Free SEO tools: An overview of the best options

If you run a website today, then you know that visibility is everything. The position on page one of the search results is highly competitive. New websites, new content, new competitors appear every day and really all have the same goal, which is to be as high as possible on Google. But what to do when the budget is tight? If you're just starting out with your website or are a small business unable to spend hundreds of euros on SEO tools? From experience, we can say that even free SEO tools can make a difference in terms of rankings and visibility.

Basics: What are SEO tools?

An SEO tool is basically nothing more than a tool that helps you optimize your website for search engines. But the term is extremely broad: From simple keyword tools to complex all-in-one platforms, everything is included. Depending on your focus, SEO tools help you with the following tasks, among others:

• Keyword research: What terms are your users looking for?
• OnPage analysis: What technical or structural errors does your site have?
• Content optimization: How well does your text match the search queries?
• Backlink analysis: Who is linking to your site and how strong are these links?
• Track rankings: How does your visibility develop over time?

Online tools vs. software: Which tools are there anyway?

As a first step, you have the choice between:

• Online tools: These work completely in the browser, no installation required. Examples include Google Search Console, Ubersuggest and Seobility.
• Desktop software: This must be installed, but usually offers deeper technical analyses, such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
• Browser plug-ins: Small extensions such as SEO Minion or MozBar are also suitable for quick checks directly on the page.

Depending on the project phase, goal and technical knowledge, you should be as flexible as possible and ideally combine different tools. Especially for site audits or working with structured data, for example, a mix of data from an online tool and desktop software can be useful.

Free & professional optimization like the pros

What many people don't know is that even professionals regularly use free tools, because the expensive SEO software package with hundreds of features is not always needed. A streamlined, free check or quick keyword analysis is often enough to gain quick insights, e.g. on loading speed, indexing by Google or the performance of individual pages. With Google Search Console, for example, you get exact data about the visibility of your website, can identify crawling errors and improve content in a targeted manner. Or you use tools like Ubersuggest or AnswerThePublic to find relevant keywords that your content should specifically answer.

Who are free SEO tools particularly worthwhile for?

Free SEO tools are particularly valuable for:

• Individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people who operate their website themselves
• Start-ups that want to achieve as much reach as possible with scarce resources
• Bloggers and content creators who want to find and rank specific topics
• Online shop operators who want to improve their shop structure and product texts
• Agencies that carry out initial analyses and want to show customers quick results

But large companies can also benefit from free tools, for example in initial diagnostics or in use for specific sub-areas such as the analysis of Core Web Vitals or when it comes to creating an XML sitemap. But not every SEO tool has the same features.

The benefits and limitations of free SEO tools compared to premium solutions

Free SEO tools are an excellent introduction to the world of search engine optimization. They help you achieve initial success, record SEO indicators and improve your online presence. But at the latest with growing demands, more complex projects or when you want to work strategically, the differences to paid solutions become clear. In the following, we will therefore give you an overview of the strengths, weaknesses and useful areas of application, including specific tips for choosing suitable tools.

What free tools are particularly good at

Many website owners underestimate how much you can achieve with free SEO tools, especially in the early stages. They provide a solid basis for SEO checks, initial SEO analyses and targeted improvement of content and technology. Free tools are particularly strong in these areas:

• Quick on-page analyses: Tools such as Seobility, Ryte Free or SEO Site Checkup recognize typical errors in meta tags, headlines, internal links, or page speed. This makes it an important OnPage analysis tool, especially for smaller websites.
• Basic keyword data: A good keyword research tool such as Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner provides initial information on search volume, competition or suitable long-tail keywords, ideal for finding topics or content planning.
• Structured overview: Many free tools offer simple dashboards in which you can see key SEO metrics such as visibility, load time or indexing status at a glance, without any familiarization with complex software solutions.
• First site audits & improvements: You will receive specific information on potential for improvement, e.g. in link building, structured data, or faulty page elements. This makes tools such as Screaming Frog (Free Version) or GTmetrix valuable helpers in structural analysis.
• Content & snippet optimization: Generators such as the SISTRIX Snippet Generator or the Hemingway Editor help you design texts and meta data in such a way that they stand out in search results.

In the end, you can choose a targeted set of free tools for almost every SEO discipline, such as a tool for technology, one for keywords, one for content, one for monitoring. This gives you a clean overview of your website.

