can avoid spending time and resources creating content about topics that are dwindling in popularity.
Other Free SEO Tools
Semrush Sensor
Sensor is a 100% free tool from Semrush that shows the volatility of the SERPs for specific industries. You can also track SERP feature occurrences and HTTPS usage.
Semrush Sensor
Why we like it: Finding dips in traffic or outliers in data can be stressful and require time-consuming deep dives.
Before all of that, it’s helpful to find out whether the issues you are seeing are industry-wide or unique to your site.
Semrush Social Media Toolkit
Our Social Media Toolkit includes plenty of great social media solutions even if you don’t have a paid account. You can post on various platforms directly from Semrush, schedule posts in advance, track how your social ads are doing, and more.
Here’s what you can expect in terms of limitations for free accounts:
Social Media Ads: Can only add one ad account
Social Media Analytics: No restrictions
Social Media Poster: Can post to 10 profiles max
Social Media Tracker: Can track 50 profiles max
Social Media Poster configuration
Connect to your social profiles and schedule posts within the Social Media Poster.
Why we like it: Posting from various social media accounts on different platforms can be dizzying, so it’s helpful to be able to create and publish your posts all in one place.
With the Social Media Toolkit, you can post to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google Business Profile without leaving Semrush.
Schema.org
Founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex, this community promotes shared vocabulary for structured data across the internet. You can access documentation for all types of schema.
Event schema
Why we like it: If you need to add a certain type of structured data to your page, all you need to do is look it up and you’ll find all the information you need to implement it.
Inspect Canonical
This extension allows users to check the canonical of a page right from their Chrome browser — no need to sift through the source code again.
After seeing a gap for such a tool, Nick LeRoy decide to create it himself:
Inspect Canonical Chrome extension
Why we like it: This easy-to-use tool has a color-coding system that appears directly on your Chrome browser. The “C” icon will appear either red, amber, or green depending on the page. It also includes a message (as seen above) so you know exactly what you’re working with.
Paid SEO Tools
If you are an SEO by profession, you’ll probably want to invest in some paid SEO tools as well.
But do you really need to pay for SEO tools?
While there are plenty of great free options out there, paid tools typically offer greater capabilities, including solutions for managing a large number of clients.
So while you can certainly maintain your SEO presence without having a large budget to spend on tools, things can get tricky quickly, particularly if you are managing many clients.
Read through our paid SEO tools list to learn more about what we think are some of the most impactful options out there.
Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting Tools
Semrush .Trends
With a paid Semrush subscription, users can add on .Trends, which includes the Market Research and Traffic Analytics tools.
These powerful competitive intelligence tools allow you to analyze competitors and receive a comprehensive overview of a competitor’s online performance respectively.
Semrush Market Explorer
Pictured: Growth Quadrant in Market Explorer
Why we like it: The above Growth Quadrant widget from Market Explorer provides your top competitors and organizes them in four categories:
Game Changers: High growth
Leaders: Fast-growth with a large audience
Niche Players: New or smaller companies
Established Players: Brands with established popularity
It’s easy to focus only on the big players in your industry, but Market Explorer ensures you don’t lose sight of up-and-coming companies.
Pricing: $200 per month (must already have a paid Semrush subscription).
Semrush Agency Growth Kit
If you’re part of a marketing agency, the Agency Growth Kit add-on can help you get more leads, find growth opportunities, and streamline reporting.
In addition to these helpful features, your business can be added to our agency directory, where any user can search for specific services in different industries. Businesses qualify once they complete two Semrush Academy courses and provide their business information.
Semrush Agency Growth Kit
Why we like it: AGK includes the Client Portal, where you can create and while-label reports that your clients can access at any time.
Pricing: You can add Agency Growth Kit to any paid Semrush account for an additional $100 per month.
Advanced Web Ranking
This tool provides rank tracking daily, weekly, and on-demand for desktop, mobile, and local searches. You can populate this data in white-label reports to send to your clients.
