Want to boost your website’s visibility in Google search results without breaking the bank?
Of course you do.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn’t have to have to cost a fortune, especially when you’re just starting out.
And what if I told you that you could start improving your search engine ranking today without spending a single penny on tools?
It’s possible — you just have to know where to look. So, that’s what I did. Scoured the internet to find the best free SEO tools to help you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
And now you get to reap the benefits. (Because isn’t that what SEO friends are for?)
Let’s dive into the world of free SEO tools and discover how you can boost your website’s ranking without spending a dime.
In This Article
Why You Need SEO Tools (Even the Free Ones)
Think of SEO as a house with different pillars holding it up. To build a strong online presence, you need to pay attention to each of these pillars. And guess what? SEO tools, even the free ones, are like your trusty construction crew, helping you build each pillar effectively.
Here’s a quick peek at the core pillars of SEO and why tools are helpful for each:
Keyword Research: Finding the Right Words
Imagine trying to sell snow shovels in Hawaii. Not gonna work, right? Keyword research is all about finding out what your potential customers are searching for online. Keyword research tools help you uncover these terms and phrases so you can tailor your content to match.
On-Page SEO: Making Your Website Search-Engine Friendly
This is like tidying up your house before guests arrive. On-page SEO is about optimizing your content so search engines can easily understand what your web pages are about. Content optimization tools can point out areas that need a little sprucing up.
Technical SEO: Checking Your Website Health
Think of this as the plumbing and electrical work of your website. Technical SEO ensures your website is easily crawlable and indexable by search engines. SEO and site audit tools can help you spot technical hiccups that might be hindering your website’s performance.
Off-Page SEO: Building Your Website’s Reputation
This is about building your website’s authority and trustworthiness online. It’s kind of like getting good reviews or votes of confidence for your business. This area of SEO is traditionally focused on backlinks, which are links from other sites to yours. Backlinking tools can be helpful to monitor the quality and quantity of your links.
Tracking & Analytics: Keeping Score of Your SEO Efforts
You’re not doing all this work for nothing. You want to rank higher, increase organic traffic, and make more sales. That’s why it’s important to track your progress to see what’s working and what’s not. SEO monitoring tools provide insights into your site’s performance and help you refine your strategy over time.
Now, let’s check out the actual tools. I’ll break them down by category, so it’s easy to find exactly what you need.
Best Free Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research helps you understand the language your customers use in search engines. This allows you to (1) learn what your users are looking for and (2) target the same words and phrases in your content.
Here are some of the best SEO keyword research tools that are totally free:
1. Google Search
Believe it or not, Google Search itself is a phenomenal free keyword research tool. Plus, you’re getting keyword ideas straight from the source.
Think about it: when you start typing a query into Google, what happens? Google suggests phrases. These “autocomplete” suggestions are based on real searches people are making.
Plus, look at the People Also Ask boxes (features questions) and People Also Search for at the bottom of the results page. These are goldmines of keyword and topic ideas directly from Google.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Highest. You’re probably already using Google every day, meaning there’s no learning curve to overcome.
Best for: Quick keyword brainstorming, discovering long-tail keywords, understanding search intent, finding related search terms
2. Google Trends
Google Trends is a free tool that lets you see the popularity of a keyword over time. It’s like checking the pulse of search interest and if your keyword is gaining any traction. You can also find related keywords and compare multiple search terms.
Not to mention, it’s super intuitive and easy to use.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Very simple to use, visually appealing, and easy to understand trends and geographical data.
Best for: Checking keyword trends over time, identifying seasonal keywords, discovering geographically popular keywords and related trending topics
3. Google Search Console
Despite being free, Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the most powerful keyword research tools out there. Its Performance report shows you the actual search queries people used to find your website in Google. This is HUGE for novice and experienced SEOs alike.
I also like how you get additional metrics with this method, such as clicks, impressions, and positions. This data can help you assess your content’s performance and identify areas of opportunity and improvement.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. Setting it up takes a little effort, but the Performance reports are relatively straightforward to navigate.
