20 Free and Easy SEO Tools

1. Google PageSpeed Insights

Check the speed and usability of your site on multiple devices
Enter a URL, and this tool will test the loading time and performance for desktop and for mobile, plus identify opportunities to improve (and pat you on the back for what you’re doing well). The mobile results also come with a user experience score, grading areas like tap targets and font sizes.
pagespeed test
 Alternatives: PingdomWebPageTest, and GTmetrix

2. Moz Local Listing Score

See how your local business looks online
Moz crunches data from more than 15 different sources—including Google, Foursquare, and Facebook—to score your brick-and-mortar business on how it looks online. Results come complete with actionable fixes for inconsistent or incomplete listings.
local listing score

3. Keywordtool.io

700+ keyword ideas based on a single keyword
Enter a keyword, and the Keyword Tool provides a huge handful of long-tail keyword opportunities, organized alphabetically.
keywordtool.io
Alternative: Übersuggest

4. Google Analytics

Complete web stats and search insights
In addition to tracking pretty much every bit of traffic you could imagine on your website, Analytics also surfaces many keyword insights as to which terms people use to land on your pages.
analytics
Alternative: Piwik

5. Google Webmaster Tools + Bing Webmaster Tools

Constant website analysis, alerts, and error reports
These webmaster tools help give you a taste of what the two top search engines think of your site. It’s helpful to see any bugs, alerts, and indexing issues.
Pro tip: Each of these two tools requires a bit of installation on your site. If you’ve got a WordPress website, you can add the webmaster code automatically through a plugin like Jetpack or Yoast.
webmaster tools

6. Open Site Explorer

Comprehensive link analysis
The free version of Open Site Explorer gives you a quick look a full range of link analysis, including a look at the most impactful links coming your way and your most linked-to pages.
open site explorer buffer

7. Google Keyword Planner

Know what people search for
Enter a keyword or group of keywords into the tool, and Google will return all sorts of helpful stats to guide your keyword strategy: monthly search volume, competition, and even suggested terms you might not have considered.
google keyword planner

8. Google.com in an Incognito Window

Discover auto-fill opportunities
Searching Google.com in an incognito window will bring up that all-familiar list of autofill options, many of which can help guide your keyword research. The incognito ensures that any customized search data Google stores when you’re signed in gets left out. Incognito may also be helpful to see where you truly rank on a results page for a certain term.
social media search Google

9. Google Trends

Changes in search volume for key terms
A quick browse or search through Google Trends can show you the hockey-stick rise of potential terms and SEO opportunities for your content.
google trends schedule social media

10. QuickSprout Website Analyzer

Full analysis of your website
The QuickSprout tool does a comprehensive look at just about everything: SEO optimization, speed, tags, keywords, social, links, and even competitor comparisons.
quicksprout tool

11. Schema Creator

Uber-customize the way your search results appear
Create custom code so that your reviews, events, organizations, and people are displayed the way you want on search pages. Once you’ve created your schema code, copy and paste to your website, or try the free WordPress plugin for an even easier implementation.
Here’s an example of schema in action:
review

12. SimilarWeb

View site stats for any domain
Use this tool to compare traffic between two websites, a helpful tool for competitor research.
similarweb

13. SERPs Rank Checker

See where your site ranks for certain terms
You can run Rank Checker one of two ways: Input your keyword and your website and see where you land, or leave the website field blank to view the top-to-bottom list of results for a keyword.
serps rank checker

14. XML Sitemaps

Build a sitemap
Simply enter your site’s URL and some optional parameters, and XML Sitemaps will create a sitemap that you can upload to Google Webmaster Tools.

15. Browseo

See your website the way a search engine sees it
Enter your site, and this tool will strip out everything but the guts, revealing your website the way search spiders see it. This particular view can be helpful to see the hierarchy you’ve given particular elements (maybe without realizing it!).
robot

16. SEO Site Checkup

Audit and score for your website
Site Checkup runs through a fast audit of your site, checking for proper tags and surfacing any errors that might come up.
seo audit

17. Searchmetrics Website Analyzer

Performance dashboard for search and social rankings 
The free version of the Searchmetrics report shows you a taste of how your website ranks in search and social, along with a preview of top terms.
Screen Shot 2014-08-23 at 8.48.46 AM

18. Find Broken Links

Discover errors on your site
The link report from Ninja Internet Marketers combs through your whole site and highlights a number of link insights, including the internal and external links that need fixing.
broken links errors

19. Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and Backlink Checker

Complete overview of your website, pages, and links
A free (and substantial) sampling of what ahrefs offers, the dashboards for referring pages and inbound links are rich and informative.
ahrefs

20. Copyscape

Check for duplicate content
Enter a URL for a blogpost or website, and Copyscape can tell you where else that content exists online. You might find results that you’ll need to follow-up with to help get your SEO in order.

21. Moz toolbar

I’ve shied away from referencing any toolbars thus far, but the Moz toolbar is just too good to pass up. Once installed, the Moz toolbar can show you SEO insights from within Google search results pages and at any particular website.
mozbar

Further resources

Putting together a list of free SEO tools can be a daunting task. There are hundreds out there! I aimed to grab the ones that we’ve found valuable here at Buffer and the ones you can use via the web within minutes to get some amazing insights.
If you’re interested in even more tools—like, hundreds!—here are a few places to start:
Which SEO tools are your favorite? 

3 comments:

SEO Tips said...

Great SEO Tools you have shared. Also SEO Tools help us to create massive SEO to get ranking. Here i have shared Best SEO Tools which should use to become SEO expert. Try those Best SEO Tools for link building and analysis, keyword research, webpage performance, local listing audits, and many more!

Unknown said...

Google Ads planner Alternative I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much.

Unknown said...

Keyword suggestion Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with extra information? It is extremely helpful for me.