10 SEO Tools For Small Businesses (SEOs #1 Choice)
written by
Victoria Kurichenko
posted on
August 07, 2024
If you search “SEO tools for small business” on Google, you’ll see a bunch of lengthy listicles where authors list numerous tools without providing thorough reviews.
I can’t count how many times I’ve read superficial reviews that start with “This is tool X; it can help you with Y, Z.”
As a user, I can read tool descriptions on their official websites, but I expect honest reviews, success and failure stories, and personal opinions.
This article provides exactly that.
As an SEO expert and entrepreneur, I share my exclusive list of the best SEO tools for business owners.
Here’s a table with a brief summary of tools I’ve used for years as a full-time SEO expert and an entrepreneur to help my clients gain traffic from organic search results, conduct keyword research, and write optimized content.
| Tool | Purpose | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Semrush | An all-in-one online marketing tool. | Starts at $139.95. |
| Google Search Console | Website’s search traffic, performance, and technical issues reporting tool. | It’s a free tool. |
| Google Tag Manager | It is used to manage tags, such as measurement and marketing optimization of JavaScript tags on your website. | It’s a free tool. |
| Ubersuggest | Powerful SEO toolkit for keyword analysis. | It’s a free tool with paid plans starting at $12/m. |
| Ahrefs | All-in-one popular SEO tool. | Starts at $129/m. |
| Ahrefs Website Checker | A limited version of Ahrefs for site owners to track and analyze the performance of their websites. | It’s a free tool. |
| To The Web | A tool that helps to test the meta title and description. | It’s a free tool. |
| ChatGPT and Gemini | Help to streamline online marketing processes, including content generation. | These are free tools with paid plans. |
| Coschedule Headline Analyzer | A tool that helps to write catchy and resonating titles. | It’s a free tool with paid plans starting at $129/m. |
| MOZ Keyword Explorer | Keyword analysis tool. | Starts at $49/m. |
Is it worth doing SEO for small businesses?
Before diving into the list of SEO tools for small business owners, I’d like to discuss whether it’s worth investing in SEO when you’re just starting out.
There are many differing opinions on SEO for startups. Some argue that SEO takes time, but startups need clients immediately and can’t wait six months to see (hopefully) positive results.
Some startups and small businesses opt for PPC (pay-per-click) to achieve instant results. Once they achieve a steady monthly income, they turn to SEO.
Others, however, allocate some resources to start doing SEO as early as possible. They progress slowly but already have some results by the time other companies are just beginning.
Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for your business.
I believe SEO is about achieving long-lasting results.
If you have limited capacity, it’s worth starting small and slow. Instead of developing a comprehensive SEO strategy, you can focus on creating optimized content and publishing high-quality pieces on your website.
Even one well-researched, optimized, and well-written piece of content that has the potential to reach the top Google search results can help you achieve your business goals.
I know it’s possible.
I’ve worked at companies where owners and CEOs wrote content for their blogs.
I’ve seen developers who became agency owners learn SEO from scratch and develop their own SEO strategies.
In my case, I launched my website in 2021 and reached 6,000 monthly visitors with around 70 pages and zero investment.
As you can see, SEO is not dead.
It’s worth pursuing it if you’re ready to play the long game and create valuable content for your target audience.
I’m not trying to convince you that you should or shouldn’t do SEO. This is purely my opinion based on four years of experience and empirical evidence.
If you decide to pursue SEO, I recommend checking out these top SEO software for small businesses.
10 SEO tools for small business
1. Semrush
If you need an all-in-one SEO software for your marketing team, consider Semrush.
It offers various features to handle all your marketing tasks, including keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, technical SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing.
The basic Pro plan costs $139.95 per month, while the more comprehensive Guru plan is $249.95 per month.
I’ve extensively used both the free and paid versions of Semrush to grow my website and my clients’ websites. I rely on Semrush’s Keyword Overview Tool for quickly assessing the potential of any keyword.
Semrush allows 10 free daily searches, which is often sufficient for small business owners to conduct quick research.
For more details, you can read my in-depth Semrush review in a separate article, where I discuss the pros and cons and share my personal experience.
2. Google Search Console
This is one of the best SEO tools for small and established online business owners, which is free.
Google Search Console is a web service created by Google that helps website owners measure and track their sites’ online performance.
Once set and verified, Google Search Console gives an extensive overview of your website performance, including
- Daily impressions change (drop or grow)
- Daily traffic changes (increases or decreases)
- Average CTR (click-through-rate)
- Whether your website pages have any technical issues
- Whether your website pages are indexed (if not, why)
- Whether your website has mobile usability issues
- If your website has any penalty from Google
The data comes from Google. Therefore, it’s more accurate than anything else.
