Search engine optimization isn’t an exact science, and there are hundreds of ways to complete the job. Every good SEO agency has a toolbox of go-to apps and software to make the job easier. Whether your goal is to complete an SEO audit, conduct keyword research, or develop a content strategy, the right tools make all the difference.
What Are the Best Tools for SEO Reports and Audits?
While SEO reporting and auditing aren’t always DIY-friendly, we often get asked about the best tools out there.
We won’t gatekeep.
Here are the best SEO tools we use to gather essential data; help our clients and inform our SEO strategy and services.
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is the tool we use for almost all our search engine optimization needs. It has a high-level dashboard that enables you to quickly access multiple websites and track their SEO performance. They also have a site explorer that offers an in-depth look at the backlink profile, search traffic, and direct competition of any website.
Ahref’s keyword explorer is the best in the industry; and provides thousands of relevant keyword ideas with accurate search volume and keyword difficulty per country. It’s a powerful yet easy-to-understand SEO audit and reporting tool that anyone can use.
2. Page Analytics Chrome Extension
Developed by Google, Page Analytics SEO extension allows you to see how visitors interact with your website by displaying data such as pageviews, average time on page, bounce rate, and more. It ultimately shows you what users click (and don’t click) on your website. The ability to visualize what users are doing gives a much more human perspective and makes it significantly easier to understand which elements of a page are working well and which need to be improved.
3. STAT Search Analytics
STAT Search Analytics is our favourite keyword tracking service. Where many of the best SEO tools will enable you to do important keyword research, STAT allows you to track important keyword performance. For example, you can track the performance of a keyword across different markets. Or, assess the changing landscape for a collection of search queries. This kind of analysis enables you to determine which of your marketing efforts are working and pull month-over-month (MoM) reports to share with your team.
4. SEOquake
SEOquake is a powerful Chrome extension that provides a real-time SEO audit of every website you visit. It offers page information like keyword density, mobile compliance, internal and external links, and social metrics, and suggests areas of improvement. SEOquake also offers in-SERP data about every link available. Their Domain Authority metric uses the number and quality of a site’s backlinks to judge its trustworthiness, while the user engagement reports give you a peek into audience behaviours.
5. Screaming Frog
What would we do without Screaming Frog SEO software? We’ve talked about its secret uses before on our blog and we’re going to talk about it again. If you’re unfamiliar, Screaming Frog is one of the best SEO audit tools offering both free and paid versions. The free version* allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs and provides a wealth of data, including response time, missing meta tags, word count, and URL issues. It also covers duplicate pages, XML sitemap generation, AMP crawling and validation, and can even crawl rich JavaScript sites and frameworks.
*We have an entire blog on the best free SEO tools.
6. GTmetrix
GT Metrix is a super effective site performance analysis tool. It’s free and you don’t have to download anything to use it. GT Metrix will crawl your site, and return with valuable reports about where your search engine optimization is lacking and suggestions on how to improve. It will assign different factors of your site a letter grade, with the most impactful areas listed first. It will even optimize and reduce the file size of images on your site automatically for you to download.
Make SEO Auditing and Reporting a Priority with Method and Metric
Search engine optimization is a multifaceted practice that ties together many factors– from copywriting and user experience to data analytics. While we’ve listed some of the best SEO tools as a helpful starting point, conducting a full audit and generating MoM reporting can be challenging. Hiring an SEO professional is the best way to increase revenue and the team at Method and Metric is here to help. Contact us today for a free SEO audit.
