Tools to help you track your SEO
There are a lot of tools out there that can help you with your SEO. You can, most likely, find a number of free tool that joined together equal the quality of the pay tools, but you will spend a lot of time doing so. Time is money, and so I recommend you open your wallet and pay a fee.
I will be writing several blog posts on the tools I use (and have used) but today I will start with my number one SEO tool, SEOmoz.
SEOmoz
I started using SEOmoz about 3 months ago. The first month is free. After that the cost is $99 per month. If you are serious about SEO and have a website of any size, SEOmoz is a great way to keep track of what is going on with your site.
By the way, in case you are wondering, no I am not getting anything for recommending SEOmoz. I am not even including a link for discounts based on referrals here. I just think it is a good tool.
SEO Tools in SEOmoz
The basic tools in SEOmoz are similar to most of the other pay (and some of the other free) sites out there. You can compare how your site is doing against other sites for certain key words. The pay comes into play in terms of actually tracking how your site is doing month by month. You can also set a report that specifically tracks certain keywords and let’s you know how things are going. I get an automatic report periodically that tells me how my SEO is doing.
The reason I choose SEOmoz over other sites is because of the completeness of the tools along with their ease of use.
Webinars
I have taken a lot of webinars on SEO. Normally they are useless to me, as they would be to anyone who has anything beyond a basic understanding of SEO. The seminars offered by SEOmoz have been universally useful. Some more than others.
For example I took a seminar on Wordress SEO that was outstanding. I could hardly write fast enough to keep up with the flow of good information. Another seminar on Video SEO really didn’t address SEO enough and focused too much on generalities. The topic was good, the speaker less so. But such is life.
The webinars are recorded and can be watched after the presentation. I generally like to watch live in case I want to ask a question of the speaker.
Boards, Questions and Answers, Blog Posts
Reviewing SEOmoz’s site provides a wealth of information. SEO experts are more than willing to share useful information on the site. Ask a question and you will most likely get an answer quite quickly.
Conclusion
SEOmoz is not the only tool out there. There are a lot of great websites that I no doubt would recommend just as easily. However, after trying three other sites, I stopped at SEOmoz because it gave me the kind of information I wanted, all in one place. If I find something better in the future, I will let you know.
The complexity of your site, the competition of your market, the importance of your SEO, and even how many sites you manage all will impact whether you want to spend $100 per month (or more) to track your SEO. Only you can decide if it is worth the cost. For me it is.