12 top-rated tools that SEO experts use

The following tools are all well-established and trial-tested by SEO specialists. They are the absolute best examples of how a piece of software can make your optimization efforts a whole lot easier.

#1: Google Search Console

As the most obvious choice among SEO tools, the Search Console by Google grants you access to stats and the state of your presence in Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page). What makes it even more practical for use is the simple fact that it is free for anyone with a website. So, how does it work?

• You need to verify your website – either by indexing it through Google Analytics or by adding some code to it.
• Even without having an actual account, you can control which of your site pages get indexed and which parts of it search engine bots see.
• As an added benefit, the Search Console as an SEO checker tool can help you to better grasp how Google and its users view your website. As a result of that data, you can further optimize and improve your website, both for users and search engines.

#2: Ahrefs

As a top contender among SEO keyword tools, Ahrefs is only second to Google when it comes to website crawling capabilities. As a top-rated SEO analysis tool currently available, you will find that a large number of SEO experts rely on Ahref’s Site Audit feature. It can easily red-flag the parts of your website you need to resolve to gain a higher ranking on search results. Additionally, the reason why this is on our list of top-rated tools that SEO experts are the competitive edge it gives. You can use it to explore the backlink profile of your competitors and the most popular content in your niche.

#3: SEMRush

When talking about the SEO community favourites among tools, we can’t skip SEMRush. One of the features you need to try out is the Domain vs Domain analysis – a feature that can cross-compare your rankings with that of your top competitors. Of course, the easy access to rankings and any immediate changes only adds to the usefulness of SEMRush. With the analytics reports this on-page SEO checker tool offers, you can easily explore any of the following information:

• Your website’s search data
• Amount of traffic on your web pages
• Competitor SEO efforts and tactics
• Keywords and domains comparison, etc.

Using SEMRush is an established practice in the digital marketing world, especially when you’re searching for ways to boost your online presence. It is excellent for planning out new directions in which to take your business, developing strategies for practically any niche you can think of. One of the examples would be the relocation and logistics industry, where it has proven to be crucial in developing marketing activities for moving companies.

#4: KWFinder

Are you searching for quality long-tail keywords to target without having to battle too much competition for them? If so, then an SEO keyword tool like KWFinder might be the perfect fit for your company. The Rank Tracker tool it uses enables a quick way to pinpoint your rankings based on a single key metric. Plus, a completely new range of keyword ideas will open up to you.

#5: Moz

The continuous up-to-date status and chat option are just two of the most notable reasons why people include Moz among the top-rated tools SEO experts actually use. Moz is a full-service piece of SEO software, with an ocean of useful information, whether you are looking for a site crawl or keyword recommendations.

#6: Majestic

As far as experts in the SEO and marketing industries are concerned, Majestic definitely takes the cake as a marketing SEO tool. With features such as The Majestic Million (ranking of top million websites) and The Site Explorer (overview of your online store and backlinks profile), it offers great insights. Additionally, it functions as an SEO keyword tool. And you can use it to find the best keywords for your particular business to rank for.

#7: Google Trends

Despite begin around for decades, Google Trends is an SEO checker tool that has always been underutilized. However, it can be detrimental in the business growth of any company, no matter the stage. How? Simple – it offers detailed insight into current trends circling around any particular topic that comes to mind. With it, you can get top queries, rising queries, interest over time, and the interest-based on geo-location.

#8: SEOQuake

Are you just starting out your business and don’t really have the funds to invest in the top-rated tools SEO experts actually use? No worries. That’s why there are tools like SEOQuake – rated best among the free SEO tools out there! As an extension of Google Chrome, this tool is phenomenal when it comes to on-page audits, assessing internal & external links, as well as analyzing the competition. Other features:

• Keyword density analysis
• Easy-to-read SEO dashboard
• Export data

#9: Screaming Frog

If you are on the lookout for an SEO tool to help you save time, look into the potential that Screaming Frog offers. When it comes to speed of analyzing websites, there are but a few other tools that can really compare to this one. It is faster than most other solutions out there, making it the obvious choice among top-rated tools that SEO experts actually use. Other data that it offers include duplicate content, errors to fix, bad redirections, and areas of improvement for link building.

#10: CORA

CORA is a preferred choice for those looking for a more advanced-level SEO tool. As far as tools are concerned, it’s definitely not among the cheapest ones out there, but it is all-inclusive. So, you will definitely be getting your money’s worth by opting for using it. In fact, according to current trends and comments, a high number of medium-large businesses tend to use it to discover all the weaknesses and potential improvements for their websites.

#11: Serpstat

There are always those searching for all-in-one tools that can help their businesses grow online. If that is your goal as well, then you should definitely look into the opportunities that Serpstat offers to users. SEO, PPC, or content marketing – this growth-hacking platform manages it all. Simple to use, it offers you an optimal way to:

• resolve SEO tasks;
• analyze competitors;
• manage your team.

When it comes to SEO in particular, Serpstat has proven outstanding for keywords and competition analysis. Among its many features, Missing Keywords is the most popular one. It identifies the keywords your competitors rank for in the top-10 search results and you don’t.