Advanced Web Ranking
Why we like it: Advanced Web Ranking offers rank tracking, reporting, and competitor analysis all from the same tool. The variety of plans is also useful for smaller businesses or those without large budgets.
Pricing: You can choose from four different plans. If you pay annually, you’ll save 10%.
Starter (for startups): $49 per month
Pro (for in-house teams): $99 per month
Agency: $199 per month
Enterprise: $499 per month
Nightwatch
Find out how your pages are ranking all the way down to a specific zip code. Additional tools include white-labeled reports, Site Auditor, and the Keyword Discovery feature.
Nightwatch SEO tool
Why we like it: Rank trackers usually use a random Google Data Center, but Nightwatch lets you access any Google Data Center in existence. This will help you see how you fare locally as well as in other markets if applicable.
Pricing: Similar to Advanced Web Ranking, Nightwatch offers multiple packages depending on your budget:
Starter (freelancers and small or medium businesses): $32 per month
Optimize (growing businesses and marketing agencies): $79 per month
Agency (larger agencies and enterprise businesses): $295 per month
On-Page SEO Tools
Semrush On Page SEO Checker
It can be difficult to know where to begin when optimizing a page. On Page SEO checker keeps things organized by providing improvement ideas for specific pages.
On Page SEO Checker
Why we like it: The tool organized ideas into different categories, making it easier to see which areas need the most attention. And if you have a Site Audit set up for your project, you’ll receive technical ideas as well.
Pricing: On Page SEO checker is available for any account, though there are limits:
Free: 10 SEO Idea Units (each keyword in the tool spends 1 unit)
Pro: 500 SEO Idea Units
Guru: 800 SEO Idea Units
Business: 2,000 SEO Idea Units
Yoast
Because Yoast is such a popular tool, we’ve added it twice! Let’s discuss the paid version. In addition to the free features, you can access any Yoast SEO training course, use the readability analysis feature, automatically redirect pages, and more.
Yoast Readability Report
Why we like it: With the readability analysis feature, you can rely on Yoast to tell you how readable your post is. See the above screenshot — if there are any recommended improvements, the tool will mark them with orange or red dots and let you know what the issue is.
Pricing: Yoast Premium is $89/year.
Copyscape
Duplicate content can negatively affect your rankings, so it’s helpful for copywriters or editors to utilize software such as Copyscape that can detect how much of your content shows up verbatim on other parts of the internet.
Copyscape reviews
Why we like it: Duplicate content can be detrimental to your rankings, and Copyscape seeks it out for you with almost no effort.
Pricing: Copyscape will run you three cents per 200 words and an additional cent for every 100 words thereafter.
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Our SEO Writing Assistant checks the readability of your writing, gives SEO and keyword suggestions, alerts you of any plagiarism detected, and gauges the tone of voice you’re using.
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Why we like it: In addition to using the tool within our website, you can also download plugins for both WordPress and Google Docs.
Pricing: Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is available to those with Guru and Business Semrush subscriptions.
Keyword Research Tools
Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
The powerful Keyword Magic Tool offers access to an extensive database of over 20 billion keywords. It’s safe to say that you’ll be able to conquer keyword research for any industry.
If you are using the free version, you are limited to 10 searches per day, each of which will have 10 results.
Keyword Magic Tool
Why we like it: The Keyword Magic Tool is incredibly comprehensive, offering global keyword research possibilities. Additional perks are as follows:
Automatically groups related keywords into topics
Includes a question-only feature to filter for only keywords that ask questions
Lets you know which SERP features are present for a keyword
Shows intent of keyword (i.e. transactional, navigational, or informational
Pricing: Available with a Guru or Business Semrush account.
Keywords Everywhere
This browser add-on for Chrome or Firefox displays search volume, CPC, AdWords competition level, and historical trend data of keywords.
Keywords Everywhere
Why we like it: In addition to the above-mentioned data, you can also access People Also Ask data. This is a helpful tool if you don’t want to go back and forth between multiple keyword planning tools.
