SEO Tools for Content Writing in 2023: 10 Best Tools for Website

What is SEO? – It’s an abbreviated form of search engine optimization. It comprises the methodology to increase the quantum of traffic or visitors on our website in terms of quality as well as quantity. Now for a layman, it would be difficult for understanding terms like quality traffic. Let’s look at the several SEO tools for content writing.

Some people may think that people with specific qualifications in the field of computer science or technology can reap the benefits of SEO tools. But that’s a wrong concept.

SEO is not rocket science. Anyone who has a desire to sell something through online platforms and create their business recognition through digital media can learn search engine optimization. But one has to have a clear understanding of the tools and techniques behind SEO. In this article, we are trying to provide a comprehensive overview of what exactly SEO is and how SEO tools work.

Let’s learn a few basic terms before going ahead with the technicalities of SEO and SEO tools.

• Quality traffic: When one creates a website for their business, the primary aim is to attract as many visitors to the website as possible. This defines the ‘traffic., the number of people visiting the website. Now usually the people browse through the internet for searching for any product or service to satisfy their existing needs or to find a solution to their problem. If the requirements of the visitors to the website matches with what the website offers, then such visitors come under the category of ‘quality traffic’. To be precise, SEO tools should increase the visibility of the website such that relevant clients are landing on the pages.

• Organic traffic: It simply means that visitors need not pay anything for landing on the website. Such visitors are called organic visitors. SEO aims to create organic traffic for the website.

• Search Engine: It’s an online tool or website through which people can search for anything on the internet by entering the desired keywords in the search field. Though there are many, for laymen it’s better known to us as GOOGLE.

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History of SEO

The history of search engine optimization can be traced back to the 1990s. Though today the SEO revolves around GOOGLE mostly, the seeds of SEO have been sowed long before the invention of Google by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It can be argued that the SEO started when the first website was published or the first web search engine was launched in 1991.

But the official story of search engine optimization began in 1997 when the manager of a rock band Jefferson Starship found that his official website was ranking at number 4 on some search engines at that time instead of ranking number 1 on page 1. Ranking high on web pages was still a new concept in 1997.

The search engine landscape was very competitive and the search engines were of two types- human-powered directories-based and crawler-based listings. In the beginning, on-page activities were the only means to perform any kind of search engine optimization.

This meant that the contents were supposed to be good, relevant, thick with accurate HTML tags. The trick used by the people then was to use the keywords multiple times in the web pages and meta tags. If one had to outrank the website with keywords 50 times, one simply had to create content with keywords 100 times. Quite simple, is not so? Today this practice falls under spamming.

Let’s have a glance at how search engines worked in the 1990s.

• 1994 – Standford University students, Jerry Wang and David Filo created Yahoo which was originally an internet bookmarking list and directory of interesting sites. Webmasters had to manually submit their pages to yahoo for getting indexed so that when someone performs a search, they could find the web pages.

• 1996 – New search engine, Backrub was created by Page and Brin, again Standford University students, that ranked based on inbound links relevancy and popularity.

• 1997 – search engine watch, a website dedicated to providing news about the search industry, tips on how to search on the web, and how to rank your website on search engines, was launched by Danny Sullivan. Google.com was also registered during the period.

• 1998 – Goto.com was launched. It had sponsored links and paid search. It was ultimately acquired by Yahoo. MSN search was started powered by Inktomi.

• 1999 – Search engine strategies, the first-ever search marketing conference, took place.

• 2000- Yahoo partnered with Google and let Google power their organic search results instead of Inktomi. This led to the foundation for Google to become a household name.

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SEO, SEO tools, and Google algorithms – Since the time Google has emerged as the synonym for search engines for common people, search engine optimization revolves mostly around Google.

All the search engines have 3 basic functions.

• Crawl– Minutely going through every content over the internet.
• Index– Storing and arranging the content as per the keywords searched during the crawling process. The page is displayed accordingly.
• Rank– The piece of content which is more relevant to the search queries is displayed first.

To perform the aforementioned functions, Google works based on various search algorithms. These algorithms have been updated from time to time. Let’s have a look at the most important updates Google has released till now.

