We use a variety of Free SEO Tools and Software each business day. And in a few cases, We subscribe to premium SEO software. Today We want to share some of the  favorite SEO tools with you. While all the below links will have free versions available, a few will also have premium upgrades for those who want to dig in even deeper. You don’t have to purchase the premium versions, but they are there if you’re short on time and need to have data delivered to you automatically.

You might be asking yourself what the heck you’d need this software for and why it even matters. Let us clear that up right now. They do matter! Good SEO is about using data to make short-term decisions and long-term goals.

We use these free SEO tools for the following tasks:

• Existing Website Audit– Review your existing website with Analytics, Search Console, and other tools to see what is wrong and what can be improved upon.
• Competitive Analysis– Use these tools to review a competitor’s keyword usage, onsite meta, link profile, PPC usage, and content within the Google index.
• Keyword Research –Validate keyword options and look for more opportunities with Google Adwords and keywordtool.io. Use volumes to find your sweet spot.
• Validation and Continued Optimization– Use Search Console to see what pages are ranking well and learn from them. The more you reverse engineer, the smarter you’ll become.

If you are performing “Do it yourself SEO” on your website or blog, you need data to perform the above tasks. That means you need software.

List of Free SEO Tools and Premium Software

Google Analytics
This shows you what happens on your website – how people arrive and where they leave. You will need to load code into your website for the tool to track data properly.
Usage: keyword research, website data

Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools)
This shows what happens on the Google search page, your ranking, and top pages. You will need to connect your website to this tool to view data.
Usage: keyword research, Google keyword ranking, top pages in Google search, inbound link tracking, XML sitemap upload

Google Adwords Keyword Planner
This tools it great for reviewing keyword options and search volumes.
Usage: keyword research, search volume data, competitor research

Google Search Suggestions
This shows suggestions on associated keyword phrases and how these lead a user in search.
Usage: keyword research

Google Trends
This tool shows Google search activity over years so you can see data shifts.
Usage: keyword research

Bing Webmaster Tools
This tool will provide information on the health of your website and XML sitemap. You will need to connect your website to this tool to view data.
Usage: keyword research, Bing keyword ranking, top pages in Bing search, inbound link tracking, XML sitemap upload

MOZ Toolbar
The SEO Toolbar from Moz gives you quick access to many on-page SEO factors, Domain & Page Authority plus a quick nofollow toggle.
Usage: competitor research

MOZ Open Site Explore
This tool provides some great information on links and link opportunities.
Usage: link review, competitive research

My Business Listing
Also from MOZ, this tool will provide information on local listings and directories.
Usage: local SEO, directory review

Yoast SEO Plugin
Good for optimizing content within your WordPress based website or blog.
Usage: on-page optimization

All in One SEO Plugin
Good for optimizing content within your WordPress based website or blog.
Usage: on-page optimization

SpyFu
Great for comparing organic versus paid search of competitors.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research

semrush
Shows a mix of desktop and mobile data for you or your competitors.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research

Alexa
Shows ranking of websites so you can compare your website to that of your competitors.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research

WooRank
This tool gives some great technical data on your website or your competitors.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research

SimilarWeb
Similar data as others with website data, but very visual in nature so easy to digest.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research

Majestic
There are a number of tools here, but the backlink history and summary tab are great.
Usage: competitive research, keyword research
Link:

keywordtool.io
Great tool for finding alternative keywords based on a specific starting phrase.
Usage: keyword research

DynoMapper
This tool is geared for technical SEO and crawls a site to provide desktop-based data.
Usage: internal architecture review

Screaming Frog SEO
This tool is geared for technical SEO and crawls a site to provide desktop-based data.
Usage: internal architecture review

What are you waiting for? Head on over to a few of these links and start poking around. I think you’ll like what you find.