Guide · SEO tools
SEO Tools: Which Ones I Use Daily – and What For
Seven tools are enough for daily SEO work
Seven tools are enough for daily SEO work: Google Search Console, Ahrefs or Semrush for keyword data, Screaming Frog for crawls, Surfer SEO for texts, PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix for load times. The most important data source is free – only the Search Console shows what visitors to your website actually searched for.
What SEO tools deliver – and what they don’t
SEO tools are data collectors. They crawl websites, estimate search volumes, measure load times and log rankings. What they don’t do: decide. Whether a page gets expanded, merged or deleted isn’t in any dashboard. Tools deliver data – the decision is the work.
Most articles on this topic list 20 or 30 tools, often with an affiliate link. Here I describe the seven I actually open, and the question each of them answers. Working on most websites doesn’t require more.
Google Search Console: the only real data
All paid tools estimate. The Google Search Console measures. It’s free and is the only tool that shows which search queries users actually used to find your website in Google search – including impressions, clicks and position. Ahrefs and Semrush extrapolate such values from their own databases; for your own website, any extrapolation remains less accurate than the original data.
“I manage around 15 client projects in parallel, and in each of them the Search Console is the first window I open. It answers the one question all paid tools can only estimate: what did people really search for?”
— Viktor Pásztor, SEO freelancer
What it lacks is the view outward. It doesn’t deliver competitor data, nor search volumes for new topics. That’s what the next two are for.
Ahrefs and Semrush: keyword and competitor data
Both answer the same questions: what is being searched for, how often, and who ranks for it? I use them for keyword research, competitor analyses and backlink checks. For a single project, one of the two suites is enough – I work with both, because different client projects come with different setups.
According to the vendor’s pricing page, Ahrefs costs 129 US dollars per month on the Lite plan, the stripped-down Starter plan 29 US dollars (as of August 2026). Semrush charges 139 US dollars monthly for the SEO plan according to its own pricing page, or 117.33 US dollars per month with annual billing (as of August 2026).
More important than the choice between the two is what you do with the data. A keyword with high search volume is not a strategy. It’s a candidate.
Screaming Frog: the crawler
Screaming Frog does what the Googlebot does: it visits every page of your website and logs what it finds – status codes, redirect chains, duplicate title tags, missing alt texts, indexing problems. For technical SEO, it’s my most important tool. Up to 500 URLs the software is free according to the vendor; the annual licence costs 279 US dollars (as of August 2026).
For shop migrations – most recently from plentymarkets to Shopify – I crawl before and after the move and compare both states. That way every lost URL stands out before Google misses it.
Surfer SEO: content optimisation
Surfer compares a text with the pages already ranking for the target keyword: terms used, structure, length. That noticeably speeds up on-page optimisation, but doesn’t replace judgement. The standard plan costs 99 US dollars per month with annual billing according to the provider, the entry-level Discovery plan 49 US dollars (as of August 2026).
My rule: Surfer delivers the checklist, writing is for humans. A high content score on a text nobody reads to the end is a lost working day.
PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix: load time
PageSpeed Insights is Google’s free measurement tool for load time and Core Web Vitals – with real field data from Chrome users where there’s enough traffic. GTmetrix adds waterfall charts and continuous monitoring; the basic version is free, paid plans start at 5.99 US dollars per month with annual billing according to the vendor (as of August 2026).
Both tell you what ails a slow page. Whether fixing it is worth it, they don’t say: compressing an image is done in minutes, a theme change is a project.
All tools at a glance
| Tool | Answers the question | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | What did users really search for? | free |
| Ahrefs | What’s being searched, who ranks for it? | from 29 US dollars/month, Lite 129 US dollars/month |
| Semrush | What’s being searched, who ranks for it? | from 117.33 US dollars/month with annual billing |
| Screaming Frog | What does a crawler find on my website? | free up to 500 URLs, licence 279 US dollars/year |
| Surfer SEO | What is my text missing compared to the competition? | from 49 US dollars/month with annual billing |
| PageSpeed Insights | How fast does my page load for real users? | free |
| GTmetrix | Why does my page load slowly? | basic version free, Pro from 5.99 US dollars/month |
All prices come from the vendor pages linked above, retrieved on 1 August 2026. At the cheapest entry level, the range runs from 0 to 117.33 US dollars per month.
An audit with exactly these tools
This is how a typical audit day goes for me. First the Search Console: which pages are losing clicks, which are gaining, where does the gap between impressions and clicks yawn? Then Screaming Frog crawls the complete website and uncovers the technical side. Ahrefs or Semrush deliver the comparison with competitors in parallel. Finally, PageSpeed Insights checks the most important page types – homepage, category, product.
By evening, four data sources sit side by side. Now the real part begins: deciding what gets fixed in which order. For routine evaluations, I’ve built my own system with MCP SEO that automates the data collection – nothing gets implemented without client approval, and the system doesn’t take the decision off my hands.
Common mistakes when using SEO tools
Subscribing instead of using
Three suites on subscription, none opened daily. Only when a tool answers a recurring question does it earn its subscription.
Mistaking estimates for measurements
The “traffic” suites show for third-party domains is an extrapolation. For your own website, the Search Console counts, not the estimate.
Making the content score the goal
The score measures similarity with what already ranks – not quality. If you optimise only for the number, you’re copying the average of the search results.
Crawling without consequence
A crawl export nobody prioritises and works through is not an audit. It’s a very long spreadsheet.
Frequently asked questions about SEO tools
Is a single SEO tool enough for everything?
No. Even the big suites replace neither a desktop crawler with the depth of Screaming Frog nor the real search data of the Search Console. Realistic is a set of three: Search Console, a keyword suite, a crawler.
Ahrefs or Semrush – which should I choose?
For the core tasks, there’s little between them. Test both on your own keywords and keep the tool whose interface suits you – the difference in day-to-day use is smaller than comparison articles claim.
Can I get by entirely with free tools?
Further than many think: Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and the free Screaming Frog version up to 500 URLs cover your own website. What’s missing is keyword and competitor data – that’s exactly what you pay the suites for.
Do I need my own tool licences if I hire an SEO freelancer?
No. I bring the licences with me – they’re part of the service. What I need from you is access to your Search Console. What the collaboration itself costs is on the SEO pricing page.
Viktor Pásztor
Viktor Pásztor is an SEO freelancer in Berlin, has been in digital marketing for over 15 years and manages around 15 client projects in parallel, mostly e-commerce and B2B. He has been working 100 % remotely for more than five years – with WordPress, Shopify, Shopware and TYPO3. More about Viktor Pásztor
Keep reading
Keyword research
How search data becomes a topic list.
Technical SEO
What a crawl finds and what happens next.
SEO pricing
What working with me costs.
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