We all use search engines as part of our professional and personal lives \u2013 but how can you use this to your advantage to help promote your business? The answer is SEO.<\/p>\n\n
By using SEO, you can improve your website\u2019s visibility by following certain rules and guidelines. To help you better understand the world of SEO, there are a range of paid and free SEO tools you can use to make strategic digital decisions.<\/p>\n\n
In this guide, we\u2019ve listed some of the best SEO tools to help market your small business.<\/p>\n\n
SEO stands for \u2018search engine optimisation\u2019 \u2013 but what does that mean? SEO is how you improve the visibility of your website on search engines (sometimes called its \u2018search ranking\u2019).<\/p>\n\n
This is usually accomplished by using keywords \u2013 combining those relevant to your business with those that perform well on search engines. It\u2019s a delicate balance, but luckily there\u2019s an array of free and paid tools available online to help you navigate search results and improve your visibility.<\/p>\n\n
Whether you’re looking to find relevant keywords or analyse your website\u2019s health, keep reading to discover some of the best SEO tools you can use for your small business.<\/p>\n\n
SEO analysis is all about checking your website\u2019s health and making sure it\u2019s performing its best. If you want to make better strategic decisions as part of your digital marketing strategy, check out some of these paid and free SEO analysis tools.<\/p>\n\n
If you want better site visibility on Google, why not use a tool by Google itself to better understand your website performance? Google Search Console<\/a> is a free SEO analysis tool which helps you to understand the general health of your site, as well as how users are finding you.<\/p>\n\n You can get data on indexing and Google crawling, traffic data for your website, as well as understanding if it works well for mobile users. Google Search Console will also update you whenever it senses something is wrong with your site.<\/p>\n\n Google Analytics<\/a> is a similar and complementary tool which helps you understand the amount of traffic your website is getting.. Using this free tool, you can see how users find your website, which pages perform well, and how long users stay on each page, among other things.<\/p>\n\n It\u2019s a valuable tool which helps you create reports to develop not just a better digital marketing strategy \u2013 but perhaps a better business strategy overall.<\/p>\n\n You can learn more about how to use Google Analytics to your full advantage with the Google Analytics Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n If you\u2019re new to SEO and looking to get some free and fast insights about your site performance, Neil Patel of NP Digital created the SEO Analyzer<\/a>. This free tool is simple to use and gives you lots of valuable insights about your website and its competitors. <\/p>\n\n Whilst not as detailed as some other tools we\u2019ve mentioned, it\u2019s a great entry point to the world of SEO.<\/p>\n\n Similar Web<\/a> is a paid SEO analysis tool but has a great free feature to use without signing up. By putting in your website address, you can get some basic SEO data including your ranking on search, page visits, visit duration, and compare your site to your competitors. It also includes details on audience demographics such as location, age, and gender \u2013 making it another good starting point to SEO before you move on to more detailed tools.<\/p>\n\n Checking your rank on search engines is an important part of any SEO strategy. This helps you know if you need to make any major changes to your website. Check out some paid and free SEO rank checker tools below.<\/p>\n\n SEMrush<\/a> is one of the most widely used SEO tools in the world \u2013 used by small and big businesses alike. It can be used for many aspects of digital marketing, but its SEO rank tracking lets you monitor your website\u2019s performance at a keyword level. It will also update you on any changes to Google\u2019s algorithm so you can better keep up with the changing landscape of SEO.<\/p>\n\n Small SEO Tools<\/a> is another free and easy to use tool and offers a great introduction to SEO. To use this tool, just enter your website\u2019s URL along with up to 10 keywords to see how you rank for each one.<\/p>\n\n You can even put in multiple competitor URLs to see how your website compares \u2013 great for seeing how your competitors are doing in your industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Moz<\/a> is another popular SEO tool that you can use for a variety of digital marketing reasons. Whilst Moz is mostly a paid tool, they do offer some free SEO tools which can be valuable when you\u2019re just starting out in digital marketing.<\/p>\n\n Moz is also widely known for their how-to guides and training resources. Check out their beginner\u2019s guide to SEO<\/a> if you\u2019re looking to get started.<\/p>\n\n The Hoth<\/a> is a free SEO ranking tool which is powered by the paid service SEMrush. By entering your website\u2019s URL, you\u2019ll get a list of the top traffic-driving keywords to your website. This will include how highly you rank for each keyword, the traffic percentage, and what the search trend looks like over time.<\/p>\n\n\n Keyword research is a major aspect of SEO. You\u2019ll want to choose keywords that lots of people are searching for \u2013 but will need a competitive edge to stand out against more established websites. <\/p>\n\n You\u2019ll also need to make sure that any keywords you use are related to your business. There’s no point using a high-ranking keyword if it doesn\u2019t relate to your product or service.<\/p>\n\n These free and paid SEO keyword research tools can help you to find the right keywords to improve your website\u2019s visibility.<\/p>\n\n Ahrefs<\/a> is a popular paid SEO tool which has a lot of features \u2013 including an excellent keyword explorer that helps you find the right keywords for your website. By searching for terms you\u2019d like to target, you can see their search volume and traffic potential. It will also tell you the keyword difficulty for any term you search for.<\/p>\n\n As well as the keyword you put in, Ahrefs will suggest related questions and other keywords to help you increase your views. You can even check the keywords that your competitors are ranking for to help you make better content decisions. This can be particularly useful when building out product descriptions or informational pages on your website.<\/p>\n\n There\u2019s also a less detailed, free version of Ahrefs<\/a> you can use to see if you like the product.<\/p>\n\n Another free SEO tool from Google, Google Keyword Planner<\/a> helps you to choose the right keywords. You can search for whatever terms relate to your business and Google Keyword Planner will suggest the most appropriate keywords for you.