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Panda 

it was released in 2011 with an objective to down-rank sites with low quality, spammy, or thin content. Initially, Panda update, a search filter, was not a part of Google’s search algorithm. In 2016 it has been incorporated into the ranking algorithm. However, it faced some serious hazards like

• Duplicate content
• Plagiarism
• Thin content
• User-generated Spam
• Keyword stuffing
• Poor user experience

Penguin 

It was released in 2012 and updates were rolled out till 2016. The aim was to down-rank sites with unnatural link profiles, which were used to spam the search results using manipulative link tactics like creating many sites and backlinking with each other. This also caused the following issues in search results.

• Low-quality links coming from spammy websites
• Links coming from sites created only for SEO link building
• Links coming from topically irrelevant sites
• Paid links
• Links with overly optimized anchor text.

Pirate 

This update was launched in 2012 and rolled out in 2014. It was designed to prevent websites that received numerous infringement reports from ranking well in Google search. The majority of the affected websites were quite well-known that made pirated content such as movies, music, or books available to the visitors for free through torrent sites. Still, the search engine faced the following issues.

• Pirated content
• The high volume of copyright infringement reports

Hummingbird 

Launched in 2014, the name of this Google algorithm is derived from the speed and accuracy of the hummingbird. The algorithm was meant for providing search results that match the intent of the browser, rather than individual keywords within the query. While keywords remained important for search-based queries, the algorithm added more value to the meaning behind the query as a whole. The use of synonyms of keywords has also been optimized enabling better search display. It had the following issues.

• Targeting the exact keyword match
• Keyword stuffing

Pigeon 

It was launched in 2014 to provide high-quality, relevant local search results. It has drastically changed the results that Google returns for queries in which the location of the searcher plays a part. This algorithm enabled users to use the same SEO factors to rank local and non-local Google results. It gave a ranking boost to the local search directories connecting Google web search and Google map search in a more cohesive way. It has the following hazards.

• Poorly optimized pages
• Improper setup of Google My Business Page
• NAP inconsistency
• Lack of relevant citations in local directories

Mobile-friendly update alias Mobilegeddon

It was launched in 2015 to give mobile-friendly web pages a ranking boost in mobile SERPs and de-rank webpages that are not optimized for mobile. There was no effect on desktop searches. It suffered from the following flaws.

• Lack of mobile version of the page
• Improper viewport configuration
• Illegible content
• Plugin use

Rankbrain algorithm 

It a machine learning system launched in 2015 that helps Google to better decipher the meaning behind the queries and display the best-matching search results in response to those queries. Rankbrain enables Google to identify the relevant pages in the index and arranges the results respectively in search engine results pages. It has the following negative features.

• Lack of query-specific relevance features
• Poor user experience

Possum Update 

It was launched in 2016 to deliver better and more diverse results based on the searcher’s location and business address. This implies that the closer one is to a certain business physically, the more likely one will see it among local search results. It de-ranked pages of the business that share the address with a similar kind of business in the search results. It faced the following problems.

• Sharing a physical address with a business of a similar kind
• Competitors whose business address is closure is to the location of the searcher

Fred Update

This update was launched in 2017 by Google to filter out low-quality searches whose sole purpose is generating ad and affiliate revenue. It too had the following problems.

• Low-value ad – centered content
• Thin affiliate-heavy content

Speed Update

It was launched in 2018 to boost faster mobile pages. Thus, page speed became a ranking factor for mobile pages. Relevant search pages but with slow-loading mobile pages could not be ranked.

Medic Core Update 

It was launched in August 2019 to improve Google search results by a more appropriate match with user intent, especially for businesses dealing with peoples’ wellbeing i.e., health, fitness, and finance.

BERT 

It was launched in October 2019 to help search engines to understand the context, especially in spoken queries. It is a deep-learning technique created for natural language processing.

Featured Snippet Deduplication

It was launched in January 2020 to prevent URLs in featured snippets to appear twice on the first page of the organic search results.

Core Algorithm update 

It has been rolled out several times latest being in May of 20 to eventually improve the way search engine evaluates the sites overall to reward those providing high-quality content. Google has mentioned that it is going to value only meaningful, relevant, and quality content.

How does SEO work?

SEO is the process of optimizing the website for getting organic or un-paid traffic when someone searches through search engines. In simple language, it means making the website attractive to a search engine in terms of content and design such that the search engine will show the website as a top result on the search engine search page based on the relevancy of the keywords searched. In other words, it is a process for organizations to rank high in digital platforms and increase their digital footfall.