Pricing: Users pay by credit packages. One credit is equivalent to one keyword and credits expire after one year:
100,000 credits: $10
500,000 credits: $50
1 million credits: $100
2 million credits: $200
5 million credits: $500
10 million credits: $1,000
Keywordtool.io
Keywordtool.io generates long-tail keyword suggestions based on the keyword you enter.
Keyword.io is actually a handy free tool; however, the Pro version is useful because it fully supports all Google domains and languages. That’s data from 192 supported countries and 46 languages.
Keywordtool.io
Why we like it:
Keyword Tool.io can be used for YouTube, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Instagram in addition to Google.
There’s also a Keyword Tool API option to help you perform keyword research on a much larger scale.
Pricing: There are three plans to choose from if you want to upgrade from the free account:
Pro Basic: $69 per month
Pro Plus: $79 per month
Pro Business: $159 per month
LongTailPro
It’s important to zero in on the right keywords that will get you useful traffic and actually convert users. LongTailPro helps you do so by finding less competitive, long-tail keywords within your business niche.
LongTailPro keyword research tool
Why we like it: The SERP Analysis Tool allows you to keep tabs on your competitors by tracking up to 200 keywords, conducting a competitive website analysis, and analyzing metrics that help you gauge your chances of surpassing your competitors.
Pricing: If you pay annually, you can get four months of services free:
Starter: $297 annually or $37 per month
Pro: Can $537 annually or $67 per month
Agency: $1177 annually or $147 per month
Link Building Tools
Semrush Backlink Analytics
Using Backlink Analytics, you can check backlinks accurately for almost any website, and use our Authority Score metric to determine the quality of a backlink.
Semrush Backlink Analytics
Why we like it: This is the fastest backlink discovery tool out there, so you’ll be the first to know about how your competitors are doing. You can also use the various reports within the tool to find new backlinks, lost backlinks, and more.
Pricing: Free, Pro, Guru, and Business level accounts all support Backlink Analytics, but you’ll have access to different amounts of requests and results:
Free: 10 results per day and 10 results per report
Pro: 3,000 results per day and 10,000 results per report
Guru: 5,000 results per day and 30,000 results per report
Business: 10,000 results per day and 50,000 results per report
Semrush Link Building Tool
Our Link Building Tool helps you to organize your outreach efforts by collecting a list of opportunities and providing a management interface to run your campaign.
Semrush Link Building Tool
Why we like it: You can filter domain prospects by Authority Score or overall rating to ensure the sites you’re reaching out to are high-quality.
You can also see the “source of prospect” for each domain suggestion, i.e. which relevant keywords triggered the result.
Pricing: You can access the Link Building Tool via any Semrush account, including a free account. Here are the limits:
Free account: Can import up to 100 domains
Paid accounts: Can import up to 10,000 domains
JustReachOut
JustReachOut provides a way to build backlinks and get recognition without a big PR budget. Build a list of journalists and influencers relevant to your business, write a pitch email based on one of their templates, and view the analytics of your open rate once people receive your email.
JustReachOut link building tool
Why we like it: This link building tool provides an organized way to use data from your campaigns to inform future strategies. It also shaves time off the often lengthy process of outreach.
You’ll even have access to editors who will give you feedback on your pitches and give you tips on strategy.
Pricing: There are three plans to choose from and you can save 20% if you pay annually rather than monthly:
Solo: $79 per month if paid annually or $99 monthly
Simple Outreach: $159 per month if paid annually or $199 monthly
Advanced Outreach: $319 per month if paid annually or $399 monthly
PitchBox
Pitchbox is an influencer outreach and content marketing platform. You can quickly find bloggers, publishers, and influencers based on keyword research.
PitchBox outreach tool
Why we like it: They have integrations with many SEO providers, including Semrush, making it easy to access data without leaving the site.
It also sends automatic follow-ups to those who don’t reach out so you don’t have to do it manually
Pricing: You can choose from four established plans or contact PitchBox about custom options:
Basic: $195 per month
Small Business: $295 per month
SEO Agency: $395 per month
Enterprise: From $1500 per month
Local SEO Tools
Semrush Listing Management
Our simple solution for Local SEO — created in collaboration with Yext — takes the manual effort out of distributing your business data to authoritative directories.
