SEO is ever-evolving, so staying ahead requires having access to top-of-the-line tools. No matter if you are an agency, marketer, or business owner: investing in quality SEO tools could mean the difference between ranking on page one or being left in obscurity.
Search is changing fast.
AI is taking up more space in the results. Organic clicks are getting squeezed. And the old SEO playbook? It’s not working like it used to.
But here’s what hasn’t changed:
If you have the right tools, you can still win.
Not by chasing hacks — but by moving faster, making smarter decisions, and focusing on what actually drives results.
These are the tools my team and I use to drive over 867K+ sessions every month.
(Most of which came from organic search)
The best part?
These tools still work GREAT in today’s search landscape. No matter your business size or niche.
Let’s get started.
More tools? Each tool has a suggested alternative. I’ve also included four more tools we use to manage the SEO scale at Backlinko (read on to the end). So, there are actually 28 tools on this list. Enjoy!
My Top SEO Tools for 2025
- Semrush: All-in-one tool for competitor analysis, both SEO and PPC
- SEOGets: Google Search Console insights for multiple sites in one dashboard
- Screaming Frog: Fast, powerful, and user-friendly desktop crawler
- ChatGPT: Great for brainstorming ideas and refining SEO strategies
- Keyword Insights: Advanced keyword clustering and intent mapping
- Detailed: Lightweight and reliable SEO Chrome extension for quick on-page checks
- Yoast SEO: WordPress plugin for seamless on-page optimization
- Clearscope: AI-powered tool for improving content relevance and rankings
- Featured: Helps secure journalist-style backlinks through expert quotes
- BuzzStream: Scalable outreach and link-building management platform
1. Semrush
Best for analyzing competitors’ SEO (and PPC) strategies
I know Semrush always comes up on these lists, but for good reason. It’s seriously overpowered. And you can manage pretty much any SEO activity in it — making it a viable all-in-one tool.
But I don’t use Semrush for everything.
I use the best tool for the job. And Semrush REALLY excels in competitor analysis.
Uncover Your Competitors’ SEO Efforts
Semrush’s Domain Overview tool is my go-to for competitor analysis.
It helps me track how any website is doing in organic search over time. And it reveals which keywords are driving their success.
Let’s say you’re in the travel industry and want to analyze Sandals.com.
You can instantly see whether its traffic is increasing or declining:
Or what the split of their top 3 and 4-10 rankings look like:
And you’ll see which keywords are driving the most traffic (in this case, a lot of branded terms):
I can then check exactly what percentage of their traffic comes from branded keywords (in this case, more than two-thirds):
If a company relies heavily on branded searches, like Sandals.com, it tells me that their SEO success is deeply tied to their brand awareness.
Useful resource: How to Conduct an SEO Competitor Analysis
See What and Where Your Competitors Are Spending on Ads
I also like analyzing competitors’ paid search campaigns:
Why does this matter for SEO?
Because if a business consistently spends money on keywords, it suggests they bring real business results. Whether it’s hotel bookings, product sales, or sign-ups.
I use Semrush’s Advertising Research tool to see where competitors are investing in search ads. It helps me find profitable SEO keywords that are likely converting searchers into customers.
And I can even see how much of their traffic comes from each keyword, and how much of their ad budget they spend on each one.
Often, these high-performing PPC keywords can be great opportunities to target organically
Analyze Your Competitors’ Top Topics
I also like Semrush’s topic insights (available in the Organic Research tool). This helps me understand how competitors structure their content, and what topics drive the most traffic to their sites.
For example, when I look at Sandals.com, I notice that “Jamaica” is their best-performing topic cluster:
This tells me that Jamaica-related content is a core focus of their SEO strategy.
Each topic also breaks down into subtopics and related keywords.
For example, “Jamaica vacation packages” drives 2.36K traffic and has a search volume of 188K. The keyword difficulty (38%) tells me how competitive it is and whether it’s a viable opportunity for me to target.
These are all valuable insights that can help me form my own data-driven content marketing strategy.
Note: A free Semrush account gives you limited access to a lot of the platform’s key features. But you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Comprehensive competitor analysis for both SEO and PPC | The sheer range of features and insights can be a little overwhelming for beginners |
| Advanced advertising tools with detailed Display Ads insights | |
| Specialized solutions for local businesses |
Semrush Alternative: Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another all-in-one SEO platform. It also provides tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, and technical audits.
It has a clean, easy-to-use interface, and my main use case is the Content Explorer for finding content ideas.
