Best SEO Software And Tools For Small Businesses & Startups

What do you think of when you hear about SEO tools and software?

If you’re a small business owner who isn’t very experienced with SEO, you may think it’s some complicated or expensive technology you have to invest in to get your website ranked higher on search engine result pages (SERPs).

But the truth is, there are a good number of easy-to-use, affordable SEO tools and software available for small businesses and startups.

In this article, I’ll share my top 17 SEO software and tools to get your website showing up in search results.

Let’s dive in!

A quick overview of top SEO tools for small businesses

SEO Tool	Free Trial	Pricing	Website
Semrush	14-day free trial	$99.95 to $374.95 monthly (billed annually) $119.95 to $449.95 monthly (billed monthly)	Semrush.com
Surfer	No, but a free version is available	$49 to $199 monthly (billed annually) $59 to $239 monthly (billed monthly)	Surferseo.com
SE Ranking	14-day free trial	$18.72 to $151.20 (billed annually) $23.40 to $189 (billed monthly)	SEranking.com
Mangools	10-day free trial	$26.91 to $80.91 monthly (billed annually) $44.10 to $116.10 monthly (billed monthly)	Mangools.com
SimilarWeb		$167 monthly for small businesses (billed annually)	Similarweb.com
RankMath	No, but a free version is available	$59 to $499 per year	RankMath.com
Google Search Console	—	Free	Search.google.com/search-console/
Ahrefs	7-day free trial	$99 to $999 monthly (billed annually) $83 to $833 monthly (billed monthly)	Ahrefs.com
Moz Pro	30-day free trial	$69 to $419 monthly (billed annually) $99 to $599 monthly (billed monthly)	Moz.com
Google Analytics	—	Free	analytics.google.com
Ubersuggest	7-day free trial	Monthly pricing: $12 to $40 Lifetime pricing: $120 to $400	Ubersuggest.com
Yoast	No, but a free version is available	$99 per year	Yoast.com
Google Trends	—	Free	Trends.Google.Com
Exploding Topics	14-day free trial for $1	$39 to $249 monthly (billed annually)	ExplodingTopics.com
Google Analytics	—	Free	Analytics.Google.Com
Google Business Profile	—	Free	Google.com/business/
Google PageSpeed Insights	—	Free	pagespeed.web.dev
Google Keyword Planner	—	Free	Google Keyword Planner

Best SEO tools for small businesses

Here are my top 17 SEO tools and software for small businesses and startups.

1. Semrush — my favorite all-in-one SEO software

Why use Semrush?

I’ve been a Semrush user for years and a paying customer for the past few months. And it’s been pretty amazing.

It’s an SEO tool that offers a wide range of features, including keyword research, backlink analysis and tracking, competitor analysis, technical SEO audits, and content optimization.

But one major benefit you get with Semrush is its complete marketing suite, which includes social media management features, ad campaign analysis, social listening, and more.

With a comprehensive set of marketing tools like this, you get to save money on having to purchase different software or services that perform functions that Semrush has in its suite.

Pros

• A comprehensive tool for SEO and other parts of online marketing
• Save costs by not having to buy separate tools or services
• Get recommendations for solving issues that arise after audits
• See areas of improvement in your content with their SEO Writing Assistant tool
• Deep competitive analysis to see what your competitors are doing and how to better compete
• Get telephone customer support

Cons

• Might be expensive if you’re looking to spend less than $99.95 per month
• User interface (UI) needs to be more visually appealing

Free trial

• 14-day free trial available

Pricing

• $99.95 to $374.95 monthly (billed annually)
• $119.95 to $449.95 monthly (billed monthly)

2. Surfer

Why use Surfer?

Personally, I use Surfer to do a lot of content on-page optimization.

If you’re not too familiar with this, it simply means Surfer uses natural language processing-(NLP)-based guidelines to make sure your content meets all the necessary on-page SEO requirements, ranks higher in search results and drives organic search traffic.

Surfer also comes with plenty of other features, like an SEO audit tool to identify issues with your website, keyword research to help you find the most effective keywords for your content, competitor analysis to see what kind of content your competitors are publishing, and much more.

But the #1 use case I see most marketers and SEO professionals using Surfer for is content optimization — as that’s the major benefit you’d get from this tool.

Pros

• A simplified content optimization process using gamification
• Excellent customer support team
• A keyword research tool as an add-on
• Easy integration with Google Docs
• Google Chrome extension for SERP analysis
• Content and site audit tool

Cons

• If you have a content creation work volume, usage credit finishes pretty quickly on lower pricing plans. (But of course, you get what you pay for)
• Credits don’t roll over to the next month if you don’t finish them in the current month.

Free trial

• No, but you can get a free account.

