To help you optimise your SEO toolkit, or uncover new tools you haven’t heard of, Intellar asked eight professionals, including CEOs and SEO managers, to share their favourite tools.
From combining the best free browser extensions to boosting performance with PageSpeed Insights, discover the top eight tools these experts use and recommend.
Table of Contents
Free Browser Extensions: Combining the Best
I use several paid tools for SEO — Moz and Birdeye are a couple — but my favourite tools are free browser extensions.
The Blue Button extension offers details about individual pages, showing on-page SEO details as well as technical details like scripts and style sheets. It provides a starting list of how good a page’s SEO is and what can be done to improve it before even reading through the page.
There are a couple of others that do essentially the same thing: SEO Pro Extension by MarketingSyrup and Ahrefs SEO Toolbar. Multiple of these extensions are used when working on a site, since one tool might miss something another will catch.
Brittany Reith, Marketing Manager, SEM and SEO Strategist, 9 Clouds
Nightwatch: Versatile SEO Search Simulator
Nightwatch’s SEO Search Simulator is a remarkable and absolutely free SEO tool that has become one of my absolute favourites.
By simulating search queries from any location, you can gain valuable insights into clients’ performance across various regions. This is especially beneficial for e-commerce clients targeting specific areas or international markets.
Also with this tool, influential local bloggers who have a powerful presence and following within their communities can be discovered. Leveraging these regional influencers enhances outreach efforts, connecting with diverse audiences in different markets.
By analysing search results from different locations, websites and platforms that apply to clients’ industries or geographical locations can also be uncovered.
Matt Uebergang, SEO Manager, Digital Darts
Screaming Frog: The Website Detective
Screaming Frog is a favourite SEO tool used to rectify technical issues on websites. It operates like a detective for websites, scanning your website data to identify and correct issues that affect your site’s performance.
It tackles problems such as broken links, repeated content, and missing meta tags, thereby enhancing the overall health of the website. It also ensures that the website is in optimal condition for better search engine rankings.
Alex Murray, Search Director, Tilious
Buzzsumo: Discovering Content and Trends
Buzzsumo is one of my favorite tools in my SEO toolkit because it helps me discover popular content, influential industry leaders, and trending topics.
By understanding what type of content resonates with my target audience, I can craft engaging and shareable content that attracts organic traffic. For example, if I run a fashion blog, Buzzsumo can show me the most popular articles on fashion trends, influencers generating high engagement, and trending topics in the fashion industry.
This knowledge allows me to create relevant and compelling content, improving my website’s visibility, increasing backlinks, and enhancing overall SEO performance.
Ben Lau, Founder, Featured SEO Company
Mangools: Dynamic SEO Tools
Mangools’ SERP Watcher is a personal favorite of mine. It’s part of a package that I particularly enjoy, along with KWFinder, my preferred keyword tool. What I love about SERPWatcher is its dynamic and interactive nature as an SEO tool.
I’ve utilised it to successfully reverse a decline in traffic for several websites. The feature that allows me to monitor domain keywords and make daily adjustments has been particularly useful. Additionally, the tool provides in-depth keyword analysis, considering their placement on both desktop and mobile devices worldwide.
The synergy between Mangools’ KWFinder and SERPWatcher is truly remarkable. When I integrate and use both tools in tandem, they complement each other perfectly. The user-friendliness of the software makes it accessible and advantageous for users of all levels, including newcomers and seasoned SEO experts.
With suitable data and settings, Mangools’ SERPWatcher and KWFinder empower me to enhance my SEO strategies effectively.
SEMrush: Comprehensive SEO Suite
One of my favourite tools in my SEO toolkit is SEMrush. I recommend SEMrush because it offers a comprehensive suite of features covering various aspects of SEO and digital marketing. Its robust capabilities for keyword research, competitive analysis, backlink analysis, and site audit make it an indispensable tool for beginners and experienced SEO professionals alike.
SEMrush’s keyword research tool provides valuable insights into search volume, competition, and related keywords, helping me identify high-potential keywords to target. The competitive analysis feature allows me to understand my competitors’ strategies, uncover gaps, and refine my approach.
The backlink analysis tool helps evaluate the quality of backlinks and identifies potential opportunities for link building. The site audit feature is handy for spotting technical SEO issues and optimising website performance.
Victor Karpenko, CEO, SeoProfy
Lowfruits.io: Efficient Keyword Finder
Lowfruits.io helps users find easy-to-rank keywords in a matter of minutes, making it an invaluable tool for SEO strategists alike. Its user-friendly interface and robust algorithm sift through the vast digital landscape to pinpoint keywords that have high search volume but low competition.
Lowfruits.io is recommended for its efficiency and effectiveness. It saves time by doing the heavy lifting for you, allowing you to focus on crafting strategies and content that will drive traffic and conversions. Plus, it’s an excellent tool for those who are new to SEO, as it simplifies complex processes and makes them more accessible.
John Cammidge, Google Ads Consultant, J Cammidge
PageSpeed Insights: Boosting Performance
One of the most impactful tools my team has used to scale our traffic exponentially is Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
After the roll-out of technical Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, most web marketing teams, including ours, have completely re-prioritized ranking strategies. The tool gives me page-by-page visibility of what page performance blockers exist on the site, and makes it easy for me to send diagnostics and potential time savings over to the developer team.
Since taking on a performance-first approach, our traffic has improved 3x in a short period of time. Though strong content and on-page optimization continues to be top of mind, we’ve found that it’s equally as important to look back at the basics of our website build and optimize our script loading times, image sizes, third-party tracking codes, and more.
Summary
Whether you’re looking to fix technical issues, discover trending content, or optimise for specific keywords, there’s a tool for each need.
SEO’s are spoilt for choice tools. All these tools can significantly improve and support your SEO strategies.
Everyone has their favourite, or their own toolkit combination. Intellar’s advice is to test as many as you can and find what you like best!
Recent blog posts
In our blog section you’ll discover more in depth guides and SEO news. Check out some other posts below!
