This\r\ngallery is also available as a TechRepublic article.
Whether\r\nyou are creating a personal blog or a large scale portal site, Search Engine\r\nOptimization (SEO) is essential to getting visitors to your site. Although it\r\nis possible to perform SEO manually, the process is often made easier through\r\nthe use of SEO tools. Recently I launched two new non-technology related blogs\r\n(www.poker-run-boats.com and www.howicruise.com). As such, I have been\r\nspending a lot of time lately evaluating various SEO tools. While I don’t claim\r\nto have looked at all of the available tools yet, here are five tools that I\r\nhave recently checked out.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
Web\r\nCEO SEO Suite a relatively high end SEO tool. The product is based around\r\nan entire collection of individual tools.
\r\n\r\n
Like most of the products on the market, Web CEO SEO can\r\nanalyze your search engine rankings and your keyword usage, but it can do far\r\nmore. For instance, there are tools for helping you to find link partners or\r\nmanage pay per click campaigns.
\r\n\r\n
Perhaps the best thing about Web CEO SEO Suite is the\r\nProject Manager. The Project Manager allows you to create a separate “project”\r\nfor each Web site. I’ve worked with some SEO tools that are only valid for a\r\nsingle site, or that make you start over each time you launch the tool. The\r\nProject Manager lets you keep track of the work that you have done on each of\r\nyour sites.
\r\n\r\nWeb CEO SEO Suite sells for\r\n$499, but a free 30-day trial is available for download.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
Traffic\r\nTravis is a free tool for analyzing and optimizing your Web site. When you\r\nfirst install Traffic Travis, you have to create an account and validate your\r\nE-mail address. After doing so however, you can begin entering the details of\r\nyour site.
\r\n\r\n
One of the nice things about this tool is that it shows you\r\nany existing warnings for the pages that make up your site. Doing so can help\r\nyou to ensure that your page is set up in a way that the search engines are\r\nexpecting.
\r\n\r\nAnother cool thing that\r\nthis tool does is keyword analysis. You can examine not only your own keyword\r\nrankings, but also those of your competitors.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
All\r\nin One Submission Tool is another search engine optimization tool. This\r\ntool is geared heavily toward helping you to submit your site to the various\r\nsearch engines.
\r\n\r\n
One of the cool things about this tool is that it minimizes\r\nthe amount of data that you have to manually enter into the tool. Much of the\r\nrequired information can be extracted from your Web site (assuming that it\r\nexists).
\r\n\r\n
Once a site has been submitted, you can use the various\r\nanalysis and ranking tools to try to improve your search engine rankings.
\r\n\r\n
The only real down side to this tool is that not all of the\r\nfeatures are available in all versions. For example, the tool can automatically\r\nbuild a Google site map, but the site map feature is only available in the\r\nenterprise and platinum versions of the tool.
\r\n\r\nAll in One Submission Tool\r\nsells for $69.90, but a free trial version is available for download.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
SEO\r\nAdministrator is an SEO tool that seems to have all of the basics covered.\r\nIn addition to being able to monitor your rankings and check link popularity,\r\nthe utility also features tools for keyword suggestions, HTML analysis, and\r\nsite analysis.
\r\n\r\n
All in all, this tool seems to work really well with the\r\nexception of the HTML Analyzing Tool. For whatever reason, I could not get that\r\nparticular feature to work.
\r\n\r\nSEO Administrator sells for\r\n$49.00, but a free trial version is available for download.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
\r\n\r\n
Ignite\r\nSEO is a tool for helping you to optimize your site’s search engine\r\nrankings. Like most of the other SEO tools, this tool can perform a full blown\r\nanalysis of your site. However, one feature that was somewhat unique was a\r\nsearch engine simulator. The tool is able to crawl you site as a search engine\r\nwould and show you what a search engine would see.
\r\n\r\n
The tool also contains another feature that could prove to\r\nbe extremely beneficial. It features a training section that teaches you how to\r\nuse the tool. All too often the various SEO tools assume that you already know\r\nhow SEO works.
\r\n\r\nIgnite SEO sells for\r\n$199.00, but a free 14 day-trial version is available for download.
\r\n\r\n
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Images by\r\nBrien Posey for TechRepublic
* 1988 - Started teaching myself about computers \ * 1992 - Mainframe programmer for an insurance company \ * 1993 - Network Administrator for a different insurance company \ * 1996 - Author for The Cobb Group \ * 1998 - Network Administrator for Fort Knox \ * 1999 - CIO for chain of hospitals \ * 2000 - Gave up the corporate rat race to work out of my home. I have been a full time technical author ever since. Visit my Web sites at http://www.brienposey.com and http://www.relevanttechnologies.com \