Pricing

• $49 to $199 monthly (billed annually)
• $59 to $239 monthly (billed monthly)

3. SE Ranking

Why use SE Ranking?

SE Ranking is a great alternative to Semrush (and Ahrefs, which I’ll get to in a bit).

But it’s especially useful if you’re looking for a rank tracker — i.e. a tool that can monitor your website’s ranking in search results for keywords.

SE Ranking offers keyword research, competitor analysis, and even local SEO features to help you rank higher in local SERPs. For instance, you get a Local Rank Tracker feature that’ll help you track your rankings in different regions and countries.

And like most of the other tools here, SE Ranking has an automated website audit feature that checks for any issues on your site and provides recommendations on how to fix them.

Pros

• 4.8/5 average user rating — according to G2
• Arguably the best keyword rank tracker in the market
• A decent competitive analysis tool
• Backlink analysis and backlink monitoring tool
• Mobile app on Android Google Play and Apple iOS

Cons

• The mobile app needs to be improved
• Traffic and backlinks data accuracy could be improved

Free trial

• A 14-day free trial

Pricing

• $18.72 to $151.20 monthly (billed annually)
• $23.40 to $189 monthly (billed monthly)

4. Mangools

Why use Mangools?

Mangools provides a family of SEO tools, including KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, and SiteProfiler.

KWFinder is an effective keyword analysis/research tool that helps you find long-tail keywords with low competition — perfect for content marketing and SEO.

SERPChecker helps you keep track of SERP features like featured snippets, local packs, and more so you can optimize your content for these features.

SERPWatcher is a great tool for tracking your website’s rankings in search results, and LinkMiner and SiteProfiler both offer backlink analysis and SEO audit features, respectively.

Pros

• A family of different SEO tools all under one
• Excellent customer support team
• A keyword difficulty score to help you gauge competition levels
• Google Chrome extension for SERP analysis
• Site audit tool

Cons

• Multiple users complain that keyword and backlink data isn’t as deep as what you’d get with Semrush and Ahrefs
• Daily limit on the number of keyword searches you can do per day — which often drives up cost up

Free trial

• 10-day free trial

Pricing

• $26.91 to $80.91 monthly (billed annually)
• $44.10 to $116.10 monthly (billed monthly)

5. SimilarWeb

Why use SimilarWeb?

If you’re looking for a comprehensive marketing tool (and not just search engine optimization software) with insights about your website’s traffic, SimilarWeb is the way to go.

SimilarWeb lets you gain insights into your website’s traffic, compare yourself to your competitors and analyze trends in the industry.

You can track how your website ranks compared to other sites in your business category, the demographics, and geography of website visitors, the sources they come from, their behavior while on the site, and more.

Pros

• Get insights on traffic share per website in your industry
• Create customized dashboards for your reporting needs
• Excellent user interface (UI) and super easy to use
• High accuracy of target audience behavioral data
• A suite of market intelligence tools

Cons

• Doesn’t show much data for sites with less than 5000 visitors per month
• A bit pricey for many small businesses

Free trial

• 7-day free trial

Pricing

• $167 monthly for small businesses (billed annually)
• Bigger brands will have to request a demo

6. RankMath

Why use RankMath?

RankMath is a WordPress SEO plugin I personally use and recommend to many of my clients.

It’s an SEO solution for WordPress websites that takes care of almost all your SEO needs.

It comes with a built-in sitemap generator, automated XML Sitemap submission to Google Search Console, and a content analysis tool that helps you optimize your posts for SEO.

You also get features like keyword research, a local SEO module to help you rank higher in local SERPs, and even an in-depth on-page analysis tool that helps you optimize your website content for the best SEO results.

Pros

• Tons of educational resources like SEO guides and tutorials
• A live chat feature for customer support
• Free account available with many premium features
• Automatically generates your XML/HTML sitemaps
• Add meta titles, descriptions, and FAQ schema markups to each page

Cons

• So many tools that the UI can often be overwhelming
• Advanced schema settings only in the premium version

Free trial

• Free account available

Pricing

• $59 to $499 per year

7. Google Search Console (GSC)

Why use Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) is a must-have tool if you want to make sure your website is working well with the Google Search platform.

It’s like having a level of access to Google’s back-end and getting insights into how your website is performing in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

You can use GSC to monitor your site’s performance, crawl errors, security issues, submit sitemaps, and so on.

It also provides data on impressions and clicks from both organic and paid sources, allowing you to analyze your website’s traffic and performance over time.

Plus, you can also integrate GSC with other tools on this list like Semrush or Ahrefs, so you can monitor GSC data right from within those tools.

