Verification: 66bac36f901ab4ff 13+ Best SEO Ranking Tools to Use in 2023: Free and Paid
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13+ Best SEO Ranking Tools to Use in 2023: Free and Paid

Updated: Mar 1, 2023

Why You Need These SEO Tools

SEO is arguably one of the most important aspects of any business website or marketing plan. When executed and managed properly, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Organic inbound traffic is gold in the world of marketing.



As a business, the best kind of leads you need is one who is actively searching for you (pun intended). The difference between massive success and average mediocrity can often be just a few thousand new organic web visitors every other month.

Savvy business owners know this, and that’s why the SEO industry has boomed so much over the years. Ranking and steady organic traffic are almost always equal to money if you’re doing SEO right. Your efforts to optimize your website for search demand a well-designed strategy and the proper tools to execute it.

All SEO tools aren’t created equal. You might need to start with some now and replace them later, depending on your skill level, budget, or immediate or overall goals. No matter where you are on your journey to rank on Google and other search engine results there’s something on this list you can use.



We’ve done a lot of research and found these SEO tools to be the best tools to use in 2023.


Best Paid SEO Ranking Tools for 2023

Ahrefs


This SEO behemoth is probably in its own category. It ranks second only to Google itself when it comes to being the largest web crawler. And that explains why Ahrefs’ is a top-of-the-line weapon in an SEO professional’s arsenal. This all-in-one product handles several key SEO aspects. You can audit your site to discover issues and correct your technical SEO by following their expert recommendations.


Their Site Explorer function lets you see what your competitors are doing and be one step ahead. They also have one of the best keyword research tools out there. Ahrefs’ platform is sophisticated but not overwhelming for beginners. This paid service also has some free tools to give you a taste of what they can do.

Moz Pro


Becoming an SEO giant doesn’t happen without great expertise and many other important characteristics. This company launched in 2004 has since gone on to become synonymous with the term, SEO. Moz is a full-suite SEO SaaS and a thought leader in the industry, so it’s safe to say you are in good hands if you use this tool.


Moz’s Priority score is a keyword parameter that helps you determine what keyword phrases to use first. Without a doubt, Moz will remain one of the best SEO tools to use in 2023. Also, non-profits get 75 percent off, that’s staggering, isn’t it?

SEMRush


Build and fine-tune online visibility on various channels: social media, search, and PPC. Its domain analytics tool can help you discover your competitors’ paid and organic search strategies.


They have over 450 million domains on their database so chances are that you can find your competitor’s data there. Their analytics report helps you reverse-engineer your competitors’ strategies so you can adapt where necessary.




KWFinder

The focus of this tool is on long tail keywords, which makes it very suited for new businesses or those with a trim budget. Its keyword results page displays important data points such as keyword difficulty, trend, searches per month, CPC, PPC competition, etc.


This easy-to-use tool comes with an initial 10-day free trial (without filling out credit card info). KWFinder is a tool under Mangools and can be used with others like SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, and SiteProfiler.

Surfer SEO


If your focus is creating SEO content in a faster, easier, and more efficient way, then Surfer SEO is what you need. It helps you with a detailed content planner for your niche that is sure to keep you busy but heading in the right direction. And because their content planner comes with traffic and search metrics of their auto-generated keyword ideas, you know exactly what will be profitable for your business.


Surfer SEO’s content editor is an SEO writer’s dream. It grades your writing in real-time and shows you the terms to include to establish relevance. The Audit tools analyze your page to see how it performs and recommends actions to take in order to rank. Surfer SEO will remain an awesome tool for as long as the content is important to SEO. You’ll need it in 2023 and beyond.

SpyFu


Although the name suggests competitor website espionage (which it does very well), there’s more to this SEO tool than that. SpyFu’s features include an SEO marketing suite, PPC analyzer, Historic data, Competitive analysis, Backlink outreach, Unlimited keyword & domain projects, and Custom reporting. Overall, this SEO software is pretty easy to use and the reports generated are presentable and understandable to non-SEOs.


By far where this tool is heads-and-shoulders above others is in its competitor research. The amount of data it can pull up from your industry and a competitor makes it one of the best SEO tools in 2023. This paid software also boasts free services that even experts use.

