27 Must-Use SEO Tools to Do Content Marketing

Content marketing is about creating, optimizing, and distributing valuable content to grow your web presence and steer the actions of consumers. It involves driving traffic, generating leads, and building authority. Not too hard if you have the right skills and strategy, but without an arsenal of SEO tools at your disposal, you are bound to waste time and money.

How will you research keywords? How will you track SERP rankings and analyze competitors? How will you measure ROI? All important questions to ask if you’re serious about online success. Of course, you could outsource these tasks, but that’s a surefire way to burn through your budget fast, and then you’d still need to oversee it all.

Search engine optimization tools enable you to do those things efficiently; they do the legwork for you, so you can focus more time and resources on other areas of your business. Below is a list of the best SEO tools out there right now. Some are free, others are paid, but they can all help you get incredible content marketing results.

In no particular order, here they are…

1. Google Search Console

Google Webmaster Tools is still the best way to diagnose site health, check page indexing status, and optimize your website for Google’s search engine results. It’s free and easy to use. Just sign in and connect a site to get started.

2. Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools lets you monitor (and somewhat control) how your site performs in the Bing search engine. It also gives you valuable crawling, indexing, and content optimization insights that can affect your Google rankings.

3. Google Analytics

One of the most reliable and widely used analytics tools to date. Get detailed website traffic statistics, measure conversion rates, track data and set goals, gain unique audience insights, and much more. The basic service is free, but you’ll pay for Premium.

4. Google Trends

A free, must-use keyword research tool by Google. Discover “hot” topics in their search results and track keyword popularity over a specified period of time. A great way to identify market opportunities and plan for successful paid content marketing campaigns.

5. ScreamingFrog SEO Spider

The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a powerful website crawling tool designed to help digital marketers and SEO professionals analyze and optimize websites for search engines. With its intuitive interface, the tool efficiently crawls websites, collecting key data such as page titles, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, and more. It provides comprehensive insights into site structure, internal linking, and identifies potential SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, and missing metadata.

6. Scoop.it

Scoop.it is a content curation platform that discovers relevant content for you based on topic and keyword inputs. You can then add complementary text and quickly share posts across multiple online channels. Try it for free. Then select a paid plan.

7. AlsoAsked

AlsoAsked.com is an innovative SEO tool that provides valuable insights into related questions and topics that users frequently ask on search engines. It offers a visual representation of the “People Also Ask” (PAA) feature on Google, allowing users to explore interconnected queries in a user-friendly format. By uncovering these related questions, AlsoAsked.com helps content creators and SEO professionals understand user intent better, identify relevant topics to cover, and optimize their content strategy for improved search visibility.

8. Google Keyword Planner

While many still mourn the loss of the original free Google Keyword Tool, the AdWords Planner has proven to be a decent alternative that offers important keyword data and insights. A must for small businesses and content marketing professionals.

9. Übersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free keyword suggestion tool that generates tons of long-tail keywords in seconds. Just enter a seed query, choose a language and source, enter the captcha, and then submit. Receive back an alphabetical list of hundreds of long tails.

10. Ahrefs

Ahrefs offers a powerful suite of SEO tools, including a free version. Sign up and confirm that you are the owner of the website. With the free tool, users can access valuable insights into their website’s performance, backlink profile, and keyword rankings.

11. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo makes finding popular posts easy. Just type in keywords and it shows you what’s hot on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can explore topics your audience loves. Use filters to get specific results. For instance, find “how-to” guides or focus on a particular country. You can even exclude sites you’re not interested in. BuzzSumo streamlines content research, helping you discover what resonates with your audience quickly and effectively.

12. Moz

Moz has several good online marketing and SEO tools that can help you get results, some of which you don’t even need to pay to use. Non-payers can get unlimited access to Free Domain Analysis, Free Competitive Research, Brand Authority and more.

13. SEMrush

SEMrush offers competitor analysis software that shows you how competing sites are performing in terms of keywords, rankings, and traffic. They also provide access to search optimization tools. There is a limited free version and three monthly subscription plans.

14. Internet Marketing Ninjas

Internet Marketing Ninjas provides search engine marketing services. They also have a collection of social, webmaster, and optimization tools on their site that are free to use and can help you leverage content marketing.

15. Mixkit

Mixkit is a game-changer for content marketers, offering a vast library of high-quality, royalty-free stock videos, music, and sound effects. With Mixkit, content creators can access professional-grade assets without breaking the bank, enhancing the visual and auditory appeal of their marketing materials. The platform’s diverse collection caters to various niches and styles, ensuring marketers find the perfect match for their brand.

16. WooRank

WooRank’s website review service tells you how search engine-friendly your site is. Enter a URL to generate a report detailing what you’re doing wrong and where you can improve. Pull one free report weekly, or choose from 2 more advanced monthly plans.

17. PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights is a free page speed analyzer. Simply enter a URL to receive a performance report that grades your page based on Google guidelines and provides recommendations for improvement core web vitals metrics.

18. Letterdrop

Letterdrop is a content marketing platform designed for B2B marketers. Empowering businesses to reach their target audience with precision, it offers a seamless solution for creating, distributing, and managing content. Through intuitive tools and analytics, marketers can craft compelling narratives, leverage industry insights, and optimize campaigns for maximum impact. Whether it’s engaging blog posts, insightful whitepapers, or captivating email newsletters, letterdrop.com equips B2B marketers with the tools they need to drive growth and establish thought leadership in their respective industries.

19. SERP Simulator

Free SERP Snippet Preview Tool by Mangools (which is free) shows you how your listing looks in Google’s results pages. This allows you to optimize your webpage titles and meta descriptions for better click-through rates, increasing traffic.

20. Word to HTML

As the name suggests, this tool converts MS Word documents (and documents created in other popular word processors) into clean HTML. This can be useful for marketers producing e-books and those using certain content management systems.

21. Infogram

Infogram is a service that lets you to create interactive infographics and data illustrations for your content marketing. No costs involved here, unless you upgrade to the “Pro” or “White Label” plans, which give you access to additional customization features.

22. Piktochart

Piktochart is another nice infographic creator. Making your data engaging and beautiful is easy, and sharing what you create requires just the click of a button. They offer a free trial version with limited features and two affordable paid options.

23. PowToon

PowToon’s nifty animation software makes it possible to create engaging animated videos and presentations quickly, easily, and affordably – no technical skills necessary. Great for educational and explainer videos. Choose one of two payment plans, or get it free.

24. Snagit – Screen Capture Software

TechSmith’s Snagit captures what you see and do on your computer screen and turns into video – you can then share it instantly. A great off-page SEO tool that helps you create online tutorials and make content more engaging. It’s a free download.

25. ShareThis

ShareThis offers a suite of website tools designed to amplify online engagement and social sharing. With easy-to-install plugins and widgets, website owners can seamlessly integrate social sharing buttons, follow buttons, and related content recommendations into their sites.

26. Whitespark

Whitespark’s local citation finder shows you where to list your business online to improve your search engine rankings. Try the limited version for free or choose from several payment plans. Whitespark also offers other local SEO tools and services.

27. Trello

Trello is a project management tool that arranges projects into boards, helping you visualize content marketing projects and online collaborations. A nice, user-friendly interface, and it’s free. There is also a “Premium” and “Enterprise” upgrade.

Got some must-use SEO tools of your own? How do you get content marketing results? Please share in the comments.