Semrush Listing Management Tool
Why we like it: The Listing Management tool also improves your data voice search reach, automatically distributing the information to Google, Bing, Apple, and Amazon Alexa.
Pricing: You can choose between a Basic Location and a Premium Location:
Basic Location: $20 per month
Premium Location: $40 per month (includes a local heatmap, the ability to respond to Facebook and Google Business Profile reviews through the tool, and a review for Sentiment Analysis)
Georanker
Georanker offers a variety of tools, but the Local Rank Checker & Tracker Tool is a powerful way to keep an eye on local traffic.
While you are able to use this tool for free, there are daily limits and you won’t be able to create white-labeled reports or access additional features.
Georanker
Why we like it: Although we’re mentioning their local SEO tool specifically, they offer plenty of other SEO products as well as API and data mining capabilities.
Pricing: You can choose from three different plans, but keep in mind that data mining and API features will be a separate cost:
Pro: $99 per month
Agencies: $249 per month
Enterprises: $490 per month
Yext
Yext is best known for its Location Listing services, though it also provides Reputation Management and Site Search Tools.
Local listings allow you to manage your business information across over 200 search platforms across the world. This means you only need to update hours, menus, and other related information once and that information will be updated everywhere.
Yext
Image credit: Yext
Why we like it: In addition to managing your listings, you can also use track SEO metrics like search impressions, clicks, and conversions to find out how much business you’re getting directly from your listings.
Pricing: You can contact Yext to get specific pricing for enterprise packages. If you just need to pay by individual listing, here’s what you can expect:
Emerging Starter Package: $4 per week or $199 annually
Essential Plus Package: $9 per week or $449 annually
Complete Standard Package: $10 per week or $499 annually
Premium Advanced Package: $19 per week or $999 annually
Other SEO Tools
Sellzone
If you sell products on Amazon, Sellzone will help you find the right search terms to use, audit your product pages, and test whether or not any changes to your listing make an impact.
Sellzone
Why we like it: Because the Amazon market is so saturated, it’s helpful to know how you’re doing within your industry. Plus, the ability to test out changes allows you to experiment purposefully instead of guessing what would work best.
Pricing: The free plan includes a comprehensive product research tool, unlimited listing split tests, and listing checks for Amazon requirements. For more capabilities, and even a personal account manager on the Pro plan, you can opt for a paid plan:
Growth: $50 per month
Pro: $85 per month
Prowly
Prowly is a media relations and PR software that allows you to find relevant media contacts, create and send press releases, manage your contacts, and more.
Prowly
Why we like it: Prowly cuts down manual PR work and allows you to manage your campaigns within one platform.
Their press release capabilities are particularly useful, as you can create visual (and interactive) press releases, generate a target audience, and email your press releases directly through Prowly.
Pricing: There are two plans available for Prowly users:
Essential (for small businesses and freelancers): $189 per month
Professional (for PR agencies and in-house PR teams): $259 per month
Content Marketplace
Content Marketplace is your go-to source for content on-demand. You can order articles, infographics, website copy, newsletters, press releases, ebooks, and more.
Content Marketplace
Why we like it: There’s no need to have a subscription to access Content Marketplace, but opting for a Premium plan provides a 10% discount on content orders, unlimited content revisions, one express order per month, and more.
Pricing: With a free subscription, you won’t have recurring fees; you’ll pay for each asset you order.
If you do choose a Premium subscription, you’ll pay $33 per month if you pay annually or $40 per month if you pay monthly.
ImpactHero
This AI tool breaks down your site’s content into conversion journey stages, provides ideas for improving your strategy, and finds out which pages are the most impactful.
ImpactHero
What we like: With ImpactHero, there’s no need to sift through loads of data to find out how your content is doing. This tool shows you relevant data in a user-friendly way.
