Improving your search engine rankings requires effective SEO strategies . There are various methods to consider, including on-page and off-page SEO, and each comes with its own set of critical points.

In this article, we will explain the analytical and research aspects you should check for SEO and introduce handy tools that can assist you in these areas.

What are SEO Tools?

SEO tools refer to all the tools used to improve search rankings in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There are many types of SEO tools available, with a plethora of support tools that have similar functionalities. Even when you know what you want to do, it can be overwhelming to choose because there are so many similar tools, and it’s hard to know which ones are the best or recommended.

Analytical and Research Aspects to Check in SEO

Speaking broadly, SEO involves a number of important items to check, which can be generally categorized into internal and external strategies. It is crucial in SEO not to focus too heavily on one and to understand the analytical and research items that should be checked in each.

Internal Strategy Items

Internal SEO strategies involve accurately communicating the content to search engines. It’s important that the structure is user-friendly, but also that it is easily understandable by search engines.

The analytical and research items necessary for internal strategies include conducting a ‘Mobile-Friendly Test’ to check if the site is mobile-first, optimizing the directory hierarchy and breadcrumbs for crawler navigation, among others.

External Strategy Items

External strategies, as the name implies, are SEO measures related to external factors of a site. These include backlinks and citations that enhance the site’s evaluation from external sources.

Domain Research

Backlinks serve as a criterion for how much a site is valued from external sources. It’s not merely the quantity of backlinks that matters, but the quality of those links is crucial. Collecting high-quality backlinks can enhance a site’s domain power.

A site with strong domain power is considered reliable by search engines and is more likely to appear higher in search results. Therefore, it’s important in external strategies to first understand your own domain power.

Content SEO Items

Content SEO, which aims to continuously deliver high-quality content and attract traffic from search engines, emphasizes the importance of competitive research.

Search Rankings

Search rankings are the most critical factor for attracting visitors from search engines. The higher the ranking, the more traffic you can expect, so it’s essential first to know where your site stands in organic search results.

Analyzing and studying search rankings allows you to forecast site traffic and potential sales, making it a crucial metric for setting goals and directions in SEO strategies.

Competitor Site Keywords

Improving search rankings means surpassing other sites currently ranked above you. Conducting competitor research can clarify what is necessary for your site. It involves investigating which keywords competitors are ranking highly for and identifying the gaps in keywords that your site does not rank for.

Similarly, analyzing keywords that competitors have not captured can also help increase the keywords your site ranks for.

Co-occurring and Related Words, Suggestions

Co-occurring and related words, and suggestions refer to words that are searched in conjunction with the main search keywords, essentially keywords related to the information users want to know. By incorporating these terms into your content, you can create content that aligns with the users’ search intentions.

Search engines use these co-occurring words as clues to explore the content’s subject matter. Thus, incorporating these terms into your content is crucial for being recognized as a site that provides valuable content to users.

Types of SEO Tools

There are many SEO tools, but they can be categorized into the following four types based on functionality.

• Search Rank Checking Tools
• Content SEO Tools
• Keyword Selection Tools
• External Link Checking Tools

Search Rank Checking Tools are used to track the rankings of your targeted keywords daily. Although free tools might suffice for tracking a few words, as your content and keywords increase, it’s recommended to use paid tools for a comprehensive view. GRC is an affordable and user-friendly option.

Content SEO Tools (Internal Content Tools) help determine whether your content is SEO-friendly. Often referred to simply as SEO tools, they are useful for identifying areas for improvement in your HTML tags, even if the article seems well-written.

Keyword Selection Tools are used for researching related words and search volumes for specific keywords. These tools can efficiently explore multiple-word keywords, co-occurring words, and suggestions, making them far more effective than manual research. While Google Keyword Planner can provide search volumes, using other tools in conjunction with it is recommended for thorough research.

External Link Checking Tools (Backlink Investigation Tools) are used to examine the external links associated with your own or competitor’s sites. While Google Search Console can reveal your own links, Ahrefs is very powerful for examining competitors’ links.

