October 3, 2024
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5 min read
Using free SEO tools is one of the easiest ways to find new customers, increase your website traffic and outrank your competitors on Google.
But first, what is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? SEO, for short, is the act of improving a website to increase its visibility on search engines. For small businesses and non-profits, more eyes means more brand awareness, more fundraising opportunities, and more sales.
Many small businesses and non-profit organizations don’t have the financial resources to pay for advanced SEO tools or hire agencies… and often don’t know how to use advanced SEO tools. That’s why we’re here!
Consider this your guide to free SEO tools, where we recommend some of our favourites to help you improve your online presence.
So, if you need help with search engine optimization and are looking for free SEO tools to improve your site's performance, keep reading!
Need more help with search engine optimization? Spark & Pony is a remote creative website design agency that offers web design, branding, SEO blogging and digital marketing services. Contact us here.
Let’s chat about bots.
Search engines like Google and Yahoo use bots to crawl websites and collect information. Then, the search engine’s algorithms use this information to index your website pages and determine where to place you on the results page. Various ranking factors affect your visibility, including alt text, keyword usage, and how unique and original your content is. (You can read more about the 200 ranking factors Google looks at here).
Once the search engine has indexed your site, you are then displayed on its Search Engine Results Page (SERP). What’s the SERP? This is the results page when you submit a question and it displays a list of websites or articles offering answers to your search.
Like in this screengrab, you can see our website pop up on the SERP when we search “Spark & Pony”.
Read: How to Increase Your Website Traffic Through Google Search
Let’s dig into why ranking at the top of the SERP actually matters for you and your business.
(Statistics from BackLinkO)
(Statistics from Ahrefs)
As you can see, most people predominantly use the internet to find information on search engines. Appearing higher up in search results means that more people see your website first and click on your links compared to your competitors.
Now that you (our reader) have a basic understanding of how SEO works, let’s learn how to improve the SEO ranking of your website through these free tools.
One of the GOATS! Moz is an all-around SEO solution offering multiple free SEO tools that help you write well-performing blogs, boost your rankings and analyze your domain.
While paid plans are available, you can access free SEO tools with only minor limitations. You can use their Keyword Explorer tool without a Moz account for up to 3 searches a day, and when on the free plan, you can utilize 10 queries per tool per month. You can also access 10 SERP analyses per query.
Why do we like Moz?
Their beginner-friendly Keyword Explorer tool displays helpful information such as difficulty, monthly volume and organic clickthrough rate (CTR). Moreover, it also provides suggestions for similar long-form keywords.
Save precious time using difficult keywords by prioritizing the ones you have the best chance to rank for.
Read: A Small Business Guide To Keywords
Another fantastic option for free SEO tools is Semrush! They offer two types of free plans: a simple sign-up account and a free trial account.
Firstly, a simple sign-in account allows you to enjoy limited access to certain Semrush tools without any time limits or credit card charges. Secondly, a free trial account allows you to fully access the Pro or Guru account features for 7 days.
Semrush features include:
Note: Semrush is an advanced SEO suite, and may be complicated for beginners who need simple keyword research.
Let’s meet Keyword Planner - Google’s keyword research planner for paid ads and PPC marketing.
Google Keyword Planner is free (yes, free!) even if you don’t use Google Ads. However, it is built for paid marketing keywords and is typically not helpful for organic keyword research. If you’re planning on running paid marketing campaigns or Google Ads, this is a great tool!
It has two main features: one, helping you discover new keywords and two, getting search volume and forecasts for how keywords could perform. This is helpful when budgeting for ads if you decide to take the paid ads route.
Ahrefs markets itself as an all-in-one marketing intelligence platform and boasts that its bot, AhrefsBot, is the #12 most active web crawler in the world. It has many free SEO tools available, including keyword research and more technical tools for website owners.
Let’s meet Free Keyword Generator! This tool will show you the top 100 keyword ideas for any keyword or phrase you enter and provide important data like keyword difficulty or search volume. Enter up to ten words and choose from one of six provided keyword idea reports.
