SEO Success Tools
You’ve heard the saying, ‘A poor craftsman blames his tools‘. Well, for eapb and in much of what we do it’s ‘the knowledge and experience we have, partnered with the SEO tools that we use‘, that enables us to help our clients stand out from their competition.
So WE know about search engine optimisation (SEO). YOU know about SEO. You might not be an expert, per se, but you have a good understanding of the basics: title tags, clean URLs, text based design and so on.
Even if you consider yourself more of an expert than most, just as often it’s what you don’t know about SEO that will hurt you the most. It is always a smart move to keep informed as to the latest tools, trends, thinking and opinions from industry commentators and those genuinely in the know.
The search engine marketing industry evolves extremely rapidly. In fact if we take a moment to remind ourselves of the recent Google updates, Panda and Penguin, we can see the evidence strewn around the digital landscape of businesses that were either guilty of taking their eyes of the SEO ball or were engaging in practices that are now frowned upon by Google. To clarify, you can make a sound case that Google has always frowned upon excessive link building and guest blogging – the BIG difference now is that they (Google) will be more likely to punish you for it!
So, what are the tools for SEO success that we and maybe you are currently using? Wait, let’s go back one more step – what if you are not using any SEO tools and would like to start? First things first. It’s a great idea before you begin thinking about ‘the tools of success’ to begin by constructing an SEO plan for your website and decide where you could benefit from some additional help and guidance. Your guide for a first SEO plan should include the following elements:
♦ Keyword Research
♦ Competitor Analysis
♦ Website Design, Analysis, Usability, Load Speed, Responsive?
♦ On-Page Optimisation (META; Content; Images etc.)
♦ Google Webmaster Tools
♦ Off-Page Optimisation (Links; Reputation; NAP Citations)
♦ Regular Content Addition
♦ Social Media
♦ Blogging
♦ Maintenance
So let’s now assume the SEO plan is in place and we are now looking for some great tools to help us take our search engine rankings to the next level, and ensure our web presence is effective and agile both today and in the future:
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools is a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimise visibility of their websites. It is part of a marketing effort to reach out to Webmasters and promote Google services. To use this service you will first need to create a Google account. Easy to follow instructions for submitting, and verifying your website with Google and installing Webmaster Tools are available from your account dashboard.
StatCounter.com
In addition to the comprehensive statistical information available through your Google Webmaster Tools, many of our clients prefer to have a clear and simple presentation of their website visitor statistics for reference. This is where StatCounter can play an important role in assessing the success of your target keywords and provide an effective overview of website visitor numbers. Access to basic StatCounter services is free. There are of course other statistical counters available.
Moz
Previously known as SEOmoz, the goal of Moz is to ‘support marketers across all of the inbound marketing universe‘. This company will be well known to many SEO agencies but probably little known to the outside world! They do offer some of their best SEO tools for free! These tools are specifically designed to help you optimise your local business listings, track your social media performance, conduct link research, access SEO metrics for any page, and more. Paid subscriptions incorporating more tools are available from Moz.
Pingdom
Really, Pingdom?! Yes, this company provides a really useful Website Speed Test. Why is site load speed important for SEO and achieving higher rankings. Well, we go back to our earlier made point of the importance of keeping up-to speed with digital marketing developments and increasingly important factors which will affect your search engine rankings.
W3C mobileOK Checker
Mobile smartphones and tablets are becoming the preferred type of device to search and browse the Internet. This checker performs various tests on a web page to determine its level of mobile-friendliness. Becoming known as ‘Responsive Website Design‘ the ability of your website to display correctly (without pinching) is very important for the success of your website search engine visibility and conversion rate.
See also: Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide.
The above list of SEO tools is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of every conceivable digital marketing tool on the market. It is merely an introduction to the help and guidance you can utilise, often for free. In our experience most businesses are (quite rightly) focusing on running the business to be able to spend overly long consuming endless SEO data! If however you wish to find out more information we would welcome your contact.
Read more about our SEO Sussex services.
eapb Marketing Consultancy, March 2014