Best for: Discovering what keywords your website ranks for, understanding how people are finding your website, identifying keywords with high impressions but low clicks (optimization opportunities!)
4. Google Keyword Planner
Technically, Google Keyword Planner is designed for paid ads. But it’s free and you don’t have to run ads to use it (you just need to create a Google Ads account).
Google Keyword Planner gives you keyword ideas, keyword search volumes, and keyword suggestions. You can also get competition levels, which gives you an idea of how hard it would be to rank for a specific keyword. (Remember, this metric will reflect the paid competition level, but you can still infer organic competition from it.)
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Moderate. It’s in Google Ads, which can look a bit intimidating at first, but the Keyword Planner itself is pretty straightforward.
Best for: Initial keyword brainstorming, getting search volume estimates, understanding keyword competition (for paid ads, but gives a general idea)
5. Ahrefs Keyword Generator
Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool for small business owners and advanced digital marketers. They recently introduced a Starter plan that’s only $29/month, but they still have a handy and free Keyword Generator.
To use it, just enter a seed keyword, and the tool will generate 100 keyword ideas for free. (You can get more, but you’ll have to pay.) You’ll also get the keyword difficulty and search volume, which is great for prioritizing which keywords to target.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Very easy to use, clean interface, provides useful keyword data quickly.
Best for: Generating keyword ideas, getting keyword difficulty and search volume estimates (limited data in free version, but still valuable)
6. AnswerThePublic [Free Version]
Want to know what questions people are asking around a specific topic? AnswerThePublic is your visual keyword research genie.
Type in a keyword, and it conjures up a visualization of questions, prepositions, and comparisons related to your keyword. It’s fantastic for uncovering long-tail keywords and understanding user intent. It’s like tapping into the collective online consciousness to see what questions are on people’s minds.
With AnswerThePublic, you get 3 free searches per day. Just a heads up though — you’ll need to create a free account to use it.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. The visual output is engaging, but you need to understand how to interpret the different question types. Free version has a 3-search daily limit.
Best for: Finding question-based keywords, understanding user intent, generating content ideas around questions, uncovering long-tail keyword variations
7. Ubersuggest Keyword Ideas [Free Version]
Ubersuggest, by Neil Patel, is another popular free SEO tool for keyword research. However, it looks like they’ve recently limited their free daily searches to only 1 search per day. (It used to be 3.) Because of this, it’s still a good tool when you have only 1 keyword in mind, but it’s not the best option for when you’re trying to more intensive research.
With that said, you’ll get metrics like volume, cost-per-click (CPC), paid difficulty (PD), and SEO difficulty (SD). This can be all the data you need when you’ve narrowed your research down to a single keyword.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Intuitive and easy to navigate. Free version has daily search limit.
Best for: Quick research of a single keyword, getting additional ideas for that keyword
Best Free On-Page SEO Tools
On-page SEO is all about optimizing your content to make your web pages search-engine-friendly. A lot of these efforts revolve around keyword optimizations, why is why you do keyword research first.
On-page SEO is important because it influences how relevant search engines perceive your pages to be for specific queries. And, ultimately, how they decide to rank you in search results — or not.
Here are some free content optimization tools for on-page SEO:
8. All in One SEO Lite [WordPress Plugin]
If you’re on WordPress, All in One SEO (AIOSEO) Lite is your free on-page SEO sidekick. This plugin simplifies on-page optimizations, right within the WordPress editor. While the paid version offers more bells and whistles, the free “Lite” version is packed with essential features for beginners.
It helps you easily optimize:
- SEO titles and meta descriptions
- Focus keywords
- Content readability
- And more
You’ll get real-time feedback on the right-hand side of the post or page you’re working on. It’s like having an SEO checklist built right into your WordPress workflow.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Seamless integration with WordPress, user-friendly interface, clear guidance within the post editor.
