Recommendations on SEO Tools, Strategies and References
-
Hello all,
I have been doing SEO/SEM work on some sites I own for a few years but now I am in a position where I need to handle these tasks for a significant numbers of clients on a freelance basis. Obviously, this requires much more work and organization as well as some additional tools to help.
I was wondering if the experts on here could help me with the following:
-
Does anyone know of any online step-by-step guides or checklists that highlight a comprehensive SEO and digital marketing strategy? This could be helpful while trying to juggle multiple projects at once and provide a blueprint that I can follow and alter as I go.
-
What free project management tools do you recommend? I was thinking of using Wunderlist, Trello or Evernote to keep track of projects, but there may be other suggestions I am not aware of.
-
I have it in my budget to spend about $200/month worth of paid tools. Which tools are best for keyword research, backlink analysis, search rankings etc.? I am currently testing out Moz and SEM Rush, but would like a wide variety of information that helps me efficiently execute a plan but without too much white noise. What are the best paid (or free) tools to accomplish this?
-
What are the best references for Q&As and reference materials on strategies, etc. for when I need to deep dive and do some learning on the fly? Besides this website of course.
Thanks for any help!!
-
-
Thanks APFM.
This is probably more tools than I want to deal with on a regular basis right now. If you had to boil it down to two or three, which would you choose.
Also, what is "wbf"? I Googled it and got World Bodybuilding Federation!.
-
BuzzSumo, like Moz Content, can provide you with a view of the best-performing content across the web, making it possible for you to see which content and content types would be most palatable for the audience served by your vertical.
-
-
Semrush for comprehensiveness, cost, rate of development, open roadmap and responsiveness of product team ( I think I know all by name now). I also think at pace they are going they will incorporate more off functions from smaller too.
-
varvy and dareboost - comprehensive tools finding page speed issues
-
ranks.nl - valuable tool to analyze keywords, prominence and semantic usage
-
copyscape and site liner for dupe content issues
-
urlprofiler and screaming frog
-
search console for queries, keywords, serp ctr and internal linking
-
ahrefs and majestic for back links - unfortunately I can't recommend OSE anymore
-
Google sheets, Supermetrics and xpath
-
Annie Cushing checklists for audits
-
Moz forums and wbf
-
-
Thanks Ronell! As I've right now, I think I'm going to stick with Trello since I don't need a lot of team collaboration as I am the only one working on the SEO tasks. Really just needs something to keep tasks and projects organized for my own efficiency and sanity.
Moz does look like it will do everything I need. What can Buzzsumo add to my repertoire?
-
Thanks Erica. I've been testing with Moz and SEMRush and I do find Moz more pleasing to use in general. I think I'm going to stick with is. It seems like it is useful for keyword research, link building and site monitoring, so there doesn't seem to be a need to pay for another tool at this point.
-
As a freelance consultant who has been working solo for most of the last six years, I can empathize with you. I've had to test numerous tools and platforms to find the right for me.
First, keep in mind that what works for others likely won't work for you, so you'll have to do some experimenting as well.
- For project management, I've used Trello, Wrike, Basecamp, Freedcamp, Asana and a few others. For singular use, they are all fine, but as you have to share information across teams and with clients, you'll need the added capability and ease of use of platforms such as Asana and Wrike. They each have quirks, so experiment. I found Asana the most intuitive of the bunch. Also, keep in mind that a lot can be done simply through Google Docs and Google Sheets.
- If I had $200 for tools, I'd go with Moz Content or Buzzsumo ($99 each) for content ideation and Moz Pro for site analytics ($99). Admittedly, I'm biased as a Moz Associate. However, the key is having the ability to attain, access and discern information quickly and accurately, not have information on ALL THE THINGS. You could be successful with this small suite of tools, then over time add others such as Buffer and Followerwonk for social media.
RS
-
Hi!
I'll start off with a few recommendations. The first being our Beginner's Guide to SEO, which will give you a great foundational knowledge of all the things you should be thinking about. The SEO developer's checksheet is also a great resource.
I won't weigh too much on tools as I use Moz's and have bias. Fresh Web Explorer for alerts and content tracking and Followerwonk for social graphing on Twitter are some of my favorites for what I do. (Which is probably quite different than what you do.)
