Your Big Honking List Of Free SEO Tools
Free SEO tools may be just what you need. Who doesn’t like free, especially when it comes to creating a website that’s performing better and providing you with a bigger return on your investment? Whether you are just blogging or doing ongoing search engine optimization (SEO) to get your website on page one, you need tools to help you along the way.
That’s why we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite tools with some info on how to use them to get the most out of each one. Your time is valuable. Let’s dive right in with the free SEO tools.
When creating content for your website, knowing what people are searching for is a big part of your success. With Answer the Public, you have a tool that provides you with questions people ask online. All you have to do is pop in a keyword, and it does the work of pulling up questions people ask about that keyword or phrase.
This tool helps you create incredibly useful FAQ pages since the site gives you the most popular questions. All you have to do is answer them directly.
You can then use this information to better understand your target audience, create content that’s targeted right to people looking for information, and help you to ensure you’re creating high-quality content that Google appreciates, too.
Google Analytics is an essential resource for any digital marketing company or website owner who wants to create long-term growth. It provides data on website visits and sources of traffic. For those who are looking for an effective way to improve ranking, using the data from Google Analytics will help with that. It can help you build your content strategy and figure out what is working. Because it provides ongoing results, it’s easy to see how adjustments made to your SEO strategy are impacting your numbers.
This is instantly usable data. There’s no cost to using Google Analytics, but it is worth it to learn as much as you can about how to use it. That’s going to be your most used free SEO tool.
Check My Links is a Chrome extension. There’s no cost, but there is a lot to learn about it. This extension just crawls through your website like a Google spider would, with the specific goal of verifying that all of the links on your page are working. That’s important because broken links hang up Google and create limitations to ranking on page one.
Think of your website as an airplane. Like a plane, anything that creates drag upon liftoff or flight will negatively impact how the plane flies. Broken links creat drag on your website and potentially keep it from reaching the first page of Google.
With this extension, the tool will identify the status code for each of the links on your page. Each code has a color code assigned to it, with those returning with red requiring changes. Once they are identified, you can move them all to a clipboard with a single click so you can go through and fix them.
There are a lot of keyword tools out there, but Google Keyword Planner is rather easy to use and free, making it the choice of many. It’s designed to help with the creation of Google Ad campaigns. However, it’s versatile enough to be used for any type of keyword research you’re doing. You simply need to provide some insight into what you’re topic is, and it provides a list of keywords.
Because it’s from Google, the data is supposed to be up-to-date and reliable. That being said, there are times when this tool will return numeric ranges or even estimates of monthly search volume numbers for keywords. That can be frustrating until you remember that your keyword research is more art than science. The goal is to do keyword research so that you can write high-quality content for your site visitors.
You can see the keywords people are using as well as how those keywords are performing now in ads. That gives you insight into which terms may be beneficial to target in your own ads, content, blogs, and other spots.
Google Trends provides insight into patterns and searches for terms over a period of time. You can really dive into the data to determine what specific keywords and phrases people are using now and from a few years ago. One of the nice things is that you can drill down and sort the keyword’s popularity by country, region, and the city which allows you to get a very good look at very specific data.
Use the information from Google Trends to help you with creating content and update your SEO strategy. We also like to use this to find the newest, most frequently searched term and compare the information to the current SEO strategy.
#6 CanIrank
CanIRank is just what it sounds like – a tool to help you determine if your content will rank on the first page of the search engine results pages for your keyword of choice. This tool does not just tell you how competitive the keywords are, but it tells you just likely your website is to rank on that first page.
To do this, CanIRank uses artificial intelligence to provide you with suggestions on what you could do to see better results. If you want to compare your site to your competitors, this is an excellent tool to do so, especially since it tells you specifically what to do to see improvements.
#7 Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a rather simple and easy-to-use tool. It’s an excellent keyword research tool that uses Google’s Keyword Planner. All you have to do is provide a keyword, and it goes to work to provide ideas for you. It also provides search volume, competition level, and CPC information.
One of the nice features is its ability to filter so you’re not seeing keywords that do not interest you or apply to your site. You can also punch in a competitor’s domain link, which will provide you with more keyword ideas from that domain, helping you build your ranking over those competitors.
You can also use this tool to do deep dives into the popularity of keywords in different cities which can help you specifically target the most effective places to work on ranking for your business.
For example, this tool is super useful if you want to know how many searches for “SEO agency” there are a month in Lawrenceville, Buford, Dacula, Braselton, etc. This helps you see which parts of town are worth targeting and which ones to leave to your competitors.
