Search engines have become one of the most important areas for businesses to establish a presence. Luckily, success in optimizing search engines is not dependent on a large marketing budget. Appearing at the top of search results requires a deep understanding of crucial keywords paired with the development of content inclusive of those phrases. Throughout the development of a SEO strategy, there are many free tools a company can utilize to develop the most effective approach for their business and industry.    

Getting Started – Free SEO Tools for Keyword Research

To begin your SEO strategy, it is crucial to develop a wide understanding of the words that will be most effective for targeting. This will assure that advertisements are continually reaching new and engaged audiences. Several free tools exist that can facilitate keyword research and planning:

  • Google Trends – allows the user to search a term or topic, showing related queries and topics.
  • AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator – once there is an established plan for potential keywords, this tool combines up to three potential keyword categories, creating a list of potential permutations.
  • Answer The Public – while many keyword tools rely on information from The Google Keyword Planner, Answer the Public aggregates questions asked across the internet on forums, blogs, social media. This can be valuable in building an understanding of the conversations actually occurring around your targeted keywords, granting deeper insight into popular opinions, perceptions, and comparisons.
  • Seed Keywords – to combat the issue of keyword repetition within industries, Seed Keywords allows you to set the question/scenario your company is looking to solve, granting insight into the phrasing customers would use when actually searching for you.

Competitive Positioning – Free Competitive Analysis

A well executed SEO strategy will place you above any competition in a search relevant to your industry. Before optimizing your own search engine strategy, it is important to understand what your top competition is doing – developing a presence in those same areas. These tools can assist with identifying the top keyword searches being used within your industry, showing what people are searching for and which competition has already identified those searches:

  • Detailed – outlines the current measures of the best industry-wide competitors, showing the most popular sites and any mentions or links to that competition. Through Detailed, you can see what is successful in your industry, developing or adapting a plan for your website to fit to that.
  • SEMRush – displays a company’s position across a variety of metrics, creating an audit and allowing for the tracking of search engine positioning over a period of time.

Maintaining Position – Free SEO Tools for Website Analysis

Once your website has been completely optimized for search, there needs to be a constant maintenance of targeted keywords and unique content. It will be important to have prompt identification of emerging keywords in your industry. These tools can assist with monitoring the current optimization of your webpage and identifying any key areas of opportunity:

  • WooRank – this SEO Chrome extension analyzes your website, giving it an overall SEO score out of 100, then detailing that score with exact steps to take towards improvement.
  • SEOQuake – another browser extension, this tool instantly checks web pages across a large selection of SEO parameters, creating an audit or comparison between two pages.
  • Google Mobile-Friendly Test – after recent changes to Google’s algorithm which prioritize mobile-optimized sites in search, ensuring that your website it mobile friendly is crucial in appearing at the top of any searches. This tool crawls your site, noting issues in the code that may result in a poor mobile experience.

The widespread development of free SEO search tools has democratized one of the largest keys for success in the modern advertising age. With the right targeting, small firms are able to appear right next to some of their largest competitors  – maximizing awareness and potential conversions.

Devin Lowe