The SEO battle is one that has been raging for a while, and there are no signs of the war stopping soon. According to Technasite, using the right SEO solutions can help you improve your search engine rankings, but you also need to use the right tools.
Plenty of SEO software and plugins are available on the internet, both free and paid versions with different individual strengths. Today’s article focuses on arguably the top 4 on the market: KW Finder, Moz, SEMRush, and Ahrefs. Find out what their strengths are, what they are not so good in, and the way forward for you.
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SEMRush
source:seerinteractive.com
Easily proving to be SEO’s jack of all trades, SEMRush offers a ton of features, both with a free and a paid membership. Best used by small and medium-sized businesses, this SEO tool delivers a variety of functions such as comprehensive keyword research options and a suite of website reviewing tools. Once you land on its page, its features are divided into three categories; analytic reports, tools, and projects.
Keyword research is among the tool’s specializations, offering lists of keywords, sorting per region, and long-tail keyword analysis. You can also perform a full audit on your site whereby you find out how strong your SEO is and get recommendations on what to improve. SEMRush also offers a competitive analysis of your competitors’ SEO.
SEMRush has a range of pricing options, ranging from a Pro plan at $99.95 per month, a Guru plan at $199.95 per month, and a business plan at $399.95 per month. Custom and Enterprise plans are also available.
Key Strengths:
- Both free and paid versions available
- Well-developed tools for keyword research, competitive analysis, and content marketing
- One of the best API for SEO in the market
A few cons:
- The prices may be a bit high for the average user
- Not so great backlink analysis tools
Moz
source:moz.com
Moz is among the best SEO providers for free users, with enough tools in its arsenal to satisfy most of your SEO tools without spending a dime. With its free MozBar extension for Chrome, you can easily obtain SEO metrics for any site. Other tools available in the free pack include its link explorer, which allows you to discover opportunities for link building and compare with your competitors, and a free location audit, which is a measure of the quality and the listing of your site on the local front. You can also research your keywords using their site for free.
With the pro version, Moz additionally offers some impressive backlink analysis, comprehensive site audits, rank tracking, and custom reports. You also get page optimization recommendations, which include areas to improve on and custom tips on the content you should make.
Moz also comes with a free version on top of their standard, medium, large, and premium plans ranging from $99 a month to $599 a month.
Key strengths:
- Well-equipped free version
- Top-level support and community center
- SEO training offered on their site
A few cons:
- Its paid version is a bit pricey
- Its user interface can take a while to understand
KW Finder
source:mangools.com
As the name suggests, this tool has set its eyes on keyword research and stuck to it ever since. One of the most important elements of SEO is finding the right keywords that are also easy to rank. This is where KW Finder excels in. Being only a part of the 5-tool Mangools suite, KW Finder also offers SERP analysis, rank tracker, backlink analysis, and website metrics analysis.
KW Finder offers a beginner-friendly user interface to access its keyword and research options. Immediately after you access the site, you can easily enter your keyword and search it by region or language within its database of up to 1.6 billion keywords. It has also introduced a domain-based search to ease your research. Within its suite, you can find tools such as keyword lists, long-tail keyword analysis, local keyword research, filters, and a host of other functions.
KW finder offers a 10-day free trial, after which it offers basic, premium, and agency plans. The basic plan goes for $29.90 per month, the premium for $39.90, and agency for 79.90 per month.
Key strengths:
- Top-quality keyword research and analysis capabilities
- Affordable paid versions
- Simple user interface
A few cons:
- Competitor research is a bit limited
- Except for keyword analysis, it lacks other advanced SEO capabilities
- Low limits
Ahrefs
source:ahrefs.com
Best known for its extensive live links database, Ahrefs is quickly growing to be a favorite among many. Much like SEMRush, Ahrefs offers a host of SEO tools to improve your business online. It is no surprise, therefore, that backlink research is one of Ahrefs’ most useful features.
With an index size of 16 trillion known links, you can rest assured that your backlink analysis sits among the best. Besides its renowned backlinking capacity, Ahrefs also offers keyword analysis from its huge database of over 3 billion keywords. You can also analyze your competitors’ rank as well as track your own website’s performance. Content research and web monitoring are also offered.
Ahrefs does not offer a free version but has a $7 trial period valid for 7 days. For paid users, the Lite package costs $99 a month, Standard costs $179, Advanced costs $399, and Agency goes for $999 a month.
Key strengths:
- Biggest link index available
- Growing community support
- A free extension for Google Chrome
A few cons:
- Ahrefs subscriptions are expensive
- No trial version
Choosing one for your website can be quite a task, bearing in mind that each one of these has its own strengths and weaknesses. KW Finder, for instance, is well suited for keyword research hence might not function well for competitor analysis. SEMRush and Ahrefs are also quite expensive options compared to the rest. Now that you know what each tool is capable of doing, hopefully, the ultimate choice has been made easier. If you can splurge, however, you can try out a few tools and see what works best for your site.