Although I also use it for link analysis, typically alongside Semrush (as every SEO tool’s database is different, so it’s not a bad idea to use multiple if you can).
But overall, Semrush offers you more features at a similar price (depending on the specific plan you go for).
It also lets you manage various marketing strategies all in one platform, like SEO, social media, PPC, and backlink outreach campaigns. Ahrefs is primarily SEO-focused.
2. SEOGets
Best for SEO managers or agencies who want an instant view of the performance of multiple sites
SEO Gets is my favorite tool for analyzing Google Search Console data. I can see everything I need to know about ALL of my sites right away.
It helps me instantly see which pages are growing, and which ones are losing traffic. This makes prioritizing updates and new content production so much easier.
Check Your Topic Cluster Performance
Topic clusters show me how well my keyword-based content categories are performing. Not just particular keywords.
For example, if I focus on SEO, YouTube, or backlinks, I can easily check their clicks and impressions.
And I can see each cluster’s average rank in the SERP, along with how it has changed (whether it’s improving or declining).
Like this:
Content groups, on the other hand, organize pages by URLs. This lets you track performance at the section level.
I can see which topics or site sections bring in traffic, helping me plan my next steps and future content strategies.
I can double down on the categories that are performing well, and consider updating content in the underperforming sections.
Track Your Keyword Performance Over Time
I check this part of the tool every single day, because SEO Gets makes it so easy to spot trending keywords. You can see which ones are rising and which are falling, and by how much.
You can also compare different time periods, like this month vs. last month, or year over year.
Why is this important?
Because SEO is never a static process:
A keyword trending up could indicate growing demand. This gives you the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the trend with new content.
And if a keyword is trending down, you can confirm if it’s a seasonal swing, or if you might want to update the content to target a new angle.
Spot and Fix Declining Content
This is probably my favorite feature of the entire tool. I can just open my browser and instantly see what’s growing, what’s popular, and what’s decaying.
Without wasting time digging through reports.
When I clearly see which pages are losing traffic, I know exactly where to focus my efforts.
Decaying is a clear sign that I need to optimize content. Maybe the page needs a content refresh or better internal links.
And if a page is suddenly gaining traction, I can see that too:
It’s simple, but so effective.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Centralized dashboard for all your sites’ most important traffic data | The sheer range of features and insights can be a little overwhelming for beginners |
| Honestly, for what it promises, it’s hard to fault |
SEO Gets Alternative: Google Search Console
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free alternative to SEO Gets. It lets you track keyword performance, impressions, clicks, and average positions over time.
But one key difference is that GSC only shows you one account at a time. If you manage multiple sites, checking individual accounts can be a hassle. SEO Gets has a unified dashboard where you can see all your sites’ performance at a glance.
SEO Gets has the edge over GSC by offering trend insights in a clearer and more visual format.
3. Screaming Frog
Best for SEO pros who need to crawl entire sites or specific URLs in bulk
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a super reliable desktop crawler and a beloved tool by SEOs. I’ve been using it for so many years that I can’t even remember when I started.
Screaming Frog’s beauty is simulating how search engine bots crawl your site. It can show issues with broken links, duplicate content, metadata, redirects, and internal linking.
I particularly love the customization options and API integrations.
Customize Your Crawl
One of the things I love most about Screaming Frog is how flexible it is. You don’t have to crawl an entire site every time if that’s not what you need. You can choose exactly how deep you want to go and which parts of a site you want to analyze.
Most of the time, I either run a full site crawl or focus on a specific list of URLs.
But how do I determine which way to choose?
I have two scenarios:
If I’m doing a broad technical SEO audit, I’ll let Screaming Frog crawl everything. This includes pages, images, JavaScript, and CSS.
But if I’m analyzing specific areas of a site, like an ecommerce website’s product pages or blog, I can simply paste in a list of key URLs.
This way, I can focus on what matters most for my current project. Without wasting time crawling unnecessary pages.
Get More Insights with API Integrations
One of the first things I do when I set up a Screaming Frog crawl is connect my APIs.
I always integrate Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console (GSC). This way, I can add real user data to my crawl results.
This lets me see not just technical SEO data, but also how users interact with my pages and how they perform in search—all in one place.
Let’s say GSC data shows some of my key pages have low click-through rates (CTRs). I can check the title tags and meta descriptions alongside that data in Screaming Frog to see if I can improve them.
This is much easier and faster than switching between GSC and another app, or going through them all manually.
Or if GA shows a page with tons of traffic but a high bounce rate, I can dig into the crawl data to see if the page loads slow. Again, without needing to switch between lots of different tools.