Bonus: if you toggle the ‘Questions’ option, this tool can show you informational queries related to your keyword. If you’re writing a blog about coffee, questions that people may be searching for may include “How to make filter coffee” or “How much does coffee cost”.
Write better content by doing your research!
Read: How Often Should You Update Your Website?
SEO tools aren’t just helpful for keyword research. There are also tools that can help identify technical issues with your website and SEO strategy. So here are a few of our recommendations for free technical SEO tools to keep your website healthy and SEO-friendly.
We’re back with Ahrefs to introduce their Webmaster Tools. This tool is free for website owners and helps you get more traffic from search engines and improve your website’s SEO performance. Features include monitoring your website’s SEO health, telling you what keywords you’re ranking for, and what SEO problems your website has (and how to fix them).
A slow website is not only a bummer… but an SEO killer. Google measures your website speed and user experience to determine where you rank on the SERP, so it’s crucial to have a speedy and well-performing website.
DebugBear is a tool that is built to track Google’s Core Web Vitals, offer detailed test reports and identify factors that slow your page down. While they have free 14-day trials of their services, you can also use their Free Website Speed Test to analyze your website performance and get recommendations to speed up your website.
Sitechecker can offer real-time SEO audits for your website. It consolidates all of your organic performance data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics and provides you with a suite of tools to help your website improve.
You can conduct a comprehensive SEO audit for any URL of your website using their Free SEO Checker tool. You can use one free check per day, or create a free account to access unlimited checks.
This tool can offer warnings on critical issues, and offer guidelines on how to improve title length, page descriptions, HTML size and more.
You may be thinking:
The good news is that these free SEO tools can help your business stand out, even with Google’s changing algorithms and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
Google is the most visited website in the world, and holds a whopping 79.6% of the search engine market share as of September 2024. Compare that to Bing’s 11.78% or Yahoo’s 3.16% and you’ll start to see the full picture.
While it may be frustrating to worry about ranking factors and web vitals, Google is the number one way people get their information. If you want your business to succeed online, Google should be your #1 customer. Paying attention to Google Ranking Factors, Keyword Difficulty, and Core Web Vitals will serve you well in the long run.
One of Google’s Ranking Factors is high-quality, original content. But what should you write? And how do you know what your target audience is searching for? Using free SEO tools can lead you to the keywords and topics people are interested in and give you insight into how to reach your ideal audience.
This is even more important considering the rise of AI apps like ChatGPT, which spits out unoriginal content daily. Moreover, Google’s March 2024 core algorithm update rewards original content and penalizes AI-generated web content. If your website has pages and blogs that answer questions, add value to the online conversation, utilize keywords, and have original content, your chances of improving your ranking are high.
Note: that’s not to say you can’t use AI programs to assist you on your content creation journey. But don’t just copy and paste - use it as a tool to support your own original insights and work.
As a small business or non-profit, paid ads may be out of the picture due to your budget. The good news is that organic search results are still one of the best and most cost-effective ways to generate web traffic.
Paid ads (like Google Ads) result in your web page showing up at the top of the SERP as sponsored posts. They are extremely effective and can result in more click-throughs and conversions.
Organic search results are where you naturally rank on the SERP and is unpaid. If you have budget constraints, you’ll want to improve your ranking as best you can. This is where free SEO tools come in handy. You can increase your site speed, research keywords and improve your ranking without paying a penny.
Have you tried using free SEO tools and your site still isn’t performing as well as you’d like? There could be a host of issues affecting your site, but Spark & Pony has got you covered. Our team can audit your website and identify problems you may have missed.
Our team brings together 34+ years of combined experience creating beautiful digital products and meaningful brands. We are passionate about making a difference in the world and using our creative talents to do it. Heck, our work speaks for itself.
Read more SEO tips here: How To Optimize Your Blog For SEO in 2023
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