✅ Updated February 20, 2024
I’ve been there before you, you don’t necessarily want to invest in every SEO tool to start your SEO strategy.
It’s a good idea to get started with free SEO tools, and once you see that your strategy is working, you can invest in more advanced tools to take things further.
Today, I’m talking about the best free SEO tools. And free doesn’t mean rotten! All these tools are recognized for their effectiveness and have already been used by thousands of people before you – looking for information to increase their visibility.
Come on, you’ve got no more excuses! 💪
If you don’t have time to read it all 😉 Here are the best free SEO tools (September 2024)
1️⃣ Mozbar: This free Chrome extension from Moz gives you valuable information on every site you visit.
2️⃣ Google Search Console: In my opinion, the essential technical tool for spotting errors on your site!
3️⃣ Answer the public: Find new content ideas for your target audience, easily and for free!
The best free global SEO tools
Of course, this list isn’t very comprehensive, as all-in-one SEO tools are feature-rich and often expensive. But you can use the tools below to get started.
1 – MozBar: The essential SEO extension for your browser
Tool overview: MozBar is a free extension for Chrome and Firefox designed by Moz, offering instant SEO analysis of any web page or search result. This comprehensive SEO tool enables users to easily access key metrics such as Page Authority (PA), Domain Authority (DA), and inbound links, directly from their browser.
⚙️ Key features :
- Quick visualization of DA and PA for any site or page.
- Link analysis (internal, external and nofollow).
- On-page keyword search and keyword density.
- Access to an SEO summary for an overview of the page’s optimization.
🎁 Hidden feature: Export search data for further analysis.
👊 I use it to: Perform quick SEO audits and monitor page performance.
✅ Advantages:
- Free and easy to install as a browser extension.
- Instant SEO data for any website.
- Intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
❌ Disadvantages:
- More advanced features require a paid version.
- Limited by browser capabilities.
💰 Price: Free
😎 Ease of use: Very high
😉 My opinion: MozBar is an essential tool for anyone working with SEO. It offers fast, free access to crucial data, making SEO analysis accessible to all.
2 – Yoast SEO : Yoast SEO : Optimize your WordPress for search engines
Tool overview: Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress. It helps millions of sites reach their maximum SEO potential. With a user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, Yoast SEO guides users through all aspects of SEO optimization, from content analysis to sitemap generation.
⚙️ Main features :
- Real-time content analysis for keyword optimization.
- Suggestions for improving text readability.
- Automatic generation of XML sitemaps.
- Control of titles and meta descriptions.
🎁 Hidden functionality: readability indicators to make texts more accessible to readers.
👊 I use it to: Optimize the content and technical structure of my WordPress sites for SEO.
✅ Advantages:
- Easy installation and step-by-step guide to optimization.
- Regular updates to keep up with the latest SEO practices.
- Robust free version with upgrade options for advanced features.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Some advanced features are behind a paywall.
- Mainly designed for WordPress, not applicable to other CMS.
💰 Price: Free basic version.
😎 Ease of use: Very high
😉 My verdict: Yoast SEO is a must-have for any WordPress site owner looking to improve their SEO. The free version already offers a solid set ofSEO tools to get started with SEO optimization.
3 – WooRank : WooRank : Free SEO analysis to improve your online visibility
Tool overview: WooRank offers a comprehensive SEO analysis platform that enables users to gain valuable insights into their online presence. With its free analysis, WooRank examines key elements such asmobile optimization, technical SEO, and inbound links. It provides actionable recommendations to improve your rankings.
⚙️ Main features :
- Instant evaluation of a site’s SEO performance.
- Keyword and competitor analysis.
- Overview of technical problems and potential solutions.
- Keyword position tracking and visibility analysis.
🎁 Hidden feature: customized reports to track progress and improvements.
👊 I use it to: Get a quick overview of my sites’ SEO health and identify improvements.
✅ Benefits:
- Free SEO analysis with concrete recommendations.
- Intuitive, easy-to-navigate user interface.
- Suitable for beginners and SEO experts alike.
❌ Disadvantages:
- More advanced features require subscription.
- Limited to one analysis at a time in the free version.
💰 Price: Free for a basic analysis.
😎 Ease of use: Very high
😉 My opinion: WooRank is an excellent starting point for those who want to understand and improve their SEO without immediately investing in paid tools. The insights provided are invaluable for any SEO strategy.
The best free SEO content tools
Optimized content is a key pillar of SEO, and requires access to a wealth of keyword data. Fortunately, there are tools that give you access to valuable data on what your target audience is looking for.
