Reaching the top of search engine results using internet marketing for your target keywords isn’t a walk in the park. It requires a good amount of work and the right tools. That’s where tools every website owner needs come into play.
Even if you’ve got a handle on the basics of search engines and keyword research, pushing your site up to page one—and ideally snagging that top spot—can be a real challenge. There’s a lot to research, compare, and plan before you launch your SEO strategy.
With nearly 60% of B2B marketers saying SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation, it’s clear this is a crucial part of your internet marketing strategy that you can’t afford to ignore. Embracing SEO is essential for your success.
In this post, I’m highlighting 10 essential tools every website owner needs to get started on their SEO journey. From keyword planners to search engine optimization and social media insights, these tools will set you on the right path. While they won’t instantly land you at the top, they’re key to achieving long-term success.
What are the Essential Tools Every Website Owner Needs?
When you’ve got a business website, no matter what niche you’re in, having a solid marketing strategy is a must, and that means diving into keyword research and using keyword planners. A big part of this is focusing on SEO. So, as you kick things off, you need to tackle three important questions.
First off, you’ll want to figure out which tools every website owner needs to boost your site’s visibility. These tools will help you zero in on the right keywords and track your progress. Next, you need to understand how to use these tools effectively to get the best results. And finally, it’s all about integrating your findings into a strategy that really works for your business.
Getting these answers will set you on the right path to making your website stand out in search results.
The following tools are essential for your journey to SEO success. Make sure you’ve got them on your team right from the start:
#1. Ubersuggest
When it comes to SEO, there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. The deeper you dive, the more data you’ll uncover, helping you make smarter choices to boost your search engine rankings. That’s where Ubersuggest comes in.
Their tagline says it all: Want more traffic? Ubersuggest shows you how to win the game of SEO.
Ubersuggest is an all-in-one SEO tool that gives you a deep dive into critical factors like:
#1. Competitor SEO
#2. Top pages
#3. Keyword suggestions
#4. Content ideas
#5. Backlink data
Let’s say you run a website in the sales and marketing niche and you’re itching to boost your organic traffic but aren’t sure where you’re falling short compared to your competitors. Here’s how you can use Ubersuggest to level up your SEO game:
Step #1: Run a Search for Your Domain
Start by entering your domain into Ubersuggest to get an overview of how your site is performing.
Step #2: Get to Know the Overview
Check out these four key data points:
#1. Organic Keywords: The number of keywords your site ranks for in organic search.
#2. Organic Monthly Traffic: The total estimated traffic your site gets based on these keywords.
#3. Domain Score: A score from 1 to 100 that reflects your site’s overall authority. The higher, the better.
#4. Backlinks: The number of incoming links from other sites.
Plus, you’ll see a chart showing traffic growth over the past 12 months. This is your starting point for understanding your site’s performance.
Step #3: Click on “Keywords”
Next, look at the list of keywords your site currently ranks for.
Step #4: Review Your Ranking Keywords
Here’s what you’ll see:
#1. Volume: How many times a keyword is searched each month.
#2. Position: Where your URL ranks on Google.
#3. Estimated Visits: The estimated traffic that keyword brings in.
#4. SD: Competition level for that keyword.
Your goal is to find high-volume keywords with a low SD score that aren’t yet in the top spot. For example, if you’re ranking #2 for “sales interview questions,” with an average of 4,400 searches per month and an SD of 15, you’re on the right track.
Step #5: Click the Keyword
You’ll see your site in the #2 spot, which is awesome! Now, compare your site to the competitor in the top position:
Your domain score might be a bit lower.
Your social media shares might be fewer.
You might have more backlinks.
Here’s how to improve:
#1. Boost Social Shares: Share your content across your social media channels, and mix things up to grab attention. Consider experimenting with Facebook ads to give your posts a lift.
#2. Leverage Backlinks: Since you’re already ahead in backlinks, try to get even more with targeted outreach.
#3. Improve Content: Review both your page and the top-ranking competitor’s page. Look for areas where you can do better.
