5 Essential Tools to Improve Your Site’s SEO
When building a site, the first thing you come to learn is that three big letters will run your life: S. E. O. For the few who have yet to become acquainted, SEO, or search engine optimization, is the lifeline to building an audience through Google searches. The keywords you target and how you build your site is crucial to how high your site will be ranked in search results. But alas, great SEO comes down to analyzing metrics—a daunting task. Fear not, here are five great tools to help improve your site’s SEO and get your site ranking ahead your competitors.
Google Analytics
First things first, Google Analytics is the perfect jumping off point if you’re taking your initial dive into the pool of online marketing. You might as well bookmark it right away, as you’ll be referring to it on the daily. This tool provides high quality, detailed information on… well Google. Yep, you’re getting it straight from the source. Google Analytics creates reports on data about site visitors, traffic, and everything else. Think of this report as your site’s check-up. A daily report can allow you to make a diagnosis that allows you to grow and gain the traffic you know you deserve.
Google Keyword Planner
Previously named Keyword Tool, Google’s Keyword Planner allows you to see average monthly searches and competition for keywords that you’re thinking of using on your page. This tool can be found in Google’s AdWords, in the “Tools” menu, as its original purchase is for optimizing targeted ads. Best of all, IT’S FREE. For more instruction on how to use Keyword Planner, checkout this tutorial.
MOZ Bar
A great way to improve your site’s SEO is by learning from other sites — simple enough right? The MOZ Bar is the premier tool for gaining intel on any site that you’re visiting. The nifty bar sits atop your browser near your tabs and bookmarks and generates a report listing useful information on the site that you’re currently on in the browser. The toolbar’s report is comprised of Page Elements, Page Attributes and Link Data. Page Elements gives the general SEO information including tags, H1’s, descriptions, titles, etc. Page Attributes displays a deeper layer of the page’s optimization features including robots and load time. Link Data shows ranking factors and information on the site’s links. Link Data is the only feature of this tool that you’ll need to pay for.
Quick Sprout
For a quick, clean report of your site against your competitors, head to the Quick Sprout tool. This site scans your website and analyzes what could be done to optimize your website for growth. It then generates a report with instructions for your site’s improvement. Implement, push live and watch your site grow! Think of it as your own personal SEO Yoda.
Buzzsumo
If content is your game, let Buzzsumo be your guide. If it’s not your game, it definitely should be—regardless of the content of your site. When it comes to content, it’s important to have your finger on the pulse of the internet. Buzzsumo allows you to find the most shared content on the entirety of the web. From infographics to blog posts, this tool can monitor and follow influencers (for a price) so you can get ahead of your competition. It allows you to gain knowledge on trending subjects, analyze headlines and plan your next viral post.
