“I've tried a lot of things but my business just doesn’t seem to be going in the right direction.”

Sounds like you?

Don’t worry, you're not alone. We receive all sorts of queries and the above statement is the gist of 90% of them. This statement is highly likely to resonate with a lot of entrepreneurs and marketers reading this. 

Can you change this? Absolutely! Read more to learn how.

See, there’s no secret to success in today’s market landscape. No magic mantras or ways one can become successful. Thanks to the amazing 21st-century technology and entrepreneurs like yourselves, the industry allows a level playing field and there are a few major aspects that require attention. 

Your brand can’t reach its true potential without implementing best practices of SEO. If you’re motivated to level up your brand and haven’t gotten around to the SEO part yet, we’re here to help you pick what’s best for your business.

After putting out a list of 7 free SEO tools, we’re here with another great list of the top 5 paid SEO tools out there. We have briefly mentioned what each tool does and ranked each tool according to our experience with them. The tools are arranged according to their prices - highest to lowest. Let’s get started!

MOZ Pro

Price: Standard - $1,428/year

A dynamic, beginner-friendly tool that is a solid SEO package for anyone who is looking for a one-stop solution for search engine optimization. The range of features is exciting but can be overwhelming at times, but the overall efficiency of this tool is tremendous and is hands-down one of the best tools in the market.

Apart from the ease of use, MOZ Pro offers link-building opportunities and helps you find the relevant keywords, and predicts your chance of ranking with them. This tool can greatly improve your SEO score and help your website(s) rank higher on various search engines.

MOZ Pro is a tad bit expensive but it also delivers what it promises to. It is the industry standard for SEO gurus and digital marketers.

*30 days free trial

SEMrush

Price: Pro - $1199.4/year

SEMrush is one of the most popular SEO tools out there. Started as a small group in 2008, For your SEO projects, SEMrush can easily be your go-to SEO tool. It lets you access a generous number of reports per day, compared to its alternatives. This tool has a smooth user experience which can be a decisive factor for someone new to SEO. SEMrush has a huge database of 120 million keywords and over 46 million domains.

SEMrush displays information in an intuitive, clutter-free way. It breaks down its vast information into graphs and data representations to make it easier for you to grasp. Domain analysis is especially easy to perform with amazing link-building functionality. It even features CRM-style features to help you with outreach.

A limitation with this tool is that it gives out data for one search engine only - Google. Although it is arguable if that counts as a limitation since over 70% of users search on Google.

*7 days free trial

Ahrefs

Price: Standard - $990/year

First launched in 2011 as a backlink tool, Ahrefs quickly took up the mantle of a well-rounded SEO suite that now gives tough competition to the likes of SEMrush and MOZ Pro. When it comes to Keyword research, this tool is the absolute best. It covers 10 search engines in its keyword research which makes it a highly competitive tool in the market.

Ahrefs stands out with its key features like Site Audit for website optimization, Site Explorer to analyze your competitors, Keywords Explorer to study what your customers are searching for, and last but certainly not least, Content Explorer to learn from your industry’s top-performing content.

Once you start using Ahrefs, you will find yourself getting a hang of the workflow in a matter of days. This is the tool for you if you have a bit of experience with SEO. Ahrefs offers a week-long trial at $7, so you can test it out and see if you like the feel of this tool.

*Trial of 7 days for $7

Majestic

Price: $499.99/year

A majestic way to take care of your backlinks, this tool is highly recommended for those who are looking for a dedicated tool for backlinks. Majestic has a vast backlink index that dates back to 2011. Impressed? There’s more! The highlight of this tool is its strong onsite analysis report and ease of usability. Majestic also offers a number of unique ranking scores derived from the analysis of its web map. These unique ranking scores are Majestic’s trademarks, a few of them are Citation Flow, Trust Flow, Topical Trust Flow, Visibility Flow and Search Flow.

If you are an intermediate or professional user who knows their way around SEO, Majestic is made for you.

*Free trial not available

Screaming Frog

Price: Standard - $206/year

Based out of the UK and in the market for over a decade now, Screaming Frog has garnered a decent reputation as an SEO tool. It is without a doubt a great tool for setting up the foundation of a web page. It can efficiently pinpoint broken links (404 errors), improper website architecture, missing meta descriptions, and more. This wonderful SEO tool also checks for links that aren’t using HTTPS along with a list of possible security issues which is a great way to keep your website more secure.

Screaming Frog relies on the assumption that its user knows the basics of SEO since a mere site scan generates great, actionable insights for the user to work on. If you don’t have any experience with SEO, you might find yourself struggling to understand the very basics.

*Free version available

Conclusion

All the tools mentioned above are powerful tools that can help level up your business. We would encourage you to try the free version before you invest in a tool. By doing that, you might find a tool that is more tailored for your business. Even though all SEO tools are meant to do the same things, each tool has its own specialty.

We asked Johan, one of our SEO experts at Keywordio this question:
“Which SEO tool would he suggest for someone reading this article?”

This is what he had to say:

“You have some great ones on the list! In my opinion, SEMrush is best for people who are new to SEO. It offers a clean UI/UX, which makes SEO a relatively simple process. On the other hand, Ahrefs is great for SEO veterans. If you’re new to SEO, pick SEMrush!”

 —Johan Lidner (Head of Lead Generation at Keywordio)

Still can’t decide which SEO tool to pick?

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