Here are the best free SEO content tools.
4 – Google Keyword Planner: Google’s keyword research tool
Tool overview: Google Keyword Planner is a free tool offered by Google as part of Google Ads. It is designed to help advertisers find the most relevant keywords for their advertising campaigns, but is also extremely useful for SEO keyword research. This tool provides precise data on search volume, competition, and estimated costs per click for chosen keywords.
⚙️ Main features :
- Keyword research to discover new keyword ideas.
- Monthly search volumes and keyword trends.
- Estimated competition and costs per click for AdWords keywords.
🎁 Hidden feature: ability to combine keywords to get ad group ideas.
👊 I use it to: Find unexplored keyword opportunities and analyze market competitiveness.
✅ Advantages:
- Free and integrated into the Google ecosystem.
- Accurate search data directly from Google.
- Ideal for planning SEO and SEM campaigns.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Requires a Google Ads account to access.
- Can be complex for novice users.
💰 Price: Free
😎 Ease of use: Medium to high, depending on experience with Google Ads.
😉 My opinion: Google Keyword Planner is an indispensable tool for any SEO content strategy. Its direct insights from Google make it a valuable resource for optimizing your online visibility.
5 – UberSuggest: Generate keyword ideas efficiently
Tool overview: UberSuggest, created by Neil Patel, is a free keyword research tool that offers an overview of SEO trends, search volumes, competitor information and much more. This tool is perfect for generating keyword ideas and getting a quick SEO analysis for any domain.
⚙️ Main features :
- Keyword suggestions with search volumes and competition data.
- SERP analysis for selected keywords.
- Overview of organic traffic and top keywords for any site.
🎁 Hidden feature: Content suggestions based on searched keywords.
👊 I use it to: Explore keyword niches and understand competitors’ SEO strategy.
✅ Advantages:
- Free and easy to use.
- Offers a wealth of SEO insights without the need to register.
- User-friendly, intuitive interface.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Some advanced features require a paid subscription.
- Volume estimates can sometimes be inaccurate.
💰 Price: Free basic version.
😎 Ease of use: Very high
😉 My opinion: UberSuggest is an excellent SEO tool for those looking to deepen their keyword research and gain competitive insights quickly. Its ease of use makes it a popular choice among SEO professionals.
6 – Answer the Public: Find out what your audience is really looking for
Tool overview: Answer the Public uses Internet search data to provide a comprehensive list of questions, prepositions and comparisons related to any keyword. This unique tool visualizes the searches and concerns of your target audience, providing valuable insight for creating content that meets their exact needs.
⚙️ Key features :
- Visualization of questions asked around a keyword.
- Content ideas based on real search data.
- Keyword suggestions by preposition and comparison.
🎁 Hidden functionality: Data export for further analysis.
👊 I use it to: Inspire the creation of content that answers my audience’s questions.
✅ Benefits:
- Free for basic searches.
- Provides unique insights not available in other tools.
- Makes it easy to create relevant, engaging content.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Interface a little confusing for new users.
- Limitations on number of free searches per day.
💰 Price: Free for limited use.
😎 Ease of use: Average.
😉 My opinion: Answer the Public is a fascinating tool for those who want to dive deep into the minds of their audience. It opens up new avenues for content, making your SEO strategy more dynamic and user-centric.
The best technical SEO tools
And yes, even for technical SEO, you can take advantage of free tools. These allow you to learn more about your site’s performance, so you can improve it and better meet Google’s requirements.
Here are the best tools for technical SEO.
7 – Google Search Console: The essential tool for tracking your site’s SEO performance
Tool overview: Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps webmasters monitor, maintain and optimize their site’s ranking in Google search results. This tool provides valuable data on search performance, technical issues, and search traffic, enabling comprehensive technical optimization of your site.
⚙️ Main features :
- Track search performance and keyword positions.
- Identify and correct indexing and crawling errors.
- Visualization of structured data and security issues.
- Tools for testing and submitting sitemaps and robots.txt.
🎁 Hidden feature: proactive notifications on site problems and suggestions for improvement.
👊 I use it to: Monitor the SEO health of my sites and improve their visibility in Google.
✅ Advantages:
- Directly integrated into the Google ecosystem.
- Accurate, up-to-date data on your site’s SEO.
- Comprehensive tool for diagnosing and improving technical SEO.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Can be intimidating for beginners due to complexity of data.
- Requires some time to learn how to navigate and interpret information.
💰 Price: Free
😎 Ease of use: Average, requires learning for optimal use.
