Best SEO Tools 2024: Which Is The Best SEO Tool To Boost Your Online Presence & Success?

When done correctly, SEO (search engine optimization) helps your website rank high in search engines and drive more traffic to your site. If you’re familiar with SEO, you know how ever-changing and evolving the industry is. It can be challenging to keep up with the latest industry trends and stay at the top of your game, even for SEO experts. And the pros know that trying to do this without an SEO tool is a fool’s errand.

Every website and business is different, and there isn’t a one-fits-all SEO tool. Plus, the market is flooded with enough options to make you dizzy. This is why I compare the leading SEO software options and distinguish what sets them apart. You’ll notice that these solutions have free trials, but there is a monthly fee after that. While there are free SEO tools out there, they have limitations. Any experienced online marketer knows that to find a quality solution, you have to pay for it. So, let’s look at which SEO tool is the right option for you and get you on your way to online success.

Best Overall Tool	Best Keyword Tracker	Best Banklink Tracker
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What Is An SEO Tool?

An SEO tool helps you analyze and explore specific elements of your website to boost its performance and rank higher in search engines. These elements include content evaluation, backlink and keyword analysis, broken links, competitor research, search engine etc. SEO software provides valuable insights, highlights areas for improvement, and offers real-time data. This helps you take actionable steps and make data-driven decisions. All these elements play a part in boosting your success and driving traffic to your site. Many tools offer an all-in-one operation that tackles almost every aspect of SEO, including content and technical SEO. However, some options are more niche or focus heavily on one or a few factors. 

Are you wondering whether SEO is really that important? Check out our guide on whether SEO is worth it. And if you’re looking for a quick answer, it definitely is worth it.

7 Factors To Consider In An SEO Tool

Now you know what an SEO tool is and how important it is to online success, there are many factors to consider when looking for the best SEO tool. Here are the main things to think about to help steer you towards the best option. 

1. Evaluate Your Goals. To find the best option, you must know what you want or need from a tool. The most crucial consideration is clarifying and strategizing your SEO plan. From there, you can pick a tool that suits your needs. 
2. Identify Features & Functionality. Before subscribing to any software, you must know it offers the tools you need to fulfill your goals. For example, if you need an option that provides the best keyword research, focus on a tool with the best keyword capabilities. You may need help with backlinks, tidying up broken links, or competitor research. If so, focus on those. 
3. Consider Your Capabilities. If you’re an SEO expert, the world is your oyster. But if you’re relatively new to search engine optimization, consider a user-friendly and intuitive option. If it’s too complex, it can be frustrating and lead to confusion. Most options are easy to navigate, but a few are only recommended for the pros. 
4. Check Compatibility. If you’re already using specific tools, such as a project management tool, WordPress, or other SEO platforms, you want to ensure they are compatible and offer seamless integration. If you need to send out reports to your team or clients, you need a tool to export data in the format you need.
5. Consider Your Budget. Sure, having everything available to you would be nice, but this comes at a price. The more comprehensive a tool, the more expensive it is. If you have a monthly budget, you need to stick to it. Otherwise, you risk overspending and running out of funds, which is detrimental to any business. Research the tools you can afford and choose the one that aligns with your goals. It needs to offer good value for money.
6. Seats. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “seat,” it is another word for user. Are you the webmaster for one website? Or are you an SEO service provider with dozens of clients? If so, you might only need one seat. But you probably need multiple seats if you employ a team of people focusing on different SEO aspects.
7. Usage Limits. Most tools offer various plans to suit an individual’s or business’s needs. Again, if you’re a small business, you might be able to choose a lower plan that is cheaper. But if you’re a larger organization or have multiple clients, you likely need a higher plan with more data, such as keyword tracking or projects. When considering how much you need, it’s essential to be realistic. In the long run, purchasing additional credits can be more expensive than upgrading to the next plan when you exceed your data.

Best SEO Tools

I’ve chosen the best SEO tools based on their strengths and offerings as a comprehensive SEO package. Using the information from your considerations above, read through my reviews to help you choose the best SEO tool.

