Best Technical SEO Tools: The 6 Essential Tools for an Optimized Site

The best SEO tools for indexing

Ah,indexing… We don’t always think about it. Yet it’s an essential step if your SEO strategy is to work! Imagine, you spend hours fine-tuning your SEO content. But a few weeks later, you notice that your page hasn’t generated any results. Why not? Because it’s not indexed!

Indexing means that your page is present in Google’s index and can therefore appear in search results. If this isn’t the case, Internet users will have no way of finding you via the search engines, and will never reach your page.

1 – Google Search Console – Essential for tracking Google’s indexing of your site

Introducing the tool:

Google Search Console is a free SEO service offered by Google that helps webmasters monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google search results. It’s a crucial tool for understanding how Google sees your site, to optimize its SEO and indexing. The ease of use and wealth of data provided make Google Search Console an indispensable tool for site owners.

⚙️ Main features :

• Indexing monitoring: Ensure that Google can access your content and present it in search results.
• Search data display: Analyze how your visitors find your site and how it ranks in the results.
• Indexing error alerts: Receive notifications of indexing problems and errors on your site.
• Sitemap submission: Submit your sitemaps directly to Google to make it easier to index new pages.

🎁 Hidden feature: URL inspection tool: Allows you to see exactly how Googlebot sees your site’s pages, including last crawl, indexing and any security issues.

👊 I use it to: Check that my pages are correctly indexed by Google, identify and correct indexing errors, and monitor my site’s performance in search results. A MUST-HAVE.

✅ Advantages:

• Direct Access to Google Data : Provides valuable insights into how Google sees and indexes your site.
• Improved Indexing: Helps solve indexing problems and speed up the indexing of new or updated content.
• Free: Accessible free of charge to all users. The tool offers immense value with no associated cost.

❌ Disadvantages:

• Learning curve: As with any tool, it takes a little time to grasp its full scope.
• Dependence on Google: Data and recommendations are specific to Google, and may not reflect the criteria of other search engines.

💰 Price :

Free

😎Ease of use: Medium to high

With a little practice, it’s easy to navigate the interface and use the main features to improve your site’s indexing and visibility.

😉 My opinion :

After you’ve created your site, or if you haven’t yet, I strongly recommend that you install Search Console. It’s a gold mine of information about how Google sees your site. After all, it’s the lifeblood of SEO! Don’t miss out on this valuable information.

Google Search Console is clearly one of the best SEO tools around, and it’s free too. There’s no excuse not to install it.

2 – Indexmenow: Indexing gas pedal for immediate visibility

Introducing the tool:

Indexmenow is an innovative indexing platform that promises to improve the visibility of your content on the web by accelerating its indexing process by search engines. By providing a service specifically designed to notify search engines of new content or updates, Indexmenow helps ensure that your pages are discovered and indexed faster than with traditional methods.

⚙️ Main features:

• Quick URL submission: Allows users to submit individual or bulk URLs to speed up indexing.
• Real-time reporting : Provides detailed updates and reports on the indexing status of your submissions.
• Multiple search engine compatibility: Designed to work effectively with a wide range of search engines, to increase the reach of your content.

🎁 Hidden feature : API integration: For advanced users, Indexmenow offers a robust API that enables seamless integration with websites, to automate the process of submitting URLs for indexing.

👊 I use it to : Ensure that new or updated content on my site is quickly picked up and indexed by search engines.

✅ Advantages:

• Speed of Indexing: Reduces the time it takes for new content to be visible in search results.
• Ease of use: Simple, intuitive interface, making URL submission quick and effortless.
• Increased Visibility: By speeding up indexing, your content can reach your target audience faster.

❌ Disadvantages:

• External dependency: Performance depends on Indexmenow’s ability to influence indexing by different search engines.

💰 Price:

From €59 for 60 credits

😎Ease of use: High

With a user-friendly interface and API integration options, Indexmenow is accessible to users of all levels, enabling efficient management of content indexing.

😉 My Opinion : As I said above, indexing your content is essential if you want to reach your target audience. Thanks to Indexmenow, you can speed it up without any headaches. So why hesitate?

The best SEO crawling tools

When we talk about crawling, we’re referring to the visits made to your site by search engine spiders. They analyze your site’s structure and crawl over most pages to assess their content. The better your site is constructed, the more likely they are to visit your site and, above all, go to the essential pages.

