When it comes to keeping your business in the spotlight, there isn’t a more important factor in your early success than having good to great SEO.
For many small businesses, this factor can often be the difference between a thriving enterprise and falling into obscurity.
Needless to say, this means that many other businesses are also trying to make sure that their web pages and online business presence are fine-tuned down to a razor’s edge.
Fortunately, in the wake of the importance of SEO, there has also been a slew of incredibly helpful tools created by companies to help businesses stay on top of their SEO.
Today, we’re going to show you and break down the best tools that you can use for doing the same for your small business!
1. SEMrush
Starting off the list with what is perhaps one of the best all-in-one SEO packages out there, we have SEMrush.
This particular package has many of the features that you would want in an all-inclusive SEO tool, from competitor analysis information to keyword research.
However, there are a lot of other tools and services that this package also comes with. For example, you’re also able to track your competitor’s online traffic and traffic strategy, to help you decide if any of the ideas they are employing should be adopted by your site.
It also allows you to compare your keyword search to up to 5 different competitors, to give you a sense of what the competition is doing, what should be followed for the best results, and, just as importantly, where there is room to create your own identity.
Add to that a feature that allows you to find, track and eliminate toxic backlinks, and you have a very capable software package on your hands that will soon become indispensable for a young or small business.
2. SE Ranking
Just like SEMrush before it, SE Ranking is another all-in-one tool that helps cover virtually all of your SEO needs.
Like SEMrush we just covered, SE Ranking has many similar features that allow you to track keyword research, backlink analytics, and tools for monitoring your competitors.
However, several features help distinguish the service that SE Ranking provides as well.
For example, SE Ranking allows you to perform deep research on your competitors and their chosen keywords and their backlinks, giving you an even larger window of data to better optimize your site.
There’s even the option to measure social media analytics from your company’s online presence on other sites too, as well as your competitors.
Having your finger on the pulse of a social media page is essential for becoming a known name, so this is a great feature.
Add to that a variety of different subscription plans that you can purchase, and you have an SEO tool that is both versatile and flexible in how it can be used.
3. Moz Pro
Moz is another SEO tool that functions very similarly to the last two options that we covered, being an all-in-one service that can be used.
It has all the primary functions that you could want and has already been covered in the other examples, so what exactly sets Moz apart from its competitor?
Well, Moz Pro has the functions that certainly help it stand apart, and one of its standout features is its keyword priority function.
This handy little tool allows you to, as the same suggests, prioritize which keywords will prove most useful to help boost your site’s SEO.
Plus, the intersection analytical tool helps you compare more competitor site SEO at once, saving you time when it comes to checking how your competitors compare to not just you, but other competition on a search result.
And with the generally lower price tag that Moz Pro is sold at when compared to services like SEMrush, you have a great product on your hands that is a great budget option for companies looking for all-in-one packages.
4. Ahrefs
Like many of its direct competitors, Ahref is an all-in-one package that covers pretty much all of your basic needs when it comes to SEO optimization, such as keyword research and competitor analysis for traffic and backlinks.
However, features such as the new keyword generator help set it apart from its peers, with this tool, in particular, called the keyword explorer, helping create new traffic to your site from your new keywords, without necessarily having to worry about direct competition from other SEO sites.
Plus, the content explorer feature helps you gauge how successful the content of your top-performing competitors is doing currently. This a great indicator of where you could be tailoring your content.
Plus, with a ton of extra features, including assistance in fixing minor SEO bugs and issues your website may be facing, you have an excellent content package on your hands.
5. Google Analytics
Google has a massive number of SEO tools that are available for customers to try themselves. Perhaps one of the most well-known is Google Analytics. And given how useful it can be too small businesses, it’s not hard to see why!
For one thing, its ability to measure how your site is functioning in terms of click-throughs and how many people are visiting is vital information that any small business should be interested in.
Plus, it has a tag function that allows it to be used at any time on your website.
Add to that the fact that it is a free tool, and you have a piece of software that some businesses find indispensable, and with good reason!
6. SEO Powersuite
SEO is another all-in-one package with many of the features that we have already gone into detail about, so it is certainly comparable to many of the popular options we have already covered.
However, while other SEO packages do offer free trials that can be used when online, SEO Powersuite is one of the few that allows you to use its function when you are offline as well!
Plus, the ability to set up projects for your SEO optimization, rather than being left to try and understand how each of its tools works, is great for newcomers to SEO.
7. Google Search Console
What, you thought that there would be only one Google tool on this list? Well, prepare to be surprised!
Google Search Console, rather than being part of a package (unless you count all of Google’s SEO tools as a single package), is not so much about analyzing your competitors or keyword searching but is more of a free bug-running software that you can use for your business’s webpage.
For example, it can fix any indexing issues that your webpage may be having, as well as discover page loading speeds, among a host of many other helpful features.
These make this program one of the best troubleshooting software items to have for small business SEO.
8. Mangools
Finally, we have an SEO toolkit that will be perfect for beginners who don’t know the first thing about this vital part of online optimization and business.
Mangools breaks down its features into 5 easy-to-understand parts, the keyword finder, SERP checker, SERP watcher, Link Miner, and Site Profiler, to make getting your webpage ready for customers and out there to see a cinch!
What Makes A Good SEO Tool?
With so many options available to small businesses, it can often be difficult to understand what exactly makes for an effective SEO tool for small businesses.
However, the best features and services that you can use generally have a few common similarities between them.
Keyword research options that allow you to check information and levels should be using specific keywords.
Analysis tools for your and other businesses' URLs, so you can better research your competition.
Link tracking assists in measuring the number of backlinks and clicks your site is receiving.
A complete site audit of your website’s entire SEO ranking, from keywords to backlink data and potential errors
Content marketing to assist in your future online marketing campaigns and other opportunities.
Browser extensions that allow you to immediately bring up your website SEO metrics.
Position tracking on where your website’s SEO currently sits compared to other companies and averages.
Monitoring tools for current projects.
While many services will provide some of these features in a free version, the best will often have multiple tiers for their subscription plans, allowing you to pick which tools you need for your business by choosing specific tiers.
It should also be noted that some tools that you can find online, as we have hopefully shown, can cover simply one or two of these functions, rather than trying to perform them all, which may be preferable to having to pay for an entire service.
Final Thoughts
So, as you can see, SEO packages come in many forms that can be utilized by your small business. Some are perfect for troubleshooting one r two issues you may be having, while some bring the full package of services to your troubles.
So, which of these products will you try first?