25 powerful SEO tools for marketing success in 2023 (free + paid)

Imagine your website as a runner in a marathon, constantly striving to reach the finish line or, in this case, the top spot on search engine results. But like any marathon, it's not just about putting in the miles; it's also about having the right gear and training plan. And that's where SEO tools come in - they're the energy gels, hydration packs, and GPS watches of the online world. 

They provide you with the data and insights you need to optimize your website, giving you the edge you need to outrun the competition and reach the coveted first-place finish. With the help of these tools, you can fine-tune your website's performance and watch as it becomes a champion of search engine results, driving more and more traffic to your site.

In this blog, we've put together a list of the 25 best SEO tools that will help you get started on your marketing journey in 2023 (and beyond). 

Some are free, some are paid, but all are useful in their own unique ways. Let's first look at how any of them can get the job done for you.

How SEO tools can help you improve your website

SEO tools help marketers ensure that their websites are optimized for maximum visibility on search engines. These tools will help you track important metrics such as website traffic, search engine rankings, and SEO aspects of your website content. In this blog, we have covered both free and paid tools that will help you with these metrics. 

Some of the tools include Google Analytics, Google AdWords, Moz, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. Each tool provides a different perspective on web analytics and can help you track metrics on your website to identify areas for improvement.

SEO tools can help improve a website in several ways, including:

1. Keyword research: SEO tools can help identify relevant keywords and phrases that people are searching for, which can be used to optimize website content and improve search engine rankings.
2. On-page optimization: SEO tools can help analyze a website's on-page elements, such as meta tags, headings, and internal linking, and provide recommendations for how to optimize them.
3. Backlink analysis: SEO tools can help track the number and quality of links pointing to a website, which is an important factor in determining search engine rankings.
4. Site structure analysis: SEO tools can help identify issues with a website's structure, such as broken links, that can negatively affect search engine rankings.
5. Competitor analysis: SEO tools can help analyze the online strategies of a website's competitors, which can be useful for developing an effective SEO strategy.
6. Tracking and Analytics: SEO tools can help track website performance, including search engine rankings, traffic, and conversion rates, and provide insight into areas of improvement.

Overall, SEO tools can provide valuable information and recommendations to help improve a website's visibility and search engine rankings, but they should be used in conjunction with a solid overall SEO strategy.

1. SEO Editor by Scalenut

Scalenut’s SEO editor is a powerful tool for in-depth competitor analysis and SEO content creation. The tool has some pretty amazing features, such as an in-depth analysis of the top-ranking content for your keyword, a detailed list of the most popular questions related to your keyword, and an AI writer that creates high-quality content. The Scalenut SEO editor is a good way to streamline your content creation process all in one place. 

What you can do with the tool: 

• Get a detailed analysis of the top-ranking content for your target keyword with SEO Docs. 
• Identify the most popular topics related to your keyword and create content clusters for your marketing campaigns. 
• Get keyword search volume, ranking difficulty, and more keyword research insights with SemRush integrated right into the platform. 
• Create high-value, low-competition keyword clusters with a powerful keyword clustering tool. 
• Check for plagiarism and ensure your content is 100% original with CopyScape integration.

Pricing: 

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Individual: $29/month

Growth: $79/month

Pro: $179/month

Pros:

UI/UX that is simple to use and has a short learning curve.

In-depth competitive analysis of top-ranking content for a target keyword.

NLP-keyword lists for identifying the most valuable and relevant keywords.

AI writer for generating insightful and engaging content.

Cons:

Lack of technical SEO features for on-page optimization and tracking. 

2. Copyscape

Copyscape is an online tool that can help you check for plagiarism and make sure that all of your content is 100% original. 

What can you do with the tool

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex take plagiarism as a strong de-ranking signal. With Copyscape, you can make sure that does not happen to you.

• Check for plagiarism in your content by simply copying and pasting your content on the CopyScape website. 
• Batch search your entire website for plagiarism and ensure that all your website content, such as CTAs, banners, and landing pages, are 100% original. 
• Integrate the CopyScape API with your company website, whether custom coded or built with WordPress.

