A man is only as good as his SEO Tools. Doesn’t matter if you’re tryna do some pottery, reverse sear a steak, or optimize a website for Google. Doesn’t matter how well you understand the algorithm and the bigger picture if you have bad or no tools and if you’re not using data to drive your strategy. Without sufficient data, SEO is really just a fancy guessing game. So here’s a list of tools and data sources that I rely on pretty much every day.
It’s not everything I use, just the stuff I think at least the majority will find useful. Some are paid and some are free. The paid ones pretty much all have free or low-cost trials you can use to kick the tires. I don’t really care if you purchase them or not; there are no affiliate links here. I’m not even going to bother linking to any of them; all are easily found on Google.
Now … let’s get right into it.
1. AHREFS
Simply put, AHREFS is the GOAT of SEO Tools.
I am sure many of you get targeted ads for SEMRush too.
They’re pretty similar, but AHREFS is just better.
It’s invaluable for keyword research, tracking backlinks/referring domains, analyzing your competition, and for tracking inbound and internal anchor texts (on your own site and competitor sites).
They also provide country-specific keyword data for Google, Amazon, Youtube, and the other less popular search engines that are more prevalent outside the USA (Yandex, Baidu, etc).
Another really cool feature is click data.
Very important because search volumes without click data are often misleading.
For example, when Google does their Knowledge Graph shenanigans, the info in that little box will often satisfy people’s search intent, and then they end up clicking on nothing.
You don’t want to waste resources on such a keyword.
And on the other hand, certain keywords will have even more clicks than their search volume.
The best example of that is when people are searching for a valid promo code and end up clicking on multiple results.
(Thank you to the AHREFS blog for these visuals)
They also break down the clicks and traffic by SERP position for any given keyword.
That’s important because it is all too easy to just assume someone will get whatever the average click rate for a given ranking is, once they obtain that ranking.
(I used to do this myself)
But in reality, different keywords have different traffic distributions, and if you want to determine which will be the most valuable for you (and how much traffic you’ll actually get as you climb up the rankings), the click distribution is something you’re going to need to consider.
The last part worth mentioning is their toolbar for Chrome and Firefox.
Anyways, you can do a weeklong trial for $7.
2. Cora SEO Tool
Cora is a pretty incredible factor correlation software that makes on-page SEO about as simple as writing and posting a tweet.
You just feed it your URL and target keyword.
It then looks at over 2,000 on-page factors of the websites currently ranking well for your target keyword and uses that data to determine which factors are best correlated with top rankings.
Not only that, it’ll also give you precise instructions about how fine-tune each on-page element in order to best structure your website to capture search traffic.
There are plenty of other tools that make similar claims, but Cora is different because there are no built-in assumptions about which factors matter (or how much).
It’s just pure math to correlate each factor with ranking position.
So the other tools aren’t nearly as useful because their utility decreases with each new algorithm update. Even if their foundational assumptions were right at one point, they can’t possibly stay right forever.
But because of how Cora is built (with no assumptions), it is essentially update-proof.
When the algorithm changes, you just run the software again. And then you get the new factor correlation analysis for the updated iteration of the algorithm.
If you maintain a record of your Cora reports over time, studying changes in the algorithm is as simple as comparing an older Cora report to a more current Cora report.
It’s ridiculously helpful and truly a competitive advantage, and I am not the type of guy who gets excited about a chunk of code.
It’s just that good.
There is also a Cora “Lite,” which is half the price ($125 / month instead of $250) and does a less complex analysis (only 556 factors).
It’s also supposedly way more user/beginner friendly.
I couldn’t say for sure because I’ve never used it myself, but from what I’ve heard and read, the lite version could be perfect for many who want to optimize their own stuff, who don’t know exactly where or how to start, and who just don’t need to be overwhelmed by over 2,000 factors right off the bat.
And by the way, if you’re going to Google it, search for “Cora SEO” and not just “Cora” by itself.
(If you just type in “Cora” you will be led to a women’s period and bladder care brand of the same name)
3. Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is my website crawler of choice.
Very useful when auditing technical and on-page stuff; saves me quite a bit of time.
And you can use it on staging websites too, which not all crawlers are able to do.
There’s a free version and a paid version.
If your website is on smaller side (fewer than 500 pages, which is the URL limit for the free version), the free version should probably do the trick.
4. BuzzSumo
It’s no AHREFS, but BuzzSumo is a very elite data source in its own right. So, It makes my list of SEO Tools.
I use it mainly to plan out content strategies, search for link opportunities, and to find influencers in various niches.
There are also a whole bunch of other features that I don’t even use (mainly because I like the AHREFS version better).
They’ve also got a Chrome extension of their own.
You can do a free 30 day trial if you want to check it out.
5. Google Data Studio
I use Data Studio to make data more easily digestible and for client reporting purposes. Think of it as the mother of all SEO Tools. It brings all of them together.
It saves me a lot of time yet still enables me to be extremely transparent with all of my clients.
You use Data Studio to build a dynamic spreadsheet that integrates with various data sources.
I use just Search Console and Analytics, but there are hundreds of available integrations.
Regardless of whether you do SEO, email marketing, paid ads, lead gen, or whatever else, there are ways you can use it to save yourself time while providing clients with a more transparent and pleasant experience.
Thanks to the integrations, the sheet automatically refreshes in real-time whenever someone accesses it.
And you or your client can toggle by hundreds or thousands of various parameters, as well as various date ranges and time series comparisons.
Super nice because you don’t have to spend time every month packaging up and reporting on progress, but the client still gets absolute transparency and the ability to see whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want.
If you make a great branded template, all you’ll really need to do whenever you get a new client is duplicate the template and integrate it with that client’s data.
6. SERP Snippet Preview
Just Google “serp snippet preview.”
The entire first page will be free in-browser tools you can use to visualize what your SERP listings will look like as you draft meta titles and meta descriptions.
Makes it easy to ensure that you’re within the proper length parameters and easy to make sure your listings will be visually appealing.
7. Loom
This isn’t an SEO Tool.
It’s just so you can record your screen with your face in a cute little circle in the corner.
You can use it without the webcam on if you want to stay anon (or if you don’t think that showing your face will do your conversion rate any favors).
I love using Loom to make and share a brief video analysis after someone fills out my discovery form, but before we actually meet.
It provides value for the prospect regardless of whether they hire me or not, and it also allows me to appropriately frame their unique situation and say everything I want to say before we actually start talking.
Also great for communicating with clients, especially when you need to collaborate with an in-house web developer or marketing team.
Conclusion
If you have good tools and access to enough data, you can use that combination to overcome gaps in your SEO knowledge and ability.
Whether you’re trying to do your own SEO in-house or trying to sell SEO services of your own, all of the tools above will make your life simpler and easier.
