17+ Powerful Must-Use SEO & Marketing Tools
1. Google Analytics & Google Search Console
Website Analytics, FREE
This Google Pack is an absolute must have for any SEO or Webmaster. These tools allow you to see how users interact with your website.
Google Analytics provides you with a lot of insightful data like traffic, bounce rate, time on site, behaviour flow, demographics, interests, conversions and technology.
Search Console (A.K.A. Google Webmaster Tools) allows you to retrieve (mainly technical) data about your site, for example: crawl errors, indexability issues, structured data, robots.txt errors, etc. You can also submit your sitemaps, fetch as Google and check inbound links.
2. Similar Web
Competitive Analysis, Free and Paid
Ever thought about spying on your competitors? Similar Web does just that. You can get some useful metrics like traffic estimates, bounce rate, referral websites, social traffic, etc.
The simple check is Free but, subscriptions start at $199/month.
3. MOZ ( Keyword Explorer, Moz Bar, Open Site Explorer and Followerwonk)
Keyword Explorer
Keyword Analysis, Paid (Comes in Moz Pro Bundle)
Keyword Explorer is a brand new tool introduced by Moz. It allows you to analyse keywords/search queries and get vital data like volume, difficulty, opportunity and potential.
Moz Bar
SEO Tool Bar, Free
Useful extension for Chrome & Firefox, very handy & powerful when auditing websites. Enables you to check website’s Title Tags, Descriptions, Headings, Alt Tags, Structured Data and Domain Authority.
Open Site Explorer
Link Analysis, Free and Paid (Full version comes in Moz Pro Bundle)
Powerful Link Building tool which allows you to check inbound links, spam score, page & domain authority for any pasted URL. Used by SEO’ers to identify link opportunities.
Followerwonk
Twitter Analytics, Paid (Comes in Moz Pro Bundle)
Followerwonk is a Twitter analytics software which allows you to learn more about your followers, identify and reach influencers in your field. Can be helpful for manual outreach and content exposure.
4. SEMRush
Competitive Analysis & Keyword Research, Free and Paid
Another useful tool to spy on your competitors by getting important metrics like paid and organic traffic, ad examples, top paid keywords and backlinks. SEMRush is also handy for keyword analysis.
5. Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Research, Free
Keyword research tool by Google (aimed at Adwords user, but can also be used for general keyword research). Shows monthly search volumes, level of competition and suggested PPC bids. Can be used to identify new keywords and search queries.
6. Ahrefs
Link Building, Free 14 Days Trial
A good alternative to Moz’s Open Site Explorer. Ahrefs is known for its accuracy. There is a 2 week trial.
7. BuzzSumo
Content Marketing & Research, Free and Paid
This amazing software is an absolute must-have for content marketing. It allows you to identify trending & most shareable content. This data can then be used to plan your next blog post.
8. Screaming Frog
Technical SEO, Free and Paid
One of the best tools for technical SEO, it will scan the entire website for internal errors (e.g. status codes, broken links, duplicate page titles & meta descriptions).
The basic version is FREE.
9. Piktochart
Visuals, Free and Paid
Create stunning infographics, reports and presentations. Basic subscription is totally Free.
10. Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO Plugin, Free
The most popular and powerful (in my opinion) SEO plugin for Wordpress sites. Allows you to optimise every single page/post, generate sitemaps, link social accounts, edit robots.txt and .htaccess.
11. SEO Quake
SEO Toolbar, Free
Another handy Chrome & Firefox toolbar extension. Enables you to see some rough, but important SEO metrics (e.g. Alexa Rankings, Domain Age and Backlinks).
12. Hootsuite
Social Media Management & Scheduling, Free and Paid
Social Media is a great way to get exposure, however, it can be time consuming. Hootsuite solves this issue by allowing you to schedule and roll-out your posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
13. GT Metrix
Website Speed, Free
GT Metrix is my favourite “waterfall” website speed testing tool. It pulls out the list of recommendations that you can fix to improve the speed of your website.
14. Google Speed Insights & Mobile-Friendly Test
Google Speed Insights
Website Speed, Free
Google Speed Insights doesn’t actually provide the speed of the website. Instead, it gives you a score out of 100, and a list of recommendations that you can fix to improve your score.
Google Mobile-Friendly
Mobile Friendliness, Free
Almost 50% of all searches are carried out on mobile & tablet devices. Furthermore, mobile-friendliness is one of the ranking factors, so it’s imperative to have a responsive website.
Simply paste in any URL and Google will tell you whether the site is mobile friendly.
15. CopyScape
Duplicate Content & Plagiarism, Free
Ever worried about plagiarism? CopyScape allows you to identify internal & external duplicate content.
16. BuiltWith
Competitive Analysis, Free
Free software that allows you to sneak behind the scenes of almost any website. BuiltWith will give you a list of technologies used by a particular website, including information about the hosting provider, web server, CMS, Plugins, Analytics, Widgets, etc.
17. Compressor.io
Image Compression, Free
Images can easily slow down your website. Use this awesome tool to compress your images by up-to 80% without losing quality. The tool is Free.
Other Useful Tools
- PingDom — Website Speed Analysis, Free
- WooRank — Entire Website Analysis (Free Toolbar Extension)
- Wappalyzer — Identify software on other websites (Free Toolbar Extension)
- Goo.gl — URL Shortener, Free
- Google Trends — Identify search volumes overtime, Free
- Bing Webmaster Tools — Similar to Google Search Console, Free
- Webpagetest.org — Website Speed Test, Free
- SEO Indexability —Indexability Checker (Free Toolbar Extension)
- Google Tag Assistant — Check tag installation issues (Free Extension)
- User-agent Switcher — Check how your site looks on different browsers
- Check my Links — Check broken links (Free Toolbar Extension)
- Panguin Tool — See if your website has been hit by Google Algorithms
- Buffer — Social Media Management Tool
- Ubersuggest — Keyword Research
- Keywordtool.io — Keyword Research Tool
- Sumome — Wordpress Social Sharing Plugin
- MailChimp — Create stunning email newsletters
Conclusion
There are so many powerful tools out there. Sometimes, we can be overwhelmed with the available information. We hope you find this comprehensive list useful!
Brought to you by Solvid SEO Agency and Simple Online Tools. Originally published at solvid.co.uk.
