A well-implemented SEO strategy can take your site to the top of Google’s results, enabling you to generate increasingly more traffic without spending a single penny on ads.
However, this is also one of the things that new entrepreneurs get most intimidated by, especially those who lack technical skills or resources to hire professional services.
Luckily, comprehensive SEO tools help even newbies succeed.
In this post, we’ll show you a list of the best DIY SEO software and tools that you can use to improve your website’s SEO, even if you’re not tech-savvy.
What is DIY SEO software?
DIY SEO software, or Do-It-Yourself SEO software, are online tools designed to help common users manage and execute their search engine optimization strategies.
While their exact features may vary, they usually include tools for keyword planning, content optimization, website audit, backlink and competitor analysis, rank tracking, local SEO, and more.
By combining comprehensive functionalities and user-friendly interfaces, these platforms enable website owners, digital marketers, and small business owners to optimize their site ranking without requiring extensive technical expertise or expensive SEO services.
10 best DIY SEO software
#1: Semrush
One of the most popular B2B tools in the market, Semrush is an all-in-one SEO and digital marketing platform designed to help businesses and marketers improve their online visibility and competitiveness.
It provides features for all your SEO needs, including:
- Keyword Research: That includes a keyword overview with all relevant metrics and tools to rank for your rivals’ most profitable keywords, generate keyword combinations, save and manage keyword lists, and more.
- On-Page SEO: Semrush can audit your site’s pages and provide recommendations to increase their ranking, including tips on link building, content writing, SERP feature targeting, and more.
- Local SEO: That enables you to automatically distribute your business data to the most authoritative local directories and track your daily performance on a ZIP code level.
- Rank Tracking: Semrush enables you to track any keywords, domains, and competitors on Google. It also provides a sensor to detect potential changes in Google’s algorithm.
- Link Building: That includes tools for monitoring your backlink profile (as well as competitors’), discovering backlinking opportunities, and managing link outreach campaigns.
- Competitor SEO Analysis: These features help you learn and replicate your competitors’ winning strategies.
Moreover, Semrush also provides tools for content creation, market research, advertising, and social media.
Pricing
Semrush offers a free version that includes limited features, one project, and ten keywords to track.
For its paid version, there are three options:
- Pro: Starts at $108.33 per month and has all the core SEO, PPC, and market research features. It includes five projects, 500 keywords to track, and 10,000 results per report.
- Guru: Built for agencies and mid-size businesses, it starts at $208.33 per month and comes with additional features like a content marketing toolkit and multi-location and device tracking. It includes 15 projects, 1,500 keywords to track, and 30,000 results per report.
- Business: It starts at $416.66 per month and includes 40 projects, 5,000 keywords to track, and 50,000 results per report. In addition to all the Guru features, it comes with API access, PLA analytics, and free migration from third-party tools.
#2: Frase
Frase is one of the most popular SEO and content optimization tools, trusted by various user types, from solopreneurs to large agencies.
Its primary function is to make your content rank higher by showing you how to optimize different aspects of it, following a three-step process:
- Research: Frase analyzes and condenses content from the top search results of any query. It then provides key target SERP metrics like word count, domain rating, and heading count.
- Outline: From the editor, you can quickly visualize headings from high-performing pieces and include them in your outline. You can also use its AI tool to automatically generate subheading ideas or your entire outline.
- Optimize: Once you’re done writing, Frase will audit your content, compare it to competitors, and provide an optimization score. It’ll then include a list of related topics and keywords you should include and their frequency to improve the score.
Most recently, Frase also released an AI writing tool that can convert outlines into SEO-optimized drafts in seconds, allowing users to control the outputs and include aspects like high-converting copywriting formulas and FAQs.
Pricing
Frase offers three pans:
- Solo: Starts at $12.66 per month, includes one user seat, and allows you to write and optimize four monthly articles.
- Basic: Starts at $38.25 per month and includes one user seat and 30 monthly articles.
- Team: Starting at $97.75 per month, it includes three user seats ($25 per month per extra) and allows you to write and optimize unlimited articles.
Solo and Basic users can also include the Pro add-on for $35 per month, which provides additional features and unlimited AI-generated words.
Finally, Frase offers a $1 five-day trial.
#3: Surfer SEO
Surfer works quite similarly to Frase, using data and AI to help you plan, create, and, most importantly, optimize content for SEO.
