Free SEO Tools For Small Business Owners To Leverage

Want to kick some serious SEO butt for your small business this year?

Maybe you’ve been itching to give it a go, but you’re not quite sure how to start. Well, fear not! We’ve got you covered with the top free SEO tools that are perfect for small business owners and entrepreneurs just like you. So let’s dive in and start boosting those rankings!

But before we get started with the SEO tools that you can use, let’s see what SEO is in the first place, and how the SEO tools can help you without having to learn it.

 

SEO In A Nutshell For Business Owners

SEO or search engine optimization is a digital marketing tactic, in which certain changes are made to textual content on websites to trick Google’s algorithm into ranking higher on the search engine results page (SERP). Think of it as a digital treasure hunt where the search engine is the map and your website is the treasure. The more valuable and relevant your website is to the search query, the closer it will be to the top of the results page.

Let’s say you’re craving a delicious slice of pizza in New York City, and you turn to your trusty search engine for some recommendations. It’ll go on a hunt across the vast expanse of the internet to find websites that have the inside scoop on the best pizza joints in New York City.

But not all websites are created equal, right?

The ones that are optimized for search engines with the right keywords, juicy content, and an easy-to-use design will have a better shot at landing on the top of the results page.

 

Best SEO Practices For Entrepreneurs Today

Basically how SEO is practiced by content writers or marketers to create written content by using popular keywords that are searched by huge volumes of people on search engines. This can be specific to the location of the search, but essentially the entire SEO-writing game boils down to using the right keywords in the right places.

The best five SEO practices for business owners and entrepreneurs would be:

1. Keyword research: Researching and identifying the right keywords for your website is crucial in targeting the right audience. The majority of SEO tools are the ones that’ll help in researching keywords.
2. On-page optimization: This includes optimizing the website’s content, titles, meta descriptions, and URLs for search engines. SEO tools can be crucial for on-page optimization and we’ve listed the best of such SEO tools that we personally use.
3. Technical SEO: This involves improving the website’s technical aspects such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and security.
4. Link building: Building high-quality backlinks from relevant and authoritative websites can significantly improve your website’s authority and search engine ranking.
5. Content creation: Creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content can help attract and retain visitors to your website. But keep in mind, SEO tools may not help you in creating the content itself.

Keeping these in mind, your article will rank on top of Google’s search result page in no time!

Now that you know all you need to know about SEO and its practices, let’s explore the SEO tools that you can use to rank higher than ever!

 

Best Free SEO Tools For Business Owners

The main reason why small business owners should go for free SEO tools is that you get good SEO results and support without having to spend a buck!

Our list contains tools for business owners that have a free version or is 100% free. So dive into our impeccable list of free SEO tools that can take your SEO game to the next level!

For this article, we have categorized SEO tools based on their functions, and have come up with seven such categories. These include Keyword Research, SEO-Writing Assistants, WordPress Plugins, Local SEO, Site Speed, SEO Analytics, and Website Scanners. This will provide you with end-to-end SEO services, all for free so that you can win the race to ranking at the top!

 

SEO Tools For Keyword Research

Before you begin writing anything, you need to know which keywords to use. This is why keyword research is our number one category, as it helps you with what to write. The more you use the keywords that people generally search on Google, the better chance you stand to compete in SEO.

But make sure that you don’t over-optimize the article!

Google and other search engines can easily identify a keyword-fluffed article that focuses more on optimizing the content rather than creating it by keeping the readers in mind. SEO tools mentioned in this list will aid you in optimizing just right.

With that in place, here are the best free keyword research SEO tools that we think will provide you with the most organic results.

 

1. Answer The Public

Get ready to supercharge your SEO strategy with Answer The Public! This amazing tool creates a mind-blowing visual map of search queries associated with your topic, giving you unparalleled insights into user intent. With Answer The Public, you can quickly identify long-tail keywords and uncover content ideas that are likely to resonate with your audience. The tool is easy to use and can be a valuable asset for any SEO strategy.

I’m absolutely in love with this tool for content marketing, as it takes the guesswork out of keyword research and categorizes them according to various types of queries, including “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and even comparisons using “versus,” “and,” and “or.”

