Google’s algorithm uses over 200 factors when ranking websites - so optimizing your website’s content according to these factors is crucial. This algorithm is always changing, so using SEO tools will ensure your business is at the top of relevant keyword searches. Being at the top of these searches means that your business will have high-targeted people coming to your website and buying your products or services. This is the dream!
Mastering SEO can be challenging, but the list of SEO tools I put together will help simplify this for your business so you can quickly reap the benefits. Finding the best SEO tools will be easy after reading through this list. Trying out all these platforms isn’t necessary; you just need to identify which works best for your needs.
Best SEO Tools Shortlist
- Semrush
- Ahrefs
- Moz Pro
- SEO Spider
- Serpstat
- SE Ranking
- Spyfu
- ContentKing
- KWFinder
- BuzzStream
- AWR Cloud
- HubSpot SEO Marketing Software
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How I Selected the Best SEO Tools
Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best SEO tools for this list? To build this list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of SEO tools with positive user ratings.
After determining my long list of top choices, I further honed my list by using the selection criteria below to see how each platform stacked up against the next one. I also drew on my years of marketing experience to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value.
If you have general questions about SEO tools or how to pick the best SEO tools for your organization, take a look at our frequently asked questions section below. Or, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries, if that's what you need the most.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best SEO tools for this article:
User Interface (UI):
The best SEO tools must have an interface with an excellent design. I look for a UI that shows users the most important SEO metrics they need to make good optimization decisions. It should have a simple navigation that allows you to find the features you need to operate the platform efficiently.
Usability:
SEO can be challenging for businesses, and it’s more complex if you have to try to figure out how your SEO software works. I look for tools that don’t require users to have much SEO experience. Some of the best platforms will have basic tutorials to help you orient yourself with the software.
Value-adds:
Some SEO software vendors offer features that are difficult to find in other tools. So, I look for value-adds that provide benefits that make the SEO tool stand out from the rest. For example, you might need Google to re-crawl your site after your team makes a significant update or fixed errors. So, a platform that requests new crawls from Google will be worthwhile for any business.
Software Integrations:
You shouldn’t expect to use SEO software on its own. The platform you choose should integrate and share data with the systems you’re already using. This is especially crucial when content creation and conversion tracking are vital functions of your marketing plan. I look for SEO tools with web tracking, Webmaster, and paid advertising tools.
Pricing:
The price of SEO software isn’t everything - but it makes a significant difference if you’re running a small business. When making this list, I look for tools that offer users sufficient value and functionality to make it worth the final price. I also looked for other pricing factors, such as trial length, subscription commitment, and the options available for businesses with different requirements.
Overviews of the 12 Best SEO Tools
Here’s a brief description of each SEO tool to showcase each one's best use case, some noteworthy features, screenshots, and pricing information.
1. SEMrush - Best for identifying search engine opportunities
SEMrush provides comprehensive tools to help businesses identify search engine opportunities.
Why I picked SEMrush: The platform helps many website owners and entrepreneurs understand what SEO strategy will help them rank on search engines. It provides excellent metrics and lets you know how to get top-performing content, pages, and keywords. These capabilities make SEMrush one of the most popular tools for businesses.
SEMrush helps small and medium-sized organizations get tools for SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), keyword research, and backlinks. The traffic analytics feature gives you accurate details regarding your site’s online performance. It gives you in-depth information about your potential customers’ behavior and media consumption.
SEMrush Standout Features and Integrations
Features include data visualization, link tracking, marketing automation, conversion tracking, customer management, SEO, project management, analytics, and audience targeting.
Integrations include Zoho Analytics, monday.com, Whatagraph, Swydo, databox, AgencyAnalytics, Surfer, Respona, Yoast, Writesonic, Wix, and AIOSEO.
SEMrush costs from $119.95/month when paying month-to-month or $99.95/month when paying annually. The vendor also offers a free subscription that’s limited in the amount of data you can pull each month. SEMrush offers a free 7-day trial for new users.
Pros
- The topic research tool helps users create new content strategies.
- It provides accurate SEO score information when auditing websites.
- Users can see their competitor’s Google search ads.
Cons
- The price can be high for some businesses.