Its keyword research tool gives you all the information you need to analyze keywords’ ranking difficulty and traffic potential. It also provides you with relevant topic clusters based on your primary keyword.
Through its content editor, you can view potential headings and questions from high-performing articles on SERPs and structure your content into a detailed outline.
And, as you write, it provides real-time metrics for structure, word count, and more, helping you craft pieces that align with those ranking high on search engine results.
Finally, Surfer also provides a plagiarism checker, integrates into popular tools like WordPress and Jasper, and works in almost any language.
Pricing
Surfer SEO offers a free tool to generate article outlines on its site.
To access the other features, you can try one of these plans:
- Essential: Starts at $69 per month and includes 15 monthly articles, two user seats, and unlimited keyword research.
- Advanced: Starts at $149 per month and includes 45 monthly articles and five user seats.
- Max: Starts at $249 per month and includes 90 monthly articles, ten user seats, and all the add-ons, such as advanced auditing, custom branding, and API access.
All plans include a seven-day money-back guarantee. Surfer also offers customized plans for large businesses.
#4: Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a highly trusted SEO software to help you improve your SEO.
It offers a free keyword generator and a paid DIY SEO toolkit with five key functionalities:
- Site Explorer: Enables you to get an in-depth look at key aspects of any site, including organic traffic performance, backlink profile, paid traffic performance, and website structure.
- Site Audit: Runs an SEO audit to uncover your website’s on-page and technical SEO issues to identify what’s holding it back from ranking.
- Keywords Explorer: Helps you discover and analyze keywords with data from ten search engines and 171 countries.
- Content Explorer: Enables you to discover top-performing content and find thousands of link prospects in your niche.
- Rank Tracker: It can monitor your rankings over time, chart your performance against competitors, and provide scheduled reports to your inbox.
Pricing
Ahrefs offers four plans:
- Lite: Starts at $83 per month and includes all the features you need to track your website ranking and identify strong keywords in your industry or niche.
- Standard: Starts at $166 per month. In addition to all the Lite functionalities, it provides solid competitor research features.
- Advanced: Starting at $333 per month, it comes with additional features like Site Audit and Web Explorer.
- Enterprise: For $833 per month, it offers customized features for larger businesses like API access.
#5: Moz
Moz is one of the best SEO tools, offering free and paid features to help you increase traffic, rankings, and visibility in search results.
It offers some of the best free SEO tools available to help you with keyword research, domain analysis, competitor research, and more.
The company also provides a lot of free, high-quality content on its site, including how-to guides, Q&As, and on-demand courses and certifications.
If you want to go further, you can opt for Moz Pro, its core paid SEO product. It offers great tools to help you:
- Understand your visitors: You can learn which keywords and questions they use to find you, helping you create content that matches their interests.
- Track rankings: That includes learning how you and your competitors are ranking for specific keywords over time.
- Crawl and audit your sites: It can identify technical SEO issues affecting your site’s ranking and show you how to fix them.
- Optimize your pages: Moz audits your pages’ content and recommends improvements based on other pieces ranking high for your keywords.
- Find link opportunities: It provides new link opportunities with their relevant metrics like Page Authority, Domain Authority, and Spam Score.
- Create custom reports: Moz enables you to schedule recurring reports and customize them with drag-and-drop modules and annotations, helping you save time and better visualize data.
Pricing
Moz Pro offers four pricing options with different usage limits and features:
- Standard: Starts at $79 per month and includes three campaigns, 300 keyword rankings, and 60 tracked URLs.
- Medium: Starts at $143 per month and includes ten campaigns, 1,500 keyword rankings, and 200 tracked URLs.
- Large: Starts at $239 per month and includes 25 campaigns, 3,000 keyword rankings, and 500 tracked URLs.
- Premium: Starts at $479 per month and includes 50 campaigns, 4,500 keyword rankings, and 1,000 tracked URLs.
All plans come with a 30-day trial.
#6: Jasper
Jasper is one of the most popular AI writing tools, helping you create content in various formats using different tones and styles.
While not exactly an SEO tool, you can use it to generate SEO-optimized articles.
In its simplest form, that involves adding your target keywords to the prompts so they get featured in the generated content, as well as on meta titles and descriptions.
However, it can take things further through the Surfer integration, which enables it to generate articles matching key attributes of high-performing pieces, such as subheadings and keyword choice and frequency.
