What's the first thing you do when you want to find a product these days? Go online! That's what people do naturally, and that's why businesses need to be online. But it's not enough to simply throw together a website. If you want that snazzy site to be seen, you're going to have to rank.
And by rank, we mean in the search engines. When someone searches on Google, a long list of results shows up. The higher up on that list of results you are, the better your chances are of being seen by your target audience. And that's where SEO software tools come into play. SEO, or search engine optimization, is ensuring that your website shows up on the top of those long lists for everyone to see.
Today, there is a wide range of free SEO tools, as well as paid-for options, to enhance the efficacy and reach of your marketing and sales efforts. Read on to check out our analysis of some of the best SEO tools on the market today to help give your brand the visibility, exposure, and rankings it needs to thrive.
| Comparison SEO Tools | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4  | 5  | 6  | 7  | 8  | 9  | 10  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best for: | Solopreneurs and SMBs | Outsourcing projects, budget-friendly option | Companies looking to hire outsourced talent | Companies that want to cover all search engines | Niche business like photography, restaurants | Attractive designs, local businesses, SMBs | Local businesses, solo businesses | SMBs, startups, gig workers | Small and medium-sized businesses | SMBs, hosting solution |
Price: | From $50/month | From $5 | By talent | Depends on campaigns run | From $12 | Tailored pricing plans | A la carte pricing | From $13 | Depends on features included | From $10 |
Free trial: | 30 days for Hubspot Marketing | Varies based on provider | 30 days | 14-day free trial | No free trial | 60-day free trial | 14-day free trial | No free trial | 1-month free trial | |
Customer support: | Email and chat on all Starter accounts | Community, events, blog, 24/7 phone support | Account management | Phone, chat, and Twitter support | Community forum, webinars, 24/7 email, chat | Live chat, email, phone support | Phone and email support, webinars | 24/7 phone and ticket support | Phone support | Extensive global network, 24/7 phone support |
SEO content authoring: | Landing page creator | Yes, varies based on provider | Through freelance network | Create digital advertisign | Tags, headlines, etc. not content itself | Full content authoring and optimization | Content optimization | Optimization | ||
Website audit: | Yes - Hubspot Website Grader | Yes, varies based on provider | Through freelance network | Full website analysis | ||||||
Reporting: | Up to 200 custom dashboards | Yes, varies based on provider | Account manager produces | Detailed PPC and SEM reporting | Traffic overview, visitor behavior, trends | Wide range of reporting options | Performance reports, improvement suggestions | Site traffic, visitor behavior, SEO audit | Continuous website monitoring and reporting | Site analysis, site traffic |
The Best SEO Tools - An In-Depth Look
- Price per monthFrom $50/month
- Free trail30 days for Hubspot Marketing
- Reporting:Up to 200 custom dashboards
Hubspot has become virtually synonymous with inbound marketing. But they don’t lag behind in the SEO department either. Marketing Hub, Professional, Enterprise, and other tiers and services all have a variety of SEO tools, ranging from automated SEO recommendation generators through to site performance analytics engines.
The standout SEO tool can scan users’ entire domains, including all subdomains. And it works whether sites are built on a CMS or hand-coded. After the analytics process is complete, webmasters will have a treasure trove of SEO information at their disposal, ready to translate into actionable changes to lure in the visitors.
Pros- Complete site scanner
- Company has deep SEO expertise
- Automated SEO recommendations
Cons- Not a dedicated SEO tool
- SEO features not available on all tiers
- Price per monthFrom $5
- Free trailVaries based on provider
- Reporting:Yes, varies based on provider
A crowdsourced network for freelance professionals, Fiverr hosts some of the top SEO tools and software providers in the world. The nice part about working with a network is that you get many options in a single location. And since Fiverr is a borderless network, you even get different perspectives, providing a more global angle and a fresher view of the issues you may need solving.
Fiverr is also great if you don’t have a lot of money to work with. Since it’s competition-based, Fiverr experts price their services to beat the competition. That’s good news for businesses on a budget. Within the network, you’ll find every type of SEO software tool imaginable. Everything from keyword research, analysis, and planning to content generation and link building is provided by the various professionals on Fiverr. So, start a search and get found faster with Fiverr.