Pricing

CopyScape has a word-based pricing plan where the cost depends on the number of words you check for plagiarism.

CopyScape Premium:
3c per search (up to 200 words)

plus 1c per extra 100 words.

Pros

Allows users to check text for plagiarism

Offers users a paid subscription for more features

Allows users to download a plugin to check text for plagiarism

Cons

Some features are only available for paid subscribers

The plugin is not compatible with all browsers

3. ContentKing 

ContentKing monitors your website 24/7 for SEO concerns. This cloud-based solution requires no installation and provides SEO analytics data and reports on demand.

What can you do with the tool

• You can get real-time insights about your website with suggestions on how to improve the SEO of your website. 
• Users get alerted instantly if a website or one of its pages is broken or not optimized for search engines. 
• Users can track the changes in their website content and stay updated with a real-time measure of on-page optimization. 

Pricing

Basic: $49/month

Standard: $179/month

Pro: $339/month

Pros

Provides a detailed analysis of the SEO health of a website.

Users can get granular insights about individual pages. 

Cons

It may be overwhelming for SEO beginners.

The tool is a little high-priced, considering the limited features it offers. 

4. Answerthepublic.com

Answerthepublic.com is a free tool that lets you find out what people are searching for on Google. It also gives an overview of trends in search behavior and the kind of long-tail keywords people are using.

What can you do with this tool

• See when people are talking about your most relevant keywords.
• Understand keyword research behavior among your target audience and customers.
• View the keywords and phrases that your audience is researching in real-time.
• Discover new content ideas based on relevant keyword research.

Pricing

Monthly: $99/month

Annual: $79/month

Expert: $199/month

Pros

The Public can help you to understand the intent behind searchers' queries, which can be helpful in optimizing your site for those keywords.

It can help you to generate ideas for new content by identifying questions that people are searching for but for which there is currently no content available.

It can help you to track changes in search behavior over time, allowing you to adapt your content strategy accordingly.

Cons

The Public is only available in English, so it may not be as useful for international SEO campaigns.

The data provided by Answer The Public is not always 100% accurate, so it should be used as a guide rather

5. Spyfu

SpyFu is a tool that marketers use to improve their online search results. It helps them find keywords and learn about their competitors. SpyFu can help you find the most profitable search terms that your competitors are using in their paid and organic search campaigns.

What can you do with the tool:

It scans the web for valuable information about your competitors' websites, including:

• Spyfu helps marketers find relevant keywords, track keyword search insights, and track the ROI of paid keywords used in campaigns.
• You can find high-value keywords for your own campaigns by looking at how your competitors rank their keywords. 
• The tool lets users see which paid keywords competitors are targeting, probable promotion budgets, and how the domain performs for keywords such as clickthrough rates.

Pricing:

Basic: $39/month
Professional: $79/month
Team: $299/month

Pros

SpyFU has tools for keyword research and competitive analysis that can help you improve the results of your campaigns.

The software offers a free version as well as a paid subscription, so you can test it out before committing to a purchase.

SpyFU has a no questions asked 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

SpyFU's tools may be overkill for some users, and the learning curve can be steep.

The software can be expensive, and the free version is fairly limited in terms of features.

6. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is one of the best free tools for website owners that lets you understand how Google sees your site, crawl errors, and more. You can measure your site's search traffic and performance and fix problems using the tools and reports in Search Console.

What can you do with the tool:

• Google Search Console helps you understand which search queries are bringing people to your site. 
• You can also use this tool to check whether any of your pages are showing up as hidden from indexing.
• GSC lets users track website pages and identify technical issues in sitemaps and indexing.

Pricing:

Absolutely free.

Pros

Helps improve your website's visibility in Google search results.

Provides valuable insights into how Google crawls and indexes your website.

Allows you to submit your website's sitemap to Google, which can help improve its indexing.

