5 Free Or Cheap SEO Tracking Tools

There are a number of free or inexpensive search analytics tools available out there, and this article will outline a few of them that have gotten rave reviews.

Google Analytics

Google shook up the search analytics scene with the release of Urchin-powered Google Analytics. Google bought measurement powerhouse in 2005 and eventually integrated its tons of information into its Analytics product, the second incarnation of which was released early in 2007.

The good news, all that information is free.

The service allows webmasters to:

* See pie charts and maps that show who is sending traffic and what part of the world (on a city level) visitors are coming from.
* See several different reporting categories: Executive; Marketer; Webmaster; Marketing Optimization; Content Optimization.
* Integrate the information with AdWords that allows ROI reporting
* See visitor trending

Some reports say the breadth of information available through Google Analytics can be overwhelming, so there may be a bit of a learning curve for full benefits.

Compete Search Analytics

Metrics firm Compete grabbed some buzz this fall with the release of Compete Search Analytics, of which there are both free and pay versions. The company boasts:

* Keyword discovery for expanding your keyword bidding
* The ability to find gaps in competitors' strategies
* Discovery of keywords that drive visitor engagement
* Performance tracking and competitor comparison

Mint

Mint is a relative inexpensive tracking tool ($30 per site) that tracks browser type, country of origin, internal searches, outbound clicks, specific page tracking, and page trending.

It has been mentioned that Mint is fairly basic to the point that free tools would offer the same, but where it becomes worth its salt is via "Peppers," or free plug-ins created by enthusiastic developers.

SEO for Firefox

Developed by Aaron Wall, this Firefox browser plug-in allows you to see various stats about a website in the toolbar and beneath that site's search result. It tells you:

* PageRank
* Estimate of inbound links via Yahoo and MSN
* Number of .edu and .gov links to the site and pages within
* Number of del.icio.us bookmarks for a page
* Estimated Technorati links
* Alexa ranking
* How many pages are in Google's cache
* How many page are indexed in DMOZ
* How many Bloglines links
* Whether a site is indexed in Yahoo
* Whois lookup
* Age of a domain
* Google search volume trends
* Popular keywords
* Top keyword bid prices on Overture
* Bid estimates and click volume estimates on Google

SEODigger

Another free tool available, SEODigger shows:

* Which keywords your site ranks high enough for to be in Google top 20
* Analysis of user sites and competition sites,
* How well sites are optimized for search
* Information on entire domain as well as pages

Source:http://www.webpronews.com/

SEO: How To Top The Search Engines

Just like every webmaster, you want your website to be on top when there is a query in Google. Ranking highly in organic search engine results is a key element for bringing traffic to your website. The higher you rank for search queries, the more often your website is presented to the internet community. The process to achieve these results is called search engine optimization.

The elements of good search engine optimization and ranking higher in organic search results are maintaining high web standards, accessibility and usability of your website. What improves the visibility of any site is the human usability factor, unique and quality content, easy indexing for search robots and the sites appeal to visitors.

There are many webmasters, site owners and consultants that engage in search engine optimization. It is actually considered to be a subset of search engine marketing which takes into account the optimization of website content, its keywords and meta tags. It also minimizes the use of complex scripts to increase the ability for search engine robots to crawl your website for content. If you do not have the technical expertise to optimize your own site you should search out a qualified professional to assist you.

Improving search engine optimization will involve the site’s coding for structure, presentation and correctly allowing robots to index the site. You also measure visitor traffic and the keywords that are used to find the website and the conversion of those keywords to the desired action of sign up, purchase or a certain landing page.

Another part of search engine marketing that is important for obtaining higher rankings is link building. To increase your websites visibility to the search engines and drive traffic and search engine robots to your website for indexing, you should submit your website to quality directories to increase inbound links that are relevant to your sites topic.

By taking these actions you should see an increase in traffic and inbound links to increase your search rankings.

Source:http://www.americanchronicle.com/