Content Trends

Content Marketing, SEO and Digital Marketing

7 Essential SEO Tools for All Content Writers

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Seo Tools Save Time and Effort

It’s no secret that the best way to increase organic traffic is through writing targeted copy using proper search engine optimization techniques. The good news is that we have several seo tools in the market today, that make content writing easy. These seo tools help us:

  • find the right keywords
  • write targeted copy
  • increase conversions by split testing our copy to see which version is most effective
  • write the right metadata and description
  • track down any content that has been plagiarized from our site

The seo tools that I’m sharing with you are indispensable to me as a content creator and will help you in any web writing: whether you are writing copy for a large corporate site; or creating content for a blog post.

#1. Google’s Keyword Tool

Google’s keyword tool is the best keyword research tool on the market and it’s free! The Google keyword tool is indispensable for helping writers in their content writing strategies. You can research the number of global and local searches for a particular keyword. Google Keyword tool also allows you to see how competitive the keyword is. Generally speaking, the rule is to go for reasonably popular keywords with lower competition.

The Google keyword tool is #1 on my list because proper seo strategies always begin with good keyword research.

#2. Google Insights

Google Insights for Search provides insights into the search terms people have been entering into the Google search engine. Google Insights is similar to Google Trends, but unlike Google Trends, Google Insights also provides a visual representation of regional interest on a country’s map. It displays top searches and rising searches that may help with keyword research. Results can be narrowed down with categories that are displayed for each search term.

Google Insights

Google Insights showing an increase in search for “content marketing” and top regional searches

#3. Inbound Writer

I have to say this is one tool that I absolutely love and should be part of any seo writer’s tool kit. Once you put in your copy, Inbound Writer will tell you how many points you score from 1 to 100 with a nifty speedometer! (I love the graphical depiction of how low my score can be at times!). Based on your topic, Inbound Writer will research the internet, researching thousands of related articles, posts and info and come up with the best terms for your document. If there’s one tool, I would recommend, it’s this one. The first 8 articles per month are free after which you need to pay.
Inbound Writer
Inbound Writer’s speedometer showing you all you need to do to write targeted copy

#4. Google Optimizer

Google Optimizer is a great site testing and optimization tool. It allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic, as you can test your site content and design. You can show several versions of a page to different visitors. Google Analytics measures the efficacy of each page version, and with a new advanced statistical engine, it determines the most effective version. If the user performs the action you want them to perform you know that you have hit upon your winning version of the page. Google Optimizer is especially great for landing pages and checking the conversion rates of one page over another. It’s very effective in determining which copy works better.

Video instructions on how to use Google Optimizer for split testing your copy

As of August 2012, Google Optimizer will be integrated with Google Analytics as Content Experiments, which brings website testing to Google Analytics. Google says that integrating Google Optimizer into Google Analytics will greatly enhance and improve your analytics capabilities. Content Experiments helps you optimize for goals you have already defined in your Google Analytics account, and can help you decide which page designs, layouts and content are most effective.

#5. Market Samurai

Market Samurai saves you a huge amount of time with market research. The workflow behind Market Samurai is that you use the filters to cull your keyword list down to a small number of keywords, and analyze those to find the keyword(s) that have the weakest competition… And then work with those keywords.
Market Samurai helps you:

  • find marketable keywords that have a low competition
  • find content in related articles
  • learn if what you plan to write has already been extensively covered elsewhere
  • link to relevant articles
  • schedule and publish content straight to your blog

Market Samurai is a paid tool but unlike other seo tools that are unaffordable, Market Samurai has a one-time payment of $149. The features that I frequently use are Rank Tracker, checking your seo competition, the content and back-link finder.

#6. All in One Seo Pack for WordPress

There are many seo related plugins for WordPress, the latest being WordPress SEO by Yoast which I’ve yet to try although currently it has a great reputation. I use All in One Seo Pack. You can write your metadata, title, keywords and description. It’s the ONLY plugin to provide SEO Integration for WP e-Commerce sites.

