It’s estimated that by 2028, the SEO market in the UK could reach a valuation as high as £25 billion. Having a set of efficient SEO tools at hand as a blogger and marketer can help you achieve better search results and higher rankings, not only for your website but also for those of your clients. In my course “How to create SEO-friendly content” I cover and share some of the SEO tools I use, including how I use them to strategically utilise relevant keywords that I have researched. You can also watch how Fernando and I find the best keywords to embed in an article so it ranks quickly and effectively: In this article, I want to help you identify an SEO tool that will work best for you. Try a search for an online tool that can help you perform search engine optimisation. You’ll find too many to count, literally. Don’t let the overload of choices weigh you down. I’ve done the hard yards and can save you hundreds of hours of search, trial, and frustration. The first step I took was to make a list of the functions that I needed my SEO tools to perform. After that, I went on to choose the tools for my SEO toolbox as I already had a clear idea of what kinds of SEO tools and features I wanted. Checking Your SEO Needs Be it a professional website, a blog, or an e-commerce site, there are some basic functions that the tools in your SEO toolbox must be able to perform. These include: Analyse the performance and functionality status of your website. Ensure that content is optimised for better web visibility Compare the site performance with competing sites. Track visibility on social media and platforms to monitor the web traffic. Check backlinks and plan link building. My SEO Toolbox – What’s in it? You don’t need complex and time-consuming software. Simple and small tools can easily perform SEO as well as their complex and often expensive counterparts. Have a look at what I’ve included in my SEO toolbox. The listed SEO tools allow me to perform the required optimisation whenever I need to, without burning a hole in my pocket. Because if you’re just starting out as a blogger or marketer for the web, you won’t be in a position to pay for expensive tools yet. But you still want to create content that is popular on search engines like Google. So the below SEO tools may not be completely free, but some offer certain features for free or they are at the lower end of the scale and many offer free trials to test them as well. Disclaimer: The listed SEO tools are ranked based on their average ratings from higher to lower. All the information provided was correct at the time of this publication but may be subject to change.   1. Google Analytics I mainly use this tool to analyse Google data and as a website owner, you will have free access to Google Analytics once your website is submitted and indexed. I also use it via the seekahost.app to check all my blogs hosted there and their analytics. Pros: Google Analytics offers detailed insights into your website’s traffic patterns, top-performing content, and visitor behaviour over time. Because of its intuitive interface, monitoring performance and evaluating optimisation efforts are simple and accurate. Cons: It only covers Google searches, not other search engines like Bing. Plans: Google Analytics offers a free version with essential features for tracking website traffic and user behaviour, including real-time reporting, custom reporting, audience analysis, conversion tracking, and attribution modelling. Google Analytics 360, the premium version, starts at $50,000 per year and provides enhanced data processing, more customisation options, advanced integrations, dedicated support, faster data freshness, higher limits on custom dimensions and audiences, unsampled explorations, and guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs) for data collection and reporting. Ratings & Reviews: 4.5 out of 5 with 6427 reviews on G2 2. SEMRush Semrush is a comprehensive tool I use for keyword research, competitor analysis, and SEO strategy. I also use it to manage my socials as these increasingly impact SEO. Its advanced features help me gain data-driven insights to finalise my upcoming content strategy. Pros: Semrush offers access to over 26 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks, delivering accurate data directly from top search engines. Semrush allows you to understand your competitors’ strategies and explore their keywords & backlinks, uncover new opportunities, and gain insights to enhance your approach. Semrush can identify broken links, and orphan pages, and protect your website from spam link attacks. Cons: Switching between dashboards presents a difficult learning curve for novice users. Plans: Semrush offers three main plans for different business needs. The Pro Plan at $139.95/month provides essential SEO, PPC, and research tools, including keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis and website audits. The Guru Plan, priced at $249.95/month, includes all Pro features plus the multi-location tracking, Content Marketing Toolkit, Looker Studio integration, and historical data. For larger businesses, the Business Plan at $499.95/month adds advanced features such as API access, Share of Voice, free migration from third-party tools, and extended limits. For local businesses, Semrush offers Local Essentials and Local Advanced plans at $50 and $60/month respectively, designed to manage business listings, enhance local visibility, track local rankings, and optimise Google Business Profiles. The Semrush Trends plan, at $289/month per user, delivers consumer insights through tools like Traffic Analytics, Market Explorer, and EyeOn, providing detailed traffic data across 190+ countries. Additional users can be added for $45–$100/month, depending on the plan, and various add-ons are available, such as Semrush Social for $29.99/month to manage social media accounts, Social Content AI for content creation, and the Agency Growth Kit ranging from $69 to $249/month, designed to support agencies with CRM, lead generation, and client reporting tools. For AI-driven content analysis, ImpactHero is available for $200/month. Ratings & Reviews: 4.5 out of 5 with 2290 reviews on G2 3. Ahrefs Ahrefs … Continue reading SEO Toolbox For Content Creators & Marketers – Top SEO Tools & Features