Pros

• An excellent 4.7/5 average user rating — according to G2
• Integrates and works well with other complementary SEO tools
• Helps to identify keyword opportunities
• Get detailed reports on website performance on Google Search
• Constant improvement in features and tools

Cons

• No real-time data reporting
• Advanced use cases require a steep learning curve

Pricing

• Free of charge

8. Ahrefs

Why use Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is another household name in the SEO world. It’s a powerful SEO tool that offers some of the most advanced keyword research and competitor analysis features you’ll need.

It doesn’t come with add-on marketing tools like Semrush, but you can use its comprehensive SEO Suite to quickly identify and fix SEO issues on your website, track keyword rankings in SERPs, do competitive analysis, and much more.

But one major strength of Ahrefs is its ability to help you find link-building opportunities with its powerful backlink analysis tools. For instance, you can use its Link Intersect tool to identify websites that link to your competitors but not you. And then you can use that information to reach out and get those websites to link back to you as well.

Pros

• Visually appealing user interface (UI)
• Easily discover link-building opportunities
• Lots of educational materials are available
• Responsive customer support
• Easy to work with

Cons

• Relatively expensive for the set of features it provides
• Ahrefs isn’t an all-in-one marketing tool

Free trial

• No free trial, but you can get a free basic account

Pricing

• $99 to $999 monthly (billed annually)
• $83 to $833 monthly (billed monthly)

9. Moz Pro

Why use Moz Pro?

With clients like Zillow, Trivago, and 99designs, Moz is another popular SEO software that’s been around for several years now.

Moz has over 43 trillion links indexed in its database, making it one of the most comprehensive link and keyword trackers out there.

It also comes with a powerful keyword research tool, a comprehensive local SEO management tool for business listings, and a bunch of free tools you can use even if you’re not a paying customer.

There’s a caveat here, though; the local SEO tool is a separate product called Moz Local, and it comes with an additional price tag.

Pros

• Powerful local SEO tools to improve local search rankings
• Domain Authority score to estimate website performance
• Comprehensive link monitoring tool to help identify issues
• Free MozBar Chrome extension view page and SERP metrics
• Search analysis tools

Cons

• Moz local comes at an extra price and operates as a separate tool
• Multiple Moz users complain it’s relatively expensive for the features it provides

Free trial

• 30-day free trial

Pricing

• $69 to $419 monthly (billed annually)
• $99 to $599 monthly (billed monthly)

10. Ubersuggest

Why use Ubersuggest?

Owned by popular digital marketer Neil Patel, Ubersuggest is an excellent keyword research tool that helps you brainstorm and find new opportunities.

The tool can also track keyword rankings, compare website performance with competitors, and discover backlink opportunities. Plus, it has a neat interface that makes it easy to use.

Pros

• Has a “similar website” finder to help you find competing sites
• Provides traffic estimates for web pages
• Relatively inexpensive and cheaper than many other SEO tools
• Competitive analysis tools available
• Easy to use especially for beginner-level SEO work

Cons

• Doesn’t show search trends
• Often shows keywords from other niches in the keyword research process

Free trial

• 7-day free trial available

Pricing

• Monthly pricing: $12 to $40
• Lifetime pricing: $120 to $400

11. Yoast

If you’re looking for an SEO plugin for a WordPress or Shopify website, Yoast is a great tool to consider. It’s an excellent alternative to Rank Math and the go-to tool for millions of WordPress users and bloggers.

It helps you optimize your pages for keywords and create an XML sitemap to make sure search engine crawlers can easily index and rank your pages.

It also comes with a redirection tool that helps you set up 301, 302, and 307 redirects, so you can easily fix broken links and improve the user experience.

Pros

• Automatically add FAQ schema markup to web pages
• Free version available
• A content analysis tool to help optimize the content
• A bulk editor to make quick changes to titles and meta descriptions
• Easy to use and doesn’t require technical knowledge to use

Cons

• Multiple users complain the free version is too limiting
• Makes unrealistic optimization suggestions sometimes

Free trial

• No, but a free version is available

Pricing

• $99 per year

12. Google Trends

Why use Google Trends?

This is a free tool from Google that helps you identify popular, trending topics and keywords.

A great way to take advantage of this tool is to catch trends early and create content around those topics. Another interesting use case is to see how well a search term has been trending historically so you can better predict future performance.

For instance, if for the past ten years, a keyword has been trending upwards, then it means that keyword will most likely be trending upwards in the future as well. And if you create content around that keyword, you can expect it to drive traffic to your website for years to come.

