As a digital marketing specialist, it's essential to have the best SEO tools at your disposal. With so many options available, it can be hard to know which ones are worth investing in. SEO tools are important for any digital marketing specialist, especially those who work hard on their SEO strategies. However, not all SEO tools are created equal. And some simply aren't worth your time or money.
SEO tools provide digital marketing specialists with the ability to analyze data and understand what's working and what isn't. They also help digital marketing specialists keep track of their progress over time. And perhaps most importantly, SEO tools can help digital marketing specialists save time by automating tasks that would otherwise be manual.
There are a lot of different SEO tools available on the market. But which ones are the best? Here is a list of some of the best SEO tools for digital marketing specialists. We'll start with the most robust to get you started.
What to Look for in SEO Tools
When you're looking for SEO tools, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, look for a tool that is user-friendly and easy to understand. There's no point in investing in a tool if you can't figure out how to use it. Second, make sure the tool has all of the features you need. There's no use in paying for a tool that doesn't have all the bells and whistles you need. Finally, make sure the tool is affordable. There's no need to break the bank on an SEO tool when plenty of high-quality options are available at various price points.
You'll also want to ensure that the tool is geared specifically toward SEO research. There are keyword planners, data trackers, and other marketing tools that may work well to check site performance or find suitable keywords; these tools won't provide you with the necessary information to manage your SEO campaigns.
Look for tools that offer keyword research as well as competitive research. This allows you to see what your competitors are ranking for, what they're doing well, and what's not working for them. You also need a tool that offers backlink analysis. One crucial aspect of SEO is backlinks. This is where you'll connect your blog or site to another website so that they can guide traffic back to you.
You also want a tool that offers a technical SEO audit. This will provide you with an analysis of your website's health and performance. This can help you troubleshoot any issues that could be holding your site back from ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Look for a tool that provides position tracking. There's no use in doing the hard work without a way to track your progress toward your SEO goals.
Semrush
Semrush is a digital marketing tool that provides users with data on their website's performance. It also offers insights on how to improve that performance. With Semrush's powerful Keyword Magic Tool, you can easily find the keywords that will best help your business. You may include both head terms and long-tail keywords in your campaign but look for low-to-medium search volume, low competition, and low keyword difficulty if you're targeting long-tail keywords with a lot of traffic potential.
Semr
ush's site audit tool is a robust technical SEO audit tool that will help digital marketing specialists identify and fix any website errors that could be holding them back from achieving their SEO goals. The tool crawls your entire website to check for broken links, duplicate content, and other technical issues that could be affecting your site's ranking.
The Organic Research function allows you to view your competitors' finest performing keywords, discover new organic rivals, and keep an eye on the position of domains. This tool is an excellent resource for digital marketing specialists looking to outrank their competitors in organic search.
PPC experts can use SERP features to spy on their competition and see which paid ads are running, what keywords they're targeting, and what budgets they're working with. This information is valuable for digital marketing specialists who want to fine-tune their own PPC campaigns for maximum effectiveness.
Semrush offers a free account for digital marketing specialists who want to play around with their tools before committing. Their Pro plans start at $99 per month, with their business enterprise plan costing $374 per month. We recommend Semrush to our clients and use their powerful reports daily!
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a digital marketing specialist's best friend in link building and competition research. Their comprehensive reports show you who is linking to your competitors, what kind of links they're using, and where those links are coming from. Ahrefs is a well-known and reputable SEO tool that offers users the world's most extensive index of live backlinks (16 trillion links) and the ability to process up to 5 billion webpages daily. In addition, Ahrefs boasts a user-friendly interface, making it even more appealing to potential customers.
Ahrefs most popular tool is Site Explorer. With Site Explorer, you may examine which websites link to your clients' and rivals' websites and judge the quality of their backlink profiles. You can also look at the keywords that your competitors rank for to see which pages bring the most search engine visits.
While they used to be known only for their backlinking capabilities, they've added several more tools to their suite. Rank Tracker is one of their more recent additions, and it's quickly become one of the most popular SEO tools for digital marketing specialists. You may use Rank Tracker to keep track of your client's search rankings over time and compare their success against those of their competitors. You may also receive email reports regularly.
Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer 3.0 offers you thousands of relevant keyword ideas, complete with accurate search volume, keyword difficulty score, and other advanced metrics like clicks, return rate, and parent topic. Just plug in a specific keyword, and the keyword checker will give you an in-depth look at essential metrics.
Ahrefs offers digital marketing specialists a 7-day trial for $7, after which their plans start at $99 per month. It's well worth the cost if you need a robust all-in-one SEO tool.
Moz Pro
Moz Pro's Keyword Explorer is another great keyword research tool that digital marketing specialists can use to develop relevant keywords and track their progress over time. Moz Pro Campaigns allows you to detect any site issues that could damage your visitors' experience. With Link Explorer, Keyword Explorer, and Rank Tracker, you can quickly gather data about your site's rankings, page optimization, site crawlability, and link metrics to help implement better SEO tactics.
You can also use it to spy on your competitors' keywords and get insights into their ranking strategies. This bolsters your SEO marketing campaigns by giving you real-time competitive keywords. Overall, Moz Pro is an excellent digital marketing tool for specialists.
Moz Pro plans start at $99 per month, but you can get started with a free 30-day trial.
UberSuggest
UberSuggest is a free keyword research tool that allows you to find long-tail keywords with low competition. Just enter a seed keyword into the tool, and it generates a list of related keywords for you to target. These keyword suggestions are packed with robust data to help narrow your focus.
One thing we love about Ubersuggest is its robust certification features and helpful hints. Neil Patel, from Ubersuggest, is a brilliant digital marketer who offers free courses, amazing blogs, and even answers commonly asked questions on his site.
HubSpot
You may think of HubSpot and immediately think of CRM. But, they also offer SEO tools that can be useful for new digital marketing specialists.
HubSpot's cloud-based SEO services are linked with HubSpot's content planning tool, allowing you to quickly locate and rank the critical subjects that your customers and clients care about. This connection can be helpful when looking for keywords to write about in your client's area of expertise.
HubSpot SEO services are included in your monthly HubSpot plan. If you're not already using HubSpot as your CRM, check out our article on why we love HubSpot.
Spyfu
Spyfu is an all-in-one digital marketing tool popular among digital marketing specialists for its wide range of functionality. It allows you to track your own rankings, spy on your competitors, and conduct specific keyword research to find the best keywords for your site.
One of the most comprehensive SEO analysis tools is SpyFu. Users get access to extensive competitor research, such as organic keywords used by rivals, monthly clicks received, sponsored and organic competitors, Google Ads campaigns, and more.
You can also use Spyfu to analyze your PPC campaigns and track your web analytics. The pricing plans for Spyfu start at $39 per month. You can also select a team plan for $299 per month, which offers even more capabilities and data tracking tools.
Answer the Public
Answer the public is a digital marketing tool specifically designed for content marketing and SEO purposes. It helps you generate ideas for blog posts, infographics, or even YouTube videos by analyzing what people are searching for online. Knowing these search terms will help point you in the right direction when it comes to SEO.
It's a great way to come up with topics relevant to what people are actually searching for, and it's also great for finding new keywords to target. Answer the public is free to use.
Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools)
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that allows you to track your website's organic search traffic. It provides data on things like the number of impressions and clicks your site gets, what keywords people are searching for to find your site and more.
It's a valuable tool for digital marketing specialists because it allows you to see how your site is performing in Google search results and make changes accordingly. We all know Google is king, and SEO is its queen.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is an amazing technical SEO tool that allows you to audit your website for common technical issues. Just plug in your website URL into the tool, and the crawler will start looking for issues like broken links, duplicate content, and more. This will improve user experience and boost page speed.
The best part about Screaming Frog is that it's free for up to 500 URLs. This makes it perfect for small businesses and digital marketing agencies who want to audit their website without breaking the bank.
SERPStat
SERPStat is an all-in-one SEO platform that provides data on things like keyword research, competitor analysis, site audits, rank tracking, and more. It has both a free and paid version, with the latter being more comprehensive.
Small businesses can benefit from SERPStat's free version, which gives you access to 10 projects, five keywords per project, and three competitor domains. Digital marketing agencies can opt for one of SERPStat's paid plans, which start at $69 per month and come with features like unlimited projects, more keywords, and more competitor domains.