That’s a powerful combination of two of the best DIY SEO software tools for content creation and optimization.
Keep in mind, though, that it requires a separate Surfer subscription.
Finally, Jasper also includes a Copyscape integration to ensure originality in the AI-generated content.
Pricing
Jasper offers two plans:
- Creator: Starts at $39 per month and includes one user seat, one brand voice, and access to all the templates and SEO mode.
- Teams: Starts at $99 per month and includes three user seats, three brand voices, and extra features like custom templates and collaboration tools for small teams.
#7: AlsoAsked
One of the greatest ways to find out what people are searching about a specific topic is through the People Also Ask section in Google.
AlsoAsked is an affordable SEO tool that helps you take this strategy further.
You can add any question, brand, or search query (or upload a CSV list of them) and get in-depth information about users’ search intent in any country or language, including zero-volume keywords. Each search returns 25 or 100 results on average, depending on your plan and settings.
It also helps you save time in the process through features like Bulk Searches and Image Exports.
This tool is known for updating data faster than others, enabling you to find new, trending queries before competitors and gain a competitive edge.
Pricing
AlsoAsked offers three monthly searches free of charge with no registration required.
For its paid version, you can choose between these options:
- Basic: Starts at $15 per month and includes 100 monthly searches, unlimited users, all languages and regions, and 24-hour search history.
- Lite: It costs $29 per month and includes 300 monthly searches, Deep search, CSV data export, and one-month search history.
- Pro: For $59 per month, it allows you to make up to 1,000 monthly searches and also includes bulk searches, API access, and one-year search history.
#8: Mangools
Mangools is a complete SEO platform known for its friendly interface. It offers five tools for search engine optimization:
- KWFinder: A keyword research SEO tool that gives you keywords with low difficulty and all their vital information (search volume, keyword difficulty, average CPC, etc.). You can also enter your competitors’ domains and identify the keywords that they’re ranking for.
- SERPChecker: A SERP analysis tool that provides you with local SERPs and helps you find your competitors’ weak spots.
- SERPWatcher: A rank tracking tool that lets you see how your website performs on SERPs in any location and device, providing daily updates and email alerts about important rank changes.
- LinkMiner: A backlink checker that enables you to mine competitors’ backlinks, as well as identify and manage backlink opportunities.
- SiteProfiler: Provides all the essential SEO metrics and insights from any website in one place.
Pricing
Mangools has four pricing plans:
- Entry: Starts at €19.90 per month and includes one user seat and tracked domain, 25 keyword and SERP lookups, 50 keyword suggestions and tracked keywords, and 15 competitor keywords.
- Basic: Starts at €29.90 per month and includes one user seat, unlimited tracked domains, 100 keyword and SERP lookups, 200 keyword suggestions and tracked keywords, and 25 competitor keywords.
- Premium: Starts at €44.90 per month and includes four user seats, 500 keyword and SERP lookups, unlimited keyword suggestions, 700 tracked keywords, and unlimited competitor keywords.
- Agency: Starts at €89.90 per month and includes six user seats, 1,200 keyword and SERP lookups, and 1,500 tracked keywords.
All plans include a 48-hour money-back guarantee.
#9: Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is an affordable DIY SEO tool created by Neil Patel, one of the most popular digital marketing gurus.
It provides a free DIY SEO software that gives you hundreds of keyword suggestions with their search volume, competition level, and other essential data.
Its paid version provides four additional tools:
- Domain Overview: It enables you to reverse engineer your competitors’ content and SEO strategies to identify those working for others in your market.
- Top SEO Pages: Helps you discover which of your competitors’ pages are ranking for popular organic keyword phrases on search engines and social media platforms.
- Content Ideas: Enables you to dive deep into the top-performing content pieces for any given keyword, helping you tailor your content efforts.
- Backlink Data: Allows you to identify the content pieces in your space that people are linking to so you can approach and ask them to link to you.
Pricing
Ubersuggest provides three pricing options. Unlike most tools, you can choose between monthly billing and lifetime access for a one-time fee.
- Individual: It costs $12 monthly or $120 one-time and includes one website, 150 searches a day, 125 tracked keywords, five competitors, and 1,000 page scans.
- Business: Costs $20 monthly or $200 one-time and includes seven websites, 300 daily searches, 150 tracked keywords, ten competitors, and 5,000 page scans per domain.