The key to crafting fantastic content that climbs the ranks is understanding what your audience wants to know beyond your target keyword phrase. With this tool, you can anticipate their burning questions and create content that truly speaks to their needs. Trust me, it’s a game-changer for any content creator looking to up their game!

For example, I searched ‘SEO tools’ as a keyword on Answer The Public. This is the search result I got and I’m amazed to see the versatile keywords I got even in the free version.

 

A very easy-to-use SEO tool, Answer The Public by Niel Patel is a trusted tool in the market and gives insights into what generally people might search for. A total game-changer!

 

2. Ahrefs Keyword Generator

Ahrefs Keyword Generator will give you the keywords only. There are countless SEO tools for keyword generation, but Ahrefs is different.

This is not as versatile as Answer The Public, but many people might prefer Ahrefs because of its straightforwardness. With the free version of this tool, all you will get is a location-specific list of SEO keywords and two stats on it; keyword difficulty and volume. But Ahrefs has some things up its sleeves that make it stand apart.

 

As you can see in the image above, the home page of this tool allows you to not only specify your location but also the search engine. Even the free version allows you to toggle between Google, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon so you can get search-engine-specific keywords.

After you get the results, you can again toggle between keywords and questions that users may search for. This is how it looks.

 

Here, keyword difficulty (KD) is how difficult the keyword is for the user to search. The lower the KD will be, the better optimized the keyword is. Volume on the other hand is how much a certain keyword is used, and represents how popular that keyword is.

Ahrefs is overall a swell tool for any business owner looking to up his keyword research for SEO.

 

SEO Writing Assistants

Having the keywords isn’t everything. How, where, when, and how much to use the keywords is what matters more. SEO writing being a popular service, there are several writing assistants that not only help you in optimizing perfectly but also aid you in readability, changing the tone and voice of the content to suit the specific audience, and perfecting the grammar among many other such solutions.

Here are the SEO writing assistants we think were worth mentioning.

 

3. SEMRush SWA

SEMrush’s SEO Writing Assistant (SWA) is a tool that helps improve the quality of your written content by analyzing it for readability, tone of voice, originality, and SEO optimization. It provides suggestions on how to enhance your content and make it more engaging and search engine-friendly.

 

If you’re tired of guessing which keywords will rank, SEMRush SWA can help you stay ahead of the game. This tool provides you with up-to-the-minute data and insights on your competitors’ top-ranking strategies, so you can fine-tune your approach. Plus, with add-ons for Google Docs, WordPress, and MS Word 365, optimizing your content has never been easier!

What makes SEMRush SWA stand apart from other SEO tools are:

• checks your content for plagiarism and suggests ways to make it original
• provides a side-by-side comparison of your content with top-ranking articles on the same topic
• integrates with Google Docs, WordPress, and other platforms
• provides insights into the target audience’s interests and intent
• allows users to save and reuse frequently used templates, reducing the time and effort required for writing and optimizing

Say goodbye to the days of painstakingly editing your work, because SEMRush SWA’s automated editing process gives you immediate, detailed tips on how to take your content to the next level. With SEMRush SWA, you’ll be writing like a pro in no time!

SEO tools like these are crucial for aiding in content writing as a whole. But don’t rely on such SEO tools too much, as it degrades the quality of content.

 

4. Yoast Real-Time Content Analysis

The Yoast Real-Time Content Analysis is a powerful tool that provides feedback on the quality of your content as you create it. It evaluates your writing for factors such as sentence length, use of passive voice, and keyword usage. It also checks for the presence of subheadings, internal and external links, and image optimization. By providing immediate feedback, the tool allows you to make necessary adjustments to improve your content’s SEO performance and readability.

As a trusted and popular SEO tool, Yoast SEO is widely used by content creators and website owners to ensure that their content is optimized for search engines and readers alike. Very similar to SEMRush SWA, this Yoast SEO tool does it all. It’s up to the user interface and the user’s preference as to which SEO writing assistant to use.