Screaming Frog also integrates with OpenAI. You can create meta descriptions, alt text for image SEO, or full content sections using page data:
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| API integrations like GA4, GSC, and OpenAI for deeper insights and content optimization | No cloud-based option, you need to download the software |
| It’s fairly affordable for the depth of data you get |
Screaming Frog Alternative: Sitebulb
Sitebulb is another desktop SEO crawler (although they do offer a cloud option). It’s similar to Screaming Frog, but offers better data visualization.
It has interactive reports, charts, and heatmaps. These tools help you analyze technical SEO data more easily.
Because Sitebulb has cloud server plans (starting at $245 per month), it’s a scalable option for large teams and enterprise SEO site audits.
Honestly, I find myself going back and forth between these two tools from time to time. For in-depth site auditing, they’re both great options.
4. ChatGPT
Best for brainstorming SEO strategies
ChatGPT is an AI assistant that can help with just about any task, not just content and marketing-related ones.
But for SEO in particular, I find it’s great for brainstorming ideas, improving strategies, and troubleshooting tough problems.
Talk Through Complex SEO Issues
My favorite way of using ChatGPT is as a brainstorming partner for SEO challenges I’m facing.
I share my thoughts, explain the problem, and brainstorm solutions out loud (often literally, using the voice feature).
Maybe I’m trying to decide how to structure a page. Or I’m refining a broader content strategy.
Whatever it is, I can just speak freely for minutes, and ChatGPT captures it all. Once I’m done, I press enter and it organizes my ideas in a way that’s actually useful.
Here’s an example:
Further reading: ChatGPT for SEO: Ultimate Guide, Tips & Prompts
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Captures free-flowing brainstorming conversation better than voice assistants | Responses can be generic if your prompts aren’t specific enough |
| Helps refine complex ideas |
ChatGPT Alternative: Claude
Claude is a solid alternative to ChatGPT. It’s recognized for its ability to retain a lot of context. This makes it great for having long and complex discussions.
However, Claude has limits on the conversation length. Longer messages can quickly take you up to the messaging cap, even on the paid plan.
5. Keyword Insights
Best for clustering keywords and building topical authority for large sites
Keyword Insights is an AI-powered SEO tool. It helps you create topical authority by grouping keywords.
I use this tool situationally when working with big websites.
Turn Huge Keyword Lists into Usable Clusters
My favorite feature is the ability to organize massive lists of up to 200,000 keywords. It automatically clusters them based on live SERP data.
This is particularly useful for large-scale projects.
For example:
If I were in charge of Airbnb’s SEO, I could upload a file with a large list of keywords. For instance, I might include 50,000 words tied to various locations in the US.
The tool looks at search engine results pages and finds which keywords belong together.
If “vacation rentals in Miami” and “Miami holiday homes” show up on many top-ranking URLs, Keyword Insights will cluster them.
This means you can effectively target them on the same page, rather than necessarily having to create multiple pieces of content. (Which could result in keyword cannibalization.)
If you have an article about a certain keyword cluster, Keyword Insights will show you which keywords are best to optimize for.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Pulls keywords from live databases like Quora, People Also Ask, and Google Autocomplete | No option to customize and add your own rows within the tool |
| Centralized dashboard for content clustering and planning |
Keyword Insights Alternative: Semrush Keyword Strategy Builder
Semrush’s Keyword Strategy Builder lets you create topic clusters. It also helps you develop a structured content strategy.
You just enter up to five seed keywords and the tool will then create ready-made clusters with pillar pages and subpages. Each with target keywords and key SEO metrics:
One major difference between the two tools is how they source keyword data. Semrush relies on its database of 25.3 billion keywords. This is great for prioritizing keywords by metrics like volume and difficulty.
Keyword Insights gathers live search terms from Google Autocomplete, People Also Ask, and Quora. So, it might surface more up-to-date, trending topics, but without the data of a tool like Semrush.
6. Detailed
Best Chrome extension for quick on-page SEO analysis
Detailed is a Chrome extension. It gives you an instant look at key on-page SEO metrics while you browse a website.
I use Detailed when I want to get quick page insights without opening separate tools or tabs.
Here’s how:
View SEO Details on Any Page
With one click on the Detailed Chrome extension, you can easily review key SEO elements of any webpage, including:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- URL
- Canonical URL
- Number of headers
- Number of images
- Number of links
This saves me time when I’m trying to understand what makes top-ranking pages successful.
