In the last few years, SEO has become far more complex than just stuffing your keywords into your copy and hoping for the best. Nowadays, you need to perform various tasks to get the most out of your organic search traffic. Having a steady flow of traffic is great, but you also need to keep an eye on your analytics to know what’s working and what isn’t.

While there are a variety of free tools online that you can use to check on the performance of your SEO efforts, not all of them give you the same level of insight. Some offer basic keyword reporting, while others provide you with comprehensive SEO analytics. Knowing which one to choose could be a real dice roll, so let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the seven most popular tools, shall we?

SEMRush

SEMRush is a well-known SEO tool that provides you with all the key metrics you need to track the performance of your SEO campaign. Besides showing you keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions, SEMRush offers a complete analytics package that breaks down your key performance indicators by day, week, and month. The best part is that you get all of this for free. There’s also a paid version that provides you with more in-depth analysis. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to check out the various special offers on their website to get your hands on the premium account.

Ahrefs

The creators of Ahrefs decided to tackle the issue of limited free space online with their solution: the snapshot feature. This feature allows you to save any number of websites, blogs, and social media profiles for later reference. You can also bookmark important pages for future reference. While useful, this feature is somewhat limited when it comes to pinpointing the exact location of a link. Sometimes you just need a link in order to find the information you’re looking for. In addition to the link location issue, the snapshot feature only saves the content as it appears on the page, which can make it difficult to compare changes over time. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to look into the various plans available for installation on your personal computer or server.

Wonderminded

Wonderminded is a free SEO tool that provides you with all the metrics you need to track the performance of your SEO campaign. What sets this tool apart from the rest is that it allows you to compare the organic search performances of up to five domains at a time. This feature is called multi-account management, and it allows you to track the performance of your individual domains as separate entities. Comparing the performance of multiple domains at once is a task that’s usually reserved for professionals with significant financial investment. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to check out their multi-account management feature before making any significant investment.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most popular tools used for SEO these days. This tool allows you to track the performance of your entire website and monitor the activity of your visitors. It does this by using cookies and other software mechanisms to analyze the behavior of visitors to your site. One of the great things about Google Analytics is that it’s free, which makes it a popular choice for marketers and other professionals who need to track the performance of their websites and digital marketing campaigns. Analytics offers a variety of features, including web traffic, sources of traffic, and demographic information about your visitors. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to look into the various plans available for installation on your personal computer or server.

HubSpot

HubSpot is a leading platform for marketing and sales professionals used to creating content, gathering feedback, and engaging with customers. The platform was originally designed for busy professionals who wanted to manage their marketing and sales activities from one place. This tool helps you gain a good understanding of how your marketing efforts are performing and allows you to prioritize the activities that are working and those that need to be changed.

The great thing about HubSpot is that it’s extremely easy to use and offers a wide variety of features. This means that even non-experts can use it to create effective content and track the performance of their campaigns. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to check out their free trial to get started.

Moz Keyword Analyst

Moz Keyword Analyst is a free tool that can be used to perform basic keyword research and analysis. The best part is that you get unlimited projects, searches, and sources for free. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to take advantage of their unlimited free trials to get started. Once you’ve decided that this is the tool for you, you can create keyword groups, perform broad vs. narrow keyword searches, and access detailed report about your results.

WordStream is the parent company of Moz, and it focuses on creating and providing keyword research and analysis tools for SEOs, content marketers, and digital marketers.

KW Finder

KW Finder is a free tool that provides you with all the metrics you need to track the performance of your SEO campaign. What sets this tool apart from the rest is that it can help you discover new keywords and phrases that you can use to expand your keyword research. Using this tool, you can build a keyword list, sort and filter your results, and download a.csv file that you can use in other software.

KWFinder lets you search for specific niche markets, and as a result, you’ll discover a variety of organic keywords and phrases. In my experience, this tool is great for expanding your keyword list and getting a sense of the various terms that your target audience is using in relation to your product or service.

KW Finder (Pro)

The Pro version of KWFinder is the same as the regular version, except it provides you with more features and removes the advertisement at the top of the screen. If you decide that this is the tool for you, be sure to take advantage of their free trials to get started. Once you’ve decided that this is the tool for you, you can perform unlimited searches, access the toolbar for quick links and shortcuts, download.csv files, and track up to five domains at once.

The great thing about all of the tools mentioned here is that they’re all free. This means you don’t have to worry about wasting valuable time on outdated software that doesn’t offer the features you need. Keeping up with the ever-changing world of SEO can be extremely difficult. There are always new algorithms that develop, new sources of organic traffic that emerge, and new technologies that emerge that make things more complicated. Using a tool like the ones mentioned here makes it much easier to keep up with the latest developments and changes in SEO and to figure out what’s working and what isn’t.