You would agree with me that running a profitable website is not easy nowadays. No thanks to the number of new websites erupting with every passing day. So, how do you pull more traffic from a congested internet with an infinite number of websites? It’s simple, through SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the easiest way to get visitors to a blog. You might post good content regularly, own a perfectly designed website but if your page does not rank well on search engines, what’s the point? To this effect, we have compiled a list of the best ten SEO tools that will -among other things, help rank your website on the first page of Google and other search engines when familiar keywords are searched.

What is SEO

SEO is a very important skill in digital marketing. It entails increasing visibility of webpages in search engine results, identifying the purpose and content of a webpage, driving traffic to webpages, improving rankings of webpages, creating useful and educational content for users on the web.

Research has shown that the first link ranked on a google search gets about 30% of visitor clicks, the second gets about 15%, while the third link gets 10%. What SEO basically does is ensuring that your website is structured in a way that is fully understandable by search engines. Hereby, making your website rank higher and thus easier to find.

Why you need SEO tools

With appropriate SEO tools, you would:

• Know important keywords to target on your web page.
• Capture more traffic from a congested internet with a seemingly endless number of websites.
• Filter specific data from general site visitors.
• Optimize your content to gain more authority on the web.
• Study your competition to always be steps ahead.

Top 10 SEO Tools for websites

Out recommended tools include:

#1 Link Research Tools

Link Research Tools (LRT), as its name implies provides a complete set of tools that allows you to conduct link research on websites; yours and your competitors. Its backlink tracking power is arguably the best out there. Asides its functionalities, part of what makes LRT quite popular is the training that comes with its tools. LRT is all about upping the know-how of its clients. Hence, building a very effective producer-client relationship.

Key Features

• Link Detox: This feature appoints a risk score to each link pointing to your website. By auditing these links, it discovers strong links, as well as spammy links that could trigger google sanctions.
• Competitor analyzer: Compares your website’s strengths and weaknesses with your competing websites. It gives you an idea of the link building work required to rank as high as your competitor- especially if you are just starting out.
• Link Alerts: Notifies you of newer links to any domain, helps you to monitor your backlink profile, link growth, and tracks your competitor’s link-building campaigns.
• Backlink analysis: LRT combines fresh link data from multiple sources. Finds and reinstate deleted links, and analyzes SEO metrics to select for each link.

Pricing

LRT plans range from €2.499 to €359 per month.

Pros

• Fish out spammy links
• Link prospecting made easy
• Monitor backlinks to any domain
• Fast google penalty recovery

Cons

• A little bit slow
• Too many redundant tools
• Error tracking is often misleading
• Limited backlink database

#2 Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular tool among SEO professionals all around the globe. Yes, it is the second-fastest website crawler after google but have you seen its user interface? It is one the best out there. Furthermore, its site audit feature is arguably the best SEO analysis tool on the market. This feature allows you to note parts of your website in need of updates or improvements thus, improving your SE ranking. You can also use Ahrefs to check for several backlinks; including your competitors. The option to see keyword difficulty and other related keywords that rank for target phrases make its keyword explorer tools particularly loved among SEO experts.

Key Features

• Ranking Records: Allows you to see the history of every keyword used on your website.
• Content Search: Boasting a database of over 1 billion web pages, you can perform a content search in no time.
• Keyword Generation: With Ahrefs, you can generate millions of keywords on any research query.
• Link Monitoring: Ahrefs allows you to keep track of where your guest posts are linking through its site explorer feature.

Pricing

You can use Ahrefs for a 7-day period for $7. After which you will have to subscribe to a monthly plan ranging from $99-$999.

