26 April 2007
A summary of useful SEO tools and resources, most of which we use every day
Google's Free Services
Google offers much more than basic searching! All of the tools below will enhance your ability to optimise your site, assess the competition and stay on top of your market. Most of the services listed below will require you to create a single Google account:
| Search | Take a close look at the Advanced options, especially "domain" which will show you the entire cache Google has of your site, and "links" which can show your inbound links. http://www.google.co.uk |
|---|---|
| Personalised Search | Google's personalised home lets you assemble "widgets" and feeds to create a powerful dashboard http://www.google.co.uk/ig |
| Toolbar | The Google Toolbar is the only browser toolbar we'd ever recommend. For SEO purposes, it has a PageRank indicator which gives a rough indication of the overall ranking of sites - useful when building inbound links. http://toolbar.google.co.uk |
| Local | Add your business location to Google Maps. Take advantage of the "glocal" wave which is rushing towards us. http://www.google.com/local/add |
| Keyword Suggestion Tool | One of several suggestion tools that help you to refine and prioritise your keywords. http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal |
| Alerts | Monitor new occurences of your keywords, company name, product names etc. http://www.google.co.uk/alerts |
| Sitemaps | Primarily for feeding your site structure directly to Google, but many other useful features to keep your site in top shape. http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ Yahoo!'s equivalent: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com |
| Analytics | Excellent stats and analysis tools, helping you to monitor your site goals and traffic. http://www.google.com/analytics |
| Base | The mother of all databases (or the daughter perhaps?) Another way to generate traffic to your site, and raise awareness of your products\events\whatever. http://base.google.com |
| Adwords | Well, not free but an essential way to fill in the gaps in your search rankings, provide additional customer service and put pressure on your competitors. http://adwords.google.com |
Other useful links:
Validate your pages http://validator.w3.org
Lots more weapons for your SEO armoury http://tools.seobook.com
Keyword mutations: http://adlab.msn.com/keyMut/default.aspx
Quick site analysis: http://www.seoworkers.com/tools/
Entry level SEO software: http://www.webceo.com
Serious SEO software: http://www.axandra.com
Online ranking monitor: http://www.rankingcheck.com
"Long tail" keyword suggestions: http://www.hittail.com
To download a copy of the SEO presentation slideshow, please click here