Pros

• Very easy to use, no technical knowledge required at all
• Compare trends between multiple search times at the same time
• View local and worldwide trends for each search term
• View related search terms and queries for each keyword
• View trends of historical trends from five years ago and beyond

Cons

• Doesn’t provide any other additional info beyond trends and related terms
• User interface (UI) is okay but hasn’t been updated for a long time

Pricing

• Free of charge

13. Exploding Topics

Why use Exploding Topics?

Owned by popular online marketing expert Brian Dean, Exploding Topics is a tool that helps you find new keywords and topics to target.

It’s somewhat similar to Google Trends, but instead of just showing you trends for the keywords that are widely popular, Exploding Topics shows you both keywords and topics that are about to become popular and those already trending.

Those new trending topics and keywords are usually low in competition, so you can quickly get ahead of the curve and start creating content around them before they become widely popular.

Pros

• Discover topics before they become too competitive
• Trends get updated every 24 hours
• Gives you related search terms
• Show trends from 15 years ago till date
• Free version available

Cons

• No filters for regional trends
• Doesn’t show an all-time trends data

Free trial

• 14-day free trial for $1

Pricing

• $39 to $249 monthly (billed annually)

14. Google Analytics

Why use Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is another tool in the suite of Google webmaster tools. It’s one of the most powerful tools out there for tracking website performance and user behavior.

The tool allows you to track your website’s page views, unique visitors, average time spent on site, and more. It also provides detailed reports on the device type and browser used by your visitors — so you can make sure your website works properly across the devices and browsers your visitors use.

Google Analytics is also great for tracking goals, like purchases, registrations, and downloads. It allows you to measure the success of your marketing campaigns by tracking the source of the traffic and analyzing the conversion rate.

Pros

• Detailed traffic reports 
• Track conversions and goals and improve them
• Absolutely free of charge
• Mobile app available on App Store and Google Play
• Integrates easily with other Google products

Cons

• So many tools that may be an overkill for small businesses
• Uses data sampling for large traffic sites, which may lead to less-accurate data

Pricing

• Free of charge

15. Google Business Profile

Why use Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is a free tool from Google that helps you manage your business’ online presence in Google search results.

It allows you to create a profile for your business that shows up in Google’s search engine results when someone searches for the business.

The profile includes information like address, phone number, hours of operation, customer reviews, company photos, and more — so potential customers can find you easily. You can also respond to reviews, create posts, and post answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Pros

• Free of charge and great
• Intuitive and easy to use
• Add a services or menu page
• Drive sales from people searching “{enter your business} near me”
• Analytics on how customers find you, calls, positive vs negative reviews, etc.

Cons

• Often takes quite a while for Google to approve updates you make
• Negative reviews can come from rivals and bots

Pricing

• Completely free of charge

16. Google PageSpeed Insights

Why use Google PageSpeed Insights?

How fast your site loads is an important factor in keeping your customers happy and satisfied.

It’s also important for ranking higher in search engine results — as Google has stated that site speed is factored into its algorithm.

Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that lets you run a detailed analysis of your website’s speed. It gives you performance metrics and recommendations on how to improve your site’s speed — such as optimizing images, minifying JavaScript and CSS code, or caching content.

Pros

• Free to use
• Detailed analysis of website speed
• Provides performance metrics and recommendations on how to improve your site’s speed
• Uses Google Lighthouse to provide more detailed results
• PageSpeed Insights API allows you to monitor page speed from any device

Cons

• Can be difficult to interpret the results
• Recommendations may not always be easy to implement

Pricing

• Free of charge

17. Google Keyword Planner

Why use Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is one of the most powerful keyword research tools available. It’s a part of Google Ads and allows you to find topics and keywords related to your business and products.

Formerly, you could use the tool independently (without the Google Ads platform) to get search volume data and make more informed decisions about your SEO strategy.

Now, it works more as a part of the process to get started with Google Ads campaigns, but you can still use it to help you research keywords and come up with ideas for content.

Pros

• Free to use
• Find relevant keywords related to your business
• Get search volume data and trends
• Helps you plan and budget for Google ads

Cons

• Doesn’t work as a standalone tool anymore
• Must have an active Google Ads account

Pricing

• Free of charge

FAQs on small business SEO software

Here are some commonly asked questions about small business SEO software.

​​Pick an SEO tool specifically for your needs

I’ve listed seventeen small business SEO tools in this article, but the best one to use will depend on your specific needs.

Do you want a comprehensive tool with insights into your website’s traffic?

Or do you just need a tool to help with topic and keyword ideas?

Are you just looking for a rank tracking tool or is it more important for you to have a tool that will help with optimizing content and on-page SEO?

When it comes down to it, the best SEO software for you will be the one that meets your specific needs. Take some time to research and compare features, pricing, and reviews before you pick one.

Once you find the right tool for your needs, you’ll be well on your way to improving your website’s SEO and search engine visibility.