Pros

• Provides a detailed backlink analysis report
• Helps to build a content strategy
• Extremely fast, generates results in seconds
• Checks URL rating
• Shows tips for website improvement

Cons

• Does not show site speed
• Quite expensive
• Newbies might not find its interface interesting

#3 Majestic

Majestic is a web-based SEO tool with the widest and probably the longest backlink index. It dates back to 2011. Majestic, like LRT, is a favorite for backlink analysis. It boasts of a backlink database you cannot find in other tools. With one of the biggest crawl depths available on the market, you can easily discover all the websites that link to yours and all other websites. Its trust flow and citation flow metric make it a fan favorite among search marketers. Majestic is not an all-in-one tool. It is best used with other SEO tools for advanced professional practices.

Key Features

• Backlink Checker: This feature is particularly great if you’ve previously used a tool other than majestic to extract backlinks from your website or competitor. You can easily upload these backlinks on majestic and analyze them using Majestic’s data. Thus, streamlining your research operations.
• Site Explorer: The site explorer tool allows you to determine the trustworthiness and authority of a URL using the citation flow and trust flow metrics. With this, you can judge your site’s link profile and take the necessary steps to improve if necessary. You can also determine sites to avoid and those to partner.
• Compare Domains: This feature allows you to analyze multiple sites with the aid of charts. With this, you can compare your site with your competitors, check on other useful metrics, and always stay one step ahead of them.

Pricing

Majestic’s lite plan which costs $49.99 per month is ideal for light users. Its pro plan is ideal for professionals at $99.99 while its API plan for developers costs $399.99 per month.

Pros

• Large backlink index dating back to 2011
• Quick information retrieval
• Handles bulk requests conveniently
• Possess metrics to visualize and analyze data
• Mobile friendly

Cons

• Doesn’t integrate with google analytics
• Does not reveal search traffic data
• Not an all-in-one tool
• The user interface is outdated
• Lacks keyword metrics like daily searches, keyword difficulty, and suggestions

#4 Moz

Undoubtedly, Moz is one of the best SEO tools available on the market. Despite Google’s frequent algorithm changes, Moz always finds a way to be up to date. Furthermore, its chat portal also allows users to get insightful answers to their questions. Moz offers a full-fledged service. From keyword research to a full site crawl, Moz is everything you need to improve your SEO. You get to know your website’s performance levels and also methods for improvement. Its page optimization feature tells you how you can improve the SEO of each of your webpages. You should get the MozPro for advanced SEO functionalities. The MozBar browser extension integrates SEO analysis, google SERP, and Moz scores in your browser.

Key Features

• Ranking Research: Tests performance and organic rank of thousands of keywords over a specific range of time. Compares mobile vs desktop visibility, reveals competitive advantages, and keeps you abreast of all fluctuations in keyword rankings.
• Backlink Analysis: Tracks your website’s authority and ranking. Builds relevant and high-quality backlinks. Reveals important link metrics required to out-rank your competitors.
• Site Audits: Automatically carries out weekly in-depth crawls of all your webpages to fish out new and recurring issues. It allows you to better monitor these issues and take action before they cause major damage.
• Keyword Analysis: Extensive research on the competitiveness and search volume of keywords. Finds intuitive suggestions of keywords used by top-ranked sites from a database of thousands of high-quality keywords.

Pricing

Moz offers a free trial period of up to 30 days. After which you would have to choose from a set of plans ranging from $99-$599 monthly.

Pros

• Comprehensive SEO toolkit
• Easy to use
• Community Q&A
• Simplifies keyword research
• Provides accurate metrics

Con

• Quite pricey
• Incessant error messages
• Poor reporting

#5 SEMRush

SEMrush is a keyword research tool proficient in finding specific and profitable keywords. SEMrush helps you to get on top of your competitor’s winning formula. It reveals their traffic data, clicks on paid ads, and even their backlinks. It also reveals those keywords that your competitors are ranking for, allowing you to incorporate them into your webpages. Armed with this information, you can come up with strategies to beat your competition.

