6 Brand-New (Free) SEO Tools to Take Advantage Of

You’ve heard it said time and time again: your business needs to take SEO seriously. The problem is, you’re not sure where to start. Our search analytics tools are here to help. Whether you’re an online marketing initiate looking to use tools like Keyword Planner to take your advertisements to the next level or a digital expert seeking a few more technical SEO gizmos for their website analysis lineup, LinkGraph offers some amazing SEO tools to help you gain insight that can give you an edge over the competition.

1.  Rich snippets test

Google sometimes features content above the search results called “rich snippets.” Snippets might be anything from review blurbs, a blog post, a business listing, and all manners of information in between. These snippets are a great way to improve your site’s visibility through keyword research.

Our Rich Snippets Test is one of the quickest ways to check your URL for existing snippets peppered throughout your code base to determine which of those Google is correctly displaying to searchers. It’s an excellent auditing tool to make sure the most important bits of information on your site are being properly served up to potential customers and clients.

2.  AMP validator

Around 64% of Google searches occurred on a mobile device this year, and mobile users represented 56% of total search clicks in 2018; search engine optimization is increasingly a mobile-first game.

By setting your web pages up to be Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), you’re making sure you are prepared to provide the quick load times that mobile users crave. In fact, it’s estimated that 53% of mobile users bounce when a page takes longer than three seconds to load. This is why speedy, responsive web design is important. Not sure if a web page is properly formatted to be an AMP? The AMP Validator is a mobile-friendly test and a speedy way to get a definitive answer to determine what your page needs to be optimized for mobile use.

3.  Bulk domain authority checker

Knowing your domain authority (DA) score is a great first step in estimating your site’s ranking potential. DA is scored on a 1-100 scale and was created by Moz as a rank tracker to provide you with a snapshot view of how authoritative search engines perceive your site to be and how likely those engines are to display it on a results page. Domain authority is calculated by the quantity of high-quality inbound links your site receives. A good way to raise your site’s overall score is by conducting a successful link building campaign.

The Bulk Domain Authority Checker is the perfect way to compare large numbers of sites to see which ones you should (and shouldn’t) try to receive links from. While DA scores aren’t perfect indicators of what search engines see when they crawl websites, they’re a useful metric for beginning link building projects and part of getting a basic snapshot of your site’s overall SEO health. If you’re far enough into your keyword research to be looking at target sites for link building, this tool is going to come in very handy.

4.  Test Robots.txt

No, this isn’t a reference to any sci-fi movies, so I-Robot fans, we’re sorry to disappoint. Instead, this has more to do with crawlers, the programs search engines use to conduct a website analysis by reading your web pages and generating their respective search engine results. By optimizing your Robots.txt file, you can instruct crawlers on which pages they are and aren’t allowed to crawl. This means that your “thank you” page won’t accidentally start displaying above your homepage in the search results.

Similar to how Google’s search console offers a tool to test robots.txt changes, our Test Robots.txt research tool is a validator that determines whether or not your Robots.txt file is properly allowing (or blocking) search engine crawlers from access your site or any specific URLs. It’s a great snapshot of whether you’ve properly set up the file and if it needs any modifications to work correctly.

5.  Robots.txt Generator

Unsure of how to set up your Robots.txt file so you can properly test it? Take a step back and use our Robots.txt Generator first. It allows you to select which URLs you want to permit crawlers to,well, crawl and which of those bots are and are not allowed to do so. Don’t forget to run it through our testing tool when you’re done just to make sure you have all of your bases covered.

6.  Ping Webcrawlers

Recently added a new page to your site or made changes to the metadata on another page? The Ping Webcrawlers tool politely asks the various search engine crawlers to do their job and give your website another look over. While search engines theoretically crawl your site fairly frequently, sometimes they just need that little added push to help you show up through an organic search.

The ideal tools for the ideal site

Whether you need to set up a proper Robots.txt file or make sure your pages are AMP-worthy, LinkGraph’s suite of some of the best free SEO tools available today are the perfect starting point to get your site into tip-top condition before you even think of investing in pay-to-play search engine optimization software. Take the time to see how your website’s performing on the digital marketing front and where it needs a little extra love, then check out the impact those changes have on your site in real-time using Google Analytics.