Best SEO Tools for 2020

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Maintaining a website is not an easy task. Most websites are supposed to be informational. Other websites sell products (e-commerce or B2B) while still others are into affiliate marketing. No matter the type of website, the best SEO tools can help to make the website more visible on search engine results pages. For a website to become a productive marketing tool, it has to be easily found on search as well as have a visible presence on social media.

Ranking on search engines is the primary way a website can be found. A search engine provides guidelines on how to rank on their search engine results page (SERP). They also provide suggestions on what an admin can do to rank higher. Besides the search engines, there are other tools which provide other important information about ranking on searches.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy and a lot of guesswork. There is documentation from search engines, especially from Google, but they are also secretive about their algorithms. They make sure that their work is not copied by competitors. At the same time, they know that if website owners, admins, and developers know the exact algorithms used, then the websites would be gamed to conform to the algorithm.

Search engines want to cater to the regular internet users. In order for these users to keep on using them, the search engines have to be trustworthy and the results have to be useful to the internet users. To do that, the search engines have to be secure black boxes which website owners can only see the results, but not how it works.

This leads to a lot of guesswork for the developers and owners. They try to test ways to improve their web rankings. In doing so, they depend on tools which can help to improve their rankings. Since the beginning of SEO, there have been tools which help the website owners to rank. These SEO tools have ranged from keyword research, site audits, backlinks management, real-time backlink trackers, and others.

5 Best SEO Tools for your Arsenal

Keyword research is the cornerstone of any search engine optimization campaign. A website wants to make it easy for visitors to find their site. To do that, they have to choose the right keywords to use. There are plenty of websites which use the broadest keyword because they don’t know their target market. There are also those who use keywords which are so narrow and focused that nobody searches for them.

The balancing act is in trying to find a keyword with a lot of traffic or visitors, but at the same time is used by only a few users. This is where keyword research comes in. There have been plenty of web tools which provide great keyword research. What sets SEMRush apart is that it has expanded beyond keyword research. It also provides information about the competition for a particular keyword.

If you want to be successful, you have to know your competition, and the keywords that they use, as well as their strategies. The competition might be using social media or specific keywords. Being in the same market, you have to know what the competition is doing, and if you can compete using the same methods. You also want to know if there are other keywords which can be used.

SEMRush provides advertising information about the competition. It can also show the backlinks used by other websites. Backlinks are still a potent way to rank. Properly using and creating backlinks can help jumpstart a new website towards a high page rank.

Other SEMRush features include traffic analytics reports, a site audit tool, and a social media scheduler. Website analytics can have more meaning if there is a baseline criterion. A regular website audit can help monitor the website’s health. Knowing the ranking is important, but also knowing that the website is functioning properly can ensure that it is running in the right direction.

Traffic analytics provide the website admin with vital information about visitors. These include the source or referrer site, the length of stay, and what articles are popular. In addition, it can provide information about the visitor. These could be information about the device used. This information may warrant further study and help in developing the website further.

SEMRush is not just a single tool. It is a growing set of tools for the online marketer. It is growing bigger with new tools, features, and functionalities. It is positioning itself as a one-stop-shop for all the online marketer’s needs.

SurferSEO is an online search engine optimization tool which takes a completely different approach from other website tools. Or, to put it in another way, it answers the question of how to rank by going to another level.

Without knowing the details of how Google ranks pages, especially how the newest algorithms affect rankings, SEO practitioners are left working via trial-and-error. They try things out and see what happens. They take a look at the top search results and emulate these hoping to have the same results.

This is what SurferSEO does. It studies the top search results for a particular keyword and compares its findings with your website. Following the SurferSEO results, the target website can considerably increase its visibility and lead to a significant increase in visitors.

SurferSEO uses several assumptions but the most important one is that the keyword matters. The keyword matters so much that it is unique from every other keyword and Google search results will behave in a unique way for each keyword. The way that Google shows results nowadays, it is possible that there are other conditions taken into account for any particular SERP.

The listings will differ from one location to another. It will probably differ between the persons doing the search, specifically for Google users. The way that Google is moving, the results may soon vary between browsers, apps, and devices. It already considers prior searches in providing the SERP for any individual user.

