Top 20 SEO Tools In 2024

If you want to use 20 of the best, latest SEO tools for 2024 – tools that are compatible with the latest updates of the Google Algorithm and relevant new penalties, then you’re in the perfect place today. We suggest reading the Sitetrail SEO services guide too to plan your next steps.

Search Engine Optimization relies on finding the best data about your competitors, the market size and intricate aspects of the market, like competitiveness within subsegments of an industry – which is indicated by keywords. It also relies on sound knowledge of link building opportunities, for which website metrics of potential publishers are critical.

SEO Software & Tools are critical for the ongoing planning, execution and re-evaluation of the entire SEO and digital marketing plan.

You may wonder: In a world where nearly 500 SEO tools exist, how can one pick the best SEO software for a limited budget? After all, most SME’s cannot afford to sign up to 500 tools – and even the biggest corporation, will not have a team capable of using such a fragmented toolset.

The answer: We have set out to compile a list of 10 really useful SEO software tools that are used by  agencies around the world. Try out any of these top rated SEO tools and you will see just why!

20 Best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools:

#1. ChatGPT

ChatGPT can serve as one of the best SEO tools, given its remarkable capabilities in various aspects of content marketing. Its advanced AI technology enables efficient research, seamless content writing, and effective SEO keyword sorting, ensuring the creation of high-quality, optimized content. Additionally, ChatGPT can generate engaging and relevant material that meets the specific needs of target audiences, ultimately contributing to improved search engine rankings, increased organic traffic, and a more robust online presence for businesses and marketers alike.

#2. Sitetrail Unlimited Guest Post Access Pass:

The Unlimited Access Pass is revolutionary for both SEO and PR. This is a top rated SEO tool used by leading agencies to increase their profit per client and to gain unlimited access to Google News sites. 

It bypasses all the limitations of conventional PR platforms because authors can have DO-Follow links for their client posts. As someone said on the SEO Chat forum: “I pay $199 per month for the package and charge new clients around $7500 each month for items I post with this package…”

This video shows how it works:

#3. SEMRush

Try out SEMRush here for free and you will see why it is our favorite external SEO tool which we use on many client cases. The main features we love about SEMRush include:

• Complete keyword and backlink research;
• Competitor PPC (pay per click and display) research;
• ON-Page seo guidance;
• Rank tracking over time;
• Monitor your own and competitor PR. 
• A true strategic tool, proven to work well. 

To obtain a no.3 slot on this prestigious review list is quite an achievement. In fact, to understand just how crowded this market has become, take a closer look at keyword research tools. 

#4. HARO-Style Brand Mentions

There is an important reason why this HARO Link Building has become the cornerstone of SEO for a number of brands. Since generative AI came to search on Google & Bing, we now see more emphasize on position 1 in PPC and the first 3 positions in organic. The rest of the results are pushed down the page. SEO changed a lot due to these new AI results and this solution is semi-genius in the sense that it creates attractive new snippets that can appeal to AI-generative results. 

The video below explains why brand mentions and HARO-style link building will take care of three key elements: What the public says about a brand, what other brands say – and, what the brand themselves say in the media. 

Suggested video on HARO link building:

#5. Yoast SEO for WordPress:

Since WordPress powers the majority of websites in the world, it is important to get the SEO right for this CMS. Well, Yoast has done a great job at providing a basic free version, as well as a freemium version. It also integrates with tools like Elementor. It is true that for some visionaries, who believe that Google is smart, Yoast is not so useful because Google can detect the snippet details and cornerstone content of a website without the help of Yoast. However when it comes to Bing – we all know Bill Gates did not invest much in R&D. Bing is not smart at all and it needs Yoast. Why bother? Simple, because Bing does have a market share due to it’s intrusive and forced browser hijacking.

#6. Google Search Console:

There is not one agency who does not use the Google Search Console. It is a primary source of data and is highly reliable – in fact, more so than AHRefs and others like Ubersuggest which relies on guesstimates.

Favorite features: The best SEO data for free, with the ability to see how many impressions a page obtains, current and historic positions, as well as segmented results by keyword. The best things in life are free, and so is this tool!

#7. Referral Traffic Builder:

The guide from Sitetrail on how to build referral traffic is a major tool for SEO practitioners. It relies on broader PR & SEO tactics that can support not only organic rankings, but also secondary traffic that comes in the form of referrals. It only makes sense to gather insights on how to proceed before firing away with your SEO activities. This guide will put things into perspective and show which channels convert really well – and how to build referral traffic as part of your overall SEO efforts and resulting benefits.

#8. Page Speed Insights:

Can any website escape the reality of Google Core Web Vitals? No. That means page speed insights is probably going to become the number 1 SEO tool in 2023 as more people adopt it. The early benefits of websites with good CLS & LCS metrics were mainly seen in 2021 – all those first-movers cashed in and faced little competition. Now, in 2022 we are already seeing more sites catch up on this ever important set of metrics.

#9. Moz (SEO Moz) – MOZ PRO

It can be considered a reasonable alternative to AHRefs and SEMRush. It may be that this tool spend a great deal of time on content marketing and blogging, and is therefore overestimated, thanks to it’s popular blog and ability to project thought leadership. Still there are thousands of users who feel Moz is a helpful tool in SEO analysis and digital marketing research.

#10. Google Ads – Keyword Tool:

Every company that tries to provide keyword insights fail when we compare their results with Google. That is because Google Ads is a primary provider of it’s own data. So when you use the Google Ads keyword tool to determine search volume, keyword suggestions and overall trends, it is reliable data that can be segmented by country. Both the “keyword planner” and “reach planner” should be used for optimal actionable keyword data.

