Category Archives: SEO Tools

Search engine optimization (SEO) tools that scan and test your website, provide essential optimization guidance and assist with website optimization enhancement.

SEO Hiring Guide

A good SEO is worth every penny. Getting a website to rank on competitive keyphrases is a very difficult task which requires an ongoing effort from an experienced SEO. If your business depends on the web, ranking well for keyphrases that potential customers will use to find you is crucial to your ROI.

Everyone claims to be an SEO these days. Web design/development companies and consultants are hastily adding it to their service roster, despite having any real clue as to what SEO really is. Marketing and Brand Management agencies have done the same, adopting a technology they know little about.

That leaves the SEOs themselves… the consultants and companies fully devoted to SEO, PPC and Social Marketing. Many of which drop the ball on keyphrase targeting, monitoring and/or reporting. SEO is so much more than just marketing. It requires a fundamental understanding of the technology that powers the web.

I recently posted about how to hire an SEO that can actually rank on SEOBoise.com. Consider reading it if you have even the slightest interest in SEO, especially if you or your company is considering hiring an SEO.

The 6 rules below are designed to help thin the crowd when searching for a knowledgeable SEO.

  1. Google Them.
  2. Portfolio Availability.
  3. Under the Hood Optimization.
  4. Backlinks. Backlinks. Backlinks.
  5. Competing Clients.
  6. Who Does What.

Click here to read the complete post >

Related: Three Free Web-Based SEO Tools to Evaluate and Compare Websites (and SEOs)

Josh (the post author) is the founder of and consultant for Jtree.net; a Boise, Idaho based SEO, PPC and Social Internet Marketing consulting firm that has provided services to over 50 companies and agencies over the last 10 years.

SEO Stats for Your Site and Competitor Comparison

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) Intelligence on the Cheap

And, when I say cheap, I mean free. 😉

There is a plethora of free, web-based tools out there these days. Some quality, some not so quality. With that in mind, I thought I would focus on one particular offering which provides Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing information to site and blog owners.

Compete offers a set of both free and paid tools aimed at providing valuable Internet Marketing information to site and blog operators. It matters not if you are a SEO pro or just someone with a vested interest, Compete is easy to use and understand.

Compete is compromised of three primary areas; Site, Search and Referral Analytics.

Site Analytics

The core Compete service; focused on traffic history and competitive analytics. Plug in your competitors URLs and see how they stack up to your website.

Here’s the unique visitors graph; comparing myspace.com, twitter.com, facebook.com, delicious.com and linkedin.com:

Here’s a look at the average stay time (in minutes) – look at myspace plummet!

Compete also provides additional graphs, a list of top keywords that drive traffic to each of the sites being compared.

Search Analytics

In addition to Site Analytics, Compete offers a handy set of analytical search tools which track keywords that send you traffic, identify which sites/blogs are getting the most clicks from a keyword and compare keyword rankings against competitors. In SEO speak, these are important keywords and phrases to pay attention to in both the organic and paid realms.

Referral Analytics

Referral Analytics are just that; aimed at revealing the origins of site traffic; its location, where it’s going and compare the results to that of your competitors. In regard to SEO, the more you know about your traffic, or your competitor’s traffic for that matter, yields higher quality of optimization targeting.

The above information is related to the free SEM/SEO tools offered by Compete. The paid set both expands on functionality, features and options of the already useful free set. Visit Compete

Defined: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

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Three Free Web-Based SEO Tools to Evaluate and Compare Websites

Posted by Josh Laughtland, Founder and Consultant for Boise-based SEO and Internet Marketing Company Jtree.net

There are many different types of web-based SEO tools that will generate a quick analysis of a website/blog. These free, basic SEO tools are great for initial observations, but it is important to take note of the high potential for skewed data results. Such is the plight of automated analysis in a world of ever-evolving objectives, rules and Search Engine algorithm updates. Hiccups could even arise due to something as simple as the service not being able to connect to Google or Yahoo!.

Three Free Web-Based SEO Tools

Website Grader

One popular auto-gen website analysis tool is Website Grader. I received a score of 96 when grading Jtree.net. Although some of the information presented is relevant, other parts either contain skewed or omitted data. Overall, a good tool for approximation and benchmarking. Grade a Website

Search Engine Saturation

Compare the number of pages indexed versus that of related websites or competitors in the major search engines. Check SE Saturation

Keyphrase Ranking

Another way to benchmark your own website or blog is to simply type in what you are looking for in a search engine and compare who comes up near the top. This tool simplifies the process: Compare Keyphrase Ranks on Multiple Domains

Comparatively Speaking

The above tools can also be utilized to compare potential SEO/Internet Marketing service providers since they help determine a website’s rank compared to that of another. Which makes them a good fit for analyzing the growing crowd of Internet Marketers.