By Matt Bassos
Practicing SEO is halfway between a goldmine and a minefield. As much as you stand to gain through search engine optimization, you also risk making a mistake that compromises your rankings. Selecting the right tools to help you rank in search engines is no mean feat, especially when there are literally hundreds of tools you could choose from. Here are nine small business SEO tools the average small business owner can benefit from using.
1. Google Analytics
Free to use
It’s possibly the most common tool in digital marketing across the planet. But why wouldn’t it be? It’s more than capable of reporting on:
- Page views
- Unique page views
- How you’re acquiring page views
- Audience behaviour and information
- And hundreds of other metrics
For anyone operating with a website, Google Analytics is a must-have.
2. Google Tag Manager
Free to use
Google Analytics is a terrific platform, but the insights it pulls are somewhat elementary. Tag Manager takes the foundation laid by GA, and can deliver more detailed reports on:
- Conversion tracking
- Site analytics
- Remarketing
- And plenty more
Put simply, GA is brilliant for measuring the success of individual pages. Google Tag Manager is best for measuring the success of your campaigns.
3. Google Search Console
Free to use
It’s amazing just how much information Google will help you acquire for free. Google Search Console is more specific to the strength of your website – particularly in regards to its structure and build. By ‘test driving’ the site, it can identify areas that Google struggles to maneuver, detracting from your overall rankings. The common points of interest for Google Search Console are:
- Security issues
- Indexing issues
- Manual penalties
- Again, plenty more
If you’re looking to fight for competitive search terms, Google Search Console can help ensure your site’s build isn’t costing you rankings.
4. Google My Business
Free to use
If your business operates from a set location, or specifically targets a specific area, a Google My Business listing is an absolute must. The added information on your location greatly improves your presence through Google – and helps users in your area find you with ease.
5. Test My Site
Free to use
This ‘Think With Google’ service is the perfect way to check the most integral part of your website’s performance: speed. Test My Site goes the extra mile too, providing a full report outlining the areas of your website that are potentially stopping it from performing at its optimal speed. In any ecommerce business or any other field where your website is near 100% of your revenue stream, your page speed can be the difference between gaining and losing a sale.
6. Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool
Free to use
Yes, Google has more. Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool gives you a platform to develop, test and modify your structured mark-up. Especially for those competitive search terms, structured data is a terrific way to optimize your SERP listing, and improve your overall click-through rate.
7. Screaming Frog
Free up to 500 URLs
Don’t be thrown by the name – Screaming Frog is one of the most essential tools for any business’ SEO. By crawling through your website, it can identify issues such as:
- Pages missing a H1 tag and/or title tags
- Duplicate title tags
- Duplicate content
- Incorrect or missing redirects
- Any other basic errors in your meta data
All of these individually would be a massive boost to your overall rankings – which is why Screaming Frog is a must-have in SEO.
8. Ahrefs
US$99/month
Ahrefs is a terrific platform to build SEO strength, rather than monitor or resolve matters of the past. The software allows you to look into link building (specifically by alerting you if links are lost or broken), and find new content opportunities. You can also track over 300 keywords each week, to make monitoring your rankings for keywords easier.
Once you’ve built a functional website, a system such as Ahrefs can help take your site to another level.
9. SEMRush
US$99.95/month
Think analytics, but on steroids. The insights you’ll pull from SEMRush will give you extremely in-depth analysis on keyword research, competitors, and plenty more.
If your aim is to really nail the ‘O’ in SEO, SEMRush is the best tool for you.
What other SEO tools do you use in your small business?
Share them in the comments below.
Photo credit: SEO concept for websites from PureSolution/Shutterstock