- The UI can be difficult to navigate for new users.
2. Ahrefs - Best for backlink research
Ahrefs offers companies tools to help them easily monitor their websites for backlinks and create a link-building campaign.
Why I picked Ahrefs: With billions of indexed pages and trillions of backlinks, Ahrefs has the most robust backlink index. This can help your company improve website traffic and its backlink auditing capabilities. You can use the platform extracts data to help with link building, keyword research, rank tracking, SEO strategies, and content marketing.
Ahrefs can help freelancers, self-employed businesses, and enterprises of any size snipe their competitors’ backlinks, identify broken link opportunities, and monitor their link acquisition. The platform has tools to help you see what people are searching for on Google, allowing you to determine the potential traffic you can get from creating content about a topic. Afrefs’ tools can also help you discover how difficult it is to rank for any keyword, which will help you see whether attempting to rank for a keyword is worthwhile.
Ahrefs Standout Features and Integrations
Features include SEO, keyword tracking, data visualization, link tracking, notifications, data import and export, and analytics.
Integrations include Reportz, Amazon, Desktop.com, Marketing Miner, GuinRank, Rambox, Google Search Console, AgencyAnalytics, DashThis, Rank Ranger, Klipfolio, and Databox.
Ahrefs costs from $99/month when paying monthly or $83/month when paying yearly.
Pros
- It helps users create effective lead-generation strategies.
- The dashboards and interface are easy to understand for new users.
- It crawls the web 24/7, collecting, analyzing, and displaying backlink data.
Cons
- The platform has additional features that users have to pay to use.
- It doesn’t provide local SEO information.
3. Moz Pro - Best for increasing search engine visibility
Moz Pro provides tools to help businesses increase their search engine exposure.
Why I picked Moz Pro: The platform’s tool will guide you through increasing your search engine visibility. Moz Pro enables you to audit your website for potential issues, highlight them, and make the necessary improvements from the software’s recommendations. This process includes identifying low-competition keywords, exploring and building backlinks, and enhancing on-page SEO.
Moz Pros allows organizations of any size to ensure they get the maximum potential to rank for their target keywords. The automation capabilities within the program can help you focus on crucial business aspects, and you can read the software’s reports when you have the time. The reports are easy to read, so you can improve your SEO strategy immediately.
Moz Pro Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword tracking, data visualization, link tracking, notifications, multi-users, data import and export, and an API.
Integrations include Google Analytics 360, Rippling, Klipfolio, Databox, AgencyAnalytics, TapClicks, WebCEO, Cyfe, ReportGarden, Pitchbox, BrightEdge, and LinkTrust.
Moz Pro costs from $99/month when paying monthly or $79/month after signing up for yearly billing. Moz Pro offers new users a 30-day free trial.
Pros
- The platform’s metric makes it easy to analyze backlinks.
- The bot crawls websites and creates reports quickly.
- Users can see trends in keyword rankings.
Cons
- The navigation can use some work to be more user-friendly.
- Sometimes the platform requires browser features that are often disabled.
4. SEO Spider - Best for technical website audits
SEO Spider crawls websites and examines the URLs for common SEO issues.
Why I picked SEO Spider: You can use the software to crawl various aspects of your website, such as its links, CSS, images, apps, and scripts. It can gather vital on-page SEO elements and present them in tabs by type, which allows you to filter for common issues or analyze the data as you see fit. It’s strictly a technical auditing software that helps you simplify and expedite a normally time-consuming process - especially if you’re operating a large website.
SEO Spider is an excellent choice for small and medium-sized businesses - freelancers can also use it when auditing their clients’ websites for technical issues. After crawling a website, it creates a spreadsheet of all the site’s pages and SEO elements. You can use this information to optimize your website after identifying the site’s meta descriptions, broken links, and other vital aspects that can affect your search ranking.
SEO Spider Standout Features and Integrations
Features include data import and export, external integrations, keyword tracking, and link tracking.
Integrations include Google Analytics, Ubuntu, Google Sheets, Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, and Chromium OS.
SEO Spider costs from $209/year. SEO Spider offers a free license, but there’s a limit to its features.
