What exactly are SEO tools?
SEO tools help owners of websites and online stores analyse and optimise their sites for better visibility and positions in search engine rankings. These tools provide data about a website in terms of positions, site structure, backlinks, keywords and many other factors.
In this article I have divided SEO tools into 4 groups:
- Tools for keyword analysis. (They will be useful to copywriters, bloggers and people writing SEO content for websites and online stores).
- Tools for visibility analysis. (They let you examine positions in the search engine and compare a website’s development over different periods of time – competitor comparison).
- Tools for site structure analysis (for on-site optimisation).
- Tools for link building analysis (for managing and researching the link profile).
How to choose the best SEO tools for you?
Before you choose the best SEO tools for you, you have to assess your needs. If you are just starting your adventure with SEO, it may be better to choose a tool that is simple to use and includes tutorials useful for beginners.
Think about the size of your website and your budget for SEO activities. When choosing tools, also pay attention to the user interface and the dashboard. If data is not presented in an easy-to-use way, you may miss key information and waste time unnecessarily.
Below is my list of SEO tools, I hope it will be helpful to you.
SEO tools for analysing website visibility
What does website visibility analysis mean? It lets us check what position a given phrase/ subpage is indexed (ranked) at in the Google search engine. This allows us to determine whether our activities are working and which subpages still need our attention. These tools are also useful for competitor research – it is worth drawing inspiration from keywords that have untapped potential. When it comes to website visibility, we have both free and paid tools at our disposal. My favourite is Senuto and if you are serious about SEO and writing a valuable blog, I think it is worth investing!
Google Search Console (free)
We will start with a completely free SEO tool for checking visibility, that is, with Google Search Console. GSC gives us information about the current state of our website and its visibility in the Google search engine. It is a wonderful solution that collects a great deal of important data. But above all it is a good choice if you want to save money on programs for reading positions or on the previously mentioned Senuto.
Google Search Console is a MUST HAVE if you want to check your organic traffic (free, related to positions in Google), as well as the queries it comes from. What conclusions can be drawn from this tool? Keywords that rank high but do not generate clicks (the number of visits to the site from the Google search results list) may need refining in terms of the meta description. Keywords (queries) that get more clicks but do not increase the time spent on the page may need rebuilding or expanding.
In the left-hand panel of GSC we will also find a parameter such as performance, which should become very important to you from now on! This is where you check the total impressions of your site per day, week, month or year. This gives you a real view of how effective your activities and content are.
Google Search Console is also, and perhaps above all, a source of knowledge about the problems Google’s robots encounter when crawling your site (structure, mobile version, security and many others).
Google Analytics (free)
Google Analytics is another indispensable Google tool. GA differs from GSC in that it collects information about all the traffic to your website (both organic and non-organic). This is extremely useful, for example, for determining how much you should focus on SEO and how much on other traffic channels.
From Google Analytics we can pull information about the places from which users reach your site. Such a percentage breakdown of which channels are more effective lets you divide further marketing activities and investments rationally.
A well-configured GA is an extraordinary source of knowledge about the quality of traffic, users and sales! It also makes it possible to track the progress of your marketing activities. That is why, if you are planning Ads campaigns or even remarketing, it is worth spending a moment or two to connect everything properly (or ask someone experienced). Remember that analytics is an important pillar of all your activities and investments, so it may be better to spend some money on the configuration, because the tool itself is free).
Senuto (14 days free / paid)
Senuto, which is my absolute favourite when it comes to checking a website’s visibility, the quality of our keywords and looking for ideas for new content. It is an SEO tool by Polish creators, used for analysing the visibility of websites in Google. Every day Senuto checks the first 5 pages of Google search results for over 20 million keywords and records their positions.
Senuto lets you not only analyse your positions and keywords, but also research your competitors. Thanks to this you can find new, valuable keywords for your website and prepare content better than the leaders in your industry! What does this mean? With Senuto you can see which phrases your competitors are visible for, and check the number of queries for that phrase, and create a subpage that is better than theirs in terms of usability and content!