Woorank


This amazing SEO analysis tool gives you a thorough audit of your site, both technical and content-wise. Woorank reviews your site and then breaks down recommendations into actionable SEO tasks. It also tells you how your keywords perform. With both paid and free plans, you can see and fix issues like downtimes, security issues, duplicate content, etc.

Ubersuggest

The brainchild of SEO guru, Neil Patel, Ubersuggest was created with you in mind. It does amazingly well for SEO and content marketing. Its keyword overview shows you vital info like search volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and CPC. Plus very critical, how many links you need to appear on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), mobile v. desktop volume, paid clicks v. organic clicks, and age demographic of searchers.


The Content Ideas section shows you popular content for your keywords, and social shares, plus insights on backlink profiles for blog posts, etc. Ubersuggest’s audit tool lets you see your SEO issues and rank them according to impact and ease of implementation.


That helps you get the most impact from the least effort. With a tool like that SEO can become less tedious and more rewarding. This will definitely be one of the best tools in 2023.


Best Free SEO Ranking Tools for 2023

Google Search Console


If you just started a website or are new to SEO, Google Search Console is a great place to start. The truth is even the experts use this free tool for various reasons so you can’t afford to pass on this tool. It helps you monitor how your site is crawled and indexed. You can also fix errors, see popular pages and content, keywords you are ranking for, etc.


There is also a mobile usability report that tells you if your site is good on mobile, which is an important ranking factor. All you need to do is verify that you’re the owner of your site and you can begin to use the reliable free tool. It will always be relevant and one of the best in 2023.

Google Search


You might be wondering, “Why is Google on this list?”. Most people see Google as a search engine, not an SEO tool. The truth is that Google on its own or used with certain extensions to be mentioned below can be very helpful to your SEO. One very important use for this tool is to let you know the search intent for your keywords.


The results on the SERP show you the search intent, and the type of content Google favors. Such insights give you a good starting point for content creation. For example, if the ranking content for a particular search is product pages or eCommerce sites, that tells you the search intent and the kind of content Google will favor for that query. This can save you time and effort. I don’t know what it is but something tells me that Google as an SEO tool will still be relevant in 2023.

Answer The Public


This ingenious SEO tool collects tons of Google’s auto-complete results and categorizes them so you can see what people are searching for. This is an amazing way to get content ideas. All you need to do is use a seed keyword (one or two phrases long).


Answer The Public then pulls and categorizes auto-complete results as questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabets, and related. You can understand what’s popular for searchers in your niche and create the right content for them. Results are also arranged according to popularity, from most popular to least popular.


The downside of this SEO tool is the fact that there are no search or traffic figures tied to these results to tell you whether they are truly worth your effort.

SEO Minion


This web browser extension helps you analyze the SERP without you needing to scroll through it. It categorizes results as paid, organic, product, video, image, and fresh listings which can save you time. The real magic, however, happens when you visit a webpage and launch the extension. It quickly reveals an arsenal of functions such as Analyze On-Page SEO, Highlight All Links, Check Broken Links, SERP Location Checker, etc.

Incognito Tool


When you begin to show up on the first page, eventually, after using the right tools and strategies. The Incognito tabs on your browser will show you SERPs for your target keywords that are not influenced by search history and other personalized data. This is important because it shows you what the average searcher sees and what your true position is.


How to Choose What SEO Tools to Use

With a wide variety of paid and free SEO tools, 2023 is going to rock for you in terms of ranking. However, you must not get overwhelmed due to having so many choices.


You don’t have to use all of them at once or at all. Most people, even experts, only use a few tools at a time.


If you’re fresh into SEO, try working with the free tools first. You can then start to test the free plans of paid tools. That way you can test and select the tools that help your specific goals, style, or needs the best.

Remember, it’s not all about the complexity of the tools you use. Your understanding of SEO and alertness to industry updates is truly what makes you effective. The fancy SEO ranking tools and gizmos only get you there faster. Also, your results will depend on your niche, goals, capacity to write content, and acquire quality backlinks.

Do you think some other tools should have been on the list? Tell us in the comment and we will try it out and update our list accordingly.


Don't forget to sign up for our SEO Marketing Masterclass to learn more about how to get your website ranked on the search engines at a steady and progressive rate.

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