Welcome to our blog! We are a team of SEO experts and have been working on different projects for more than 5 years. In this blog, you will find everything you need to know about SEO tools. We will be sharing our knowledge about the best free SEO tools available in the market right now. These tools can help you with ranking your website on Google and other search engines as well as improving its user experience (UX).
We will also be sharing tips and tricks that can help you optimize your website so that it ranks higher on Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page). We will also be sharing news related to SEO and digital marketing so that you keep up-to-date with all the latest happenings in this field.
Table of Contents
Free Seo Tools 2014
There are a lot of tools in the SEO industry and over the years, we had learned that these SEO tools are used more than just increase website ranking; majority of us use these SEO tools for analytics and data collection.
Last year itself, we seen the departure of specific data which we use dearly for ranking a website and this made us extremely vulnerable when it comes to planning our godly SEO strategies.
SEO in 2014 would be slightly different from previous years as we will be facing extra challenges … which is collecting the right data. This is why it is important use the best search engine optimization tools to get the job done.
A quick rundown on Google and you may find dozens of tools out there but just like a majority of us, you will most likely puzzled and wondering which is best and of course, save you the most money (a.k.a. easy on your wallet).
This post is long and thus, bookmark this for future reference. By the way, have you checked out 2014 SEO tips from 21 industry experts?
You could easy get your hands on free SEO tools (and plugins) like Yoast SEO for free or premium ones that could easily cost hundreds of dollars monthly.
Either way, you need to find the best combination for all your SEO needs and honestly speaking, free online tools doesn’t always make the cut.
There is nothing called as the best SEO tools. The best are always the tools which best fit into your SEO strategy.
In this article, I will be sharing my search engine optimization strategy using various free and paid SEO tools which are divided into several categories:
General research
Competitor research
Keyword research
On-page SEO
Rank tracking
I got to admit that the above might sound a little challenging especially if you are just a novice blogger. As much as I recommend you to have a list of tools at your own disposal, make sure you are financially ready as some of these tools are really costly.
Top 10 SEO tools for 2014
Top 10 SEO tools for 2014
- General research tools
Google Webmaster Tool
Google Analytics
The above are my first go-to tools when it comes to SEO planning especially when I am doing SEO services for my client.
These are tools which gives you the first sugar coating for your SEO strategy. Consider it as the base of your project.
Google Webmaster Tool
Google Webmaster Tool is one of the best and free SEO tools 2014
Powered by Google, you must be out of your mind if this is not one of your SEO tools for 2014!
Google Webmaster Tool gives you an idea on:
HTML improvements
Search queries
External backlinks
Manual spam action
Crawl error
Under 30 minutes, you would be able to determine factors affecting your website ranking and possibly keywords which your website are ranking on search engine.
One of the best SEO tips is to ensure your website is SEO-ready even before you start engaging in any projects.
A huge part of Google Webmaster Tools are focused on on-page SEO and thus, it is always good to ensure your site is physically ready for any SEO plans.
Read more about On-Page and Off-Page SEO
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the most important tools when it comes to SEO analysis
Another power SEO tool which is powered by Google and is in fact, one of the best tools out there when it comes to providing analytics data.
Google Analytics (some call it GA) offers truck load of stats and data for your ‘digestion’. GA fit nicely into my best SEO tools 2014 with the Search Engine Optimization feature (Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization).
In this category, you will be spoilt with not one but three important stats which are Queries, Landing Pages and Geographical Summary.
Geographical Summary is only useful if you are running SEO campaigns based on locations.
While Google is fond of removing even more data from various tools, both Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are still able to provide sufficient information which will affect your overall SEO strategy.
- Competitor research tools
Ahrefs
Majestic SEO
If you are thinking of ranking your website, it is a no brainer that you need to know who are your competitors. A friend of mine did told me that ranking the website is easy; All you need is to do ‘that’ slightly better than your competitor and you have the edge already.
Competitor research tools are used to understand how your competitors get their ranking and reverse engineer it until certain extend. This means that forget about copying exactly but instead, focus in building something better or more explosive than theirs.