Another important aspect is the total number of words your site is visible for in Google. The more keywords, the probably greater the traffic and value of the whole website (probably, because it depends on the number of queries for these individual phrases). With my clients I sometimes come across the fact that the charts for their websites indicate high visibility in Google, but when you look at the individual keywords you see that they are not focused on the subject of the site/ store.
Phrases that do not indicate the type of industry and the products or services you sell can even build great traffic, but that is where it ends. Good SEO builds a position for the keywords of your potential customers, not of random users.
Senuto also has a Traffic Value indicator, which shows the estimated amount you would have to spend on paid campaigns to generate such traffic. (It sometimes opens your eyes wide!)
Unfortunately Snuto is a paid tool, but you can test it for 14 days for free. Click here and create a free account now.
Ahrefs (paid)
Ahrefs is definitely a powerhouse when it comes to analytical capabilities. When it comes to the international market, it is TOP 1, but quality comes with a price. That is why I know that most of you will skip such an investment if you don’t run an SEO agency or don’t have several clients who will “chip in” for this tool. The cost of the lowest package is 99$ per month. That is why I won’t write too much about it, at least in the context of SEO tools for visibility analysis. (We will come back to it later).
This tool combines many features that we can find in other, cheaper tools. Back to the question: do you really need it? Ahrefs also has Traffic Value. Like the previously described Senuto, it shows the positions of the number of keywords in many countries and languages. And analogously you will see what traffic is generated by the phrases your website is visible for. Remember, however, that this is an estimated value. Nevertheless, it will help you save time on pointless activities focused around phrases that do not generate satisfactory traffic.
SEO tools for keyword analysis
Proper keyword analysis is the foundation of an effective SEO campaign. It is the most important factor that will tell Google’s robots what industry the website is about, what you sell and what problems you solve. Without precisely defining the keywords used by potential customers, don’t start creating a website! Defining your keyword strategy and target audience are the two most important factors when building a website. Below I have gathered my favourite SEO tools for analysing and extracting phrases.
Google Search Console (free)
As I wrote earlier in the section on visibility analysis tools, GSC is a free tool used for measuring the number of impressions and clicks in the Google search engine. And in the context of keywords it also allows an in-depth analysis of current keywords and verification of their potential.
Google Keyword Planner (free)
Google Keyword Planner is available in the Google Ads tool, which you can create even without setting up a campaign. This tool is incredibly useful for extracting keyword phrases typically for SEO. Google Keyword Planner is free for all owners of a Google Ads account.
What can you get out of this SEO tool? First of all, you will learn the search volume for individual keywords, and you will also see their long-term forecasts. Two functions are available here:
- “Discover new keywords” – lets you find keywords useful in your SEO and Google Ads strategy.
- “Get search volume and forecasts” – with it you will learn the average monthly search volume of a given keyword, historical search data, as well as forecasts and seasonality.
Thanks to this you can take care of the keyword strategy for your website comprehensively and individually.
Of course, like most free tools (especially Google’s), Keyword Planner also has a drawback when it comes to the precision of the data presented. But Holaaa, there’s a way around it 😛 If you don’t mind, spend a few zloty on a paid Ads campaign. Simple? Simple and clever. You leave money, you get more. However, it’s not something that bothers much, so if you still prefer a completely free version then when Google asks you to specify an advertising goal, simply go to the button “Are you experienced with Google Ads?”, and then “Create an account without a campaign”.
AnswerThePublic (free and paid)
AnswerThePublic is a great, free tool for people who write blog texts or create content strategies. It gives access to a goldmine of ideas and topics for articles and content for websites.
Answer the Public lets you accurately determine which terms are most appropriate for your target group. It will point out synonyms, related words and questions for the keyword phrase you are searching for. The way this tool works is also impressive. After typing in a word and choosing a language, a graphic is created by the algorithm, which serves up on a plate the derived and similar phrases and expressions that users type into the Google search engine interchangeably. The graphic can be downloaded as .csv or .png and saved (sent to the copywriter). This tool is powered by Google search suggestions and its data.
Answer the Public is a wonderful tool for planning and searching for keywords, available in a free model, but also a paid one. Be sure to try it!
