The Best SEO Tools for Small Business Owners

This is a question I get all the time from my students and clients — Rachel, what are the SEO tools for small businesses that I should be using? I figured there was a good chance you were curious too because there are a lot of options for SEO tools out there, and honestly, a lot of them are not great for small businesses.

 

You don't need a bunch of tools to work on your small business SEO, but you could benefit from having access to a few of the ones that I use every day.

 

The tools I use today are different from the ones I used at the agency because I've sought out options that are more affordable for my students and clients. Many of the tools we use in the agency world are hundreds of dollars each month, and that's generally more than a small business owner wants to spend.

 

Here are the tools I recommend for my students and clients and what they're used for. Some of them have affiliate links, which means I might make a little money if you sign up for them, since I introduced you to them.

 

How Google Sees Your Website: Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a tool that every website owner should set up. When I first started using it, it was Google Webmaster Tools, and it was designed to help you understand if Google could find, read, and index the information on your website. If your content isn't indexed, it won't be shown to anyone on Google.

 

There's a lot of information in Search Console today. The most important things to check out will be your indexation — has Google found and indexed your website pages? If Google can't crawl your site or isn't indexing pages for any reason, you will struggle to be visible. A site that's not crawled or indexed won't show up in the search results. This is the first thing you want to check. Take a look at your crawl report in Search Console and make sure your site is able to be crawled and indexed.

 

Check to make sure Google is able to read and understand your sitemap (you'll find the sitemap option in the left navigation). Your Sitemap tells Google where the pages on your website are so they can crawl it.

 

You will also find impression and click information in your Search Console account. This doesn't tell you about the keywords you're actively trying to work on for SEO but will tell you if your site is showing up in search and for what keywords. The thing to remember about impressions is that you may be showing up on a page where no one will ever find you because most people only click on results on page 1 and you could be on 2, 3, 10 or even 20 and still have it count as an impression.

 

Keyword Research: Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is an SEO tool that works well for small business owners. It allows you to do keyword research to find the keywords you want to use on your site; it gives you alternative ideas for keywords, search volume, and competition information. It also has an option to connect to your Google Analytics so you can see your traffic information in the dashboard; you can track your competitors to see how they're doing compared to you; it will tell you about some of your technical SEO issues; and you can track the keywords you're using in your SEO work on your website to see how they're doing.

 

Ubersuggest is a comprehensive SEO tool that many small business owners use. It's priced affordably and does most of the things you'd need for SEO. It also has some AI query information available if you want to upgrade, and it has some content generation tools that can help you write content when you spot an opportunity. I personally don't use the content-related tools within Ubersuggest, but some people find it helpful. You can learn more and sign up for Ubersuggest here.

 

Keyword Research: Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is my favorite quick and easy keyword research tool. It offers a Chrome browser extension that allows you to do keyword research right in your Chrome browser. I find this works really well for students because they're already familiar with searching Google, and now, with the help of Keywords Everywhere and my training to tell them what all the information means and how to choose the right keyword, it makes it easier and less intimidating to do their keyword research. Keywords Everywhere gives you the keyword search volume, the competitive information, cost-per-click (that's specific to Google Ads, not SEO), and alternative keyword ideas related to your search to help you if you need to refine your search (you won't likely choose the very first keyword you brainstorm, so that's super helpful data). It also gives you search data on Amazon and YouTube along with a few other sites.

 

If you have the Silver Plan or higher, you also get access to SEO Minion, which is a great tool to check the SEO elements on your website (or your competitor's site). With SEO Minion, you can see the title tags, meta description, links, header tags, and more on any website page. It helps you quickly review the SEO to see what's right and what needs cleaned up.

 

You can learn more about Keywords Everywhere and sign up here. This is my affiliate link.

 

AI Questions and Other Information: AnswerThePublic

Answer the Public has AI query information. If you're curious what questions you need to answer on your website to increase your chances of being included in AI-based search, then this tool is what you're looking for. You can start a search based on a keyword or topic area, and it will give you both the Google Search information and the AI questions. I use this one when outlining all of my blog posts to make sure I'm answering the questions people are asking in AI search. Right now, it includes ChatGPT and Gemini, but in time, I suspect they'll expand if the data becomes available.

 

Ubersuggest also offers this information as an upgrade. I haven't tested it out yet because I had ATP when that was released. Check into both options to see which one is better for you.

