SEO Tools

The ultimate list of SEO tools for improving your rankings.

Basic SEO setup tools

Before you can start to plan a route to achieving your goals you need to know where you are. Here are the basic tools that will let you do that.

• Google Analytics - this will tell you how many visitors your website is getting, where they come from, what they do and a whole lot more. You really can't do SEO without it but make sure you complete the Google Analytics course to get the most out of it.
• Google Search Console - this will tell you where you rank and for which keywords and it will allow you to check if Google can see your contents clearly.
• Google Chrome Browser - not least because of the Google Lighthouse Audit that is built in.

Keyword selection tools

Deciding which keywords and phrases you want to try and rank for will make or break your SEO. You don't want to go up against impossible competition that will drain your time and bank balance but you also want to avoid the search terms no one ever uses so you need to choose them with care.

• Free - Google's Keyword Tool - if your not using Google Ads you'll only get an approximation but it is the only truly free tool out there.
• Paid - SpyFu, SEM Rush and SEO Powersuite are among the most popular out there.

Code validators

Clean code ensures your content displays correctly in all browsers on all devices. Check yours with the tools below:

• W3C HTML Validator - will check the HTML code on your page.
• W3C CSS Validator - will look for errors in the CSS code on your page.

Backlink checkers

Who is linking to you? are you getting more links over time? None of the following tools are comprehensive so you need to use several to build up a clear picture.

• Google Search Console - free to use
• Ahrefs - free to use once a day or unlimited use with their paid service.
• SpyFu
• SEM Rush
• SEO Powersuite

The final four will also tell you where your competitors are getting their link juice from which is essential if you want to carry out activities such as Skyscraper SEO.

Broken links checkers

Users don't like links on your pages that don't work and Search Engines like users so you won't be getting any brownie points if your website has broken links.

• Screaming Frog - downloadable software which will check 500 pages of your website for free and more with their paid version.

There are other broken link checkers out there but they are pale imitations of Screaming Frog. It really is the industry standard.

Page Loading Speed checkers

How fast your pages load is a key factor in SEO and so you need to reduce this as far as is physically possible.

• Google PageSpeed Insights is a basic rough and ready checker but to really get into page loading time optimisation you need ...
• Google Lighthouse which is built into Chrome and will give you the detail needed to be truly effective.

Server reliability monitors

I only use Pingdom - there is a very small monthly fee which is well worth it to make sure you are hosting your website on a server that works 24/7.

SEO experiments

Google Optimize allows you to experiment by changing various aspects of your content or website design to see if those changes work better for your visitors compared to what you currently offer.

SEO forums

Just not sure about something or want to run some ideas by others? Forums are an ideal place to pick some brains but watch out because there are also plenty of amateurs who think they know a thing or two but could lead you astray.

• Google Search Help Community - excellent forum where a lot of Google experts and techies hang out.
• SEO Chat - discussions on clean White Hat SEO.