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SpyFu ("Google Spy")
SpyFu
is the best market intelligence service we've found. Discover who's bidding on your keywords
and how much they're paying. While a subscription service, SpyFu does have a three-day package
for those on a tight budget. A real asset in the competitive PPC market.
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Google Insights for Search
Google's Insights for Search
is a good place to start your keyword research, providing high-level data on related content,
seasonality and geographic distribution for the phrases you specify. Particularly if you're
product or service has a global audience, it's worth looking at the data just to see where
potential demand (and customers) might be located. Nice clean interface and well worth a look.
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Google Trends
Google Trends
lets you compare worldwide search trends. You can enter up to five topics and see how often they've
been searched on Google over time. URL analysis also added in May 2008 (for high-volume
sites only).
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TouchGraph Google Browser
A novel "take" on market intelligence software,
TouchGraph
converts your keywords or URL into a graphical map of the others players in your space. Requires
Java 1.5 or higher.
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Search Relationship Chart
Clay's
Search Engine Relationship Chart
is a neat little tool that shows you which search engines supply natural and paid search results
to others.
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Google's Keyword Tool
With its huge share of the PPC market, Google's
Keyword Tool
should be the starting point for all your keyword research. The tool is easy to use, and
has been continually improved over the past eighteen months.
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Google Suggest Labs
Google Suggest Labs
offers real-time keyword suggestions based on the words you type. A useful starting point in
keyword research.
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Google's Traffic Estimator
Google's
Traffic Estimator
allows you to get quick traffic estimates for keywords without an AdWords account.
Always treat these estimates as "advisory".
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Adsense Sandbox
One useful way of discovering what Google makes of your site's content, is to see what Adsense
ads it would choose to run on your site (if you were part of the Adsense network). The
Adsense Sandbox does just that,
showing you up to twenty relevant ads for the page (URL) you supply. Quick, reliable and - occasionally -
something of an eye-opener.
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AdWords Wrapper
The
AdWords Wrapper
from Mike's Marketing Tools is a free labour-saving page that lets you instantly create Broad, Phrase, Exact
and/or Negative variants of your keywords.
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Typo Generator
A simple tool for generating common miss-spellings of your keywords.
Typo Generator
has a range of options, including all common miss-key errors.
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Ad Preview Tool
The
Ad Preview Tool
is essential for checking the position of your ads, particularly if you're using location targeting. The tool
is simple to use, allowing you to select the Google domain, country, region and city for your keywords.
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What Is My IP Address?
If you're using AdWords location targeting for your ads, it's handy to know your IP address.
What Is My IP Address
shows your current IP address, server location, etc. Since ISPs like BT Broadband use
dynamic address allocation, reverse IP lookup (used by Google to determine a surfer's location),
may not be sufficiently accurate. You should take this into account when defining custom targeting areas.
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CTR Validity Checker
If you're new to ad testing, the
CTR Validity Checker
will indicate if you have enough data to eliminate one of your ad variants.
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Local Business Centre
Google's
Local Business Centre
allows you to create a listing for your business locations. Even if your business doesn't have a
shop front, we recommend creating a local business listing. It will give you better visibility in Google's
natural search results, and works with location targeting in AdWords.
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Google Product Search
While it's more difficult to judge the real value of
Google Product Search,
it can be a useful retail channel if you have a portfolio of products to sell (rather than a
single service).
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Google Alerts
Google Alerts
is a simple and effective way of monitoring where your keywords are appearing on the Internet, and for
tracking references to your business or brand. Use phrase rather than broad match keywords to keep the
volume of alerts manageable.
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Google Website Optimiser
An increasingly powerful tool that is worth considering when you build or update your site, Google's
Website Optimiser
lets you test different variants of your home and landing pages. Having languished a little as part of
AdWords, Website Optimiser is now a free-standing service with some real momentum and resources behind it.
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Google Webmaster Tools
While you can simply
submit your site's URL
to Google, we recommend creating a
Webmaster
account. This will let you to see when Google crawls your site and spot potential problems. The
interface is adequate rather than good, but it has improved over the past year.
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Google Banned Tool
A quick way of ensuring your site hasn't been
banned
by Google.
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Wordtracker
UK-based
Wordtracker
have been in business for over eleven years, and their service is still the most complete
keyword research tool for natural (not paid) search. Wordtracker is a subscription service,
but you can buy a single month for under £30.
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WordNet
WordNet
is a lexical database of the English language developed by Princeton University. A useful resource
for finding keyword alternatives. These (latent terms) are essential to achieving a high
position in Google's natural search results.
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Xenu's Link Sleuth
Nothing is guaranteed to lose you business faster than broken links on your site. Google and all the
major search engines will also mark your site down if they find broken links (and they will).
Xenu's Link Sleuth
is one of the best software downloads we've found, analysing even large sites in a matter of moments and
providing a report with a sitemap, loads times, etc. It's free, but we've not found anything that does the
job more reliably.
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XML Sitemaps
Sitemaps remain as important as ever to good SEO, and
XML Sitemaps
is quite simply the best service we've found. After checking your site, the service
generates XML, HTML, ROR and Text sitemaps ready for uploading to your site. Far easier
to use than Google's own XML utility.
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sitemaps.org
The name says it all, everything you ever wanted to know about
sitemaps. Only for the
"techies" among you - the rest are better off using XML Sitemaps (above).
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Lynx Viewer
Don't be fooled by the basic appearance of the website,
Lynx Viewer
is a absolute "must" for letting you see how the pages of your site will appear to search engines.
A version is available to download from the author.
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Server Header Checker
Prevention is better than cure, they say, and
Server Header Checker
is a quick and easy way to ensure the HTML headers returned by pages on your website (when it's
crawled, for example) are correct - important as these are not normally visible to you.