Google trends (free)
Google Trends, which as it turned out from my survey interested you the most, is a free solution. It provides us with information about trends in the Google search engine. That is, it shows us the number of queries in specific periods of time and makes it possible to study the seasonality of keywords.
Google Trends has existed for years, but its popularity is not as great as that of other Google tools. Studying the popularity of trends is invaluable in creating and developing an online business. Search for keywords in any language and country.
For me, a very good example was the moment when I started to become interested in yoga, you could say it was no longer such a super niche, but still it saw growing interest in Google Trends and it was a bullseye! Similarly, in the period when COVID started, I saw changes in Google Trends and responded by creating a store with protective masks. A business online can be developed quickly, but you have to hit the right keyword, product in the right period / trend.
Ahrefs for keyword analysis (paid tool)
Ahrefs, as I wrote earlier, is totally a powerhouse of SEO features. But interestingly, its history indicates that it was created as a tool for keyword research. For this reason, this branch probably works so wonderfully!
It can certainly be said that Ahrefs has crawlers that have grown just as impressively as Google itself. This tool shows which areas of your website need improvement in terms of optimisation for search engines. Referring to keyword analysis, Ahrefs makes it possible to find the keywords used by your potential customers within your industry/ niche. It must be admitted that the topic search works brilliantly, and what is more it is based on competitors’ data. I think it can be a valuable discovery for people who create SEO content for portals and blogs.
Ahrefs is one of the most frequently recommended SEO tools on the Internet, unfortunately it is not free, but you can for a few dollars use the 7-day trial period.
Keyword analysis in Senuto (14 days free/ paid)
Senuto, as I wrote, is my favourite tool for day-to-day work on content and the website. Senuto can boast a database of over 20 million keywords, it has a built-in word search tool, and you can search for them based on your own definition (a combination of words, type of match and various filters). Note!
To use this function you need to type into the keyword database search window a keyword related to your industry / business. The algorithm will return keyword phrases that are semantically related (that is, not only so-called long-tail keywords). Such keywords that are semantic.
For each phrase you will get information about:
- average monthly search volume,
- seasonality (also broken down by individual months),
- the number of words it consists of,
- CPC (and additionally also max CPC and min CPC)
- rich results that appear after typing this phrase into Google.
You can personalise the results freely, adjusting them to your needs.
I recommend taking a look especially at the average monthly search volume, considering the seasonality of a given phrase and assessing the potential in terms of competition. Remember that you can search for phrases in many languages and countries.
Keyword Surfer (free)
I love this Chrome extension! It lets me check the popularity of a given keyword in the simplest possible way (by simply typing it into the search engine). This way I don’t waste time creating content for words with a low search volume. Keyword Surfer will show you the monthly search volume and various similar keywords that you can use in your content strategy.
Thanks to this extension you will increase the relevance of your content, speed up the keyword research process and make use of related searches. Keyword Surfer also lets you preview the monthly traffic of a domain, the number of keywords and links for the top 10 websites for a given keyword (they will appear under the meta description). You can also use the correlation chart on the right to find out which ranking factors matter for the chosen keyword.
The data shown by the extension from SurferSEO is not secret knowledge – it can be obtained with other tools, e.g. Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Senuto or Ubersuggest. The extension makes analysing search results much easier, because we can see most of the information we need directly in the search engine.
Ubersuggest (free)
Ubersuggest.io is another free solution among SEO tools, definitely very helpful and intuitive to use. Ubersuggest, developed by Neil Patel (I love this guy ❤️), is a free keyword research tool that helps identify keywords by displaying the top results in the SERP ranking.
Ubersuggest.io will be particularly useful for finding long-tail keywords. Ubersuggest suggests keywords as Google query autocomplete. The metrics that Ubersuggest includes in its reports are keyword volume, competition, CPC and seasonal trends. It pulls data not only from the search engine, but also from news, images or YouTube.
A great tool for both SEO and paid PPC, this tool can help you determine whether a keyword is worth focusing on.
