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The Best Free SEO Tools I Actually Use (With Real Wins and Face-Palms)

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A quick game plan

  • What I do: small e-commerce site and a scrappy blog
  • My stack: free tools only, used weekly
  • Real stories: stuff I fixed, traffic I gained, mistakes I made

You know what? I love free. Free is friendly. But free can also be meh. I’ve tried a bunch of free SEO tools over the last three years. Some helped a ton. Some wasted my Saturday. Here’s what stayed in my toolbox, with real examples from my own sites.

Google Search Console: My daily check-in

If I could keep only one tool, this is it.

What it did for me:

  • A product page died after a URL change. The report said “Submitted URL not found (404).” The page was /shop/blue-tumbler. I fixed the slug to match the new path, ran URL Inspection, hit Request Indexing. In 48 hours, the page was back. Sales came back too. Not huge, but real: 6 orders that week from that page.
  • I also used the Performance report to spot a low CTR page. Query: “stainless steel water bottle.” Position ~11, CTR 0.6%. I rewrote the title to add “no metal taste.” Next 28 days: CTR 1.9%. Same traffic, more clicks. Small win, but it all stacks up.

What I like:

  • Clean reports. Fast answers.
  • You can see real search terms people use.

If you want to see how other sites squeeze even more juice out of their data, take a peek at Google's own Search case studies for inspiration you can swipe.

What bugs me:

  • Data lag. Two days feels long when your boss is staring at you.
  • It hides some queries with very low volume. I still want them!

If you ever get asked for slicker dashboards and shareable PDFs, my hands-on review of the best SEO reporting tool I actually use shows how I wrap GSC data into client-friendly reports.

Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator + SERP Checker: Fast ideas without a bill

I use the free version for quick checks. I’ve tested a pile of keyword platforms; this breakdown of the one I still reach for walks through the experiments.

Real example:

  • Seed: “dishwasher safe water bottle.” It showed “metal water bottle dishwasher safe” with about 1.8k volume and low KD. I built a short FAQ with that term. I added a clear H2 and a one-paragraph answer. In three weeks, that page pulled in 90 clicks just from that one phrase. Nothing crazy. But it was new traffic from a page that was quiet.

What I like:

  • Gives volume and difficulty at a glance.
  • The SERP checker shows if big sites crowd the top.

What bugs me:

  • Limits. I hit them fast on busy days.
  • No deep metrics in the free tier. Fair, but still.

I use this when I plan posts and promos.

Real example:

  • I compared “pumpkin bread” vs “banana bread.” Pumpkin pops in fall; banana is stable. I wrote a pumpkin bread post in late August. Then I linked it from my baking tools page. That post peaked in October and pulled in 2.4x more page views than my spring recipes. The chart didn’t lie.

What I like:

  • Clear season waves. Super visual.
  • Helps pick titles that match how people search.

What bugs me:

  • No exact volume.
  • Can feel vague if you don’t set region and time well.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free): My crawl buddy

Yes, it’s a desktop app. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs. That’s enough for my small site.

Real example:

  • I ran a crawl and found 46 pages with no meta description. Oops. I wrote short, unique snippets. I focused on the first sentence in each post. In Search Console, average CTR went from 1.8% to 3.4% over six weeks on those pages. Not magic. Just tidy work.
  • It also found 7 sneaky 302s from an old sale page. I changed them to 301s. My canonical signals got cleaner.

What I like:

  • Errors jump out: 404s, missing H1s, big images.
  • You see the site how a crawler sees it.

What bugs me:

  • Looks nerdy. The UI is not cute.
  • Free cap hits fast if your site is big.

PageSpeed Insights: My page speed coach

Speed helps. It’s not the only thing, but it matters.

Real example:

  • My hero image was 1.8 MB (yikes). LCP was 4.2s on mobile. I compressed the image, used WebP, and lazy-loaded below-the-fold photos. New LCP: 2.1s. Bounce rate dropped 9% on that page in GA4 the next month. People stuck around long enough to read.

What I like:

  • Tells me what to fix, step by step.
  • Field data is gold when it shows up.

What bugs me:

  • Scores swing a bit by test.
  • Some fixes need dev help. I am not a wizard.

MozBar (free): SERP reality check in my browser

I use this Chrome extension when I judge a keyword on the fly.

Real example:

  • I checked “how to clean straw lid.” The top results had low to mid DA sites mixed with a couple of big ones. That told me I had a shot. I wrote a clear guide with photos. Two months later I landed on page 1 for a long-tail version. Not the head term, but close. When I need to go beyond surface metrics, these competitor analysis tools give me a fuller picture before I commit to a topic.

What I like:

  • Quick page and domain authority hints.
  • Exposes spammy looks on links.

What bugs me:

  • Metrics are not perfect. No metric is.
  • It tempts me to judge too fast. I still read the pages.

Simple and handy.

Real example:

  • I typed “best water bottle for kids.” Surfer showed volume and related terms in the sidebar. I added “leak proof” and “BPA free” sections to my guide. That small tweak moved time on page up by 23 seconds the next month. People found the bits they wanted.

What I like:

  • Live ideas while I Google stuff.
  • Free and light.

What bugs me:

  • Volume numbers don’t always match other tools.
  • Sidebar can feel busy.

When I need meatier metrics, I lean on the best keyword analysis tool I actually use for a proper deep dive.

Yoast SEO (free): My WordPress helper

I don’t follow every little light, but it helps me not be messy.

Real example:

  • I kept getting the “sentences are too long” warning on a recipe. I cut a few into two. I added a summary at the top. The post looked cleaner. It also got a featured snippet for “quick banana bread tips.” That was fun. Might not be only Yoast, but it pushed me to write better.

What I like:

  • Easy titles, metas, and no-index toggles.
  • Readability nudges keep me honest.

What bugs me:

  • The green light chase is real. Don’t chase it.
  • Internal linking suggestions in free are slim.

To earn links beyond my own site, I’ve been nerding out on a handful of link-building tools I actually use that make cold outreach slightly less painful.

Bing Webmaster Tools: The quiet hero

Don’t sleep on Bing. People use Edge at work. Your site should show up there too.

Real example:

  • I had pages not showing on Bing. I submitted URLs and sitemaps. I also ran Site Scan and fixed a few title tag dupes. Two weeks later, Bing clicks rose from 12/week to 41/week. Still small, but those folks buy.

What I like:

  • Free site scan. Handy!
  • Query and index data, like GSC but different.

What bugs me:

  • Reports feel slower.
  • UI is a bit all over the place.

Rich Results Test + Schema Markup Validator: Schema sanity check

If you sell stuff or share recipes, this matters.

Real example:

  • My product schema was missing priceCurrency. The test flagged it. I added USD and a valid price. Within a few days, the product showed rich price data again. CTR nudged up from 2.2% to 3.0% on that SKU. Numbers are small, but that’s money.

What I like:

  • Clear pass/fail for structured data.
  • Shows previews of rich results when it can.

What bugs me:

  • It’s picky. But honestly, that’s the point.

A tiny, real workflow I repeat each week

Monday:

  • Check Search

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