As the competition grows among small businesses, yours must have an unbeatable online presence. The easiest way to get ahead of your business rivals is to level up your search engine optimization (SEO) game. SEO means optimizing your website with short and long-tail keywords to make it rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Whether you choose free SEO tools, a dedicated paid SEO program, or SEO software for agencies, you can simplify this often-complex process to benefit your business.
And, if you are wondering if you even need SEO small business tools, you do. Most of your digital marketing business goals rely on SEO strategies. For example, if you want to increase website traffic or generate leads, SEO can help you do that. SEO is also your best bet to get your profit line in the black and boost sales over the long term.
Why get an SEO tool?
If someone requires a product or service in your niche, the first thing they are likely to do is a Google search. The Google search engine refines data based on input and crawls websites looking for the correct information. The crawling process allows Google and other search engines to index websites.
Once a website is indexed, it enters an algorithm that helps present the site when users search for a specific topic or service. If you use an SEO tool correctly, you will rank higher on the first page of Google and get more eyes on your website. To rank consistently, you need to use SEO monitoring tools to analyze metrics such as organic traffic, conversions, click-through rate, and bounce rate.
But, before you get the best SEO software for small businesses, you must get the basics right. You must upload quality content to your website to increase the chances of ranking on Google. You must apply SEO techniques to all title tags, meta descriptions, and internal links so that the Google crawlers understand your niche and the type of users that will find your products and services useful.
This time-consuming process is best left to the professionals, which ultimately means leaving it to SEO software. SEO programs can help you find the most effective short-tail and long-tail keywords to attract different audiences using on-page SEO. Keyword research will allow you to understand the specific search terms used during online searches. Furthermore, it can also reveal specific questions that your target audience may have that you were unaware of.
Overall, keywords are the biggest part of any SEO strategy. They are what your blogs and product descriptions should focus on. You can even incorporate them into your social media campaigns.
If you use WordPress to host your website, you will find a variety of free and paid SEO plugins to get you started with SEO. You can also use Google Analytics tools to optimize your website’s performance.
Moreover, if you put the perfect SEO strategy in place, you will also optimize your local online presence. This means making your business more visible to your residential area and surroundings. Good SEO software will make it easy to implement a local SEO plan and rank as high as possible. It will guide you toward shaping your content to favor SEO terms and help you place backlinks where they make the most sense.
What does this mean for your business? More leads, increased brand awareness while you leave the competition behind, and build trust with potential customers.
If you are wondering about the best SEO software for small business operations, the following SEO programs will give you a lot to consider:
The 7 Best SEO Programs For a Small Business
There is a range of software programs you can choose from today. These start from free to hundreds of dollars per month.
Also, consider your level of SEO expertise, as some SEO tools may be more difficult to navigate than others. Once you have decided on your goals, choose software that caters to your budget and skills.
1. Semrush
Semrush tops most lists ranking SEO software. The platform markets itself as an all-in-one tool suite. Semrush is made for keyword research, in-depth audits, creating and tracking campaigns, and improving rankings. The platform also has tools for improving your local SEO strategies.
The beauty of Semrush lies in its add-ons. These don’t come free, but they make life easier for small business owners. For instance, at $200 per month per user, the platform makes Semrush Trends available. With this feature, you can analyze the website traffic of your biggest competitors, while gaining insight into their marketing strategies. Semrush also offers a Help Center, where you will find e-books, podcasts, and articles to help new users understand its software.
Plans start from $108.33, and the company promises a full refund if you cancel your subscription within a week (7 days). It offers a 7-day trial for those new to SEO programs. This software is best for low-volume users and may not be the best choice for SEO novices. However, if you have employees with knowledge of SEO software, the learning curve will be worth it.
2. SEOptimer
SEOptimer is an SEO solution with auditing tools and a reporting platform. These features make it possible to review a website in under 30 seconds. Its DIY SEO software will help you improve your business rankings at an affordable cost by crawling your website and highlighting SEO problems. It uses an SEO monitoring process to find keyword rankings and make improvement suggestions.
This platform is one of the easier SEO software programs to use and will provide you with detailed reporting on all its analysis processes. However, some users find its reporting function complex. The software also has some SEO limitations, so its overall features are fairly limited. Fortunately, SEOptimer offers a free trial, which means you can test it out before buying a subscription.
3. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another well-known name in the SEO software industry. This program will help you find the exact keywords your potential customers enter into search engines. It will also get you going with link-building after a backlink analysis. Ahrefs allows you to track keyword rankings in SERPs and provides a clean user interface that is easy to navigate.
