SEO Tools Agencies And Business Owners Can Use

Website Speed Testing & Optimisation Tools

• GTmetrix: GT Metrix is one of the most popular website speed analysis/testing tools that help you develop a faster and more efficient website. The tool breaks down the analysis by identifying the elements slowing down the website.

• Pingdom Website Speed Test: One of the oldest and most popular website speed testing tools. The Pingdom speed test tool analyses the website from different geographical locations to list the average speed of the website and the elements causing the delay in page load.
• Google Pagespeed Developer Tool: Google’s very own developer tool aims to assist developers to analyze website health, speed and recommending changes to improve the website’s speed. We highly recommend this tool which also features a Google Chrome speed test add-on.

SERP Tracking Tools (Search Engine Rank Tracking Tools)

• Agency Analytics: A comprehensive keyword management tool that efficiently allows you to track the SERP fluctuations on the main keywords you are optimizing for your SEO campaigns and clients. We highly recommend using this tool and this is one of the many keyword-tracking tools we use for tracking our success rate. You can also set alerts for the keywords and automate reporting specific to each SEO client you are managing the keywords for.

• SERPfox: This is another keyword tracking and management tool that helps you track and manage the keywords you are tracking. The tool allows you to add and group keywords by clients and it automatically tracks the SERP fluctuations on all major search engines like Google, Bing, etc.

• SerpBook: Another reputed tool that allows you to track your success on SEO campaigns. This tool also allows you to track, manage and prepare white-label PDF reports that could be automated and emailed to the clients you are managing.

• SERP Scan: Another Rank tracking tool that allows you to track keywords and their respective rankings on the same dashboard. The tool allows multiple user accounts, alerts, reporting, and local keyword rank tracking as well.

Bots and Crawlers

• Screaming Frog SEO Crawler: The Frog tool is hands down the best SEO crawler ever as of today! This awesome crawler tool does everything and more you would expect from an SEO crawler tool. The tool is frequently updated and maintains high standards in terms of quality. The tool is available in almost all OS variants like Windows, OS X, and even Ubuntu. This is a free tool but if you are crawling websites with more than 500 URLs, it is highly recommended to purchase a premium license reasonably priced at 99 pounds per year.
• BeamUsUp SEO Crawler: With the Frog tool mentioned above, you need not look any further, however, if you want to perform multivariate testing on multiple tools, you could use this second tool we recommend – the BeamUsUp Free SEO crawler is also available for free download.

On-Page Website SEO Audit Tools

• Site SEO Checkup: Even though SEO is all about analysis, correlation, action, and fine-tuning, sometimes, tools like Site SEO Checkup can give standard on-page SEO issues which need immediate attention. Site SEO Checkup is a decent SEO audit tool that gives you a basic on-page SEO analysis report.

• WooRank: WooRank is another popular essential on-page SEO analysis tool similar to the Site SEO Checkup tool mentioned above. It will be a good idea to switch between on-page analysis tools to compare the results you receive from each of these essential reports.

• MOZ On-Page Analysis Tools: Moz is one of the most famous names in the SEO industry. SEOMoz offers several free essential SEO tools on their website and also has a 30 Days free trial to check your on-page website SEO health. SEOMoz is not a tool but a suite of tools and a very active SEO industry expert community.
• SEOBook Toolbox: Another famous name in the SEO industry! SEOBook has several useful essential SEO tools that could help you find critical aspects of your on-page health, like keyword density, broken links, etc.

Keyword Research Tools

• Keyword Eye: A very impressive keyword research tool that allows you to quickly identify the best keywords to target, the search volume, Adwords competition, and some other metrics. The tool is convenient for identifying other good, high-value keywords to target within your niche. The tool uses Google API to fetch information from Google Adwords Keyword tool and Search Volume Index data.

• Google Adwords Keyword Tool: The Google Adwords keyword tool is by far the best keyword research tool you could come across on the Internet. This is the tool you should be using to get in-depth and accurate information, especially if you are looking for a free keyword research option.

• Bing Keyword Research Tool: The official Bing Keyword research tool (free tool) uses the Bing search index data for providing information on keywords and their search index volumes. This tool will be handy if you have started considering Bing as a serious search engine!

• WordTracker: A viral premium keyword research tool in the SEO industry. The tool uses information from Google Adwords and other data sources to reveal thousands of high-value keywords from 15+ territories and valuable information about your competition.

• WordStream: WordStream is a free keyword tool that allows you to identify high-value keywords in your industry. This is an excellent tool for managing Google Ads.
• Market Samurai Keyword Research & Competition Analysis: A powerful client-side application available for both OS X and Windows offering a handful of unique features that will aid you in boosting your SERP rankings. The tool uses a couple of APIs like the Majestic SEO API and Google Adwords API to bring you valuable data that helps you to analyze your competition and the keywords you are after.