Here’s what a GSC account looks for my website with organic traffic estimates.
I recommend setting up Google Search Console right after you create your website. It will help you track and understand many processes that happen to your website behind the scenes. In particular, you’ll be able to see how long it takes for Googe to index new pages (usually two weeks) and whether your new web pages are indexed.
The “discovered — not indexed” and “crawled — not indexed” are common issues for new websites. If you experience any of these issues, check the Google Index Coverage report for more details. I also have an in-depth guide on how to do SEO for new websites that will help you avoid common SEO mistakes.
If your website is new, ensure to check Google Search Console data daily. This way, you’ll be able to spot any issues right away and ensure smooth website growth.
3. Google Tag Manager
How many pieces of code did you have to add to your website to integrate other tools, like Google Analytics, and Google Search Console?
Did you manually insert the code or ask a developer for help?
Most site owners are unfamiliar with coding and can’t edit website pages on their own. What should they do in this case?
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a tool that can help you add any pieces of code to your website without opening a source code page.
I intentionally mentioned GTM in this article because not many site owners know about it and use it.
Perhaps, the first thing you can do when setting up GTM is add a Google Analytics tracking code to every page of your website via GTM.
Here is how to do it:
- Create a new variable with a unique tracking code from your Google Analytics account.
- Create a tag using a newly added variable.
- Create a trigger — an action that will fire a tag. In this particular case, a tag will be fired upon all page views. This way, your Google Analytics account will track users’ behavior and site navigation.
It’s just one occasion where Google Tag Manager can be helpful. However, this tool can do even more. You can learn more about Google Tag Manager here.
4. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a fantastic, budget-friendly SEO tool perfect for small businesses. You can access its full range of features for a low monthly cost, but even without paying, you can still get a lot out of it.
By inputting basic information about your website and competitors, Ubersuggest provides valuable insights to improve your online visibility. It suggests ways to enhance existing pages and identifies opportunities for fresh content to attract more visitors.
Ubersuggest offers a variety of reports, including site audits and backlink analysis, but I primarily use it for niche keyword research.
As an SEO writer and a website owner, I believe that carefully chosen keywords are essential for business growth, attracting the right audience, and achieving top search engine rankings.
Ubersuggest’s keyword research tool provides valuable data, especially when it comes to search volume by location. While its keyword difficulty estimates aren’t always precise, it effectively helps identify potential keywords and related search terms.
5. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a widely-used SEO tool popular with both small and established businesses.
When I first started learning about SEO years ago, Ahrefs was my introduction to the world of search engine optimization.
Now, it’s an essential tool for me to research keywords and analyze website performance. Every piece of content I create begins as an idea, which I then develop into a full article using keyword insights and related terms found through Ahrefs.
Thanks to Ahrefs and my SEO skills, I consistently create content that gets to the Google front page (I even wrote an SEO ebook about it). As an SEO specialist who heavily relies on Ahrefs keyword analysis, I can confirm their data is pretty accurate.
Ahrefs has only one tiny drawback—the price. It is a pretty expensive tool. The cheapest version costs $129 per month. However, it does not include valuable reports such as broken backlinks, broken links, content gaps, ranking data history, and more.
If you want to test Ahrefs’s full power and use it to grow your business, it will cost you at least $249 per month. This is a lot if you consistently keep the monthly subscription.
Here’s what I do: I occasionally pay for Ahrefs and use their free Ahrefs Website Checker for webmasters.
6. Ahrefs Website Checker
Ahrefs Website Checker is a limited and free version of Ahrefs available for verified website owners.
It helps you check your website’s domain rating, backlink acquisition, organic traffic growth, keywords your website ranks for, site audit with technical website issues, website top pages, and more.
Ahrefs team says that Ahrefs Website Checker is “their answer to limitations of Google Search Console.”
I recommend trying this tool if you are a website owner on a budget. (You’ll thank me later.)
Once you register and verify your website (I did it via Google Search Console), you will access the dashboard with the primary website metrics and data. Here is what it looks like for me below.
You’ll see the same reports for your website once you verify your domain ownership.
As an owner of Self Made Millennials, I regularly check the website performance, backlinks, top website pages, and domain authority (DR) growth, especially after building new backlinks.
7. ChatGPT and Gemini
ChatGPT and Gemini are powerful AI SEO tools for site owners.
I’ve experimented with both tools and ended up with a conclusion that AI-generated content can rank in search results as long as it meets Google’s EEAT (Experience-Expertise-Authority-Trust) requirements.
I shared the details of my SEO experiments and the results in this Medium blog post which has got over 82k views by now.
