There are so many SEO tools out there with more and more releasing and existent ones coming out with new features frequently. It's hard to keep up with all of them, test them out, and find a good fit for you. While the majority of SEO Tools are a dime a dozen there are some people prefer more than others whether it's for the graphical user interface, usability, and/or speed of the tool. I'd like to introduce you to a few of these tools that may streamline your optimization process.

  1. ExactFactor
    ExactFactor is an search engine optimization campaign tracking tool to add to your SEO tools collection. They provide a free utility to track your search engine result positioning without having to check your position all the time.While a tool to automate that process is nice, they’re a dime a dozen. This tool is a bit different because not only do they track your site but they track your competitors and send you email alerts when you’ve moved up/down or a competitor has moved up/down.

    Email alerts are very handy because you can get instant notification of SERP fluctuation that you can be aware of. Have you ever had an SEO client calling you complaining of a search result fluctuation you haven’t notice because you haven’t checked it in a couple days? I know I have, it’s nice to be able to know what the situation is before the client calls.

    Below is a screen shot of inside ExactFactor’s easy to use interface. It’s not hard to figure out and very intuitive. You can’t complain when it’s free.

    ExactFactor SEO Tool

  2. LotusJump
    LotusJump is a link building tool that can be used by SEO firms or Webmasters interested in do-it-yourself link building for their site. The tool makes suggestions of four different types of tasks it recommends you should do. It does this by scouring your competitor's backlink profiles based off your site and the keyphrases you are optimizing for. The four different groups of tasks are:

    • Buzz - Tasks where you are referred to possible places to mention your brand/site for buzz based on keyword mentions.
    • Content Generation - Tasks where you are referred to relevant site to add content on with embedded links back to your site.
    • Competitive Analysis - Tasks where you are referred to common link hubs of your competitors to obtain links from.
    • Directory Submission - Tasks where you are referred to relevant directories to submit your site to for links.

    I find LotusJump to be a good link building training tool. After using it for awhile a newbie starts to get the idea of what to look for when building links. This tool can be best used by SEO agencies training new link builders that they hired out of college for low wages in my opinion. Check out the demo video below:

  3. X-Browser SEO Tool
    X-Browser SEO Tool is a bookmarklet by Search & Social that can be utilized in either Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera on Windows and OS X to find information vital to search engine optimization. The bookmarklet never needs to be updated since the tool is changed on our end. Just add the bookmarklet to your bookmark's toolbar, and begin to audit the web.Drag this link to your bookmark bar and then launch it on any Webpage including Google search result pages.
    X-Browser SEO Tools

    See video demo below:

  4. RankSense
    RankSense is an SEO productivity tool designed for a wide-ranged audience of Internet marketers, developers, and bloggers. It guides you through several optimization, reporting, and management categories including:

    • Search Engine Friendliness
    • On-Page Optimization
    • Scheduled Tasks
    • Market Research
    • Off-Page Optimization
    • Reports

    While SEO can never fully be automated, the software’s true intelligence is in its ability to act as your personal search engine optimizer:

    • Intuitive, wizard-driven interface that speeds up search engine optimization while concealing the underlying technical complexity involved.
    • Two modes of operation to match any user, including a smart mode for new users and classic mode for advanced users.
    • Automatic Updates that keeps your software updated on new search engine trends.
    • Say it once, remembered always —provide data in one task and RankSense will generate results using that information in all subsequent tasks. Your work is saved automatically and your session restored each time RankSense launches.

    RankSense

  5. Raven SEO Tools
    Raven is an SEO tool that has many cool features including:

    • Research and Analysis - You can analyze content and research keywords with an aggregation of tools such as SEODigger, Wordtracker, AdWords Research tool.
    • Campaign Management and Link Building
    • Content Management and Analysis - Content manager allows you to upload and store content you use for syndication which you can export in an XML feed. Included is a web-based blog manager tool as well.
    • SERP Keyword Tracking - Your discovered keywords from your analysis can be tracked with the SERP tracker and recorded for your SEO campaigns.
    • Analytics and SEO ROI Reports - Allows you view cached version of search engine result pages and track typical analytic data that can tie into your site's conversions.
    • Private Label Custom Reports - You can white label SEO reports and personally brand them for your clients if you work in an agency environment.

    One of the coolest things is not only can you do all this in the backend admin panel but you can do it through your very own toolbar! It makes automation very handy. I definitely recommend checking them out. See the video demo below:

Bonus: SEJ Tools - A great addition to your SEO Tools arsenal!

