Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, is the process of gaining internet traffic from organic and free search results provided on search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. All major search engines display results for users based on what the search engine considers most relevant to them.
SEO is used as part of an internet marketing strategy that aims to boost a website’s traffic and visitor numbers. However, while some digital marketing strategies cost money, there are many SEO tools that can be found online that are completely free. These are extremely popular among start-up websites or websites who do not have the financial budget to pay for search engine marketing. Here is a look at some of the best SEO tools that are worth using as part of developing a website’s internet presence in 2019.
Answer the Public
Most SEO tools get their data and keywords from the Google Keyword Planner through setting up a Google AdWords account. The Google Keyword Planner creates new keywords for a website and then provides a prediction on the number of clicks and impressions those keywords will create (at a price). However, Answer the Public is different, as it finds questions that internet users have been asking on forums, social media and blogs and turns the data into effective keywords.
Dareboost
While Dareboost isn’t solely an SEO tool, it has features that can indirectly impact SEO effects such as a website’s security and speed. It assesses your website’s issues and improvements so that it is working as efficiently as possible. If your website isn’t working well, then this will deter visitors and makes it unlikely to receive increased traffic.
Siteliner
Siteliner is a really good free SEO tool as it scans the website for any SEO issues such as broken links, blocked pages and any errors in redirect links. Another great feature it offers is that it allows a comparison between your website’s loading speed and page size to the sites of competitors. It can also show any duplicate content with other pages.
Keyworddit
Keyworddit uses frequently used words on Reddit to generate keyword ideas. This innovative (and free!) SEO tool finds terms that people use on subreddits to find excellent keyword ideas that you would otherwise not have come across. It also provides you with a list of instances where these words were used so you can see in what contexts they appear in online forums and conversations.
Detailed.com
This tool gives you the opportunity to assess your competitors as it provides a list of the most popular websites in the industry. This is great for you to see what your biggest competitors are doing and find out in what ways you can use SEO to stand out. It also shows any ‘mentions’ that are linked to your competition. This will commonly show you who has talked about your competitors recently on their social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
CanIRank
This tool is basically described as answering the question: Can I rank for this keyword? Not only does this tool generate key words or tell you whether these key words will help you rank highly on search findings, but it can provide in-depth suggestions based on the key words you provide and give you better terms you should use instead.
Woorank’s SEO and Website Analysis Tool
This tool is a great way to find new SEO improvement ideas and comes in the form of a Google Chrome extension which provides you with an overall SEO score based on what tools a website already uses. The score is out of 100 and gives you specific areas that you need to improve. It also provides you with a check-list of solutions to help ensure you have the ultimate SEO elements for your website.
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
Making your website mobile-friendly is one of the most important SEO strategies to achieve increased traffic. Modern technology has meant that many internet users use mobile devices and tablet computers. For this reason, it is essential that a website is optimized for viewing on all types of devices.
This tool tests if your website is mobile-friendly, which is even more important now that Google has implemented a ‘mobile-first indexing’ algorithm. This means that if your website is not mobile friendly then it will not appear high in Google’s search results.
This tool shows you any mobile-friendly issues the website has, and ways that you can fix the site’s code to ensure that Google can find your website and index it.
Seed Keywords
Keywords can become repetitive, and finding fresh ideas can be difficult when you are faced with a lot of internet competition. Whereas most SEO keyword generator tools allow you to enter a keyword and then develop a list of similarly related terms, this does not make allowances for competitors. All websites and marketing strategists tend to enter the same keywords, which makes the key terms all turn out the same.
However, the Seed Keywords tool suggests reversing this approach and instead states you should ask customers what they would search in order to find the website online. Then fresh new keywords can be generated through the keywords provided. This tool also provides you with data on how popular a search term is and how competitive the terms results are.
Seobility
This helpful tool searches through your entire website to locate any search engine optimization issues. It aims to pick up slow loading pages, technical issues, or site navigation issues. It is a must-use tool as it also provides you with a content report. It will highlight any content-related SEO issues such as thin or duplicate content. This can be a great tool if you have been developing a website’s content for SEO purposes but are feeling a lack of direction on what else you need to add.
An SEO marketing strategy can seem like a complicated and overwhelming contribution to your website, but with these free SEO tools it can be much simpler. It is worth trying out these tools before you pay for any other marketing techniques.