Best for: Comprehensive on-page SEO within WordPress, optimizing titles, descriptions, focus keywords, basic schema, and sitemaps
9. Mangools SERP Simulator
Ever wondered how your website will look in Google search results before a page goes live? You should because it directly impacts your organic clickthrough rate (CTR)!
The good news is there are free SEO tools like Mangools SERP Simulator, which allow you to preview your listing beforehand. You can check character limits and tweak your title tags and meta description to perfection.
To use it, just enter your URL, title, and meta description, and it shows you a preview how it will appear in Google. Super simple.
I’ve been doing SEO for 6+ years, and Mangools is still my favorite SERP preview tool. It’s just clean, simple, and does exactly what you need it to do — which is why I never go anywhere else.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Extremely simple to use, visual preview is instantly helpful for metadata optimization.
Best for: Optimizing title tag and meta description length and appearance, previewing SERP snippets for desktop and mobile, improving CTRs from organic search
10. Hemingway Editor
Content that’s hard to read is bad for users and bad for SEO. Hemingway Editor is a free online tool (and desktop app) designed to make your writing clear, concise, and readable. Just paste your text into Hemingway Editor, and it highlights sentences that are:
- Hard to Read: Identifies sentences that are too complex or lengthy.
- Very Hard to Read: Flags sentences that are extremely difficult to understand.
- Adverbs: Points out excessive adverb usage (often a sign of wordy writing).
- Passive Voice: Highlights passive voice, encouraging you to use active voice for stronger writing.
Hemingway Editor gives your content a readability score (like a grade level) to help you aim for a broader accessibility. It’s like having a readability coach for your content, ensuring it’s engaging and easy for everyone to digest.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Very easy to use, clear visual feedback on readability issues.
Best for: Improving content readability, simplifying complex sentences, eliminating unnecessary adverbs and passive voice, ensuring content is accessible to a wider audience
Top Free Technical SEO Tools
Technical SEO is where most DIY website owners start to get a little nervous. I get it.
It sounds intimidating, code-heavy, and not very beginner-friendly.
But the reality is, it’s not that hard to do with the right tools. That’s why I picked just a handful of options for this section. They’re the cream of the crop for making sure your site is working — without the headache.
11. Screaming Frog SEO Spider [SEO Audit}
Screaming Frog is the best free SEO tool for performing site audits. It crawls your website and points out technical and on-page issues. You can view its findings under the Issues tab, which makes it quick and easy to catch any potential problems on your site.
It can help you identify broken links, redirect errors, missing H1 tags, etc.
The free version crawls up to 500 URLs per domain, which is typically more than enough for entrepreneurs and DIY SEOs.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. The interface can look a bit daunting at first, but once you find your way around, it’s pretty straightforward. There are tons of tutorials online, and the value for technical SEO is immense.
Best for: Comprehensive technical SEO audits, identifying a wide range of technical issues, in-depth website analysis
12. Google PageSpeed Insights [Site Speed & Mobile-Friendliness}
Website speed is a Google ranking factor, and mobile-friendliness is no longer optional. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on your site’s performance in these crucial areas.
Google PageSpeed Insights is your free diagnostic tool for analyzing both the desktop and mobile versions of your website. You’ll get a score out of 100, along with recommendations to improve site speed and mobile usability.
Why is this tool essential? Because it tells you exactly what Google thinks about your site speed and mobile experience. The recommendations are prioritized by impact, so you know where to focus your efforts.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. The results can be a bit technical, but Google prioritizes the “Opportunities” and “Diagnostics” sections, making it easier to focus on actionable improvements.
Best for: Website speed and mobile-friendliness testing, understanding Core Web Vitals (page experience metrics)
13. Google Search Console [Performance Audit}
We’ve already talked about GSC for keyword research, but it’s also a powerhouse for technical performance audits. Think of it as your direct line to Google about the technical side of your website and its overall health.
Key technical SEO features include:
- Page Indexing Report: Shows you which pages Google has indexed. And more importantly, which pages have indexing errors or warnings. This helps you identify crawlability issues and pages that Google can’t access.
- Sitemap Submission: Allows you to submit your XML sitemap to Google, ensuring they can discover all your pages.