Pricing: You can pay $200 per month or contact the sales team to review other pricing options.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are plenty of SEO tools to help you fine-tune your strategy and save time with automations. Even if you aren’t working with a hefty budget, there are many incredible free tools you can use.
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What is SEO
9 SEO Best Practices
Sandeep Mallya
Jan 24, 2022
15 min read
SEO Best Practices
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Are SEO Best Practices?
- Align Your Content with Search Intent
- Write a Compelling Title Tag and Meta Description
- Optimize Your Images
- Optimize Your Page Speed
- Build an Internal Linking Structure
- Improve User Experience
- Make URLs SEO-Friendly
- Earn Authoritative Backlinks
- Create Useful Content
Final Thoughts
Here is the harsh truth: if you aren’t ranking in Google’s top 10 results for your target keywords, your website might as well be invisible on Google.
There are several strategies and techniques you can follow that can possibly increase the likelihood of ranking.
However, if you don’t get the basics right, like your on-page SEO, your chances of ranking on page one of Google are minimal.
By following SEO best practices, you will be laying the groundwork for your site to increase its visibility in search. Once you have laid the groundwork, you can move on to more advanced keyword research and link building strategies.
In this article, we’ll review nine SEO best practices that you should follow to better your chances of ranking well for your targeted keywords.
What Are SEO Best Practices?
According to HubSpot, 75% of searchers never go past the first page of search results — this is why it is so essential to rank on the first page of Google.
You can put your best foot forward by following SEO best practices.
According to Google, SEO best practices are tasks that will “hopefully make it easier for search engines to crawl, index, and understand your content.”
Let’s dive into some of the most important ones to follow.
SEO best practices
- Align Your Content with Search Intent
Once you have an idea of what SEO is and how to find keywords to target, it’s a good idea to think deeper about search intent.
Search intent (also called “user intent”) is the purpose behind every search query. Understanding and satisfying search intent is Google’s ultimate priority. Pages that rank on the first page of Google have all passed Google’s litmus test on search intent.
For instance, take a look at the search results for “how to make oatmeal cookies.”
search for how to make oatmeal cookies
The top search results are blog posts or videos, not ecommerce pages selling oatmeal cookies. Google understands that people who are giving this specific search are looking to learn, not to buy.
On the other hand, top search results for a query like “buy oatmeal cookies” are ecommerce pages. Because in this case, Google understands that people are in buy mode. Therefore, the top results don’t include links to oatmeal cookie recipes.
search for buy oatmeal cookies
For that reason, if you would like to rank your pages on page 1 of Google in 2021, you need to understand the concept of search intent and create content that aligns with user intent.
There are four common types of search intent:
Informational: A search falls under informational intent when the user is looking for specific information. It can be a simple search like “what’s the weather today?” that provides instant results or something complex like “best SEO strategies” that requires a more in-depth explanation.
Navigational: In this case, the searcher is looking for a specific website or app. Common examples of navigational searches include “Facebook login,” “Semrush,” and “Amazon.”
Commercial: The intent behind a search is commercial when the user is looking for a specific product but hasn’t made the final decision yet. For example, searches such as “best SEO tools” and “best DSLR cameras” are all commercial searches.
Transactional: Here, the intent is to buy. The searcher has already made a decision to buy a specific product or tool. Examples include searches such as “buy Nikon d500,” “buy Macbook Air,” and “buy groceries online.”
Semrush also identifies search intent in various keyword research tools, taking out the guesswork for you.
search intent for “socks”
An SEO best practice is to always keep the search intent in mind while creating content for your website.
For instance, if you would like to rank for the keywords “best DSLR cameras,” you need to realize that the search intent here is commercial, not transactional. The user is still undecided on which DSLR brand to choose.
There is no point in optimizing your DSLR landing page with those specific keywords. Google understands what users want when the search query is “best DSLR cameras.” They are looking for options. They are looking for a blog post or video which lists down the best DSLR cameras, not product pages or ecommerce pages.
Bottom line: Create content that aligns with the search intent of your target audience.