Pros
- The software lays out all the information you need.
- Users can analyze multiple on-page parameters in one platform.
- It can crawl websites really fast.
Cons
- The user interface is outdated.
- It can take up a lot of space on a computer.
5. Serpstat - Best all-in-one SEO platform
Serpstat helps organizations enhance their website’s overall SEO performance.
Why I picked Serpstat: It’s a one-stop shop for SEO and digital marketing tools. You can use it to optimize your SEO and run your content marketing and advertising campaigns. The information it provides can help you know how your site ranks on search engines.
Serpstat is an excellent choice for self-employed business owners and small, medium, and large enterprises solve SEO tasks, analyze their competition, and manage their marketing teams. The Missing Keyword tool can help you identify the keywords that the competition is ranking for on the top 10 search engine results and you aren’t. You can use the platform to view your traffic share compared to the competition for tracked keywords to see where you stand in the competitive landscape.
Serpstat Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword tracking, data visualization, link tracking, marketing automation, brand management, analytics, API, and data import and export.
Integrations include Gmail, Google Data Studio, Reportz, Oviond, Datorama, Key Collector, Netpeak Checker, SEOTools for Excel, Google Sheets, Shift, Conductor, and Stackby.
Serpstat costs from $69/month when paid monthly or $55/month when signing up for an annual contract. Serpstat offers a 7-day free trial for new users.
Pros
- The platform is easy for new users.
- The vendors provide excellent customer support.
- It has uncommon, advanced features, such as text analysis.
Cons
- Its small database can lead to some unusual discrepancies.
- The navigation can use some improvement to reduce the number of steps to perform a task.
6. SE Ranking - Best for rank tracking
SE Ranking allows users to monitor their website’s keyword position in search engines and evaluate their SEO potential.
Why I picked SE Ranking: The platform will help you track your overall search engine ranking progress to let you know how close you are to reach your goals with a percentage marker. You can track your chosen keywords in major search engines, including your local and mobile ranking. SE Ranking also lets you peek into your competition’s rankings.
SE Ranking is a reliable assistant for marketing and SEO experts in companies of any size, including freelancers. You can also use the platform to check off all the items from your to-do list when working towards your goal. These items are grouped into various categories: keyword research, pre-launch, on and off-page optimization, and social media management.
SE Ranking Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword tracking, data import and export, link tracking, dashboard, notifications, and social media integration.
Integrations include Google Analytics, Bitrix24, Wufoo, Shift, Stackreaction, Oviond, and you can also connect through Zapier to unlock more integrations.
Price: SE Ranking costs from $49/month when the platform checks your rankings every day, $39.20/month when checking every three days, and $29.40 when checking every week after signing up on a month-to-month subscription. When paying yearly, SE Ranking costs from $39.20/month when checking your ranks daily, $31.36/month when checking every three days, and $23.52/month when checking every week.
Pros
- Track keyword rankings in bulk within minutes.
- It provides a marketing to-do list to help users implement a ranking strategy.
- The platform has an excellent customer support team.
Cons
- It can take time to understand the options available.
- Users can’t monitor specific pages or posts, only the whole website.
7. Spyfu - Best for competitor analysis
SpyFu is a competitive intelligence tool that helps users improve their online search rankings.
Why I picked SpyFu: You can use the software to discover the most profitable keywords your competitors are using for their websites. The platform allows you to find how your competitors’ search rankings change with historical data and analyze their backlink efforts to find links they have but your website doesn’t. SpyFu also shows your competition’s online advertising campaigns and their organic searches.
SpyFu is an excellent option for businesses of any size that need software to spy on their competitors. The software allows you to pinpoint the keywords your competition buys for online advertising and identify the words and phrases that provide your site with the most traffic. These features enable you to stay ahead of other businesses in your industry and get more visitors to your business.
SpyFu Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword tracking, data visualization, conversion tracking, link tracking, data export, API, and brand management.
Integrations include Google Ads and Desktop.com. SpyFu also has an API that allows users to integrate their data into the user’s systems.
SpyFu costs from $39/month when paying monthly or $33/month when paying annually.
Pros
- It offers a lot of competitive ranking data.