Why should a website use SurferSEO? Besides the results it provides, which is proof that it works, SurferSEO does not care what Google does. Google can introduce any innovation, or condition in its search engine algorithms, and the results would not matter to SurferSEO. The only thing that matters is that SurferSEO sees the top sites on the search results are relevant. These will be studied, compared, analyzed and the commonality will be used as a recipe for the user.

With SurferSEO, the user would be able to learn about the correct length of articles for their niche. Although the recommended is at least 500 words, it is possible that this number is almost arbitrary depending on the average article length of the top keyword competition. They would also be able to optimize the metadata, titles, and headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.).

SurferSEO also provides a site audit. However, it uses the site audit to provide a real-time comparison between your website and the top 40 plus competitors using the same keywords. This is not a regular site audit. It is an aggressive audit which aims to show the direction you should be going.

This is a massively underrated tool. It gives the website a lot of things to work on. It automates a lot of information gathering and analysis. Which leads to even more work for the website owner, admin, and developer.

SEOprofiler is one of the first SEO tools online. It was first released in 1997, even before websites had any idea how to optimize a website. In more than 20 years of operation, SEOProfiler has been providing a solid toolset for the website owner.

It is a complete set of tools which include keyword research, link building, link management, on-page, and off-page optimization, mobile SEO, local SEO, daily rank checks, website audits, website analytics, and competitive intelligence. In addition, the developers know that SEO is not a static object, and it keeps adding new features.

One of its biggest strengths is in link building and backlink management. SEOprofiler simplifies keeping backlinks active, at the same time, it helps in adding more backlinks. Years ago, indiscriminate backlinking was the key to ranking high on searches. However, that strategy no longer works. Judicious and intelligent backlinking is now required.

The user should know where to backlink for best results. The backlinks should also fit the site, otherwise, it would be disregarded by Google. These and other considerations should always be in the mind of the website owner.

SEOprofiler identifies websites which are relevant to the website owner. The owner can then link to these websites confident that Google would not consider the link as spam. Backlink management also helps the owner by assuring that the links are live, have not been taken down and that these are still contributing to the website ranking. It is no use putting up countless backlinks if these do not contribute to the website page rank.

Website mentions in social media is also a major consideration for ranking. There is some debate on how Google credits these links, prior algorithms have included them, and there have been algorithm improvements which discount them. It is important to remember that social media mentions, likes, comments, and shares have a direct impact on the performance of a website. These can contribute to the number of website visitors, even though these visitors do not contribute to the website’s page rank.

Social media use is a totally different strategy which yields its own traffic. SEOprofiler is able to monitor the performance of social media links and accounts. It also allows the user to react and interact immediately with every mention, share or comment on social media.

Like a big bag of tools, it is up to the user to make their own workflow. Like most SEO toolsets, there is seldom any prescribed workflow within the toolset. It is up to the user to adapt the tools and incorporate it into their workflow.

Link Tracker Pro is an online SEO tool which helps in increasing the effectiveness of keywords and backlinks. It now only helps search for websites to place backlinks, it also helps avoid toxic website linking.

Creating a backlink is no longer a simple matter of adding a link to a site. Up to a few years ago, guest posting was helpful in creating viable backlinks which contributed greatly to page ranking. However, Google has introduced the concept of contextual links and their effectiveness in the backlinking strategy. A backlink is studied within the context of the text link, and the article.

Google determines if the link itself helps the article, and does it help develop the authority and credibility for the article. At the same time, if the link does not help the article, then the link is not only discounted, it may also lead to some demerits or loss of points in the page rank calculation.

This is a subtle improvement in the algorithm, but a big impact on those who use guest blogging as a backlinking strategy. The idea of organic links is given heavier weight and random links are not given any weight towards the page rank.

For those websites which rely heavily on blogs and links to blogs, this is an important tool to have in their arsenal. The keywords and backlinks rank tracker utility can help the owner avoid any missteps in creating backlinks. It also helps the website owner in managing their backlinks. With Google’s introduction of contextual linking, old backlinks can also be affected and create a negative effect on the website ranking.