To get an idea of how this keyword research tool can help you grow your business, sign up for a free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools account. Using this account, you can search traffic and keywords, check your website’s SEO health, and find valuable backlink data.
If you decide to purchase a monthly subscription, you’ll pay from $99 upwards, depending on the plan you choose. The paid version of this incredible software will go a long way in kicking your SEO efforts up a notch. And the best part is that you can use it yourself if you don’t have a dedicated SEO specialist. That is just how user-friendly the program is.
4. WooRank
WooRank is one of the most popular SEO programs for beginners. This SEO checker offers everything you need to implement SEO strategies on your website for the first time. Its dashboard will allow you to navigate quickly, and the software comes with several features including keyword analysis, backlink management, competitor analysis, website grading, an individual page grader, and full audits. The program also offers local, global, mobile, and social SEO tools.
If this sounds intriguing, you will be glad to know that you can use WooRank free for three days before upgrading to a paid plan. This may be a good choice for small businesses and startups, including service-based businesses. Subscriptions range from $53.25 annually to $79.99 monthly. Keep in mind that WooRank’s customer support is not as extensive as other software platforms. If you settle on this option, ensure you know how the software works.
5. BrightLocal
BrightLocal is an excellent keyword tracker, and keyword planner, and offers a great user experience. This tracking tool tracks your competitors’ SEO efforts and gets you on track with local SEO audits. Competitor research and competitive analysis are essential for SEO success. If you already work with Google Analytics or Google Business Profile Insights, you can integrate them with BrightLocal.
Intriguingly, BrightLocal also offers Simply Listings. This feature requires a fee of $2 per site or $100 per location and enters your company details into several important online business directories.
The program offers three plans, with the most affordable starting at just $29 per month. You get a live chat and online messaging customer support functionality to help solve technical issues with the listings or the software itself.
When you choose the 14-day trial, you’ll quickly discover how the local SEO audits and business reputation monitoring work. Keep in mind that BrightLocal does not offer backlink monitoring, so you will have to employ another program to do that.
6. Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is a great alternative to Google Search Console, in the sense that it debugs website issues. It is a downloadable SEO software tool that you need to install before it sends out a spider to crawl your web pages. The spider finds broken links and missing meta descriptions or page titles.
If you have a single website to maintain, Screaming Frog’s free version is adequate as it covers 500 URL crawls. If you have more than one user that needs to implement SEO checks, you should purchase more than one paid plan (one plan per user), at between $225 and $259 per year.
Screaming Frog is compatible with iOS and Windows and comes with automatic XML sitemap creation on all plans. If you choose a paid plan, you can integrate the software with Google Analytics.
7. ChatGPT
You may be surprised to see ChatGPT on a list of SEO software programs. However, ChatGPT is surprisingly effective at improving small business SEO strategies. As we know by now, ChatGPT uses NLP and machine learning to answer questions the way a human would. The idea is to converse with a ChatGPT bot to facilitate research, writing, translating, or editing.
You can use ChatGPT to generate SEO-friendly website content outlines and ask it to provide you with target keywords or topics. The chatbot will generate a string of topics related to your business and help you create relevant content. And you can do this with a few simple prompts. Moreover, you can use it to strengthen your meta titles and descriptions to help improve your search engine rankings.
ChatGPT 3.5 is free to use while ChatGPT 4 costs $20 per month. You will probably be able to build a good SEO strategy with the free version but keep in mind that ChatGPT 4 is more updated.
SEO Tools FAQs
Q: Is SEO worth it for small businesses?
A: Yes, SEO is not only worth it, but it is a must for modern small businesses. If your website is not ranking high enough in SERPs, you will continue to miss out on potential customers. SEO tools provide SEO analysis capabilities and help build SEO content that converts.
Q: What is the most effective tool for SEO?
A: Some of the most effective SEO tools include Semrush, Google Search Console, Moz Pro, Ahrefs, and Yoast. It is important to note that SEO software only works when used in conjunction with high-quality content and a good backlink strategy.
Q: How to do SEO for a small business website?
A: SEO principles for small business websites include keyword research, optimizing your website for mobile, and creating SEO-optimized blogs, articles, and images. SEO strategies also include tracking organic traffic from organic searches to see which methods work best.
Q: What software do you use for SEO?
A: In general, a combination of free and paid rank-tracking software tools works well. For example, free programs like Google Search Console and AnswerThePublic can provide insights into website performance and suggest keyword ideas. A paid program like Semrush is intended for advanced SEO tasks like backlink tracking and competitor analysis, and it can handle an increased search volume.
