Perhaps you’ve recently heard “Let’s make sure we optimize our content” and don’t quite know what those words mean.
Whether it’s a supervisor or a client giving you this direction, they must have been told somewhere down the line that optimizations are important if they want to be visible and easily found in online searches.
Yes, they’re correct, but the only way it’s going to work is if the person doing the optimizing is familiar with current SEO best practices and content evaluation programs. These rules also change regularly, so even if you had the know-how a few years ago, it might be time to refresh your skills.
But luckily, with more businesses wanting to rank higher in search listings and create content that’s appealing to crawlers and users alike, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of available tools.
These tools can “clean” your blog posts and other pages on your site, even noting how your words are arranged and displayed. Are they spelled right? Spaced out? Are keywords appropriately arranged? Will your efforts satisfy the intended audience?
Some options for quick optimization and content evaluation programs include:
1. Google Search Console
Instead of guessing what Google wants (or remembering what Google used to want), try this useful add-on. This app makes sure your ready-to-publish content is composed correctly. Preliminary crawl info can tell you what your page or pages will look like when they’re indexed, including any errors.
Rather than requiring trial and error/bug hunting, Google Search will flag items that aren’t right, and then ask you to fix them and then re-submit the URLs. You can also sign up for alerts even after a page is published, plus get access to short how-to videos.
2. Keyword Tool Dominator
If you’re searching for the right combination of keywords to help your site appear higher in rankings, this site can help. It provides real-time combinations of keywords from a variety of popular sites, which you can then use to create different types of pages.
The tool also makes use of long-tail keywords, which can help uncover more specific terms people use when they’re closer to purchasing. There’s a free version and a paid version. The main difference is that the free version only allows two daily searches.
3. Ahrefs
This keyword plug-in provides tools to examine every aspect of your site, a client’s site, or even a competitor’s site. It finds appropriate keywords based on the topics users are already searching for elsewhere, as well as current and historical rankings of your pages.
You can also examine backlinks that a competitor is using, giving you something to consider as you design your pages. There’s a free version that performs site audits, and a paid version with more tools.
4. Screaming Frog
This tool offers a variety of resources that can go over your site to notice any errors before they’re noticed by the public. Users can access a pool of experts, along with spider crawling software. The features can help with projections as well as offer reviews of profiles. Screaming Frog can also offer a helping hand to repair pages penalized by current or past versions of Google.
5. Grammarly
Your content is supposed to be king, but make sure it’s your king. This program focuses on the structure of the words themselves, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, and originality. Your word processor can do these basics, but the Grammarly tool chest is bigger and offers more options, like scanning common sites to see if any keywords match. It’s available in free and paid versions.
6. Clearscope
Wondering what to write? Type in a few keywords and you’ll receive a summary of other sites that also use these terms in the proper context. This tool can serve as a useful way to take care of additional research material and references.
When you enter a topic and run a report, the tool also generates dozens of keywords and related terms that show up in content that covers your targeted topic. Higher membership levels allow more searching, and lower or free membership levels may require paying for searches. Training videos share how to use the features.
7. Moz
Moz is designed to be an all-in-one content optimization program. You can research keywords, monitor backlinks, and examine potential errors on your pages. If your pages are already live, it can provide an analysis of how they’re performing and compare them to your competition.
Moz is designed for all experience levels, from people who know the ropes to those just starting who may need more guidance. The company sponsors MozCon, its marketing conference, to help users improve their use of the tool.
8. SEOTesting
When combined with Google Search Console, this tool can help you increase organic traffic through experimentation and testing. Instead of guessing what works best, this tool delivers comparison reports of organic traffic before and after a change. It also lets you keep a running log of changes you made, so you know what you did that increased (or decreased) traffic.
The tool can provide big-picture data as well as activity for each URL. It is considered a little more complex and also requires advanced knowledge of Google Search Console.
9. Semrush
This all-in-one service includes a whole toolbox for improving your overall search rankings. Users get access to national and local keywords, audit information, and tips on improving their pages.
They also can see what their competitors are doing and generate reports on any range of activity. Another perk is the tools to further expand your reach, including recommendations for best practices for social media and pay-per-click campaigns.
10. Answer the Public
The objective of this site is to present visitors with questions people are currently asking about just about any topic. This gives guidance when trying to design keywords or pages that attract attention.
The site is free, which is also appealing to companies looking for ways to keep costs low. The data comes from Google, based on current questions, and shares a base of user information without having to directly acquire this from surveys or interviews.
There are plenty of content evaluation programs to help optimize content, and consistent content management is key. Once you find the tools that work best for you, it’s important to use them regularly. WriterAccess has several time-saving tools built right into the platform that can make content optimization and creation even easier. Explore them now with a free trial.