Advanced SEO Analysis Tools

• Majestic SEO: Majestic is one of the big names in the professional SEO industry and offers a couple of trademark tools bundled together in their premium subscription-based membership. Majestic SEO is for serious SEO professionals and sure does give a cutting edge above your competition with their data.

• Majestic has their search index (like Google) and crawlers that crawl/index the Internet just like Google does. Their servers located at various geographical locations contribute to defining “flow metrics” for each website, making it easier for Search Marketers to make vital decisions.

• Ahrefs Site Explorer: The single largest worthy competitor to Majestic SEO in the Search Industry to have their infrastructure and technology to crawl and share valuable information about competitors, backlinks and search ranking metrics. This compelling premium advanced SEO tool is often compared with Majestic SEO.

• Open Site Explorer: Another popular premium subscription-based SEO tool by Moz. The tool does have similar features when compared to Majestic and Ahrefs. OSE has its metrics like Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) – quite similar to the Majestic Trust Flow (TF) and Citation Flow (CF).
• Raven Tools: This tool could come in multiple categories our experts have identified on this page. However, we have decided to place it among the Advanced SEO tools as it does far more than just keyword tracking or reporting. Raven Tools is another popular tool for severe SEO professionals or agencies and offers several features like keyword tracking, reporting, backlink analysis, keyword research, Google Analytics integration, and much more!

Google Algorithm Penalty Analysis Tools

• Barracuda Digital Google Penalty Checker Tool: Even though one cannot with confidence pinpoint the reason for a Google algorithm penalty, industry experts consider and correlate various vital aspects to identify the possible reasons for a penalty. Barracuda Digital’s penalty checker tools is the best tool available on the internet for free today. The tool requests a connection to your Google Analytics account and uses the data to plot the algorithm updates dates as a layer that helps you spot the penalty that caused fluctuation.
• Fruition Google Penalty Checker: One of the first tools that Fruition SEO developed to predict and identify the Google Algorithm change that could have penalized your website. This is another premium tool with a free membership plan that allows you to track penalties of up to 2 websites. We don’t recommend this tool unless you sign up for the premium accounts, as the free membership does not reveal the last 3 recent month’s data.

Outreach and Link Building Tools

• SEO Tools for Excel:  A bundle of the fantastic toolkit by Niels Bosma that allows better data organizing and handling to aid your SEO link research with the help of several APIs to connect to various services.

• SocialMention: An interactive search engine that allows you to discover popular real-time influencers in a niche. This helps to a great extent in identifying potential link-building opportunities in the form of guest posts or comments.

• BuzzSumo: A powerful tool that helps you identify the most shared topic in a niche and other key citations about your niche on the internet elsewhere.

• Followerwonk: A powerful tool owned by the Moz SEO Family which allows users to do in-depth social media analytics, especially Twitter. It allows you to identify and follow popular accounts in your niche leading to more backlink opportunities.

• BuzzFeed: A powerful and popular tool to discover all the buzzing and most popular content on the internet in one place. The tool has several advantages but is not limited to identifying the most popular websites in your niche, trending viral topics, and keyword ideas.
• BuzzStream:  A premium online tool that speeds up the link-building process, social media optimization, and press release-related features.

SEO Friendly Content Management Systems

• WordPress: Undoubtedly the most popular Open Source Content Management System (CMS) and publishing platform for self-hosted websites allowing users to manage content on-site seamlessly. The CMS is hugely Search Engine friendly as it is cleanly coded and boasts an organized structure. In addition, the official WordPress repository has thousands of free plugins and themes to upscale your website’s capabilities.

• Drupal: A developer’s favorite CMS that is well-coded and built on a solid framework. The CMS is hugely popular and is recommended for intermediate and advanced users, unlike the user-friendly counterpart – WordPress.

• Joomla: Joomla and Mambo have been part of the Open Source content management systems for over a decade and continue to be one of the favorite CMS on the Internet. The Joomla repository has countless plugins, themes, and modules for free use.
• Magento: One of the most popular Open Source eCommerce management CMS that allows you to easily set up an online e-business and make sales almost instantly. The CMS has advanced reporting dashboards and APIs that allow you to integrate with FPOS payment systems.