#12: Woorank

A generally fantastic solution for tracking and reporting on marketing data, Woorank comes both in free and paid versions. From discovering the keywords your competitors are targeting to reporting on how certain keywords perform during the course of time, this tool really does live up to its place on this list. And in addition to it all, it helps identify potential issues with your website the likes of duplicate content, downtime, and security issues. And, more importantly, it provides clear guidelines on how to fix them.

Other worthy mentions when it comes to top-rated tools that SEO experts actually use:

• Ubersuggest – keyword tracking tool
• Answer The Public – free SEO tool
• SpyFu – free SEO tool
• Siteliner – SEO analysis tool
• Fat Rank – SEO analysis tool
• Keywords Everywhere – SEO keyword tool

A word to the wise…

Having an extensive list of top-rate tools that SEO experts actually use is great but it is far from a slam dunk. In fact, it is only the first step to crossing a long bridge before actually reaching that place where your business prospers into something lasting. So, you need to consider that next step carefully. Whether you decide to start learning on your own, hire an in-house SEO specialist or an entire SEO agency – the choice falls on you.

For more interesting information and news about the world of SEO and digital marketing, explore our blog further. And if you have any additional questions, we are here to answer them.

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The basics and definition

Marketing is a business concept completely driven by the needs of the consumer. Its whole purpose is to analyse and define the needs of the consumer in order to try and satisfy those needs in a superior way than the competition does. Doing business in such a way, if you are successful, will lead to a high level of satisfaction, trust, and loyalty from a customer which will result in a long-term relationship that leads to profitability in the long run and continual consumer satisfaction. However, marketing is not only the prerogative of large companies but it is also extremely important to small/local companies. To achieve this, as a company, we need to:

• analyse and define the market and its needs
• segment it and choose the right target market
• adapt the 4P elements to suit market needs
• analyse the satisfaction of customers and adapt accordingly

An adequate marketing strategy cannot be created without full knowledge of the market and its needs. The market is also a collection of different customer preferences and desires and a successful company needs to identify the group of customers (target market) that it can try to satisfy through its marketing activities. So, the marketing concept requires extensive market research, data analysis and rational market segmentation that must lead to the creation of an offer tailor-made for the target market. This offer comprises of 4 basic elements that we call marketing mix.

The elements of the marketing mix

Elements of the Marketing mix are the core offer of a company to the customer/consumer on the market. These four elements (4Ps) are combined, moulded and adapted to each market segment to suit the customer and their needs to the highest possible degree.

Product (service) is the core value we provide, the offer to the customer. It can be a service or a physical object that has certain characteristics that satisfy a consumer need. The product is not static, it is always a subject of development and change aimed at its adaptation to the changing needs of the market.

Price is the amount of money paid for the product. The price should be linked and determined by the value of the product but it is also influenced by the market (competitors’ prices), costs, expenses, and discounts.

Placement represents the distribution network of our product. These networks today encompass social networks and digital markets as well as traditional networks (small and large market store chains)

Promotion is PR, advertising, and the complete promotional strategy of the company. It ties in and balances all other elements to create and present and offer tailor-made for the target market.

Marketing is digital

The whole world and all of our customers are digitalising their life and the way they are doing business. Habits and the way of communicating are changing. Internet, Web sites, social networks, blogs, influencers, etc. have all made it very easy to communicate with a customer and also made communication a two-way street. Traditional ways of communicating do not appeal to customers anymore. Consumers tend to react and respond to the Brands they can communicate with directly, passive marketing based on billboards and flyers does not allow that. Using digital marketing made it possible for companies to communicate with the market and monitor its response at the same time, which allowed them to adapt to the observed trends of the markets. It also allowed them to try, to a certain degree, to create, control and lead trends on the market.

Social networks, in particular, have allowed companies to efficiently use digital marketing to raise brand awareness, promote new content, products, and services, develop trust with consumers, maintain an existing client base and expand it, and also to research, analyse, and monitor the markets to adapt to its needs even better.

When we consider that digital marketing can be up to 60% cheaper and up to 3 times more efficient than traditional marketing, it is clear why digital marketing is developing fast.

Website basics

The web site has been a starting point for digital marketing development and has so far proven to be the basic content source when building brand awareness. It is the starting point of every brand in the digital world. Combined with Google Analytics, AdWords, etc it is the basic digital marketing element today. These tools allow companies to track, monitor, and analyse consumer interest when visiting a web site, check who the buyers are and why visitors left without buying. In this way, they are a source of information for changing, correcting and innovating marketing strategies and tactics in the digital world.

Social media

Today, social media is the most powerful platform for building marketing campaigns and creating and developing brands. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn with their following count in the billions, represent an endless field for marketing experimentation and development. These are the networks that can be used to develop a personal relationship with a consumer and to invoke an emotional response, engaging a customer in the marketing activity of a company.

Blog, Bloggers, and Influencers

In today’s marketing and digital world, the customer tends to believe what others are saying about the company rather than what the company is saying about itself. In these conditions, companies are inclined to use other means of communicating with their target audience. Using blogs or bloggers and influencers has come to be a way of creating an image of a company and Brand promotion to the public we want to communicate with (customers and potential customers) Experienced bloggers and influencers that communicate with our target audience can be beneficial in raising brand awareness and realising planned marketing strategies.