The best free SEO tools at a glance

Many powerful SEO tools are also available free of charge, whether for keyword research, technical analysis, content optimization or monitoring your rankings. But which is right for you? In this section, we'll give you a systematic overview of the best free SEO tools, their features, and who they're for. This allows you to specifically decide which tools you want to use for your project.

Keyword research: With these tools, you can find the right search terms

Tools: Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, AlsoAsked

Who is it for: Website operators, bloggers, content marketers, local service providers and shops who want to strategically plan topics and terms.

Keyword research is the first step in every SEO project. It decides whether you produce content that users are really looking for, or ignore their needs.

• Google Keyword Planner (free with Google Ads account)If you were only allowed to use one tool, it would have to be the Google Search Console. Why Because it comes directly from Google and gives you the most valuable data you can get, namely what Google thinks about your website, which pages were crawled and indexed, which keywords are bringing you traffic, where there are errors and how your rankings are developing. Some of the top features that Keyword Planner offers include:
  • Performance report: Clicks, impressions, average position
  • Coverage: Indexing status of your pages
  • Submit sitemaps: Submit an XML sitemap directly to Google
  • Core Web Vitals: Loading times & user experience at a glance
  • Security issues: Detect malware & co. at an early stage
  The classic keyword tool shows you in particular data such as search volume, competition level and CPC (cost per click), which is particularly helpful for structured keyword lists and also in the SEA sector. This is true even though the exact figures are often only shown for active ads accounts, as meaningful clusters can still be identified.
• Ubersuggest (freemium model, 3 searches/day for free)
• This keyword tool, which is partly free to use, offers you keyword ideas, domain visibility, content suggestions and competitor data and is particularly suitable for beginners to find keyword groups (clusters) and related search terms.
• AnswerThePublic (limited free usage per day)
• AnswerThePublic visualizes W questions and related search phrases related to your keyword. It is therefore particularly useful when it comes to generating new content ideas for blogs or FAQ areas.
• AlsoAsked (free of charge to a limited extent)
• With this tool, you can automatically generate questions as they appear in Google's “People also ask” box. In this way, you can find out which questions about your keyword are particularly relevant, which is particularly helpful for structured articles or advice.

OnPage analysis: Check and optimize the technical basis

Tools: Seobility, Screaming Frog (Free Version), Ryte Free, SEO Site Checkup

Who is it for: Anyone who wants to understand, test and specifically improve technical SEO, regardless of whether they are sole proprietors or agencies.

Technical SEO is the prerequisite for Google to be able to capture and understand your website at all, but incorrect redirects, missing meta tags, or images that are too large can cost you valuable rankings. But here too, there are free SEO tools to help you:

• Seobility (free for 1 project up to 1,000 pages)
• This tool carries out a comprehensive website check, from title tags and meta descriptions to loading times, internal linking and H1-H6 errors to duplicate content and much more. It also comes with good visual presentation and specific recommendations for action and is particularly suitable for beginners with medium-sized projects.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs)
• The technical depth scanner provides you with a tabular analysis of your entire page structure, crawl depth, canonicals, redirects, status codes, image sizes, and JavaScript errors. This is therefore an indispensable tool, especially for advanced users.
• Ryte Free
• This SEO tool is particularly suitable for smaller pages and quickly analyses loading time, structure, URLs, headlines and SEO factors. Ideal for a first overview, even mobile.
• SEO Site Checkup
• With the SEO Site Checkup, you can carry out precise checks, e.g. on structured data, sitemap, robots.txt or mobile friendliness. This is particularly helpful after specific changes in order to track individual measures and their results.

Content optimization: add value to texts and snippets

Tools: SISTRIX Snippet Generator, Hemingway Editor, SEO Content Checker (Seobility), Mangools SERP Simulator

Who is it for: Copywriters, content marketers, website editors and people interested in SEO who want to prepare content specifically for search engines and users.

Even the best text can't develop its potential if meta titles are truncated, paragraphs are too long, or keywords are missing. However, this is where free SEO tools such as:

• SISTRIX snippet generator (free)
• The SISTRIX generator shows you how your meta data (title, URL, meta description) appears in the SERPs live and without registration.
• Hemingway Editor (online tool)
• This smart tool checks your texts for readability, sentences that are too long, passive forms and complex structures. Perfect for UX optimization with the aim of making your visitors stay longer on your website.
• Seobility SEO Content Checker
• With the Content Checker, you can specifically set individual pages in terms of keyword density, structure, subheadings, readability and content strength compared to competitors.
• Mangools SERP Simulator
• This simulator is similar to the Snippet Generator, but with additional suggestions for emojis, USP icons, and structural optimizations.