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Browser Cam
If you need a convenient way of checking the appearance of your site on all the popular
browsers,
Browser Cam
offers an excellent service. Browser Cam also allows you to review different versions
of the same browser, for example, under Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta and Internet Explorer 6.0.
A 24-hour free trial is available.
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StomperNet Scrutinizer
We're cautious about recommending tools from StomperNet, they tend to be rather over-hyped
and targeted at affiliate "fodder". However their
Scrutinizer
is a useful little tool that allows you to visualise your site using a simulated foveal view. Within your
field of vision, the foveal view is that part of the page you can actually read (as opposed to peripheral
vision, which is the larger part you can see or perceive).
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Search Engine Rankings
Another quality free tool from Mike's Marketing,
Search Engine Ranking
allows you to quickly find your site's ranking for a given phrase in all the major search engines.
The reporting is particularly helpful, preserving all the checks you've made during the session.
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Google Rank Checker
Here's a quick, simple tool to check your site's
ranking
on Google. You need to be careful with rank checking services, as poorly-designed ones can impose a
disproportionate load on search engines and could get you into trouble. Search Engine Genie's tool is well
designed and search engine friendly.
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Domain Backlinks Checker
Not the greatest piece of user interface design, but Webmasters
Domain Backlinks Checker
still provides an accurate count of inbound links to your site organised into domain classes.
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Site Analysis Tool
We've tested more site analysis services than any other type of tool. Overall, the best and most up-to-date
is provided by
SEO Workers.
It's keyword analysis is more accurate than the usual (misleading) density checks, and its meta tag
compliance reflects current search engine practice.
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Xinu Returns
Xinu Returns
offers a comprehensive check of your site's PageRank, backlinks, indexed pages, etc. all on a single
page. The best layout of any we've seen and well worth a look.
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iWebTools
iWebTools
provides a wide range of useful Internet tools, from domain name lookup to HTML optimisation.
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Yahoo Site Explorer
Yahoo's
Site Explorer
lets you submit your site and review all the pages indexed by Yahoo. Well presented and easy to use.
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Open Directory Project (DMOZ)
Billed as the "largest human-edited directory on the web",
DMOZ
is still a valuable listing for any site. Choose the directory for your listing with care, and be prepared
to wait several months for your entry to be reviewed and approved.
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Alexa
Once your website is listed on DMOZ, it's worth adding the URL to
Alexa.
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Myriad Search
Myriad Search is an
ad-free meta search tool covering Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves. Nicely presented and easy to
use.
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PDF Online
More and more sites now include brochures and white papers as PDFs.
PDF Online
have a suite of software to help you convert Microsoft Word, Excel and other formats to PDF.
They also have a free service for ad hoc documents.
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FavIcon Generator
FavIcon Generator
is a handy tool for creating a favicon.ico file for your site. This icon appears alongside the
title in the Favorites window of your visitor's browser when they add your site, giving it that extra
professional polish.
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Inside AdWords
Inside AdWords
is Google's official blog on the subject. While the style is a little "corporate", it is
the definitive source for information on new AdWords features.
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Google AdWords Help
AdWords Help
is Google's official group for answering questions on any aspect of AdWords. We're not great fans of
Google Groups, but it's a well run forum and often quicker than emailing AdWords support.
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Google Analytics Blog
Google Analytics Blog
is dedicated to all things analytics. Again, not the most fluent style, but worth keeping an
eye on for updates and announcements.
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Google Analytics Experts
What
Google Analytics Experts
don't know about Analytics probably (really) isn't worth knowing. Solved many a problem for us...
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Website Optimiser Blog
Google's official Website Optimiser Blog
is well written, with some active and interested contributors. Well worth the time if you're interested
in learning about this increasingly powerful tool.
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SearchEngineWatch
SearchEngineWatch
is a well-established site with an active membership. Some excellent "101" sections covering all things
search and PPC, but the best part of the site is its forums. You need to be a member to post, but
there's a great deal of high quality advice available for free once you do.
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Search Engine Land
Probably the best source for new stories from the world of search marketing.
Search Engine Land
covers all the major search engines (not just Google), and has a useful set of articles on SEO and
search marketing. Forums and free web seminars are also available on sister sites linked directly
from this one.
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PPC Blog
A well-written blog with some great insights, the
PPC Blog
is definitely worth a look. We recommend subscribing via e-mail or RSS and picking the articles
that interest you.
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eCommerce Optimization
One of the best resources on the Internet,
eCommerce Optimization
covers everything from SEO to selecting a shopping cart for your site. Quality practical advice,
supported by real-life examples.
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SEO Revolution
Jerry West's blog
provides some real insights into changes in AdWords policy, together with sound advice on
SEO and affiliate marketing. Jerry hates phony AdWords schemes (e.g. the recent "free ads on
Google" scam), and his blog is worth checking before you part with any cash.
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copyblogger
copyblogger
is the best (and most up-to-date) blog on every aspect of copy writing. Crisp, well-written posts from a
wide variety of contributors, make this our first choice for those interested in developing this
crucial skill.
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UK Business Forums
UK Business Forums
provide a wide range of forums covering every aspect of business operations. There's an active membership
and a great deal of online experience to draw on.
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Gadgets, Google and SEO
A personal and sometimes very technical blog from one of Google's insiders.
Matt Cutts's blog
can be a useful resource for those with a more technical background.
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299 Steps to Website Heaven
If you're new to search engine optimisation,
Nikki Pilkington's blog is
a good place to start. Clear and concise advice on improving your site's visibility delivered in
palatable "doses".
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We're always on the look-out for useful tools and resources. Let us know if you've found one you'd
like to share...