 

WordPress Plugins

After gathering the keywords, you must start writing the content to publish it. Most organizations use WordPress to solve this problem and due to its popularity, there are a plethora of SEO tools on WordPress. We have boiled them down to the three best plugins that we believe will aid you the best while writing on WordPress.

 

5. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a super popular tool for websites made with WordPress. It helps make sure that all the pages and posts on the site are easy for search engines like Google to find. With Yoast SEO, it’s easy to figure out how to make your site show up higher in search results.

With its intuitive interface, comprehensive analysis, and endless customization, it’s no wonder that Yoast SEO reigns as the undisputed champion of SEO plugins. Its algorithms unravel the mysteries of Google’s ever-changing algorithms, pointing the way to the coveted first page of search results. This is why Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO plugin on the internet.

Yoast does not only give your SEO score but also your readability score. In real-time, while writing, Yoast SEO will tell you what changes to make and what things you have done correctly. The plugin is highly popular and widely used, with a large community of users offering support and resources to help you make the most of its features.

 

6. Broken Links Checker

It takes on the Herculean task of scrutinizing every internal and external link on your website, seeking out those pesky broken links that ruin your SEO ranking and user experience. With this trusty ally by your side, you can say goodbye to bad links and hello to a more seamless and enjoyable browsing experience for your audience.

Developed by WPMU DEV, which stands for WordPress Multisite Development, meaning that Broken Links Checker in WordPress’s own developed SEO tools does just one thing: check for backlinks in your website that are not working or show errors. This is essential, as bad links can bring down your SEO score by a tremendous margin.

After installation, the plugin will start examining your posts, bookmarks, and other content to search for links. The duration of this process can vary from a few minutes to an hour or even longer, depending on the size of your website. Once the examination is done, the plugin will begin to verify each link’s functionality. The duration of this process depends on the number of links and the size of your website.

 

7. SEOQuake

Similar to Yoast SEO, SEO Quake is also an overall SEO plugin and is available on WordPress as well as a Google Chrome Plugin. The reason we’ve mentioned this as well is that SEOQuake is a freer version of Yoast SEO as it is a 100% free plugin. SEM Rush, a highly popular business tool, is a project of SEOQuake, which makes this plugin an important one.

SEOquake is not just a one-trick pony, it’s a complete SEO audit powerhouse! You can check for mobile compatibility and even your social statistics on Facebook. Dive deeper into your website’s performance with a full report for both internal and external links. You can also determine a keyword’s density and configure a stop-word list to ensure you’re ranking for the right keywords. And that’s not all; you can even compare URLs and domains to see how you stack up against the competition.

With SEOquake, you’ll be well on your way to online success!

 

SEO Tools For Local Reach (Local SEO)

If you have a product or a service to sell, but you are looking to sell it to people in your locality or region, local SEO is the skill you need to perfect. Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s visibility in local search results. It is crucial for businesses with physical locations or those targeting local customers, as it helps them reach potential customers in their target areas.

Let’s look at what are the best free tools for Local SEO!

 

8. Moz Local

Moz Local is a tool that helps businesses manage their online presence and improve their local search ranking. It offers unique solutions such as location data management, review monitoring, and analytics. Here are some of the primary features of Moz Local:

• Moz Local allows businesses to manage their online presence across multiple platforms with ease.
• It provides review monitoring, allowing businesses to track and respond to customer feedback on popular review sites.
• It offers analytics that helps businesses track their performance in local search rankings

The only issue with Moz Local is that is very limited when it comes to providing a lot of locations for its search results. You can get very precise local SEO-related data for the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. That’s it! And it is a real bummer, as the service is very good, but is simply going to waste for many business owners conducting business in any place else.

To solve this problem, we have our next SEO tools in line.

 

9. SEMRush Listings Management

No matter where your business is in the world, as long as you have the official phone number, pin code of your business location, and the business name, you can search and start optimizing your local SEO listing using SEMRush’s Listing Tool right away.

But what is listing for SEO in the first place? How can SEO tools help in this?

A Local Listing, also known as a Business Listing, is an exciting way to showcase your brand to potential customers! This snappy online profile is like a virtual business card, packed with all the must-know details about your company, like its name, location, phone number, website, and other crucial contact information.