It helps you find mistakes on your website and fix them so that they will show up in search results.

Alerts you when Google detects malware on your website so you can take action to fix it quickly.

Cons

It only provides in-depth data for websites that are indexed by Google.

Since data is only changed once in a while, it might not show up right away in the Google Search Console interface.

7. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you find new keyword ideas and improve your website so that it gets more visitors from search engines. It shows you how many people are searching for your keywords and how much traffic each search is likely to send to your site.

What can you do with the tool:

• Find relevant keywords and understand which words searchers are using to find information related to your primary keyword. 
• Get approximate cost-per-click for keywords to devise a successful marketing strategy.

Pricing:

Absolutely free.

Pros

The tool is free to use and provides accurate results.

It can be used to find high-volume and low-competition keywords.

Cons

The tool does not always provide precise statistics.

8. Google Trends

Google Trends is the best way to identify larger trends and find popular topics for content marketing and SEO campaigns. The tool is easy to use and free for everybody. 

What can you do with the tool:

• Find trending topics with detailed insights such as geographical location, search queries related to the topic, and historical trends. 

Pricing:

Free

Pros

Lets you filter trends based on geographical location. 

Gives a bird’s eye view of trending topics.

Cons

Lacks in-depth SEO features such as on-page optimization. 

Does not give you keyword/search query stats, such as search volume.

9.Google Pagespeed Insights

Google page speed insights is a great SEO tool that can help you analyze how your website performs on desktop and mobile devices. 

What can you do with this tool:

• Marketers can use this tool to run quality checks and ensure that every web page of their website is optimized for maximum speed on mobile and desktop.  

Pricing:

Free

Pros

The tool helps you analyze your website’s compatibility on mobile and desktop devices.

It helps identify page speed issues on your website, which is a major SEO factor. 

Cons

The tool does not offer content SEO analysis.

10.Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, is an effective local SEO tool that helps organizations increase their visibility on location-specific searches. 

What can you do with this tool:

• Create and manage a local business listing on Google, the largest search engine on the internet. 
• Helps customers find your business address, website, and other contact information on Google Maps. 

Pricing:

Free

Pros

Helps in local SEO by publishing a business profile with contact information. 

Increase your brand visibility for “near me” searches on Google. 

Cons

Does not offer a lot of optimization features for local SEO. 

11.Google Analytics

Google Analytics is another SEO tool from Google that helps website owners track the search engine performance of their websites. Users need to connect their website with Google Analytics to use this free tool.

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What can you do with the tool:

• Track the search engine performance of your website on Google. 
• Find where your website traffic is coming from with stats, such as the source of traffic, the device used, location, etc. 
• Create specific tracking reports for landing pages to measure the effectiveness of your SEO. 

Pricing:

Free

Pros

The tool gives accurate info directly from the world’s largest search engine, Google. 

It helps website owners track every SEO aspect of their website. 

Cons

Does not offer SEO content analysis. 

Lacks SEO content generation features offered by some AI SEO platforms. 

The platform has a rather steep learning curve and requires a lot of time and effort to understand all the features of the tool. 

12.RankMath

RankMath is a WordPress SEO tool that helps WordPress website owners ensure that their web pages are optimized for maximum search engine visibility. 

What can you do with the tool:

• Track the SEO aspect of your WordPress website, such as meta descriptions, page titles, and URLs. 
• Optimize your WordPress website for better search engine rankings with RankMath’s webpage SEO score. 
• Ensure that search engines crawl and index the latest changes on your website with sitemaps and indexing requests. 

Pricing

Pro: $129/year
Business: $429/year
Agency: $999/year

Pros

Analyzes the entire WordPress website for SEO tweaks. 

Helps ensure that web page content is optimized for maximum search engine visibility. 

Cons

Only works for WordPress websites.

13.Hotjar

Hotjar helps you extract insights from visitor interactions on your website. With a Hotjar heatmap, website owners can keep track of all the ways people interact with their sites. It is a nifty tool that helps you optimize your website for a better user experience.  

