SEO is the hottest marketing tool of the digital age, arguably without a close second. With the increased need for SEO comes the increased need for SEO tools, which you’ve probably heard a lot about.
However, with so many out there, it can be tough to figure out which ones are the best. Luckily, we can break them up into different categories and make it easy for you. Let’s talk about the best free tools for SEO and speed tests.
Best for Speed Test: GT Metrix
Let’s talk briefly about why website speed is so important before we talk about the tool itself. Did you know that the average web user will only wait 3 seconds before exiting a page? Well, that’s an important statistic to know if you want to improve your website’s user retention.
Google is also well aware of this and they take page speed very seriously in their ranking factors. If you have a high bounce rate on Google Analytics or other analytics tools and you’ve ruled out other possible issues, then page speed is probably the reason for it.
To find out, simply type in your website’s URL into GT Metrix and press “Test Your Site”. Once you do this, you will get excellent information into how your page is performing and even get insights into how you can improve the page speed.
This is incredibly helpful because determining the cause is critical to fixing it, and not a lot of free tools will offer this level of insight. A slow-loading page could be caused by a number of issues including excessive visual content, junk code, and plenty more.
This tool will tell you the problem so that you can make a quick fix by optimizing your images or whatever you need to do.
Click here to test at GT Metrix
Best for SEO Audit: SEObility
Page loading is only one part of your overall SEO score, much like keywords and backlinks. However, SEObility is a free SEO checker that gives you insights into the overall SEO value that your site has.
This tool will give you expert insights into where you can improve, including your:
- Meta information
- Page quality
- Page structure
- Link structure
- Server configuration
- External factors
That’s not all, the tool checks over 200 different SEO-related criteria and emails you a detailed description of the audit, giving you great insights into what needs improving.
A full-site audit is a good route to start with. Your competition is working their overall SEO strategy, so you should be doing the same. It will even give you an overall SEO score to compare with your competition to see how you are holding up.
This tool will also rank each task that needs to be done for you. It will display what it considers “very important” first, “important” next, and so on, making it easy for you to prioritize. You’ll be able to check each of them off the list as you fix them, and simply refreshing the search will give you a score that’s up to the minute.
It’s important to remember that this information is only valuable if you put it to use. These tools can lead a horse to water, but not make it drink. In other words, take a look into the details and prioritize what needs the most work across your site so you can get it done as soon as possible. It takes time for Google’s algorithm to pick up on changes to your site, so don’t wait.
Click here to test at SEObility
Best for Readability Check: Clarity Grader
Readability is the measure of how easy it is to read the content on your website. This is a very important metric for Google’s crawlers and for user experience, and should not be overlooked.
You’ll have a few options with this tool. When you’re creating a new blog post or a page, you can simply copy and paste the text into this tool and see how it holds up before publishing, or you can enter the URL to an already-published post or page for grading.
Clarity Grader will give you expert insights into the clarity of your content sent directly to your email, and once again, it’s free! This tool will score your content based on your target prospects and keywords, and even make sure that the tone is aligned with your brand!
Click here to test with Clarity Grader
All In One Test with Landscape Web Pros
If you thought Google Analytics would be the answer, you’d be wrong. Landscape Web Pros offers free performance tools that are perfectly designed for landscaping companies.
Not only is it an excellent tool for overall website testing but it’s specifically geared toward landscaping companies. It acts as an all-in-one checker with expert insights into everything you need to know for your website.
Not only that, but unlike the others on this list, LWP can even offer you expert SEO and web design services based on your needs after the audit. They’ll be able to work with you to build a user-friendly website that’s exactly what you need to start growing your business like a weed! (Did we mention landscaping?)
Start The Fix!
Now that you know the best speed test tools, website testing techniques, and more that are available for free today, there’s no time like the present to get started. There are so many great SEO tools out there today that can help you keep your organic traffic coming for years. Stay up to date with our latest digital marketing news and feel free to contact us with any questions!
