Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important aspect of any website and helps improve its online visibility and reach. It works to improve organic rankings and drive traffic to the site. In today’s competitive landscape, businesses must employ the right SEO tools and techniques to maintain a competitive edge.
Before we discuss the tools, let’s talk about some SEO basics.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO is a straightforward method to boost site visibility. Key optimization factors for on-page SEO include crafting a compelling meta description, following Google’s image SEO best practices, incorporating anchor texts effectively, and generating high-quality, SEO-optimized content.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO revolves around external website links, functioning as digital word-of-mouth referrals. It aims to enhance a website’s ranking and credibility in the eyes of search engines. Backlinks, online reviews, and cultivating brand awareness stand as the primary tactics of off-page SEO.
Local SEO
While conventional SEO techniques target a global audience, businesses with physical locations require local SEO to establish a brand presence within specific regions. This strategy becomes especially valuable when users search for terms like “computer parts near me.”
Activities like creating a Google Business Profile, ensuring the accuracy of NAP (name, address, and phone number) details, and incorporating NAP information across webpages are the main components of local SEO.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO serves as the foundation of all SEO efforts. It includes enhancing page loading speed, fixing site errors, optimizing for mobile-friendliness, and crafting sitemaps.
One of the most important technical SEO metrics is site load time. The size and compression level of images can significantly improve site performance. So, after selecting high-quality stock photos for a site, it is important to make sure they are fully compressed and optimized with the right alt texts.
Now that we have covered some SEO basics, let’s move on to technical SEO tools that can help you level up your marketing strategies.
1. Semrush
Semrush offers three exclusive tools for technical SEO: Site Audit, On-Page SEO Checker, and Log File Analyzer.
Site Audit
The Site Audit feature offers a free SEO website audit, generating a personalized to-do list for websites. This audit highlights errors, warnings, and notices, which can be addressed in a prioritized manner. This tool also provides insights on crawlability, HTTPS, international SEO, Core Web Vitals, site performance, internal linking, and markup information, presented in percentage form.
On-page SEO Checker
The On-Page SEO Checker provides in-depth insights into webpage issues. It uses the data from Semrush and Google and compares it with the top ten competitors. It also lists down actionable steps to enhance SERP ranking against these competitors, offering a clear roadmap for optimization.
Log File Analyzer
The Log File Analyzer focuses on evaluating a website’s crawlability. The information is presented visually through three key features: Bots, status codes, and file types.
- Bots compare the performance of Googlebot Desktop and Googlebot Smartphone. This comparison identifies any discrepancies with either version, enabling marketers to address issues accordingly.
- Status codes highlight technical, navigational, or structural problems hindering the website’s Googlebot crawlability. Addressing these issues directly contributes to improved site ranking and broader reach.
- File type reveals specific file types that Googlebot interacts with. These include HTML, PHP, amp, CSS, JSON, and more. Recognizing these file types helps businesses plan budgets and allocate resources.
2. Animalz Revive
Animalz Revive performs website audits to identify and flag outdated content which needs to be updated. While Google Analytics provides a similar function, it requires manual and time-consuming efforts. The best feature of Animalz Revive is its “Traffic loss since peak (views)” metric, which highlights the impact of outdated content on web traffic.
3. Google Lighthouse
Google Lighthouse is a user-friendly, free, and open-source browser extension. It is an automated tool used to improve the quality of web pages. The tool audits webpages and web apps and highlights performance, quality, and progressiveness issues, which can be addressed on a priority basis. Achieving a website free of errors or warnings ultimately results in broader reach and improved online visibility.
4. SEOquake
SEOquake is a free browser extension. It is a powerful SEO toolbox providing real-time SEO audits. Through its diagnostic capabilities, SEOquake identifies and resolves optimization issues. The tool also offers SEObar, SEO dashboard, SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) overlay, and keyword analysis, among other features.
5. Moz
Moz features site audits, rank tracking, backlink analysis, keyword research, and custom reports capabilities.
Site Audits
Moz conducts on-demand website crawls to identify technical SEO issues. It also provides recommendations on how to improve and fix the highlighted issues. The tool can monitor issues like broken hyperlinks, missing title tags, 4xx errors, and long titles.
Rank Tracking
Moz tracks the rankings of specific websites and their competitors. It monitors SERP visibility, measures keyword ranking performance, and assesses competitors’ positions on the SERP.
Backlink Analysis
Moz highlights high-quality links while also identifying spammy ones through backlink analysis. This allows you to track the outreach efforts of added links.
Keyword Research
The keyword research feature, Keyword Explorer, helps discover and target the best keywords. It enables the categorization, prioritization, and comparison of keywords and phrases to improve site reach and SERP visibility.
Custom Reports
Moz allows the creation and sharing of custom reports. These reports can be shared with stakeholders and colleagues across the organization. Moz also allows easy export of these custom reports in PDF or CSV formats, simplifying communication via email.
Conclusion
There are several technical SEO platforms and tools available on the market. It is wise to opt for a demo before purchasing any of them for your marketing needs. This will help you gain valuable insights into the tool’s functionalities and the anticipated results.
Moreover, staying up-to-date with the latest technology and innovations and their features and specifications can help you take your business to the next level. So, leverage the tools discussed above to maintain a competitive edge in the business world and enhance your SERP visibility today!