SEO tools are an asset to have in your marketing arm today. In fact, a BrightEdge report says that 68% of all website traffic begins with a web search. With that, having a powerful SEO tool with the most up-to-date features is important if you want to boost traffic.
Just by doing a quick search, Google will come up with a lot of SEO tool recommendations. From well-established ones like Moz Pro to recent services like JetOctopus, SEO tools today have endless offerings. But with all kinds of functions, do you really need the complete SEO package to rank high? Or are the most advanced tools really what you need to rank higher on Google? What if you’re only looking for a DIY website audit?
Look no further! This article answers and discusses all that. For newbies or SEO specialists finding new insights this 2024, here are the updated 10 best SEO tools. But first, take a look at the features that you should look for.
Features to Look for in SEO Tools in 2024
Having a powerful SEO tool is a big help to rank higher on Google. However, there’s so much software appearing everywhere that you don’t know what SEO tools will best cater to you.
When choosing the best tool, remember that SEO is changing fast and developments are coming after the other. You need something that quickly adapts to these changes so that you don’t get stuck with outdated, slow-to-keep-up systems.
Considering that, take note of these features to look for in SEO tools this 2024.
All-in-One vs. Specialized Tools
You have two options when finding the right rank-boosting tool:
- Do you want a tool with complete SEO features?
- Or do you need something that has special advanced functions for a specific area?
Comprehensive SEO tools can manage all your needs at once, while specialized ones provide extra advantages. If you want to check all SEO musts, go for the all-in-one software. But if you want to deep-vet a particular weakness of your page, it’s best to get an area-specific tool.
Content Strategy and User Experience
An example of a meta description
Coming up with effective keywords is one thing, but thinking ahead to boost SEO ranking is another. The best SEO tools make your content better by ensuring that it satisfies the users and makes them enjoy their time on the page. These features include:
- Title tag, meta description, heading, and other on-page recommendations
- Checking for relevance, readability, quality, and improvements
- Comparison with competitors
- Suggestions of search queries related to your content
- Group related keywords
- Features to track bounce rate, time on page, conversion, and behavior flow
Advanced and Technical SEO Features
Aside from on-page SEO, good SEO tools should also back up your ranking with technical insights. Most advanced software today can give you a heads-up on slow loading times, mobile-friendliness problems, and broken links.
Find SEO tools that put Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) on top. Google uses these CWV “rules” to check how fast, responsive, and stable your website is. Having SEO tools that are CWV-capable can help you rank higher on Google search results to boost your traffic.
Recently, there have also been tools that have AI features to automate tasks, suggest content ideas, and give better analysis. All in all, SEO tools that stay ahead and introduce something new can always offer an advantage.
User-Friendly
Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a good interface that’s easy to use is always better. Find SEO tools that can do menial tasks like keyword research, competitor analysis, and on-page optimization by themselves. This makes the process smoother so that you can focus more on planning and experimenting with new ideas.
Flexibility, Compatibility, and Customer Support
Think about whether your SEO tool can handle many websites in case you need to grow. Or someday, you’ll need new features and advanced help beyond SEO.
Make sure that your software can work smoothly with other popular tools like Google Analytics and project management platforms. Last but not least, fast and reliable customer support can save you from hassle in the long run.
10 Best SEO Tools in 2024
There’s an endless list of popular SEO tools today, but only a few stand out to pro specialists. When choosing the best helper, remember that popular doesn’t always mean good. Likewise, there are many underrated SEO tools waiting to change your life.
That said, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console are unquestionably among the best SEO tools to boost traffic quickly. However, they’re not for every need. So, here are 10 apps to improve your SEO ranking based on the 2024 technologies:
1. SEMrush
Price: Starts at $130/month
Best for: SEO agencies, consultants, and large businesses with advanced needs
If you want an all-in-one tool to boost your SEO ranking, SEMrush is the ultimate service. This tool can handle keyword research, backlink analysis, and everything in between. Aside from common SEO features, SEMrush can track ranking, audit sites, and help you with advanced content and social media advertising.