Top 15 Recommended Tools by SEO Purpose

As discussed, SEO involves various investigative and analytical tasks. Utilizing SEO tools effectively can simplify these tasks, allowing for easier and more efficient SEO analysis and checks.

Top 3 Recommended Tools for Internal SEO Strategies

In internal strategies, primarily, checks are conducted both at the content and page level, and for the overall structure of the site.

Deep Crawl 

Deep Crawl is an SEO tool specialized in internal strategies that enables advanced site analysis. It can identify fundamental issues such as invalid links and unnecessary internal redirects within pages, and it allows for diagnosing changes and issues with current pages based on historical data.

Thus, Deep Crawl can pinpoint the causes of declines in search rankings from a technical SEO perspective. The data detected by Deep Crawl can be used to revise internal strategies, benefiting overall SEO efforts.

• Tool Name: Deep Crawl
• URL: https://www.deepcrawl.jp/
• Price: Annual fee of 360,000 yen

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

 Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a diagnostic tool that crawls websites from an entered URL and lists SEO-related information. It is indispensable for competitive analysis as it can analyze not only your own but also other companies’ websites.

By entering the URL of a homepage you want to examine, it lists all URLs, outbound links, meta information, title information, and settings of h1 tags on the site. It also supports the creation of XML sitemaps, making internal strategies easier to manage.

• Tool Name: Screaming Frog SEO Spider
• URL: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
• Price: Free or annual fee of 149 pounds (about 21,000 yen)

Website Explorer 

Website Explorer, like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, is a tool that can extract data from within a site. Although its official site has closed, the tool is still available for download from vector.

• Tool Name: Website Explorer
• Provider: Umé-chan Dō
• URL: https://www.vector.co.jp/soft/winnt/net/se247055.html
• Price: Free

Top 5 Recommended Tools for External SEO Strategies 

While SEO strategies are divided into internal and external strategies, there is no exact way to know a competitor’s external links. However, you can closely approximate this with the following tools. Keep in mind that no tool can provide perfect accuracy, so using multiple tools to complement each other is necessary to increase reliability.

For your own site, it can be asserted that Google Search Console should be the first place to look.

1.Ahrefs

2.Majestic SEO

3.Link Explorer

4.semrush

5.hanasakigani

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO tool that allows you to research backlinks and incoming keywords for a target site. While there is no way to fully grasp all the backlinks of a target site, Ahrefs can research backlinks with high accuracy, making it widely used among many companies.

It also evaluates domain power using metrics called DR (Domain Rating) and UR (URL Rating), which allows you to assess how strong a site is.

• Tool Name: Ahrefs
• Provider: Ahrefs
• URL: https://ahrefs.jp/
• Price: From $99 per month

Majestic SEO 

Majestic SEO is a tool primarily used for investigating a site’s external links.

It expresses domain power through unique metrics called TF (Trust Flow) and CF (Citation Flow). Some SEO professionals trust TF from Majestic SEO over Moz’s DA (Domain Authority) and Ahrefs’s DR (Domain Rating), underscoring its reliability.

• Tool Name: Majestic SEO
• Provider: Majestic
• URL: https://ja.majestic.com/
• Price: From $49.99 per month

Link Explorer

Link Explorer is a famous tool for investigating external links, provided within Moz Pro by Moz. It is also known as Open Site Explorer in its former name. It is available for free but has limitations on usage frequency and number of results displayed.

The tool evaluates sites using metrics such as DA (Domain Authority) and PA (Page Authority). It is particularly convenient as it allows for free research using a Chrome addon called the Moz Bar.

• Tool Name: Moz Pro
• Provider: Moz
• URL: https://moz.com/
• Price: Free / From $99 per month

SEMrush

SEMrush is a tool primarily used for competitor analysis, covering SEO, advertising analytics, and social media strategies. It can also investigate backlinks, helping to complement data that other tools might miss.

