SEO tools: How to select them and 22 popular examples

SEO is a method of ensuring that your website becomes more findable. SEO is primarily focused on Google, but works for other search engines as well. Using so-called SEO tools, you ensure improved findability. There are many different tools available. For some you have to pay, others are free. We list the greatest SEO tools for you:

• SEMrush. This is one of the free SEO tools. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. This tool offers a look inside your website. Using the free version, you can take advantage of basic options such as: a keyword and domain name analysis, optimization of your website, advertising research and access to a database of information. If you want more, more specific results, you can also get a paid version of this tool.
• Google Analytics. One of the best known and one of the largest is Google Analytics. This is a free tool from – you guessed it – Google. Using this service, you can optimize your website in several areas. You can measure traffic to your website and on your website.
• Mangools. A very useful tool with lots of features. With that, this tool is generally not free; you can purchase a subscription. Using this SEO tool, you can analyze keywords, view the performance of competing websites and access the link building analysis tool. The free version allows you to improve the use of keywords and analyze the results.
• Ahrefs. This is a very well-known one and is widely used by SEO specialists. You can see volume by keyword in Ahrefs. This works like this: you enter a keyword, select a desired country (which you are targeting), and you then see how many people have searched for this search term within a certain period of time. So that’s how you know whether it’s better to use the keyword or not. In addition to learning more about the keyword with Ahrefs, it is also a useful tool in terms of competitive analysis. In fact, this tool allows you to enter your competitor’s website after which you will see what keywords this website is searched for. Other competitor SEO values are also visible in Ahrefs.
• Google Search Console. This tool is free and is from Google. Using this service, you can find out through which searches your website has been found in the past period. This you can monitor, maintain and you can fix any problems. You can also see how many visitors there were per page.

If you would like to work on the findability of your website but don’t have the budget for professional tools, there are also plenty of free SEO tools you can get started with. To begin with, three tools that are actually indispensable, below are the rest:

• Google Analytics. This is one of the best known free tool. Using this service, you can optimize your website in several areas. You can measure traffic to your website and on your website.
• Google Search Console. This tool gives you insight into which pages of your website are listed in Google’s index and which keywords, for example, your website is being found by Google. You can also see which pages on your website are slow according to Google.
• Google My Business. If your business is registered with the Chamber of Commerce, you are entitled to a Google My Business listing that is findable in Google and Google Maps. With this tool, you can add photos and reviews so you make a good impression when a potential client looks you up.
• Ubersuggest. This tool helps you find out exactly what your target audience is searching for and what search terms they are using to do so. This works like this: you enter a search term and within seconds you see the estimated monthly search volume. In addition, the tool also provides additional keyword ideas .
• Answerthepublic. Using this tool, you will know what kind of questions are on the mind of the target audience. For example, you enter a topic and you get a handy overview with all kinds of questions asked in Google about this topic.
• Alsoasked. This tool is somewhat similar to the previous one. You can collect frequently asked questions about a topic. The tool extracts the questions from the “People Also Asked (PAA) block you often see in Google search results.
• Detailed Chrome Extension. This tool helps you see what high-scoring competitors don with their websites. You can then see for each page what the page title and description are, what headings a page contains and how many images are used, for example. So take inspiration from your competition and make the content for your website even better.
• ScreamingFrog. This tool detects errors in your website. Flaws can include broken links or images, missing or too long page titles, or pages with very little content.
• Pagespeed Insights. This tool shows you how fast your website is. After all, speed is hugely important for SEO. After all, no one is happy with a slow website.
• MozBar. This free tool estimates a website’s authority. Moz gives you a score from 1 to 100. Higher the score, the higher the authority.

Using SEO tools makes the life of an SEO specialist much easier. Here are four reasons why, as an SEO specialist, you really can’t do without SEO tools anymore:

• Find new keywords. As an SEO specialist, for example, you may not have even thought about the keywords the tool presents you with. Using this tool, you can create the right content that responds to user intent. This, in turn, ultimately increases your conversion rate.
• Take a peek into the competitor’s kitchen. Why does the competitor rank higher than you? So apply this to your website.
• Save time and money. In just a few minutes, you’ll track down broken links, errors or missing meta descriptions. So this works a lot faster than trying to do it all manually.
• Get insight into your progress. SEO tools provide you with a clear report of all important statistics, so you can see at a glance how your website is doing.

SEO tools are extensions or certain software that provide valuable insights about what people are looking for and how to make your website rank better in search results. Improving SEO drives more traffic to your website and is therefore of great importance. Tools help you deploy or improve your SEO. They save you a lot of time and you understand the search engine better. You find out things like what is the popularity of certain keywords. The main functions of an SEO tool are:

• Track SERP rankings and trends. SERP stands for: Search Engine Results Pages. This is Google’s response to a user’s query. Organic results are the “earned” placements determined by Google’s algorithm to be the overall best, most relevant results for a given search query.
• Competitive Analysis. You’ll find out why the competitor ranks higher than your website, so you can respond accordingly.
• Content optimization. Determine what search terms you want to be found on and pull this through to the text for each web page.
• Detect duplicate content. Duplicate content should be avoided. This is because if the same keyword is found on multiple Web pages, Google no longer knows which page to index.
• Technical website checks. Technology is proving to be an increasingly important element for SEO. Is your website optimally indexable, fast, secure and equipped with all SEO tags? The result of this check is a list of errors that you can fix.
• Backlinks. These are links from another website to your website. For Google, backlinks are important so that Google can determine how popular your Web site or Web page is.
• Keyword research. This is the process of finding search terms that people use to search for your product or service. With the outcome of this process, you can optimize your website or use it for advertising.
• Track share of voice. Share of Voice calculates which websites rank the most for a particular set of keywords or topics in organic search. This will help you better understand search engines and take advantage of opportunities for link building, content creation and social media.

