Top 10 Paid and Free Tools for SEO Auditing Your Website in 2020

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has evolved to become one of the most vital components of effective internet marketing these days. This is why many companies have resorted to the use of website SEO checkers to ensure their websites are always competitive and relevant. 

In the age of digital information, there are so many websites that compete for web traffic. Surely those who don’t understand the importance of SEO are bound to get left behind. 

To put it simply, SEO is the act of making sure your website is good enough to be found at the very first parts of search engine results. Think about the many times you did a search on Google. 

When was the last time you ever got beyond the 3rd or 4th pages? (Or even to the bottom of page one?) Usually, you find what you need within the first two search result pages, and even more likely, on the first page. So, if you want to drive more traffic to your websites, it’s important you have proper SEO protocols in place to help you rank higher on search engine results.

This is where having a website auditing tool comes in. There are all sorts of paid and free SEO checkers out there. Some of them have certain pros while others will have their caveats as well. 

If you really want to make sure you’re driving optimal traffic to your website, you might want to make use of these tools that are available. However, it can get really jarring when you’re bombarded with all sorts of options out there. This is why it’s important you find a tool (or combination of tools) that works best for you.

Things to Look for When Choosing a Website SEO Checker

At this point, there’s no contesting the importance of SEO in a website. To help you streamline the decision-making process, it’s essential you know what it is you’re looking for. Of course, there are various factors and components that go into making a website auditing tool effective. Some of these components might matter more to you than it would for others. 

At the end of the day, it really isn’t about which SEO auditing tool is best all-around. It’s about finding the one that works best to cater to your own personal website’s needs and one that you find easy to use. So, before you browse through the many options that will be listed here, you might want to take a few of these factors into consideration first. 

Budget 

Of course, you want to make sure you have an SEO auditing tool that fits within your budget. You are running a business and you might not have an unlimited amount of cash to spend on an SEO checker. Fortunately, this list will include a variety of tools that cover a range of prices from free to premium.

User Friendliness

You always want to make sure your website’s SEO auditing tool is easy to use and offers a great user experience. This is especially true when you will be performing the SEO auditing yourself and have limited knowledge. However, if you will be passing off the tool to more dedicated staff members, then this factor might not matter as much to you. 

Technical Features

Of course, one of the most important factors to consider is the technical features of an SEO auditing tool. There’s very little point in having an auditing tool that looks great but offers zero functionality. There are different points of emphasis you need to look for in terms of an auditing tool’s functionality. Here are some things it should be able to do:

• Ensure that your website is crawlable.
• Show you pages that are indexed by search engines.
• Provide a performance rating of your website’s SEO.
• Find duplicate content on your web page, etc.

Keyword Analysis

Many would dub keyword analysis as one of the must-haves for any SEO auditing tool. You should have an SEO checker that is capable of analyzing the keyword usage of your website over the long-term. Also, it would be a huge plus if your SEO auditing tool is capable of assessing your website’s keyword performance relative to those of competing websites. 

Mobile Optimization

Remember that the world is going mobile. By the minute, more and more people are consuming media and content on mobile devices. So, you have to make sure your website is also optimized for mobile viewing. Some of the more premium SEO auditing tools will offer professional assessments of how mobile-friendly your websites are. 

Top 10 SEO Audit Tools for Your Website

1. Ahrefs

The people at Ahrefs claim that their software can help you understand why your competitors are doing much better than you in terms of search engine rankings. The Ahrefs software’s features truly back up that claim. They cover practically all the essential aspects of SEO analysis, including keyword research, link building, competitor research, traffic analysis, and more.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Wide range of features
• Responsive customer service

Cons

• Expensive
• No free trial available
• No Google Analytics integration

2. DeepCrawl

Crawling a website is the process of fetching, analyzing, and indexing web pages properly to make sure their content is optimized for search engines. Based on its name, DeepCrawl specializes in doing just that. Think of it as putting your website through an MRI machine to figure out what might be wrong with it. 

Pros

• Offers Google Analytics integration
• Offers mobile and desktop analysis
• Has on-page SEO recommendations

Cons

• Features are purely limited to site crawling

3. WooRank

WooRank is one of the most well-rounded SEO auditing tools on the market. There are free and paid versions, but the paid version definitely offers the most functionality. It handles the analysis and assessment of a variety of website issues like broken links, backlinks, defective web pages, and more. It even offers real recommendations to improve site ranking and visibility.

