How to Use Seo Tools – It can be very difficult to choose SEO tools for you to use. Sometimes, it’s not only about the pricing but the usability of a certain tool. Thankfully, there are plenty of free SEO tools out there that are actually good.
But however, before we go into seo tools, let’s first understand from the basics, how to use seo tools.
Table of Contents
SEO Tools: Detailed explanation
SEO tools investigate the potential of Web pages for high placement on search engine ranking pages. They provide information on backlinks and keywords as well as insights into SEO competition on the Internet.
What to analyze with SEO tools
For SEO experts and webmasters, monitoring the domain is crucial to determining how to optimize for search. You should consider the following items.
Keywords:
Keyword Analysis is process of determining the most common search terms that relate to your website and the competitors using those words. They help search engines, like Google, determine which sites to match to users’ queries.
Tool: Google Keyword Planner
Content:
Website content should contain keywords to match search queries. Placing keywords in the titles, the descriptions or tags of the content are also important for search engine optimization (SEO). Content should not only contain keywords, but it must be interesting, relevant and unique to rank highly in organic search results. Complex algorithms measure all of these factors to provide Internet users with the best possible websites for their search.
Backlinks:
Backlinks are also important for a good ranking. A backlink is a link to your site from another site. Sites with a high amount of traffic can help drive traffic to your site. The number of times your site has links from other sites also affects your ranking.
Domain:
Domains are important for SEO because Google and other search engines scan the URLs for keywords so they can determine the content of the site. Having keywords in the URL helps Google determine what the page is about and is one of the factors in matching a site to a person’s search.
Tool: Searchmetrics
Ranking:
Many SEO tools are designed to measure the ranking of individual websites. They rank individual pages and entire websites by comparing them to competitor websites. To keep search rankings high, it is important to use keywords appropriately, publish unique content frequently and publish backlinks to the site whenever possible.
Example: rankingCoach
Traffic:
Some tools help measure the flow of visitors from external sources and within the website. It measures how often users come to the site, where they came from and how they navigate through the site. They can also show which keywords the user searched to then land on the domain.
Example: Google Analytics
Social media:
Some SEO tools analyze data from social networks like Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. They measure roughly how many users access the blog or other sub pages of a domain, and they can measure how often blog pages or articles are linked via social media. In addition, many tools help identify trends in social networks by looking for frequently used keywords.
Example: hootsuite
Provider:
There are many providers of SEO Tools. They offer everything from free services to more in-depth and expensive options. The best-known provider of programs and associated services include Sistrix , Searchmetrics , Xovi , Ryte , Moz, SEMrush.
Costs and payment models for SEO tools:
Costs vary for SEO tools, but there are some basic models:
- Freeware: Many tools are free – some are basic editions of a product and have limited usage.
- One-time payment: Some providers charge a one-time payment for perpetual use.
- Monthly or annual payments: Most professional tools charge on a regular basis, usually per month or per year.
- Payment per volume: Occasionally, vendors charge by volume, such as number of pages or searches.
Problems with SEO tools:
SEO tools can be problematic when they try to help websites cheat the rules of Google or other search engine algorithms. Google recognizes low-quality content from “content farms.” These are companies that create low-quality content for the purposes of keyword ranking, which can cause the sites to be penalized in their rankings. When websites publish low quality content, duplicate content or have too many backlinks, this can negatively affect their search ranking.
Analyze all of your website data
One piece of data by itself might not tell you anything, but when you collect lots of data, you start to notice patterns.
If a few people visit your site and fail to click on your CTA, you might not have a problem.
However, if a large percentage of visitors ignore your CTA, you might need to make some adjustments.
User behavior reports and Google Search Console traffic data help paint a clear picture. User behavior reports, for instance, show you how people behave once they land on your site, while GSC data tracks key metrics, such as number of sessions, number of unique sessions, bounce rate, and more.
Analyze the data for specific patterns. Referral sources can tell you a lot about your audience. How are people finding your site? Look for pages that get more traffic and more conversions than others. Reverse-engineer that page’s success to replicate it across your site.
