Search Engine Optimization Tools

I was making my weekly rounds at Fabric.com the other day and ran into their search marketer extraordinaire, Mike. As usual, he found a new tool he had to show me. After weeks of new tools,  I finally asked him to compile his recommendations together into one post. Now, you can view Mike's favorite search engine optimization tools on his blog.

Here is a brief review of his list, plus some tools of my own.

• WordTracker - Before you begin to build a site, do your research. As I mentioned in my previous SEO Tips post, WordTracker provides you with the number of searches as well as competitors.
• Overture Keyword Tool - Similar to WordTracker, but free, does not provide competitive information, and only talks about a third of the marketplace.
• Netroglycerine Site Map Generator - A key step to creating a properly optimized site is to create a robust site map. Once your website is complete and posted online, Netroglycerine can help you build an outline - and identify if anything is broken. Google Sitemaps Beta is also available, but you need to be good friends with your tech guy to implement it.
• MarketLeap - Check the number of links to your site as well as your competitor's sites. Note: you can do the same thing by going to Google and typing link:http://www.yoursitehere.com. You can also check your site's search engine saturation on MarketLeap or by going to Google and typing in site:http://www.yoursitehere.com.
• Link Harvester - Another link analysis tool, but this one seems to be a bit more intelligent compared to MarketLeap. As Mike says in his post, "it will give you a good idea of exactly how many links you have (as indexed by Y! at least)."
• SERPs Position Tracking - Sick and tired of hunting for where you show up in the keyword results? I know Mike is since he is tracking hundreds of pages at this point. He hunted everywhere and found this tool to be the most accurate.
• Keyword Density Analyzer - If you're finding the page is not showing up at all or on page 5 (which is basically the same thing), your page may not have enough keyword density. SEO Tools sums it up perfectly on their site, "Keyword density needs to be balanced correctly (too low and you will not get the optimum benefit, too high and your page might get flagged for 'keyword-spamming'). "
• Double Trust - Search on Google and Yahoo! at the same time. For searchers it means finding something faster. For you it means saving time tracking down your Google and Yahoo! rank. They provide a nifty table format explanation to get you started.

What are your favorite tools. Add them in the comment section.

Last minute addition - Going through my favorite blogs and found a post in the SEW blog about Myriad search. Shows Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves search results all in one place. Shows the copy and search result position. Quite useful.

09/26/05 - I recommend checking out Aaron Wall of SEO Book.com - he has his own list of SEO and PPC tools, free and paid.

10/04/05 - I forgot one of the oldest and most hotly debated tools out there - Alexa Related Links and Traffic Rankings. Enter in your URL address and you can obtain traffic reach, rank, and page views. Do the same to compare your site to your competitors.

Comments

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