Using Ubersuggest, which is one of the key tools every website owner needs, will set you on the right path to optimizing your SEO strategy and climbing those rankings. So, get started with these steps, and watch your SEO game level up
#2. AuthoritySpy
AuthoritySpy isn’t just a catchy name; it’s a powerhouse tool for elevating your link-building game and boosting your site’s ranking. With its tagline, “The Most Powerful Software for Finding + Analyzing Influential People & Blogs On the Web!”, it’s clear that this tool means business.
If you’re on the hunt for the top influencers in your niche or looking to build relationships with key players, AuthoritySpy has got you covered. This tool is a game-changer when it comes to connecting with influencers who can help amplify your brand.
What makes AuthoritySpy stand out is its ability to pull search result data from a variety of online sources. It scours platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Klout, and AllTop to bring you the most relevant information. Instead of spending countless hours searching these sites manually, AuthoritySpy does the hard work for you. It’s like having a supercharged assistant who’s always on the lookout for the best influencers and blogs in your industry.
In the fast-evolving world of influencer marketing, AuthoritySpy ensures you stay ahead of the curve. By using this tool, you can easily identify and analyze the most influential people and blogs, which will help you craft more effective strategies for reaching and engaging your target audience.
In summary, AuthoritySpy is one of those tools every website owner needs if they’re serious about boosting their SEO and building meaningful connections. Whether you’re looking to enhance your link-building efforts or leverage influencer marketing, AuthoritySpy is your go-to resource for achieving those goals.
#3. Buzzstream
Trying to boost your site’s visibility through link building and outreach? Buzzstream is a must-have tool every website owner needs right from the start.
If you’re diving into the world of outreach, Buzzstream will be your best friend. It’s designed to help you stay organized and keep your communication smooth, so you can avoid the mess that often comes with managing link-building campaigns. Instead of getting bogged down with spreadsheets and tracking issues, Buzzstream lets you focus on what really matters—building those valuable links.
What makes Buzzstream stand out is how it helps you conduct outreach that’s both personalized and efficient. You won’t come off as a spammer, and you’ll be able to achieve your goals more effectively. It’s all about making your link-building efforts as streamlined as possible.
Buzzstream isn’t just about outreach, though. It’s also great for researching potential link-building prospects, monitoring your progress, checking your site’s rank, and connecting with influencers in your industry. The tool covers all the bases, making your SEO tasks a whole lot easier.
I’m a huge fan of Buzzstream and always recommend it to anyone starting out with SEO. It’s one of those tools every website owner needs to handle outreach and link building like a pro. Whether you’re new to SEO or looking to step up your game, Buzzstream has you covered.
#4. Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Whether you call it Help a Reporter Out or just HARO, this is one of the tools every website owner needs to boost their SEO game. It’s not your typical SEO tool, which is why many folks overlook just how powerful it can be.
HARO is designed to connect journalists with sources for their stories. From an SEO perspective, your goal is to be the expert they turn to. When you sign up, you get three emails a day packed with media opportunities. Each email lists various queries from journalists looking for quotes, insights, or expert opinions.
Here’s how you make HARO work for you:
#1. Sign Up and Set Up: Provide some basic info about your company.
#2. Check Your Emails: You’ll get three opportunities a day to pitch yourself as a source.
#3. Pitch Your Expertise: If you spot an opportunity that fits, send your pitch to the journalist.
If you’re selected, you’ll get to provide quotes, answer questions, or share your insights. This process offers two big SEO benefits:
#1. Brand Exposure: Your name and company are usually mentioned in the article, which helps build your brand’s visibility.
#2. Backlinks: Often, but not always, you’ll get a link back to your site from the article, which is pure SEO gold.
HARO is a fantastic, free tool for building your brand and earning valuable inbound links. It’s simple to use and incredibly effective, making it one of those essential tools every website owner needs to enhance their SEO efforts. If you’re looking to get noticed and improve your site’s search ranking, HARO is definitely worth checking out.
#5. Linkody
When you’re knee-deep in backlink building, you probably have two big questions on your mind:
Which sites are actually linking back to me?
Did I lose any links along the way?
Tracking these manually can be a real hassle. That’s where Linkody comes in, one of the tools every website owner needs to keep things running smoothly.
Here’s the lowdown on Linkody: it’s designed to take the guesswork out of backlink management. This SEO tool keeps you updated on when you gain or lose a backlink. It gives you all the deets you need, including:
#1. Date Added: When the link was first spotted.