Ahrefs
Why is Ahrefs used by dozens of SEO experts?
My personal favorite due to looks and user interface. Seriously.
Ahrefs provides better analytics data especially when it comes to finding external and internal backlinks. As much as Ahrefs is great for checking on your own site, I uses it to check on my competitor.
My overused features would be anchor text, domains and top pages.
With just the above 3 information, I could easily determine (roughly) what are my competitor’s SEO strategy and how it is working out for them.
The only issue with Ahrefs is that the free account comes with limited SEO requests and reports. To solve this, you may opt for the premium plan which starts at $79 per month.
If you are running an SEO agency, Ahrefs is one SEO tool you must have in your arsenal.
Try Ahrefs for free today.
Majestic SEO
Majestic SEO is one of the most popular tools when it comes to SEO
The direct competitor to Ahrefs and I had used Majestic SEO for over 2 years now.
Data from Ahrefs itself is not enough and thus, I merge them (on Excel) with the data collected from Majestic SEO.
Basically, Majestic SEO offers pretty much as what Ahrefs (and a dozen more SEO tools out there) in terms of features. However, since Majestic SEO and Ahrefs use different methods to measure the data, it is a great move to have a wider data.
Just like its competitor, Majestic SEO offers free accounts and premium ones would start from $42 per month.
Create a free account with Majestic SEO.
- Keyword research tools
Google Keyword Planner
Long Tail Pro
Debate all you want; keyword research is still important when it comes to SEO.
My keyword research strategy lies in several phrases and tools such as general keywords and specific, long tail keywords.
While choosing the right keyword is one thing, using the keyword(s) is another important task as well. This is probably why I uses not one but two SEO tools just for keyword research.
Google Keyword Planner
Find the ebst keywords using Google Keyword Planner
Every keyword research strategy starts from here. Google Keyword Planner or GKP in short provides a list of keywords which we can use to rank our website.
Not only that, you can also use GKP to search for keywords your competitors are trying to rank as well. You may refer to this article which I wrote about Google Keyword Tool but the concept is very similar to the current Google Keyword Planner.
All you need is Excel and copy-pasting all the information into the list and sort them out. After sorting, you would have around 500 relevant keywords to kick start your SEO campaign.
For bloggers or content writers who are tight in budget, GKP is free and thus, is definitely the top 5 SEO tool for majority of us.
Related article: Step by step guide to use Google Keyword Planner
Long Tail Pro
Long Tail Pro is an important SEO tool for keyword research
Personally, I consider Long Tail Pro or LTP as an advance version of Google Keyword Planner. You can search up to 10 keywords at one time and check for the competition level.
Long Tail Pro is a great SEO tool as you can easily save hours in keyword research. With data collected from Google Keyword Planner, you can easily minimize the list into several high value keyword groups to increase the chances of ranking.
This is easily done by Long Tail Pro as it provides competition analysis and keyword ranking as well. With a one time fee of $97, this is an absolute must for bloggers and niche writers.
You may refer to my Long Tail Pro review or jump directly into the official website for more information.
- On-page SEO tools
Scribe SEO
SEOPressor
One of the SEO best practices is to ensure your website is optimized for SEO.
Ring any bells? This is what we call on-page SEO, folks.
While having SEO agencies or consultants might be not an advisable plan for startups and small time bloggers, there are two tools which I would highly recommend when it comes to on-page SEO.
So, what is on-page SEO means?
Basically, it means using the right keyword density, utilizing the correct markup and to get some serious love from search engine bots.
Scribe SEO
Scribe Content takes on-page SEO analysis to the next level
If you think that my keyword research stops after using Long Tail Pro, you are absolutely wrong.
Scribe SEO is my next go-to SEO tool for composing blog posts. Basically, Scribe SEO provides a comprehensive research and analytics for you.
It works in a 4- steps procedure:
Checking the chance of ranking for that specific keyword (competition analysis)
Upon completion of blog post, it will analyze the keyword density by comparing not only that blog post but as well as the whole website to determine the chance of ranking on search engine
Provide a list of recommended tags to use
Recommending a list of external and internal links to build backlinks
Once you have completed the steps above, your blog post would be nearly to perfect in terms of keyword density and indirectly, improving the chance to rank on search engine.
