50 Best Free SEO Tools for Startups to Grow Your Traffic
As a startup, the number of SEO tools you could subscribe to are endless. The big hitters in the SEO world are Moz, Ahrefs and SEMrush. These are all great tools, but what if you don’t have the budget to spend on paid software?
Thankfully, there are quite literally hundreds of great SEO tools for startups that are free of charge. In fact, you can do most of what the paid tools offer — and in some cases more.
We’ve scoured the market to produce the definitive list of top free SEO tools, testing them ourselves to save you time and effort. We’ve also spoken to SEO experts from across the world to get their contributions, including marketers heading up SEO at some of the UK’s leading brands and agencies.
Whether your strategy focuses on technical SEO, linkbuilding, content or all of these aspects, below you’ll find a tool to suit your needs. Simply jump to the section most relevant to you, or bookmark this page and come back to it when you need a helping hand.
The tools are ranked in no particular order — and a huge thanks to my Hive SEO Service colleague Liam Taft who has painstakingly researched each entry on the list!
Want to learn more? Sign up to join the mailing list for our SEO newsletter containing free tips for startups and small businesses — launching soon!
Technical SEO Tools for Startups
Has a competitor overtaken your rankings and you’re not sure why? I’m sure we’d all love to peek behind the curtain to see what their SEO team is up to, but that is rarely possible.
Instead, you could use the WayBack Machine to track what their website looked like before its current iteration. This way, you can pick up clues as to what’s changed and what may have boosted their SEO performance.
2. Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals relates to the interactivity, loading and visual stability of your web pages. Importantly, it becomes a ranking factor in June 2021. Using this Chrome extension, you can measure this on any page of your website.
For businesses targeting users in multiple countries, hreflangs are vital for making sure your users are directed to the right content for their region. Looking to quickly test whether your hreflang tags have been implemented properly? This tool is a quick, easy and free way to check whether everything is working correctly.
This is a quick way to check HTTP headers, title tag length and whether links on a page are nofollow.
5. Greenflare
A new tool on the market, this is an “open-source web crawler that can be used for small and large sites, which has no restrictions in the number of URLs,” says Sam Gipson, Head of SEO at Dunelm.
“A database containing expired domains as well as the history of those domains,” says Jade MacRury, SEO Executive at Twinkl.
“Checking the domain name you want to buy will help you avoid the mistake of buying a domain that has been penalised before, or which has been used as part of a link farm or link network,” Jade adds.
7. Screaming Frog Log File Analyser
If you’re having problems with crawl efficiency, the Screaming Frog Log File Analyser (which has free and paid versions) can help you understand which URLs are crawled frequently, and which ones aren’t. You can also pick up on errors like orphaned pages and broken links easily.
Using Chrome Developer Tools is a great way to investigate the code of your website and spot errors that can impact your SEO performance. The Lighthouse tab, in particular, provides really insightful and actionable recommendations to improve your page speed and/or Core Web Vitals.
9. Merkle Local Search Results Tool
If you’re doing international or local SEO, using the Merkle Local Search Results Tool is an easy way to see how search results appear in specific geographical locations around the globe.
Looking at your own website’s speed is one thing, but comparing this against your competitors can give you a much better idea of how your website’s performance stacks up in your niche. This tool takes data from Lighthouse, Chrome UX Report and the Web Vitals plug in and provides you with clear and concise graphs to interpret.
11. GT Metrix
Thomas Williams, Director of SEO and Content at ClickThrough, suggests a great 1–2–3 combination of tools to deliver a knockout blow to any technical issues which could see your site fall foul of incoming algorithm updates.
“With Google launching the Page Experience Update in May this year, I would recommend using a combination of GTMetrix, Google PageSpeed Insights and Yellow Lab Tools in order to create an action plan to prepare for the update,” he says.
This is Google’s own tool for measuring page speed, and also comes with really simple and actionable recommendations to improve speed across all devices.
13. Yellow Lab Tools
It’s always a good idea to compare page speed across a couple of different tools to check for any inconsistencies. Yellow Lab Tools is a great alternative to Google Pagespeed Insights.
Compressing your images is an easy way to improve your page speed, which is a key ranking factor and can improve your conversion rates. With Smush, you can optimise your images and turn on lazy loading, for example.