😉 My opinion: Google Search Console is essential for monitoring the technical state of your site: indexing, essential web signals, structured data… It offers a direct window into how Google sees your site, enabling precise adjustments to improve your ranking.
8 – WebPageTest: Analyze your site’s performance for optimal technical SEO
Tool overview: WebPageTest is a free online tool that enables users to test the performance of their websites from different locations around the world. It provides detailed analysis of page load speed,performance optimization and more, which is crucial for technical SEO and user experience.
⚙️ Main features :
- Page load speed tests with detailed reports.
- Performance analysis by geographic location.
- Optimization suggestions to improve loading speed.
🎁 Hidden feature: Ability to test on different devices and browsers.
👊 I use it to: Optimize the speed and technical performance of my sites for better SEO.
✅ Benefits:
- Provides detailed insights into the factors affecting your site’s speed.
- Free and easy to use.
- Ideal for identifying technical issues that can impact SEO.
❌ Disadvantages:
- May require technical knowledge to interpret certain aspects of the report.
- Testing can be time-consuming depending on the queue.
💰 Price: Free
😎 Ease of use: High for basic functionality; medium for advanced analysis.
😉 My opinion: WebPageTest is a valuable tool if you’re looking to improve the technical performance of your site. Its detailed reports enable targeted optimizations that can greatly benefit SEO.
9 – Screaming Frog SEO Spider: The SEO audit tool for exploring your site
Tool overview: Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a software program that crawls your website to extract essential SEO data. It identifies common technical SEO issues such as broken links, redirect errors,metadata analysis and more, enabling in-depth optimization of your site.
⚙️ Main features :
- Site crawl to identify technical SEO errors.
- Analysis of titles, descriptions and URLs for optimization.
- Discovery of broken links and erroneous redirects.
🎁 Hidden feature: Integration with Google Analytics for performance analysis.
👊 I use it to: Carry out comprehensive and detailed SEO audits for my sites.
✅ Advantages:
- Enables in-depth diagnosis of your site’s technical SEO.
- Free version offering a crawl of up to 500 URLs.
- User-friendly interface for SEO professionals.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Free version has a limit on URLs that can be crawled.
- Requires some learning curve for new users.
💰 Price: limited free version; paid version for advanced features.
😎 Ease of use: Average, with a rich but complex interface for beginners.
😉 My opinion: Screaming Frog is a powerful tool for technical SEO professionals. It offers a comprehensive view of the problems that need to be corrected to improve a site’s SEO. The free version is an excellent starting point for small-scale audits.
10 – Google Rich Results Test Tool: Test the eligibility of your content
Tool overview: The Google Rich Results Test Tool enables webmasters to test whether their content is eligible to appear as rich results in Google search. This includes FAQs, recipes, reviews, and other types of content that can improve visibility and click-through in search results.
⚙️ Main features :
- Verification of the correct implementation of structured data.
- Tests on specific pages to assess eligibility for enriched results.
- Detailed reports on errors and warnings to be corrected.
🎁 Hidden functionality: Recommendations for improving your site’s compatibility with rich results.
👊 I use it to: Maximize the visibility of my content in Google search results.
✅ Advantages:
- Free tool directly integrated into the Google ecosystem.
- Optimizes content for better search visibility.
- Easy-to-understand reports with clear corrective actions.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Requires knowledge of structured data for optimal use.
- May be limited to the types of enriched results supported by Google.
💰 Price: Free
😎 Ease of use: Average, depends on familiarity with structured data.
😉 My take: The Enriched Results Test Tool is crucial for those who want to exploit the full potential of Google’s enriched results. It guides users through optimizing their content for maximum impact in search.
The best free SEO netlinking tools
Okay, now it’s getting a little rare… There’s only one really free tool I’ve ever tested. It’s the Ahrefs Backlink Checker. Please let me know if you know of any free SEO tools for netlinking.
11 – Ahrefs Backlink Checker: Discover the power of your link profile
Tool overview: Ahrefs Backlink Checker is a free tool for analyzing a website’s link profile, offering valuable insight into backlinks and backlink quality. This tool is essential for understanding how backlinks influence your site’s search engine ranking. It provides detailed data on backlinks, referring domains, link value and more.
⚙️ Main features :
- Backlink analysis with overview of top inbound links, ideal beforepurchasing SEO links.
- Information on referring domains and their authority.
- Visualization of link type (dofollow, nofollow).
- Insights on anchor text and backlink location.
🎁 Hidden functionality: identify netlinking opportunities by discovering where and how competitors acquire their links.