While the correct pronunciation of semrush is ‘Semrush’, it is also commonly referred to as ‘SEM Rush’.

• Tool Name: Semrush
• Provider: semrush
• URL: https://semrush.jp/
• Price: From $119.95 per month

Hanasakigani 

Hanasakigani is a free backlink checking tool provided by the Japanese SEO company Devo. It allows you to research backlinks for free, but there is a limit of displaying only up to 10 items.

• Tool Name: Hanasakigani
• Provider: Devo
• URL: https://hanasakigani.jp/
• Price: Free

Search Ranking Tracking Tools 

Manually checking search rankings is neither time-efficient nor cost-effective. Let’s look at how tools can simplify this task.

GRC 

GRC is a tool for measuring and tracking the rankings of registered keywords. It allows for bulk operations across multiple sites and search terms, and is compatible with Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It also saves historical ranking data, simplifying the management of analysis data necessary for SEO strategies.

This tool, which displays rank changes in a line graph, is visually intuitive and recommended for those who need to measure a large number of keywords.

• Tool Name: GRC
• URL: https://seopro.jp/
• Price: Free or from 495 yen per month

SEOTOOLS

SEOTOOLS is an SEO analytics tool that performs real-time SEO optimization checks and diagnostics of websites. It primarily features five functions: a keyword planner, SEO access analytics, email reporting, rank checking, and backlink checking.

SEO analysis of a specified site displays various analytical results and comments, aiding in determining future SEO strategies based on evaluations of each item.

• Tool Name: SEOTOOLS
• URL: http://www.seotools.jp/
• Price: Free

Competitor Keyword Research Tool 

Competitor keyword research can be conducted efficiently and quickly using tools.

Similarweb

Similarweb is an SEO tool specialized in competitor analysis. It provides metrics such as a competitor site’s traffic, sources of traffic, and user navigation patterns, giving insights into how a site is evaluated by search engines and users.

Using Similarweb makes marketing research simpler and more effective, helping in strategizing for the site or in preliminary research for launching new services. It is an indispensable tool for competitor analysis, so it’s highly recommended to utilize it.

• Tool Name: Similarweb
• URL: https://www.similarweb.com/ja/
• Price: Free to various premium options

SEOquake

SEOquake is a Chrome extension that allows you to check SEO metrics. This tool enables you to analyze competitor site page information, conduct SEO audits of pages, check internal and external links, and review keyword density.

Since it installs as a browser extension, it is very convenient to survey pages displayed in Google search results all at once. The ability to check information directly on the search results page without opening the tool’s page is its most attractive feature.

• Tool Name: SEOquake
• URL: https://www.seoquake.com/index.html
• Price: Free

Co-occurring and Related Terms Research Tools 

Tools for researching co-occurring and related terms are indispensable for understanding user search intent. They are highly recommended for creating quality content.

RakkoKeyword 

RakkoKeyword is a free tool for obtaining related keywords. By entering a specific search phrase, it provides a list of suggested words, which is helpful for keyword selection.

There is a limit of 20 uses per day, but it is free and easy for anyone to use. Combining RakkoKeyword with the Keyword Planner allows for easy creation of search volume lists for each keyword, making it an essential tool for content creation.

• Tool Name: RakkoKeyword
• URL: https://related-keywords.com/
• Price: Free

Sakura Sakura Lab

Sakura Sakura Lab is a high-functionality SEO tool useful for SEO and content marketing. It offers various features including rank change tracking, co-occurring and related terms research, keyword selection, and analysis of top-ranking sites.

The co-occurring term research tool, in particular, is excellent as it can retrieve related terms from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing all at once. It simplifies the analysis of keywords and sites, significantly reducing the time required for such tasks.

• Tool Name: Sakura Sakura Lab
• URL: https://www.sakurasaku-labo.jp/
• Price: Free

Tools for Investigating Copy and Duplicate Content 

In SEO, copied or duplicate content can critically lower a site’s ranking. Always ensure your content’s copy-paste rate is below 30%.