 

You can learn about and sign up for Answer the Public here.

 

Tracking Your Traffic (Including AI Search): Clicky

Clicky Analytics is the tool I recommend to my students and clients to make it easier to find the information about how your website visitors are finding your site and interacting with your content. It will show you where your traffic is coming from; it will show you which pages they're finding; and if you set up goal tracking, you'll be able to see where your leads are coming from. If you want to know which of your marketing channels are working, if you're being found on Google or in AI search, and what content your audience likes — Clicky Analytics is the easiest tool I've found. For years, I used Google Analytics, but their move to GA-4 has made it unnecessarily complicated for small business owners. Clicky makes it easy to understand what's working on your site and how people are finding your business.

 

You can learn more about Clicky Analytics and sign up here. This is my affiliate link.

 

A Note, if You're Already Using Google Analytics

Google Analytics can do all of this too, and if you're already comfortable in it, there's no need to switch. The tradeoff is complexity: AI search traffic and goal tracking are also within GA; however, it's become much harder to find the information that you need with the new version of GA. I have found that my students and clients are much more comfortable in Clicky. I used GA exclusively for 15+ years and have switched to Clicky Analytics myself.

 

How to Choose Which Small Business SEO Tools You Need

You don't need all of these on day one. A simple way to think about it:

• Just starting out? Verify your Google Search Console account and make sure Google can read your site.
• Doing SEO on your site? Use Ubersuggest or Keywords Everywhere to find the right keywords. Use Ubersuggest to track your keyword rankings.
• Want to know what's working? Use Clicky Analytics to track your website performance, find out where people are coming from, and quickly see how many leads you've generated.

 

FAQ: SEO Tools for Small Business

How do I choose an SEO tool for a small business website? Start with what you're missing right now. If you don't have anything set up yet, start with Google Search Console. Then think about what you want to work on next. If you want to do SEO on your site, start with a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest or Keywords Everywhere. If you want to have more AI visibility, use either Ubersuggest or Answer the Public to find the right questions for AI search. If you're curious what's working on your site, use Clicky Analytics.

 

Are there free tools for keyword research for small businesses? Some tools offer limited free tiers, and Google itself provides some keyword and search data for free. Free tools can work; however, they have their downfalls. Most of the paid tools that offer a free tier limit the number of searches you can do with the free tier. Google has a Keyword Tool, but it's within Google AdWords, and you have to set up an ad and add your credit card to the account, and I've had students forget to turn the ad off and spend money they didn't intend to spend on Google Ads. I find that it's worth investing a little bit of money to make the process faster. Most of the tools that I recommend are the lowest-cost option that I can find for you that will do the job.

 

Which analytics tool is easiest for beginners? Clicky is the one I recommend to my students specifically because it shows you where your traffic is coming from without having to dig for the data. You can also set up goal tracking to be able to quickly and easily see where your leads are coming from and how many you're getting each month.

 

What's the best all-in-one SEO solution for a small marketing team? There isn't one single tool that does everything well, unfortunately. I personally use Keywords Everywhere for keyword research, Ubersuggest for keyword tracking and competitive research, SEO Minion (part of Keywords Everywhere) for SEO element research/review on websites, Answer the Public for AI research (though I will be testing the Ubersuggest add-on), and Clicky Analytics for my website data reporting.

 

Want Help Putting This Together?

Knowing which tools to use is only part of the equation; using them well and turning that into a consistent SEO process is what I teach. Take the free class to see how it works, or join me inside Simple SEO Content, and I'll guide you through the full process, step-by-step, and teach you how to use the tools you'll need.

 

Final Thoughts on Small Business SEO Tools

You don't need to pay for the same type of SEO tools that agencies and big companies use. There are great small business SEO tools available that will help you without costing you hundreds of dollars a month. I paid for lifetime access to Ubersuggest a few years ago. They offer monthly or lifetime access. If you use it for a few months and like it, it's definitely worth upgrading to lifetime access. The other tools offer monthly or annual plans, and most of them include a discount if you pay in full for the year. I always do that because I know I'm going to want to continue using SEO tools for my website. I just added it up to give you an idea, and I pay about $30 a month on average for my small business SEO tool stack (without adding in Ubersuggest since I paid for lifetime access several years ago).

 

I hope this helps you better understand the SEO tools that can help you with your small business visibility.