It’s essential to optimize your crawl budget. Google has limited resources, as there are an infinite number of websites and pages to analyze. So you need to make its job easier with an optimized, well-constructed site that tells it where your site’s most important resources are.

Some tools give you an overview of the state of your site’s pages, so you can quickly correct technical problems: pages in error, indexing errors, incorrectly entered tags, lack of canonical URLs… They replicate the robots’ passage over your site.

3 – Screaming Frog: The benchmark SEO crawling tool for professionals

Tool presentation :

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a website crawling software that enables users to perform comprehensive SEO audits. Popular with SEO agencies (I know 😉 ) and webmasters alike, this tool stands out for its ability to quickly crawl websites to extract crucial data. It provides you with in-depth analysis that helps identify SEO issues.

⚙️ Main features:

• Website crawling: Identify broken links, 404 errors, and analyze redirects.
• Page title and meta description analysis: Check the length and existence of meta tags on all pages.
• Image alt attribute audit: Find images lacking alt attributes to improve accessibility and SEO.
• XML sitemap generation: Easily create XML sitemaps for submission to Google Search Console.

🎁 Hidden feature: Integration with Google Analytics and Search Console: Combine crawl data with analytics data for a more comprehensive view of SEO performance.

👊 I use it to : Quickly identify technical issues on my site that can affect my search engine rankings and user experience.

✅ Advantages :

• Speed and Completeness: Screaming Frog is capable of crawling thousands of pages in a matter of minutes and providing ultra-detailed analysis.
• Versatility: Suitable for a wide range of SEO needs, from technical audits to on-page optimization.
• Customization: Offers great flexibility to configure crawls according to specific needs.

❌ Disadvantages:

• User interface: The interface can seem dense and intimidating for new users.
• Free version limitation: The free version is limited to 500 URLs, which may be insufficient for large sites.

💰 Price:

Annual license from €239/year

😎Ease of use: Average

Highly powerful, Screaming Frog may take some getting used to in order to master all its features.

😎 My Opinion:

If you’re keen to spot technical errors on your site on a large scale, there’s no better SEO tool. With the paid version, you can crawl every page on your site and pull up a list of all problematic URLs. Then, error correction can take a little longer of course 😛.

4 – OnCrawl: The ultra-pushed technical SEO analysis solution

Tool overview:

OnCrawl is a data-driven SEO analysis platform. It first crawls your site, then provides detailed insights into your site’scrawl, indexing and SEO performance. Best suited to large-scale sites and e-businesses, OnCrawl offers a data-driven approach to optimizing your online visibility.

⚙️ Main features :

• SEO crawl and log analysis: Understand how search engines crawl your site and identify blocking factors.
• Indexing tracking: Analyze your site’s ability to be indexed, and find out which pages are not indexed.
• Crawl budget optimization: Optimize search engine resource consumption to improve indexing of important pages.
• Advanced segmentation: Segment crawl data for precise analysis by page type, performance, or technical criteria.

🎁 Hidden feature: SEO predictions with AI: Use artificial intelligence to predict the impact of SEO changes on your traffic and revenue.

👊 I use it to : Perform deep, data-driven SEO audits for large-scale sites.

✅ Benefits :

• Big Data-Based Approach : Offers valuable insights for strategic SEO decisions.
• Multiple Integrations: Easily connects to other tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and more.
• Customizable Reports : Create reports tailored to your specific needs to share with teams or customers.

❌ Disadvantages:

• Cost: Can represent a significant investment for small businesses.
• Complexity : Requires some expertise in SEO and data analysis to fully exploit its potential.

💰 Price:

On quotation, depending on needs and site size

💰 Ease of use: Variable

Highly comprehensive, OnCrawl offers a user interface and customizable reports that make it easy for SEO professionals to use .

😉 My Opinion:

This is a clear step into the “big leagues” of SEO. OnCrawl provides ultra-complete graphs and data in relation to your site’s crawl. Chances are, you won’t understand much the first time you use the tool, even if you know a thing or two about SEO! Take your time to get to grips with the tool, as it contains invaluable information for optimizing your site. It allows you to analyze your site from every angle and in an ultra-visual way, thanks to infinite segmentation possibilities.