Pros

• Impressive suite of functions and features
• Clean and immersive user interface
• Offers a free version with limited functionality

Cons

• Have to pay to really maximize its full features
• Can be rather pricey for small businesses or entrepreneurs managing multiple sites

4. SEMrush

One of the greatest things that SEMrush has going for it is the ability to track data from competitors. Of course, your website’s performance is always relative to how your competitors are doing. SEMrush has a comprehensive competitive analysis algorithm that will make sure your website is always one step ahead. 

Pros

• Comprehensive competitive analysis functionality
• Complete website auditing tool
• Intensive keyword research

Cons

• Expensive (but worth it)
• Non-friendly user interface

5. SpyFu

SpyFu is another amazing tool known for analyzing the activity and techniques of competitors online. This is an especially useful tool for digital enterprises who do digital branding, marketing, and e-commerce. This tool handles Pay-Per-Click (PPC), keyword analysis, organic search analysis, and more. 

Pros

• Well-designed interface and data presentations
• Comprehensive keyword search tools
• Has a decently functional free version

Cons

• Some users have reported a lack of accuracy in data
• Some users have reported limited customizability of data aggregation (the ability to streamline how data is displayed)

6. Majestic

Majestic is another all-around SEO auditing tool that specializes in being well-rounded and holistic in its approach. For many website owners, this may be the only tool you will ever need to audit your business’s website. With a vast array of features and user-friendly interface, it can be hard to go wrong with this one.

Pros

• Relatively user-friendly given its vast features
• Offers backlink tracking
• Offers competitor research

Cons

• Some users have reported that competing analytics engines are more powerful
• Some users have reported substandard keyword research functionality

7. Screaming Frog

If you are looking for a tool that specializes in site crawling, then there are very few that do better than Screaming Frog. It’s a desktop software that crawls your entire website to make sure there are no issues or problems pertaining to SEO. 

Pros

• Offers great site crawling features
• Has exceptional sitemap building functionality
• Highly customizable

Cons

• User interface can be very confusing for beginners
• Some users have reported server issues from high traffic

8. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is probably the only SEO tool you are ever going to need if you run a website that is rooted in WordPress. It’s a tool that can help you manage meta tags, content structure, sitemaps, and a lot more. 

Pros

• Offers effective keyword optimization
• Provides decent user experience
• Offers internal link suggestions for better SEO

Cons

• Mostly only good for WordPress-based websites
• Expensive 

9. Found’s SEO Audit Tool

Found’s SEO Audit Tool is one of the most reliable programs out there that specialize in problem-finding and troubleshooting for websites. Analyzing the SEO rating of a website is merely a matter of inputting the URL into the tool and it does the rest of the magic for you. It handles external link analysis, content analysis, technical troubleshooting, and more. 

Pros

• Very easy to use
• Very good at what it does

Cons

• Functionality is limited
• Not much customizability in terms of data aggregation

10. WebCEO

WebCEO is another go-to SEO troubleshooting and analysis tool for many digital marketers and agencies. It is a powerful platform that is often used to handle Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns. However, it also offers competitive analysis and link management services.

Pros

• Offers great all-around SEO analysis
• Provides decent customizability

Cons

• Some users have reported inaccurate technical alerts
• Some key features require additional payments

Conclusion 

There you have it. Sure, in this modern age, the abundance of choice can be both a beauty and a burden. But also, it can really be paralyzing to come to a decision when you just don’t know what it is you should be looking for. This is why it’s important to really think about what you’re prioritizing in terms of SEO functionality for your website.

While there are a lot of choices, the ones listed in this article are proven to be some of the best you’re ever going to come across. Also, if you still have trouble choosing, just go back to all of the factors that go into your decision-making process. Prioritize what you’re looking for in an SEO auditing tool and it will make the decision a lot easier.

SEO is no joke and there’s no doubt about it. It’s serious business and it’s one of the most important tools you can make use of to ensure your business stays relevant and competitive in the digital space. You always want to make sure that your website is driving in traffic. 

Without proper SEO functionality, you are essentially dooming your website to the darker and unvisited parts of the internet. Feel free to explore the options that have been listed to you here to learn more about the best possible SEO auditing tool for you.