The 5 Best Free SEO Tools

Pia Heßler 5/28/2024

We present to you the 5 best SEO tools that you can use for free, their pros and cons, and what you should pay attention to when choosing.

GIF: SEO Tools
Table of contents
  1. General Information on SEO Tools
  2. SEO functionalities that you need
  3. These should be the building blocks of your SEO tool box:
  4. Advantages and disadvantages of free SEO tools
  5. The evaluation criteria for our top 5 of the best free SEO tools among the market leaders
  6. Our top 5 of the best free SEO tools among the market leaders
  7. More free SEO tools can be found on OMR Reviews

Anyone with an online presence cannot avoid the topic of search engine optimization. Therefore, it is no wonder that with this enormous demand for SEO tools, you will encounter a wide range of providers for free SEO analyses. However, not every free version is automatically perfect for your situation and your company. OMR Reviews gives you an overview so that you can focus directly on the relevant SEO tools.

The most well-known SEO tool providers offer free versions alongside their paid SEO analysis tools. But how useful are these free SEO tools actually? We have looked at the range of functionality of the free SEO software solutions and summarized our findings for you.

General Information on SEO Tools

In the past, classic marketing consisted mainly of print, TV and radio advertising. Nowadays, digital technologies are indispensable from the marketing mix and one of the most important market segments of corporate communication today is Search engine marketing (SEM).

It is therefore important for companies to be found on Google & Co. In addition to paid search engine advertising (SEA), organic traffic plays an important role. This is where search engine optimization comes into play.

SEO tools are programs or software solutions that assist website operators and SEO experts in Search engine optimization (SEO), i.e. in reaching users from organic sources. With SEO analysis toolsyou can analyze your content, backlinks, search volumes for certain terms, load times of the website and your keywords. You can monitor your ranking position, visibility index, metadata and redirects, and even analyze your competitors' data to constantly improve.

SEO functionalities that you need

An optimal SEO tool box consists of various modules. When choosing the best tool, the rule is: as many functions as you can effectively use and at the same time as few functions as you actually need. Whether you use a single tool or combine the benefits of different programs is completely up to you. It is also completely up to you whether you prefer to work with cloud-based SEO analysis tools or want to install SEO software.

These should be the building blocks of your SEO tool box:

1st Building Block: Webmaster Tool

You should keep an eye on user behavior with a webmaster tool like Google Search Console for example. This way, you can track your current page rankings and what users are actually looking for. It\'s important to be up to date on the status of the website. This includes, for example, the load times or whether your pages can be correctly crawled. Only this way can you intervene directly if necessary.

2nd Building Block: Keyword Tool

It doesn\'t benefit you to rank for keywords that no one searches for. With a keyword research tool you can have the search volume and competition for planned keywords evaluated and come up with new ideas and search combinations.

3rd Building Block: Link Tool

Keeping an eye on the competition is always a good thing when it comes to search engine optimization. This also applies to the topic of linking. You can check who is linking to the competition and draw conclusions for yourself from other companies' link strategies. You can also check in advance whether it is worth requesting a link from a website at all.

4th Building Block: Link Building Tool

Link building tools help you find websites that want to link relevant content. If you want to build follow-ups, you need to be able to identify websites for contact. Many search engine optimization tools now offer a module that makes backlinking easier.

5th Building Block: SEO Index Tools

Index tools access a keyword database. You can determine results for search terms. This applies to both current and historical results. With the rankings, you can create lists of search terms for which your competition ranks, for example. You can also track whether the positioning of websites in the search results is improving or deteriorating. This way, you can find errors and compare the performance of different websites.

6th Building Block: Onpage Tool

Websites are crawled with onpage tools to quickly find technical errors that you should then fix. Otherwise, there may be poor user experiences, leading to a deterioration in positioning.

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Seobility, das bekannteste All-in-One SEO-Tool für bessere Rankings. Es unterstützt Dich bei der Analyse, Optimierung und Überwachung deiner Website.Flexible Tarife: Kostenloser Einstieg, Premium ab 49,90 €. Eine umfangreiche Onpage Analyse war noch nie so einfach. Steigern Sie Ihre Online-Präsenz – einfach, effizient, Seobility.

 

7th Building Block: Content Performance Tools

With content performance tools, you can identify successful content on other websites and incorporate insights gained into the creation of your own content.

8th Building Block: Wdf*idf

Creating text according to Wdf*idf (Within Document Frequency * Inverse Document Frequency) means checking a text by counting how often certain words occur in it. WDF*IDF Tools (e.g. wdfidf-tool.com or Ryte) therefore check whether the relevant keywords are found in your content in sufficient quantity. Otherwise, search engines cannot classify your content as relevant.

9th Building Block: Monitoring Tool

With monitoring tools, all your measures are measured and analyzed. Only this way can you constantly improve. The goal of monitoring, and the difference from reporting, is to regularly check the current status of your page and less to track the historical course. Alerts for missing metadata, broken links and other page errors are included here.