Best SEO Tool Overall: Semrush Review

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It’s always a concern for me when one product tries to do too many things at once. This was my hesitation when I first learned about Semrush years ago. But after a few years of daily use, I’m comfortable saying that Semrush does a little bit of everything and does it all well. We are customers of Semrush and use most of the service’s features in our SEO marketing. It offers the full SEO package, and this is why I have chosen Semrush as the best SEO tool overall.

The backbone of Semrush is the analytics reports. From this tool, you can research search data with the most significant keyword database on the market, traffic, and competitors for a domain or a keyword. If you are into paid advertising, you can deeply examine what keywords your competitors are bidding on and how much traffic they generate from their efforts. You can also plan, analyze, and improve your Google Ads campaign in Semrush. Piggybacking on all of this research is Semrush’s backlink analysis, including an analysis of toxic backlinks. Here is an overview of Semrush’s interface, which I find incredibly easy to navigate.

Semrush is constantly adding new features. Some of its latest additions include ContentShake AI, where you can create high-quality content to drive more traffic to your site. Staying on the AI trend, Semrush Copilot is a new tool that offers personalized AI-generated alerts and actionable recommendations. Semrush has also released daily and weekly traffic updates so that customers can evaluate competitive traffic metrics to stay on trend. For those who want to track their hyperlocal SEO marketing efforts, the new Map Rank Tracker helps businesses measure their results. I also value Semrush’s responsive customer service and its catalog of resources, including the Semrush Academy.

Pricing

Semrush offers a 14-day free trial and a 7-day money-back guarantee on all plans. This is great if you want to give it a whirl to see if it meets your needs. Just bear in mind that there are limitations. If you need a plan that offers more than “Business,” you can contact Semrush for a custom plan. The prices below are monthly, but you can save up to 17% if you pay annually.

To learn more about this SEO tool, check out our comprehensive Semrush review.

Best SEO Keyword Tracker: AuthorityLabs Review

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AuthorityLabs is your go-to tool for daily search engine rank tracking, and you can track up to 500 keywords per project. You can set up daily reporting, which is handy if you want to log in and instantly see what’s happening. I found that AuthorityLab is relatively quick and produces data within a few minutes. You can link your account with Google Analytics to easily see what terms you are ranking for and implement those terms into AuthorityLabs with one click. If you have multiple domains covering the same topic, you can save time with domain groups, a unique feature in our findings.

We have used AuthorityLabs in the past to track keywords by monetary value. You can track your competitor’s domains and compare them with your website. The local tracking feature, which allows you to filter by country, city, or zip code, is an excellent tool for those targeting local SEO. You can separate ranking into desktop and mobile, too. Allowing you to change your strategy for your target audience depending on the device they use the most to view your site. One of the best features is that it offers unlimited seats at no extra cost.

A unique feature of AuthorityLabs is that their “Now Provided” reports allow you to discover the “not provided” keywords, which are sometimes the most important. These keyword gaps offer you new keyword-targeting opportunities. You can also track product rankings on Amazon, Walmart, Targets, and more, which is super helpful for some websites. AuthorityLabs has redesigned its data API so it is more user-friendly. Although it is relatively simple, I feel the overall look is slightly outdated compared to other tools. Take a look at the interface for yourself.

Pricing

AuthorityLabs offers a 14-day free trial, which requires no credit card details. During this trial, you can try out all the features of the plan you’ve selected without limitations.

For more information on this SEO tool, be sure to read our in-depth AuthorityLabs Review.

Best SEO Backlink Tracker: Ahrefs Review

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Ahrefs offers among the best backlink analysis available among all SEO tools. Its backlink database is massive compared to other tools, and Ahrefs’ competitor analysis is among the best. Ahrefs is a close second to Semrush as the overall winner, as it is an all-in-one SEO shop. Like Semrush, I like the user-friendliness of Ahrefs’ dashboard and interface. It is simple to navigate despite the extensive amount of data. Here’s a screenshot of the main dashboard, which I prefer slightly more to Semrush.