Scribe SEO (some call it Scribe Content) price starts at $88 per month and this is a must-have SEO tool in 2014 if you are serious in dominating the SERPs.
Did I mentioned that this is managed by the guys from StudioPress?
Take Scribe SEO for a 30-days trial run or grab your free SEO report here.
SEOPressor
SEOPressor is the most affrodable SEO tool for bloggers
One of the biggest issue with keyword research tools like Scribe Content is that they are pricey. Therefore, say hello to SEOPressor.
SEOPressor is one of the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress users simply because it provides features such as:
On-page SEO analysis
Keyword suggestions
Over optimization check
Rich snippet
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) suggestions
Social SEO
Automatic internal linking
Video embedded suggestion
With pricing starts from $47, there is absolutely no reason for you to complaint that it is expensive or you are not affordable for it.
Personally, SEOPressor is a great alternative to Scribe SEO as it provides great value and SEO features with a one-time payment.
Double your traffic under 14 days using SEOPressor or money back guarantee!
- Rank Tracking tool
SEMrush
When it comes to SEO planning and strategy, tracking and monitoring keywords play vital roles.
Blogging is always a business and you need to think like an SEO strategist to compete with your competitors. This means that you need to plan not one but multiple SEO marketing strategies to achieve results.
Tracking tools are extremely important when it comes to SEO keyword strategy. Looking at the above, you will notice that a huge chunk of your time are used to find quality keywords for your site.
And the next step is to ensure your hardwork pays off.
So, if you are not tracking your keywords now, you better do it right now!
SEMrush
SEMrush is a great SEO tracking tool
I got to admit; SEMrush isn’t the best tool for tracking keywords. The main purpose of SEMrush is to track Google Adwords keywords.
However, you can actually use this to your advantage … yes, by tracking related keywords on your blog.
On a free account, you can create up to 10 keywords for tracking. I usually set up long tail keywords. Choice of keywords can be taken from Google Analytics, Google Keyword Planner, Google Webmaster Tools or any research tools of your choice.
SEMrush will then populate the keywords which you are planning to rank and the stats will be updated once every day.
And you might be wondering, “Okay, I am lost. How can SEMrush possibly be one of the best SEO tools available to mankind?”
Allow me explain a little more in detail.
SEMrush is one of the SEO tools for 2014 as I consider it as an all-in-one SEO software that monitors nearly everything. For example, it offers:
Organic research
Backlink checker
Keyword research
Position tracking
Domain vs domain
Rankings
I do know a few serious (and experienced) bloggers who use SEMrush to cater for all their SEO needs but personally, I use it for organic research and position tracking only.
You can sign up for a free SEMrush account here. Paid accounts start from $69.95 per month.
All in one SEO tool – SEO PowerSuite
SEO PowerSuite is a very powerful tool for SEO research and monitoring
When it comes to search engine optimization, it is really hard to find a good SEO tool that does everything for you. As a matter of fact, I used to think that it never exist.
With so many SEO tools out there for us to choose, we are often wondering which is the best and worth our money.
Sounds familiar?
I bet it does.Okay, I admit it. Call me a plugin or SEO tool freak. My love for them will never fade.
Introducing the almighty, SEO PowerSuite.
SEO PowerSuite (some call it SEO PS) is probably the most expensive single piece of SEO tool I ever bought in my life.
So, is SEO PowerSuite worth it?
While SEO PowerSuite is just one piece of SEO tool, it actually consists of several parts (or features):
Rank Tracker
Website Auditor
SEO Spyglass
Link Assistant
Yes, 4 features which can skyrocket your SEO campaigns in 2014.
Rank Tracker
One of the top 3 ranking tools I ever use. Extremely useful (and fast) when it comes to following up on your keywords rankings. If you are planning to do mass keyword ranking check or multiple domains, it is best to use private proxies to avoid temporary ban from Google.