- Core Web Vitals: Monitors your website’s performance against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics, which assess how users engage with and experience your website.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. Setting it up requires website verification, and some reports are more technical, but the key reports are crucial for technical SEO beginners.
Best for: Monitoring website indexing status, identifying crawl errors, checking mobile usability issues, tracking Core Web Vitals performance, submitting sitemaps, getting direct technical feedback from Google
14. GTmetrix [Site Speed]
If you want a quick and no-verification-required check, try out GTmetrix. All it asks for is a URL, then you click Test Now. (You do need to create a free account, though.)
You’ll get a GTmetrix Grade, which gives you an idea of your site’s overall performance. You can also go more granular, and explore the various tabs to see different visualizations of your site speed and loading times.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium to High. The interface is more detailed than PageSpeed Insights, but still relatively easy to use for basic speed testing. Waterfall charts can be more advanced to interpret fully.
Best for: In-depth website speed analysis, identifying specific performance bottlenecks, getting detailed performance metrics, testing from different regions
Best Free Backlink Checkers
Off-page SEO, as we mentioned earlier, is about building your website’s authority and reputation online. One key aspect of this is backlinks — links from other websites to yours. The more quality backlinks you have, the more trustworthy your site appears to search engines (and the higher you’re likely to rank).
Now, for beginners, you might not have a lot of backlinks just yet. That’s okay. These free backlink checkers are good to be aware of and keep an eye on your profile as it grows:
15. Ahrefs Backlinks Checker
Ahrefs has a free Backlink Checker that gives you a limited but valuable sample of their backlink database. When you enter a domain, you’ll get:
- A Sample of Backlinks: You’ll see a selection of the backlinks pointing to the domain you entered (around 20 free results).
- Total Backlinks: The number of backlinks the domain has and the percentage of dofollow links.
- Domain Rating (DR): Ahrefs’ proprietary metric showing the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile (higher DR is generally better).
- Linking Websites: The number of unique websites linking to the target domain.
I like how it also shows the anchor text alongside the URL. This can be a good way to see how other people describe your content or business.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Easy to use interface, and gives you a general overview of a domain’s backlink profile.
Best for: Getting a quick sample of backlinks, checking Domain Rating, getting a basic understanding of a site’s backlink profile
16. Backlink Checker From Neil Patel [Free Version]
Neil Patel’s free Backlink Checker is another popular option for backlink analysis. Similar to Ahrefs’ free tool, it provides a limited view of backlink data. When you enter a domain, you’ll see:
- Domain Authority (DA)
- Referring domains
- Number of backlinks
You’ll also get a visualization of some of this data in a chart like the one below.
If you’re looking for a preview of the individual backlinks, just keep scrolling down the same page. You’ll get to see 15 backlinks for free. To see more, you’ll need to upgrade.
Caveat for Free Users: The free version of Ubersuggest has a daily search limit — and it spreads across various tools. This means that if you already used the Keyword Ideas Generator, you won’t be able to use the Backlink Checker until the next day. To use both features within the same day, a paid plan is required.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Very easy to use, integrates with the familiar Ubersuggest interface, clear presentation of backlink data.
Best for: Quickly checking a sample of backlinks, getting Domain Authority, basic backlink profile overview, user-friendly interface for beginners
Best Free SEO Analytics Tools
SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. It’s an ongoing process of learning, testing, and refining.
To know if your SEO efforts are paying off, you need to track your website’s performance and analyze your SEO data. That’s where SEO analytics tools come into play. They give you the insights you need to understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus your SEO energy.
Let’s explore some essential free SEO analytics tools:
17. Google Analytics
If you’re serious about understanding your site’s performance, Google Analytics (GA4) is a must-have. It’s a free web analytics tool from Google that provides a wealth of data about your website traffic, user behavior, and much more.
For SEO specifically, Google Analytics is invaluable for:
- Organic Traffic Analysis: See how much traffic is coming to your website from organic search (i.e., Google, Bing, etc.).
