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Search engine optimization is a complex process with many facets.
Some of these include keyword research, on-page optimization,
off-page optimization, acquiring inbound links, and tracking your
rankings.
Fortunately, there are many tools that have been created to aid
web masters in each of these tasks.
Below I have reviewed 7 of the top SEO tools so that you can
quickly find out what your site needs to rise in the search
engines.
First up is the “Cool SEO Tool”. I’ll let you decide whether or
not it lives up to its name.
Cool SEO Tool
This tool allows you to compare your site against the top 10
listed sites in Google for a particular keyword or phrase. You
simply enter your keyword and the system will begin comparing
9 different metrics for the top 10 rankings. This allows you
to quickly compare the Yahoo rank, MSN rank, Google pages
indexed, altavista pages indexed, backlinks to page, backlinks
to domain, allinanchor rank, age of url, and whether or not
the phrase is on the page.
This tool can unveil extremely valuable information on how you
can break into the top 10 search engine positions. Try it out at
http://www.webuildpages.com/cool-seo-tool/
XML-Sitemaps
Google wants to make sure that webmasters have a way of
communicating information that is important about their sites. To
accomodate this, they created Google Sitemaps in 2005. Using this
tool, you can tell Google when you have created new pages and how
often your pages are updated. To get your pages indexed as
quickly as possible, it is in your best interest to create a
sitemap for Google as well as for Yahoo.
Unfortunately, finding a sitemap generator that is easy to use
can be a frustrating task. However, after a lot of digging, I
think I’ve found one that you will like.
At xml-sitemaps.com, they have created a sitemap generator that
enables you to create a xml sitemap for Google and a text-based
sitemap for Yahoo. In addition, the generator can also create an
optional HTML sitemap for human visitors.
Go to http://www.xml-sitemaps.com for step-by-step instructions
on how to get started.
Ultimate Keyword Tool
Keywords are the lifeblood of any site. Choose the wrong ones and
your site will quickly fizzle. Choose the right keywords and you
will start to see an abundance of traffic as well as sales. The
key is choosing keyword phrases that aren’t viciously competitive
and convert well into sales.
For example, did you know that keyword phrases that are 3-5 words
long convert into sales much more often than any other keyphrase
length? Not to mention, these longer keyword phrases are also
usually much easier to rank for.
One of the best keyword tools is provided by SeoBook.com.
You simply enter in a keyword or phrase and hit sugggest. Once
you have done this, the keyword tools will return a variety of
data, including:
overture suggestions of additional keywords
top overture bid prices
estimated monthly search volume
number of Google, Yahoo, and MSN search results
Wordtracker keyword suggestions
Google traffic Estimates
synonyms and….
additional related keywords using the Adwords keyword tool
For a keyword tool that has it all, go to
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
Link Popularity
For many of the top search engines, link popularity is one of the
top ranking factors. Because of this, there have been a large
number of link popularity tools to be released. However, after
trying out quite a few of them, I settled on URLTrends.com. This
site enables you to find out your link popularity on 8 different
search engines.
Monitor Your Search Engine Positions
Monitoring your search engine positions is crucial to any
successful marketing campaign. To obtain the highest possible
search engine traffic, you must be able to monitor any sudden
drops in your rankings. If you don’t know where you stand, there
is no way you can take corrective measures.
Fortunately, there is a tool that allows you to track all of your
keywords for free.
This tool allows you to track:
numerous keyword rankings
backlinks
pagerank and…
daily, weekly and monthly changes in your rankings.
Take control of your search engine rankings at
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords/
Link Harvester
Are you looking to do some in-depth link analysis? If so, the
Link Harvester is certainly for you. This tool is much more
advanced than most link analysis software currently on the
market. Link Harvester:
quickly finds almost every single site that is linking to you
reports how many pages of your web site are indexed
reports how many links are pointing to any specific page
provides links to the Wayback Machine and WhoIs source next
to each domain
reports the total number of inbound links, home page links,
and deep link ratio
quickly grabs the number of .gov, .edu, and .ac.uk inbound
links
indicates if a site links to your site more than 5 times by
bolding that particular link in the list of results.
If you find this tool useful, you can even add it to your own
site. Link Harvester is open source, so web masters are free to
share it and developers are free to improve upon it.
Do your own link analysis at
http://www.linkhounds.com/link-harvester/
Web CEO
I consider this the macdaddy of all of the seo tools. Web CEO
combines many of the tools above into one solution. In one tool,
you can:
perform keyword mining
use Web site analysis to improve your rankings
create link popularity reports
quickly and easily find potential link partners
use automated, semi automated, and guided submission to
search engines and directories
manage your PPC campaigns
analyze your search engine rankings
Take this tool for a spin at http://www.webceo.com/
Search engine optimization can be quite a chore, but with a few
simple tools, the process is made much easier. Start putting
these tools to use and see how they impact your own online
business.