Another standout feature is its content explorer, which searches the web for the most popular content for any keyword or topic. Other key features include SERP overview and position history, related keyword ideas, and the difficulty level. When I got in contact with the customer support team, they have been incredibly responsive and helpful. So, if you’re looking for a tool with a helpful team for support, Ahrefs is a great option. They also have a new AI content grader system to help you improve your content. However, this is only available on the custom plan.

Ahrefs takes some time to learn, but its results are worth the learning curve. For me, Ahrefs didn’t pip the post because their pricing uses a new credits system, which can make it difficult to budget for, and it doesn’t have as complete of an SEO package as Semrush. But if you’re looking for help with backlink tracking and analysis and fast customer support, Ahrefs is one of the best options. If you want to dive more into Semrush vs Ahrefs, be sure to check out our comprehensive comparison of Ahrefs vs Semrush.

Pricing

Ahrefs no longer offers a 7-day trial for $7, which is a gripe for some. However, you can sign up for an Ahrefs webmaster tools account, which is free and has no time restraints. However, this account is minimal in comparison to a paid plan. Receive two months free when you pay yearly.

If you think Ahrefs could be the solution to suit your needs, check out our more in-depth Ahrefs review.

Best Value For Money SEO Tool: SE Ranking Review

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SE Ranking is a well-known SEO tool, not as big as Semrush or Ahrefs, but this lends to some of its advantages over others. The best benefit is that SE Ranking is affordable for smaller businesses and freelancers. It isn’t the cheapest option out there. But it certainly packs a lot of features at a fraction of the cost, which is why I have chosen it as the best value SEO tool. Its main strength is keyword tracking, and a great feature is comparing your competitor’s keyword rank against yours.

SE Ranking offers tools for almost every aspect of SEO, including website optimization, content creation, technical audits, local SEO insights, and much more. It’s a very highly rated option for anyone with a smaller budget. Not only that, but it recently won the “easiest to use” award in the SEO tool category by a highly acclaimed review site. See for yourself how sleek it looks, and I can confirm it is just as slick to use.

SE Ranking also includes website and on-page SEO auditing, which is handy for anyone looking to improve all aspects of their SEO. It also utilizes AI and offers a breakdown of issues and an actionable improvement checklist, which is great for anyone just starting in the SEO world. SE Ranking also has an excellent reputation for top customer service. It is keen to improve its services, and there’s a link on the dashboard for you to share your ideas for improvement with them, which I think is excellent.

Pricing

SE Ranking offers a 14-day free trial. The following prices are for monthly subscriptions, although you can save 20% by subscribing to an annual plan. You can also customize the following plans based on the number of keywords you want to track, which is a great feature for any business looking to find the perfect SEO fit.

Best Tool For Local SEO: Birdeye Review

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If you’re a local business and looking to take your website and reputation to new heights, Birdeye could be a brilliant option. It is not as well known as the other options on my list or a comprehensive SEO tool. However, it is a highly rated reputation management and digital customer experience platform that helps local brands and multi-location businesses monitor their reputation and website success. You can pull all mentions, reviews, and alerts into one centralized platform, making it much easier to stay on top of your customer’s sentiments.

In addition to local listing and reputation management, you can stay on top of performance trends, see what pages require your attention, and analyze necessary data to help your local business perform well in search engines. Birdeye recommends keywords for you to use in your ads to attract more customers. It also uses AI software to suggest how to improve your listings and sites to drive more traffic. You can also add your ratings to your Google Ads to increase trust and encourage more customers.

This niche SEO tool isn’t the right option for every type of business, but for those that use local listings, Birdeye suggests it can increase traffic by up to 50% and calls by 240%. Think of this tool as a social media manager and SEO analyzer rolled into one. Almost all users say Birdeye’s customer service is amazingly responsive and helpful. Watch this short video on how Birdeye can help your local business SEO needs.