- User Behavior: Understand how users who arrive from organic search interact with your website. Are they engaging with your content? Or do some pages have high bounce rates?
- Conversion Tracking: You can set and track specific SEO goals in GA4. This lets you measure the ROI of your SEO efforts.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Low. Setting it up requires adding code to your website, and the interface can be complex initially. (You can find a lot of tutorials online, though.) At the beginning, I’d recommend focusing on key SEO reports like organic traffic and landing pages to make it more accessible.
Best for: Comprehensive website traffic analysis, understanding traffic performance, tracking user behavior, measuring SEO goals and conversions
18. MonsterInsights Lite [WordPress Plugin]
If Google Analytics feels a bit too technical or overwhelming, and you’re using WordPress, MonsterInsights is your user-friendly bridge. It’s a WordPress plugin that integrates with GA4 and brings key analytics data directly into your WordPress dashboard.
The free version of MonsterInsights provides:
- Step-by-step GA4 installation wizard
- Demographic data
- Track file downloads
- And more
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. Extremely easy to set up and use, intuitive WordPress dashboard integration, simplifies access to key Google Analytics metrics.
Best for: Simplified Google Analytics setup for WordPress, easy access to key website metrics within WordPress, user-friendly analytics for beginners
19. Google Search Console
I’ve mentioned Google Search Console multiple times now, but it really is that important for SEO! Beyond keyword insights and technical insights, GSC is also a crucial SEO analytics tool. It provides direct data from Google about your website’s performance in Google Search.
Key SEO analytics features include:
- Performance Reports: See your website’s clicks, impressions, average ranking position, and CTR for different search queries.
- URL Inspection Tool: Check how Google is indexing specific pages and request indexing.
- Page Indexing Report: Monitor indexing status and identify any indexing errors. (Shown below.)
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium. Setting it up takes a bit of effort, but specific reports are incredibely valuable for performance analysis.
Best for: Directly tracking website performance in Google, analyzing clicks, impressions, and rankings, identifying keyword performance, monitoring indexing status
20. Looker Studio
Want to create beautiful, custom dashboards and reports to visualize your SEO data? Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is your answer.
It’s a free data visualization tool that allows you to connect to various data sources (including GA4, GSC, spreadsheets, etc.) and create interactive reports and dashboards.
For SEO analytics, Looker Studio is fantastic for:
- Creating custom SEO dashboards
- Visualizing SEO performance over time
- Reporting to clients or teams
- Automating reporting
Beginner-Friendly Factor: Medium to High. Learning curve for creating dashboards and connecting data sources, but pre-built templates and tutorials can help beginners get started.
Best for: Creating custom SEO dashboards and reports, visualizing SEO data, combining data from multiple sources, automating SEO reporting, professional data presentatio
Level Up Your SEO Game: Paid SEO Tools With Free Trials
So, now that you’re armed with the best free SEO tools – you have enough to get you started and see real progress. However, if you’re really serious about growing your website, you may need to step into the paid realm.
That’s not to say you have to spend a lot. There are fantastic SEO tools for small businesses that don’t cost a fortune.
Let’s look at two of my personal favorites. Each of these recommendations comes with a free trial so you can make sure you like the tool before committing.
LowFruits [Keyword Research & SERP Analysis]
LowFruits is a keyword research and SERP analysis tool designed specifically for small business owners. What makes it different from other keyword research tools is that it focuses on helping you find keywords you can actually rank for.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Find low-hanging ranking opportunities. The LowFruits KWFinder helps you identify low-competition keywords with good conversion rates. Hello higher rankings and more sales!
- Analyze SERPs at a glance. LowFruits analyze the top search results fora keyword and finds “Weak Spots.” These are low-authority domains that are easy to outrank.
- Discover competitors’ ranking keywords. The Extract tool allows you to find your competitors’ keywords and use them to your advantage. Knowing your competitors keywords informs your own SEO strategy and can help you beat them in SERPs. As they say, knowledge is power!