Conduct thorough keyword research
Years ago, you could pick a keyword out of thin air, write a 300-word article, and rank for that keyword the next day. SEO doesn’t work like that anymore.
Tools like Ubersuggest help you find keywords related to your business and niche. Use it to find long-tail keywords that fit with your prospective customers’ user intent. Think about why they would search for a particular keyword and what they would hope to find on a page about it.
Start with a broad keyword. For instance, maybe you offer dog boarding, so you begin with a keyword like “dog kennels.”
Ubersuggest will provide you with a list of keywords that you can filter in several ways. You’re looking for long-tail keywords you can use to attract a specific audience.
Do this over and over again as you create more pages for your site. Write long, in-depth articles that provide as much information on the topic as possible.
Produce long and value-rich content
According to Buffer, the ideal length for a blog post is 1,600 words. That’s just a starting point, though.
Before you decide on the optimum length for your content, Google your primary keyword and visit the top 10 result in the SERPs. Are some of those pages longer than 1,600 words? Then yours should be, too.
Length isn’t everything. However, it sends a signal to Google that you’re providing more information. If lots of people spend a long time on that page — reading to the very end — you’re more likely to rank higher.
Optimize for on-page SEO
On-page SEO tells you how to optimize your website when you’re building specific pages. Factors like headlines, subheadlines, URL slugs, and meta tags fall into this category.
Use your primary keyword in your headline, preferably as close to the beginning as possible. It should also appear in the slug and at least one subheadline. Throughout the body copy, aim for .5 percent to 2.5 percent. Try not to go over the higher end to avoid looking like a keyword stuffer.
Sprinkle your primary and related keywords throughout your body copy, subheadlines, and image alt text. Include plenty of context for each so Google accurately understands what you’re talking about.
Optimize for off-page SEO
Off-page SEO — also called off-site SEO — refers to the ways in which you optimize your website via external means. Guest blogging, social media activity, influencer marketing, and brand mentions can all improve your site’s SEO.
We’ll talk specifically about backlinks a little later, but links in general can make a big difference in SEO. You don’t want to get links from small, low-authority sites. They won’t help (and they can hurt). Instead, you want to target well-respected publications when researching backlinks.
Optimize the website for mobile
With more and more people accessing websites via mobile devices, you don’t want to leave those potential conversions out in the cold. Furthermore, Google has launched the mobile-first index, which means you might rank better if you focus on mobile friendliness.
Responsive design offers the easiest solution. You can download free and premium WordPress themes that have responsive design built in, which means you don’t have to worry about adding any extra code.
Speed up the pages
Page speed matters when it comes to both SEO and conversions.
If you visit a website that takes forever to load, you’ll likely click the “back” button and look for something else. Similarly, if you’re filling out a form that refuses to submit due to slow speed, you’ll eventually give up.
Google’s PageSpeed Insights gives you valuable insight into how fast your site loads across all devices and what specific things you can fix to make your site faster.
Get quality backlinks
Backlinks are a prime factor in helping your website rank better.
When high-quality sites link to yours, Google interprets the link as a signal of your site’s credibility. As you build a solid backlink profile, your pages will climb up the ranks.
Getting quality backlinks takes effort, but you’ll see results. Consider emailing influencers and other blogs in your niche. Share your article with them and point them to a page where you’ve shared a piece of their content.
Can SEO Improve Your Website Conversions?
Now that we’ve covered improving your SEO, what happens to your conversions?
You won’t see results right away. Rankings take time to build, especially with the plethora of content that exists online, so you have to work hard to build quality content, attract backlinks, and establish credibility with Google.
However, you should start preparing for conversions now. If you know how to optimize your website, you can immediately see greater conversions even if you have low traffic.
SEO improves conversions by directing the right searchers to your content. If you make a page’s purpose clear, Google can rank it accurately based on search intent on the part of the consumer.
Additionally, writing longer, more value-driven articles increases the chances of a visitor converting. They recognize the value of what you’ve shared and become intrigued. As long as you present them with an attractive offer, you increase the chances of gaining conversions.