Backlink analysis: Quality counts over quantity

Tools: OpenLinkProfiler, Neil Patel Backlink Checker, Ahrefs Free Tools

Who is it for: Website operators and SEO specialists who want to check their link structure and find new link options.

Backlinks are also a central ranking factor. They show Google that other websites see your content as relevant. The quality of the links, which can be checked using certain SEO tools, is particularly important.

• OpenLinkProfiler (free)
• This link checker shows you up to 200,000 backlinks to a domain and evaluates link sources according to domain influence score, link age, link text and link frequency. This is therefore a real secret tip for link building and toxic link analysis.
• Neil Patel backlink checker (integrated with Ubersuggest)
• Simple tool with quick results, ideal for beginners with a smaller website.
• Ahrefs Free Tools
• With the free account, basic backlink data (top linkers, domain rating, new/lost links) can be queried here, but severely limited. However, it is definitely helpful for initial backlink audits.

Monitoring & tracking rankings: visibility under control

Tools: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, SERPWatcher (Mangools Free), Ubersuggest Rank Tracker

Who is it for: Anyone who wants to specifically measure SEO success, compare competitors or analyze visibility processes.

SEO is not a one-time project, but a long-term process. That's why you need to regularly check whether your optimizations are having an effect. The best way to do this is with one or more of the following SEO tools:

• Google Search Console
• You can also use the free tool here, for example to know which search terms your site ranks for, how often people click, what technical problems there are and how your pages are indexed. In our opinion, it is definitely a must for every website.
• Google Analytics (GA4)
• GA4 shows you how SEO traffic behaves on the site, including time spent, bounce rate, conversions, devices, etc., and can be combined with the Search Console and Tag Manager for even more insights with just a few clicks.
• SERPwatcher (free version with limits)
• This is a simple tool to track individual keywords, including rankings, changes, visibility, and device splits. This makes it ideal for weekly checks, for example.
• Ubersuggest Rank Tracker (restricted)
• The Rank Tracker allows you to track selected keywords in their position every day, albeit limited in the free version.

More free tools for structure, security & usability

Tools: XML Site Map Generator, robots.txt Tester, SSL Labs, GTMetrix, Mobile Friendly Test, Core Web Vitals Tool

In addition to content and keywords, SEO is also about structure, loading time and security. We are therefore happy to use the following free SEO tools to assist you in this area:

• XML site map generator
• This generator creates a complete Sitemap.xml that you can submit to Google. This is important for indexing new content.
• robots.txt tester (Google Search Console)
• With this tool, you can check whether your robots.txt file is correct and that no important pages are excluded from crawling.
• SSL Labs (Qualys)
• Google prefers secure sites with HTTPS, which is why you should use tools like SSL Labs that analyze the security of your SSL encryption for you.
• GTmetrix
• GTmetrix is known for its detailed load time analysis. It shows you exactly where you can improve images, scripts, or server behavior.
• Google Mobile Friendly Test
• With this free test tool, as the name suggests, you can test the mobile-friendliness of your website.
• Core Web Vitals (PageSpeed Insights)
• Loading speed, visual stability and interactivity can be measured here — all important key figures for SEO & UX.

Where paid tools are clearly superior

As good as free tools are, they quickly reach their limits when faced with more demanding requirements. On the one hand, this often affects the number of URLs or search queries, but also the depth and quality of the data. Paid tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, SISTRIX or Screaming Frog Pro have a clear advantage here. Among other things, they also offer:

• Historical data & trends: Only the market leaders among SEO tools show you how a keyword has developed over months or how your rankings fluctuate over the long term.
• Daily monitoring & alerts: Many free tools only update data weekly or when requested manually. Premium tools, on the other hand, offer daily updates, automatic alerts, and API interfaces to integrate with your SEO reports.
• Deeper crawls & site audits: While free tools are often limited to 500 to 1,000 pages, professional versions crawl tens of thousands of URLs, including structured data, JavaScript, canonicals, hreflang, etc. This makes a real difference, especially for more complex websites.
• Advanced features for link building & content: Premium tools also help you with targeted link building even more extensively, for example by analyzing your entire backlink profiles, broken links and referrer domains and using top 10 analyses to suggest how you should structure your content. And that with specific examples, videos, outlines and benchmarks.
• API access & team features: Even if you want to export data regularly, create your own dashboards or work with an SEO team, paid tools such as Semrush, SISTRIX or Searchmetrics are your go-to tool. Here you have the option to connect multiple data sources across a common platform, which can make monitoring extremely easy, especially for larger projects.

