What Are The Best Free SEO Tools?

The best free SEO tool is a valuable asset to any business owner or online business. Free SEO tools are most often used to help optimise websites for better rankings in search engines. These tools can provide insights into how your website is performing in terms of organic search results, backlinks, content optimisation, keyword research, and more. The best free SEO tool available today is Google Search Console. This free tool offers comprehensive reports on key performance metrics, including impressions, clicks, and more.

Additionally, it provides detailed information about your website’s structure, helping you identify areas of improvement. Other popular free SEO tools include Moz’s Open Site Explorer and Ahrefs Site Explorer, which offer valuable insights into your website’s performance and competitor analysis. Ultimately, the best free SEO tool for you will depend on what kind of data and insights you need from your website optimisation efforts.

So let’s dive into some for each area of search engine optimisation.

Keyword Research Tools For SEO

Keyword research tools for SEO are the first step to SEO success. They help you find the right keywords that will help you drive organic traffic to your website. These tools are essential for creating content and optimising search engines. They provide data on search volume, competition levels, and keyword trends so you can make informed choices about which words to use for your website.

Using keyword research tools for SEO, you can ensure that your content is optimised correctly and targeted towards potential customers who are already looking for what you have to offer.

Free Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research is one of the most critical parts of digital marketing and SEO. Finding the right keywords for a website can make all the difference in driving traffic and achieving success. Fortunately, many free keyword research tools are available to help you find the perfect words, but today I want to share with you my top five free SEO tools for keyword research.

1. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is an excellent tool for researching the right keywords for your content. It allows you to find the most relevant and popular search terms related to your topic so that you can optimise your website or blog post for SEO. With this tool, you can get detailed data on search volume, competition level and suggested bid amounts (if you are also looking to do ads), allowing you to make informed decisions about which keywords you should target. You can also use it to discover new keyword ideas related to your topic.

Google Keyword Planner provides a great way to research and plan effective SEO campaigns, giving you valuable insights into the best keywords to target. It is one of the most popular free keyword research tools; plus, why wouldn’t you use a tool from Google if trying to rank on Google?

2. Google Trends

Google Trends is a great keyword research tool and arguably the best SEO tool. It’s a free keyword tool that helps you understand and analyse search trends through interactive charts and graphs. This data can be used to optimise your website content by seeing what terms people are searching for related to your business or industry.

Google Trends also allows you to compare up to five different keywords at once, so you can see how they compare in terms of search popularity. Additionally, you can filter results by location, time period, category, search type and more. Overall, Google Trends is a handy tool for SEO professionals and anyone looking to improve their business SEO, starting with the core elements of keyword research.

3. Answer The Public

Answer the Public is a search listening tool designed to help you as a freelancer, business owner or blogger with SEO, by helping you generate more content ideas. With over 3.5 billion Google searches conducted every day, businesses need to be able to track consumer interests and trends. Answer the Public helps them do just that by providing insights into the queries people ask that have never been seen before. Through its sophisticated algorithms, users can quickly identify topics and questions they may not have thought of before and use that data to inform their content decision-making. This invaluable tool helps businesses stay ahead of their competitors by offering a comprehensive view of consumer conversations in real-time.

This complimentary tool is handy for locating keywords and creating content. Google favours regular material, so it’s essential to add a blog post to your website at least once per month. Coming up with topic ideas can be arduous, yet Answer the Public eliminates this difficulty.

4. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is the chrome extension you never knew you needed. It’s a powerful tool that helps you to quickly access critical data while researching keywords. It provides search volume, cost-per-click and competition metrics for any keyword in your list. With Keywords Everywhere, users can quickly analyse various keywords and compare their performance on platforms like Google, YouTube, Amazon and eBay. Keywords Everywhere also allows you to export keyword lists into CSV files for further analysis.

Whether you’re an SEO professional or an online marketer looking to get ahead of your competition, Keywords Everywhere is a great tool. It can help you find high-value keywords that will make your website stand out from the crowd and drive more traffic to it.

5. Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer is a tremendous final free SEO tool that can be used for keyword research and added to chrome as a quick and easy extension to use. It provides an easy way to explore search engine results pages (SERPs) for any keyword or phrase and gain insights into the competition for those terms. Additionally, it offers keyword suggestions based on existing search volumes and related keywords, which helps to identify new opportunities for your website.

Through this tool, you can also track your site’s ranking against competitors and monitor how different search engine algorithms affect your rankings. All in all, Keyword Surfer is an invaluable asset in any SEO campaign. It can help you optimise your website while avoiding irrelevant keywords and content that don’t provide value.

What About Paid SEO Tools For Keyword Research?

Paid SEO tools can be an excellent option for keyword research. They are often more comprehensive and updated more frequently than the free versions, allowing you to get the most accurate results. Paid tools typically have features such as keyword tracking, competitor analysis, and keyword suggestions, which can help you determine the best keywords to target for your website. Additionally, some paid tools even offer automated optimisation options, saving you time and effort in optimising your website. Ultimately, paid SEO tools can be an excellent asset for any business looking to improve its search engine ranking and visibility online. So let’s dive into my top three.

1. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs is an SEO tool I use, and the bonus to using a tool like this is that not only can you find keywords, but you can also then check how your ranking against them.

With Ahrefs, you can search for terms and phrases on Google, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo and other websites. You can also figure out which keywords are more successful by analysing the ranking of these keywords. As a result of this information, you can choose to use specific keywords as they could bring more visitors to your website. Additionally, you can locate low-difficulty keywords as obtaining a higher ranking for them is relatively easy. Lastly, if you’re aiming at a local demographic, you must include the name of the area and the services you offer.

Keywords Explorer is the keyword research tool that surpasses search volumes and demonstrates the projected amount of clicks on search results. This is useful for deciding if a keyword is worth targeting.

Another benefit to Ahrefs is if the keyword you have searched is too challenging to rank for, you can get a list of all other potential keywords you could look to rank for instead, as well as other potential topic ideas you may not have thought of.

Regarding SEO, we consider the search amount for their designated keyword to calculate a page’s probable organic website visits. This is troublesome because pages typically are not only associated with one keyword and usually rank for thousands of long-term keyword modifications. Therefore, what is the most appropriate way to work out the “overall search traffic capacity” of your desired keyword?

Simple. Utilise the “SERP overview” report in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to observe the assessed monthly organic search visitors to the current top-ranking pages.

These are just a few benefits of the Ahrefs keyword explorer tool. Other tools that can help you with your keyword research inside Ahrefs are site explore, and content explore, where you can go beyond and find out how your competitors are performing, but let’s save this all for another day.

2.SEMRush

SEMrush is a powerful tool for digital marketing and SEO professionals. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help you analyse your website, track your competitors’ performance, and optimise your SEO efforts. With its keyword research tools, you can identify profitable keywords to target in your campaigns.

Your keyword approach should form the foundation of your content marketing initiatives. Keywords are how your consumers locate you. Semrush can enhance your keyword exploration and content personalisation with a tremendous quantity of SEO knowledge.

For example, using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, you can discover and focus on the keyword phrases that will likely get you the most search engine activity. This tool will help you find keywords and variations, allowing you to understand better how and what people search online.

And a bit like Ahrefs, a few of the things you can find during your keyword research are:

• Monthly search volume
• SERP features present for the keyword
• Top ranking sites

Which Is Better, Ahrefs Or Semrush?

So I have used both these tools, and to me, one big thing to note as a small business owner is the cost between the two and how many of the tools inside each you may need to use.

Ahrefs and Semrush are both popular search engine optimisation tools. Both provide powerful analytics and insight into how well a website is performing. The choice of which is better depends on your website type and your specific needs. Ahrefs offers more comprehensive data on backlinks but doesn’t support backlink building, while Semrush provides more detailed keyword research and does. Additionally, Ahrefs has an easier-to-use dashboard and provides a more visual representation of the data. However, Semrush offers more features such as competitor analysis and content marketing ideas. Ultimately, the choice between Ahrefs or Semrush should be made based on which tool best serves your objectives and budget. Both offer unique benefits that can help improve SEO performance, so it’s essential to compare their features before deciding.

Best Free SEO Tools For Analytics

When it comes to SEO, analytics is key. Being able to track your website’s performance and gain insights from the data can be invaluable. Fortunately, there are plenty of free SEO tools available that offer great analytics capabilities. Some of the best free SEO tools for analytics include Google Search Console, Yoast SEO Plugin, Screaming Frog Spider Tool, and SEMrush. These tools can help you track your website’s performance and diagnose any issues that might be holding it back from reaching its full potential. They also provide valuable insights into how users interact with your website and what keywords they use to find it. With all these features, you can better understand your website’s performance and take steps to improve it.

But let’s dive into some of the tools in more detail below.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool which helps to see important SEO data and to find and fix any SEO issues. It allows you to use Google search to understand how your website appears in search engine results and how it performs over time. It also provides keyword reports, internal link analysis, a broken links checker, an HTML validator, and more.

With this tool, you can submit your sitemaps for indexing (WHICH IS A TOP PRIORITY), track incoming links from other websites, receive notifications of manual actions or security issues on your site, and track the number of clicks and impressions for each keyword. This data will help you make better decisions about the content and design of your website.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free SEO tool used to monitor website performance. It helps businesses understand how visitors find their website, what they do while they are there, and which actions they take. With Google Analytics, you can track your website’s traffic from multiple sources, including organic search, direct traffic, and referrals. Additionally, you can use the tool to optimise your website for better performance and higher rankings in Google search results. Additionally, Google Search Console is another great free SEO tool that integrates with Google Analytics; this allows you to track your website’s performance through the search engine and make sure your content is visible to potential customers. By using both of these tools together, you can gain valuable insights into your website’s performance and use them to make informed decisions on improving its success.

