If you seek to improve the online presence of your business, you need to learn how to tame SEO. It helps you rank higher in search engines like Google, ensuring potential clients see you.
However, even if you’re an SEO expert, climbing to the top 8 in SERP is not that easy. Google algorithms change regularly, and there are a lot of factors to watch to ensure your SEO strategy works out.
But what SEO tool to choose with such a variety on the market? We’ve got you here. This article lists the top 8 SEO tools and software with their features and pricing examined and pros and cons defined. Keep reading to select the best SEO software for your business needs.
What to Look for in an SEO Tool
Here’s what you should consider most when selecting the best SEO tool for your business:
- User-friendliness. SEO can be too technical even for an experienced specialist. That’s why the best tool for SEO analysis should be easy to navigate and understand, regardless of your technical or SEO background. This corresponds to the easy-to-use interface, logical copy, and understandable features.
- Features and functionality. The most important criterion is the features offered by popular SEO tools. Here, you should focus on what your team needs at the moment. For instance, if you need a tool to help you work solely with keyword research or a backlink profile, then you’d better opt for SEO online tools that provide such services instead of choosing all-in-one tools. This can also help you save costs.
- Pricing and scalability. Tools for SEO come in different price ranges: from free basic versions to premium plans with advanced features. Logically, if you need an SEO tool just for yourself, there’s no need to pay for the premium subscription. What’s more, most marketing SEO tools target different types of users: individuals, agencies, and enterprises, which makes the choice is the best SEO software even easier..
- Integration with other marketing tools. SEO is just one part of a broader marketing strategy. That’s why top SEO tools integrate with other platforms like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, social media tools, and content management systems (CMS) like WordPress. It helps streamline workflows, save time, and ensure effective collaboration between different marketing teams.
Best SEO Tools List
Now, let’s get straight to the business and explore 8 top tools for SEO and what they have to offer in more detail.
1. SE Ranking
2. Ahrefs
3. GSC
4. CognitiveSEO
5. Screaming Frog
6. Semrush
7. Google Analytics
8. Moz Pro
1. SE Ranking
Source:SE Ranking
SE Ranking is one of the best comprehensive platforms for SEO analysis. It offers a variety of SEO-oriented features together with marketing, content and project management tools. With its help, you can research keywords, perform a website audit, analyze competitors, optimize content for better rankings, monitor backlinks, generate SEO reports, and much more.
SE Ranking is also a great choice for local SEO. It offers location-specific rank tracking, Google Business Profile monitoring, and a Reviews Management tool that aggregates feedback from platforms like Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Tripadvisor.
SE Ranking also offers an Agency Pack add-on, which enhances agencies′ experience at every stage of their client management circle. It offers scheduled reports, white labeling, and client seats.
By using SE Ranking you ensure a streamlined process of implementing SEO strategies across multiple websites while monitoring the progress at the same time.
Key Features
- On-page SEO checker
- Keyword rank tracker and keyword research
- Backlink checker and backlink monitor
- Competitive research
- Website audit
- Page changes monitor
- Report builder
- Content editor
- SERP checker
- Local marketing tool
- Social media analytics
- AI Overviews tracker
- White-label SEO tools
Best for
Small and mid-sized agencies or in-house teams
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
SE Ranking offers a subscription-based pricing model where the price depends on the plan you choose. There are three options with the corresponding monthly cost (if paid annually):
- Essential: $52
- Pro: $95.2
- Business: $207.2
Each plan differs in the user seats, number of projects, number of keywords to track daily, and variety of features. While the Essential plan might better suit individuals or small teams (1 manager seat and five projects), Pro and Business plans are for bigger teams and agencies (3 manager seats / 30 projects and 5 manager seats / unlimited projects). What’s more, an annual subscription for a Pro and Business Plan also allows the use of the Agency Pack add-on for an extra $50.
All new users are welcomed with a 14-day free trial to test the functionality with limits.
2. Ahrefs
Source:Ahrefs
Ahrefs is also one of the all-in-one website SEO tools offering features that focus on different areas of SEO strategy.
It is a powerful tool for backlink analysis, keyword research, and competitor tracking. To ensure effective SEO campaigns, Ahrefs offers a massive database and real-time updates. Besides various usual SEO tools, Ahrefs also offers unique services such as a word counter, email alerts, and reporting capabilities.
While the information provided might be too overwhelming for SEO beginners, experienced specialists can get a lot of insights from Ahrefs analytics.
Key Features
- Site explorer
- Keywords explorer
- Rank tracker
- Site audit
- Web analytics
- Content explorer
- Report builder
- SERP checker
- AI writing tools
- SEO toolbar extension
- Keyword difficulty checker
- Keyword generator
- Backlink checker
Best for
Freelancers, small and mid-sized agencies, enterprises, and in-house teams
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
Ahrefs offers four pricing plans that differ in the number of projects, users, tracked keywords, months of historical data, and features set. These are the plans and their monthly price (if paid annually):
- Lite: $108
- Standard: $208
- Advanced: $374
- Enterprise: $1499
While there’s no free trial, Ahrefs has a Starter plan at $29 per month. It suits the needs of SEO beginners or those who want to test the waters before purchasing pricier plans.
3. GSC
Source: Google Search Console
Google Search Console from Google is one of the best SEO tools for small businesses since it’s completely free.