#7. Copyscape

Copyscape is a plagiarism checker. It checks to see if anyone has been stealing your content and is a good idea in these times when duplicate content is a big no-no and is being penalized by Google.

Which tools do you find indispensable in your content writing process? Please share in the comments below.

You May Also Like:

Google Gets Picky over Content with Panda
How to Write Quality Content that is Search Engine Friendly
10 Free Seo Tools

Comments

  1. You should try WordPress SEO by Yoast and you will most probably rewrite the article 😉

    • You know, I’ve been wanting to switch. Is there a way to switch without having to put in all the metadata from your previous posts into WordPress SEO by Yoast?

  2. Great post with a lot of excellent resources. I’ve been wanting to invest in Market Samurai but haven’t taken the plunge yet.

    I also use the Thesis framework for WordPress, which covers all of my on-site SEO needs. It’s incredibly powerful but it will change the whole look of your site. I wouldn’t recommend it to established blogs unless you’re looking for a thorough redesign.
    Matt Southern recently posted..Social Media Advice For Small Businesses From Seven ExpertsMy Profile

    • Thanks Matt. Glad you like the post. Yes, I think that Martket Samurai is planning to include a whole lot of new features and are also planning to increase their price soon.

  3. What a great idea for an article and well done roundup. Shame on you for derailing my morning. I need to look into some of these right now. Thx.

    • Thanks for liking the article. I didn’t mean to derail your morning:) but I’m sure you’ll find that all of these tools are well worth checking out and trying.

  4. Wow, great post, Gazalla, with some solid tools. I am familiar with some of them but you did a great job of summarizing key benefits for each one, so I am actually reconsidering taking a look at Google Keywords and Insights, which I have been too lazy lately to look at…
    Thanks for the post, and keep up the great work!
    Cheers,
    Frederic

    • Thanks as always for the feedback, Frederic. And for liking the post..I’m sure you’ll find (like I did) that Google Keywords and Google Insights are indispensable tools for content writing of any kind, web related.

    • That’s a great question. I know that (as my graphic for this post depicts) all of them are important. If you use all these tools and don’t do link-building, getting social shares, etc. the chances are slim that you’ll show up at the top of search results. Outbrain helps show your post to others and also reduces the bounce rate with helpful suggestions so it’s definitely an seo tool in my book. And Triberr is a great amplification platform to get the word out of your blog and increase traffic and hence rankings so is definitely another seo tool in my book. Great job – I hadn’t thought of these two as seo tools but that’s essentially what they are!

  6. Hey Gazalla

    Excellent stuff. I use all of the above, and recently became a convert to Market Samurai too. The only one I wasn’t aware of was Copyscape. Thanks for adding to the arsenal 🙂

    Fin 🙂

  7. Thanks Gazella, You’ve reminded me to check out Market Samurai again. I came across it recently but haven’t done any good research. Have you benefited in terms of SEO using it?

  9. We use most of these tools in our content creation. But no matter how good the tool, the worth of copy is ultimately determined by how well it’s written and how informative it is.

  11. Wow, great list of tools 🙂 I know one tool which includes almost all of these features you mentioned – colibritool.com. They provide keyword analysis tool (suggestions and rich statistics), backlink checker, traffic statistics, goals, conversion measurement and competition monitoring.

  12. Hi, Gazalla!I understand the importance of knowing and having these tools as a part of and SEO campaign but I wonder which of these will best fit a beginner like me. I have been doing search engine optimization for like three weeks now. I would like to know if there is something more basic that I should start with.

    • The best seo tool for beginners and advanced seo experts is the Google keyword tool. It’s the best place to begin. Start by typing in keywords that you’d like to optimize your site for and choose the keywords that have a high demand but medium to low competition. I hope that helps. All the best with your seo efforts.

  13. Excellent work Gazalla. I use Market Samurai and Google Analytics for SEO.I was not aware of Google Insight and Inbound Writer… Will try it out.Thanks for sharing.

    Cheers,
    Esther

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