Why LowFruits Is Ideal for Entrepreneurs & Beginner SEOs
LowFruits is all about making keyword research easy. You don’t have to waste time getting used to a complex tool and scouring for keyword ranking opportunities. It makes the process intuitive — and fast.
Take a look at the report below. This is from a keyword search for “los angeles florist.”
The SD column stands for SERP Difficulty Score. This metric measures the keyword difficulty and uses a 1-3 ranking system (1 is the easiest.)
And as I mentioned earlier, each icon in the Weak Spots column represents a low-authority domain. These are competitors you can beat! Even as a new or small website.
By focusing on those two columns, you can quickly identify super easy keywords to rank for. (You can also sort by search volume to help you prioritize which ones to target first.)
This is just one use-case of LowFruits, but it really is a powerful and beginner-friendly tool. It’s packed with several features that make keyword research easy and effective.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. The interface is clean and intuitive, focusing on actionable insights rather than overwhelming data. Each tool has a clear purpose, making it easy for beginners to grasp.
Best for: Finding low-competition keywords, long-tail keyword research, quickly analyzing SERP competition, identifying easy ranking opportunities.
LowFruits Pricing: For the free trial, you get 10 free credits. (LowFruits uses a credit system to analyze SERPs.) You’ll need to create an account, but you don’t need to enter a credit card. As for plans, LowFruit subscriptions starts as low as $21/month.
Additional resources:
SEOBoost [Content Optimizations]
SEOBoost is a content optimization tool that focuses on increasing your content’s visibility in search results. It uses AI to help you make content readers love and search engines want to rank.
Why SEOBoost is Helpful:
- AI-Powered Content Recommendations: SEOBoost analyzes top-ranking content for your target keywords and gives you data-driven recommendations on what to include in your content to improve its SEO performance.
- Real-Time Content Scoring: As you write, SEOBoost provides a real-time score and feedback on various content factors, like keyword usage, readability, semantic relevance, and more.
- Competitor Content Analysis: Helps you understand what’s working for your top-ranking competitors’ content so you can create even better content.
It’s like having an AI assistant that guides you in creating content that’s optimized to rank higher in search results.
The best part? You can try it for free for 14 days. After that, plans start as low as $22.50/month.
Beginner-Friendly Factor: High. The SEOBoost content optimization interface is similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs. This eliminates any learning curve. The feedback it gives you is clear and easy to understand and implement.
Best for: Content optimization, creating topic reports, investigating competitor content, improving reach and visibility
Additional resources:
- 17 Ways to Come Up With New Content Ideas
- Content Optimization in SEO [Easy Beginner’s Guide]
- How to Create Scannable Content [Only 5 Steps]
FAQs About Free SEO Tools
What is the best free SEO tool?
The best free SEO tool depends on your specific needs. For keyword research, try Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner. For site audits, Screaming Frog SEO Spider. For performance analytics, Google Analytics is an obvious and reliable choice. And for WordPress SEO, you can use the All in One SEO Lite plugin.
Can I do SEO myself for free?
Absolutely. You can definitely do a significant amount of SEO yourself using free tools and readily available online resources. Free SEO tools empower you to handle core tasks like keyword research, site audits, on-page optimization, and rank tracking. Here’s a DIY SEO Guide that can help get you started.
Are free SEO tools as effective as paid ones?
Free tools are excellent for beginners and cover many core SEO tasks effectively. They are a fantastic starting point and can be sufficient for many small businesses. Some can even support your SEO efforts as your business grows (Google Analytics, Search Console, Screaming Frog, etc.). Paid tools, on the other hand, can offer more advanced features and in-depth reporting that might become beneficial later on.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it! A powerful arsenal of the best free SEO tools to help you boost your website’s visibility without emptying your wallet.
Remember, SEO success isn’t about having the most expensive tools. It’s about consistent effort, smart strategies, and making the best use of the resources available to you.
Free SEO tools are the perfect starting blocks for your SEO journey — and they can help you achieve real results. Keep at it and watch your website grow!