If you run a small business and you want to speed up content production, here’s how you can leverage these AI tools to write better content:
1.Write clear and concise definitions.
Use this prompt: “Write 2 sentences explaining what [your topic] is in simple words. Don’t use bullet points.”
2.Explain complex terms with comparisons.
Use this prompt: “Explain what [your topic] is in simple words with a comparison for better understanding. Don’t use bullet points.”
3.Finish your thoughts if you’re stuck.
Use this prompt: “Finish this sentence: [Start a sentence or include a phrase]”
4.Quickly generate content on a particular topic.
Use this prompt: “Write 10 sentences about the importance of [your topic]. Don’t use bullet points.”
5.Make your content sound nicer.
Use this prompt: “Paraphrase: [Type your thoughts].”
The last prompt works perfectly with Gemini.
I like how Gemini takes my jumbled thoughts and transforms them into something clear and easy to understand. It’s like having a personal editor!
8. To The Web
Some aspects of SEO appear straightforward and don’t seem to need much explanation, like metadata.
As an SEO writer, I used to give minimal attention to metadata when discussing on-page optimization strategies with copywriters and business owners, thinking there were more critical areas to focus on. I was wrong!
The meta title and description are the first things users see on Google before they open your web page.
If these are poorly written, unoptimized, or not engaging, you risk losing potential visitors. Because of this, I began using tools like To The Web to preview how my meta titles and descriptions would appear in search results.
I strongly recommend analyzing the top-ranking search results when crafting metadata for your web page. Ask yourself, “Would I click on this link if I saw it among other search results?” If the answer is no, keep refining it.
9. Coschedule Headline Analyzer
Coschedule’s headline analyzer is another valuable tool for crafting compelling titles.
This resource is especially helpful for those new to content creation who want to write engaging articles.
Mastering the art of writing attention-grabbing titles takes time. I’ve learned to analyze competitors’ titles and add unique elements like numbers, dates, content type, target audience, and author credentials.
While experience is key, tools like Coschedule can significantly assist in creating effective headlines.
This user-friendly tool offers a free version and affordable paid options.
To use it, simply input your headline and receive a detailed analysis, including a score and improvement suggestions.
Even experienced writers can benefit from this tool, as my own headline scored well but still has room for enhancement.
10. MOZ Keyword Explorer
Creating content without a clear strategy is risky. There’s no guarantee your content will perform well.
To increase your chances of success, start with keyword research. MOZ Keyword Explorer is a great and free SEO tool for small businesses.
It provides essential data like search volume, competition level, click-through rates, and related keywords to help you create effective content.
Costs of SEO for small businesses
“Is it worth doing SEO for small business?” — I’ve heard this question many times from different business owners.
Some of them were concerned with the low SEO impact in the short term and were not ready to wait. While others wondered how much it costs to do SEO for small businesses.
As an SEO specialist and entrepreneur, I will try to answer this question for you.
First, it’s important to mention that costs will differ depending on who you work with, whether it is an agency or an individual contractor.
According to Backlinko, the average monthly price of SEO services for small businesses is $497.16.
The Backlinko study also found that SEO agencies earn significantly more than freelancers. Agencies are twice as likely to be paid $1,000–$2,000 per month, whereas freelancers mostly earn between $500 and $1,000 per month.
It’s clear that agencies are more expensive than freelancers. When you hire an agency, you’re paying for collective expertise. Even if you’re working with one SEO specialist, they can collaborate with their in-house team to address your challenges and develop strategies. This is particularly beneficial if you need help with complex SEO issues.
Freelancers, on the other hand, tend to charge less unless they are highly influential in the field.
In the early stages, I don’t think there’s a significant difference between hiring a freelancer or an agency. A skilled freelancer can sometimes deliver better results than an agency. The main challenge is finding the right expert.
Here are some tips for finding the best SEO services for small businesses. An ideal SEO specialist should:
- Have a portfolio of work or case studies
- Be able to demonstrate the impact of their work
- Have worked on at least 2-3 different projects
- Have experience in your niche
The last point is crucial.
I highly recommend seeking experts who have worked in your niche before. They will have valuable insights from past experiences and know which strategies are effective. These experts are worth the investment, even if they are a bit more expensive, as they are more likely to help you achieve your business goals.
Have you used any of the tools mentioned in this article, or do you have other favorites?
Join my newsletter and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hello there!
My name is Victoria.
I am an SEO expert, Medium top writer, solopreneur, and the founder of Self Made Millennials. I help companies create optimized content and attract potential customers through organic search results. In addition, I share how content creators can monetize their writing skills.
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