Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has grown from a peripheral activity to a modern business efficiency necessity. Otherwise, you can bet your competitors. And their efforts most likely connect them with new clients every day. Here’s how it works Let’s say a consumer wants to know more about a black pearl necklace. You type these 3 words in the google search bar and you get more than 92,000,000 results. Honestly, that’s how many websites can be found by search engines around the world.
To find these results, Google uses bots that constantly scan websites and index the relevant results. Search engines use algorithms to then rank millions of pages. If you sell a black pearl necklace and finish in the top 10, you will earn a premium on the first page of the results. Otherwise, you may be buried deep in the page. To improve your rankings, you need to help make your website more relevant to Google’s bots and algorithms. This effort is referred to as search engine optimization.
How much SEO is needed?
Some entrepreneurs see SEO as an unnecessary effort that is only needed for certain industries. Others saw the value in it but were simply blown away by the sight. But the search industry has become an integral part of modern life, so without it, you cannot reach new customers and make additional sales. Let’s take a look at Google because it is the undisputed champion of search. Every second there are 99,000 searches worldwide, which means more than 8 billion searches are performed every day. Given the search volume on the platform, it is fair to say that many people are searching for your product or service every day. Your website will indeed show up in Google results even if you don’t do any SEO, but what’s the point of a fifth, tenth, or twentieth-page layout?
The answer to this question is “not much”. Let’s understand this by an old question; would a tree make a sound when it fell into the forest when no one around it heard it. For example, if your website is on page seven of the results, it won’t say much.
Start small and work your way up
There is no doubt that the world of SEO can be complicated. Every self-proclaimed guru has their interpretation of Google’s algorithms, leading to conflicting analyzes and ever-changing strategies. So, where do you start? With goals that can be managed and implemented. No need to aim for the highest-ranking this quarter. If your business can easily move from the fifth page to the bottom of the first page, you are on the right track. What matters is that you make progress. So, resist the urge to tackle a big undertaking like a ranking search all at once. Even if you had all the options in the world, you would limit your ability to do something. You can start your SEO efforts by focusing on certain aspects of your site’s presentation. You may need to increase the metadata or develop more links.
Duplicate content can hurt your rankings. Assess the situation and then identify your top three areas for improvement. If you have the bandwidth, you can work on all three at the same time. However, it never hurts to prioritize those things in a way that allows you to put in significant effort without distracting yourself from other business needs that require your attention.
The good news is that many free SEO tools can help you with this. Each tool helps you focus on a specific aspect of optimization, so once you’ve set your priorities, you can choose the ideal tool to get the job done.
Top Best Free SEO Tools to Support Your Business
1. CanIrank
When predicting your ranking ability, assets like CanIRank are very important. This gives you an idea of your ability to compete for competing keywords. You will also receive useful tips to increase your chances in the future.
2. Sitechecker
An easy-to-use tool SiteChecker that you can use to find out the rankings for various keywords. This report also shows how your competitors are performing, allowing you to refine your strategy and find new ways to improve your rankings.
3. Exploding Topics
As CanIRank points out, some keywords can be so controversial that they can be difficult to understand. This tool will help you identify hot topics so you can tap into their strengths before the competition gets tougher. Just search for categories relevant to your business and you will find basic opportunities for new keywords.
4. Siteliner
There is currently an SEO glitch affecting your site. You can search page after page to find many of them, but tools like Siteliner do it automatically and efficiently. Broken link? Blocked sites? You get it all in the site liner report, along with information about how fast your site should load.
5. Animalz Revive
Like Siteliner, this tool checks your website for SEO-related issues. But instead of evaluating multiple factors, Animalz Revive focuses on content. You’ll learn what content needs to be revised and get an idea of how much traffic your upgrades can generate.
6. Word tracker scouts
Some of the best keywords are already being used by your smartest competitors. You can use Wordtracker Scout to identify them on other companies’ websites. You can find out which keywords are getting the most search volume and are used less in the industry.
7. Detailed SEO Chrome Extension
Here’s another resource to help you evaluate the competition and use their winning strategy. Rank the highest-ranked websites in your industry in detail so you can visit the top dogs to explore the keywords and tactics they use. You can even get a list of where the links came from on those pages, potentially opening the door to future SEO opportunities.
8. Woorank – Chrome Extension
Woorank provides a checklist of SEO improvements that apply to your website. This is an easy way to run ongoing website reviews using a rating system that helps with benchmarking and upgrading.
9. Seobility
One of the most stable free SEO tools, Seobility is designed to crawl your website like a search engine bot. Get detailed reports on issues such as blocked pages, slow load times, and metadata errors.
10. Screaming Frog
Like Seobility, the Screaming Frog tool crawls your website, leaving no pages unturned. The results can be eye-opening. For example, you may notice that there is duplicate content on 2 or more pages. Or there is an error in your title formatting that could affect your search engine rankings. Most business owners only find this out with tools like this one that dig into the details.
11. Google Analytics
Are Your SEO Efforts Successful? You can use several measuring sticks to answer this question. First, it is your actual results page rank. Second, it’s important to see how users interact with your website. Google Analytics provides this information so you know where your traffic is coming from, how much time is spent on your website, the pages with the highest bounce rate, and lots of other valuable data that will help you work more efficiently in the future.
Conclusion:
Which of these tools is the most effective for your business? It depends on your industry, methods, and unique goals. The good news is that they are all easy to use and free, so you can experiment to find the perfect match for your unique situation.