When is it worthwhile to switch to a professional tool

In which cases are free tools no longer enough? When does it really make sense to switch to professional software? The following are specific scenarios that show you that switching to a professional SEO tool is most likely already worthwhile:

• You run an online shop with lots of products → Here you need deep crawls, automated reports, product tracking and options for analyzing individual product pages, including duplicate content.

• You work as an agency or freelancer with several clients → Then you have to regularly create professional SEO reports, document rankings, make progress measurable and, if necessary, visualize SEO key figures; this is only possible with reporting functions or APIs.

• You are active in internationalization → International domains require hreflang management, language/country tracking and competitor comparisons per market; only premium tools currently offer all of this reliably.

• You work in a team or with several stakeholders → As soon as you need to get others on board, such as customers, colleagues or developers, a central SEO tool with role distribution, comment and approval functions is often useful.

• You want to stay on page 1 (or there) → If you're already ranking well, it's time to fine-tune. Without accurate data on SERP snippets, user intent, competitor analyses and technical details, you will unfortunately very likely not remain in the top 10 in the long term.

• You want to scale or automate → As projects grow, you need API access, historical comparisons, ranking histories, videos for training and internal standards for e.g. SEO check, OnPage analysis tool and site audit.

Conclusion: Lay the foundation for your SEO strategy with free SEO tools

Free SEO tools are the perfect start to improve the visibility of your website without a big budget. Especially if you're new to the topic of search engine optimization, tools such as Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, Seobility or AnswerThePublic already enable you to create a solid technical basis, analyze keywords, optimize content and achieve initial rankings. You get immediate insight into relevant SEO indicators, identify problems with loading time, page elements such as meta tags or internal links, and can derive concrete improvements. And when it comes to the connection between content, technology and user behavior, many of these tools are already surprisingly powerful. Of course, free SEO tools also have their limits, especially if you want to scale your projects, conduct deeper analyses, or work with multiple stakeholders. However, you don't have to invest in a professional tool right away. Instead, you can use free tools to gain experience, build and learn structures, and then decide specifically which premium features really help you in the next step.

We also recommend using a smart combination of several tools and putting together your own tool landscape depending on your goal. Whether you're running a blog, optimizing a shop or advising customers on SEO, this helps you achieve the best results, because you don't use your tools in isolation, but see them as a strategic system. The combination of technical checks, keyword data, content optimization and monitoring is what really counts in the end. And if at some point you realize that you want to work even more specifically, whether with deep SEO analyses, structured data, individual SEO reports or advanced features such as API access, then switching to a professional tool is a logical next step. Until then, with the right free SEO tools, a clear focus and a well-thought-out plan, you'll lay the best foundation for sustainable success in search results.

Do you want to get the most out of your SEO tools?

Then let's get started together! On request, we will support you from selection to integration and monitoring, so that you can expect top rankings soon. Just get in touch with us now and we'll advise you on your individual situation.

FAQ: Frequently asked questions about free SEO tools

Below you'll find answers to the most common questions about free SEO tools.

How do I find the right SEO tool for my company?

Start with tools that fit your current project phase. For beginners, tools such as Seobility, Google Search Console or Ubersuggest are often enough. It's best to test different options and combine them as needed.

Can I really improve my rankings with free tools?

Absolutely. Many SEO successes can be achieved with free tools alone, especially in areas such as keyword research, on-page optimization or load time analysis. However, it is important that you use them consistently and derive measures from them.

Which tools does SEO Galaxy use internally?

We use a combination of free and paid tools. Depending on the project goal, we use Google Search Console, SISTRIX, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog and AnswerThePublic for our daily work.

How often should I carry out SEO checks using tools?

Regularly, depending on page size. As a rule of thumb, technical checks at least once a month, content analyses before each new release, and preferably weekly performance monitoring. This is the only way you can really identify problems at an early stage.