13 April 2009 No Comment
When my consulting gig was in full swing, this was the topic I was asked most about; SEO software. I find it especially intersting when this question is posed by the owner of an agency. Scary indeed.
Everyone wants a quick and easy way of doing things these days. And who can blame them? In a world where you can find your friend’s location via their iPhone while talking to your wife and ordering a pizza on the same device, coming up against something that doesn’t offer an immediate gratification is something of an oddity. Add to that the prevelance of the use of the words “SEO software,” it’s no wonder people are put off when I say “there isn’t any.”
So, maybe I should clear this up a bit, and offer something of a solution for those looking for the real SEO software.
My common “no” response is to the most literal question. There isn’t an effective software that you can set, forget then rank. There’s no magic application to build quality content or links to your site. And you will be hard pressed to find an executable to convince Digg users to promote your submission.
No, sir. When we say “SEO software,” we are talking about applications that make quick work of the common tasks we need to complete in order to gain insight to a page and it’s elements, which will in turn help us to decide on our SEO tactics moving forward.
Effective SEO Software Resources
I’ll be happy to point you in the direction of a few of the more common tools of the trade. Please note that I don’t necessarily put the SEO Factor Seal of Approval on any one of these, but have used them in the past. I’m saying they are effective, but I’m not saying they are 100% accurate.
Instead of writing reviews on any of these, I’ll point you to other lists of tools from sources that I can at least say I trust. There are a ton of reviews out there, so I would suggest that before you put too much faith in any of them, do a few searches yourself and see what others have to say.
http://tools.seobook.com/
http://www.seomoz.org/dp/the-internet-marketing-handbook
I would also like to point you to a “tool professional.” If you need software to complete some SEO task, Ann Smarty probably has a solution. Even further, she has probably tested a solution and several other options and written a review herself. You should really be reading her posts at Search Engine Journal.