Google Data Studio – Now Looker Studio

Google Data Studio, now Looker Studio, is a powerful reporting and data visualisation tool. It allows users to build customisable dashboards and reports from their data. With Looker Studio, users can create highly detailed reports with charts, tables, and graphs that are easy to understand. The intuitive interface makes it easy to explore and analyse data quickly. It also supports multiple data sources, allowing users to combine different datasets within the same report, meaning you don’t need to be looking at many tools. Plus, the integrated security layer ensures that business insights remain secure and accessible only to those who need them. All in all, Looker Studio is an excellent tool for transforming raw data into meaningful insights that help you make better decisions and drive growth.

Paid Tools To Help You With Data

Sticking to the two to keep it simple, I thought I’d just share some of the pros of Ahrefs and Semrush for their data analysis to help you choose between them. And with that, I’m going to say to be honest, they are both very much the same. They both offer:

• Tools to analyse and track your competitors.
• You can perform a site audit of any website to get all the information about it, helping you to make informed decisions.
• You can use its keyword research tool to find easily rankable keywords.
• Rank Tracking tool can track multiple keywords at a time.

But the two more significant pluses to that Semrush are:

• Can also pull all into one bespoke report that you can schedule to send to yourself each month.
• And with this, you can additionally add data from other tools like google analytics, making it an all-in-one reporting tool.

Semrush also makes it easier for you to export info, create pdfs and also link with other reporting tools like looker studio.

On-Page SEO Tools

On-page SEO tools are essential for optimising websites for search engine optimisation. They provide an easy way to check website performance, structure, content, and other factors that help determine a website’s ranking. With these tools, you can research keywords and find out which words are the most relevant for your content. You can also generate meta tags to ensure search engines correctly index your pages.

So let’s jump into a few.

Rank Math

Rank Math is a powerful SEO plugin for WordPress that helps you optimise your website for search engine rankings. It has a user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to set up and manage your site’s SEO settings. This plugin also comes with an automated setup wizard that will help you configure the most important settings for your website in just a few clicks. It provides you with detailed analytics on how well your content is performing in search engines, including keyword analysis and insights into how visitors are finding and engaging with your content. It will support you in knowing if you have used the keyword you are trying to target enough (or too much) if you should add additional headlines and more. Additionally, Rank Math includes various tools to help you identify potential opportunities to improve your SEO, such as a sitemap generator, redirect manager, and integration with Google Search Console.

Overall, Rank Math is an excellent tool for improving the visibility of your website in search engines and increasing traffic to your website.

Yoast

A bit like Rank Math this tool is its rival, I guess, for WordPress plugins. It helps them to optimise content to make it easier for search engines to find and rank it. Yoast can be used to create SEO friendly titles, meta descriptions, and tags. It also allows users to see how their content will look in search engine results pages and provides feedback on how they can improve their content’s performance. The plugin includes features such as automatic keyword optimisation and the ability to preview posts before they are published on the web. All of these features combined make Yoast an invaluable resource for anyone who is serious about getting their website noticed by search engines.

However, between the two, the one key difference it Yoast only lets you optimise for one keyword, and yes, a page ranks more for one keyword, but Rank Math allows you to input your primary keyword along with supporting keywords meaning overall, you’ll be better optimised for all.

Neuron Writer

Now, this is a tool I took the plunge to get and have been testing out for client work along with like this blog you are reading, and I’ve got to say I LOVE IT! Neuron Writer is a powerful writing tool that helps users to create high-quality content quickly and easily. It has various features that make writing easier, like AI.

This tool literally helps you crawl the web for the top-ranking people and tell you what you need to do to be in for a chance to beat them. From giving you content scores to the content they have and much more. And this isn’t the best bit! When you start to create the content, you can again scan the internet for topic ideas and then additionally use their AI tool to help you come up with more creative headings, start paragraphs, expand, rephrase and even create catchy meta descriptions!

But it also doesn’t stop there! With the above image, it can also help you to refine your content better not to overuse keywords. You can see it easily shows it to you in a simple traffic light colour coding, and also helps highlight the keywords in the text so you can go through and tweak it to make it better. If SEO is genuinely on your list or you fear not having time to blog month on month to keep the algorithms happy, this is the tool for you!

And it gets better; using Appsumo you may be able to get yourself a fantastic deal. I believe I paid around £100 in the black Friday sales and am now locked in a lifetime deal! So add to your list and keep your eye out for this one.

Final thoughts On Free SEO Tools

When it comes to free SEO tools, there are a lot of options available (as we’ve discovered). It is important to evaluate which one is the best free SEO tool for you, your website and SEO strategy. A keyword research tool can help you find the best keywords for your content, while a backlink checker will give you an insight into how your website stands in comparison with competitors. Additionally, website auditing tools provide an easy way to identify potential issues and opportunities. All these tools can be used to improve your overall SEO strategy and get the most out of your efforts. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide which free SEO tool works best for you and provides the most value in terms of helping you reach your goals.

But guess what…THEY ARE FREE! so go ahead and give them a try and discover which works for you best.

PS if you are also looking for additional free SEO support by signing up to the mango monthly, you can gain access to all free guides, checklists and more, along with other great marketing support templates. Or if, after reading this, you are ready to dive in for some expert advice, then maybe my SEO Audit or Monthly SEO packages could be for you.