Recommendations on SEO Tools, Strategies and References

[ccdispoto]

Hello all,

I have been doing SEO/SEM work on some sites I own for a few years but now I am in a position where I need to handle these tasks for a significant numbers of clients on a freelance basis. Obviously, this requires much more work and organization as well as some additional tools to help.

I was wondering if the experts on here could help me with the following:

1. Does anyone know of any online step-by-step guides or checklists that highlight a comprehensive SEO and digital marketing strategy? This could be helpful while trying to juggle multiple projects at once and provide a blueprint that I can follow and alter as I go.

2. What free project management tools do you recommend? I was thinking of using Wunderlist, Trello or Evernote to keep track of projects, but there may be other suggestions I am not aware of.

3. I have it in my budget to spend about $200/month worth of paid tools. Which tools are best for keyword research, backlink analysis, search rankings etc.? I am currently testing out Moz and SEM Rush, but would like a wide variety of information that helps me efficiently execute a plan but without too much white noise. What are the best paid (or free) tools to accomplish this?

4. What are the best references for Q&As and reference materials on strategies, etc. for when I need to deep dive and do some learning on the fly? Besides this website of course.

Thanks for any help!!

[EricaMcGillivray]

Hi!

I'll start off with a few recommendations. The first being our Beginner's Guide to SEO, which will give you a great foundational knowledge of all the things you should be thinking about. The SEO developer's checksheet is also a great resource.

I won't weigh too much on tools as I use Moz's and have bias. Fresh Web Explorer for alerts and content tracking and Followerwonk for social graphing on Twitter are some of my favorites for what I do. (Which is probably quite different than what you do.)

For project management, Trello is definitely one of the easiest ones I've found to use and a favorite. Basecamp's also pretty good for cross-company collaboration. I use GDocs all the time and Evernote for specific note-taking, usually projects or ideas.

[ronell-smith]

As a freelance consultant who has been working solo for most of the last six years, I can empathize with you. I've had to test numerous tools and platforms to find the right for me.

First, keep in mind that what works for others likely won't work for you, so you'll have to do some experimenting as well.

• For project management, I've used Trello, Wrike, Basecamp, Freedcamp, Asana and a few others. For singular use, they are all fine, but as you have to share information across teams and with clients, you'll need the added capability and ease of use of platforms such as Asana and Wrike. They each have quirks, so experiment. I found Asana the most intuitive of the bunch. Also, keep in mind that a lot can be done simply through Google Docs and Google Sheets.
• If I had $200 for tools, I'd go with Moz Content or Buzzsumo ($99 each) for content ideation and Moz Pro for site analytics ($99). Admittedly, I'm biased as a Moz Associate. However, the key is having the ability to attain, access and discern information quickly and accurately, not have information on ALL THE THINGS. You could be successful with this small suite of tools, then over time add others such as Buffer and Followerwonk for social media.

RS

[ccdispoto]

Thanks Erica. I've been testing with Moz and SEMRush and I do find Moz more pleasing to use in general. I think I'm going to stick with is. It seems like it is useful for keyword research, link building and site monitoring, so there doesn't seem to be a need to pay for another tool at this point.

[ccdispoto]

Thanks Ronell! As I've right now, I think I'm going to stick with Trello since I don't need a lot of team collaboration as I am the only one working on the SEO tasks. Really just needs something to keep tasks and projects organized for my own efficiency and sanity.

Moz does look like it will do everything I need. What can Buzzsumo add to my repertoire?

[APFM]

1. Semrush for comprehensiveness, cost, rate of development, open roadmap and responsiveness of product team ( I think I know all by name now). I also think at pace they are going they will incorporate more  off functions from smaller too.

2. varvy and dareboost - comprehensive tools  finding page speed issues

3. ranks.nl - valuable tool to analyze keywords, prominence and semantic usage

4. copyscape and site liner for dupe content issues

5. urlprofiler and screaming frog

6. search console for queries, keywords, serp ctr and internal linking

7. ahrefs and majestic for back links - unfortunately I can't recommend OSE anymore

8. Google sheets, Supermetrics and xpath

9. Annie Cushing checklists for audits

10. Moz forums and wbf

[ronell-smith]

BuzzSumo, like Moz Content, can provide you with a view of the best-performing content across the web, making it possible for you to see which content and content types would be most palatable for the audience served by your vertical.

[ccdispoto]

Thanks APFM.

This is probably more tools than I want to deal with on a regular basis right now. If you had to boil it down to two or three, which would you choose.

Also, what is "wbf"? I Googled it and got World Bodybuilding Federation!.