Pros- Every type of SEO tool and service in one place
- Pick from thousands of professionals
- Interesting, eclectic points of view
Cons- Some experts are better than others
- Don’t always know what the pricing will be upfront
- Price per monthBy talent
- Free trail30 days
- Reporting:Account manager produces
Can’t decide whether to hire an agency or a freelancer for your next SEO project? Why not do both at once! Mayple has adopted a unique approach to the traditional freelancer model—and the company has a focus on SEO to boot. Mayple puts new accounts through a gruelling onboarding process before matching them with only the best and brightest in the SEO freelancing world.
The account management team even puts out reports providing comprehensive insight into return on investment (ROI) to help marketing teams make sure that those budget dollars are being spent wisely.
Pros- Unique agency of freelancers
- Find the exact talent for your project
- Exclusive vetted talent network
Cons- Outsourced staff have competing priorities
- Cheaper to use a DIY tool
![Microsoft]( "Microsoft")
A tool for traffic through paid advertisingRead Microsoft Advertising Review- Price per monthDepends on campaigns run
- Free trailNo
- Reporting:Detailed PPC and SEM reporting
If you’re thinking about going down the paid advertising approach to digital marketing then don’t forget that not everybody searches with Google. Microsoft Advertising allows users to advertise on the Bing network—and has retained some advertiser-loved features that Google sunset.
In terms of SEO, like Google, Microsoft Advertising features a detailed keyword planner that helps users see what users are searching for and plan SEO efforts accordingly.
Pros- See which keywords are trending on the Microsoft network
- Leverage AI and Microsoft Graph for better targeting
- Supports remarketing
Cons- Lower search volumes than Google
- PPC requires payment
- Price per monthFrom $12
- Free trail14-day free trial
- Reporting:Traffic overview, visitor behavior, trends
Squarespace is one of the best SEO tools around. At first glance, you might be distracted by the gorgeous templates, sexy platform, and almost seductive set of features. But don’t be fooled. Squarespace is a lot more than just a pretty face. In fact, it’s got a robust set of SEO marketing tools you can utilize to make your website awesome.
For one thing, all Squarespace pages are indexed and searchable with a cleanly-structured HTML markup. You'll get Google sitemaps automatically generated, canonical tagging, and clean URLs. These are all important SEO tactics to make a winning website. Squarespace also has open graph support for Facebook and Google AuthorRank, and even fights spam for you.
Pros- Impressive analytics and reporting functionality
- Social connections, links, and auto-posting
- Facebook Open Graph and Google AuthorRank support
Cons- Large learning curve
- No SEO plugins capabilities
- Price per monthTailored pricing plans
- Free trailNo free trial
- Reporting:Wide range of reporting options
Hibu is a great solution for local SMBs and mid-sized businesses because it specializes in helping brands get found online. With a wellspring of digital marketing tools, Hibu ensures that your audience sees, recognizes, and resonates with your brand. The end result is a strong web presence that allows you to engage with your followers. Hibu also offers link building, social media management, and customized campaigns.
Speaking of customizable campaigns, Hibu helps businesses target specific leads based on their activity online. Then, you can deliver more targeted content to convert those leads into customers. This is all part of the complex Hibu SEO strategy. So, whether you’re looking for on-page, off-page, social, or any other type of visibility boosters, Hibu’s got them in spades.
Pros- Full site architecture analysis
- Inbound links, local listings, maps, and more
- SEO-friendly content generation
Cons- No published pricing info
- No 24/7 live chat support
- Price per monthA la carte pricing
- Free trail60-day free trial
- Reporting:Performance reports, improvement suggestions
If you’re looking for a great starter SEO software tool that will grow with your business, Network Solutions is a good option. It starts with a basic plan that is priced for budget-conscious startups and SMBs without skimping on the important SEO tools you need to flourish. You can get link building strategies, content optimization, and reporting even with the starter plan. Network Solutions also has a strong keyword ranking tool to help you get traffic for key phrases for your niche.