SEO Resource Blogs and Websites

• Search Engine Land: The Official Search Engine Land Blog
• Search Engine Watch: The Official Search Engine Watch Blog
• Moz Blog: The Official Moz SEO Blog
• Quick Sprout: The SEO blog by Industry expert Neil Patel
• Social Media Examiner: A popular SMO (Social Media Optimisation) trends blog
• Matt Cutts Blog: Personal blog of Google’s Anti-Spam Chief, Matt Cutts.
• Rand Fishkin: Moz SEO Expert Rand Fishkin’s Blog posts

Official Industry Search Engine Tools

• Google Webmaster Tools
• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Google Trends
• Google Zeitgeist
• Google Analytics
• Google Adwords Keywords Tool
• Google Insights

Google Algorithm Change Monitors

• MozCast: A comprehensive tool developed by Moz that picturizes and visualizes the entire search algorithm environment like a weather forecast. The tool shows the daily status of the algorithm changes and the impact of the metrics on the various niches of websites.

• AlgoRoo: A Google algorithm change tracking tool showcasing the algorithm changes’ impact on approximately 17,000 keywords tracked in the database. The tool effectively shows the fluctuations and impact of algorithms on the websites and SERP data.
• Google Algorithm Change Timeline: A comprehensive list of all the Google algorithm updates, the dates, and the impact that the change resulted in, be it Panda or Penguin.

SEO Tips:

Google offers a free keyword tool that will help you with search engine optimization. If you are having trouble finding keywords for your business, you can have instant access to a limitless supply of suggestions, with stats on each keyword.

Copyscape is a valuable tool that allows you to check if you have too much duplicate content on your website. Search engines don’t like duplicated content, so checking this and rectifying any problems will make a big difference to your SEO status.

A robots.txt file should be located in the home directory of your website, and from there, it will block spam bots that scan your website for email addresses and other personal information. It also informs the search engines which pages, files or other data is protected from their spiders.

Conclusion:

Using SEO tools can benefit you by reducing the time you spend on search engine optimization, increasing your profits by pushing you up the rankings, and reducing costs for marketing campaigns that don’t work. You have to do some work, but using the right software makes the job much more accessible and far more productive. So if your Melbourne website needs more hits and conversions, read on.

Most SEO tools are geared toward specific SEO topics, such as off-page optimization, on-page optimization, keywords, backlinks, security, or speed. You need to find an SEO software or service that offers what you need and stay away from any that make grand claims of how much money you can make.

Once you find SEO analysis software you like, you usually just enter your website URL to get the results. You then research each area that was tested, starting with any you are having issues with so you can understand the importance of working on that area. Some areas that are flagged or present a warning include a tip for improvement and minimizing the necessary research.

Working on your website is full-time and ongoing, as search engines constantly update their algorithms. Backlinks can expire or die, and a lack of website activity can negatively affect your SEO. So make sure you have SEO tools that stay up to date with your changes and the changes surrounding the world of SEO.

Note: This Resource page has been prepared by Search Marketing Group®  (All rights reserved).

What are the Right Tools for Your SEO Campaign?

There are a vast number of search engine optimization (SEO) tools online, and many companies make their living by providing these tools and data. However, free and paid tools are available, and some can be quite costly. If you’re not careful, all of the data can be overwhelming. They could distract you from focusing on the important thing – working on tasks that improve your SEO and drive more organic traffic and better conversions. However, SEO tools can be handy when you use the right ones in the right way. In this short article, I will mention some of the necessities for any website.

In 2015 Google officially rebranded Google Webmaster Tools as “Google Search Console.” Google Search Console is a primary free tool that provides a wide range of tools for diagnosing issues on your site, and it’s used by everyone – from beginners to the most advanced users. Google Search Console allows you to analyze the problems on your site and report the actions you have taken to solve some of those problems directly to Google. New features are constantly being added to this tool.

Bing Webmaster Tools offers data on search traffic, site maps, keywords, links, URL parameters, crawl data, and robots.txt, just like Google Webmaster Tools does. However, it also provides more in-depth SEO Sydney improvement recommendations than Google.

Screaming Frog’s spidering tool gives you access to incredible data and is indispensable for technical SEO work. It can provide you with information such as duplicate content, server errors, canonical tags, meta robots tags, title tags, meta descriptions, and more. It also allows you to include or exclude URLs with specific strings of characters to either examine a very particular part of your site or to keep the crawl manageable for extensive areas.

Google Analytics is one of the essential tools you should be using to optimize your site. It gives you some of the most valuable data you will ever get about your visitors and traffic sources. It lets you track how users access your site, what pages they enter, where they exit, and all the sources that drive traffic to your website. You can track conversions, identify your best and worst pages, and uncover your most immense opportunities.

This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of SEO tools you could use, but remember to keep things as simple and focused as possible. If you are trying to build a transport business in Melbourne, uploading plenty of regular related content on a friendly blog and using keywords such as ‘Melbourne transportation’ could get you much further than using endless tools while losing the pulse of your business. Keep everything simple and relevant, and let your use of SEO tools, like your traffic, grow organically.