These communication lines are also connected to new innovative and interactive marketing tools that are very beneficial to companies using them.

These aspects of digital marketing are also closely tied to Search Engine Optimisation which is one of the most important elements of marketing online. SEO is the process of optimising the content of a website, blog, or social media post by adding elements relevant to search engines to increase the rank of a web page and generate a high rate of traffic.

Marketing has evolved from its beginning and changed to adapt to the fluctuating markets, technologies, and habits of the consumers. As a term, marketing is often not completely understood and it is important to research it and study it further. In light of its continual development, we have pointed at some of the topics for study and analysis. However, in order to create and implement an effective marketing strategy, it is important to know that the market for marketing professionals and companies is very well developed.

The market has a veritable sea of knowledge and experience, so hiring a professional might be a good starting point when drawing up your marketing strategy.

The post Marketing Basics – The What, The How And The Why!? appeared first on SEMA.

According to BrightLocal “Local SEO is an effective way to market your business online. It helps businesses promote their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them.” We already know that utilizing SEO is a very effective way to capture customers. If you have a local business, you’ll definitely want to take it a step further and assure that your local SEO is on point.

BCC Interactive, a premier SEO agency in Philadelphia, PA, has put together an engaging infographic, showing you 15 reasons why local SEO is more important than ever.

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Say you own a law firm, and your senior paralegal, who functions like the right-hand for a number of your qualified lawyers, is earning $80k a year. Chances are, you don’t think twice about paying her that because she has put in years of dedicated service, she is always on time, happy to work overtime and gets her job done perfectly day in and day out.

Now, imagine she’s been working for your company for five years. In that time you’ve paid her $400,000 plus super and a few bonuses here and there.

Keeping these figures, and how valuable this employee is to your business in mind, how much did you spend on your website?

So, you’ve spent $400,000 over five years on an employee – let’s refer to this as expense A. For the purpose of this example, let’s say you spent $8,000 on your website five years ago. You’ve probably also forked out some maintenance costs, and if you’re making the most of your website, you might have outlaid $50,000 on digital marketing (basic SEO, social media, content marketing) over a five year period. This website doesn’t function as well as it used to and is a little out-dated. You need to re-design it, but don’t really want to outlay the cash. From here on out, your website will be known as expense B.

But, which expense is more valuable to your business? Expense A or Expense B? To understand the exact value of these expenses, let’s look at the hours of work each expense completes, as well as their regular tasks.

Expense A – Weekly Activities

Works eight hours a day, minus a 30-minute lunch break, so 38-hours a week.

Her job role might encompass:

• Performing legal and factual research to support arguments
• Summarising legal documents
• Organising and analysing information
• Cross checking and validating information
• Preparing written reports
• Drafting legal documents
• Preparing legal arguments, applications, motions and declarations
• Preparing correspondence
• Maintaining reference files
• Organising and tracking case files
• Reviewing and monitoring new and updated regulations

Your paralegal does a lot for your business and is essential for the day-today running of your law firm. But, what about Expense B? It’s just a website right?

Well, a website does a lot more than you might initially think.

Expense B – Weekly Activities

Works 24-hours a day seven days a week. That’s 168-hours a week of dedicated service.  Your website also doesn’t take sick or carers leave, and it never asks for time off over Christmas or to go on a four-week holiday to Europe.

Your website’s role might include:

• Acts as the face of your business to potential customers, both in your local area and across the country
• Has the potential to introduce a large number of people to your business each month, and keeps your existing customers engaged with your services
• It’s functions include welcoming people, providing them with information and facilitating transactions

Taking your digital marketing expenses into consideration, your website will also:

• Drive engagement across your social media accounts
• Drive conversions both through social media and your website
• It will help you get a top ranking on Google, so when people search for a law firm in Melbourne, your website will come up. If your website is designed well and is easy-to-use, it will act as a positive first impression that will attract new clients
• Blogging helps your business establish its reputation as an industry authority, because the blogs are useful, engaging and well-informed, and will help your current and potential customers make informed legal decisions

Your website is pretty useful, especially if you want to keep revenue up by attracting new clients.

So, getting back to our original question, which expense is more valuable?

They’re both valuable. Without your senior paralegal, your business would struggle to function as normal. Without your website, the number of clients you attract will decrease substantially and you’ll lack the platform needed to build a successful reputation outside of word of mouth.

The main difference is the fact that over a five-year period your paralegal will give you 9,120 hours of service (once you take out her four weeks of leave entitlements). Your website, on the other hand, will give you 43,800-hours of service in that same time period.

While it would be unreasonable to expect your paralegal to work beyond her full-time hours, you can take comfort knowing your website will be there every hour of every day actively promoting your business and driving client engagement.

So, when it comes time to re-design your website or update your content management system, take into consideration how valuable your website is to your business, and how little it actually costs in the long-term to have a well-designed, easy-to-use website promoting your business.

Don’t make your website your highest performing, most underpaid employee. Spend the money now to get the design and functionality right, and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank in the long-term.

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