SEO Tools

Among the many tools for search engine optimization are platforms and apps that monitor competitors, identify keywords, analyze Google’s search result pages, review changes in organic rankings, evaluate backlink quality, and much more. Our coverage also recommends tools based on the experiences of our contributors.

SEO Tools
10 Local SEO Tools for Small Businesses

July 20, 2015 • Sig Ueland

For online businesses with physical locations, optimizing for local search engine results is an important component of a marketing strategy. Ranking factors, such as contact details and customer reviews, help ...
SEO Tools
SEO: Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools Improve Search Rank

May 14, 2015 • Nick Mouledous

I often reference both Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools when writing about SEO for small business owners. These are the two most important resources available for digital marketing analysis and are free for anyone to use.
SEO Tools
SEO: Bing Webmaster Tools for the Other 20 Percent

February 28, 2014 • Jill Kocher Brown

Since Google is the largest search engine, its webmaster tools gets the lion’s share of attention. But depending on your industry and audience, Bing and Yahoo may drive around 20
SEO Tools
Local SEO: 15 Marketing Activities that Improve Citations

February 25, 2014 • Kunle Campbell

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as ...
SEO Tools
Local SEO for Multiple-location Businesses

February 10, 2014 • Dustin Christensen

Search engine optimization for local businesses can be difficult. That is especially true for companies with multiple locations. But local SEO for small businesses with multiple locations isn’t impossible. It simply requires a highly organized plan based on your business’s goals and geographic priorities.
SEO Tools
My Favorite SEO Tools

December 20, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search marketers’ toolboxes differ based on the type of optimization in which they specialize and how comfortable they are with raw data versus ready-to-use graphs. Many helpful tools aren’t specifically made ...
SEO Tools
SEO: Google Adds Manual Spam Actions to Webmaster Tools

August 9, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

Google Webmaster Tools launched its new manual spam actions feature yesterday, enabling verified site owners to check whether their site has been manually penalized by Google. Over the last couple of years, Google has slowly increased its communication to webmasters, with the goal of ...
SEO Tools
12 Free Google SEO Tools

June 13, 2012 • Sig Ueland

Before you spend any money on a search-engine-optimization campaign for your website, take advantage of Google’s free tools to optimize your site and increase its PageRank. And if you are just starting out with SEO, check out Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide PDF. Here ...
SEO Tools
Top 5 Reasons to Use Google Webmaster Tools

March 16, 2012 • Jill Kocher Brown

There’s a common misconception that registering with Google Webmaster Tools somehow enables Google more access to information about a site. In fact, just the opposite is true. Google Webmaster Tools provides site owners access to data available from no other source, data every ecommerce...
SEO Tools
5 Conversion Tools for SEO and Beyond

November 29, 2011 • Jill Kocher Brown

The quickest path to earning more from an ecommerce site's organic search traffic is to convert more consumers who already go there. I addressed that topic previously, at "SEO: Convert More Before Driving More." Many SEO strategies focus on driving more visitors. But what use is driv...
SEO Tools
Google Product Search: Creating a Data Feed

March 17, 2010 • Bill Hartzer

Editor's Note: This is our monthly installment of "Everything Google," a feature on products and services from Google that can help ecommerce merchants. The author is Bill Hartzer, the owner of BillHartzer.com, a SEO, pay-per-click and ecommerce consulting firm in Dallas. Google Produ...
SEO Tools
Ecommerce Know-How: Optimizing Your Site for Microsoft Bing

September 22, 2009 • Armando Roggio

The Microsoft, Yahoo! search deal announced in July still faces legal hurdles, but as more details have become available, it is clear that the companies' combined search share has—for the first time in perhaps a decade—created some real competition for Google. Depending on which poll o...
SEO Tools
SEO: Where Is Blended Search for Ecommerce Queries?

June 17, 2009 • Jill Kocher Brown

When the concept of blended search was introduced, the search engine optimization (SEO) industry and ecommerce retailers got very excited. By optimizing the images and video content that many sites already produce, search engines were adding visually appealing content to the standard 10...
SEO Tools
SEO: “Speak” to the Search Engine Spiders

May 19, 2009 • Jill Kocher Brown

Search engines are like translators. With no more than a couple of words entered into the search box, they attempt to translate a word or phrase into the searcher’s meaning or intent and compare it to the millions of potential matches in their indices. But the less understood and even...
SEO Tools
SEO: Try Surfing Like a Search Engine Spider

April 15, 2009 • Jill Kocher Brown

I’m a visual learner. I need to see and interact with things to understand them. It therefore helps me to mimic the behavior of search engine spiders when I’m digging into a site for the first time to review its search engine optimization issues. I like to think of it as “being the bot....
SEO Tools
Measuring SEO Performance

March 17, 2009 • Jill Kocher Brown

Measuring success in search engine optimization can typically be done in four ways. “Indexation” measurements will determine if a search engine has properly identified all of your site’s pages. “Backlink” measurements will show the number of internal and external links that point to you...
SEO Tools
Review: Google Insights Can Help Merchants Optimize PPC/SEO Campaigns

November 25, 2008 • Armando Roggio

Google Insights, a free and relatively new research tool, provides detailed search data that can help online retailers improve their pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. Like it or not, many online retailers depend on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engi...