Released in 2011, SERPBook has created a dedicated following among internet marketers and agencies. This is not surprising considering that its main selling points are ease of use and fast reporting. Real-time reporting of rank does not have any meaning because it takes time for a website to rank. However, SERPBook is as real-time as any other SEO tool out in the market.

Besides being easy to understand, SERPBook reports also have the granularity that local marketers would appreciate. The reports for rankings can be limited to specific areas which can be as small as states, cities or zip codes. This is a tremendous help for a local business.

It does provide real-time updates, and the user has live notifications about keyword movements. For some industries with quick movements, this can be crucial in developing online strategies. It can also help monitor any viral media postings.

For advanced users, this is one of the few SEO tools which has an API. This allows the user to create other tools which can automate their workflow. The API can also be used to extend the functionality of SERPBook and the data can be used with other tools or APIs. For instance, a notification about a drop in rank can trigger a re-posting of an article or a social media post. The API alone makes this a very powerful, if not the most powerful and useful SEO tool available.

What do you need for your Website SEO

Ten years ago, it was possible to have surprising overnight rank improvements. A website can easily reach the front page of their chosen keywords within a couple of months, even as short as a month or a few weeks. Most of the time, the improvements were due to black hat methods, where work was done outside of the website. Indiscriminate link building was a common strategy. Since then, Google has included methods to detect black hat strategies and these old techniques no longer have any lasting or long-term impact.

Those crude strategies have lost their efficacy. In their stead, various now SEO tools are used to improve ranking.

There are steps a website owner should do before working on SEO strategies. The website owner should follow the steps below and incorporate the SEO tools as needed.

Develop for mobile. The majority of users now browse the internet using their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. The website should be responsive but the developer should design for mobile devices. As a responsive website, the page will render fine on the desktop or a laptop.

Clear understandable metadata. Search engine crawlers read the metadata and use that as the primary source of information about the page. Filling up important metadata like description, title, and keywords can help the page rank higher.

Pictures and alt-text. The page should make use of images, and these images should be readable by the crawlers. Alt-text are used by crawlers to read the contents of images.

Speed of rendering. The page should render fast, otherwise, the internet visitor would move on to a different page. Google puts a large emphasis on the user experience, including the visitor’s time spent on site, and the number of pages visited.

Choice of keywords. These should be used on the page content, as well as on the metadata. However, if a particular keyword is used too often, whether on the page or on the site, the site may get a lower ranking. The website administrator should change the website metadata every few months. SEO tools are necessary for choosing the keywords to use.

Social media access. The page should be accessible on social media. It should also have links to make it easy for visitors to share the articles or content.

Internal links, navigation, and dead pages. There should be links to other pages on the website. There should also be no dead-end links or links to pages which do not exist. The navigation should also allow the visitor to easily go to other interesting pages. Most site audit and SEO tools list down these errors. These issues may be hard to track manually, but once found, they can be easily corrected by the owner.

A website audit. The owner should have an audit of its site on a regular basis. This will allow the website owner to spot potential problems in complying with Google guidelines. Most of the SEO tools listed above have automated website audits which help in determining problems and fixing these problems before they become worse.

It is not surprising that the above SEO tools are full of features. Most of them are full-featured online software. These tools have distinct advantages in specific areas because these areas are where they started out. Their growth in popularity has been due to their effectiveness as tools. In addition, their reach has grown because of the addition of more functionality. They were not all-in-one solutions when they started. They added features as they grew.

Conclusion

SEO tools provide completeness for any online marketer or agency’s capabilities. Having a complete toolset allows responsive management of website content, with direct readings on rank and search engine results. It is possible to be granular and compete on the local level, as well as leverage social media and other websites for improving search page rankings.

For a website to rank on Google, it has to follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines. However, it also has to follow the spirit of the guidelines as well as try to divine what the search algorithms are trying to achieve. It helps to have SEO tools in use to achieve these aims.

Novice website owners should consider an SEO tool as soon as they understand what they want to happen to their website. Static websites no longer rank, and even old strategies for increasing page rank can turn from being beneficial and productive to toxic. Choosing the best SEO tools help determines the direction of the SEO strategy. Without one, it is going to take a lot longer to rank, if at all.