👊 I use it to: Analyze and improve my sites’ netlinking strategy to boost their authority and visibility in search engines.
✅ Advantages:
- Free access to quality backlink data.
- Intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface.
- Enables competitive analysis to identify winning link strategies.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Free version offers limited insight compared to the full paid version of Ahrefs.
- Requires basic SEO knowledge to interpret data effectively.
💰 Price: Free for basic functionality.
😎 Ease of use: High, with clear, accessible information even for beginners.
😉 My verdict: Ahrefs Backlink Checker is an extremely useful tool for those who want to understand and improve their backlink profile without investing in a paid subscription. It offers an excellent starting point foridentifying the strengths and weaknesses of your netlinking strategy, enabling strategic adjustments to improve your SEO. Highly recommended for its easy access to valuable backlink data.
The best free SEO tracking tools
For me, there’s one free tool that’s a must-have for keeping track of everything that’s happening on your website. I’ll introduce it just below.
There are also some SEO position tracking tools that can be free for tracking a few keywords. But when it comes to data collection and analysis, I’d say it’s better to invest 😉.
12 – Google Analytics: The ultimate SEO tracking and traffic analysis tool
Tool overview: Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google that enables website owners to understand the behavior of visitors to their site. This tool is crucial for SEO tracking, offering detailed analysis of traffic, visitor sources, user behavior on the site, and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Google Analytics helps identify trends, measure content effectiveness and optimize SEO strategies for higher search engine rankings.
⚙️ Key features :
- Detailed analysis of web traffic and traffic sources.
- Conversion and goal tracking to measure site performance.
- Reports on user behavior and site paths.
- Insights on best-performing content and most-visited pages.
🎁 Hidden feature: integration with Google Search Console for even deeper insight into SEO, including impressions, clicks and keyword positioning in search results.
👊 I use it to: Understand how visitors interact with my site and identify opportunities to improve my SEO and user engagement.
✅ Benefits:
- Free, with a premium option available for advanced features.
- Provides accurate, comprehensive data on web traffic and user behavior.
- Easy to integrate with other Google tools and third-party services.
❌ Disadvantages:
- Can be complex for novice users due to the depth and breadth of data available.
- Requires some time to configure and fully understand reports and data.
💰 Price: Free for standard version
😎 Ease of use: Medium to high, depending on prior experience with analysis tools.
😉 My opinion: Google Analytics is indispensable for strategically tracking and improving your SEO. Its in-depth analysis capabilities offer invaluable insights that can guide content, marketing and site design decisions for better engagement and higher rankings. Highly recommended for its seamless web integration and powerful analysis capabilities.
Free or trial versions of paid SEO tools
If you’d like to take things a step further, or if you’d like to try out some of the tools before you buy, I’ve put together a list of the free options for paid tools. It’s definitely worth checking out to get some data, or simply to see if the tool appeals to you.
Versions / Free features of paid SEO tools :
SEMRush ➔ Limited free trial on some features
Ahrefs ➔ Some free utilities like Backlink Checker
SEObserver ➔ Offers a limited free trial so users can test some features before committing
Surf SEO ➔ Offers a free trial or demo so users can discover the tool
SERanking ➔ Offers a free trial allowing access to all features for a limited period.
YoutTextGuru ➔ Usually offers a free trial or free credits to test the tool
1.fr ➔ Offers limited access to certain features for free, or a free trial to test the tool in greater depth.
Majestic SEO ➔ Offers limited access to some of its features for free
AWR (Advanced Web Ranking) ➔ Offers a free trial that allows users to test all features before committing
Yooda Insights ➔ Usually offers limited access to certain features free of charge, or a free trial for new listings
Ranxplorer ➔ Offers a free trial to allow users to test the tool.
KWFinder ➔ Part of the Mangools suite, which offers a free trial allowing access to all its features, including KWFinder, for a limited time
OnCrawl ➔ Offers a free trial so users can test features before taking out a subscription
MonitoRank ➔ 10 free keywords for life or +100 free keywords for 1 month
MypoSEO ➔ 15-day free trial
🤫🤫 If you’ve made it this far, you’re in for a treat with SEO tools! When SEOs start their business, they often don’t have the budget to subscribe to all the necessary tools. Fortunately, there are tools like Rankerfox, which offer access to a wide range of SEO tools in the form of a monthly subscription at a very low price. It’s worth a look!
I hope this list of the best free SEO tools helps you achieve your goals! It’s always a good idea to test tools out before subscribing. Or to be able to use some of their features without paying if you don’t have a budget. See you soon for more SEO tips!