Key Features

• Domain vs Domain Analysis: This feature provides an extensive comparative analysis of your website and your competitor’s. It reveals your competitor’s website traffic, search data, and keywords you would like to rank for.
• On-Page SEO Checker: This feature allows you to keep track of your rank status. It also provides relevant tips on how you can optimize your website for better performance.
• Project Management: Allows you to manage multiple websites from a central location. It also provides an on-page SEO recommendation for your campaigns, tracks brand reputation, social media success, and much more.
• Traffic Analytics: This feature allows you to track where your competitor gets its bulk of traffic from. While this data helps you to formulate strategies required to tap into your competitors’ stream of traffic, it also assists in choosing the best websites to invest in.

Pricing

While you can get up to 10 free results daily, SEMrush’s premium plans range from $99.95-$399. Discounts are available if you pay a year upfront rather than month to month.

Pros

• Provides thorough keyword analysis
• Reasonably priced
• Identifies toxic elements

Cons

• Lacks geographical search filters
• Poor keyword list management
• Occasional errors in data
• Unfriendly user interface

#6 SEO Profiler

SEO Profiler is a cloud-based SEO marketing tool. From link building to keyword research, web page optimization, SEO audits, link analysis, URL monitoring and more, SEO profiler is all you need to gain an edge over your competition. It optimizes your website, simplifies workflow, and ensures that your website follows Google’s regulations as regards SEO.

Key Features

• Automatic Website Audits: SEO profiler automatically check for errors on your website. Thus, ensuring your webpage is better posed to ranking high at all times.
• Daily Ranking Monitor: The daily monitoring tool helps you to know where you rank on search engines. This feature spans over 92,000 cities in 120 countries worldwide.
• Website Optimization: An optimized webpage would definitely rank higher than a non-optimized one. SEO profiler offer tools that would help convince search engines to prefer your webpages during a search.
• Backlink Builder: SEO profiler helps to locate sites that can help your site rank higher through site-linking. With this tool, you can manage these links and ensure that they do what you ask of them. It also allows you to cut them off if they become toxic.
• Project Management: If you have more than one website, an SEO profiler is the tool for you. it allows you to manage all your websites from a single platform. Thus, streamlining workflow, and ensuring better organization of resources.
• Analytics and Reporting: With SEO profiler, you can easily sync with your Google Analytics account. This opens up your website to better and effective statistical monitoring. Also, exporting, and documenting reports becomes easier.

Pricing

SEO Profiler offers a 7-day free trial period. Its premium subscriptions range from $69.95-$999.95 per month.

Pros

• Streamlines operation
• Quick site audit
• Integrates with social media
• Mobile friendly
• Efficient project manager

Cons

• Cannot handle multiple searches
• Slow data gathering

# 7 Serpstat

Serpstat prides itself as the growth hacking tool for marketing operations. It offers services such as positions tracking, keywords grouping by tag, SERP historical data, local search, and more.

Key Features

• Search Analytics: This feature reveals keywords placing your competitors above you in search results. It conducts in-depth analysis to help you leverage their weaknesses for your site growth.
• Content Marketing: Serpstat helps you create content that answers the questions of your audience, thus attracting more traffic to your website.
• Competitor research: Identifies and analyzes your top competitors. Since you are aware of their performance levels, you’ll strive harder to stay competitive.
• Rank Tracking: This feature enables you to monitor how you and your competitors rank on search engines in various cities and languages.
• Om-page Audit: Conducts an in-depth crawl of your website. Analyzes and addresses ranking factors, and also fix optimization errors. Keeps you in the loop of your websites’ stats at all times.

Pricing

Serpstat offers a free trial period. Its premium plans, however, ranges from $69.00-$499.00 per month

Pros

• Finds missing pages
• Resolves problems with images
• Corrects interlinking verification
• Provides keyword variations and analyzes keyword trends

Cons

• Keyword search metrics is not always accurate
• Error in accessing specific domain backlinks

# 8 Raven Tools

Raven tools will effectively manage your SEO, social media, and online ads campaign. More so, from one central location, you can easily manage link building, ad campaigns, track search engine trends, generate detailed campaign reports, optimize social networks, conduct analysis and research. Raven also allows you to collaborate efficiently with your team. You are sure to work with the best set of data since Raven integrates data from giants like Majestic, Moz, and SEMrush.