The only common problem with SEMrush is its cost and coverage. Unlike many SEO tools, SEMrush doesn’t have a free plan. And despite its almost all-around abilities, SEMrush has insights on other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGO.
Other than that, SEMrush is a good all-around SEO helper for most small startups and big enterprises alike.
2. Ahrefs
Price: Starts at $99, with free keyword research
Best for: In-depth backlink analysis
The free version of Ahrefs showing keyword difficulty and keyword volume for a search query
Ahrefs is another powerful SEO tool that has a strong backlink capability. Like SEMrush, it offers a wide range of features from keyword research to marketing.
One thing that makes Ahrefs unique is its accuracy in scoring the difficulty of keywords. It also has a large collection of external links which can help a lot in technical SEO to rank higher on Google.
But like SEMrush, Ahrefs can be too expensive to enjoy the whole package. Fortunately, Ahrefs offers free keyword research on Google, Bing, and YouTube in various countries. The suite, though, focuses more on search volume rather than user intent and experience.
3. Moz Pro
Price: Starts at $99/month, with a free 30-day trial
Best for: Small businesses, beginners, bloggers, and budget-conscious
Moz Site Crawl is one of the most reliable SEO tools today. It provides a good balance of price and features, helping specialists in link-building and brand monitoring. It’s also easy to use and has an active online community to find SEO best practices. In addition, Moz’s Domain Authority (DA) score has been a reliable way to predict how well websites rank on search engines.
However, if you need a strong backlink tool like Ahrefs, Moz is not the suite for that. You might not do a lot for bigger campaigns with Moz because of its fewer compatibilities and focus in the US.
4. SE Ranking
Price: Starts at $39, with a free basic plan
Best for: Beginners, small businesses, and agencies with many clients
SE Ranking’s free redirect checker tool
If you need SEO tools that are easy to use, SE Ranking is one to consider. It especially focuses on keyword ranking and giving insights from competitors. It’s also affordable, making it a best friend for small businesses and freelancers alike.
But like Moz Pro, SE Ranking has limited features for inbound linking. It also doesn’t have the all-around traits of SEMrush and Ahrefs, which limit reporting options and insights for big projects.
5. KWFinder
Price: Starts at $29/month, with free trial
Best for: Bloggers, beginners, and long-tail keyword niche
Popular for its low price and user-friendly interface, KWFinder is a great tool for bloggers and beginners. It has all the abilities you need to boost ranking – from search volume data to long-tail keyword research.
Because of its affordable price, however, KWFinder can only do so much. Specifically, it doesn’t provide smaller pieces of keyword data. If you’re working in a niche where it’s hard to rank, KWFinder may not be for you.
6. Google Search Console
Price: Free
Best for: Beginners, website developers, and helping hand to other SEO tools
If you want free, Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the best, most reliable SEO tools out there. It can help you understand how well your website is doing, offer search traffic, and send your sitemap to Google.
Although many SEO experts add Google Search Console to their tool stack, GSC doesn’t have many features. It also won’t go deep into improving content and on-page SEO, despite its impressive technical abilities.
7. Screaming Fog
Price: Starts at $180/year, with a limited free plan
Best for: Technical SEO specialists, large websites, complementary tools with other suites
Screaming Fog is a desktop SEO auditing tool that checks your website for technical SEO problems. You can use it for free, but it has fewer features. If technical issues are the main reasons you don’t rank higher on Google, Screaming Fog is all you need. But take note of some downsides:
- Focuses on technical SEO
- Not for beginners
- Desktop app-only
- Limited 500 URLs for free versions
The good news is, Screaming Fog integrates well with other SEO tools. Combine it with other affordable SEO tools on this list, and you already have everything you need to boost traffic.
8. Google Lighthouse
Price: Free
Best for: Website designers, basic performance auditors, and helping hand for GSC
Another one from Google, Lighthouse is a Chrome-integrated tool that audits website performance and points out areas for improvement. Unlike GCS, Google Lighthouse can give you insights into performance and user experience. It also suggests how you can improve loading speed, responsiveness, and others.
