What is the Best SEO Audit Tool?

The world of SEO is can be thought of as a motorway; everyone is going high speed on the G1 (Google), avoiding obstacles, following the rules, and imagining racing other cars, all with the end goal of reaching a final destination.

But is there ever an end destination?

The destination is continuously moving, and just when you think you are nearly there, cue an algorithm update that adds 20 miles of unknown terrain to your journey that then have begin understanding and navigating, all while keeping your frustration under wraps.

So, ensuring you’re on top of your SEO and reviewing it regularly to keep it at its best is crucial.

In this blog, I’ll take you through some of the best SEO audit tools you can use to audit your existing SEO strategy:

• What is an SEO audit tool?
• How to choose the right SEO audit tool
• The best SEO audit tools
  • Google Lighthouse
  • Screaming Frog
  • Ahrefs and Semrush
  • Surfer SEO
  • STAT

What is an SEO audit tool and what is its purpose?

An SEO audit tool is software that provides you with a snapshot of your SEO efforts and the competitive landscape.

Key information about your website’s overall standing can be uncovered within minutes, highlighting areas that are hindering your rankings as well as uncovering areas for improvement.

All of the information from SEO audit tools allows businesses to make informed decisions based on the generated data.

SEO audits are crucial to businesses and help them avoid:

• Loss of traffic due to a site’s health issues
• Loss of sales or loss of competitive edge
• Indexing issues
• Toxic backlinks

The goal of an SEO audit:

• Highlight whether your SEO efforts are effective
• Data comparison of past and present website performance
• Uncovering competitor tactics and positioning
• To aid in making informed business decisions based on data

Related: What is an SEO Audit? (And Why Do I Need One?)

How to choose the right SEO auditing tool

Choosing the best SEO audit tool depends on the exact task at hand and what data set is most important to you and the business decision that is being made.

Every tool excels in certain areas more than others.

At QueryClick, we use a multitude of tools daily that allow us to compare data sets and provide a full picture of the landscape in which we or our clients are competing.

We can then make our decisions based on a combination of these.

The best SEO audit tools

There are both free and paid tools that give you varying levels of insight into your website’s standing.

The tools that we rely on day-in and day-out for our website and those of our clients are as follows:

Google Lighthouse

Google Lighthouse is a free SEO audit tool which has been developed by Google.

To gain access to this, you should open up a private browsing window, bring up the webpage in question, right-click and select ‘Inspect’, then select the Lighthouse option (sometimes hidden under 2 small arrows).

You can then generate your audit.

This auditing tool gives you a quick snapshot of your site’s health and a list of improvements and opportunities.

Good for:

• Technical SEO opportunities
• Identifying site health Issues

Not so good for:

• Keyword and content related audits

Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is known within the industry as one of the best technical SEO auditing tools.

Features of notes are the spider tool and the SEO management capabilities like linking building, content and analytics, as well as the more advanced conversion rate optimisation.

Good for:

• Technical SEO
• Backlink analysis
• Link building
• Small to medium-sized businesses

Not so good for:

• Keywords
• Beginners

Ahrefs and Semrush

A couple of our favourites here at QC which are used daily are Ahrefs & Semrush.

These tools are very similar, so we have just coupled them together.

These SEO auditing tools have many desirable features such as keyword research, rank tracking, content analysis and competitor analysis.

Good for:

• Keyword research
• Backlink analysis
• Link building
• Content
• Reporting
• Website checks

Not so good for:

• In depth technical details
• Daily updates

Surfer SEO

This auditing tool is the king of content.

Surfer SEO analyses your content and provides you with insightful edits and optimisation opportunities. Looking at keyword density, domain referrals, page speed and content length, just to name a few.

It also has an integrated tool: Grow Flow, this links to your Google Search Console to identify the biggest gaps in your content strategy.

This tool is able to be automated so that your precious time and effort can go into the ‘doing’ rather than the finding.

Good for:

• Keyword research
• Content strategy
• Content opportunities
• Meta information

Not so good for:

• Technical SEO

STAT

STAT is an expert-level SEO tool that provides us with in daily, in-depth analytics and numerous features that allow us access to insights that other software’s software do does not.

Such as share of voice and breakdowns of SERP features.

It is an excellent software for reporting that we use to provide clients with an overall and in-depth view of their business to make the most informed decisions.

Good for:

• Keyword tracking
• Content gap analysis
• Daily updates
• Competitive insight

Not so good for:

• Technical SEO

Related: How to Do an SEO Audit in 5 Steps

Why you should work with an SEO agency

While there are many SEO auditing tools that are beginner friendly and provide a lot of information, there are many benefits that come from working with an SEO agency.

We have access to a number of highly advanced tools. that These allow us to understand your business’s standing as well as give us a blueprint of the competitive landscape.

As well as advanced analytics that allow us to provide recommendations and actions that will ultimately improve your business’s visibility to achieve your goals.

If you’re looking to partner with an SEO agency to boost your SEO results, get in touch with us below. Or, request an SEO audit to get started.