SEO tools

There are many free and paid tools out there for tackling SEO tasks. While Google’s official tools are a mandatory foundation for every website owner, systematic search engine optimization often also requires competitor analysis, a technical audit, and content optimization.

1. Google’s official tools and information sources

Google Search Console (search.google.com/search-console, free): mainly used for checking indexing, analyzing search keywords and positions, and finding technical errors. Should be every website owner’s first choice. You should add every version of your website (with and without www, http and https), ideally as a Domain-type property.

Google Analytics (GA4) (analytics.google.com, free): measuring user behavior, traffic sources, and conversions/goals.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) (tagmanager.google.com, free): convenient management of tracking codes and scripts without changing your website’s code.

Google Data Studio / Looker Studio (lookerstudio.google.com, free): pulling together data from multiple sources to build reports.

Google PageSpeed Insights & Lighthouse (pagespeed.web.dev, free): analyzing page load speed and Core Web Vitals.

Google Trends (trends.google.com, free): keyword popularity trends, comparisons, seasonality.

Google Business Profile (google.com/business, free): local SEO and visibility on Google Maps.

Google Search Central (developers.google.com/search, free): official SEO documentation, guidelines, and algorithm update announcements.

2. “All-in-one” cloud-based SEO platforms

Ahrefs (ahrefs.com, freemium): backlink analysis, keyword research, competitor organic traffic audits.

Semrush (semrush.com, freemium): general marketing analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, competitor ad analysis.

SE Ranking (seranking.com, paid/trial): rank tracking, technical audits, local SEO.

Moz Pro (moz.com, freemium): Domain Authority scoring, keyword analysis, on-page SEO.

3. Desktop software (desktop crawlers)

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (screamingfrog.co.uk, freemium up to 500 URLs): technical SEO audits, finding broken links, redirect and meta tag analysis.

Sitebulb (sitebulb.com, paid/trial): visualized technical audits, prioritized error reports.

4. Content optimization tools (on-page & content SEO)

Surfer SEO (surferseo.com, paid): real-time content optimization, SERP analysis.

Frase (frase.io, paid): drafting article outlines, AI-assisted content optimization.

5. Useful browser extensions (Chrome extensions)

Detailed SEO Extension (detailed.com/extension, free): quick on-page SEO analysis, H1-H6 structure, meta tags, canonical links.

Redirect Path (ayima.com/redirect-path, free): detecting HTTP status codes and redirect chains.

SEOQuake (seoquake.com, free): quick on-page audit, SERP metrics, built by Semrush.