The best tools for monitoring site speed

Your site’s speed is an essential technical criterion in Google’s eyes. This applies in particular to your home page, but also to your site as a whole. If your site takes too long to load, users are likely to leave it quickly, which sends out a negative signal and deprives you of business opportunities! What’s more, Google doesn’t like to wait either, as it wastes resources unnecessarily. As a result, it may visit your site less often.

It’s essential to monitor your site’s speed on a regular basis. At least monthly, so you can detect and correct any anomalies.

You should also be aware that there are different indicators that underpin your site’s speed:

• Full pageload speed;
• Core Web Vitals ;
• Server response time…

All are important in their own way. Fortunately, there are tools that can easily provide you with all these data. In fact, don’t hesitate to consult Search Console to find out your average server response time and the status of your Core Web Vitals (or Essential Signals).

5 – Google PageSpeed Insights: the essential tool for web performance analysis

Introducing the tool:

Yes, another Google tool, I know… But hey, they’re free! Google’s PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is a free tool that analyzes the loading speed of web pages on both mobile and desktop devices. PSI provides speed scores and, above all, optimization recommendations that you can implement on your site. This tool is essential for understanding how to improve your site’s overall performance, a key factor for SEO and user experience.

⚙️ Main features :

• Loading speed analysis : Evaluate the performance of your pages on mobile and desktop devices.
• Optimization recommendations: Receive specific advice on how to improve your site’s speed.
• Core Web Vitals reports: Get insights into key user experience metrics, such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

🎁 Hidden feature : integration with Lighthouse: PSI uses Lighthouse to provide in-depth audits and technical improvement leads.

👊 I use it to: Diagnose my website’s performance issues and implement optimization strategies based on reliable data.

✅ Advantages:

• Easy to use: Simple interface where you just enter a URL to get an analysis.
• Based on real data: Combines theoretical data with real user experiences.
• Improved SEO : Helps optimize pages for speed criteria, an important factor in Google rankings.

❌ Disadvantages:

• Limited General View: Provides page-by-page information, without overall site analysis.
• Variability of Scores : results can vary depending on many factors, sometimes making comparisons difficult.

💰 Price:

Free

😎Ease of use: Very high

PageSpeed Insights is accessible to all. It provides a quick understanding of site performance and improvement actions.

6 – WebPageTest: The advanced tool for in-depth web performance analysis

Introducing the tool:

WebPageTest is a free online tool that enables website performance testing from different locations around the world, using a variety of mobile and desktop browsers. It offers a detailed analysis of page load speed, including time to first byte, start of rendering, and user interaction, along with recommendations for optimizing speed.

⚙️ Main features:

• Multi-browser, multi-location performance testing: Test your site’s speed under a variety of conditions.
• Visualization of the loading cascade : Analyze in detail the loading process of your page resources.
• Comparison before and after optimization : Evaluate the effectiveness of changes made to your site.

🎁 Hidden feature: Custom testing with scripts: Create personalized navigation scenarios to test specific user paths.

👊 I use it to: Get a complete view of my site’s loading performance and precisely identify bottlenecks.

✅ Advantages:

• Depth of analysis: Offers greater granularity and test customization than many other tools.
• Powerful, flexible tool : Enables highly specific tests to simulate real-life operating conditions.
• Educational resources: Offers tips and recommendations for improving your site’s performance.

❌ Disadvantages :

• Complexity : A lot of data to analyze.
• Response time: Tests can be time-consuming, especially when using advanced configurations.

💰 Price:

Free

😎Ease of use: Average

WebPageTest offers a multitude of configuration options that require a certain familiarity with web performance concepts to be fully exploited.

Choosing the right technical SEO tool is essential to unlocking your site’s full potential in search results. Whether you opt for the versatility and depth of analysis of Screaming Frog and OnCrawl for crawling and technical auditing, or focus on site speed with PageSpeed Insights and WebPageTest, each tool offers unique benefits tailored to specific needs. Investing in these tools ensures a thorough understanding of your site’s performance, optimizes your online presence and, ultimately, increases your visibility and traffic. Success in technical SEO requires the right tool.

Content generated in part by AI, but with my own insights. I’ve got to use the tools I recommend, don’t I 😉

Best SEO tools:

• Best SEO linking tools
• Best SEO content tools
• Best SEO tracking tools

Best technical SEO tools :

• Best site speed tools
• Best SEO Crawl tools
• Best SEO indexing tools