Top 5 SEO Tools

Great SEO tools to start you on your search optimization journey.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of managing a website or online service. It’s the primary way websites can earn organic traffic, and lessening the dependency on advertisements or direct traffic marketing. Unfortunately, search engines like Google and Bing are constantly changing the process of how they grade and rank websites. This can make it incredibly difficult to understand what to do to improve rankings.

That’s where SEO tools come into play. There are plenty of different tools and services that promise high SEO rankings. But because of the complexity of SEO, many fall short and underdeliver. However, the top tools can really prove their worth by providing value and direction to websites looking to improve their SEO. These tools can range from free to paid and offer a wide variety of services that can be helpful to websites of any category.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of managing a website or online service. Wikipedia defines SEO as “the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines.” In Lehman’s terms, it’s the practice of improving how a website appears to a search engine like Google or Bing. When a site follows excellent SEO practices it’s often rewarded by higher rankings in search results. When a site places high in search rankings, it’s much more likely to be found and used, leading to more organic traffic.

The Top 5 SEO Tools

1. Semrush - The Online Visibility Management Platform

Semrush markets itself as the all-in-one SEO solution for website owners and developers. The platform provides numerous features that can be used to improve rankings, compare against competitors, and even manage marketing efforts. Unlike most other tools, Semrush focuses on providing a full suite of services to improve traffic beyond just SEO.

Primary Features

• Keyword comparison and analysis
• In-depth website audit and reports
• Analyze competing websites
• Social media management
• Advertisement and marketing management and analysis

Semrush was designed to be a one-stop-shop for all things SEO and traffic-related. It provides comprehensive tools for keyword research, market research, and content marketing. While it provides an abundance of features, it can be a fairly heavy cost to your budget. The base recurring subscription is already fairly expensive, and it can increase based on additional addons and features required.

2. Moz - The SEO Software for Smarter Marketing 

Moz is an all-in-one SEO tool that also includes services to help establish local SEO for brick and mortar businesses. It also boasts a massive library of educational content from articles to webinars hosted by their own CEO and Co-Founder, Rand Fishkin. Moz provides an abundance of tools and reports to ensure websites get the most out of their content and rank as high as possible.

Primary Features

• Keyword explorer
• Rank tracking
• Website audit and issue alerts
• Page optimization - actionable steps to improve page rankings
• Link explorer - helps establish backlinks and analyze competitor links

While it may not boast the massive amount of features Semrush offers, Moz’s focus on SEO allows it to provide a more in-depth look into search engine optimization. The SEO software provides plenty of actionable steps to improve website rankings, and the educational content can’t be understated. Moz is certainly an authority in the SEO marketplace and proves that consistently with reliable and effective results.

3. SpyFu - The Competitor Keyword Research Tool

“Work smarter, not hard” should be SpyFu’s slogan, because that’s exactly what it allows users to do. SpyFu can analyze any domain and see the keywords they have purchased using Google Ads. It can also track every organic rank and ad variation over the last 15 years. This allows users to deep-dive into their competitor’s research rather than having to waste time and money on their own.

Primary Features

• Google Ads Competitor Keyword Tool
• Analyze PPC campaigns of your competitors
• Google Ads Advisor - finds the most profitable niche-related keywords
• Overall PPC analysis to ensure ads are performing optimally

SpyFu is an excellent tool for businesses using Google Ads or looking to research their competitors. The insight this tool provides can ensure businesses are competing on the same keywords as their competitors. It also provides excellent analysis and reports on how well PPC campaigns are doing, and how they can be better optimized. The pricing is quite reasonable so this can be an excellent starter tool that can jumpstart fledgling businesses.

4. Diib - The Website Growth Platform

Diib is quite an interesting tool and it’s hard to assign it a specific category. The platform specializes in website SEO, but it takes it quite a few steps further than most other tools. Diib is powered by AI that acts as a guide or coach to improve website effectiveness. The service provides a number of featured-packed tools, so here is a quick summary:

Primary Features

• Answer Engine

The Answer Engine uses AI to perform a deep analysis of the user’s website as well as its competitors. It then creates a benchmark with actionable steps to improve and grow online.

• Growth Plan

Diib benchmarks the user’s website and tracks all of the improvements and growth in real-time. As objectives and steps are completed, users can see the real effect it has on their website.

• Health Score

The Health Score provides a dashboard with all of the relevant information a website owner would need to see. Diib uses 12 metrics to calculate a single score to assess the website’s overall performance.

Diib is an excellent option for startups, eCommerce sites, and more. The tool can handhold user’s through creating goals and plans, and then create the steps needed to improve their ranking. Diib’s basic plan is free but can be upgraded to the Pro plan for access to even more features.

5. Ahrefs - SEO Tools and Resources to Grow Your Site

Ahrefs is a well-known collection of SEO tools with a variety of uses and applications. Users can find everything from keyword research, competitor analysis, and rank tracking in an easy-to-use format. The all-in-one toolset is quite similar to Moz, but it does offer a number of its tools for free use without a subscription.

Primary Features

• Site Audit
• Site Explorer - Competitor analysis
• Keyword Explorer - Keyword research and competition rankings
• Content Explorer - Analyze billions of web pages and content for SEO and social metrics
• Rank Racker

Ahrefs provides a great toolset to enable users to enhance the SEO of their website. It provides the capability to search and compare billions of different types of content and dig into the statistics and metrics associated with their success. The site doesn’t do much handholding, so it’s primarily used by users with a decent understanding of SEO instead of beginners.

Finding the Right SEO Tools

There are a lot of different tools available to website owners, managers, and developers. This list provides a good basis for reliable tools with a proven track record. Finding the right tool depends on the user’s experience, needs, and preferences. While most of these tools will offer similar services, each one does it in a unique way that offers advantages over the others.