#11. SEO SpyGlass

We think that SEO SpyGlass is falling slightly behind it’s newer rivals who invested a lot in disrupting the market. However this tool still provides reasonable and useful insights at a good price. Competitor insights are crucial in a competitive market, so using this tool as a minimum can be helpful. 

#12. SearchAtlas

We believe that SearchAtlas is well on it’s way to replace both SEMRush and AHRefs as a leading SEO software. It provides multiple SEO tools in one, thereby eliminating the need for subscriptions with a range of it’s competitor tools. Think about the all important core web vitals, competitor link tracing and “spying”, bulk checking of domain authority and other metrics – along with the A to Z of SEO campaign planning. Both DIY SEO executives and larger agencies are using the tool. SearchAtlas reviews have been good thus far. Perhaps take a closer look at their video below:

#13. AHRefs

When it comes to backink and keyword research, along with a whole lot of other SEO tools, AHRefs is doing a good job. They’d rank well alongside SEMRush and SEO Spyglass. What is good about this tool is that it’s providing a DR metric index we consider reliable. 

#14. SurferSEO

We do not consider AI writing to be on par with experienced humans. Nevertheless, if you know how to use SURFER SEO, it can be handy to reduce the amount of research necessary to beat the competition on Google. As AI improves, this tool may eventually become quite handy. 

#15. Google Trends

It is hard to imagine a complete list of free SEO tools without mentioning Google Trends. Every business needs to understand the direction in which consumer demand is shifting – and that is what Google Trends can do really well.

The only requirement is that you spend enough time to make sense of the tool, which is quite easy to use. 

It is evident the tools are no longer contained to brute force backlinks, but rather a healthy mix of qualitative, relevant backlinks along with other sophisticated content elements that can help a brand win in SEO. Google Trends will literally show you what is next in terms of seeking out trendy low competition content that has the potential to attract a lot of links – it is easy to see why digital marketers love it.

#16. Hubspot Website Grader

Perhaps this is somewhat of a lead generator for Hubspot. Nevertheless, it is always good to consider free reports and possible actionable insights from the industry. It is automated and can show you similar things to that of “page speed insights” and “Pingdom”. 

If you are a beginner in the UX space – this type of report can shed a bit of light on the topic. Yet it is probably no substitute for advanced UX consultancy and testing.

#17. Link Assistant / SEO Power Suite

Here is a tool that has been around for many years. It covers rank tracking, website audits, competitor research and link building through an automated system.

Nowadays it markets itself as being the cheapest, or a low cost solution – evident of how competitive this space has become. It would seem that parts of this website that is automated (like the link assistant) – has been re-written into the on-site content of AHRefs and SEMRush.

Overall, you’d love this if you have time on hands as the UX is a bit slower than that of SEMRush and AHRefs. So let’s say it is for DIY SEO folks trying to save a bit.

#18. Answerthepublic:

This is another free seo tool that can solve research questions with ease. The key issue in SEO, is to know what people ask about early, so that you can provide answers before all your competitors do. As John Mueller from Google explained: “…there are millions of pages competing to provide answers to a small set of questions…”  – which means that moving early on the right questions, can help you win. This SEO tool is quite similar to using the “related searches” feature on Google, in fact, you can think of it as an aggregator of related search results. It is fair to say that since answerthepublic is 100% free, it deserves to be in our top 5 list of tools.

Both SEO foundations and understanding the latest algorithms matter. You need initial SEO foundational knowledge and to keep up to date with changes. 

Using SEO tools will only really become useful once you have a solid knowledge on how to act on the findings that emerge from your research. All professionals have started here – so take your time, enjoy the training and consult a wide range of sources. 

Bonus Mentions:

NeilPatel.com / UberSuggest

UberSuggest is popular and worth a mention. After testing the tool – it was reasonable with basic functionality. It was not so accurate and recent, especially with traffic estimates. That said, given that even Similarweb is not accurate on traffic estimates, considering all the other features, using NeilPatel.com is at least a good start for beginners – until the newsletter assault starts, then you’ll see what I mean in terms of underrated advise. Still, try it out if you’re new and not yet settled in your ways with top UX products that are easy to use. 

Pay Per Click Calculator

Why on earth would you want to use a PPC calculator for SEO? Well, if it turns out that pay per click will be cheap and profitable for your business – then you can use that alongside SEO and move some of the SEO budget towards PPC in the early days. On the other hand, if the research suggests that PPC will not be a viable channel, you know that a more intense focus and budget for SEO will be justified. 

Conclusion:

SEO statistics and research require the use of great tools. Likewise do we need other tools to carry out strategic objectives.

Indeed there is one SEO tool that may soon float up to number one on the list. One might argue that the latest “Google Updates Timeline” released by Google themselves is a super useful tool. That is only true if you are prepared for some honesty about whether those updates truly affect a website – and whether strategically, we’re prepared to act on these assertions.

The latest research is clear that digital marketing tools increasingly revolve around big tech platforms that determine where we get our business from. Indeed this article is heavily influenced by Google as a channel – and that is what SEO is all about, given that Google has such a substantial market share. As the era of digital transformation shapes up, researchers contend that through the theory of planned behavior, the adoption of Google self-sufficient services for digital marketing has become a global phenomenon. SEO is unlikely to change anytime soon so be sure to use the best tools for great results.#