7 Must-Have SaaS Tools for Your SEO

How you do SEO has certainly changed a lot over the past ten years. If you are a digital marketer or a business owner who relies on SEO to get customers, the changes should not escape your attention.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of growing the traffic to a target website through search engine results. The method aims to increase organic or unpaid traffic by taking the top spot on the first page of search engine results.

Over the years, how you do SEO shifted from being crawler-centric to being user-centric. The former gave birth to spamming and black-hat approaches while the latter highlighted engaging content and quality backlinks from authority sites.

Why is SEO important?

If you are a business owner or a digital marketer and you are asking this question right now - you are on the right track. Paid advertising, from pay per click to post boosting, is popular nowadays because it quickly gets you the traffic that you need but at a cost - and an expensive one at that. SEO is one of the most reliable ways to consistently send free traffic to your website - once it is set up correctly. That is why SEO is important to any business, whatever the niche.

One of the important changes in how you do search engine optimization is the heavy reliance on SEO tools which are considered SaaS software.

What is SaaS? The term stands for Software as a Service. This is a cloud-based service that lets you use an application using a computer or mobile device instead of downloading and installing it. Most reliable SEO tools nowadays are in a SaaS format.

Among the plethora of SaaS tools for Search Engine Optimization available online, here is a compilation of seven must-have applications to streamline your SEO campaigns and eventually boost your website traffic:

1. Ahrefs

AHREFs is one of the big names when it comes to SEO tools. It developed its own website crawlers and is considered second to Google when it comes to indexing the world wide web. AHREF’s Site Audit feature also provides a comprehensive analysis of your website and gives issues and recommendations that you can implement.

The Keyword Tool, on the other hand, is a powerful element. It gives you the ability to research keywords, find related words, and see metrics like the number of local and international searches and the value of each keyword provided in the search. This paid SaaS tool is a great partner both for the beginner and expert SEO manager.

This is a subscription-based application and you can avail of the trial for $7.

2. Google Search Console

The best thing about this tool is that it’s free for all. You only need to master using this to maximize the results of your SEO campaigns. Google Search Console lets you track your website’s presence in the Google Search Engine Results Pages. To let Google monitor your website statistics through Google Search Console, all you have to do is to add a code to your website. You must then submit a sitemap so that the Search Console can index your page or website.

The Google Search Console itself does not directly affect site rankings but using it as an SEO tool can help you better gauge how Google and the search engine users see your website. You can use this tool to improve your performance and know which pages need optimization.

3. SEMRush

This is also a popular SaaS application. A must-try feature is the Domain vs Domain analysis, which lets you sneak a peek at your competitor’s website and compare it with your own. This is a useful tool if you want to make site optimization a daily work. You can maximize it and raise your site’s SEO health to 100%.

For freelancers and those who are starting SEO work, get the Pro plan for only $199.95 per month. For growing companies, the Guru plan is at $229.95. For agencies and experts, the Business plan is available for $449.95.

4. KWFinder

Want to search for the best keywords for your niche? The KWFinder can provide long-tail keywords, ideas, and other options for your keyword research.

It can also give you information like the search volume, CPC, and level of difficulty so that you can compare multiple keywords. Another feature is that it has the Rank Tracker Tool which can monitor your keyword rankings as you go along with your campaigns.

5. Moz Pro

When it comes to making one of the best SEO tools, the Moz team surely would not bail out of the competition. With Moz Pro’s, beginners and experts alike can use various features to keep up with the ever-changing Google algorithm. It’s an all-in-one package of SEO tools. It can give you insight into your website visitors and come up with a monitored keyword list and more for your keyword research.

It can track your rankings and issue an insightful site audit to assist in your onsite SEO. Its Link Explorer will help you maximize your link-building campaigns. And to top it all, you will love its customized report option.

6. Answer The Public

When it comes to optimizing your site for search engines, content is king. And Answer the Public can help you produce quality content by giving you topics for your blog and other web content materials. It works by providing you with a list of titles on a certain keyword based on what the web users are looking for in search engines.

This means Answer The Public does not only give you ideas for your content, it also lets you take a peek at the search engine audience’s pulse for each keyword niche.

The best news? It’s free. But you can always upgrade to Pro if you want more data.

7. SEOQuake

The best tools can sometimes come for free. SEOquake is a powerful browser extension that can be one of your most crucial SEO tools. It can analyze a page and process an SEO audit in real-time which will be helpful for you if you want to find bugs and problems on your website on the dot to improve your SEO health score.

It can give you a run down on link statistics for each website you visit with its Link Examiner. And if you take importance on data, you can export everything and produce a quick report. It's one of the best browser extension tools there is for SEO.

Your Turn...

From adjusting to search engine algorithm changes to overcoming stiff competition, SEO tools are here to do the job and these seven SaaS software can give you an edge when it comes to how you do SEO.