All tools listed below fall under the following criteria:
- they are all useful for SEOs;
- they are all web-based (no desk-top ones or FireFox extensions so far);
- they are all free.
If you know of any online SEO tools that were not mentioned here, please comment and I will update the post. I will do my best to continuously update the article to delete the tools that are no more available and add new ones.
Table of Contents:
- Backlink Analyzing Online SEO Tools;
- Keyword Research and Brainstorming Tools:
- Domain Name Online Tools;
- On-Site Analysis Online SEO Tools:
- Search Related Online Tools:
- Website Traffic and Demographics Report.
1. Backlink Analyzing Online SEO Tools
| Options/Tools | Smart
backlinks |
Analyze
Back Links (currently not working) |
Link
Diagnosis |
Link Hounds Yahoo Backlink Info |
| Checks links to | Page | Page | Domain | Domain, page, all deep links |
| Best feature | Fast and smooth | Keyword-in-anchor-text search | Multiple sorting and filtering options | Data organization based on the linking domain |
| Anchor Text | + | + | + | - |
| PR | + | - | + | - |
| Linking page outbound links | - | Inaccurate | + | - |
| Nofollow highlight | + | - | + | - |
| Firefox Extension | + | - | + | - |
| Sorting options | - | - | + | - |
| Interface | user-friendly | simple | user-friendly | user-friendly |
| Set Preferences | + | + | - | - |
| Useful links | - | - | - | whois data; site web archive; Google cache; linking pages. |
More backlink checkers:
- Backlink Watch (checks Anchor text);
- Domain Backlinks Checker (sorts the results based on the first- and second-level domains);
2. Keyword Research and Brainstorming Tools
Tools that help expand your keyword lists with synonyms, related terms and keyword phrases.
| Tools/Features | What you will find there |
| Google Sets | Related terms (i.e. terms that are likely to appear in lists). |
| MSN clustering tool | Word clusters (keyword phrases). |
| Searchradar | Tag clouds and keyword definitions. |
| Keyword Map | Related terms (synonyms and keyword phrases). |
| Urban Dictionary | Related terms (related synonyms and urban words). |
Social Media Based Keyword Analyzers
Use social media sites to explore how people use and tag your core term, its popularity and related words.
| Features/Tools | TweetVolume | Twitter Search | Del.icio.us related terms | Facebook Lexicon |
| Data source | Del.icio.us | |||
| How to use it. | Compare up to 3 terms popularity. | See your term in live context. | See your term related tags. | See how often your term is mentioned across FB walls. |
Online Dictionaries and Glossaries that Help with Keyword Research
| Dictionary | What you can find there: |
| The free dictionary | Your keyword definition(s), set phrases/ idioms (use them to lighten up your writing style), examples of usage,
words of the same root (inflected words and derivations), thesaurus, classic literature mentions, keyword phrases, related acronyms. |
| Wordnet | Definitions and sample sentences using your key term. |
| Rhyme Zone | Rhymes (can be real fun to play with by the way), synonyms, antonyms. |
| Synonym.com | Keyword synonyms and antonyms. |
| Cambridge online dictionary | Essential definitions and keyword phrases. |
| Meta Glossary | The word definitions, related words and synonyms. |
| Reference.com | Your core term synonyms and definitions. |
| Merriam-Webster dictionary | Definitions and derived terms. |
3. Domain Name Online Tools
Dynamic Tools for Domain Name Brainstorming:
| Features/Tools | PsychicWhois | Domize | BustAName |
| TLDs | 6 ( .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us) | 3 (.com, .net, .org) | 3 (.com, .net and .org) |
| Brainstorming help | domain name suggestions based on your previous searches and related terms | shows domain names one-character shorter than the one specified | Mixes the given keywords, suggests synonyms, adds prefixes and suffixes, shows both singular and plural versions, drops last vowel, checks for both hyphen- and non-hyphen versions |
Additional domain name checkers and generators:
- DomainsBot (dynamically checks the availability of domain names for 6 TLDs: .com, .org, .net, .info, .biz, .us);
- InstantDomainSearch (dynamically and really fast checks the availability of domain names for 3 TLDs: .com, .org, .net);
- DomainNameSoup (suggests alternative terms for your core term, has a handy typo generator, adds words before and after your term);
- Suggest Name and (DotoMator) – has a fairly large database of available prefixes and suffixes that are sorted out in categories;
- NameBoy (generates the list of domain names based on your primary and secondary (optional) terms).
