SEO is a huge topic in digital marketing today. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of enhancing the quantity and quality of traffic to your web pages via organic search engine results.
Why is it important? Because SEO, when done right, helps your business to rank higher and appear on the top of search engines when someone searches for a term concerning your services and products. Additionally, SEO boosts your brand’s online visibility. As a result, you’ll have more chances to convert quality leads into paying customers.
SEO is known as one of the most difficult but fundamental pillars in modern marketing; therefore, you definitely want to have a list of SEO tools in your marketing stack. In this post we will share about SEO tools you can start using right away.
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a powerful tool to research the targeted keywords by seeing its keyword volume, keyword difficulty, CPC (cost per click), return rate, etc.
If you are not familiar with keyword research or any activity related to SEO, don’t worry because Ahrefs can assist you with a ton of valuable articles and blogs where you can find wonderful insights.
Ahrefs offers $7 for a 7-day trial, and then you can choose the plan that suits you best.
Pros of Ahrefs:
- Provides a useful SEO toolset: Site Audit, Site Explorer, Keyword Explorer, Content Explorer, Rank Tracker.
- A great collection of valuable blogs and videos that instructs us to do SEO better.
- Offer Ahrefs academy with numerous insightful courses on different topics such as SEO, Marketing, Blogging for Business. And fortunately, those are for FREE!
- A compelling tool to analyze the competitors and find the useful backlinks to build.
- Suggestions on how many backlink buildings need to be built for a specific keyword.
Cons of Ahrefs:
- High price, but you get what you pay for!
2. SEMRush
Another tool that helps you with keyword research is SEMRush. This platform provides you several tools to do your SEO better, for example, keyword research, competitor SEO analysis, rank tracking, link building, local SEO, and so on.
This tool is not only for SEO, but also for other aspects of marketing like market research, advertising, contents, and social media management. You can use SEMRush with a free plan account but with limited functions. For a paid account, three plans for users to choose are listed below. SEMRush offers a free 7 day trial.
Pros of SEMRush:
- Compared with Ahrefs, SEMRush’s free trial doesn’t cost anything.
- A trustworthy brand used by big companies such as Tesla, P&G, Samsung, Forbes, Walmart, etc.
- The SEMRush report feature is good and easy to use.
Cons of SEMRush:
- High price
- Not strong enough in backlink building
3. Google Keyword Planner
If you are looking for a free tool to work with keyword research, Google Keyword Planner is for you. You can see the search volume, monthly trend type, competition level (low, medium, high, or N/A), and so on of a particular keyword.
To use Google Keyword Planner, you need to have a Google Ad account first.
Pros of Google Keyword Planner:
- It’s free
- Easy to use
- Get the general idea of your targeted keywords (competition level, search volume, etc.) to help you decide whether to select those keywords.
Cons of Google Keyword Planner:
- Does not provide information about keywords in depth.
4. Google Analytics
This is a free yet very powerful tool where you can find insights about your customers who visit your website. It shows you where the users on your website come from, duration on sites, views on each landing page, and so many metrics.
5. Google Search Console
You can use Google Search Console to measure your site traffic and performance by examining metrics such as total click, total impression, etc. Google Search Console also allows you to see pages with errors that need to be fixed.
6. Google My Business
Have you noticed that when you search a company in Google, there is a column on the left that shows some information about the company such as company description, working hours, rates and reviews, websites, and directions?
If you are wondering how to do it, the answer is to use Google My Business (GMB). You can follow the steps that Google My Business shows when setting up the GMB for your organization.
Before doing this step, you should brainstorm your seed keyword with SiLs (Services in Locations) by using Google Keyword Planner or some paid tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush.
Final thoughts
SEO shows the benefits in the long run. It is a long term investment that you need to keep doing continuously. When done right, it not only helps customers to find you when they need your services, but also builds up your authority and visibility as a leading source in the industry.
A statistic shows that “57% of marketing executives say on-page content development was the most effective SEO tactic” and “91% of all pages never get any organic traffic from Google, mostly due to the fact they don’t have backlinks.” Finding the right keyword is a good start, but you need to spend time creating qualified content marketing and building backlinks.
Need help with content creation to improve your SEO? Bay Area’s content marketing professionals and experts are here to help. Don’t hesitate to drop us a message or request a proposal.
