Our 6 favourite SEO tools and why we love them
Search Engine Marketing (SEO) is an incredibly powerful digital marketing channel.
Today’s donors are using search at all stages of the donor journey - from discovery, to research, to purchase. Today, Search is the #1 driver of website traffic for charities. And online research has overtaken personal recommendations as the most trusted source for influencing purchase (GWI, 2021).
There’s a plethora of SEO tools your organisation can use. So how do you know which ones are right for your organisation?
We’ve pulled out a list of our in-house performance marketers’ top 6 favourites, including when they use them and why they rate them so highly.
1. Keywords everywhere
What is it?
Keywords Everywhere is a low-cost Chrome browser extension that helps you research keyword ideas and scrape keyword data from search results.
Why we love it
With this tool, you can see keyword data as you search. It’s perfect for getting a quick overview of search results and knowing which keywords you should integrate into your own list.
What we use it for
Gathering quick intel on competition levels and search volume of keywords.
Assessing what else people are searching for on that topic, and planning headings for content accordingly.
Ascertaining if a topic we’re interested in building out has average monthly search traffic.
2. Ahrefs
What is it?
AHREFs is an excellent all rounder tool that provides keyword tracking, keyword research, backlink analysis, technical SEO health checks, competitor research and a lot more.
Why we love it
It’s an easy to use, all-in-one tool!
What we use it for
Analysing, auditing and optimising websites. It gives clear insights on what is/isn’t performing.
Ongoing monitoring of a website’s performance so we can keep an eye on it on the weekly.
Carrying out broken link analysis, conducting site health reviews and spotting critical errors.
Providing insights on competitor backlinking.
3. Screaming Frog
What is it
This is an advanced website audit tool that is used across technical SEO mostly. It provides great insight into technical issues and provides extensive overviews of website information architecture (IA).
Why we love it
It’s a great tool to use when we want to get in the weeds and deep-dive into SEO audits and review the site structure of a website.
What we use it for
SEO audits.
Extracting site structure information and other data.
Pinpointing technical SEO and security issues.
Analysing the site structure and security of a website to assess if there are missing or incorrect elements, broken links, redirect chains, etc.
Assessing outbound links or to do sitemap cleanup.
4. Answer the Public
What is it
This is a search listening tool. It listens into autocomplete data from search engines and tells you the questions people are asking around any given keyword.
Why we love it
It’s a great tool for content exploration. A quick search using this tool will provide a ton of insights into what sort of questions your potential audiences are searching for online, so we can spend less time brainstorming keywords!
What we use it for
Developing PR and content strategies.
Building the search potential of a website.
Brainstorming keywords before conducting data-driven keyword research. This saves time for our team and also allows us to explore more possibilities that we may not have considered.
5. Google Keyword Planner
What is it?
Keyword Planner helps you research keywords, discover new keywords related to your business and helps you plan the top keywords you should be focusing on to optimise content to attract more search traffic.
Why we love it
Google’s keyword research tool is free through a Google Ads account. It is quickly accessible and easy to navigate.
What we use it for
Uploading bulk keyword insights, getting search insights and seeing trends over time.
Spotting upcoming trending topics that may be relevant to the industry or sector a NFP is in.
6. Also Asked
What is it?
Also Asked particularly focuses on the “People Also Ask” section within Google Search results. It uses short tail keywords and expands on what people are often asking under these.
Why we love it
It quickly allows you to see what Google thinks are the most important questions relating to this topic, and helps you to more fully understand a topic and concerns more quickly. This is a great content exploration tool, and you’ll likely get stronger content ideas after using it.
What we use it for
Quickly see what questions and concerns relate to a topic so that we can structure content to meet these needs.
Exporting keyword data helps us to prioritise which questions to feature answers for.
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Search can seem overwhelming, with a myriad of different tools, each with their own specific goals and outcomes. But more than seeing search as a series of technical steps, it’s important to use the process to get to know what your audience is looking for, develop insights and understand their needs.
That way, you can build content that meets their needs. And the more you create content that meets their needs, the more discoverable you will be.