Top SEO Tools In 2025- What To Choose And Why.

Choosing your SEO tools can make or break your strategy - here is a list of the top platforms to help you every step of the way.

Keyword research tools:

These keyword tools help you find the best keywords based on difficulty, search volume and intent.

• Google keyword planner - A free tool from Google Ads that helps you discover search volume and keyword ideas directly from the source. Great for a baseline, especially for local or PPC-focused SEO.

• Ahrefs - A powerful all-in-one SEO tool with a top-tier keyword explorer. It shows keyword difficulty, search volume, related terms, and even what your competitors are ranking for.

• SEMrush - Offers deep keyword analysis with metrics like trends, variations, and competition level. Also includes a keyword gap tool to find opportunities your competitors rank for, but you don’t. ( I personally use this.)

• Ubersuggest - An affordable tool by Neil Patel that provides keyword suggestions, traffic estimates, and basic site audits—great for beginners or small businesses.

• Answer the public - Visualizes real search questions people ask around a keyword. Great for building content around long-tail keywords and user intent.

on-page SEO tools:

Used for optimizing content, tags, structure and page level elements.

• Yoast SEO (WordPress) - This is a WordPress plugin with real time page optimization.

• surfer SEO - An advanced content editor that analyses the top-ranking pages for a keyword and provides a content score, suggested word count, and related keywords to include.

• Clearscope - This tools helps grade your content.

• Rank Math- A good SEO WordPress plugin alternative to Yoast.

Technical SEO tools:

These tools can be used to ensure your site is crawlable, fast and secure.

• Google search console - This is a must have for monitoring indexation and issues.

• Screaming frog - This is a great piece of software to use for site crawling and technical audits (my personal favourite.)

• Ahrefs site audit - Offers a visual, easy-to-understand breakdown of technical SEO issues including crawl depth, HTTPS problems, and performance warnings.

• PageSpeed insights - Googles tools for page speed and core web vitals.

• GTmetrix - detailed performance reports on page speed (This is also a favourite of mine.)

• Schema markup generator - helps to generate structured data more easily.

Off page SEO and backlink tools:

These tools can be used to find and build backlinks, see your domain authority and email campaigns.

• Ahrefs - One of the most comprehensive backlink analysis tools. See who links to your site (or competitors), track new and lost links, and evaluate link quality.

• SEMrush - Provides backlink audits, competitor link analysis, and link-building suggestions based on what’s working in your industry.

• Moz link explorer - great for checking domain authority.

• BuzzSumo - content discovery and link outreach opportunities.

• Hunter.io - this tools helps you find emails for your outreach campaigns.

Rank tracking and reporting tools:

Track your keyword rankings and monitor performance over time.

• Google search console - Offers free keyword ranking data including impressions, average positions, click-through rates, and indexed pages.

• SEMrush/Ahrefs/SERanking - All offer advanced rank tracking with daily updates, SERP features tracking, and historical data.

• Google analytics 4 - Understand how users interact with your website. Tracks page performance, bounce rates, user flow, and conversion paths.

• Looker studio (formerly data studio) - build custom SEO dashboards.

Final thoughts

The best SEO campaigns don't rely on just one tools - they use a combination to cover every area of optimization. Whether you are just staring out or running a full scale SEO for clients these tools can help you track progress, gain insights, and get results faster.