SEO TOOLS
GTmetrix
GTmetrix is a site analyzer and optimizing tool. It tells you everything you want to know about the performance of your website. It is a very effective tool to gauge the loading speed of a website.
Image via GTmetrix
You can test the loading speed of your website from different locations. GTmetrix has 28 servers located in 7 regions across the globe.
It tells you everything about the loading time, or the total number of requests being handled at different times. You can also set up alerts that’ll be triggered by your page if it faces certain conditions. GTMetrix displays a video of your page while it’s loading which helps you to identify any bottlenecks.
SEMrush
SEMrush is another great SEO tool for businesses. It helps digital marketers to do keyword research and analyze keyword strategies used by their competitors. What’s more, it helps you run SEO audits of your content, find backlink opportunities, optimize landing pages, and more. With the free trial version, it has become quite popular among the masses.
Image via SEMrush
SEMrush also helps you track the kind of traffic your website gets, in terms of paid and organic. The tool allows you to identify new keywords and their potential. SEMrush helps you craft better content and learn effective content marketing strategies as well.
Majestic
Auditing your backlinks can be a hefty task, but Majestic makes it all very easy. It is a great tool to analyze how trustworthy your backlinks and referrals are. With the help of its site explorer tool, you can analyze a domain or URL in depth.
Image via Majestic
The backlink history checker enables marketers to audit backlinks detected by Majestic’s sophisticated web robots. You can compare backlink histories of competitors too. In a nutshell, Majestic provides you with an advanced link intelligence map with plenty of useful data.
SpyFu
SpyFu is a very important tool to gather information about your competitors. Simply by entering a domain name, you can find out all the keywords your competitors are using. In fact, all the ad variations they’ve used by far will be shown as well.
Image via SpyFu
This can prove to be immensely valuable in gaining an edge over your competitors. You can also increase your web traffic with the help of useful recommendations.
Additionally, the tool enables you to connect and build important partnerships. SpyFu keeps you informed about every domain that bids on your AdWords, and suggests the AdWords you should be bidding on. It even tells you the ranking history of a website or web page using a keyword.
Pro Rank Tracker
Pro Rank Tracker is a free cloud-based keyword rank tracking and reporting solution. It can prepare and provide advanced reports for your website by providing you with information on the keywords your website is ranking for, and suggest the keywords you must target.
Image via PRT
Pro Rank Tracker is suitable for businesses of all sizes. It is one of the best rank tracking tools available today. Its state-of-the-art algorithm gives you the latest, most accurate results about the ranking of your website.
The tool automatically tracks the ranks of your web pages. You can specify the search engines you want to track. It even allows you to track the ranks of your videos on YouTube and other video channels.
Moz Pro
Moz Pro is an all-inclusive tool which takes care of all your SEO requirements. With a simple and easy-to-use interface, the tool provides you with analytics and insights to give your search engine rankings a boost. Its free add-ons such as Open Site Explorer and Keyword Explorer are also particularly useful.
Image via Moz
Their popular Chrome extension called Mozbar provides information about a page’s Domain Authority and Page authority directly on the browser. This is pretty handy for a basic competitor analysis.
Moz Pro helps with rank tracking, site crawling to uncover issues, on-page SEO optimization, link profile analysis and much more. Lastly, it can also assist with content management to ensure that businesses are able to promote the right kind of content.
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is a very popular tool for click-tracking and heatmap generation. This tool is quite different from most of the SEO tools available today as it helps you track the behavior of your visitors on your web pages.
Image via Crazy Egg
You need to embed a small code on the pages of your website and this code will help track visitors that come to your pages.
Who are clicking on your pages? What are they avoiding? Are there any bottlenecks because of which they abandon the website? Which portion of the web page is most beneficial for conversions? Crazy Egg helps you answer all these questions with the help of heatmaps they generate.
Conclusion
SEO tools used to be difficult, complex and very often they came with a price. Since the emergence of SEO, all that has changed. Nowadays there are a variety of SEO tools, which you can either download from the internet or access from your desktop. These tools make it easy for website owners to find all the data they need to make an informed decision about their website and how to improve its ranking on the Search Engines Result Pages (SERPs).