WWW… Wednesday! Best SEO Tools

by Taylor Slattery | January 29, 2020

Whether you are studying to be a web designer, or just building a personal website to house your portfolio, chances are you’ve come across the term SEO at one point or another. Simply put, Search Engine Optimization is ensuring that your site is visible when people search for it online. This could be through your name, your company’s name, or any series of keywords related to your goods or service. If you’ve just launched your site but aren’t receiving any traffic, SEO is something you’ll want to look into.

If someone is searching for a service you offer, you want your name to be one of the first they see, but there’s a vast sea of competition out there, and ranking highly for commonly searched keywords can prove to be a difficult task. This is often the point where disgruntled business owners seek the help of SEO specialists. It can be frustrating to expend time and effort into your site only for all of your hard work to go unseen. SEO is touted by many as the solution to all of your website’s problems, and due to the seemingly complicated nature of it all, specialists can charge hefty fees with the promise of a higher ranking in Google searches.

Whether you’re trying to maximize SEO on your own or are looking to hire professional help, here are some tools you can use to track the success of your efforts.

Ubersuggest is a comprehensive free SEO tool that is easy to use and provides a number of helpful analytics. Simply enter a site or keyword and you’ll be presented with metrics for search volume, age ranges, and keyword suggestions. You can also use Ubersuggest to perform site audits which will give you insights into speed, traffic, backlinks, and any SEO errors as well as suggestions on how to fix them. You can try Ubersuggest for yourself here.

Webmasters is a collection of resources curated by Google for improving your site’s SEO. For those just dipping their toes into SEO, there are a number of comprehensive courses to help you gain your bearings. There is also a suite of simple tools that give users the ability to see exactly how Google views their site. You can also review your site’s speed and structure to ensure quick load times and sound formatting. If you run into any problems you can also connect with support via live chat to troubleshoot your site. You can learn more here.

Moz is the most comprehensive suite of SEO tools on this list. Several of its tools are accessible for free, though it’s most powerful analytics do require a subscription. Moz can perform a more in-depth site audit. It can locate any missed keyword opportunities, analyze your backlinks, and help to develop SEO strategies based on your location. These features definitely cater more to businesses rather than individuals and the pricing reflects that. Moz Pro’s standard plan starts at $99 per month. The free features are worth checking out as well. You can learn more about pricing and try the free tools here.

SEO can be rather intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Armed with the right tools, any job can be completed. Hopefully, these 3 tools can be of help along the way.

Taylor is the Managing Editor of Notes on Design. Taylor is a graphic designer, illustrator, and Design Lead at Weirdsleep.

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