What can you do with the tool:

• Understand how people interact with your website through heat-maps that track visitor behavior on your website. 
• Improve the UI/UX of your website by recording insights from visitor sessions.
• Add feedback forms to your important pages and let visitors share their points of view with you.
• Conduct customer surveys and collect valuable insights for future product development. 
• Recruit, schedule, and host moderated user interviews with Hotjar engage.

Pricing:

Hotjar Observe:
Basic: Free
Plus: $39/month
Business: $99/month
Scale: custom pricing

Hotjar Ask:
Basic: Free
Plus: $59/month
Business: $79/month
Scale: custom pricing

Hotjar Engage:
Pay as you go: $90/30 mins interview
Basic: Free
Plus: $90/month
Business: $139/month

Pros

It has several tools to improve your website for search engines.

The tool gives thorough reports to measure progress and highlight areas for improvement.

Customer support is great and ready to answer any questions.

Cons

It is a high-priced tool that is not fit for every marketing budget.

Beginners may find reports overwhelming.

The tool has a steep learning curve, which may be a downside for marketers pressed for time.

14.Lumar: formerly known as DeepCrawl

DeepCrawl is a website audit tool for SEO and content marketers. It scans websites and gives a lot of information about technical problems, duplicate content, indexing, and other aspects of SEO.

What can you do with the tool:

• The tool helps you audit websites and monitor the SEO health of literally millions of URLs all in one place. 
• Conduct SEO quality analysis for websites with more than 200+ SEO tests. 
• Revamp your website without losing the SEO aspects of your website with Lumar site migrations. 

Pricing:

Lumar has custom pricing for every client based on their unique requirements from the platform. 

Pros

The tool delivers complete SEO health statistics.

DeepCrawl offers a free trial before making a purchase.

Provides actionable recommendations for improving SEO. 

Cons

The tool has custom pricing for every client. This makes it difficult to consider this while budgeting marketing expenses. 

It can be slow to crawl and index large websites. 

15.Yoast WordPress plugin

Yoast is a useful WordPress plugin with free and premium alternatives. Yoast can help you satisfy technical SEO criteria even if you're not a pro. Even if you're an expert, it can save time. It also provides readability advice.

What can you do with the tool:

• Users can edit meta titles, meta descriptions, and other on-page SEO aspects of their web pages.
• It helps you gauge the SEO quality of your web pages and improve organic visibility.
• You can create canonical URLs for all your WordPress web pages and establish an effective linking strategy.

Pricing:

Yearly: $99/year

Pros

It has a wide range of features that can help you optimize your website for better search engine rankings.

It also has a social media integration feature that can help you promote your website and brand.

Cons

The tool is only available for WordPress websites.

Yoast SEO plugin tool may not work well with certain WordPress plugins.

16.Advanced Web Ranking

This tool lets you track your rankings and improve your on-page SEO continuously. You can see real-time ranking information about how your website fares on desktop, mobile, and local searches. Marketing agencies can also share this information with their clients in the form of "white-label" reports.

What can you do with the tool:

• Get the latest search engine rankings for your target keyword for any device, search engine, or language. 
• Discover competitors, find what works for them, and create a competitive SEO strategy.
• Create custom reports to share with your team and other stakeholders.

Pricing:

Starter: $49 per month
Pro: $99 per month
Agency: $199 per month
Enterprise: $499 per month

Pros

Easy-to-use interface with accessible insights.

Gives a real-time snapshot of your website’s rankings. 

Includes rank tracker for local searches, a feature that can help small and medium businesses with local SEO.

Cons

Lacks content optimization features. 

Does not offer SEO content generation for creating and publishing new content. 

The pricing plans, considering the features, is a little on the higher side. 

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17.Nightwatch

Discover how your pages rank right down to the zip code level. The platform also offers other SEO features, such as site auditor, keyword discovery, and white-labeled reports, for marketing agencies.