Full Disclaimer: I registered for three affiliate partnerships with RankSense, LotusJump, and Raven SEO Tools prior to this post because I might as well if I'm going to write about them.

About the Author: Jordan Kasteler

Jordan Kasteler is the SEO Director of Hennessey Consulting. His work experience ranges from co-founding BlueGlass Interactive, in-house SEO at Overstock.com, marketing strategy at PETA, and agency-level SEO & marketing. Jordan is also an international conference speaker, columnist, and book author of A to Z: Social Media Marketing.

51 Comments

  1. Singapore SEO December 3, 2008 at 8:35 am

    I have been using Raven SEO Tools for quite some time. What can i say? They are indeed a provider with the most comprehensive SEO tools.
    Rif Chia

  2. Justin December 3, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    I wrote a great new tool to get relevant educational links from .edu blogs. Not because the tld .edu is necessarily better than .com, .net, or .org tlds but because educational sites normally have high page rank and are highly trusted by all search engines! http://www.seopositions.net/edu-blog-finder.html

    I hope you don’t mind me plugging it in as I feel that it could help your visitors! Thanks, and great post!

  3. Metaspring December 3, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    Yes I was certainly missing some of these tools from my ‘arsenal’. The LotusJump link building tool sounds especially good. Thanks for putting together this list.

  4. srikanth December 4, 2008 at 4:50 am

    Exactfactor seems to be an interesting tool. Thanks for share.

  5. Busby SEO Test Dewaji December 4, 2008 at 11:27 am

    I like exactfactor and raven seo tool, these two tools give us a change to ty their tools. And after test it, I like exactfactor

  6. Weight Watchers Recipes December 5, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Thanks for this list! My favorite is ExactFactor, especially since until now I’ve been using a (rather expensive) piece of software that was slowing down my computer a lot when checking for rankings.

  7. Marketing Man December 8, 2008 at 8:09 am

    I just checked out exactfactor over the past week, and it totally rocks. Thanks for making me aware of it.

  8. Tom - StandOutBlogger.com December 8, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Thanks for the tools. Now I just gonna have to go over to each of them and check them out for myself 😀

  9. David Hsieh Jacksonville December 9, 2008 at 7:51 am

    LotusJump looks like a sweet tool but is it really $99 per month?

  10. Diana Freedman December 10, 2008 at 5:04 am

    Great list, thanks for putting this together! I’ll be checking out these tools to optimize my blog this weekend. Looks like exactfactor will be especially helpful.

  11. Sally's Promotional Gifts December 11, 2008 at 11:31 am

    Exact Factor Rocks. Although I still like the old tools Web Position, WebCEO, ExactFactor will serve it’s purpose when I am not on the computer where I installed WebPosition and WebCEO.

  12. Harris Miller December 16, 2008 at 4:20 am

    Well, by reading the comments of all of you guys, all the 5 tools look to be very useful and helpful however i’m gonna check each and everyone to see their functionality and then will be able to deliver my comments as to how useful and dependable they are.

    Harris Miller.

  13. SEO Robin December 22, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    The raven seo tools are great. I have been using tools from seoanalytic.com. They have a whole array of tools. Hope that helps too.

  14. Nikki How December 27, 2008 at 12:40 am

    My pick would be ExactFactor because of the “Alerts”. It would be of real help to learn as and when ur rankings fluctuate and u can more or less relate that to ur recent Seo efforts (real crucial)

    Checking and re-checking when rankings fluctuate is a big no no for lazy Seo’s 😉 Automatic alerts are better 🙂

    Best,
    Nikki How

  15. Agolf Cartson December 29, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    It is always nice to see these new tools come out but I just do see (m)any of them adding much new to the table. Personally I stick to SEOelite and KWelite as they provide most of what I’ll need to get the job done. But maybe I’m just old fashion 🙂

  16. Jonathan Meager January 7, 2009 at 11:38 am

    Fantastic post – i haven’t really read below exactfactor, but that’s exactly what I need, so thanks very much 🙂

  17. Susan@promotionalcodes January 7, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I was reading another article on the site and stumbled accross this one and not having heard of any of the tools which i guess shows my novice status am going to research them all over the weekend.
    Thanks again

  18. Ludo January 8, 2009 at 3:09 am

    Thanks for these tips =)

  19. Corey January 8, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    ExactFactor is some good stuff! Thanks a ton dude. Awwwwwesome.

  20. Webmaster Radio January 9, 2009 at 10:08 am

    Great post Jordan.

    Can’t wait for the debut of your WebmasterRadio.FM show on mobile marketing with Cindy Krum.

Comments are closed.