Or for quickly troubleshooting issues like missing canonical tags.
Quickly Review Content Structure
Detailed also shows you how your competitors organize their content at a glance:
This quick overview helps you spot patterns in successful content.
You’ll also see how top-performing pages break down complex topics. And it can help you spot content gaps in your own articles to identify subtopics you might have missed.
Check Key Technical SEO Details
Detailed shows technical SEO elements that may affect a page’s performance, like schema markup and hreflang attributes.
This is super useful for quickly understanding the structured data setup of a competitor without running it through a dedicated schema tool. Or for troubleshooting international SEO issues on a client site.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Quickly analyze on-page SEO elements on any website | To see image alt tags, you’ll need to export them (it’s clearly not a big issue, but I had to be quite picky to come up with a con for this one) |
| You get a lot of data fast and for free |
Detailed Alternative: SEOquake
SEOquake is a Chrome extension that gives you instant SEO insights as you browse.
It uses Semrush’s database to show you comprehensive SEO data. You can also generate full-page reports. (Plus, you can link your Semrush account for even more useful insights.)
SEOquake can sometimes lead to a crowded SERP because of the amount of data it shows. Especially when you only need to check basic things like metadata, content structure, and word count.
Detailed’s simpler interface is better if you want quick, focused on-page analysis.
Further reading: 9 Best Chrome Extensions for SEO
7. Yoast SEO
Best WordPress plugin for simplified SEO management
Yoast SEO helps you improve your WordPress site’s on-page and technical SEO. While there is a paid option, the free plugin is perfect for a lot of beginner SEO needs.
You can check out our full guide to Yoast SEO, but below are a few of my favorite use cases.
Optimize On-Page SEO Elements
Yoast SEO helps you control how your content appears in search results.
Here are a few things you can do with it:
- Enter your page’s target keyword to optimize the page for it
- Optimize your title tag and meta description with the right length and keywords
- Optimize your URL slug for SEO and better readability
- Preview exactly how your page will look in search results on mobile and desktop devices
Get SEO Insights as You Write
Yoast SEO checks your content as you write. It gives you clear tips to make it better, right in the WordPress editor itself.
The tool checks for issues like:
- Uneven keyword distribution in your content
- Missing external links and images
- Missing target keyword in your introduction
Like this:
The best part?
Each issue comes with a clear explanation and suggestions for improvement.
As you implement these suggestions, you’ll see green lights next to them. So you can see exactly what you’re doing well, and what you need to improve.
Optimize Technical SEO Elements
Yoast SEO helps with important technical SEO optimizations. Such as:
XML sitemaps: It create an XML sitemap for you. This helps search engines find and crawl your content.
After you upload the sitemap to Google Search Console, the plugin updates it automatically. This happens whenever you add new pages to your site.
Canonical URLs: These tags help prevent duplicate content issues. They tell search engines which version of a page to index.
Schema markup: This adds structured data to help search engines better understand your content. It can also potentially help you get rich snippets in search results.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Get actionable tips to boost your page’s ranking potential | Can be overly prescriptive with SEO recommendations |
| Easily optimize various technical SEO elements |
Yoast SEO Alternative: Rank Math
Rank Math is an alternative to Yoast SEO for WordPress websites.
It offers many features as part of its free version that other plugins charge for, like redirects and 404 management, and adding structured data.
Rank Math, like Yoast, has an SEO analyzer. It gives you clear tips for improving your content. But it doesn’t analyze your content’s readability in all that much detail, beyond paragraph length and whether you’ve included images or videos.
As both tools are free, it’s worth trying both to see which one suits your needs best.
8. Clearscope
Best for optimizing your written content for search engines
Clearscope is an AI-powered tool that helps you optimize your content for better rankings.
I’ve created hundreds of reports in Clearscope over the years, and I’ve watched it evolve into a powerful, all-in-one SEO content tool.
Standout features include trending keywords, the content optimizer, and reviving underperforming pages.
Discover Frequently-Searched Keywords
Clearscope looks at search trends and suggests keywords and topics that match what your audience is searching for.
My favorite thing in Clearscope’s keyword research tool is the “Trending” tag. This means the latest monthly search volume for a keyword is up by more than 50% versus two months ago.
It’s a great way to spot rising trends early and create content before the competition catches on.
For instance, if you run a travel blog, searching for “ski resort” could show that “Snowbird Utah ski resort” is trending.
In other words:
Its search demand is growing.
This could indicate that now is the perfect time to publish a guide, blog post, or landing page about that keyword.