- Enterprise: For $40 per month or $400 one-time, it includes 15 websites, 900 daily searches, 300 tracked keywords, 15 competitors, and 10,000 page scans per domain.
All plans offer a seven-day free trial.
#10: SEOptimer
SEOptimer is an audit and reporting tool with an SEO toolbox that includes:
- SEO Audit: It runs over 100 SEO checks on any website and provides a prioritized recommendations list, such as improvements in on-page SEO, backlinks, site performance, and more. It also provides tips on social media elements, helping you improve performance on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
- SEO Crawler: It scans all your site’s pages for problems preventing them from ranking higher, helping you leverage inner pages with traffic potential that you may’ve left behind.
- Keyword Research: From a database with over three billion tracked keywords, it helps you identify the most promising ones and see their monthly search volume, competition level, SERP results, estimated traffic volume, and estimated CPC.
- Keyword Tracking: It helps you keep track of your SEO efforts by identifying the most relevant keywords for your site, tracking your rankings over time, and reporting changes on them. It provides data from over 70 countries, helping you tailor your efforts locally.
Finally, SEOptimer also provides over 60 free SEO tools, including keyword and meta tag generators, backlink and internal link checkers, usability and performance testers, and more.
Pricing
SEOptimer offers three plans:
- DIY SEO: Starting at $14.25 per month, it’s ideal for personal use and includes SEO tools for tracking ranking, crawling your site for problems, and recommending SEO tasks.
- White Label: It starts at $21.75 per month and includes extra features for marketers, including white label PDF reports, text and check selections in 15 languages, and multiple website crawling.
- White Label & Embedding: Ideal for agencies, this plan starts at $44.25 per month and enables users to build a custom Embed Audit Form to generate leads from their site and send them to their inbox and other systems.
When is it time to hire SEO services?
While DIY tools are usually enough for most businesses to manage their SEO campaigns, there are situations where it might make sense to go after professional expertise.
Here are some benefits an SEO agency or professional can bring:
- Strategic Expertise: SEO experts have years of experience and can tailor a strategy based on your specific goals and industry, which often goes beyond the capabilities of DIY tools. They can also rapidly troubleshoot issues and adapt to changing algorithms.
- Advanced Analytics: Professionals have access to more advanced tools and can interpret complex data. That enables them to provide specific SEO advice, uncover hidden SEO opportunities, and diagnose issues DIY users may overlook. They can also offer more detailed reporting on the ROI of your SEO investment, helping you better understand its impact on traffic, leads, and revenue.
- Technical SEO: Things like website structure, schema markup, and site speed optimization often require advanced technical knowledge, which experts can provide.
- Link Building: Acquiring authoritative and relevant backlinks often requires relationships and outreach, which takes time and some expertise. SEO professionals can do this for you, boosting your website’s credibility.
- Scalability: Professional SEO services can adapt to your business’s changing needs and growth, providing a scalable approach to SEO.
To determine whether it’s the right choice for you, consider things like:
- ROI potential: Depending on your business’ revenue, minor improvements can make up for the cost of SEO services. Likewise, your customer acquisition costs directly impact the amount it makes sense to invest in organic traffic.
- Time availability: Time is money, and having professionals take care of your SEO efforts will enable you to spend more time on other key tasks that you excel at.
- Your industry: Some industries need SEO more than others. For instance, SaaS brands typically face higher customer acquisition costs, need to educate potential customers through content, and compete with businesses that already invest heavily in SEO, making a case for them to hire those services.
Final thoughts
SEO software tools can be game-changing for any online business and have become critical in times when the competition for the top positions on SERPs is fiercer than ever.
By choosing the best DIY SEO solution and taking the time to master it, you’ll be on your way to generating more organic traffic than you ever thought possible.
And down the road, you may want to consider hiring SEO services to save time and take your strategy to the ultimate level.
Further reading:
- Unlocking Your New Superpower: The 13 Best Free AI Tools for Every User
- Learn How to Avoid AI Detectors for Better SERPs Rankings
- 7 Best AI Social Media Managers to Run Your Social Campaigns
- The Real Benefits of Using AI Writing Assistants
- 15 Best AI Writers to Maximize Your Content Strategy
- Top 12 AI Marketing Tools to 10X Your Sales & Profit