- The menu is easy to use for beginners.
- Users can quickly generate an enormous number of keywords.
Cons
- Some users experience bugs when downloading the data in a CSV file.
- The software limits the number of records you can download in a report.
8. ContentKing - Best for change tracking
ContentKing is a content tracking tool that can help you follow the history of all your site’s content changes.
Why I picked ContentKing: The software allows you to monitor your website and all its pages 24/7 to identify errors as they happen. ContentKing enables you and your management team to ensure your marketing teams perform changes correctly without missing anything. You can track and identify errors as they happen and take the necessary steps to resolve them before they harm your website and overall business goals.
ContentKing is best for brands that rely on real-time data to help them understand what they’re doing right and where they can improve. It’s also an excellent fit for those who want more visibility into their website’s SEO health. You can use the software’s dashboard to get a visual representation of the tasks to finish on all your domains simultaneously and assign those tasks to the right team member.
ContentKing Standout Features and Integrations
Features include link tracking, data import and export, dashboard, data visualization, analytics, notifications, and SEO.
Integrations include Adobe Analytics, IndexNow, Google Data Studio, Google Search Console, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Analytics.
ContentKing offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- It’s easy to use with all the essential data in one place.
- The software provides an overview of your website’s status instantly.
- The vendor provides excellent customer service.
Cons
- It sometimes highlights non-issues
- The data ContentKing shows can be different from Google Search Console.
9. KWFinder - Best for finding long tail keywords with low SEO difficulty
KWFinder enables you to research long-tail keywords that can help your website rank in the long term.
Why I picked KWFinder: The platform can help you rank for broad search engine keywords that are related to your business. Long tail keywords are easier to rank for and have the potential to bring in more traffic to your website - and KWFinder can help you find these keywords without all the bells and whistles you would find in other software. You can use the data that KWFinder provides to analyze the competition’s strategies and find opportunities to help you develop your strategy.
KWFinder can help businesses of all sizes analyze backlinks and SERPs. The rank tracking tool helps determine where they rank while tracking their progress. If you’re looking to bring in more local traffic, KWFinder’s local keyword research tool can help discover what people are looking for in your local area. You can use this information to help you appeal to the local market for more niche traffic.
KWFinder Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword look-up, bulk upload and review, domain look-up, list creation, data aggregation, and competition analysis.
Integrations include Desktop.com and Google. You can also connect through KWFinder’s API to unlock more integrations.
KWFinder costs from $49/month when paying month-to-month or $29.90/month when paying annually.
Pros
- It’s easy to use with no learning curve.
- The software is affordable for any business.
- It has a clean and straightforward user interface.
Cons
- Users can’t bulk calculate keyword difficulty automatically; they must click each keyword.
- It sometimes gives incorrect data when analyzing niche words.
10. BuzzStream - Best for outreach campaigns
BuzzStream helps organizations conduct outreach campaigns to build backlinks to their sites.
Why I picked BuzzStream: It helps your marketing teams organize and develop relationships with influencers who can place their content in front of the right audience. BuzzFeed makes it easy for you to discover the best people to reach out to, develop effective messages, and track those who accept your request for a link. The right influencer can post a backlink to your website, adding another link-building strategy to your arsenal.
BuzzStream helps businesses of any size, in any industry, find out who’s most likely to be receptive to your link request and whether they’re already part of a campaign. If you don’t know where to find the influencer’s contact details, BuzzStream can do that for you. To save you time trying to figure out what to say, the software has proven templates that will convert.
BuzzStream Standout Features and Integrations
Features include data import and export, contact management, audience targeting, lead management, and notifications.
Integrations include seoClarity, Teamstack, Rambox, Desktop.com, Hunter.io, and Ahrefs. You can also connect through BuzzStream’s API to unlock more integrations.
BuzzStream costs from $24/user/month. BuzzStream offers a 14-day free trial for new users.
Pros
- It provides detailed analytics about outreach efforts.
- The bulk send feature allows users to send as many messages as possible.
- It’s easy to record all of the data users need.
Cons
- Some users experience bugs when using the software.
- It can become slow with heavy usage.