Instantly discover your audience’s search intent
with Semrush keyword intent analysis
Enter your keyword
Try It Free →
ADS illustration
- Write a Compelling Title Tag and Meta Description
Your page title and meta description are two of the most important meta tags on your page. Let’s cover title tags first.
Title Tags
Title tag description
Title tags are clickable headlines that appear in search results and are extremely critical from an SEO perspective.
According to Google:
Titles are critical to giving users a quick insight into the content of a result and why it’s relevant to their query. It’s often the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on, so it’s important to use high-quality titles on your web pages.
Search engines like Google typically display the first 50-60 characters of a title. Google will display the full title to your page as long as you keep your title tag under 60 characters.
Here are some other best practices to keep in mind while creating title tags:
Include your target keywords
Write a title that matches search intent
Avoid creating duplicate title tags
Avoid keyword stuffing
Keep it descriptive but concise
Meta Descriptions
The second most important meta tag on a page is the meta description. A meta description is a brief summary of a page in the SERP (search engine results page) displayed below the title tag.
meta description example
Meta descriptions do not directly impact search rankings, but they can influence click-through rates.
Google explains it best:
“A meta description tag should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they’re looking for.”
Google typically truncates meta descriptions to 155–160 characters, so make sure you provide an accurate summary of your content while keeping it under 160 characters.
Here are some best practices to follow while writing your meta descriptions:
Write unique meta descriptions for each page
Use action-oriented copy
Include your target keywords
Match search intent
Provide an accurate summary
- Optimize Your Images
Images play a crucial role in improving the user experience of visitors on your site. Chances are you spend a lot of time selecting the right images to enhance your blog posts, product pages, and other important pages on your site.
But do you spend an equal amount of time optimizing the images on your site? When used the right way, images can contribute to your site’s overall SEO and boost organic traffic. Below are four things you can do to optimize your images.
Choose the Best File Format
Site speed is an important ranking signal, and images are often the largest contributor to overall page size. As a result, you need to optimize images for speed in order to improve the overall performance of your site.
The first step involved in optimizing images is picking the best file format, so let’s look at JPEG vs. PNG. vs. WebP.
The most commonly used image formats on the web are JPEG and PNG. Both of these formats use different compression techniques, which is why the file sizes between these two can be dramatically different.
Showing JPEG vs PNG – image optimization best practices
Looking at the difference in file sizes above, it would be easy to declare JPEG as the clear winner. But it would be a mistake to use JPEG as the de facto image format for your site.
While JPEGs look great for photographs (as seen in the Panda image above), PNGs are best suited for images that contain text, line drawings, etc. This illustration by Digital Inspiration proves my point.
JPEG vs PNG
WebP is another option, which Google breaks down:
“WebP is a modern image format that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web.
WebP lossless images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs.
WebP lossy images are 25–34% smaller than comparable JPEG images at equivalent SSIM quality index.”
Learn more about how to use WebP in this Google guide.
Compress Your Images
The larger your image file size, the longer it takes the web page to load, which is why it is imperative that you compress your images before uploading them on your site.
Luckily, there are several free tools out there that can help you compress your images.
TinyPNG: TinyPNG uses smart lossy compression techniques to reduce the file size of your PNG and JPEG files.
ImageOptim: If you’re a Mac user, you can download and use this free tool for all your image compression needs. ImageOption is a tool recommended by Google as well. It’s by far the best tool for compressing JPEGs, but not for PNGs. For compressing PNGs, you’re better off using TinyPNG.
ShortPixel: If you run your site on WordPress, you can install this plugin to compress your images. ShortPixel’s free plan allows you to compress 100 images per month.
Provide Alt Text for Images
Despite advances in Google’s abilities to understand images, adding alt text to images is still a necessary step. Adding alt text to images improves web accessibility and helps browsers better understand the images on your site.
Here is what Google says about writing alt text:
When choosing alt text, focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and is in context of the content of the page.