9. AnswerThePublic
Price: $99/month, with a free plan
Best for: Starting point for keyword research, brainstorming teams
AnswerThePublic is one of the slightly underrated SEO tools that you can try. It’s a free keyword research site, although you can also pay for advanced services. Aside from many search categories, AnswerThePublic has “visual keyword research,” which shows search questions in a graphical format.
10. Ubersuggest
Price: $12/month, with free features
Best for: Small businesses, newbies, and solopreneurs
Ubersuggest’s free keyword insights including volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and cost per click
Ubersuggest is a free keyword research tool from Neil Patel that helps you find keywords, popularity, and difficulty. Despite its limited capabilities, Ubersuggest is a great app for newbies who want a similar feel with advanced SEO tools.
Honorable Mentions – 4 SEO Tools You Should Consider
The ranking mentioned considers the general needs of businesses, content creators, and specialists – from all sizes, expertise, and niches. So, if you didn’t find what you’re looking for on the top 10 list, here are other SEO tools for your specific needs:
- JetOctopus: AI-powered versatile software that can improve your website for local SEO. Despite JetOctopus being new in the market, many professionals already consider it a strong service to boost SEO ranking. If you want their pricing details, visit JetOctopus for a quotation.
- Yoast: A famous WordPress plugin that focuses on on-page SEO. It’s straightforward to use and has a lot of features for free. For more advanced uses, Yoast is still affordable at around $89 a year.
- Surfer SEO: Also an AI-equipped service, Surfer SEO is a strong on-page optimization tool. At $49 a month, it can already help in content planning and suggest topic clusters.
- Semrush Sensor: If you’re a fan of SEMrush but can’t buy their full-on tool, maybe their browser extension is all you need. Semrush Sensor gives you quick SEO insights while browsing the web for free.
Tips to Boost Your SEO Ranking
Even the best SEO tools won’t work well if you don’t use the right techniques. To rank higher on Google, you should follow certain rules and best practices that aren’t always up to the software. Here are some tips to boost your SEO ranking, considering the trends this 2024.
Focus on User Intent
Don’t just stuff keywords into your content. Rather than ranking higher on Google, that might just hurt your website more. In fact, in a mini case study, Google took action on 40% of keyword stuffing reported. So instead, find SEO tools that do more than just tell you how popular and difficult the keywords are.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
More than 50% of adults in the world use voice search every day. Long-tail keywords cater not only to these but to more specific queries as well. These keywords are also easier to rank for and can bring the right people to your site. You can use Ahrefs and KWFinder to find long-tail keywords.
Do mobile-first indexing
Today, more than 58% of website traffic comes from mobile phones. Google mainly looks at the mobile version of your website when it ranks pages. So, use responsive design to make sure your site works well on all devices. You can also test your mobile-friendliness using Google’s dedicated tool.
Develop Topic Clusters and Content Hubs
Don’t use just keyword-focused pages – go as far as grouping related topics. To do this, make main pages about big topics, then link them to smaller ones that go into details. This can show that you know a lot about a topic, which catches the users’ interest.
Incorporate AI Features
Many SEO tools now use AI, which can come up with creative content ideas. Check out the competition, and get suggestions faster and more effectively. Using AI technologies can make your work easier and find new things to improve.
Optimize for Video SEO
Over 91% of businesses today use video marketing. Videos are a great way to keep people’s attention to spend time on your site. To do this, use the right keywords in titles, descriptions, and tags so that your videos show up in searches. Also, consider putting written versions of your video on the webpage.
Final Thoughts
It’s an exciting era for SEO today. With many new technologies developing, there are also game-changing features surfacing on the SEO tools. The options are too many that casual onlookers can get overwhelmed. But in the end, it all boils down to the unique needs of your website.
For a full-package service, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz Site Crawl continue to lead the marketer’s tech stack. Meanwhile, Ubersuggest, Google’s SEO services, and other open-source aids are more than enough hands to help the budget-conscious and novice.
That said, having the right SEO tools should also come with knowing the best practices to successfully boost traffic. Couple that with keeping up with trends, and you’ll surely achieve the best version of your website and content.
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