With Moz Link Explorer, you can gather a lot of data on any link. For example, one of the most important ways to rank in the search engines is to use backlinks, links on other websites that direct people to your website. Google wants to see high authority backlinks on websites to determine the value of the site.
With Mox Link Explorer, you can see the backlink profile of the link you’re considering working towards getting. It provides the domain authority of any URL you put in (even your own).
Your Google Business Profile is a very valuable tool designed to provide people searching for information with very specific data they can use right away. Your profile will show up when someone uses Google Search or Google Maps. This profile pops up information about your business, including how to contact you, your website link, and even reviews and photos.
This is by far one of the best SEO tools you have because you can incorporate a few keywords and location data into it. If you are a service provider of any type, be sure to use your Google Business Profile, as it directly impacts your SEO ranking.
It’s easily the most ignored aspect of your marketing mix, but optimizing this valuable real estate can really help you bring in more customers.
#10 Whitespark Local Citation Finder
Whitespark Local Citation Finder is an excellent tool designed to help you track your citations. You can use this tool for many reasons, including finding new citation options. It allows you to also see the citations your competitors are using and then compare those to your own.
By using this tool, you are able to see any citations you may be missing, which could help you with local search engine ranking. It’s a simple way to get a few opportunities to increase your SEO rank.
Yext can help you do the same thing, so it’s important to compare pricing.
#11 GTMetrix
Another key factor that can hamper your website ranking is how fast the site loads. People don’t wait around for graphics and images to show up.
With GTMetrix, you get a better idea of how fast your site loads. What’s more, it tells you what could be holding your site back from loading faster. This is a critical factor since people spend seconds waiting for a site to load before going back to the SERP and choosing a competitor. Google sees that they didn’t stick around long and determines your website isn’t what users need and want. That ends up hurting you later.
With GTMetrix, you get insight into what is happening and the steps you can take to better optimize the functionality of your site.
#12 SEMRush
SEMRush is something you’ll hear about often because it is one of the most used keyword research tools. One of the nice features is its ability to tell you what any page online is ranking for in terms of keywords. It provides SERP positions, how traffic gets to pages, traffic details over the span of 12 months, and much more.
This tool does a lot, including giving you tools to create content that ranks well. Keep in mind that while there is a free trial for it (and we highly recommend packing every day of your use as much as possible to get the most out of this tool), there are costs later.
#13 SEO Quake
SEO Quake is a Chrome extension. Once in place, use it to help you with SEO metrics. It pulls up SEO metrics for a specific page. It also provides tools to create a full SEO audit so you can see gaps in your SEO strategy or areas where you could improve your page titles, meta descriptions, and other SEO tools to achieve better results.
It’s an easy analytical data tool that works for any page, including your competitors. Use that information to improve results and get data on how well any strategy you have in place is working.
Here’s another Google tool to use. Google Search Console is a visual and highly important tool to provide you with data on the performance of your website. It provides you with data that’s from Google directly on things like mobility usability and indexation issues. It will provide information on each of the keywords and the URL performance as well.
There’s a sitemap status update and numerous other deep details about your website’s performance. While this can seem overwhelming to use, it’s data that can be beneficial in making updates and changes to your site.
Bing Webmaster Tools is a robust tool. One of the key things it does a bit differently than Google Analytics is focusing just on organic SEO. That provides more insight into some of the most common SEO elements you could change.
If you are like many webmasters today, you see the value of ranking not just on Google but on Bing as well. If that’s the case, be sure to use this tool to help you navigate the process a bit more thoroughly.
#16 Woorank
Woorank is an intriguing tool and website analyzer with the goal of improving SEO. When you provide the URL to the site, it provides a score based on the performance. It then provides specific steps to take in a Marketing Checklist to see improvements. That includes fixing concerns that could be hurting your site.
Another feature is social shareability data which includes information on how many shares, likes, backlinks, and other social network site actions relate to your website. There is also a mobile section to demonstrate how well the page shows up on a mobile device.
#17 Buzzsumo
This is another popular tool because of how efficient it is. It provides data on how to best engage your website visitors. This research tool offers insight into the types of outreach opportunities that may exist for the site, customer questions people ask, and trends. It also helps with finding new, more modern keywords people are using. It’s also great for brand monitoring for your company.
#18 SimilarWeb
SimiliarWeb is another tool for determining how well your competitors are doing. It’s designed to provide key information about specific URLs you provide. That includes the amount of traffic your competitors are getting, their top pages, their ranking, the marketing channels being used, and even the amount of engagement the site gets.
