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SEO Tools that Will Help You Succeed. Part 1

I have come across many helpful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools over the past 11 years of practicing SEO. Here are some of the best tools in my tool chest.

Many of these are available free through Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/). If you haven't already, stop right now and set up an account. You'll find it of great value.

Monitor Rankings

First, you'll need a tool to automate the process of monitoring keyword rankings on a regular basis. Since rankings on Google are probably your main concern, there is a useful report that shows the top search terms driving traffic to your website from Google. You can access this via a link from the Overview Page within your Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/) account. The report is called the Top Search Queries. In many ways this report is better than commercially available automated ranking reports because it accurately identifies the terms that send traffic to your website, while leaving out the rankings that do not deliver any traffic.

Keyword Research Tools

It is very important to find the keywords that are used in searches so you can focus your energies and marketing budget on the keywords that count. Google is the gatekeeper to nearly 75% of the searches done on the Internet. As a result, Google offers two keyword research tools drawing upon the best database available, both free:

• Google Insights for Search (www.google.com/insights/search/) provides basic data on what parts of any country in the world that tend to use the phrase you are analyzing. Unfortunately, the report does not include actual search numbers, which makes it difficult to determine the actual market-worthiness of a keyword.
  
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). Google recently enhanced its AdWords keyword analysis tool to provide accurate monthly search numbers for keywords as well as geographical search information.

There are a number of paid keyword research tools available also, but my favorite is Trellian Keyword Discovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com) because it has more accurate data than its competitors and is the most intuitive to use. One useful report provides a listing of keywords in order of how many other pages are competing for a ranking -- along with their search volume. This provides an excellent overview for picking the phrases that will provide the fastest results for the least amount of work.

Link Tracking

The following tools are very useful when you need to find out how many websites have linked to your website or your competitor's.

One free option is the SEObook Back Link Analyzer (http://tools.seobook.com/backlink-analyzer/), which offers easy exporting of results for further analysis in Excel. Though it is not free, OptiLink (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/optilink.htm) is my personal favorite software for link analysis because it provides a great deal of background information on the pages that are providing the link(s) to your website. This is handy when you're trying to decide which links provide the most benefit to your website or your competitor's website.

Website Check-up

Your website needs to be in tip-top shape in order to maintain the interest of the visitors you have worked so hard to attract. The best tools to help you do this are in Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/). You can monitor:

• How many broken links Google found on your website,
• What search engine keywords are sending you traffic,
• When Google last successfully visited your website,
• Whether your search engine sitemap has any errors in it,
• And much more.

Optimizing a website for traffic and search engine rankings is gruelling work, so it needs to be done right. These tools will give you the kind of background information you'll need to help you succeed.

Ross Dunn is CEO of StepForth SEO Services, a search engine optimization firm in Victoria, BC, Canada, founded in 1997. In addition to learning about Internet marketing, he enjoys photography and hiking.