Key Features

• Social Stream: With Raven’s social stream tool, you can monitor and join social discussions instantaneously. That is, whenever your brand name is being mentioned on any social media platform, you would know instantly.
• Site Audit: Raven crawls your website to extract data on technical SEO. Quickly analyzes and finds issues keeping your website from ranking higher.
• Ads Campaign: Raven lets you create a perfect marketing campaign in minutes. More so, it generates automated, custom, mobile-ready marketing reports that would not only save you a lot of time but also make your business look great.

Pricing

Raven tools offer a 30-day free trial period. But if you want to go premium, you can choose from their plans ranging from $109-$479 monthly.

Pros

• Automatic report generation
• Social media integration
• Easy-to-use backlink explorer tool
• Email scheduling option

Cons

• Does not reveal month-over-month reports
• Does not handle SERP requirements effectively

#9 SEO PowerSuite

SEO PowerSuite is a cross-platform and multi-lingual software offering everything you need to increase your search traffic. From ranking to link building, audits, and tracking, it covers all aspects of an SEO campaign. More so, the SEO power suite can be integrated with tools like google analytics, google search console, and social media platforms.

Key Features

• SEO Spyglass: SEO spyglass allows you to view and analyze your competitor’s backlinks, steal their strategy, compare your website with theirs, spot and remove risks before they become critical.
• Link Assistant: Allows you to find link building opportunities. Automatically reveal contact information, and conduct outreach campaigns.
• Rank Tracker: Enables you to research keywords, automate your reporting, analyze competitors, and monitor your rankings.
• Website Auditor: Performs a deep crawl of your website for improved on-page optimization, site structure and reveal competitors winning content strategies.

Pricing

SEO power suite offers a free version. However, you can make a one-time payment of $299 or $699 to enjoy premium benefits and updates.

Pros

• Makes report exporting easier and faster
• Daily rank checking
• Fantastic keyword research capabilities

Cons

• Not mobile-friendly
• Does not show the history of all domains
• Separate dashboards for each tool

#10 SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a popular keyword ranking tool with a user-friendly interface. You can use it even if you have little to no experience in digital marketing. With SE ranking, you get accurate data, detailed analysis, and reports on a regular basis. The SE ranking disavows tool helps you to avoid google sanctions by marking all toxic links disavow and generating a disavow file.

Key Features

• Competitors research: This feature enables you to monitor the amount of paid and organic traffic your competitors receive.
• Keyword Suggestion: This tool assists in keyword optimization. It allows you to find the best performing keyword for each niche.
• Backlinks Explorer: This feature helps you to keep track of various links to your website. With this, you can determine the best links, and also cut off nonfunctioning or toxic ones.
• Website Audit: Helps you to analyze your website. It reveals your website’s overall performance and allows you to take steps for improvements where necessary.
• Website Ranking: Enables you to check where your website is positioned on SERP results in any location of the world.

Pricing

SE ranking is available for prices between $39 and $189 per month.

Pros

• Gives accurate and actionable metrics
• Tracks rankings of multiple search engines
• Affordable pricing
• Competitor analysis
• Integrates google analytics

Cons

• Its user interface is a little technical
• Takes a while to load results
• You have to pay extra to access certain tools

Wrapping Up

While any of these tools would certainly do a great job in improving your SEO, you need to select the tool most suitable for you. Since most of these tools offer a free trial, you can test-run each of them until you find your best fit.

However, I have to mention that mere reliance on SEO tools is not enough to achieve your SEO goals. You need to put in a lot of work to make them work. I mean; creating informative and engaging content regularly, redesigning your web pages if required, and rewriting previous content. While all these would make your website, even more, SEO optimized, it would also attract visitors, keep them, and leave them asking for more. Thus, boosting your organic traffic and ranking eventually.

Do you use any of these tools? Let me know your best pick in the comment section below.