#19 Rank Math
Rank Math is a bit different than others because it is a plug-in for your WordPress site. It allows you to learn about SEO opportunities as you create content for your website. It is also an AI assistant that can provide you with some insight into the types of content best suited for your client. There are premium versions with more insights but start with the free version.
There are a host of SEO plugins for WordPress websites similar to Rank Math. We like All In One SEO the most but Yoast SEO is also very popular.
#20 Animalz Revive
Animalz Revive is an excellent tool for those who have an older or very large website with older and sometimes outdated pages. This tool shows you which pages need an update.
It also provides more details about the traffic for each page. One of the nice components is the ability to learn how the traffic has changed on that page over time, such as when and why it dropped off. This could allow you to make helpful changes.
#21 Screaming Frog
Some of the biggest problems for SEO success are mistakes, typos, or simple SEO oversights that you don’t recognize when just looking at your website. Screaming Frog SEO Spider works like a Google spider crawling your page. Its goal is to find any SEO errors present that could be hurting your search engine results page ranking.
This finds errors such as JavaScript rendering problems, HTML mistakes, and duplicate content. It can help you to spot HTTP header errors. Once you learn where these errors are, you can easily make changes and get your site ranking better.
#22 Detailed.com
One key to remember when building your website is that you shouldn’t build it out for the search engines but for the readers. Detailed.com is a type of SEO analysis and insights tool providing information about how well your website provides information and insights to your visitors. Did it meet their expectations? Did they linger and stick around? It’s a great way to learn how to decrease people leaving your site before interacting with it.
#23 SERPerato
SERPerator is a type of mobile keyword ranking tool and SERP checker. It allows users to test search engine results from any location in the world. Use it to see mobile search results and how your website shows up in them. It’s specifically designed for mobile-first indexing.
#24 KWFinder
One of the best reasons to use KWFinder is to track down long-tail keywords that may apply to your website. These are typically keywords with less overall competition and very zeroed in on what you provide (services, products, and even location). If your topic has a lot of competition, using long-tail keywords as a part of your SEO campaign is often necessary to improve your ranking.
With KWFinder, you provide the keyword you’re focused on, and it provides options. It’s easy enough to use and helpful in providing keyword strings that you may not have thought about before.
#25 Siteline
Siteliner is a tool to run every time you update your SEO or content. It lists out any duplicate content on your page as well as page authority and broken link information. Use this data to fix problems. All of your site information is accessible to ensure it’s smooth sailing.
#26 Data Studio
Google Data Studio is a must-use tool if you want to gather data from multiple sources but use that data to create a content strategy or SEO plan. You can use this one tool to correlate the data you have coming in from Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
One of the nice features about it is that you can use this data to create visualizations, so you can see what’s occurring with your site and truly understand its function. There is a bit of a learning curve to using it, and some advanced features cost money, but the basic tool is free and super helpful.
#27 Counting Characters Google SERP Tool
When it comes to updating metadata and meta descriptions, getting the right word count is a must, but it’s also a pain. The Counting Characters Google SERP tool is a simple way to do that. What’s interesting is that Google does not use characters for this (yes, most digital marketing companies and website companies do) but rather uses pixels. With this tool, you get better insight into how your meta is really working for you.
#28 SEO Lyzer
For those who love data, SEO Lyzer is for you. It provides you with activity logs for the site. It also offers an SEO crawler to determine how well your site is performing and pinpoints problems with it as you go. You also may find it helpful when you are creating content to help outrank your competitors, or you want more data on how they are performing overall. The log analysis takes a bit of time to learn, but it’s highly efficient and very informative once you learn how to take this information and apply it directly to your website.
#29 Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer is another Chrome extension, which makes it super easy to use on the go. It provides you with information on the search volume of the keyword or phrases you’re inquiring about, and it does this right in your Google search results.
As you work to create content, you’ll have to manage questions like how long a post should be and what the competitor is using. Keyword Surfer provides you with that information right on the search results page – just look for the word count, the number of keywords on the page, and other data. Use this data to directly impact your SEO ranking.
#30 Link Miner
Link Miner is another must-use tool. It will work through your site and find any broken links on it, which can hurt your SEO. This tool goes a bit further and provides metrics on that link. This way, you can get more insight into what the link is doing or not doing for your website. You can get both search and social data from this tool.
Link Miner is a simple-to-use extension. It is a great way to learn far more about links and what they could be doing for your site.
Each of these Free SEO tools can provide you with insight into how your site is performing and how to improve it. You can also allow our team at Make It Loud to help you with the process. With over 18 years of experience supporting our clients in building their online presence, we’re confident we can help you, too.