GSC helps website owners track and improve their search performance by providing direct insights from Google’s crawlers and helping them understand how their site appears in search results. For deeper insights, it also integrates with Google Analytics.
While GSC offers valuable data, it only works for sites you own, meaning you can’t get any competitor analysis with its help.
Key Features
- Index coverage report
- Backlink profile analysis
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Click through rate
- Position
Best for
Freelancers, small and mid-sized agencies, in-house teams, enterprises
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
It’s totally free for all users.
4. CognitiveSEO
CognitiveSEO is one of the best SEO tools online for small and mid-sized agencies. It offers a variety of SEO features for a relatively affordable pricing.
With its help, you can analyze backlinks, optimize content, perform site audits, check all the on-page and off-page factors that impact your website rankings, perform keyword research, and much more.
While being an all-in-one SEO tool with the most important SEO services in one place, CognitiveSEO has a bit outdated interface, making it difficult to understand for beginners.
Key Features
- Unnatural link detection
- Backlink analysis
- SEO dashboards
- Marketing reports
- Rank tracker
- Content optimization
- Site audit
Best for
Freelancers, small and mid-sized agencies, in-house teams
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
All new users of CognitiveSEO are welcome with the 7-day free trial to test the functionality. After it expires, you have a choice to proceed with one of the paid plans:
- Starter: $89 per month (paid annually)
- Premium: $209 per month (paid annually)
- Elite: $349 per month (paid annually)
5. Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is one of the best SEO tools for technical SEO analysis. It crawls your website to detect SEO issues that might affect search rankings, such as broken links, duplicate content, redirect errors, missing meta tags, and other technical problems.
Technically, it’s a desktop application you need to download to analyze your website’s SEO health. It’s available for macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu.
Screaming Frog also generates XML sitemaps and provides insights into how search engines see your site.
Key Features
- Google Analytics integration
- Grammar and spelling checks
- Duplicate content
- Word count
- Meta refresh
- Comparison of two crawls
- Cannibalization
- Response codes
Best for
Experienced freelancers, in-house teams, small and mid-sized agencies, enterprises
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
Screaming Frog offers a free and paid version.
As a free user, you can check up to 500 URLs for free, which might be enough for small websites. If you need to check more URLs or want more advanced functionality, you can upgrade your account to the paid membership for $259 per year.
6. Semrush
Semrush is one of the best SEO analysis tools on the market. It offers in-depth insights into keyword research, domain analysis, backlink tracking, content marketing, local SEO, competitor research, and much more. It’s designed to help businesses and marketers optimize their search engine strategies, manage online visibility, and improve website rankings.
It’s an all-in-one SEO software that can cover most of your SEO needs.
Key Features
- PPC keyword research
- Paid advertising
- SEO writing assistant
- Link building
- Rank tracking
- On-page SEO
- Keyword magic tool for keyword generation
- Competitor analysis
- Reporting capabilities
- Backlink analytics
Best for
Small and mid-sized agencies, in-house teams, enterprises
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
Semrush grants all new users with a 7-day free trial. Additionally, you can also use Semrush with a free account. However, it comes with limitations: only 10 searches per day and one project. If you need more, here are three paid subscription plans with monthly prices (if paid annually):
- Pro: $117.33
- Guru: $208.33
- Business: $416.66
7. Google Analytics
While not being 100% the best SEO tool, Google Analytics is integral to building SEO campaigns.
It helps website owners understand how people find and interact with their sites and shows whether your efforts are paying off. With it, businesses can track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates to make data-driven decisions.
The best part about Google Analytics is that unlike most tools used in SEO, it’s completely free, making it suitable for all types of users.
Key Features
- Traffic analysis
- User engagement
- Conversion tracking
- Page performance
- Google Search Console integration
Best for
Freelancers, small and mid-sized agencies, enterprises, in-house teams
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
It’s totally free for all users.
8. Moz Pro
If you want to improve your search engine visibility, this is your go-to solution, since Moz Pro is considered the best SEO tool online for that.
Moz Pro allows users to check their website health, link-building efforts, and keyword performance. It provides essential features like site audits, keyword tracking, and on-page optimization to help businesses refine their SEO strategy. Additionally, there’s a free MozBar extension for browsers that offers real-time insights on a website’s performance on SERP.
Key Features
- On-page Grader
- Rank tracker
- SERP analysis and competitive research
- Keyword explorer
- Keyword suggestions
- Search visibility score
- Custom reports
- Domain authority score
Best for
In-house teams at small, mid-sized, and large agencies
Pros and Cons
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Pricing
All new users of Moz Pro start with a generous 30-day free trial, which can later be upgraded to one of the four paid subscription plans. Here’s their monthly cost (if paid annually):
- Starter: $39
- Standard: $79
- Medium: $143
- Large: $239
Conclusion
So, what is the best SEO software in the end? The answer depends on your needs.
The article provides a detailed selection of free and paid SEO tools that differ in functionality, pricing structures, and end users.
For instance, if you need enterprise SEO tools, you’d probably better look at giants like Semrush or Ahrefs. If you need the best SEO tool for a small business, opt for free or cheap tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console. In case you need a reliable all-in-one SEO platform that can offer a good compromise in terms of pricing and functionality, select tools like SE Ranking or Moz Pro.
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