KWFinder by Mangools
KWFinder is a keyword research tool that helps you find long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty. It's ideal for small businesses and digital marketing agencies who want to up their SEO game without spending much money. Starting in online marketing can be daunting, but KWFinder makes it a little easier to understand search engine ranking.
KWFinder starts at $29 per month for the Basic plan, which gives you access to 10 keyword searches, 30 days of data, and 500 rows of SERP results. The Premium plan starts at $49 per month and gives you unlimited keyword searches, more data, and more SERP results.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a digital marketing essential and one of the best (if not the best) tools out there. Imagine tracking Google trends from one easy-to-use tool. It's FREE, so there's no excuse not to use it.
Google Analytics lets you track your website's traffic, see where your visitors are coming from, what they're doing on your site, and more. This information is valuable for understanding what's working and what isn't with your digital marketing strategy.
While Google Analytics can be complex, plenty of resources are available to help you get started, including this beginner's guide from Moz.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool for researching and finding keywords for your digital marketing campaigns. With Keyword Planner, you can see how often specific keywords are searched for, get ideas for new keywords to target, and see CPC estimates for the amount of traffic you could potentially get from each keyword.
This information is valuable for understanding which keywords are worth targeting and how much traffic you could realistically expect to get from them. You can then use this information to implement changes in your content marketing strategies. This information can also be used in conjunction with Google AdWords to create a solid PPC marketing campaign.
Majestic
Majestic is a paid SEO tool that offers some features for free, including site explorer and backlink analysis. With Majestic, you can see information about the number of backlinks pointing to a website and the quality of those links. This information can be valuable for understanding a website's link profile's strength and identifying potential link-building opportunities.
What is SEO, though?
You've made it through the article, but we get it if you're still wondering what exactly SEO is. SEO can be complicated and complex to nail down. But in short, it's the process of optimizing your site and its content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal is to appear on the first page of Google for relevant searches, driving more traffic (and, ideally, more conversions) to your site.
Search engine optimization is made up of two main parts: on-page SEO and off-page SEO.
On-page SEO involves optimizing your website's code, structure, and content to make it as easy as possible for search engines to index and understand your site. This includes things like adding relevant keywords to your title tags and meta descriptions, making sure your website is mobile-friendly, improving your page load speed, and more.
Off-page SEO is everything you can do outside of your website to improve its ranking in search engine results pages. This includes things like link building (getting other websites to link to yours), social media signals (how often your site is shared on social media), and local SEO (making sure your site is optimized for local searches).
The best SEO tools can help you with both on-page and off-page SEO. They provide valuable data and insights that can help you improve your website and its ranking in search engine results pages.
Why is SEO important?
SEO should be a fundamental part of any digital marketing strategy because it helps you get found online by potential customers – most notably, people actively searching for your products or services. If you're not visible in organic search results, you're missing out on valuable leads and traffic to your site.
What are the benefits of SEO?
There are many benefits of SEO, but we've narrowed it down to the top five:
SEO drives traffic to your website.
SEO can help you build brand awareness.
SEO can give you an edge over the competition.
SEO can help you improve your customer experience.
SEO can increase your ROI.
What are some common SEO mistakes?
There are a number of common SEO mistakes that digital marketers make, which can hurt their ranking on SERPs and cost them valuable traffic. Here are some of the most common ones:
1. Not Optimizing Their Website for Mobile
2. Not Doing Any Keyword Research
3. Not Creating Compelling Content
4. Not Building Any Backlinks
5. Not Tracking Their SEO Progress
6. Not Keeping Up With Google Algorithm Changes
7. Not Optimizing Their Website for Local Search
8. Targeting the Wrong Keywords
9. Not Creating a Good Site Structure
10. Ignoring On-Page SEO
Working with an SEO Agency
If you're not an expert in digital marketing and SEO, it's best to work with an agency specializing in these areas. That way, you can be sure that your website is in good hands and will get the desired results.
A digital marketing and SEO agency will:
Help you choose the right keywords to target
Optimize your website for search engine ranking
Conduct on-page SEO and off-page SEO
Build backlinks to your site
Monitor your SEO progress and organic traffic and make changes as needed
Keep up with the latest Google algorithm changes and SEO software
Provide other digital marketing services such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing
For more of the best free SEO tools for digital marketers, check out our Free Tools for SEO and Content Marketing post.