If you run an online business, you would learn that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and digital marketing is an indispensable aspect of the game. Good SEO strategies can help get you on the first page of Google, giving your business the visibility it needs.

Many entrepreneurs get intimidated by the thought of SEO because it seems too “technical.” However, non “techpreneurs” don’t have to be put off by the thought of doing SEO – because there are several programs and apps that can help make it easy.

This applies to every online business owner. If you don’t have an in-depth background in computers and analytics, there is no need to feel afraid – there are tools that can help simplify SEO for you and companies to do it for you too.

There are plenty of websites on the internet that can explain what search engine optimisation is and some websites even go into detail on the best ways for people to use keywords for SEO. Reading a business blog from an SEO company may be the best way to learn techniques to start investing in SEO for your business, therefore we think you should take a look at this SEO and internet marketing blog. They post articles such as “Big Mistakes That Drive up the Cost of SEO” and “SEO vs. PPC: What is better for your business?”. You could even have a look at this readability guide to see how it impacts your SEO strategies. These articles look like a great way to learn the ins and outs of SEO.

However, you may need to read introductory articles from reliable online sources as a primer for SEO in general. If you can, you may also hire a consultant that can explain these things to you. When you’ve got the basics, you can then check out the following tools below:

Google

There is nothing more reliable when it comes to analytics other than Google itself – after all, they are the ones who set up the standard for search engine rankings and results. Every web owner should be familiar with Google’s website guidelines and best practices before giving the go signal to any SEO or digital campaign.

Some Google tools that you can use for free are Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools and their Keyword Planner. Google Analytics can help give insights and reports on your website about which content is most visited or preferred by users, where you get most of your traffic, and which tactic gives you the most sales.

However, if you want to get a more thorough report, you should use Google’s Webmaster Tools (also now known as Google Search Console). This will give you information as to how many clicks your website gets from their search results, which keywords usually lead to our site, or in general what leads people to your site. You can link this account with Google Analytics to get complete reports.

Now if you are out of ideas as to what relevant keywords you should use in your campaign, this is where the importance of Google’s Keyword Planner comes to play. This tool can help you decide which keywords should be used and how you can maximize keyword specificity and relevance for your site.

SEO Spider Tool (Screaming Frog)

This is another free SEO tool that can be very useful if you want to audit your site first before coming up with your SEO strategy. Screaming Frog’s Spider Tool will “crawl” your site and its subdomains to check aspects of your page which could have negative effects to your SEO efforts and page rankings. This could range from meta-tags to codes that could be irrelevant or could block search engine crawlers to index or “read” your site.

Quick Sprout

Another SEO tool that can perform an audit on your website is QuickSprout. This tool is your alternative if you cannot afford to hire an SEO consultant at the moment. Like Screaming Frog, it will also give a thorough report on the quality of your backlinks, meta-tag and content keywords, and even site speed.

Additionally, it can also review your social media pages and give insight as to which post has the most engagement, and which has the most clicks. Other than that, you can also use its competitor tool if you want to see how your site fares compared to your industry competitors.

Moz

Moz is a long known trusted authority in the SEO world, and it has reliable tools for every online business owner and SEO gurus out there. Moz Open Site Explorer can help you build quality outbound links to your site. By simply typing in your website URL, Moz’s Open Site Explorer will give you a list of sites that link to your site – including the page authority numbers.

Ubersuggest

This tool is similar to Google’s Keyword Planner, though it is a much less complicated version. Ubersuggest is basically a tool that suggests more keywords for your niche. You just need to type in your main keyword, and you will get numerous long-tail variations that are based on actual Google searches.

You must also remember that SEO is just a part of your overall efforts – you still need to couple it with a good content marketing strategy and an engaging social media campaign to see better website rankings on targeted Google searches.

Gemma Reeves is a seasoned writer who enjoys creating helpful articles and interesting stories. She has worked with several clients across different industries such as advertising, online marketing, technology, healthcare, family matters, and more. She is also an aspiring entrepreneur who is engaged in assisting other aspiring entrepreneurs in finding the best office space for their business. Check out her company here: FindMyWorkspace.