While it offers a whopping keyword ranking check on over 346 search engines, I only check on Google, Bing and Yahoo for obvious reasons.
Website Auditor
When a client of mine ask for SEO services, this is the number one tool I use to check for on-page SEO. If you want to check ever corner, worm hole and tiny 404 errors, this is one tool you need to use.
Trust me when I tell you this is one of the best website auditing tool I ever … ever used!
Want to check if your robot.txt is working? Done!
Want to build robot.text but no idea how? Do it with Website Auditor!
Want to check if your website have crawl issues? Done!
Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to hard sell Website Auditor (okay, maybe a little) but seriously, this is seriously one bad-a*s tool to use.
The only issue you may face is that when you are generating a report for every tiny bit of problem with your site, it could take hours. My longest experience was 18 hours.
Go figure!
SEO Spyglass
If you want to know what your competitor is doing, what keywords are they trying to rank for or even, anchor texts they are using, this tool will tell you everything you need to know.
SEO Spyglass = Backlink checker. Period!
Link Assistant
Link Assistant is a powerful … and not so powerful tool.
If you are using it correctly, you can easily turn Link Assistant into a Virtual Assistant that does all your link building works, emailing etc.
And of course, if you have no idea what it is all about, then you are probably not going far with this tool.
In short, Link Assistant is a management tool that helps you to:
Store data (all your links) in a bullet proof, nuclear resistance ‘space’
Tool to verify backlinks
Reach out to webmasters for link building opportunities
SEO PowerSuite comes in three plans:
Free
Professional
Enterprise
For me, I am using Enterprise version as I need to export data for further usage.
Free SEO PowerSuite trial download | Buy SEO PowerSuite
What is your favorite tool when it comes to search engine optimization?
Always remember that one of the best SEO tips for 2014 is to use the right tool for the right job. There is absolutely no point using a specific tool if you have no idea how to utilize it.
best free keyword research tool
Without keyword research tools, finding the right terms to incorporate into your blog or online store content to help it rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) would be like throwing darts in a dark room. Every once in a while, you would hit the target, but many darts would land on the floor.
Keyword research tools facilitate your SEO planning in multiple ways. They can help you generate keyword ideas, reveal how many people actively use a search term, identify trends, and show you how much competition you face to rank for a specific phrase.
Free keyword research tools
There are a surprising number of fantastic free tools you can use to gather vital information for marketing and SEO. Here are 12 free keyword research tools that are easy to use and full of valuable data.
Some are powerful keyword generators for Google and other search engines. Others provide targeted data for e-commerce websites like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. The most comprehensive of these tools include essential SEO data like the monthly search volume and intensity of competition for your target terms.
Below are descriptions of what you can accomplish with each free keyword research tool, as well as their benefits and drawbacks. The tools covered are:
Keyword Surfer
AnswerThePublic
Keyword Sheeter
Keyworddit
QuestionDB
Ahrefs Keyword Generator
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
Ubersuggest
Moz Keyword Explorer
Soovle
Keyword Tool Dominator
Google Trends
Keyword generators for blog topic ideas
Keyword generators help you home in on what your potential customers want to know. They scrape search engines and question-and-answer databases to reveal new blog topics and keyword ideas.
Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer is a newer tool that plugs right into the Chrome web browser. When it’s on, results automatically display on the right side of your results page each time you enter a search term.
The data delivered by Keyword Surfer includes:
Keyword ideas with their volume
Cost per click (CPC) for each search term
Pages that rank for the term you entered
Traffic to pages ranked 1 through 10 for that term
It’s a highly efficient keyword research tool and delivers results as you use your web browser. As a new tool, there may be some kinks to work out. Data delivered by the plugin can sometimes differ from data supplied by other Google search tools. However, it’s a fast and easy way to get content ideas.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a great place to see raw search insights. After you enter your search term(s), it displays the questions people are asking related to that topic. The results are shown in a graphic display with all the who, what, where, when, why and other questions users ask.
It’s a powerful way to generate keyword ideas and see what your potential customers actually want to know. You can download the data as a graph or a list.