Through artificial intelligence, SEO content can be created automatically. Not only is this AI machine able to teach itself how to write unique articles, it also writes articles good enough to make interested companies think they are reading content generated by a human. The machine even generates grammatically correct articles and each article is unique. The reader has no idea that the article was written by a computer.

The invention of such a machine is a step in the trend toward automation. Still, SEO cannot be fully automated today. In fact, keywords research is still needed, for example, which acts as a guide for the articles. But if just part of it can be automated, it does save an enormous amount of time.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising) is a strategy to achieve high rankings in Google and other search engines. You obtain this position through paid advertising campaigns. You can specify very precisely which audience will see your ad. Like SEO tools, there are also dozens of SEA tools to manage and optimize SEA campaigns and get more revenue from campaigns.

The difference with an SEO tool is that a SEA tool is used to automate bidding and budget, optimize campaign setup and feed management for automatically turning campaigns on and off based on current product offerings. That way, campaigns can easily be managed based on margins and KPIs. So these tools are really focused on the campaigns and on the products being promoted. This is in contrast to SEO tools: they aim to optimize the website to improve online findability. Examples of SEA tools include:

• Optmyzr. This tool automates important tasks.
• Adchieve. This tool provides the automation solutions for advertising in search engines, such as Google. Adchieve is the largest user of the Google Shopping API in the world.
• Adscale. This is an Ecommerce advertising platform. This tool incorporates the power of AI technology into ads by automatically creating and optimizing ads across Google, Facebook and Instagram.
• bGenius. This tool allows marketers to manage and optimize campaigns in different search engines in one system.
• Channable. This is a tool where marketing agencies and sellers can easily offer products on marketplaces and comparison sites.
• ChannelEngine. This tool helps brands, retailers and wholesalers sell effectively on online marketplaces.
• ProductsUp. This tool manages and optimizes the product feed. Using data, you can get your product to market faster and seize new opportunities.

Anyone who runs a website must be easily findable. So SEO tools are basically for anyone running a website. The moment a search engine, such as Google, does not find your website so a visitor is never directed to it, you can almost speak of the non-existence of your website. So through SEO, as a website administrator, you ensure that your website does get found by the search engines.

All SEO tools can be used by the entrepreneur himself. It depends on how much budget you have for it; in fact, some tools cost money, but some are also free. Below we list the biggest and most important SEO tools for you to get started today:

• Google Analytics. Using this free tool, you can optimize your website in several areas. You can measure traffic to your website and on your website.
• Google Search Console. This tool gives you insight into which pages of your website are listed in Google’s index and which keywords, for example, your website is being found by Google. You can also see which pages on your website are slow according to Google.
• Google My Business. If your business is registered with the Chamber of Commerce, you are entitled to a Google My Business listing that is findable in Google and Google Maps. With this tool, you can add photos and reviews so you make a good impression when a potential client looks you up.
• SEMrush. This is one of the free SEO tools. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. This tool offers a look inside your website. Using the free version, you can take advantage of basic options such as: a keyword and domain name analysis, optimization of your website, advertising research and access to a database of information. If you want more, more specific results, you can also get a paid version of this tool.
• Mangools. A very useful tool with lots of features. With that, this tool is generally not free; you can purchase a subscription. Using this SEO tool, you can analyze keywords, view the performance of competing websites and access the link building analysis tool. The free version allows you to improve the use of keywords and analyze the results.
• Ahrefs. This is a very well-known one and is widely used by SEO specialists. You can see volume by keyword in Ahrefs. This works like this: you enter a keyword, select a desired country (which you are targeting), and you then see how many people have searched for this search term within a certain period of time. So that’s how you know whether it’s better to use the keyword or not. In addition to learning more about the keyword with Ahrefs, it is also a useful tool in terms of competitive analysis. In fact, this tool allows you to enter your competitor’s website after which you will see what keywords this website is searched for. Other competitor SEO values are also visible in Ahrefs.
• Google Search Console. This tool is free and is from Google. Using this service, you can find out through which searches your website has been found in the past period. This you can monitor, maintain and you can fix any problems. You can also see how many visitors there were per page.

No. It is not necessary to have experience in programming to get started with SEO and use a variety of tools. Of course, a background or experience can help in this. Obviously, it does take a lot of knowledge and specialty to perform SEO for your website, but this does not necessarily involve programming.

An understanding of programming and web development can be handy when you get started with SEO, though. Especially if you work as a freelancer, for example. This is because then you don’t have to wait for other people to move on.