#2. Status: Whether the link is active or not.
#3. URL From: The source of the link.
#4. Landing Page: The page on your site that’s getting the link.
Plus, Linkody can track your competitors’ link-building efforts too. Whenever a competitor gets a new link, you’ll get an email notification. This gives you the chance to snag similar links for your own site. You can get started with Linkody’s free 30-day trial, which is perfect for testing its features without any commitment.
Effective link building can really boost your site’s search engine rankings, and with Linkody, you’ll have a clear view of your progress. Give the free version a spin and see how it stacks up—it’s one of those essential tools every website owner needs to stay on top of their SEO game.
#6. Muck Rack
So, not all backlinks are created equal—some pack more punch than others, and those are the ones you want to go after. From the get-go, you should know that building backlinks from high-quality sites like Forbes or The New York Times can be a game-changer. That’s where Muck Rack comes into play, one of the tools every website owner needs to boost their SEO.
Muck Rack is a powerful tool for connecting with top-notch journalists who can help you score valuable backlinks. It’s described as the “easiest way to find & contact journalists,” which is spot on. With Muck Rack, you can dig up journalists who write for big names and match your niche.
Here’s how it works: you can search by keywords, company names, competitors, beats, outlets, media types, and more. Over time, as you use Muck Rack, you’ll get better at pinpointing the best contacts for your internet marketing strategy. The more you use it, the more streamlined your search will become.
When you run a search on Muck Rack—say, for the term “SEO”—you get a goldmine of info like:
#1. Name and Location: Where they’re based and who they are.
#2. Company Name: The media outlet they work for.
#3. Industry: The field they cover.
#4. Twitter Handle: Where to follow them.
#5. Contact Information: How to get in touch directly.
With all this info, you can reach out to journalists, follow them on social media, or just keep them on your radar for future opportunities. Building relationships with these journalists is key to securing those high-quality backlinks.
If you’re serious about improving your SEO, Muck Rack should be on your radar. It makes forming valuable connections a breeze, helping you get those coveted links from top-tier sites. It’s definitely one of those tools every website owner needs to make their SEO efforts more effective.
#7. Ontolo
Finding link-building opportunities manually can be a total time-suck, right? Luckily, you don’t have to go it alone when you’ve got Ontolo in your SEO toolkit. It’s one of the tools every website owner needs to streamline their link-building game.
Now, Ontolo isn’t the cheapest option out there—it’ll set you back $97 a month. But if you’re serious about scaling up your link-building efforts, this tool is worth considering. It’s designed to do the heavy lifting for you, digging up potential link sources so you don’t have to spend hours doing it yourself.
You tell Ontolo what type of links you’re after—maybe you’re looking for backlinks from blogs or other niche sites. After you hit search, Ontolo delivers a neat, organized spreadsheet packed with link opportunities.
From there, your job is to sift through these prospects and reach out to them. You’ll need to evaluate each one to see if it’s a solid match for your SEO strategy and then decide how to proceed. While Ontolo doesn’t promise link-building success, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. It helps you uncover a ton of potential linking partners, and even if you snag just a few high-quality links from its results, it’s a win for your SEO.
In summary, Ontolo is a top pick among the tools every website owner needs for effective link building. It takes a lot of the grunt work out of finding link opportunities and puts you on the path to SEO success.
#8. Ahrefs
If you’ve been following our blog, you know we’re big fans of Ahrefs. And for good reason—it’s one of the tools every website owner needs to crush it in SEO and content marketing.
Let’s dive into why Ahrefs is such a powerhouse. It’s packed with features that can really take your SEO game to the next level. Here are a couple of standout tools:
#1. Site Explorer: Ahrefs touts this as “the best backlink checker tool in the industry,” and for good reason. It gives you a deep dive into any website’s backlink profile. Whether you’re looking to check out your own site’s backlinks or scope out what your competitors are up to, Site Explorer has got you covered.
#2. Position Tracker: Want to see how well you’re climbing the SEO ranks? The Position Tracker tool lets you monitor your keyword rankings and see how your pages are performing, even on mobile devices. It’s crucial for tracking your SEO progress and making data-driven decisions.