The SEO for your website can be done in two ways with the help of SEO tools–

• On-page SEO optimization
• Off-page SEO optimization

On-page SEO optimization – They represent any elements that can be done on your website over which you have control over. These elements can be worked on for improvement over time by following best practices for SEO.

Following is a list of few factors which help in on-page SEO optimization.

• Title or Heading– It tells the search engine what the website page is about. Based on the keywords searched, the search engine displays the website. It should focus on what exactly the website is all about. For beginners, getting ranked in highly competitive keys words is difficult. The title should consist of long-tail low competition keywords or long-tail high competition keywords.

• Meta-Description– It summarises to the search engines about your website with some more details. This is more important in terms of the visitors or prospective clients who browse through the internet seeking solutions for their business or fulfilling their relevant needs. It helps the visitors to better understand what is the website about and whether it is relevant to them. It should contain keywords.

• Sub-Headings– By using subheadings, one can improve the readability of the website for the viewers which helps in getting better SEO rankings. The more visually comprehensive is the website, the more the chances for visitors to get converted to clients. There is a total of six types of headings – H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6. Usage of H1, H2, and H3 is most common.

• Internal Links– By hyperlinking the content regarding the specific product/ service to be sold to other content of the website, people will land on the product-specific website.

• Image Name and Alt- Tags –The image should be renamed with keywords included so that search engines identify the images that are relevant to your website. When users perform an image search with the keywords they will land on the images of your website.

• Frequency of keywords– However, one should keep in mind that over-optimizing search engines should be avoided else one can be penalized by the search engines. The keywords should not be used too many times in the content. The keyword density, as technically called, can be in the range of 0.5% to 0.7% of the total content. One should not focus on too many keywords as that will affect the website search engine optimization negatively making the content unfocussed and thin.

• Website design– The overall architecture of the site is also very important for ranking your website on search engines. The design of the website should be such that it is easy for the search engines to scan or crawl on the content of the website pages. The loading time of the website page should not be too long as it makes the website unattractive for visitors. Also, the website should be mobile friendly as now the customers are using mobile more than desktops or laptops.

• Content – The most important aspect of search engine optimization for your website is the content available on the landing pages. The content should be creative and visually attractive containing keywords and phrases with good readability for the visitors. The content can be in the form of

• Blogs post and articles
• Social media content
• E-Books and videos
• Infographics or any other visual content

Off-Page SEO optimization – Certain indirect elements can enhance the ranking of your website.

Following is a list of such factors.

• Trust and backlinks– It is now becoming one of the biggest factors for Google rankings. It helps Google to determine that you have a legitimate site that can be trusted by the visitors. One of the ways to build trust is to create backlinks from websites that have authority. Here comes the role of social bookmarking sites. Various social bookmarking websites are available like Twitter, Pinterest, Stumbleupon/Mix, and many more. One can create quality backlinks by linking the content page on your website to these social bookmarking sites. This activity helps in building trust for ranking on Google pages.

• Social– The more the quality content gets shares and likes on social media, the more it gets recognized by search engines.

Content Writing and the importance of SEO  

The forum of the internet is for everyone. Anyone can write anything on the internet platforms but everything does not get recognized by search engines. For example, one can create a website for his or her business but hardly anyone notices it on Google.

Approximately 1.3 million Google searches take place in one second. When we search something by typing keywords on search space in Google, we go through those entities which are displayed by Google on page 1 or page 2, or maximum one can browse up to page 4.

After that, the visitors or browsers rarely turn the pages. The point is one can write and writing quality relevant content that is recognized by Google is what search engine optimization is about. In practical terms, content writing comprises 50% writing and 50% technology.

Without proper usage of SEO tools, it is impossible to write relevant quality content that Google recognizes. SEO tools enable Google to crawl into relevant keywords containing content. With the digitalization of businesses, content marketing is the need of the hour, a cumulative product of content and SEO tools.

In this article, we have listed out the names of the 10 best SEO tools which can be used for productive, compelling, and optimized content writing.

SEO tools for content writing 

1.Google Search Console

It is an own SEO tool that has been developed to improve the rankings of your content on search engine results pages. It measures the performance of the website characterized by page loading time and helps in the optimization of the speed of the website.