There is one con for this tool: With a limit of 3 free searches a day, you have to be thoughtful about each phrase you search.
Keyword Sheeter
Keyword Sheeter pulls autocomplete results from Google. It delivers real-time data on what people are typing into the search engine.
If you want to generate a long list of keyword ideas fast, Keyword Sheeter is an excellent choice. It pulls about 1,000 ideas per minute, and exporting your list is free.
It’s a simple and powerful resource to identify ideas for blog topics. However, the free features of Keyword Sheeter do not include search volume or data on how competitive it is to rank for a phrase.
Keyworddit
Keyworddit mines Reddit for keywords. To use it, enter a specific subreddit with at least 10,000 subscribers and specify a timeframe. The tool searches through the titles and comments to extract up to 500 keywords with search volumes.
Due to the variety of answers within each subreddit, the relevance of the results may vary. There is an option to specify high relevance, which slows down the tool somewhat.
Keyworddit is not designed to replace other keyword research tools, but it can be an interesting complement to your existing strategy. Reddit is a popular site where people with specific interests take deep dives into a topic. It may reveal keyword phrases and blog topics you wouldn’t find using other search tools.
QuestionDB
QuestionDB is an excellent blog topic idea generator. It pulls from several question-and-answer websites, including Reddit and Quora, to give you questions people are actively asking related to your keywords .
The free version of the tool allows unlimited searches without registering for an account. You can download your results with a single click.
You have the option to display the source link for each question. This allows you to review additional details about how people are framing their questions. You can also review the answers. QuestionDB also displays related topics mentioned in the questions.
The free account limits you to 50 results per query.
Freemium keyword research tools for SEO analysis
A few of the premium paid websites offer free tools for limited use. You get the same outstanding services provided by the premium services for a limited number of searches or fewer features. Even so, they are comprehensive free keyword research tools.
Ahrefs Keyword Generator
Ahrefs Keyword Generator is one of the free tools offered by Ahrefs, which is a popular paid service. Enter any target keyword or phrase, and it will pull the top 100 keyword ideas from its database of over 8 billion keywords from more than 170 countries.
For each keyword phrase, the Keyword Generator displays:
Search volume
Keyword difficulty from 1 to 100
How recently this result was updated
A list of questions related to your search term
You can use this keyword research tool to identify long-tail keywords, target less competitive phrases, and isolate your search using geographic location or search engine.
It allows you to export your data by downloading your list of results. In addition to the Keyword Generator that pulls from Google, Ahrefs also has free Bing, YouTube, and Amazon tools.
While some freemium services include the SERP results inside the keyword search tool, Ahrefs provides their free SERP service on a separate page.
Ahrefs Keyword Generator is an efficient and valuable free tool that allows you to do unlimited searches without creating an account. However, unlike other tools, it does not allow you to download your results. And, because you don’t create an account with the free service, you have to prove you’re not a robot with every new search.
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
Semrush Keyword Magic Tool is one of several free tools offered by SEO giant Semrush. To access their free tools, create an account and select Skip Trial. You can always sign up for the paid service down the road if you’d like.
The Keyword Magic Tool gives you access to more than 20 billion keywords from over 120 geographical databases.
Free reports include:
Monthly search volume
Competitive density (competition among paid advertisers)
Keyword difficulty (how difficult it would be to rank in Google’s top 20)
The Keyword Magic Tool also has some helpful sorting and organizing features. It allows you to sort keywords into topic-specific subgroups, apply smart filters to narrow or expand your search, and quickly export your findings. You can see related keywords by topic and semantically related keywords or by keywords with similar phrasing.
The free account limits you to 10 searches a day across all the complementary tools provided by Semrush.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest provides a wealth of information with its free version. When you enter a search term, it displays the search volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and CPC.
Immediately beneath that display, it identifies the number of backlinks you would need to rank on the first page of Google for that keyword phrase.
As you scroll down, you can view lists of keyword ideas and page content ideas.
