For the majority of small and medium-sized businesses, a large amount of traffic that you’ll receive on your website and other online channels will often come from search engines. Search engines, and the algorithms that they use to help convert a search query into search results, are always changing.
Google search engine algorithms literally change every day. What that means is trying to create content or modify your website to reverse engineer a Google algorithm is a losing battle. A better approach is to find out what Google is looking for in general, and give them exactly what they need.
So what are Google and other search engines looking for? What are the points that they, as a business, need to make sure that customers continue to come back to Google, and not defect to another search engine?
| Name | Website | About |
|---|---|---|
| Moz.com | http://moz.com/ | This SEO service has updated all of its already impressive tools with enhanced applications that focus on the company’s area of specialty, but these tools all work great side by side. Also, most SEO tools websites focus on the features they provide and include a helpful blog as an afterthought. Moz provides a beginner’s guide to SEO as one of its main pages. The company wants you to learn about the process before you decide to jump into the crowded online optimization pool. It also provides a group of free applications that you can try out with your website. If you’re serious about boosting your website’s visibility, it won’t take long to see that Moz is the service to go with. |
| Raven Tools | http://raventools.com/ | Raven Tools’ dashboard provides a place where you can track multiple campaigns under one roof. You will have a clear and comprehensive overview of paid search advertising, organic visibility, keyword tools, competitive analysis, social media analytics and link building. Some SEO experts may have issues about the slightly limited information each of these tools gives to them, but for an introductory website owner or small business SEO specialist, the dashboard gives a great at-a-glance idea of how each campaign is performing and what needs to be fixed. |
| Web CEO online | http://www.webceo.com/ | Web CEO Online is one of the best SEO tools for a quick education in SEO training. It gives you an easy-to-use dashboard that will help you keep track of several campaigns. You can choose from a variety of pricing options with this keyword tracking service. You can either sign up for fixed pricing, or you have the option of flexible pricing based on your needs. Your dashboard gives you access to 10 initial tools whose options expand even further. The White Label Domain feature allows you to invite clients and allocate responsibilities for them. You can assign each client a minimal role, such as receiving reports, or make them managers with the same level of control as you. This great search engine tool makes each feature easy to understand. |
| HubSpot | http://www.hubspot.com/ | This SEO service essentially takes you by the hand when you are creating new content and guides you through the steps to help you increase your analytics score and help your website be more readily found. HubSpot’s dashboard is sleek and provides an intuitive step-by-step guide. You will get a summary of every key metric, such as leads, traffic and landing page activity. Much like Google Analytics, you will add a tracking code to your website. Your website will soon have its own management system that keeps track of keyword optimization, social sharing buttons and impressions. |
| SEO PowerSuite | http://www.seopowersuite.com/ | The SEO PowerSuite program is a compiled bundle of SEO tools instead of one specific application. The programs it offers are SEO SpyGlass, LinkAssistant, WebSite Auditor and Rank Tracker. This collection of applications caters to webmasters who specialize in a specific task and for people who take a very organized approach in making their websites visible in search engines. The drawback with SEO PowerSuite is that, because the applications are all separate, there is no standard dashboard to receive all-in-one reporting. |
| SEMrush | http://www.semrush.com/ | SEMrush has long been one of the best SEO tools. This service will quickly train you to adapt to an always-changing online world. To keep current with changing algorithms and SEO trends, the company consistently improves its process so that you can make your personal or business website more visible, in both organic and paid search results. |
| Advanced Web Ranking | http://www.advancedwebranking.com/ | Advanced Web Ranking’s SEO tools have incredible link-tracking functionality and outdo every competitor in terms of rank monitoring. As a search engine optimization service, it caters to a specific group of webmasters, and ranks lower than most services because of its niche. The Advanced Web Ranking dashboard is extremely easy to use and understand. Typically, in competitors’ applications, there is an abundance of charts and graphs, and it becomes overwhelming for startup site owners. The company keeps its statistic graph simple, so you can actually comprehend how your website has progressed compared to similar sites. |
| Upcity | http://upcity.com/ | UpCity has not only gone through a name change, from DIYSEO, but it has also added important SEO toolsthat will help you increase your website’s chances to be seen in organic search results. Though there have been a few changes, the simplicity of the service and the basic, easy-to-use interface remain the same. This is not only a SEO service, but also a company that can teach you how to create a website and make sure it’s listed on Google, Yahoo and Bing. |
| Traffic Travis | http://www.traffictravis.com/ | Traffic Travis has a great balance of SEO tools for someone who is looking to get into introductory search engine optimization. If you have a blog and you want it to be more visible on search engine results pages (SERPs), but you don’t want to take much effort to do it, this service is a great option. It has a basic, easy-to-use reporting system and competitive analysis tools. |
| Market Samurai | http://www.marketsamurai.com/ | Market Samurai is an SEO tool that focuses in on streamlining the search engine optimizations process and getting rid of unnecessary steps that may bog down your motivation to expand your website’s reach. This service is easy to navigate once you sign up for the full version. It’s best to not let the website overwhelm you with information. It’s extremely messy and nearly impossible to follow, but once you are a client, it doesn’t take much effort to find the right keywords for your site’s SEO. |
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the information above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”