Avoid filling alt attributes with keywords (keyword stuffing) as it results in a negative user experience and may cause your site to be seen as spam.
When writing alt text for images, be concise in your description, and avoid stuffing your target keywords.
Lazy-Load Your Images
Lazy loading is a technique that defers the loading of non-critical resources (images, videos, etc.) at page load time. Instead, images and videos are loaded only when users need them.
Here is how Google explains the link between lazy loading and site performance:
When we lazy load images and video, we reduce initial page load time, initial page weight, and system resource usage, all of which have positive impacts on performance.
To lazy load your images and videos on WordPress, you can use the free a3 Lazy Load plugin.
- Optimize Your Page Speed
If your site takes a long time to load, you are going to have a lot of frustrated users, and your rankings might drop.
There are several free tools that can help you check your page speed, including Google’s very own PageSpeed Insights; you can learn how to improve your Google PageSpeed Insights score here on Semrush.
The tool I recommend for this task is GTMetrix. This free tool provides insights on your page speed and gives recommendations on the steps you can take to improve your load time.
You can also use Semrush to perform a site audit and fix all the performance issues with your site. Here is how:
Login to your Semrush dashboard and navigate to Projects → Add New Project → Enter your domain
Enter all the details here and hit “Start Site Audit”
Semrush will generate an audit report showing all the on-site issues you need to fix to improve the overall SEO health of your site
From the audit report, navigate to Site Performance and click on the “View details” button
Semrush Site Audit Report data
Now you can view all the performance issues on your site that are preventing it from loading faster and take steps to fix them.
Semrush Site Audit Report showing Performance Issues
A quick and easy win in improving your page speed would be to compress your images.
In addition to image compression, here are some other things you can do to help your pages load faster:
Enable browser caching
Delete unnecessary plugins
Reduce server response time
Reduce the number of redirects
Minify CSS and JavaScript files
- Build an Internal Linking Structure
Internal links are important because they establish an information hierarchy for your website and also help Google get a deeper understanding of the content on your page.
When used the right way, internal links have the ability to boost your rankings.
For example, NinjaOutreach boosted their organic traffic by 40% by optimizing internal links.
An SEO best practice is to add internal links from top-ranking pages on your site to pages that need a boost.
You can also use Semrush to identify and fix internal linking errors on your website. The Internal Linking Report within Semrush’s Site Audit tool can be extremely useful in identifying problems with your site’s internal link structure.
Run a site audit for your site on Semrush to generate an audit report
Navigate to Internal Linking and click on the “View details” button
Semrush Site Audit Report showing Internal Linking data
Now you can view all the internal linking issues on your site and go about fixing them.
Internal Link Issues displayed in the Semrush Audit Report
Find and Fix Internal Linking Issues
with the Site Audit Tool
Try for Free →
ADS illustration
- Improve User Experience
Google keeps a close eye on how users engage with your pages. As such, user experience is one of the key factors in improving your search rankings.
As noted above, page speed plays a vital role in improving the user experience of visitors on your site.
Here are a few other SEO tips to ensure that users have a good experience when they visit your site:
Use subheadings: Proper use of subheadings (H1, H2, H3) helps Google understand your content better and makes your text more accessible to readers
Make your content visually appealing: Several studies indicate that visuals help people understand your content better. Use relevant images, videos, and screenshots to illustrate your points.
Avoid using intrusive popups: Popups are not just bad from an SEO perspective, but they also end up annoying your visitors. Since 2017, Google has penalized sites that use intrusive popups, so it’s best to use them sparingly.
Use white space: White space is a fundamental aspect of good design. According to the Interaction Design Foundation, white space (or negative space) improves legibility, branding, and focus. So consider using white space to make your content more legible and grab user attention.
Make your site mobile-friendly: Mobile-friendliness is paramount when it comes to user experience as Google uses mobile-first indexing. You can use Google’s mobile-friendly test to see how your site fares.
- Make URLs SEO-Friendly
URL structure is an often overlooked aspect of SEO. A good URL structure provides both users and search engines an idea of what the destination page is all about.