SEO tools for on-site analysis
On-site SEO optimisation is a very important element when it comes to building visibility in Google. On-site optimisation helps search engines as well as users interpret the content of a page – what the page is about and whether it answers their query. It is not just writing content, but skilfully placing keywords in various important places on the page such as image Alt text, URL, categories and others. The tools that will help us verify this are intended to show us the structure of the site and point out the errors that need to be corrected for better website visibility.
Google speed insights
The most important tool if you do SEO for uncle Google. PSI is a tool from Google that analyses the content of a website and then suggests ways to increase the speed at which it is displayed. To start the analysis, all you need to do is enter the page address and wait a moment. This tool will show you the most important errors related to page loading delays. You will also learn what can be done about it to eliminate the problem. However, most of these errors already require specialist knowledge and experience.
Screaming Frog (free)
Screaming Frog is an extensive tool for scanning (crawling) websites, and is one of the better tools if we already have some knowledge of SEO and optimisation. Screaming Frog comes in a desktop version (Windows, MacOS and Ubuntu). The application is available to download in a free version, but unfortunately it has a limit of 500 URLs. We also have a paid option with no limits at our disposal.
Screaming Frog is mainly used for the technical optimisation of a website. It collects a range of information about every URL on your site: status codes, meta data, title, headings, hreflang and so on. The tool scans the entire content of the page, can even render JS-based pages, and reports on duplicate content, errors to fix, faulty redirects and areas for improvement in link building. Without this SEO tool I wouldn’t be able to do my job. I can see whether pages return 404 errors, find the number of keywords, get a list of all title headings and H1s as well as analytical data in one place. I can determine whether website migrations went smoothly (haha usually not). I highly recommend using this tool!
SurferSEO (paid)
Surfer SEO is probably one of the better-known Polish SEO tools, which serves specialists all over the world. To start working with Surfer you must be logged in. If you don’t want to buy the paid version of the tool, you can use the demo version, which they offer for as little as 1$. Surfer’s intuitive interface does the job , and what is more all the data is presented in a clear and incredibly visual way as readable charts.
Surfer makes it possible to analyse the websites of the main competitors from the first 50 search results. With this tool we can check what optimisation activities the competition has carried out so far, and we will also learn about their link building strategies. Such knowledge can be valuable, and it will certainly help determine what actions are necessary to outdo that competition.
As for me, my favourite function is comparing many factors in terms of their weight for individual cases. Did I confuse you? Let me put it differently, this function shows why a given domain is in first place. I do not recommend comparing yourself with giants such as Allegro or Olx.. Let’s choose real competition, and then the changes introduced and errors fixed can bring truly brilliant results.
SEO tools for link building
Acquiring and maintaining a valuable link profile is invariably a very important part of an SEO strategy. We are talking both about internal links, that is, those between content within your site, and about external ones, that is, links going to or from other websites. Link building is time-consuming work, but it is very much worth fighting for a few strong links from verified sources. These two SEO tools can make work on this topic more efficient..
Managing the link profile with Ahrefs (paid)
As I mentioned above (probably already twice), Ahrefs is undeniably an SEO giant. I use it primarily for managing links, because that is mainly what it is for. What is interesting is that Ahrefs can boast probably the oldest and at the same time the largest link database in the world. Ahrefs is a paid tool, but if you have a GA account you can use it in a limited version for free, cool? Believe me, it is! More about this tool will appear in my course!
Majestic (paid)
Majestic SEO had its golden days and was the most popular tool among SEO specialists. Majestic lets you verify the source of your site’s links, but more importantly also those of your competitors! This means you can easily “steal” links from sites that rank high in Google and see whether they can be obtained. Majestic is extremely intuitive and simple to use – you don’t need very specialist knowledge to figure out what it’s about. Majestic is a paid tool, and I personally don’t use it, so I can’t write anything more about it to you.
To sum up, SEO tools are a very important element of working on a domain’s visibility. Without them, achieving any success would definitely be harder, but possible. You must remember, however, that the tools alone will not replace a specialist’s knowledge and experience. So in order to use these tools, you need to know at least the basics of SEO.