So, let’s get started and put your business on the map with SEMRush’s top-notch Local Listing!

 

SEO Tools For Website Loading Speed

Google HATES slow-loading websites because people hate it.

Nobody likes waiting for the website to load to get some piece of information that is available on hundreds if not thousands of other fast-loading websites. So it is essential to make sure that your website loads fast while having enough data in your website and a professional UI.

But there’s a problem; the more data and comprehensive UI a website has, the slower it loads. Exactly the reason why we have listed the lifesaving tools below to improve your site loading speed and reduce the number of unsatisfied customers who turned away from your site as it just refused to load.

 

10. Google Pagespeed

Google PageSpeed is considered the best tool in its space as it provides a comprehensive analysis of website performance, including real-world data from actual users, while offering actionable recommendations to improve site speed and user experience, ultimately leading to better search engine rankings and higher user engagement.

The simplest UI you must have ever seen for any SEO tool, Google PageSpeed Insights offer the following features that make it stand apart from other site-loading speed-enhancing tools:

• Google PageSpeed provides real-world user data to offer more accurate and relevant recommendations. As Google has the highest database of people in general, they are best able to do this.
• It offers insights into user experience and engagement
• PageSpeed integrates with other Google tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, for a more comprehensive analysis of website performance
• The tool offers a variety of optimization suggestions, including image compression, code minification, and server response time improvements

Overall, PageSpeed Insights by Google is the most versatile and fully free tool to use, making it suitable for small business owners and entrepreneurs running start-ups.

 

11. GT-Metrix

GTmetrix is a website speed analysis tool that offers more detailed and actionable insights into website performance than Google PageSpeed Insights. It provides recommendations on how to optimize images, code, and other elements that affect website speed, along with historical performance tracking and monitoring.

 

Although Google PageSpeed is more inclined toward serving a much larger audience, GTMetrix is more niched towards serious businesses. GTMetrix will not only give you insights into how you can improve your website loading speed but also

• tracks your website’s performance over-time
• notifies you every time your website gets slow
• sees how your site loads on different devices
• tests how your website performs in different regions

The free version of GTMetrix is one hell of a tool! As long as you are looking to improve your overall website speed without getting too much into the technical SEO aspect of it, GTMetrix is the best tool for you.

But Google PageSpeed can be a good deal also if you simply want insights and analytical data based on real-life data as gathered by Google.

 

SEO Tools For Analytics

As we’re nearing the end of our spectacular list of best free SEO tools for business owners and have looked into all the major aspects of SEO, now let’s break down the technicality of it. Google Analytics and Ubersuggest are the two best free SEO Analysis tools we were able to find. Both are highly trusted sources, now from the God of data; Google, and the other by the person who popularised SEO and SEO tools all over the internet, Niel Patel.

 

12. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a digital genie in a bottle, granting website owners and marketers access to a wealth of information about their audience. This magical tool tracks and reports website traffic and user behavior with ease, providing insights into the number of visitors, where they hail from, their preferred devices, the pages they frequent, and the actions they take.

 

SEO tools like these are super important as gathering data is crucial. Google Analytics provides all the specific data points that are needed in technical SEO. These include:

• The number of visitors: the total number of users who have visited your website.
• Sessions: the number of times users have visited your website.
• Pageviews: the total number of pages viewed by users.
• Bounce rate: the percentage of users who leave your website after viewing only one page.
• Average session duration: the average amount of time a user spends on your website per session.
• Location: the geographic location of your website visitors.
• Devices: the type of devices used by visitors
• Interests: the interests and demographics of visitors.

An offering of Google, this tool provides you with everything you could need when it comes to SEO data and analysis.

 

13. Ubersuggest by NP Digital

Yet again we pair a Google tool with Neil Patel’s tool to create the best all-rounder SEO data analysis tool duo! Ubersuggest is the ultimate keyword guru, offering up all sorts of juicy suggestions to help your online content soar to new heights. From search volume to competition data, this tool has got you covered.

