Understanding SEO can be quite a task, and making it work is even more challenging. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 best free SEO tools to help you understand your site, how it ranks against competitors, and the power of keywords, anchor text and back links. Watch this quick video and start crafting a strategy to boost your rankings on search engines!

SEO Tool #1 Google Keyword Tool
www.adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Research is key, this step requires a bit of time, but it’s worth it’s weight in gold. Provided by Google, this tool allows you to research your industry keywords to learn about local and global traffic statistics.

Now, what does your site look like to search engines in terms of SEO?

SEO Tool #2 SEO Website Grader
www.websitegrader.com

SEO Tool #3 SEO Blog Grader
blog.grader.com

SEO Tool #4 Check Backlinks & Anchor Text
www.bluebacklinks.com

SEO Tool #5 Search Engine Spider Simulator
www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php

SEO Tool #6 Alexa Ranking (Worldwide Rank, Search Analytics, Audience Stats, Etc.)
www.alexa.com

SEO Tool #7 SEO Book – Free SEO Tools (These SEO tools can be used for ongoing website analysis and stats.)
www.tools.seobook.com

Next, it’s a good idea to asses what your competition looks like. (You can use the tools above as well as the tools below for this purpose)

SEO Tool #8 Spy on Your Competitors (Learn About Competitor Keywords & AdWords)
www.spyfu.com

SEO Tool #9 Search Engine & Directory Submission Tool
www.ubl.org

Once your ready to move forward with an SEO strategy, these tools will hep you with search engine & directory submission as well as PR article distribution.

SEO Tool #10 Press Release Article Distribution
www.prnewswire.com

Knowledge is only half the battle! Once you understand the status of your current site and have a better understanding of what you need to do, it’s time to hire experts to handle the workload so you can get back to business.

Overwhelmed with information? We’re here to help. Contact us today for a free SEO quote.info@skyboxseo.com or call 619.865.8881

Top 10 Best SEO Tools for 2011

Sifting through the maze of SEO information can certainly be a challenge, Organic Search Engine Optimization can be a full time job for multiple people depending on your goals. Luckily there are simple ways to educate yourself through a variety of free SEO tools offered online. Below we have compiled a list of the 10 best SEO tools for 2011 to help you understand your site, research your competitors, keywords and create a strategy to dominate the search engines. Because of the natural evolution of technology, we will likely have to update this list before 2011 is over, but here it is.

Initially, we hesitated to publish this list because these resources are that valuable… but we like to share! So here goes:

First things first, you have to understand what your site looks like in the eyes of search engines from an SEO perspective.

SEO Tool #1

SEO Website Grader
www.websitegrader.com

SEO Tool #2

SEO Blog Grader
www.blog.grader.com

SEO Tool #3

Check Backlinks & Anchor Text
www.bluebacklinks.com

SEO Tool #4

Search Engine Spider Simulator
www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php

SEO Tool #5

Alexa Ranking (Worldwide Rank, Search Analytics, Audience Stats, Etc.)
www.alexa.com

SEO Tool #6

SEO Book – Free SEO Tools (These SEO Tools tools can be used for ongoing website analysis and stats.)
www.tools.seobook.com

Next, it’s time to asses what your competition looks like. (Use the tools above as well as the tool listed below for this purpose)

SEO Tool #7

Spy on Your Competitors (Learn Competitor Keywords & AdWords)
www.spyfu.com

Now it’s a good idea to set aside a good chuck of time for research. This elaborate tool provided by Google allows you to research your industry keywords to learn about local and global traffic stats.

SEO Tool #8

Google Keyword Tool
www.adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Once your ready to move forward with an SEO strategy, the tools below will hep you with search engine & directory submission as well as PR article distribution.

SEO Tool #9

Search Engine & Directory Submission Tool
www.ubl.org

SEO Tool #10

Press Release Article Distribution
www.prnewswire.com

Overwhelmed with information? We’re here to help. Contact us today for a free SEO quote. info@skyboxcreative.com

Skybox Creative, Inc. – Elevate your business with award-winning brand + web design.

Search engine traffic, we all want it.

Google is at the forefront of every business owners mind, ranking high translates directly to business growth, there’s no denying that. So what are a few ways a website or blog can increase their search engine foot traffic? Here are 5 tips that can help get you started:

1. Title Tags on Your Website or Blog
This is one of those tried and true SEO tactics that has been around for a while and still makes a significant impact on your SEO today. One thing to keep in mind when writing your title tags is to think of the person searching on Google (or any other search engine for that matter), try to think of something that will make people want to click on your link. One way to do this is include the topic and a benefit, this easily allows for 2 keyword phrases to fit into the title.

A rule to remember: only 65 characters will display in the search results, anything after that will show up as … in the results.

Quick fact: 80% of top ranking pages include keywords in their title.

2. Blog Updates
We all know we should be blogging regularly, but who has the time right? People used to say once a week was good, but things are changing and fresh content is the key to search engine favorability. The new rule of thumb is to update your blog every 1-2 days (or more if you can manage that) to keep search engines indexing your pages regularly. Remember to use keywords in your title, URL string, body copy, categories and keyword tags. That’s the beauty of blogging, WordPress and other blogging tools make it easy to add keywords in a number of different places that really help you rank. Oh and don’t forget about linking…

3. Link to Other Blogs and Websites
As part of your SEO campaign, it’s a good idea to include outbound links. Google likes links to relevant and reputable websites.

4. Backlinking
This is one of the cornerstones of a good SEO campaign. The quality of your backlinks is very important though, the better the page rank and the higher the foot traffic, the better the backlink. Also what anchor text are you backlinking from? There are amazing free tools like BlueBacklinks.com that allow you to see how many backlinks you have and what anchor text is linking to you.

5. Internal Linking
If a blog post or page within your site has achieved a good page rank, use it to build in a few links to other pages within your site. Links will still hold search engine value even if they are coming from within the same site.

For an SEO website evaluation, contact us at info@skyboxcreative.com or call 619-381-3825

Skybox Creative, Inc. – Elevate your business with engaging brand + web design.