CopyContentDetector 

CopyContentDetector is a free tool that checks whether text is copied. True to its name as a detector, it can identify whether content is copied from other sites.

You can check up to 4000 characters for free at one time. For slightly longer articles, you can split the text into two or three parts to use it for free. (The paid version allows checking up to 8000 characters at once.)

It clearly shows which parts of which sites have been copied, making it extremely useful during article production.

• Tool Name: CopyContentDetector
• Provider: Web Circle
• URL: https://ccd.cloud/
• Price: Free / From 9,980 yen per month

Top 5 Essential SEO Tools Provided by Google 

These are essential SEO tools provided by Google. They are a must-use not only for SEO purposes but for anyone managing a website, even if not specifically for SEO. Most are free, but paid versions can offer further useful analytics.

1.Google Analytics

2.Google Search Console

3.Keyword Planner

4.PageSpeed Insights

5.Google Trends

*Google Tag Manager is also a very powerful tool but is excluded from this category as it does not fall directly under SEO tools.

Google Analytics (GA)

Google Analytics is a free analytics tool provided by Google. It’s essentially a must-have tool; there’s no reason not to use it. Simply obtain a Gmail account and search for ‘Google Analytics’ from Chrome. For detailed analysis, refer to the pages of certified web analysts.

• Tool Name: Google Analytics
• Provider: Google
• URL: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision/?authuser=1#/provision
• Price: Free

Google Search Console (GSC)

Google Search Console provides data like search rankings, the number of displays and clicks per query, index count, and link count. Think of it as measuring metrics before a user enters your site, whereas Google Analytics measures after.

This tool is also essential for anyone managing a website. On the internet, including Twitter, it is sometimes abbreviated as ‘Sachiko’.

• Tool Name: Google Search Console
• Provider: Google
• URL: https://search.google.com/search-console/about?hl=ja
• Price: Free

Keyword Planner (Google Ads) While primarily a tool for managing PPC (pay-per-click) ads, Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) includes the Keyword Planner, which can be extremely helpful for SEO.

How to Use Google Keyword Planner

Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is a tool for listing ads. Therefore, it is not directly related to SEO. However, one of the features available within Google Ads is the Keyword Planner.

>>How to Use Google Keyword Planner

Using the Keyword Planner, you can view monthly search volumes for various terms, which is invaluable when creating content. 

The Keyword Planner is free to use, but the free version provides search volume data in ranges (like 10,000 to 100,000). By running ads, you can obtain more precise figures like 60,500.

• Tool Name: Keyword Planner
• Provider: Google
• URL: https://ads.google.com/
• Price: Free to various paid options

PageSpeed Insights 

PageSpeed Insights evaluates the speed of a website, specifically how fast it loads. It not only scores the site but also pinpoints what issues are slowing it down and suggests how to fix them. This is especially useful for improving Core Web Vitals, making it an essential tool for SEO.

However, the content can be somewhat technical, and understanding or fixing the issues might require an engineer’s help.

• Tool Name: PageSpeed Insights
• Provider: Google
• URL: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
• Price: Free

Google Trends

Google Trends allows you to track keywords that have surged in search frequency or to view the trend over time of specific keywords. As the name suggests, it lets you follow trends, which can be particularly useful depending on your media strategy.

• Tool Name: Google Trends
• Provider: Google
• URL: https://trends.google.co.jp/trends/
• Price: Free

Top 6 Free SEO Tools 

Even though SEO can be performed without these tools, using them can expand your perspective. Here are six free SEO tools to consider.

1.Power Rank Check Tool

2.aramakijake

3.Header (h tag) Extractor

4.SEO Cheki

5.High Evaluation

6.SERPOSCOPE

Power Rank Check Tool 

The Power Rank Check Tool measures the domain power of a given URL. While domain power influences search rankings, it isn’t solely determined by the number or quality of external links. Access Japan quantifies this with its own criteria.