Optimize Your Content for Maximum Impact
I also love Clearscope’s content optimization feature. The best part is the list of popular questions that people search for.
It helps you meet the search intent and answer what readers actually want to know.
Let’s say you’re writing about “Snowbird Utah ski resort.” Right inside the editor, you’ll see questions like “Can beginners ski at Snowbird?” or “What is the best month for Snowbird?”
Answering these questions helps your content meet user needs. It helps you add value and can boost your chances of ranking for important keywords.
Revive Underperforming Content
One of my favorite features in Clearscope is how it shows you exactly which pages are losing traffic.
For example, if your article lost 73% of its traffic, Clearscope alerts you. It compares your highest traffic month to the most recent full month and flags the decline:
This suggests you might want to revisit that content. You could update outdated information, include missing keywords, or improve depth, and hopefully, you’ll see the traffic grow once again.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Tracks content performance and helps you identify decaying pages that need updates or further optimization | As with other similar tools, following ALL the content suggestions can lead to overoptimization |
| Seamlessly integrates with Google Docs and WordPress for efficient optimization |
Further reading: Clearscope Review: Is This SEO Tool Any Good?
Clearscope Alternative: Frase
Frase is a budget-friendly alternative to Clearscope. It helps you organize your articles to fit what people are searching for. It also gives AI-based tips for better optimization.
With Frase, you can easily check how top-ranking pages are structured. It lets you pull out key topics and build your own content outlines.
I have found both of these tools to be useful, so it’ll probably come down to budget and preference as to which one you pick.
9. Featured
Best for getting high-quality backlinks and media mentions
Featured is a platform that links subject-matter experts to top publishers to increase visibility and get high-quality backlinks.
Unlike traditional PR outreach, Featured simplifies the process of providing ready-to-publish expert insights.
What’s especially impressive is the quality of PR requests and the reporting.
Get Featured in High-Authority Publications
Featured lets you reply to questions from trusted publications. This helps you build high-quality backlinks to your site.
When you sign up to Featured as an expert, you’ll see a bunch of questions from various publications. Think massive brands like Entrepreneur, HubSpot, National Geographic, and GoDaddy.
Then, you answer the relevant questions to get a chance of getting featured.
Note: Submitting an answer doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a link, or even that the publication will feature your response. Editors review each response and select only the most relevant, high-quality contributions.
Pro tip: Give clear, helpful answers to boost your chances of being selected. Focus on unique expertise and actionable insights to stand out from other contributors.
Track Your Answers and Success Rate
After submitting your responses, Featured lets you track their progress through different stages:
- In review: The editorial team is evaluating your response
- Selected: The publication picked your answer to include it in the article
- Published: The publication featured your answer in an article
This makes it super easy to monitor your outreach efforts.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Submit up to three answers on a free plan | No guarantee that you’ll get featured |
| Check SEO insights (website authority and link attribution) for each opportunity |
Featured Alternative: Qwoted
If your main focus is securing press coverage, Qwoted is a great alternative to Featured.
It’s a PR platform, which helps you create and share press releases. You can manage media contacts and track media coverage too.
Qwoted offers a different approach than Featured. Featured links experts and publishers through a Q&A format. In contrast, Qwoted helps you gain media attention with PR campaigns.
Useful resource: How to Write a Press Release That Gets Results
10. BuzzStream
Best for researching link-building opportunities and reaching out to prospects
BuzzStream is a tool for link-building and outreach management.
BuzzStream takes the hassle out of tracking contacts, emails, and follow-ups. It automates the whole process, so you can easily scale your outreach efforts.
Here’s how:
Find Link-Building Prospects
Type in your target keywords to search for opportunities.
You’ll quickly discover authoritative websites that are great for link-building, along with their contact details.
Send Personalized Outreach at Scale
Once you’ve identified link-building opportunities, BuzzStream helps you do the outreach.
It lets you create a custom email sequence and automate follow-ups:
Once you send the outreach emails, you can track their performance. Specifically, you can check how your templates and subject lines perform:
This makes it easy to find what works, and what doesn’t, so that you can optimize your future outreach emails.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Automates link-building outreach | There’s a bit of a learning curve for new users |
| Centralized link-building relationship management |
BuzzStream Alternative: Pitchbox
Pitchbox is a more automation-driven outreach tool. It provides AI-powered outreach templates, automatic follow-ups, and integrates with SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz.
Pitchbox is great for larger link-building and PR campaigns, meaning it suits agencies and large teams.