If you're now desperately looking for THE perfect free SEO tool: It probably doesn\'t exist! A combination of different SEO analysis tools is not only an option, but also a pretty good one.

One advantage is that you can easily find the hidden gems. These are keywords that are frequently searched for and where you can expect little competition at the same time. So it's easier for you to rank for the terms and reach many people. In addition, you shouldn\'t forget that the displayed search volumes are not always exactly accurate – so they should be considered estimates. Therefore, it is safer to work with several keyword tools.

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Advantages and disadvantages of free SEO tools

Of course, there are reasons why the upgrades of the free versions are subject to a charge. Free SEO tools either have fewer functions or the existing functions are less extensively usable, which is why they sometimes only suit smaller companies or private individuals. Whether the limited usability is a disadvantage or an advantage depends on what you actually need. Our tip: Focus on the biggest leverage and do it right. Depending on your setup, free SEO analysis tools may be enough.

The evaluation criteria for our top 5 of the best free SEO tools among the market leaders

Now you already know what a good SEO tool should consist of. We briefly explain to you according to which criteria the following free SEO analysis tools were tested and evaluated.

1st Criterion: Keyword Research

The keyword research at Ahrefs.

If you want to create a blog or a website, you first need to know what is actually being searched for on the Internet. The goal is to draw attention to your site with the right terms. You want to rank on Google & Co. for these search terms.

In theory, you can of course simply check in incognito mode on Google which suggestions the search engine displays. Since the normal search displays personalized results, you shouldn\'t forget to switch to incognito mode. The autocomplete function then suggests the most searched combinations. Keyword tools do this job for you and also show a much wider variety of possible keywords than you could manually research.

2nd Criterion: Health Score

If your site doesn\'t work properly, website visitors will have a bad user experience. The visitor remembers this, and so does Google. In other words, you not only lose these users, but you also worsen your ranking. A good SEO tool checks and evaluates the condition of your website.

3rd Criterion: SEO Compare

You want to stand out? Then you need to watch and adapt competitors. You can learn a lot from the competition and recognize your own potentials and risks.

4th Criterion: SERP and Snippets

Snippets are short excerpts from the text of a web page. They appear in the SERPs (= search engine result pages). A snippet is therefore a small insight into what awaits users on a site. Good snippets arouse the interest of searchers and keep their promises.

5th Criterion: Wdf*idf

The WDF*IDF function of Seobility.

Simply put, WDF*IDF (= Within Document Frequency * Inverse Document Frequency) is used to check how often a specific word occurs in a text. In addition, this value is related to the number of words in all other texts on Google. A good tool therefore checks your text and analyzes whether the relevant search terms have been sufficiently implemented compared to the competition.

6th Criterion: Backlinks

Backlinks are external references from another website to your website. Think of the links as a recommendation for your website. The more recommendations, the better the reputation. Search engines rate websites in this way as a trustworthy source. Google confirmed as early as 2016 that backlinks are the most important ranking signal for websites alongside content.

7th Criterion: Reporting

To be able to do anything with interesting data, a tool must have a clear SEO Reporting. This way, you can filter, select and work effectively with the data in a team.

8th Criterion: Costs

This article is mainly about free SEO tools. However, for some people, free tools may no longer be sufficient in the foreseeable future. It would be annoying to start searching for tools again and get started with new SEO solutions from scratch.

Whoever compares forward-looking will probably also include the future cost factor in his decision. In conclusion, we will therefore show you what costs you can expect if you want to upgrade the relevant SEO program or SEO software.

Our top 5 of the best free SEO tools among the market leaders

In the category of SEO tools on OMR Reviews, you can find a large selection of good SEO programs and software solutions. You can look at the general ratings or filter the ratings beforehand by small businesses, mid-sized businesses or enterprise. We have tested some of them ourselves and present our top 7 of the free SEO tools here.

Attention: This ranking is based on the status of 14.03.2024.

 
 

1st Place: Seobility

The free SEO tool from Seobility crawls pages and gives feedback on various factors. It is a clear tool with manageable functions. With the functions it has, you receive detailed suggestions for improvement. The suggestions are displayed directly in three colors, so you can see immediately which points need to be fixed, should be fixed and can be fixed. Especially with the topics of one page and keyword optimization, it is very strong.

Seobility Pricing Information

The free version is limited, but Seobiliy also offers a premium package starting at 49.90 euros per month. The larger agency package is available from 179.90 euros per month. From the premium package, flexible additional bookings of projects and keywords are possible. More information on prices as well as user experiences can be found on OMR Reviews.

Seobility Alternatives

On OMR Reviews you can find an overview of Seobility alternatives and choose the suitable SEO tool for you using the verified reviews and experience reports.

 
 

2nd Place: Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a software developed by the agency Screaming Frog, which allows websites to be checked for various aspects of search engine optimization (SEO). The software is particularly useful for webmasters and SEO experts who want to optimize their websites in terms of search engines. The software works like a "spider" (i.e. a kind of robot) that searches the website and collects information about the existing URLs, metadata, alt texts for images and much more. The collected data is then presented in easily understandable reports that enable users to identify weaknesses in the SEO strategy and make appropriate improvements.