<\/p>\n\n What makes this tool unique is that it integrates with Google Ads, so it\u2019s a great tool to use with paid ads as part of your digital marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n Although not a dedicated SEO tool, ChatGPT<\/a> can be a great way to find valuable SEO insight. By feeding the AI a prompt about what you\u2019re looking for, ChatGPT can provide you with relevant keyword examples for your website.<\/p>\n\n But that\u2019s not the only way you can use ChatGPT in your digital marketing. Check out the other ways you can use AI as part of your marketing strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Google Trends<\/a> is another free SEO tool from Google that gives you insight into what\u2019s currently trending online. Whilst the homepage features a selection of currently trending topics to explore, you can also search for topics that are relevant to your business.<\/p>\n\n You\u2019ll be able to narrow down your search through location and time to see if any patterns emerge. This can help you make predictions for marketing campaigns \u2013 and even what products or services you offer next<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Another free tool, AnswerThePublic<\/a> lets you have three daily searches to help make smarter SEO decisions. One of the most valuable features of AnswerThePublic, which many free SEO tools don\u2019t have, is the suggested questions feature.<\/p>\n\n When you search for a term, you\u2019ll get a whole list of suggested questions related to that term. This means you can specifically target people who are turning to Google for their frequently asked questions.<\/p>\n\n Completing an SEO audit is how you make sure your website is performing well and fully optimised for search. Check out the following tools to see how you can audit your company website.<\/p>\n\n Screaming Frog<\/a> is a website crawler which can help you audit your website. It can help you tackle common SEO problems such as finding broken links, analysing your meta details, and discovering duplicate content (perfect if you have a larger website).<\/p>\n\n Although it\u2019s a paid programme, Screaming Frog offers free access to crawl 500 URLs so you can try it before you buy.<\/p>\n\n Lumar<\/a> (previously known as Deepcrawl) is focused on improving your website\u2019s performance. Whilst their services include lots of features, their website audit tools allow you to analyse the data and build reports about the health and performance of your website.<\/p>\n\n Whilst this is a paid service, it\u2019s hugely customisable, which makes it a great choice if you have a larger website or a strong focus on digital marketing.<\/p>\n\n A good free option to perform an SEO audit on your website is Seobility<\/a>. Its SEO Checker is free to access, giving you the ability to check up to 1,000 pages. You\u2019ll be awarded a score which is based on the health of your website \u2013 taking meta details, linking, and overall page quality into account.<\/p>\n\n It will then offer you a list of improvements you can make to start improving the health of your website.<\/p>\n\n Serpstat<\/a> is a paid SEO audit tool with price plans to suit all sorts of businesses. Their individual price plan is a great choice for self-employed business owners managing their own SEO.<\/p>\n\n It gives you access to 100 searches a day to help with keyword research, competitor analysis, and site audit tools. You can even schedule your audits so you\u2019re always learning and growing from the data you gather.<\/p>\n\n Google and other search engines aren\u2019t the only websites you can target with SEO. Did you know that YouTube is the world\u2019s second largest search engine? It relies on keywords and linking opportunities when deciding what content to show and in what order.<\/p>\n\n YouTube can be a great way to promote your business. You could be a contractor showing your property renovations or a jewellery maker showing the behind the scenes process. <\/p>\n\n You can also make money on YouTube<\/a> through your content. But if you want people to see your videos, you\u2019ll need to use SEO to your advantage.<\/p>\n\n TubeRanker<\/a> is a paid YouTube SEO tool that helps you optimise your videos to get the furthest reach. It can generate relevant tags to use, recommend keywords, and even has a YouTube video title generator tool.<\/p>\n\n Offering a basic and advanced plan, you can get a more analytic look at YouTube to help boost your reach.<\/p>\n\n TubeBuddy<\/a> uses AI to help you make strategic decisions to grow your YouTube channel. It makes keyword and tag suggestions to help boost your visibility on YouTube Search. Its AI offerings include a video title generator, a thumbnail image analyser, and even insight on how to turn your longform content into shorter edits.<\/p>\n\n We\u2019ve mentioned Google Trends<\/a> above, but it can also be a useful tool on YouTube search. When planning what YouTube video content you want to make, you can check for any potential trends to help you make a decision.<\/p>\n\n If you’re looking for a professional to support you with your SEO strategy, read our guide to finding an SEO agency for small businesses<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n Have you used any of these SEO tools for small businesses? Let us know if they\u2019ve helped grow your business in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n With Simply Business you can build a single self-employed insurance<\/a> policy combining the covers that are relevant to you. Whether it’s public liability insurance<\/a>, professional indemnity<\/a> or whatever else you need, we’ll run you a quick quote online, and let you decide if we’re a good fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tGoogle Analytics \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
NP Digital SEO Analyzer \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
Similar Web \u2013 free and paid<\/h4>\n\n
SEO rank checker tools<\/h3>\n\n
SEMrush \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
Small SEO Tools \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
Moz \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
The Hoth \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
SEO keyword research tools<\/h3>\n\n
Ahrefs \u2013 paid (free version available)<\/h4>\n\n
Google Keyword Planner \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
ChatGPT \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
Google Trends \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
AnswerThePublic \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
SEO audit tools<\/h3>\n\n
Screaming Frog \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
Lumar (Deepcrawl) \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
Seobility \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
Serpstat \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
YouTube SEO tools<\/h3>\n\n
TubeRanker \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
TubeBuddy \u2013 paid<\/h4>\n\n
Google Trends \u2013 free<\/h4>\n\n
More small business digital marketing guides<\/h3>\n\n
Looking for self-employed insurance?<\/h3>\n\n