15. Header and Footer Scripts (Wordpress plugin)
Need to add some code to your Wordpress site? This plugin is an easy way to add CSS and JavaScript code to the<head> on any page.
If you want to implement AMP but don’t have lots of time on your plate, this plug in automates this process as much as possible. Even better, it can provide recommendations for fixes if anything goes awry.
The Google rich results test enables you to type in any URL and check whether your schema markup is working properly. If there are any errors, you’ll be able to identify exactly what they are, so you can make a start on fixing them, meaning your page appears in the SERP as you intended.
18. Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is free for up to 500 URLs, which should be more than enough for most startups. The tool can help you spot a number of issues — “it’s perfect for finding quick fixes like broken pages or missing elements,” says Jen Penaluna, Senior SEO Manager at Bigfoot Digital.
Content Optimisation SEO Tools for Startups
19. SEO Quake
SEO Quake is an on-page auditing tool. It’s great for looking into “internal, external links and [keyword] density,” according to Jimmy Roberts of BlueFrontier.
Word counts play a key role in SEO content, whether it’s meta fields or article length. This extension “counts words, characters, and white spaces of every web page in a second,” says Athens-based marketer Ana Casic of TalentLMS.
21. Hemingway
‘Readability’ — i.e. having short, clear and concise copy — is something Google takes into consideration when ranking content. Simply copy and paste your text into Hemingway to find recommendations that will help simplify any knotty sentences.
22. SEO Minion
Back over to Ana Casic: “The SEO Minion extension gives you an overview of the on-page SEO at a glance,” she says. “You can see if all page elements are in place, including title, description, headings, open graph images and more.”
23. Yoast
With the free Yoast SEO plugin, you can get recommendations to improve your content optimisation. One new feature is that you can find data about your keywords from SEMrush, which is usually a paid service.
24. SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant
Billie Hyde, Senior SEO Account Manager at The SEO Works recommends SEMrush’s writing assistant Wordpress extension, which is a handy tool when you’re writing content. It helps you understand what word count to aim for, for example, to be competitive in the SERP for your target keywords.
Incidentally, the main SEMRush platform itself also has some features you can use for free, points out South Devon-based SEO Alice Widger of Milk it Digital.
25. CoSchedule Headline Analyser
Getting your headline right is crucial if you want to entice readers to click onto your website. The CoSchedule Headline Analyser assesses elements like readability, sentiment and length to help you optimise your headlines and increase click-through rates.
26. Ink
The free version of INK is yet another great content optimisation tool. Use it to get recommendations for your writing, not only for keyword optimisation but also user engagement.
Recommended by Jen Penaluna, this extension is great for on-page optimisation, “with super useful explanations on what each aspect is why and it’s important for SEO,” says the Barnsley-based marketer.
Linkbuilding and Outreach SEO Tools for Startups
28. Moz Toolbar
Another suggestion from Billie Hyde, the ‘Mozbar’ is a quick and easy way to assess the SERP you’re targeting. Want to see what your competitors’ domain and page authority are? This tool bar shows you instantly with a free account. It’s great “for deciding if you can outrank competitors for those keywords,” adds Billie.
Google MyBusiness is a great way to get engagement with your website on Google, especially if you’re a local business. You can add your business’ contact details, link to your website, and get customer reviews to use in testimonials, for example.
Getting yourself or your client featured in an article in the form of an ‘expert’ comment is a great way to build links. As a result, it presents your website as a reliable source of information. If you sign up for HARO, you’ll get journalist requests into your inbox every day, so you can jump on these opportunities and pitch your website to be featured in relevant articles.
31. Google Alerts
Creating reactive content based on trending topics is a great way to build links. By signing up to Google Alerts for your niche, you can keep up to date with the day’s news stories and ‘newsjack’ anything related to your business.
32. JournoRequests
Similar to HARO, JournoRequests provides a list of journalists looking for comments every day. Alternatively, you can follow the hashtag ‘#journorequest’ on Twitter.
33. Nofollow
This extension comes highly recommended by Ana Casic “because it automatically frames in red colour any nofollow link on any page you land on,” making it easy to spot any links which may pass less value.
Can’t find an email address for a website? Type a domain into Hunter.io to discover who you should outreach to.
