Are you looking to level up your content marketing efforts?

There is so much that goes into drawing traffic to your website. From web design and development to content creation, online marketing strategies, and much more. It’s a daunting task if you are tackling it all by yourself. For most startups and small businesses, you are financing the entire venture with zero external funding. Engaging a digital marketing consultant may be a luxury you can’t afford at the beginning.

However, the SEO ranking of your website is something you don’t want to ignore, especially if you own a small local business. There is a ton of valuable organic traffic that could convert to paying customers as long as they learn about your business online. If you are looking to improve your search presence, you might need the help of SEO tools that can boost your SERP ranking or help build organic traffic to your website. 

Here are some tools that will help you kickstart your SEO optimization.

Best Keyword Research Tools

1.  Answer the Public

Are you interested in finding out exactly what your customer is thinking?

With Answer the Public, all you need is a seed keyword and it will give you all the questions, comparisons, alphabets, and related searches around it. Instantly, you get all the information and ideas you need to create relevant content.

• The questions help you identify what people are asking on Google search for you to incorporate the questions and answers in your content. 
• The comparisons help you understand what people are comparing to help them make informed decisions. 
• The alphabets give you the exact keyword searches people are making in an alphabetical order. No more keywords guessing games.
• The related search terms help you uncover hidden niches that give you a competitive edge boosting your organic traffic. 

For instance, if our seed word is ‘Coronavirus’ we just need to type it in and click search. 

It’s a perfect tool for SEO copywriting or writing. Also it is fantastic for content creation as it breaks data around your topic. The data is mostly generated from Google autosuggest or Google Keyword Planner.

One of the things that makes it a gem is that no sign-up or registration is required to get access to this data.

2.  SEMRush

Any SEO expert will let you know you can’t complete an SEO tool list without SEMRush.

Their Keyword magic tool is the answer to any PPC and SEO campaign. The free option gives you access to up to 10 keyword searches daily. It takes your keyword analytics a notch higher. You get access to the keywords that your competitors rank. If you are an SEO blogger, it is more than sufficient for your daily needs. With each search, you get access to a wide range of keywords, related searches, and search volume. Additionally, you get to choose the region.

3.  Google Keyword Planner

Well, no one understands Google more than Google itself. Google is the most authoritative keyword research tool on the globe. This makes data from Google Keyword Planner powerful as it’s straight from the source.

You can’t get more legit than this. For every query, you get to know the relevant keywords, search volume and top bids associated with the keywords. The major downside is that it’s built for Google Ads management hence not sufficient for free eCommerce SEO.

Image Source: Backlinko

4.  Soolve

If you love or have used Google Autocomplete to get keywords or a blog topic then Soolve will be your new bestie. 

When it comes to search engine marketing, you need to cut across the board. Soolve not only gives you Google’s autocomplete suggestions but also YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Bing, and Amazon. All you need is a seed word and choose the search engine you prefer otherwise Google is the default search engine.

Best Content Optimization Tools

5.  Google Trends

With Google Trends, you can plan your content calendar with ease. Before writing any content, you need to see the performance of your keywords over time. Google Trends helps you generate evergreen content as you can evaluate the popularity and trend changes of a word. Also, you get your local SEO insights. Never pull the trigger on a keyword without checking the trends. You don’t want your on-page SEO optimization to revolve around a dying word.

6.  Animalz Revive

Have you ever wondered why SEO specialists advise you to keep repurposing your content?

Well, Google ranking drops over time. Old content needs to be updated to compete with the incoming new content. With Animalz Revive, you can see the content pieces degrading with time. Once you repurpose this content, you save your pages from organic decay.

To get started, enter your email address and share your Google Analytics account details. Animalz will then access your website, analyze it for any content decay, and send a report to your email on all articles that need to be refreshed. 

Image Source: Neil Patel

Best Rank Tracking Tool

7.  Google Search Console

Do you want to track your website ranking performance?

Nothing does it like Google Search Console. It gives you the performance report of your website. You can see the search pages with a lot of search impressions. Also, you get to tell the click-through rate of the page.

Image Source: Ahrefs

So how does it increase your SERP ranking?

The performance report gives you details of the keywords that have put your pages on the map. You get to see the opportunity keywords that you can use to modify your post.

This on-page SEO trick will help you rank higher on Google.

8.  Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest wears many shoes. You can use it for keyword research, content idea generator and a ranking tool.

You get access to a traffic analyzer feature that gives you your SEO keyword ranking, domain score, and organic monthly traffic. With these details, you can repurpose or create content around the guidelines and improve your SEO ranking.

Best Link Building Tool

9.  MozBar

MozBar is a user-friendly inbound marketing tool that focuses on link building. You get to see the authority of every site and page on the internet. Remember the higher the authority of your backlinks the more relevant and popular your website becomes.

When using link building as an SEO strategy, use MozBar to focus on high authority sites.

Best Technical SEO Tool

10.  WooRank

Whether you are a novice or a skilled SEO consultant, WooRank delivers a simple SEO analysis report. Simply type your domain name and get access to a detailed report on the areas to fix. You get a complete overview of your content, indexing, mobile friendliness, security, and website performance. For instance, to improve your on-page SEO, check the report for missing meta descriptions and headings, broken links, SSL security, etc. 

It’s best for web designers and developers and internet marketing professionals as it provides details on web usability and side-by-side competitor analysis.

Conclusion

SEO generates free organic traffic, something that every small business should leverage on. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to grow your rankings on SERPs and not all businesses are willing to invest in paid media and digital advertising at the start. Although the journey might be slower, but keep improving on your SEO and you will get there!