The free version covers a maximum of 500 URLs and basic on-page analysis & technical audits. During the crawling, different modes can be selected, such as website crawl (top down) or crawling a list, e.g. a sitemap.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider Pricing Information

The SEO Spider from Screaming Frog comes in a free version and a more extensive paid version for 149.00 € per year. More information can be found at OMR Reviews.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider Alternatives

On OMR Reviews you can find an overview of Screaming Frog alternatives and choose the suitable SEO tool for you using the verified reviews and experience reports.

 
 

3. Performance Suite

The Performance Suite is an enterprise SEO tool that has been developed since 2012. The Performance Suite has all the necessary functions and data to monitor, organize and optimize SEO activities on your own. These include functions in the areas of keywords, content, backlinks, technology, load times, team organization and security. Other features include detailed evaluation via a dashboard, mailing functions for link acquisition, partner networks, competitive backlink and keyword analyses or DTOX analyses.

Performance Suite Pricing Information

Performance Suite offers a free version as well as free trials of the various packages. More comprehensive packages start from 250 €. More information on the different versions can be found at OMR Reviews.

Performance Suite Alternatives

On OMR Reviews you can find an overview of Performance Suite alternatives and choose the suitable SEO tool for you using the verified reviews and experience reports.

 
 

4th Place: AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic makes use of the Google Suggest function. Because the suggestions that appear when typing search queries into the search engine are based on the real questions and search terms of users, helpful insights can be derived about what is of particular interest relating to a certain topic area. With AnswerThePublic you get insights into the true insights of users. You can enter the language, the country and the respective keyword and get all insights played out. You can also generate new keyword ideas.

AnswerThePublic Pricing Information

The free version of AnswerThePublic is limited in the number of possible search queries to three. In addition to the free keyword search, the service provider also offers a paid Pro version. This offers additional features like reporting, unlimited search queries or structured storage options. More information about AnswerThePublic, as well as the prices of AnswerThePublic can be found on OMR Reviews.

AnswerThePublic Alternatives

On OMR Reviews you can find an overview of AnswerThePublic alternatives and choose the SEO tool that is suitable for you using the verified reviews and experience reports.

 
 

5. Keyword.com

Keyword.com is a Google Keyword Rank Tracker. Through the analysis of search queries and competition for certain keywords, users with Keyword.com can find out which search terms are relevant for their target group and how they can best be used in texts. SEO agencies in particular benefit from two features: SEO Share of Voice and ViewKey, which makes it easy to share ranking development for projects with clients without the need for exports or shared logins.

Keyword.com Pricing Information

The free version of Keyword.com includes many features that can help you get started with SEO marketing. If these features aren\'t enough for you, there are also various paid packages available. More information and user reviews with price references can be found on OMR Reviews.

Keyword.com Alternatives

On OMR Reviews you can find an overview of Keyword.com alternatives and choose the suitable SEO tool for you using the verified reviews and experience reports.

 
 
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More free SEO tools can be found on OMR Reviews

Many free SEO tools offer modules for the most important SEO tasks such as keyword research and checking the website status. These tools include, among others:

  • Redirect Path: Redirect Path is a free Google Chrome extension. It is used to determine whether a particular URL is redirected – and if so, where it is redirected to. This can be helpful to ensure that the redirects on a website are working correctly.
  • Pagespeed Insights: Google\'s free tool helps improve the performance of your webpages. The tool analyses the content of a webpage and suggests how to improve the performance in terms of load time for users and the "mobile-friendliness" of the webpage.
  • Karma Keyword Tool: On the website of the Karma Keyword Tool you can check your keywords, how often these are searched for, which CPC would have to be paid, how strong the competition is and which search results there are.

⁠Each of the above five tools has a user-friendly dashboard, so even as an SEO beginner you can quickly get in and work efficiently. In terms of content, however, each has different strengths and weaknesses. First consider what is really important to you and then combine the tools that are best suited to these challenges.

Depending on what requirements you have for an SEO tool, you will also find other tools for a small price. Just take a look at OMR Reviews. There you will find other SEO tools including user experiences.

Empfehlenswerte SEO Tools

Weitere empfehlenswerte SEO-Tools kannst du auf OMR Reviews finden und vergleichen. Insgesamt haben wir dort über 150 SEO-Tools (Stand: Dezember 2023) gelistet, die dir dabei helfen können, deinen organischen Traffic langfristig zu steigern. Also schau vorbei und vergleiche die Softwares mithilfe der verifizierten Nutzerbewertungen:

Entdecke alle Informationen zum neuen SEO Contest zu dem Keyword RankensteinSEO auf der entsprechenden Landingpage.

Pia Heßler
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Pia Heßler

Pia war mehr als 10 Jahre im Vertrieb und Marketing verschiedenster Unternehmen aktiv. Danach gründete sie ihr eigenes Unternehmen und betreibt dieses zusammen mit ihrer Geschäftspartnerin.

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