…And once you’ve found the right email address, you can use another tool to track whether your email’s been opened. The Hunter.io Mail Tracker shows you how many times someone has opened your email, which is key for understanding whether they’re interested in your content.
36. Email Hippo
You’ve found an email address for a website that would be perfect to link to your site. However, you want to check whether the email address is legitimate before you send your pitch. Using Email Hippo, you can verify the email address for free.
37. Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
“Similar to the Moz toolbar, the Ahrefs Website Authority Checker allows you to view an authority score for any domain for free,” notes Will Bond, Growth Marketing Manager at Twinkl. “ It’s great for judging the value of linkbuilding prospects as well as measuring the growth of your own domains.”
38. Check My Links
Broken link building is one of the many quick wins that startups can use to build links. By using the Check My Links Chrome plug in, you can see which links are valid and those that are broken. Found a broken link? Reach out to the website and pitch your website to replace it.
39. Rocket Reach
Similar to Hunter.io, Rocket Reach is a great way to find contact details for your prospects. You can perform a limited number of searches per month for free.
Data and Analytics SEO Tools for Startups
Google Search Console helps you to “understand how you’re performing and monitor any specific changes in your performance,” begins Jack Little, SEO Account Manager at Tug Agency.
“This will help you formulate coming tactics as it helps you understand how your users interact with your site as well as where you might need to improve visibility.”
41. Google Analytics
According to Twinkl SEO Team Leader Claire Maguire: “A large part of improving SEO is making sure Google Analytics is connected to the website to track progress, new users and traffic sources from the start.” The sheer amount of information available in GA makes it a must-use free tool for any business.
42. Google Site Kit
Site Kit is Google’s own WordPress plugin. You can see stats from Search Console, Analytics, AdSense and more.
Google Data Studio allows you to pull from different data sources — i.e. Google Sheets, Google Analytics, and Search Console — all in one place. You can customise reports and present them to stakeholders and/or clients with ease.
44. Page Analytics Chrome Extension
This is a really useful extension to see how users interact with your page. Where do they click? What path do they take to convert? It’s a great free alternative to paid services such as CrazyEgg.
Keyword Research SEO Tools for Startups
45. Google Trends
COVID has made many people completely re-think the way they do keyword research. Whilst targeting evergreen keywords will always be beneficial, you don’t want to miss out on trending topics, either. With Google Trends, you can see the popularity of search terms over time and discover new ‘breakout’ topics to focus on in your niche.
There’s also another great way to use this tool. Got two keywords and you’re not sure which one to prioritise? You can compare them in Google Trends to see if either are increasing or decreasing in popularity.
46. Ubersuggest
This tool comes recommended by not one but two of our experts. “The free version is very helpful for keyword research and content ideas,” says Italy-based copywriter Luana Spinetti. “Also, it’s easy to use”.
Shona Chambers, a freelance marketing consultant, adds that Ubersuggest is “really handy for checking Domain Authority, backlinks and [for] free keyword analysis.”
47. Keyword Surfer
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use keyword research plug in, Keyword Surfer is one of the best. You can see search volume data and related suggestions in the SERP, rather than having to navigate to a separate website.
One great feature of Topics by SEO Monitor is the ability to see SERP features, for example featured snippets, that appear for certain keywords.
49. gInfinity
Another recommendation from Twinkl’s Will Bond, this handy Chrome extension changes Google’s page-by-page SERP into one infinitely long single page — great for when you want to ctrl+f to find a result but you’re not sure which page it’s on.
Last but not least, if you’re a brand new website, it’s a good idea to target low competition long-tail keywords before competitive phrases. Type a broad topic into Answer the Public and you’ll find lots of ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions to answer in your blog posts.
But this tool also has applications beyond keyword research, notes Tug Agency’s Head of SEO Neil Goddard. It can also be helpful for “formulating linkbuilding and outreach ideas to see what people are searching for and [what] could catch their interest.”
We hope you find this list of SEO tools for startups useful, no matter what you’re doing to improve your site’s organic traffic. Want to learn more? Sign up to join the mailing list for our SEO newsletter containing free tips for startups and small businesses — launching soon!
To find more information about our SEO services for startups, visit TwinklHive or get in touch with daniel.rawley@twinkl.co.uk.