What can you do with the tool

• Track the geographical ranking of your web pages on search engines for a better understanding of content performance for local audiences. 
• Track keyword rankings and stay updated with the latest top-ranking content for your target keywords. 
• Find SEO issues in your website and fix them for maximum visibility. 
• Create custom SEO reports with your name on them and share them with your clients.

Pricing: 

Your subscription cost will depend on how many keywords you want to track with the tool. The platform offers options from 250, 500, and 1000 to10,000 keywords. 

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250 keywords: $39/month
5000 keywords: $399/month
10,000 keywords: $699/month
More than 10000 keywords: Custom pricing

Pros

Lets you find location-specific search engine rankings. 

Helps find on-page SEO issues on your website. 

Cons

Does not offer content optimization features. 

18.Moz

Moz Pro is a powerful tool for SEO professionals. Agencies and professional SEOs have used it for years to help them get their clients the top rankings on search engines.

What you can do with the tool: 

• Users can track a total of 4 websites, including 3 competitors, for weekly rankings and on-page SEO info. Crawl and optimize your website for maximum organic traffic. 
• Identify high-value, low-competition keywords with Keyword Explorer.
• Find out where your competitors are getting backlinks from and check the page authority and domain authority of websites. 

Pricing:

Standard: $99/month
Medium: $179/month
Large: $299/month
Premium: $599/month

Pros

It covers many aspects of SEO, from on-page factors to link-building and keyword research. 

The software has good tracking features for competitive research.

Cons

MozPro is a bit more expensive than most other SEO tools on the market. 

The free trial only lasts for 30 days, which is frankly not enough to understand the impact of the tool. 

19.SEMrush

SemRush helps marketing professionals improve their online visibility and measure their performance. It includes a suite of tools to help with keyword research, competitor analysis, and link-building. SemRush also provides users with real-time insights into their website's traffic and performance.

What you can do with the tool: 

• Track your website’s SEO health and optimize it for maximum visibility. 
• Identify important topics and subtopics related to your target keyword. 
• Track search engine rankings for your target keywords and stay updated with the competition. 
• Manage social media platforms and schedule posts. 
• Find keywords in your competitor’s content and create a competitive content marketing strategy. 

Pricing: 

Pro: $119.95/month

Guru: $229.95/month

Business: $449.95/month

Pros

Comprehensive keyword research and analysis features.

The ability to monitor competitor SEO strategies.

Site auditing and performance tracking features.

Informative link-building and backlinking tools.

Cons

The learning curve can be steep for some users.

Some features can be expensive for small businesses.

Some areas of the software can be buggy.

20.Hunter

Hunter finds business-related professional email addresses in seconds, saving hours of effort. Free users receive 25 searches and 50 verifications each month.

What can you do with the tool:

• Find official company email addresses for outreach campaigns. 
• Schedule and send cold emails directly from the website, saving time spent on email sorting and using other email SaaS. 

Pricing

Free: $0
Starter: $49/month
Growth: $99/month
Pro: $199/month
Business: $399/month

Pros

Helps marketers find and verify official email addresses easily. 

The email finder/verifier + emailer combo offers marketers a one-stop solution for link-building SEO outreach.

Cons

Lacks SEO features such as on-page analysis and content optimization. 

21.Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a great tool for backlink analysis; it can also be used to find broken links and competitor keywords and track rankings. Ahrefs gives you access to over 200 million backlinks from around the world (and growing). 

Ahrefs' powerful search functionality is combined with its extensive dataset of data points—including referring domains, keywords, and keyword density.

What you can do with the tool: 

• Keep track of every SEO aspect of your website, such as domain ratings, backlinks, referring domains, organic keywords, and more. 
• Find new ranking ideas with keyword metrics, such as search volume and traffic potential.
• Track the user-friendliness of your website with metrics such as organic vs paid traffic, sitemaps, and speed statistics.

