Big businesses usually have a much bigger SEO budget and have more time and resources that they can rely on.
This makes the trial and error nature of search engine optimization less risky for those big businesses.
For small businesses that have fewer resources and less room for trial and error, having the right tools can make all the difference.
Here are fifteen great tools that are perfect for small business SEO:
1. Google’s Keyword Tool
Having the right keywords can make or break your search engine optimization campaign.
Google’s Keyword Tool gives you insight into which keywords will work best for your website, based on what people are actually searching.
2. Google Trends
Obviously Google isn’t the only search engine out there.
It is, however, the most popular and its algorithm is the basis for all others.
This tool can help you find keywords that people are searching for by showing you what searches are currently popular.
3. Keyword Traffic Estimator
You might have a list of keywords that you think are great and are sure to bring you traffic.
But are they really as valuable as you think they are?
This tool will help you estimate which keywords are actually going to bring your website the most traffic, but helping you analyze search volume and your potential amount of traffic based on those searches.
4. Open Site
If you want to know who is linking back to your website (for better or for worse) this tool can help you do it.
Essentially, this tool searches the internet for people who have linked to your website, making it easy for you to contact them, either to beef up that link or to remove it if it is actually hurting your small business’s search engine optimization.
5. Ahrefs
Despite having a clever name that anyone who ever took an HTML class will remember dearly,
Ahrefs is a great tool for showing you the strengths and weaknesses of your onsite optimization.
Not only will it tell you whether or not your anchor text is compliant with Google’s current rules, it will also analyze your keyword usage.
6. Screaming Frog
Another tool with a great name, Screaming Frog also reviews your website’s current optimization.
This is a great tool for those that want to be able to see what common SEO problems their website might be suffering from and to find the chinks in their armor that they need to strengthen in order to get a better page ranking.
7. Alexa Rankings
If you’ve ever heard a marketer talk about Alexa rankings, this is the tool they are talking about.
Essentially, Alexa keeps track of the entire internet, allowing users to search for successful websites and see what keywords and optimization techniques they are using.
8. PR Checker
Page rank is what SEO is all about, right?
But do you actually know what your page rank is?
Trying to improve your page rank without knowing where you are starting out is like trying to improve your credit score without actually knowing what that credit score is.
You can easily check the ranking of your domain to see where you are (and therefore, where you need to go).
9. SEO Browser
Have you ever wondered what your website looks like to a search engine?
That’s what this tool does. It essentially parses your website and shows it to you the way that it is crawled by search engines.
This can give you a better understanding of what search engines are looking for.
10. Topsy
Do you know how strong your social search and social signals are?
Topsy gives you a look at your social analytics, which are an integral part of any successful small business SEO campaign.
11. Hoot Suite
While not a tool specifically for SEO, Hoot Suite makes managing your social media accounts much easier, which will boost your social signals, which will, in turn, boost your search engine page rankings.
While the basic features are free, a small monthly fee grants you access to far more features.
12. Google Webmaster Tools
You don’t actually have to be a master of the web in order to use Google Webmaster Tools.
In fact, these tools are great for beginners who are just trying to get a grasp on their page ranking and aren’t quite sure what Google is looking for, what your visibility is, or how to improve your campaign. All of this information can be extracted from Webmaster Tools.
Bing has a tool, too.
13. Optimizley
A big part of developing the very best SEO campaign for your business is testing. Optimizley is a tool that makes running split or multivariate testing on your websites fast and easy.
This can help you determine which content, images, headlines, etc. perform the best.
14. Triberr
If you’re looking for more exposure for your blog posts, this is a great tool.
Essentially, this tool enables syndication of your content and encourages other members of the website to share your content with their own followers.
15. Yoast
Another tool that helps you optimize your website, Yoast gives you an in-depth look at how well your content, snippets, tags, images, etc. are optimized and gives you actionable advice about how you can improve your onsite optimization, which can be extremely valuable for someone who is just starting out with SEO.
Use these fifteen tools to get a better grasp on your website’s current optimization and to find what aspects of your small business SEO campaign you need or want to improve.