4. On-Site Analysis Online SEO Tools
On-page Keyword Prominence Research Tools.
Online SEO tools that help analyze keyword on-page usage.
| Element to analyze: | Ranks | SEOworkers | RankQuest |
| Title tag | + | + | + |
| Meta Description | + | + | + |
| Headings | + | - | + |
| Alt tags | + | + | + |
| Anchor texts | + | + | + |
| Bold text | + | - | + |
| Text | 1-, 2-, 3-word phrases | 1-, 2-, 3-word phrases | 1-, 2-, 3-word phrases |
| Features/ Tools | Domaintools SEO browser | SEO Browser |
| General benefits |
|
|
| Additional features | optimization score and tips on improving it | page meta tags, domain IP address, header response, page size, total number of links, words and images, |
One more great tool to see text-only version of the site: LynxView
Page Size and Load Time Checkers
| Features/Tools | Web Page Speed Report | Page Size Extractor |
| Total page size | + | + |
| Images | total size of the images | total number and size of the images |
| JavaScript size | + | - |
| CSS size | + | - |
| Each page object size | + | - |
| Download time | + | - |
| Additional features | list of useful recommendations on reducing size of particular elements | total number of hyperlinks, full list of all links on the page |
Additional Site Diagnostics Tools:
- Bad Neighborhood Tool (scans external links on a page and detects ‘bad links’).
- Search engine SPAM detector (detects a few types of black-hat tricks: hidden text, doorway pages, keyword stuffing, etc).
- (Recently improved) Trifecta Page/ Site/ Power tool (allows only one search per day for non-pro SEOmoz members) – offers an exhaustive report on your site/ page power and ways to improve it.
5. Search Related Online Tools
Online tools that check any term(s) rankings across various search engines.
Most valuable rank checkers:
| Features/Tools | SeoMoz Rank Checker | Search Engine Forums Tool | Shoemoney Serps Script | SEObook Rank Checker |
| best feature | Archives the results | Checks multiple terms | Fast and easy to use | Advanced search options (+ international data centers) |
| export the results | Yes | No | No | No |
| several terms at a time | No | Yes | No | No |
| # of results checked | 100 | 10 | ~100 | 1000 |
| overall # of SEs | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| # of SEs at a time | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| link to the actual results page | Yes | No | No | No |
| registration required | Yes | No | No | No |
| term of use | Paid (with daily free 5 searches) | Free | Free | Free |
| browser plugin | Yes (Browser Button) | No | No | No |
| main drawbacks | Would be great if the history/reports could
be split into projects (i.e. domains checked) and SEs |
Checks only top 10 results | No way to export/save results | No export feature. |
Note: the tools may be checking different data centers, so the results can be slightly different from tool to tool.
More rank checking tools:
- Search Engine Keyword Tracker & Keyword Ranking Tool;
- Ventio Google Position;
- SEOChat Keyword Position Check;
- Searchenginegenie Rank Checker;
- Mike’s Ranking Reports.
- KeywordEnvy (checks up to 5 terms at a time and represents data in a handy graph.
Tools that Compare Different Search Engine Results
| Features/Tools | Prase | Thumbshots | Fuzz Find |
| # of SEs | 3 (Google, Yahoo, MSN) | 2 (Google and Yahoo) | 3 (Google, Yahoo, Live) (+Del.icio.us) |
| Additional Features | Sort by Google PR; start from any result;
set the min. PR to filter low-PR sites |
Graphic representation of ranking differences.
Highlight the site you want to track |
Sort the results based on
any Search Engine or Del.icio.us |
More search related tools:
- Pagerank Search allows to sort Google search results by Google PageRank or by relevance.
6. Website Traffic and Demographics Report
| Features/Tools | Alexa.com | Compete.com | Google Trends | Quantcast |
| Traffic unit of measurement | percent (compared to overall Internet users measured by Alexa) | number of people | (average) | number of unique people/ number of visits |
| Time range | 3 months | per month | (average) | per month / per week |
| Compare traffic | up to 5 domains | up to 5 websites | up to 5 websites | No |
| Demographics report | No | No | No | (U.S. only)
visitors’ gender distribution; age; household income; ethnicity; education. |
| Additional features | Shows traffic distribution across different countries; related websites; sites linking back to the one being checked | (U.S. only)
Reviews time spent on site compared to overall time spent in the Internet by US people (average change in this metric); average time spent on site by one person; number of pages per one visit. |
Reviews stats over different periods of time (e.g. past month, past year, in a given month/ yeah) on different territories (countries, states, cities). Besides, the tool will also show you “related” search queries and websites | Shows audience composition (passers-by, regulars, addicts) |
Thanks for this comprehensive list. Very useful. :)
Great tools.