Typically, this tool can be used once a day, but by registering, you can use it up to three times a day.

• Tool Name: Power Rank Check Tool
• Provider: Access Japan
• URL: https://www.ispr.net/
• Price: Free

aramakijake 

aramakijake is a tool that provides estimated monthly search volumes for entered keywords. Unlike Google’s Keyword Planner, which uses data from the past year, aramakijake offers predictions using its unique method for both Google and Yahoo.

• Tool Name: aramakijake
• Provider: Devo
• URL: https://aramakijake.jp/
• Price: Free

Rakko Tools (h Tag Extraction) 

Rakko Tools offers various tools for free, among which the h Tag Extraction tool is particularly useful for analyzing competitive articles. It quickly provides titles and headers of the top 10 sites from Google search results for a given keyword, including character counts, helping you understand trends in articles related to that keyword.

• Tool Name: h Tag Extraction
• Provider: Rakko
• URL: https://rakko.tools/tools/3/
• Price: Free

SEO Cheki 

SEO Cheki is a tool that allows you to investigate various information about a given URL. It makes it easy to see where a site ranks for a searched keyword, which is helpful for quick checks.

• Tool Name: SEO Cheki
• Provider: Lopros
• URL: https://seocheki.net/
• Price: Free

High Evaluation

High Evaluation is a tool that checks the SEO score of a URL and keyword for free. It is helpful when you need to find out what might be wrong when mass-producing content articles.

• Tool Name: High Evaluation
• Provider: GMO Solution Partner
• URL: https://ko-hyo-ka.com/
• Price: Free

SERPOSCOPE

SERPOSCOPE is a free search ranking check tool. Unlike GRC, which is a low-cost but paid tool, SERPOSCOPE is completely free and allows you to register multiple sites and keywords.

It only works with Google, but from an SEO perspective, this is generally sufficient. Some users prefer SERPOSCOPE over GRC because it offers features not available in GRC.

• Tool Name: SERPOSCOPE
• Provider: serphacker.com
• URL: https://serposcope.serphacker.com/en/
• Price: Free

Top 13 Paid SEO Tools 

While there are barriers to adopting paid tools, these 13 selected tools can make your SEO efforts more efficient. Paid tools often offer unique capabilities not replaceable by other tools, and for larger sites, it is recommended to incorporate some form of paid tool.

• gryr-n
• AI Analytics
• Markeship
• Paddle SEO
• Search Write
• TACT SEO
• tami-co
• keywordmap
• Pascal
• Mieruka
• BULL
• DeepCrawl
• ANATOMY

Gryo-n 

Gryo-n SEO is a high-functionality SEO tool that allows you to monitor your own keywords while tracking competitor movements. It uniquely allows you to understand how search results have shifted before and after significant changes.

However, there is a limit to the number of keywords you can register, and the cost increases as you add more keywords.

• Tool Name: Gryo-n SEO
• Provider: Univars Gyron
• URL: https://www.gyro-n.com/seo/
• Price: From 500 yen per month

AI Analytics 

AI Analytics links data from GSC (Google Search Console) and GA (Google Analytics) to analyze how users navigate through a site and uses AI to suggest improvements.

It’s a unique tool that connects GRC and GA for analysis, and while it’s more of a site improvement tool than an SEO tool, improvements to the site often lead to better SEO, given recent trends in Google’s algorithm.

• Tool Name: AI Analytics
• Provider: Wakaru
• URL: https://wacul-ai.com/
• Price: Quote-based

Markeship 

Markeship is a tool provided by SEO company Speee that enables comprehensive management of site health checks and strategies, facilitating overall site management.

• Tool Name: Markeship
• Provider: Speee
• URL: https://markeship.jp/
• Price: Quote-based

Paddle SEO 

Paddle SEO complements GRC, GA, and rank checking tools by storing log data and allowing a comprehensive understanding of the site. While it offers many features, costs can vary depending on the site and number of keywords, potentially making it more expensive compared to other tools.