The list of page content ideas displays related blog titles. At a glance, you can see how many people click on and share each article. You can export most of your data reports to CSV to save and sort. Ubersuggest provides a free Chrome extension to see data right on the SERP easily.
The free version limits your use to a single website and 3 keyword searches per day.
Moz Keyword Explorer
Moz Keyword Explorer is an attractive and well-laid-out keyword research tool. You can see monthly volume, organic difficulty, organic click-through rate (CTR), and a priority score for each search term.
The organic CTR displays how many people who use the term follow through and click on one of the results. The priority score aggregates the difficulty, opportunity, and volume to show you in a simple score how likely you are to rank for that keyword phrase.
Keyword Explorer delivers a long list of keyword suggestions for each term, with monthly search volume and relevancy.
The SERP analysis, also included with the free search results, gives you 10 specific pages that rank for your target keyword. You can see their title, URL, page authority, domain authority, number of backlinks to the page, and the number of backlinks to the root domain. It’s easy to download results into a spreadsheet.
Moz provides an excellent service. The downside is the free account limits you to 10 queries a month.
Keyword research tools for e-commerce, online sellers, and multichannel marketers
Most keyword tools focus on Google and other search engines. However, platforms like YouTube, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy have their own algorithms.
For e-commerce stores or sellers whose goals reach beyond ranking on Google and other search engines, tools like Keyword Tool Dominator and Soovle help you target the platforms you are using.
Soovle
Soovle is great for e-commerce websites or marketers using multiple channels. It helps you find popular keywords across several megasites, including Amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube, and eBay.
Soovle works as a keyword research tool and a keyword generator. As you type in your target terms, it autogenerates phrases to help you expand your ideas.
Soovle includes unlimited searches for free. On the downside, it is limited to an idea generator and does not include metrics like keyword difficulty or search volume.
Keyword Tool Dominator
Keyword Tool Dominator helps you identify search trends as they happen. It brings you the autocomplete databases from Google, YouTube, Amazon, Walmart, Bing, Etsy, and eBay to uncover up-to-date keywords and search terms.
It’s an outstanding resource for sellers and multichannel marketers who want to rank on more than Google or the other search engines.
The downside of this fast and easy-to-use tool is the free version limits you to 2 searches a day. For more queries, you’ll need to pay for a plan.
Keyword usage over time
Sometimes you want to know if a topic is an established trend or just a fad. In that case, Google Trends is a powerful and unique tool.
Google Trends
Google Trends is a free tool that delivers graphs and data on specific search terms used on Google and YouTube.
When you enter a search phrase on the homepage, it will deliver a list from Google by default. On the results page, you can change your options to see results from YouTube instead. It also offers trends from Google Shopping, Images, and News.
Google Trends is a valuable tool for:
Identifying what’s currently trending
Isolating popular topics or subtopics within an industry or related to a theme
Discovering local search trends
Finding related keywords that are growing in popularity
Graphing the public interest in a topic over a range of time
Seeing where a topic is most popular
Google Trends helps you identify keywords that are rising in popularity and avoid terms that are losing momentum. It does not provide data on monthly search volume or how much competition there is for each keyword phrase.
Paid tools
Free keyword research tools aren’t your only option. If your business is booming or you want to go down a new avenue, you can always invest in paid tools. Tools that require payment or a subscription to access do everything that the free tools above can do, but may also:
Provide more keyword data
Enable you to do more keyword research
Feature location-based SEO tools
Have rank trackers so you can see how well your website is ranking on SERP pages for certain keywords
Have more user-friendly interfaces
Have an all-in-one suite where you can conduct all your keyword research
If you are looking to branch into pay-per-click marketing, these tools may also offer additional insights into search engine marketing. (One free tool for paid marketing is Google Keyword Planner, which supplies data around Google’s biddable keywords.)
Planning with data
Whether you are promoting a blog or building an e-commerce website, each page you create takes time, energy, and expertise. When you use the best keyword research tools for your business, you ensure your efforts produce results.
Don’t throw darts in the dark and hope they find their target. All the data you need to make solid content planning decisions is available in these 12 free keyword research tools.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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