As your business expands, you can advance to the more professional plan, which offers even more powerful SEO tools to help your business soar. Network Solutions offers all clients a dedicated SEO expert. This industry leader will sit with you, create a customized SEO strategy, and then teach you how to implement those strategies for optimal search rankings on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. What’s nice about Network Solutions is how flexible and patient everyone is. The SEO experts really know their stuff and don’t mind taking the time to slow it down and show you the ropes.
Pros- Link building tools
- Customized SEO optimization plan
- Keyword ranking tools
Cons- No content authoring
- High early cancellation fee
- Price per monthFrom $13
- Free trail14-day free trial
- Reporting:Site traffic, visitor behavior, SEO audit
Wix has been a popular name for website building and design for more years than we can remember, but you can do a lot more than quick and easy website design with this brilliant service. While there are a number of useful SEO tools that Wix provides, the coolest part of these features is the SEO Wiz. Wix’s SEO wizard is basically SEO automation. It gets to know your website/business and then creates a customized checklist of everything you can do to maximize your rankings. It’s tailored SEO without any effort on your part. Nice!
Wix has a bunch of other neat features when it comes to SEO you’re going to want to check out, as well. For example, with this SEO marketing software, you can track your competitor’s performance to see how you are doing in relation to your closest competition. You’ll also be able to measure site traffic, analyze visitor behavior, and do website audits to boost rankings.
Pros- SEO Wix Wiz
- Traffic and site analytics
- Social integration
Cons- No content authoring
- Site stats are weak
- Price per monthDepends on features included
- Free trailNo free trial
- Reporting:Continuous website monitoring and reporting
Web.com is known for being an easy website builder to use. But it’s also one of the coolest SEO marketing tools for SMBs to hit the market. It starts you off with an initial website analysis, so you can see where your website is going wrong in terms of SEO and how you can improve your rankings. The tailored SEO action plan gives you clear direction as to what to do next.
From there, Web.com’s SEO tools help you with keyword analysis and implementing those keywords into your content for increased visibility. Web.com also has good performance tracking software that integrates with Google Analytics, so you can see exactly how you’re doing in the eyes of Google and other big search engines. You’ll get a monthly consultation with an SEO pro to help you analyze and understand the data your reporting tools churn out, as well.
Pros- Keyword strategy development
- Local business listings
- Monthly performance analysis and scorecard
Cons- Pricey domain renewal fee
- Heavily-based on hosting, newer to SEO
- Price per monthFrom $10
- Free trail1-month free trial
- Reporting:Site analysis, site traffic
If you’ve seen GoDaddy ads, you’re already familiar with the humorous and colorful website hosting platform. Go for a domain name, stay for the chuckles. But more than that, GoDaddy is a great resource for things like email marketing, content management, and website design. And yes, GoDaddy also includes SEO software tools.
In addition to the usual suspects like keyword suggestions, submitting your sitemap, and the regular tag tweaks, GoDaddy also boasts an impressive SEO wizard. Like Wix, GoDaddy’s wiz will analyze your site for the weakest links in your rankings portfolio. Once completed, the wizard will give you a break down of what needs to be fixed, how you can optimize your site for the best rankings possible, and where to go from there. What businesses particularly like about GoDaddy’s analysis is how well it explains each of the suggestions it makes. So, you walk away with a clearer understanding of how to do SEO right the next time around, too.
Pros- Smart SEO suggestions
- Sitemap submission
- Real-world rankings with anonymized data
Cons- Gives you a lot of room to make mistakes
- Plan is somewhat lacking in feature richness
What Are SEO tools?
Remember that time you were searching Google, and you found the best site for fab shoes on page 18 of the search results? No, you don't, because that never happened. Ever. When someone searches for some item on Google or any other search engine, they browse through the first few results that show up. Maybe, if they're very ambitious, they'll even go to page 2. But how much farther are they going? Not much, which is why search results ranking is so essential for business success.
While rank is important in many industries, when it comes to modern-day business, organic search result rankings often mean the difference between a company that succeeds and one that chokes. SEO or search engine optimization is a range of strategies used to improve your rankings within these results pages.