One can monitor the position of their website on results of Google search including which pages are getting ranked for specific keywords. One can check how many clicks the search engine results pages are getting. Being a critical tool for webmasters, it provides the required transparency and helps in determining the level of optimization required for ranking SERP and choosing keywords for targeting the audience. The tool is free for all website owners.

2. Google Keyword Planner

It is another SEO tool used by most content writers in content writing for choosing the right keywords for high-ranking content. Though the better features are available with the paid version, yet it is preferred by the majority for doing basic keyword targeting research.

It enables the users to discover new or related keywords as well as get the search volume and forecasts to monitor the ongoing trend. This tool is free for users having a Google Ads account. Another tool that is often used in place of Google keyword planner for complete free usage is Ubbersuggest.

3.WordStream  

It is a miniature form of the Google Keywords Planner tool and is free and easy to use. One has to type the keywords of their choice and pick the relevant industry and type the location. The list of keywords along with their search volumes on Google will be fetched by this SEO tool. 

4.SEMrush: 

It is the most useful tool for digital marketers across all categories. Under their monthly subscription package, they have 40 different types of tools that help in search engine optimization, pay-per-click, and social media management.

It is used by content marketers to analyze backlinks, perform keyword research and monitor the traffic and performance of their websites and their competitor’s website and hence enables the marketers to discover new markets and opportunities in the niche.

The tool also provides the facility of site audit which is helpful for the more technical aspect of SEO. Only some of the features are free in this tool. The overall price of this SEO tool is around $100 per month.

5.BuzzSumo:

It helps in identifying what is the most successful piece of content and what types of content are shared by the people across different platforms. The trend can be analyzed over the past day, month, or year.

It helps in benchmarking the content of the user against the competitors and helps in ranking high on Google search pages. However, the tool is not free and comes with a subscription price of $79 for unlimited searches.

6.Answer The Public:

It provides an extensive visualization of the questions asked by the public in and around the targeted keywords. It provides the information on questions that have been asked to Google using the specific keyword. The tool is now connected with Snippets, one of the recent additions of Google in its search results pages. 

Snippets are displayed as a tab on top of some of the search result pages highlighting a common question related to the target keyword. When a browser clicks on the Snippet tab, Google displays the landing pages that answer the question more explicitly. It helps in generating organic traffic for webmasters. It is again a free tool.

7.Yoast SEO:  

It is a WordPress plugin tool and is widely used by content writers who are using the WordPress platform for posting their blogs. The tool provides real-time feedback for optimizing the content. It acts as a checklist tool that enables the user to complete on-page SEO tasks promptly.

It provides feedback in real-time, provides suggestions for improvement, and helps in managing On-Page search engine optimization tasks while working on WordPress. This SEO tool can be used after subscribing to specific plans of WordPress.

8.Grammarly:

Content with grammatical errors is least expected to be ranked in Google search pages. The basic version of this content and SEO tool is free and is easy to use. The content can be simply copied and paste in the available text tab and all the necessary grammatical corrections can be made at an ease.

The SEO tool can be added to the browser of the user to create spelling-free and grammatically correct content. However, the premium version of the tool comes at a price of approximately $10 per month. 

9.Hemmingway App:

It is all about making the content more readable. The app checks the usage of words provides suggestions for synonyms and notifies the correct usage of the voice. It helps in making the writing crisp and relevant. The web version of this SEO tool is free. However, one has to subscribe if one wants to use the desktop version. It is one of the most recommended SEO tools. 

10.Word Counter: To surpass the well-ranked content of the competitor we need to write at least 20% more content than that of the competitors. This analysis of content length in content writing is done using the word counter. It can count the number of words in any article, blog, webpage, and even website. This is among the free SEO tools as well. 

Summary 

There are a plethora of SEO tools available for creating plagiarism-free, quality, and relevant content. The efficiency of content writers lies in improvising these tools to create high-ranked content. Since the world is becoming a global village with the rampant usage of the internet by the people, the scope of content writing and content marketing in the digital world is enormous providing huge scope for the potential and competent writers to create a place of their own in the niche. Also, the fusion of technology and writing through the apt utilization of SEO tools helps in getting the business recognized by the audience on digital platforms.