Pricing

The prices below are per month, but you must commit to a yearly contract. A yearly might be off-putting for many small businesses or those unsure of the return on investment. If you pay the yearly fee upfront, you can save money, making monthly payments of $299, $399, and $449, respectively. It’s worth noting that the price is per location, and although they discount additional locations, the cost can stack up if you need to manage multiple sites.

Best SEO For Social Media Engagement: BuzzSumo Review

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BuzzSumo is a marketing analytics software that can help you discover and analyze trends online and on social media. Although it’s not strictly just an SEO tool, it’s an excellent option for brands that need a mixture of SEO analysis, content creation, and social media management. Enter a keyword or domain, and it provides insight into what content is working and why. This tool is great at helping you generate relevant content ideas and identify high-traffic keywords you’ll want to include. Set up alerts for keywords, topics, and brands to stay ahead.

BuzzSumo has surprisingly powerful competitor backlink analysis features. The backlink analyzer’s sidebar menu gives you several options to drill down into your competitors’ backlinks. I find the “View Analysis” feature the most helpful. It gives me invaluable insight into the most popular content in our website’s niches. It also lets me see all the sites linking to that high-engaging content. This allows you to see what is trending within your audience and connect with them. You can also set up alerts for top content from your competitors so you can do it better. On top of all of that, the interface is simple to navigate and smooth. Look at the main landing page to see how clean it looks.

BuzzSumo also has a database of 700K journalists, with information on the most active and engaging. Write targeted pitches with the AI pitching tool to improve your success rate. It also shows which influencers can help boost your brand or campaign, providing real impact data and tapping into Facebook, X, YouTube, and TikTok. This is why I have chosen BuzzSumo as the best for social media engagement, so you’ll want to check out BuzzSumo if social media is your primary audience. However, this tool might not be worth the outlay if you’re not social media-driven or expecting a more comprehensive SEO package.

Pricing

BuzzSumo offers a 30-day free trial with up to 50 searches, requiring no credit cards or commitments. This great offer allows you to test the product to see if it meets your business needs. If you pay yearly, you can save 20%.

If you’re interested in managing your socials better, read our guide on the best social media management tools.

Google’s SEO Tools 

Google offers a selection of SEO tools to keep your website as healthy as possible. I didn’t include them in my “Best For” categories, but they are very helpful in their own way and are all free. Considering that a lot of SEO data is linked specifically to Google’s search results, and many SEO tools include Google data, it’s worth looking at them.

1. Google Search Console (GSC). GSC allows you to track your website’s performance and overall health. It aims to improve your website’s visibility and ranking high in SERPs. Link GSC directly with WordPress for on-page optimization.
2. Google Keyword Planner. This tool helps you identify relevant keywords and create optimal content based on your audience’s search behavior. It lets you get ahead of your competition and choose keywords to support your SEO strategy.
3. Google Trends. This allows you to explore the popularity of search entries and how this varies over time and in different geographic regions. This tool helps identify seasonal trends and plan content. 
4. Google Alerts. This allows you to set up email alerts for specific interests and content, keeping you up-to-date with trends and ahead of the competition.
5. Looker Studio. This tool, formerly known as Google Data Studio, allows you to compile data into user-friendly reports. You can pull data from multiple platforms into one place.

Learn More About The Different Types Of SEO

If you want to succeed in the world of SEO, it’s essential to do more research. We have a guide explaining the difference between technical SEO and content SEO and how they are both crucial to online success. Once you’ve got that down, be sure to head over to our guide on the best SEO audit tools.

Have you used any of these comprehensive SEO tools? Or perhaps you swear by another option we haven’t covered? Let us know in the comments below.

Why Trust We Rock Your Web?

Emma is a freelance writer who strives to create content that helps her and her readers improve their business. She constantly researches and reviews the latest online SEO tools to help small businesses thrive in an ever-changing and challenging environment. Emma works with a professional and experienced team to give her readers the best, most accurate, and up-to-date information.