Google explains it best:
A site’s URL structure should be as simple as possible. Consider organizing your content so that URLs are constructed logically and in a manner that is most intelligible to humans (when possible, readable words rather than long ID numbers).
With that in mind, here is how you can create a well-structured URL:
Use short URLs: A study conducted by Backlinko found that short URLs tend to outperform long URLs in SERPs.
Use keyword-rich URLs: Always include your target keywords in the URL to increase your chances of ranking better in search results.
Include categories or subfolders if necessary: If you’re selling goods, you may have a “shop” subcategory, as seen in the image below. This helps both users and search engines navigate your site.
Remove unnecessary stop words: Keep your URL clean and easy to read by avoiding stop words.
img-semblog
See above for a good URL example and a not-so-good URL example.
- Earn Authoritative Backlinks
Despite several changes to Google’s search algorithm and ranking system, Google still considers backlinks to be a key ranking signal. Google recognizes backlinks as votes of confidence.
If your web pages have many authoritative backlinks, they are more likely to do well on the SERPs.
That said, not all backlinks are created equal. Some backlinks can boost your ranking for specific search queries exponentially, while others may be considered “toxic.”
Google won’t necessarily penalize you for backlinks from poor-quality sites. However, if you participate in link schemes or buy backlinks, you’re likely to get a Google penalty.
You should focus all your efforts on building high-quality backlinks that can improve your chances of ranking higher for your target keywords.
One of the most effective ways to obtain authoritative backlinks is by replicating your competitors’ link building strategies.
You can use Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool to analyze the backlink profiles of up to five competitors to unravel untapped link building opportunities.
To get started:
Navigate to Gap Analysis —> Backlink Gap
Enter your domain as well as up to four of your top competitors’ domains, and hit “Find prospects”
The Backlink Gap tool will return a graph and a table depicting the comparison between the five domains’ backlink profiles. The graph provides a quick glimpse at the most recent link building activities of your competitors.
To identify link building opportunities for your site, you need to select your domain in the drop-down menu just above the table.
Semrush Backlink Gap Tool data
This list will include the websites that are linking to your competitors’ domains, but not yours.
Armed with this knowledge, you can kickstart a campaign to target your competitors’ most authoritative backlinks.
You don’t even need to leave the tool — simply click the “Start Outreach Button” to send prospects to the Link Building Tool.
Of course, you’ll need to build solid content worth linking to first.
- Create Useful Content
Unfortunately, there’s no one piece of advice that can skyrocket your content to the top of the SERP.
However, it’s best to focus on quality above all else. And, of course, user intent.
Here are a few content-specific best practices to follow:
Find the right keywords to target
Identify user intent
Review competing content
Keep linking structure in mind
Gather original data
Include visuals
Optimize headers and meta tags
Note that there’s no mention of content length. Outdated SEO advice often dictates that longer content is always better; however, that’s not always the case.
Content should above all else answer the user’s search query adequately. Sometimes this may require a much lengthier page, and sometimes a shorter page will suffice.
So long as your content is well-researched and matches your users’ intent, you will be in a good place.
Choosing the Right Keywords
Long-tail keywords tend to have low search volume, but in some cases, they could help reach the customers you need. If the search volume is just too low, aim for mid-tail keywords with low to medium keyword difficulty.
You can use Semrush to determine the keyword difficulty score of all the keywords you would like to use in your content.
Enter your keyword(s) in the Semrush search bar and hit the “Search” button.
The Keyword Overview tool will provide key data, including total search volume, keyword difficulty score, and more.
Semrush Keyword Overview Report example
You can scroll down to see keyword variations, questions, and related keywords.
Click the “View all” button under each of these sections to see different variations of your seed keyword(s) alongside useful keyword metrics.
Semrush Keyword Overview variations, questions and related keywords report
With the help of this data, you can determine which keywords are worth targeting while creating content.
You can also use the Keyword Magic Tool to dive a little deeper into the results by using filters and viewing the search intent behind your chosen keyword.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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