Thanks for the collection of SEO tools.
The feature comparison lists are really helpful.
Bookmarked for repeat use. :)
Great list of tools. All equally helpful and useful. You have definitely done your SEO homework. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your efforts, very useful collection.
thank you so much for this list! bookmarked!
Thanks for the collection of SEO tools.
The feature comparison lists are really helpful
What a cool list!
Can’t believe this was written 7/08 and I jsut found it. The web is too big.
Thanks again,
RM
wow, this is just great, i think there’s no need for me to add SEO tool coz it seems you have evreything written here, and your site is a great help for me, thanks for the tips and info..
What a comprehensive post! This one goes into the bookmarked list.
look like very complicated.But it great.Now i know a lot of it.
This comment is my idea, hope I don’t mess the party:
1. Keyword Brainstorming Tools are interesting tools for key phrases research.
2. All the other tools are good to have – it is more for curiosity than anything else. .
The best tools for searching titles for articles are –
1. Your Brain (of course)
2. Google external tool
3. inanchor/intitle(for competition)
4. Taking ideas from other websites
5. Google insight + Google trends.
Suggest to leave page rank and other tricks for others. You get the PR anyway if you’d do a good job.
Of course the structure of the site is important too. agin sorry that I interrupt the serious of “great post” remarks.
p.s. key-phrases-variations is one of the best tools. (hey, it is not a site.. it is an SEO trick).
Will check out the tools, recently found a really cool ppcspy tool as an ad on for firefox
I recommend looking at http://www.KeywordSmash.com – it contains over 70 of the most useful free keyword research tools in one place. And it provides a convenient way to access multiple tools at once.
Know that is a list of tools. Here is one to think about how come there is no one company that can package just the simple tools needed to help with you website .
Hi Ann, under “Keyword Brainstorming Tools” consider adding the Free Keyword Tool from WordStream – it’s Free, computes related terms, etc: http://www.wordstream.com/keywords/
What a great post to bookmark, thank you!
Larry, I came across wordstream the other day too and have had a play, seems like a great tool.
I know I’m a bit dizzy when it comes to building websites, but you’d think there would be more out there for learners or newbies, I think the term is.
Sandra x
Hi Ann, it’s Shawn Hill from Longview, Texas. Exellent post! Very resourceful no doubt! Keep up the great work in the SEM/SEO spaces.
HI. I don’t know if I at the right place to ask this question.
I am rather new at being on the internet with my business. Starting slowly with a very smiple website, that I refer people to by doing a mail piece.
Several weeks ago, in passing, a friend said that there was a way of finding out who many searches for a given category com in to a defind area. As an example: How many visitors to the web are looking for a steak house in Salem, Oregon. Or, how many people are looking for – dental, dentists – in
Tacoma, Wa. Is there a program that I can get to accomplish this?
Thanks for your help
John stoecker —- john4861@comcast.net
Fantastic List of tools. Im bookmarking this page and saving it to my favourites.
Absolutely awsome post! Thanks for all the tools, links and tipps! Like always – you did a great job Ann!
Ann, another excellent post. Great resource. Thanks for this research and comprehensive list of SEO tools, tips and info…
Great list of tools. Thanks. Most of these are helpful, but really insufficient for developing a really good SEO link structure. For anyone interested in learning more about cutting edge SEO strategy, check out this site:
http://bit.ly/6abWgq
This group is really doing amazing work.
I’m always looking at ways to improve the pages of my sites and their SEO site structure in general. In the past I have paid for some tools and used other free options. To be honest, a lot of what’s offered can just add to the overwhelming experience of SEO, and many tools have bells and whistles that are totally unnecessary.
The ‘Ultimate Collection’ above however, seems to be carefully selected and I look forward to going through them all over the coming days. Thanks for posting them Ann.
Andy (Thailand)
Hello Ann,
why don’t you add http://www.frelic.com/ it is a free tool for webmasters that controls your backlinks. It is very useful. I am a frelic addicted because every now and then it founds some webmaster that removes my backlink or inform me about some website that has gone. It is completely free.
This article is seriously incredible, thankyou a heap for the tools.
Wow, I’m going to Tweet this to all of my followers. This is some of the best SEO resources I have found in a long time.
Thank you
Great list of tools. Thanks. Most of these are helpful.