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Pricing:

Lite: $99/month

Standard: $199/month

Advanced: $399/month

Enterprise: $999/month

Pros

Very accurate keyword difficulty scores

Great for competitive research

Robust link analysis

Accurate site auditing

The interface is very user-friendly

Cons

Can be expensive for some users

Some features can be complicated to use

22.Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a free SEO tool that will help you find and fix any broken links, duplicate content, or other errors on your website.

What can you do with the tool:

• You can use Screaming Frog's Link Checker feature to detect these types of errors before they get worse.
• It checks whether there are multiple titles for each page on your site (e.g., if one title includes keywords but another isn't). 
• If you have different versions of descriptions written at different places within each page, like HTML code or headings within paragraphs, then these might cause problems. Screaming Frog has a feature that lets you track and edit that. 

Pricing

Free

Paid: $209/year

Pros

Ease of use and a short learning curve for new users.

Insightful technical SEO tracking with features such as a broken link checker.

There is a free version that has some helpful features and can crawl up to 500 URLs.

Cons

There is only one premium plan, which costs $209 per year.

There are no SEO analysis features for website content that can help marketers.

23.Woorank

Woorank's detailed site analysis helps marketers find ways to improve and optimize their sites. This analysis looks at how well SEO projects are doing, how well they work with social media, how they fare with users, and more.

What can you do with this tool:

• Identify SEO metrics and adapt your SEO and content marketing strategy for better results. 
• Get a detailed analysis of mobile SEO and optimize your website for better performance on mobile devices. 
• Track website traffic from different sources to identify which marketing channels are working for you.

Pricing:

Pro: $79.99/month

Premium: $199.99/month

Enterprise: custom pricing

Pros

Gives users a detailed analysis of the on-page SEO factor of their website. 

The platform is easy to use and understand. 

Cons

Lacks content SEO features that help you ensure maximum visibility from your content.

Does not have a free subscription for marketers with a modest budget.

24.Mangools (KWFinder)

If you are only looking for keyword research, KWFinder is a good tool to use. It helps users find the most popular and relevant keywords for any language and location. 

What can you do with this tool:

• Find long-tail keywords to increase your chances of attracting attention.
• Find more keyword chances while comparing your keyword strategy to your competitors.
• Examine your competitors' websites to see what features people are seeking on your pages.
• Find out what local searchers are looking for and target local markets to get more niche visitors.

Pricing:

Basic: $49/month

Premium: $69/month

Agency: $129/month

Pros

Gives in-depth keyword statistics such as search volume and difficulty. 

Works for multiple languages, so good for local SEO. 

Cons

Does not offer website optimization and tracking features. 

25.Majestic SEO

Majestic SEO is a popular link analysis tool that you can use to find out who is linking to your site. It prioritizes backlinks above Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz Pro. Majestic doesn't provide keyword research, on-page SEO analysis, or site audits. 

What can you do with this tool:

• Find out if a domain has any issues with its backlinks or if it's been penalized in some way by Google.
• It helps you track new and lost backlinks on your website. 
• The tool has a feature called ‘context,’ which lets you understand the context of anchor texts and links.

Pricing:

Lite: $49.99/month

Pro: $99.99/month

API: $399.99/month

Pros

With a short learning curve, new users can easily understand the insights from the tool.

Backlinks are analyzed in depth, including the source and topic.

Helps create a detailed and effective link-building campaign.

Cons

The tool is laser-focused on backlinks and has no other SEO features.

Premium subscriptions are priced high and may be a barrier for many marketers.

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve provided a list (in no particular order!) of 25+ best SEO tools for marketing success in 2023. Whether you need an advanced tool that will put extra effort into your brand or something simple like a check-up tool, these tools will make sure everything goes smoothly while maintaining high-quality content on your website.

Want to ramp up your SEO?

Scalenut is an all-in-one SEO and content marketing platform that is powered by AI and helps marketers all over the world make high-quality, competitive content at scale. From research, planning, and outlines to ensuring quality, Scalenut helps you achieve the best in everything. 

‍Empower your content marketing campaigns with AI. Sign up on Scalenut, and start creating content today.