11. AWR Cloud - Best for advanced website performance insights
AWR Cloud, or Advanced Web Ranking, provides accurate and reliable web ranking insights.
Why I picked AWR Cloud: It’s capable of tracking keywords and search engine rankings on a hyper-specific level. AWR Cloud can track everything in real-time and give you notifications when there are any significant changes. It can track 3,000 search engines and over 170 countries that support other search engines, not just Google.
AWR Cloud is ideal for any business focusing on increasing its organic search traffic and wants to monitor their rankings. It’s handy for agencies and big enterprises with a large in-house marketing team because it can accommodate researching large keyword volumes. Your management team will be able to generate reports on KPIs, trends, and data segments to get deep insights into your site’s search engine performance.
AWR Cloud Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword tracking, data import and export, marketing automation, notifications, brand management, and data visualization.
Integrations include Slack, Okta, Google Data Studio, and Active Directory. You can also connect AWR Cloud through their API to unlock more integrations.
AWR Cloud costs from $49/month when paying monthly or $44/month when paying annually. AWR Cloud offers a 30-day free trial for new users.
Pros
- It provides accurate rank-tracking data.
- Users can compare the data between different search engines.
- The platform has an intuitive interface.
Cons
- The web crawling feature isn’t as good as other providers.
- The exporting and filtering functionality could use some improvement.
12. HubSpot SEO Marketing Software - Best for increasing search authority
HubSpot SEO Marketing Software enables organizations to build authority with their websites.
Why I picked HubSpot SEO Marketing Software: You’ll never miss a chance to optimize your content for web traffic and conversions because it’s integrated with HubSpot’s landing page, web page, and blog post tools. These features will help increase your authority in your industry, which will encourage search engines to rank your site high. Authority is a factor that the major search engines take into consideration when deciding where to rank a site.
HubSpot SEO Marketing Software gives you the tools to rank on search engines and creates reports on your performance, no matter your experience level. The platform’s analytics capabilities can help you monitor progress and identify improvement opportunities. If you’re concentrating on your content marketing, this platform can connect with HubSpot’s content strategy tool, allowing you to find and rank for critical topics.
HubSpot SEO Marketing Software Standout Features and Integrations
Features include keyword rank tracking, data import and export, file sharing, dynamic content, keyword research, analytics, and visual databoard.
Integrations include monday.com, Miro, Wrike, Freshdesk, ConnectWise, Accelevents, SendGrid, Pipedrive, Recurly, ProjectManager, Odoo, Adzapier, GetResponse, and Pipeliner CRM.
HubSpot SEO Marketing Software costs from $50/month when paying monthly or $45/month when paying annually. HubSpot SEO Marketing Software offers a 30-day free trial for new users.
Pros
- It’s easy to integrate with other systems.
- Users can develop valuable reports.
- The software can provide an in-depth analysis of websites.
Cons
- It can be overwhelming for new users.
- It can take time to create marketing workflows.
Other SEO Tools
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best SEO tools list:
- Google Search Console - Best for measuring website search performance on Google.
- UpCity Free SEO Report Card - Best free website search ranking analysis.
- Google Trends - Best for discovering event-triggered keyword search volume spikes.
- Seolyzer - Best for understanding how search engines view a site.
- SEOquake - Best for providing SEO metrics for specific web pages.
- Seobility - Best comprehensive on-page SEO audit.
- Check My Links - Best for searching for broken web links.
- BROWSEO - Best for digesting web content by removing graphic styling.
- GrowthBar - Best AI tool for making SEO content that search engines love.
- Woorank - Best easy-to-use SEO auditing tool.
- Linkody - Best backlink profile analysis.
- AnswerThePublic - Best for identifying helpful keyword phrases.
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The Takeaway
When you’re ready to implement new SEO software to help enhance your marketing strategy, you can start by thinking about the type of SEO tool your business needs. Try to determine where you need improvements. Maybe you need to improve your content, your site’s technical health, or the number and quality of the links coming to your site.
But improving one aspect of your website’s SEO won’t be enough. You should consider enhancing all ranking factors to help your website get the most search engine performance. This includes your site’s health, backlinks, content, and local marketing, which means getting the most from comprehensive SEO software.