SEO Tools I Frequently Use

I’m not sure this collage is eye-pleasing, but here are some logos for your enjoyment.

When it comes to SEO Tools, I’m pretty agnostic. Like most SEOs I’ve gotten used to a series of tools more because of the habit than anything else. I still keep those tools in my repertoire, though I’m open to suggestions, in case seyou have any recommendations.

Depending on the situation, I will use different tools, but here are some of the usual suspects.

Analysis / Reporting

Skype – Speaking with the client an initial step for understanding the business, industry lingo, is essential.

Google Analytics – for understanding what I’m dealing with before I start; record progress.

Google Advanced Search Operators – These are great for understanding how Google sees the site.

Authority Labs – It plots your rankings every day and makes a historical graph that’s great for understanding trends.

HubSpot Website Grader – Yes, I use it sometimes. In some straightforward scenarios it’s great to take that first step with the client. I really don’t care about grade, but the tools has a simple interface that shows obvious problems.

Keyword Research

Google  Insights for Search – Good for digging deeper into a certain set of keywords.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Good for finding new keywords.

MS Excel - One of the uses is to organize keyword distribution and structure. Once I have a bunch of keywords to organize, I throw Titles, Metas and H1s in this document for either copywriters to or myself. (Download Keyword Distribution Excel Template (.xlsx))*

On-Page Stuff

Xenu’s Link Sleuth – Great for finding broken links, and creating nightmares from the alien face representing this tool.

SEO Book Tool Bar – I use this the most. Particularly the SEO X-ray and the Site info.

Firebug – I mostly use this to see the code on specific areas of the page. Page speed is also good, but I rarely use it.

Off-Page Suff

Google/Yahoo/Bing Webmasters Tools – I use it to understand search trends, crawl errors, and set basic SEO friendly preferences.

Webconfs Header Check - 301 / 302? I use this to find out.

Links

Link Diagnosis – I got used to this tool a couple of years ago and I still use it to uncover backlinks. It’s great that you can save searches on the cloud.

SEOMoz Open Site Explorer – Understanding link profile.

SEO Moz … They’ve updated their tools in the last few months and I haven’t had the chance to really check them out. (On that note, an SEOMoz Tools free trial started today! Go and get it!)

Twitter – Great for finding link opportunities and understanding industry lingo.

Wishlist

Raven Tools – I used the trial and it was good, but would like the chance to try them out a bit more -  so far so good.

SEO Power Suite – I’ve haven’t used them but heard tons of good feedback from these tools.

As I mentioned, different scenarios will require different tools. But you can rest assure I’ll use most of the above in any given project.

*This keyword distribution document is a simplified spin-off from a document created by Ani Lopez . He’s post, along with his more elaborate template are on his blog titled Keywords distribution along web content structure