For project management, Trello is definitely one of the easiest ones I've found to use and a favorite. Basecamp's also pretty good for cross-company collaboration. I use GDocs all the time and Evernote for specific note-taking, usually projects or ideas.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Citation, Google Plus and SEO questions
Hi, I have a website www.gemslearninginstitute.com. We offer different after school programs for kids located in Canada. I have a very basic knowledge of SEO. I have a few questions. Just wondering if someone can please help me. We offer UCMAS Mental Math Program, Tutoring and Chess School/Coaching and runs a Chess Club. I would like to boost my google ranking and get more local traffic. 1- My citation is not consistent. Which program should I use to correct the citation and delete duplicate or inconsistent listing automatically. 2 - Should I do the citation with my company name only “GEMS Learning Institute” or Should I do like this “GEMS learning Institute – UCMAS-Tutoring-Chess”. Which one is better? 3- Right now I have two different google plus business pages. One with the name of “GEMS Learning Institute” and the second one is UCMAS. Should I have only one page as GEMS and delete the UCMAS. 4- I am not sure how to check if my site is penalized by google. 5- How can I measure things which are working on not? Can you please recommend next steps should I take after doing citation to improve the ranking? Thanks in advance and appreciate help.
Link Building | | fslpso0 -
Need help for SEO
After Penguin 5 what are the major changes in onpage that is necessary and what are the best techniques for link building?
Link Building | | Chirag7530 -
How Many SEO Clients Do You Have?
Hello Mozzers, I'm wondering how many clients or SEO customers you all oversee? Do you execute on your own? Do you collaborate on every client or is one person responsible for their own. Thanks
Link Building | | TheOceanAgency1 -
Our ranking strategy - what to add and would it work?
Hello everyone, this is actually my first time to ask here so please be kind to me. I won't consider myself an expert on SEO, I originally studied to become a writer. I've been learning SEO for the past 1 1/2 years but recently I've encountered a wall. One of our clients wanted to rank high on Google in DIFFERENT countries. So far here are what we're doing: Keyword research + integrating keywords in content Site optimization (inserting keywords on meta tags) Blog development (10+ times a month with use of keywords) Linkbuilding (Local directory submission, submission on free PR sites, making sure client is listed on their partners' pages) I've always thought developing more content would help the site rank higher. Should we build links for a specific page that has our main keyword so that it would also rank higher? Or building links for the root domain just as good? Your comments and suggestions will surely help! Thanks!
Link Building | | RMTA0 -
Geographical Relevance of Back links - Important for SEO?
If I have an AU domain, will Google give more weight to back links from other AU domains in the Australian search results, or will quality links from anywhere in the world count much the same? Intuitively, you would think that AU links would be more relevant for an AU site in the Australian SERPS and Google would therefore give these more weight, but are there any good articles/research/anecdotal accounts to show this? Thanks!
Link Building | | TracyMu0 -
Ideas needed for onsite SEO
Hi, What sort of activity 'onsite' should I be doing to increase SEO? I was thinking of a FAQ's section with 1 anchor text link in the body of the answer going back to my target page. Will the increase in content along with the anchor text inside of it help increase SERP's? I was also thinking maybe use the keyword tool to find search queries which revolve around questions with high search so for example 'How to change a tyre' answering this question in my FAQ's section and running PPC to it, then wrapping lots of sharing tools around it in the hope it generates some social signals. Anyone got any hidden onsite gems they think might help? Cheers
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
E-commerce SEO targeting Manufacturer Keywords
What are some good tips, articles, posts, etc. specifically on e-commerce sites that want to target the manufacturers they sell as keywords. For example: Footlocker.com wants to target "Nike" The products we sell are obviously much less competitive than Nike.
Link Building | | JMacSupply0 -
SEO MOZ LINK BUILDING TOOLS
So I learnt that in link building you need to send an email to someone from where you want the inbound link coming in from. In this case, are there any tools withing SEO moz that allow you toactually search for links and also provide you the contact email? Thank you, Vijay
Link Building | | vijayvasu0