SEO tools take these concepts and combine them into actionable features that can help boost your page rankings, optimize your websites, and improve your content to that end. In short, if you want your business to succeed, SEO tools are the vital organ that will keep your business alive and pumping.
Here are some examples of SEO marketing tools:
- Keyword research
- Keyword strategies and PPC bidding
- Ranking tool
- Copy audit
- Website audit
- SEO-relevant content
- SEO technical structure tools
- Outreach SEO (for blogger profiles, website, social media influencers, etc.)
- AMP testing (or accelerated mobile pages) helps show you if there are any problems that will impede your Google or Twitter mobile page loads.
Each of these will deal with a specific area of your page ranking and will affect your rankings in some way or another. The more areas and the better you improve each of these areas, the higher you will climb in the SERPs (search engine results page), and the more exposure your business will get.
Who Is Using SEO Tools?
More exposure in the search engines equals more leads. So, the better your SEO, the better your lead generation power. The best SEO tools will help you beef up your search engine optimization so that you rank higher in the SERPs. In light of this information, the short answer to who is using SEO tools? Anyone that wants their business to survive.
The long answer is a little more complex. Top SEO tools are available for a wide range of businesses, both in size and industry. You can find SEO marketing software that works specifically with your type of niche, so you can better optimize your business offerings. For example, a small local business may look for SEO software tools that help optimize their keyword campaigns for very boutique, niche keywords. This is a smaller, more targeted audience that you are likely to rank better for and will reap more quality leads from.
It’s always a good idea to find a service that fits your brand as well as your business needs. This might include budget restraints, business size, and even type of audience. Some features you might want to look for include:
- Keyword density
- RIO prioritization
- Real-time keyword ranking
- Scans your pages for on-site issues
- Inbound link analysis
- Competitor rankings for same keywords
- PPC campaigns and social media engagement
- SEO auditing
- SEO issues that conflict with visibility
How Can I Improve My SEO Ranking with These Tools?
As you can see, SEO tools cover a wide spectrum of useful applications. Of course, if you're new to the concept of SEO tools and SEO marketing in general, it may be hard to wrap your head around the concept. After all, how do SEO tools actually help improve your rankings anyway?
In their basic form, SEO software tools can help you with keyword research. A good tool will allow you to identify the right keywords for your product or industry. It’ll also help you narrow down those keyword lists to more longtail keyword phrases that apply more specifically to your niche audience. SEO marketing tools can also help you analyze the various keywords to see which ones are most worthwhile for you to invest your time and resources into.
The best SEO tools will then help you organize keywords into lists and allow you to plan a solid strategy using these words to boost your search engine rankings. So, not only do SEO software tools save you countless hours of tedious keyword research time, but they go far beyond that into the filtering, categorizing, organization, and planning stages, as well. And the insights gained from using these tools are sometimes worth even more than the initial keyword planning itself.
Some of the benefits that come from using SEO software tools include:
- Targeted keywords
- Keyword research and saving
- Link insights
- SEO-friendly content suggestions
And ultimately, more traffic.
Which Is the Best Free SEO Tool?
SEO tools are essential for your business success, that much we’ve established fairly concretely. And while there are some that you won’t want to do without even for the price tag, there are still plenty of free SEO tools you can take advantage of to improve your search engine rankings, on-page SEO, and ad campaigns. If you’re working your SEO campaign well and want to boost those efforts with a little gratis juice, check out these free SEO marketing tools that will work wonders for your business:
- Google PageSpeed Insights for page load speed
- Mobile-friendly Test for testing the responsiveness of your website on mobile devices
- Incognito Google Search for keyword research
- Google Analytics for seeing traffic on your site, creating campaign parameters, and tracking funnel conversion paths
These are some great tools to help you improve your SEO strategy, even if you're working with a tight budget. Of course, if you're seeing positive results from an SEO tool and want to gain even more traction, you can always upgrade to the paid-for versions. These SEO marketing tools will have added features that can greatly enhance your SEO efforts and deliver even better results.