 

Their brand-new feature allows you to get even better keyword suggestions when you enter your competitor’s URL. This makes Ubersuggest a much more competitive tool than Google Analytics, even though it may not be as niche-specific as Google Analytics. Ubersuggest also takes a deep dive into your website’s domain, providing insight into everything from organic search traffic to top-ranking keywords.

But wait, there’s more!

Ubersuggest can even help you keep tabs on your competitors, providing data on their top organic and paid competitors, backlinks, and top-ranking keywords. With Ubersuggest by your side, you’ll be armed with all the information you need to dominate the online world.

 

Website Scanner SEO Tools

The importance of SEO tools as website scanners is that they help website owners identify and fix technical issues that may affect their search engine ranking and visibility. By scanning a website, these tools provide insights into the site’s health and performance, allowing website owners to make necessary improvements.

You may not need this if you have followed every step we’ve mentioned and checked every box for search engine optimization. But it’s good to have a tool like an SEO website scanner to make sure everything is in check, even technical SEO.

Here are the two best SEO website scanners we think will do one hell of a job for you!

 

14. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps website owners monitor, maintain, and improve their website’s performance in Google search results. It provides valuable insights into how your website appears in search results, what queries people use to find your website, and any issues that may impact your website’s visibility.

 

The search console provides usable data points such as

• Performance: Provides data on how often your website appears in Google search results, the number of clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position.
• Coverage: This shows how many pages of your website are indexed by Google, which pages are not indexed, and the reasons for indexing issues.
• Sitemaps: Allows website owners to submit a sitemap to Google for better crawlability and indexing.
• Mobile Usability: Checks how mobile-friendly your website is and identifies any issues that may impact the user experience on mobile devices.
• Links: Displays data on internal and external links to your website, including the number of linking domains and top linking pages.
• Security and Manual Actions: Alerts website owners to any security issues or manual actions taken by Google against their website, such as penalties or suspensions.

Google Search Console is like a Swiss army knife for website owners – it helps measure how much traffic is coming to your website, lets you find and fix problems, and helps make your website look awesome in Google search results. It’s like having x-ray vision for your website, allowing you to see which keywords people are using to find your site, and how your website is ranking on Google.

 

15. Small SEO Tools

This platform offers many SEO tools, but their website score checker is one to note. Small SEO Tools Website Scanner is a powerful and easy-to-use tool that offers comprehensive website analysis, helping website owners to identify and fix issues to improve their site’s search engine optimization (SEO).

 

Small SEO Tools Website Scanner stands out from other SEO website scanners due to its user-friendly interface, accurate results, and wide range of website analysis options it offers, including checking for broken links, identifying duplicate content, and analyzing site speed.

Although not a mainstream tool, Small SEO Tools Website SEO Score Checker is quite valuable and a necessary tool. The best thing about Small SEO Tools is that all of their tools are 100% free and it is a one-stop solution for end-to-end SEO services. You have to compromise slightly on the quality of the services, but if you are a small business owner who wants all SEO solutions but doesn’t wanna spend a single buck on them, this is the perfect place for you!

 

Summing Up: Perfect SEO Tools For You To Leverage

Without a doubt, SEO is a super strategic process. But guess what? You don’t need to break the bank to start implementing it! From keyword research to site speed enhancers, we’ve covered it all with the top SEO tools.

Now that you are equipped with the knowledge of the best tools you can utilize to up your SEO game, you will feel more ready to start publishing those articles and get some traction on your website. Using the right SEO tools at the right time is crucial.

But the most important thing, when it comes to managing a business, is bringing in some monetary value and managing it. Accounting software is a must for managing your books just as SEO tools are for your online business.

To manage your finances as a start-up or a small business, you need affordable and effective accounting and invoicing software. Find out how ProfitBooks can solve this problem without having you spend any money! Create your account for free today.

 

Also Read:-

www.profitbooks.net/google-for-business-free-tools/

www.profitbooks.net/optimize-website-for-mobile-seo/

www.profitbooks.net/top-ten-business-software-with-a-free-plan/

www.profitbooks.net/top-free-software-for-small-businesses/

www.profitbooks.net/free-business-software-for-managing-remote-teams/