20 Best FREE SEO Tools for On-Page Optimization

20 Best FREE SEO Tools for 

On-Page Optimization

Google’s official position on webmaster best practices really hasn’t changed much over the years. What has changed is the search engine’s ability to enforce these guidelines through improved algorithms. The implementation of Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird has had a profound impact on the SEO landscape.

Google’s Matt Cutts has remarked that no one should be surprised when a website that hasn’t followed the guidelines is penalized. What Cutts overlooks or chooses to ignore is something that I have dubbed the “Google Paradox“. I suspect the Google paradox is the root cause for one black hat forum member expressing his desire to “punch Matt Cutts in the face” (per Cutts’ Pubcon 2013 keynote).

In order to reach the top of the SERPs and stay there in 2013 and beyond, your website must deserve to be there. It needs to be the best in class. It must offer the best user experience in that niche. Fortunately, there are a number of free tools that can help you achieve that goal.

Keyword Research

Developing the right list of keywords remains a staple of SEO, even in 2013. Because the keyword selection has such a profound impact on the overall performance of a website, the keyword selection process shouldn’t rely on a single tool.

1. Wordstream

2. Keyword Eye Basic

3. YouTube Keyword Tool

4. Übersuggest

5. Anchor Text Over Optimization Tool

6. Convert Word Documents to Clean HTML

7. Copyscape

8. Xenu’s Link Sleuth

9. Robots.txt Generator

10. Robots.txt Checker

11. URI Valet

12. Title and Description Optimization Tool

13. Image SEO Tool

14. Schema Creator

15. Google Snippet Preview

16. Structured Data Testing Tool

17. XML Sitemap Generators

18. XML Sitemap Inspector

19. Pingdom Website Speed Tool

20. Fiddler

Oke that is 20 Best FREE SEO Tools for On-Page Optimization,

I never get tired of saying it – I love me a good free tool.

This article is dedicated to the best – those free SEO tools that I use frequently and give me that warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s nice to have a huge arsenal, but it can be more powerful to wield a few powerful weapons expertly, so I’ve included some links and tips on how to make these tools work harder for you.

At the end of this article, you’ll find the 2014 version of this list with notes on changes. There’s also a bonus list of links to more free SEO tools.

Without further ado, here are my current fifteen favorite freebies.

I first published my list of favorite free SEO tools in February of 2014. In just 1 year, SEO tools and priorities changed enough that I now have a very different list of tools that are essential to my job as an SEO. Certainly, we operate in a dynamic industry where it is important to update one’s toolkit.

Below is the original list. I linked to tools that didn’t make the cut this time, and I included notes on major changes.

15. GTmetrix

14. SEO-browser 

13. Wayback Machine

12. Xenu Link Sleuth 

11. Web Developer Toolbar

10. Majestic SEO

9. SEO Book SEO Toolbar 

8. SEO Quake Toolbar

7. Google Trends

6. Screaming Frog 

5. Google Keyword Planner

4. Bing Webmaster Tools

3. Moz

2. Google Webmaster Tools

1. Google Analytics