• Tool Name: Paddle SEO
• Provider: Principle
• URL: https://www.principle-c.com/lp-paddle/seo.php
• Price: From 98,000 yen per month

Search Write 

Search Write, provided by SEO company PLAN-B, includes essential features for advancing content SEO such as identifying high-potential keywords and pages, gathering competitor site information, and suggesting keywords for article creation.

• Tool Name: Search Write
• Provider: PLAN-B
• URL: https://searchwrite.jp/
• Price: From 50,000 yen per month

TACT SEO 

TACT SEO is a tool provided by Willgate, an SEO company, which excels particularly in identifying challenges in article creation and in keyword selection.

• Tool Name: TACT SEO
• Provider: Willgate
• URL: https://tact-seo.com/
• Price: From 50,000 yen per month

tami-co 

tami-co is a tool specialized in analysis and research for creating new content or rewriting existing content. It offers unique services that are characteristic of the content creation company croco.

• Tool Name: tami-co
• Provider: croco
• URL: https://tami-co.biz-samurai.com/
• Price: From 31,350 yen per month

Keywordmap 

Keywordmap is a high-functionality SEO tool capable of performing keyword and competitor research. It allows for multifaceted analysis which can save time as the scale of the site increases, making it highly effective.

• Tool Name: Keywordmap
• Provider: CINC
• URL: https://keywordmap.jp/
• Price: Quote-based

Pascal 

Pascal is a tool primarily for internal site strategies that checks and analyzes information from top-ranking sites. Understanding article trends can enhance content SEO.

• Tool Name: Pascal
• Provider: Oroppas
• URL: https://www.pascaljp.com/
• Price: From 45,000 yen per month

MIERUCA

MIERUCA is an access analysis tool that encompasses competitor site research, copy content checks, and even heatmaps. Its ability to visualize search needs makes it incredibly useful in content creation.

• Tool Name: MIERUCA
• Provider: Fabel Company
• URL: https://mieru-ca.com/
• Price: From 150,000 yen per month

BULL 

BULL is a search ranking check tool that operates in the cloud, eliminating the need to keep a computer running and making it easy to share information among several people. While it has many similar features to GRC, another ranking check tool, BULL offers more advanced features but at a higher cost depending on the number of registered keywords.

• Tool Name: BULL
• Provider: Devo
• URL: https://bullseo.jp/
• Price: From 1,150 yen per month

ANATOMY

ANATOMY is a tool enriched with internal site analysis capabilities. By utilizing technical SEO and access analysis functions, it enables internal strategies without the need to switch between multiple tools.

• Tool Name: ANATOMY
• Provider: Symmetric
• URL: https://siteanatomy.com/
• Price: From 10,000 yen per month

Recommended Rank Fluctuation Check Tools 

The following rank fluctuation check tools are all available for free and are extremely useful for monitoring changes after Google’s core updates or for specific queries.

1.Algoroo

2.Semrush Sensor

3.namaz

4.SERPmetrics

5.mozcast

6.AccuRanker

Summary 

How did you find it? Among the many SEO tools available, it is best to use the ones that suit you. Free tools can also be surprisingly effective, so there’s no necessity to use paid SEO tools. Utilizing SEO tools can help you implement SEO strategies more efficiently with less effort. There are many tools available for free, so smartly use them according to your needs to improve your site’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Author Profile

Mr. Takeshi Amano, CEO of Admano Co., Ltd.

Mr. Takeshi Amano is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Nihon University. With 12 years of experience working in the advertising agency industry, he discovered SEO and began his research during the early days of SEO. He self-taught and conducted experiments and verifications on over 100 websites. Using this expertise, he founded Admano Co., Ltd., which is currently in its 11th year of operation. Mr. Amano handles sales, SEO consulting, web analytics (holding the Google Analytics Individual Qualification certification), coding, and website development. The company has successfully managed SEO strategies for over 2000 websites to date.

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