Ahrefs is seriously powerful, and it’s hard to do justice to its capabilities in just a few lines. The best way to get a feel for what it can do is to check out its free version and explore its features yourself. With its range of tools and deep insights, Ahrefs easily earns its spot among the tools every website owner needs to dominate SEO and content marketing.
#9. All in One SEO Pack
If you’re using WordPress—one of the most popular CMS platforms out there with around 75 million websites—you’re already on the right track. But to really nail your SEO game, you need some solid plugins. Enter All in One SEO Pack, one of the tools every website owner needs.
This plugin has been a top pick for WordPress users for ages, and it’s easy to see why. With nearly 30 million downloads, it’s officially the most downloaded plugin ever. That’s pretty impressive!
All in One SEO Pack helps you optimize your site for search engines without needing to be an SEO guru. It automatically takes care of a lot of the heavy lifting for you, which means you can focus on other aspects of your website while it handles on-page SEO.
What’s cool about this plugin is how customizable it is. You can tweak it to fit your specific needs, so you get exactly what you want for your site’s SEO. Here are some of the standout features:
#1. XML Sitemap Support: Helps search engines find and index your pages.
#2. Google Analytics Support: Integrates with Google Analytics for tracking your site’s performance.
#3. Advanced Canonical URLs: Avoids duplicate content issues.
#4. Automatic Generation of META Tags: Saves you time and ensures consistency.
#5. Compatibility with Most Other Plugins: No need to worry about conflicts.
#6. Available in 57 Languages: Works for a global audience.
So, as soon as you set up your WordPress site, grab All in One SEO Pack. It’ll handle your on-page optimization, letting you focus on creating awesome content and other SEO strategies. It’s definitely one of those tools every website owner needs to make sure their site is search-engine friendly from the get-go.
#10. Raven Tools
If you’re serious about SEO, Raven Tools should be on your radar. It’s not just a single tool; it’s a full suite designed to cover almost every aspect of SEO, all in one place. Whether you’re running an agency or just managing your own site, Raven Tools offers a bunch of features that can make your life a whole lot easier.
As the company puts it, “You won’t find another marketing platform that saves your agency more time.” But you don’t need to be part of an agency to get the most out of it. Anyone with a website and a passion for SEO can dive into the numerous tools Raven offers, including:
#1. SEO Auditor: Helps you pinpoint exactly what’s holding back your site’s performance.
#2. Marketing Reports: Keeps you updated on your progress and the impact of your SEO efforts.
#3. Keyword Research and Rankings: Discover new keywords and track your rankings.
#4. Research Central: Centralizes your research efforts for easier access and analysis.
#5. Social Media Tools: Manage and analyze your social media presence all in one spot.
And that’s just scratching the surface. Raven Tools offers over 20 other features that help boost your search engine rankings and give you a deeper understanding of your site’s performance.
The SEO Auditor is particularly impressive. It’s not just about spotting issues; Raven Tools goes a step further by giving you a clear, actionable plan on what needs fixing. There’s no guessing involved—you get a straightforward game plan to follow.
If you decide to go into Raven Tools, make sure you set aside some time to really get to know each feature. With access to this much help and data, it can be a game-changer for your SEO strategy. Raven Tools might just be the secret weapon you need to take your site to the next level. It’s definitely one of those tools every website owner needs to streamline their SEO efforts and achieve real results.
Conclusion
Getting your website to rank organically on search engines isn’t a walk in the park—there’s no quick fix or magic trick. What really works is having a solid game plan, sticking with it for the long haul, and being ready to adapt as things change.
Combine this strategy with a mix of high-level SEO tools, and you’ll be on the right track to hitting all your SEO goals. The truth is, you don’t have to do it all alone. There are tools every website owner needs to streamline the process and make your life easier. Whether it’s tracking backlinks, auditing your site, or diving into keyword research, these tools are essential for navigating the complexities of SEO.
Remember, the right tools can make all the difference. So, make sure you’ve got the tools every website owner needs to stay ahead of the game and keep your SEO strategy running smoothly. With the right approach and these powerful tools at your disposal, you’ll be well-equipped to boost your rankings and achieve long-term success.
