The SEO Tools Worth Your Money (& Time)

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As someone who ran a search engine, I can tell you: search algorithms change thousands of times yearly. But AI is changing the game even faster. Here's my realistic approach for busy marketers:

Traditional SEO is Changing

• Google's AI updates (like SGE) are reshaping search results

• Content quality matters more than ever with AI-generated content flooding the web

• User intent and experience are becoming primary ranking factors

Time-Saving SEO Systems

• Use AI to analyze top-performing competitor content. I use ChatGPT or Gemini.

• Create content templates based on data and research from what is currently ranking

• Automate your workflow using tools like Cuppa.ai, Zapier.com, and Koala.sh

• Focus on adding user value first to drive deep user engagement, keywords second

Here’s my toolkit to realistically manage modern AI driven SEO. 👇🏻

Daily SEO Tools

Google Search Console – Google is still the leading search engine, so it’s always best to get whatever data we can directly from their platforms. Then depending on file size then load into your LLM of choice I use ChatGPT for smaller sites and Gemini when I need its larger context window.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with Google Search Console connected (GSC) – Yes, GA4 has its own problems and headaches… but it’s free and privacy compliant! Plus it’s directly connected with Google and is still better than the alternatives.

Keywords Everywhere Chrome Plug-in (Paid) – This tool provides key data on keywords whenever I do a search (such as search volume & trends data). Super user-friendly for SEO beginners, and starts at $6/mo.

SEMRush (Paid) – This one is my personal favorite, but any fully-managed SEO tool like this is a must for anyone looking for a robust solution with minimal upkeep. Like most software, it does have its own issues (can get expensive, overly complex, and unhelpful metrics like Toxic links 👀), but it’s great to have everything in one place to upload into ChatGPT.

ChatGPT (Paid) – ChatGPT is my co-worker in creating repeatable workflows and is a key part of my content research and production process.

Google Gemini (Paid) - Rapidly improving and if you work in the Google Suite a must have. I like Google’s larger context window and love Google working Google 🤣

Weekly SEO Tools

Looker/Google Data Studio and/or Swydo.com – These tools all offer automated reporting and custom dashboards. Looker can create complex, thorough reports, whereas Swydo can host simple, combined reports from Meta, Bing, and Google data. There’s some upfront investment needed to build your correct reports, but once those are crafted, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Lowfruits.io – This is a keyword research tool that makes it easier for you to find keywords to rank for. It’s similar to tools like SEMRush, but cheaper and focuses mostly on analyzing Search Engine Results Page (SERP) results for weaknesses.

Midjourney – Unique, AI image creation tool done for you based on prompts and uploaded images – but please, please don’t use stock images! From my extensive testing, stock photos perform worse as they’re already used on thousands of other websites. Starting with your own photos is always best.

Google Trends – Again, Google’s the leader of SEO, so might as well use their tools. This is great for general topic and category research. Is a keyword growing or shrinking? Is it a fad/seasonal topic or here to stay?

AnswerThePublic.com – This one’s an oldie but a goodie and helps you understand the searcher’s intent. Use it to understand what problems your audience is trying to solve and reverse engineer your SEO strategy from there.

CloudFlare.com – This is more on the IT side, but it essentially acts a reverse proxy on your cloud infrastructure (websites, email domains, etc.) to make your assets faster, more secure, and more reliable. This greatly helps with technical SEO.

Cuppa.ai – An AI-enabled tool that helps you rework and create SEO-optimized content in minutes through its integration with ChatGPT. It also easily exports to WordPress, Google Docs, and Zapier.

Occasional SEO Tools

ScreamingFrog – For when I need to do an audit of a new, larger website. This is a website crawler and log file analyzer to find keywords, broken links, and more areas for optimization.

Koala.sh – Another strong AI-enabled content writing tool, powered by GPT-4. But I mostly use Cuppa these days as it’s cheaper and directly uses the OpenAI API.

Descript – AI-enabled video editing and transcript building for someone like me who isn’t a video expert and needs a tool as easy as a word processor. This isn’t directly in SEO but can help with creating faster content processes once you have your SEO strategy nailed down.

GTmetrix – For when I need a deeper dive into site speed issues, which can hinder SEO. This tool tells you how your website performs, why it’s slow, and how to optimize it for a pretty affordable price.

The key to SEO in 2025 isn't about chasing every algorithm change or obsessing over every keyword – it's about building smart systems that scale. With AI tools and automation, you can focus on what really matters: creating valuable content that resonates with your audience. Start small, test what works for your brand, and gradually build your SEO toolkit. And remember, the best SEO strategy is one you can actually maintain consistently.

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