As an online marketer, have you ever dreamed of having an all-in-one tool that lets you see all of your competitor’s data, traffic, links, paid ads, social mentions, etc.? You probably have. That would make the job a lot easier, right? Unfortunately, this tool does not exist yet.
There are tons of factors to consider when implementing an SEO strategy to make your business/website more visible online. With a bit of research and personal experience, I’ve gathered a collection of 15 online tools that let you spy on your competitors and get vital metrics, such as traffic estimates, bounce rate, backlinks, back-end technology and more.
1. Similar Web
Traffic Analysis, Free & Paid
Similar Web is one of the best tools for competitive analysis on the market. It allows you to analyse your competitor’s traffic, traffic by countries, traffic sources and more.
As well as general traffic estimates, Similar Web provides data on Global, Country and Category Rank, top referral websites, similar websites, top organic and paid keywords.
More extensive data is available with PRO Packages (starting at $199/month).
2. SEMRush
Competitive Analysis & Keyword Research, Free & Paid
Remember we’ve talked about “all-in-one” tool? Well, SEMRush is very close. It provides data on organic & paid traffic, backlinks, top keywords, competitors and gives ad examples. It also lets you monitor keyword positions, estimates the volume and average CPC (Cost-Per-Click). PRO Packages start at $69.95.
3. MozBar
SEO Toolbar, Free
When it comes to SEO, Moz is an absolute must-know, must-use and must-follow company. Not only they provide valuable SEO tools, but they also work extremely hard to provide insightful data and learning materials on Search Engine Optimisation.
MozBar is a very handy extension for Chrome & Firefox, extremely useful when auditing sites. It enables you to check the website’s Title Tags, Descriptions, Headings, Alt Tags, Structured Data, Page & Domain Authority.
4. Open Site Explorer (by Moz)
Link Analysis, Free & Paid
OSE is a Link Analytics tool brought by Moz. It allows checking inbound links, spam score, page & domain authority for any given URL. Can be used to identify link opportunities and dangerous links.
5. WooRank
Website Audit, Free Extension
WooRank is an entire website audit tool and extension that provides valuable information on any website, which can then be used for On-Page and Technical Optimisation. It checks the length of the meta title and description, H1-H6 usage, keyword consistency, alt tags, broken links, sitemaps and more.
The toolbar is Free. PRO Packages start at £49/month (~$65/month)
Mentions, Free
Google Alerts is a tool for monitoring mentions. Simply set-up your alerts and get notified every time it is mentioned on the web. Can be useful for tracking competitors and finding opportunities for new links.
7. BuiltWith
Competitive Analysis, Free
BuiltWith enables you to sneak behind the technology of almost any website. It will give you the list of the software used by a particular website, including information about the hosting provider, content management system, web server, advertising network, plugins, analytics and more.
8. Wappalyzer
Competitive Analysis Toolbar, Free
Wappalyzer is very similar to BuiltWith but comes in the form of a free toolbar extension for Chrome and Firefox.
9. Buzzsumo
Content Marketing & Research, Free & Paid
BuzzSumo is an absolute must-have for content marketers. It allows you to enter a topic or domain to identify the most trending & shareable content.
Limited data with a free run. PRO Packages start at $99/month.
10. Ahrefs
Link Analysis, Paid
Ahrefs is known for its accuracy. Allows to track your competitor’s backlinks, referring domains, anchor text, top pages and more.
There is a 2-week Free Trial. PRO Packages start at $99/month.
11. Screaming Frog
Technical SEO, Free & Paid
One of the best tools for technical optimisation. Scans the entire website for internal errors. Allows you to fetch status codes, redirects, broken links, duplicate page titles & meta descriptions.
The basic version is Free. Full version is £99/year (~$130/year)
12. GTMetrix
Website Speed, Free
GTMetrix is a “waterfall” website speed testing tool that gives a list of recommendations that can be fixed to enhance the performance of the site. Can be used to analyse any website for Free.
13. WPThemeDetector
Competitive Analysis, Free
Ever wanted to know what Wordpress theme and plugins that site is using? WPThemeDetector does just that. Simply paste the URL of the website and get behind the scenes.
Internet Archive, Free
The nostalgia of the internet. The Way Back Machine is an archive of over 500 billion web pages, which allows you to see how a particular website looked in the past.
15. Whois?
Website Information, Free
Whois enables you to look up any domain and get information on IP, owner of the site, registrar, name servers and more.
The majority of the tools above are free to use or at least offer a free trial. I would love to hear your suggestions and thoughts in the comments.
About the Author: Dmytro Spilka is a Head Wiz at Solvid and Founder of Simple Online Tools by Solvid. He constantly works on developing handy online tools like Currency Converter, Word Counter and Unit Converter.