In this post, we’ve listed four of our favorite FREE Google tools. We’ll also cover how these can help you step up your SEO game.
Improve Your SEO Strategy – 4 Free Google Tools
1- Google Trends
Google Trends is for tracking “trends” around search queries. The keyword research tool is good for tracking such trends.
Finding new keywords
On the site, you will see a search bar where you can enter a broad topic or a specific search query. After you enter your query, a trend graph appears over time that interests you in the query.
While this is helpful, the real gems are at the bottom of the page: Related Topics and Related Queries.
These two boxes are set to “rising” by default. It means these topics are gaining popularity. You can use these keywords first to get to the first positions and rise quickly.
Advanced keyword research
Even at a basic level Google Trends is helpful, but you can always go a step further. At the top of Google Trends you will find a menu that allows you to specify region, time period, category and search platforms.
Region lets you specify where you want to pull search data from geographically. This is especially helpful when working on local SEO projects.
2. Visual Stories
Google summarizes Visual Stories as “Small-size visual stories for busy marketers driven by trending topics and data from Google”.
These stories range from holiday shopping trends to specific industry case studies and more. They are interactive slides, each containing a few predictions or data points.
You can see an image from the automotive industry story in the link below .
However, these data points do not only work on search data focus. It’s clear that this is an extensive case study by Google. Some shared predictions address the desires, experiences, and perceptions of the audience.
This information is meant to change the user journey, including what was previously important to the customer. It’s also meant to address issues that haven’t been uncovered before. However, on a more basic level, it can also be used to give an SEO an idea of what keywords to focus on.
3. Grow My Store – Improve Your SEO Strategy
Anyone who sells a product online or in person would benefit from Grow My Store. Growing Online Stores gathers data for Google Identifiers from web sites.
These identifiers are in five categories. Product Information, Store Details, Personalization, Customer Service and Security.
This tool literally conveys Google’s idea of a must-have for a business website that sells products. Some of the included components are product reviews, profiles for shoppers, live chat, and HTTPS.
To use Grow My Store, simply answer three questions. What is your domain name, what kind of business do you have and what industry are you in? When you answer the questions, you’ll see a preview of your report along with your overall score and some data about your industry. To complete your full report with recommendations, you must create an account. You can get the report later by e-mail.
Then you get an account where you can create (and track) a checklist of changes that need to be made, according to Google.
It also includes data and forecasts customized for your industry. Grow My Store has the “Reach More Customers” option to find this data. If you scroll down a bit, you will find a section titled “Understanding industry trends”. Here are the top searches in that industry, the best months for the industry, etc. You will be able to select your industry and specific category to get specific information such as
4. Test Your Site
Another great tool for measuring your site in Google’s eyes is Test My Site . Much like Grow My Store, Test My Site tests for three very specific categories of features on your site. These features are Speed, Personalization and Experience. Unlike Grow My Store, Test My Site is for any website, not just product-based business sites.
The first report you’ll get from Test My Site is a mini-report showing your mobile site speed and suggestions for fixes.
Finally;
Google is often mysterious about what they care about on their website. In addition, there are quite a few resources to get an idea about the important points. By using these tools, you can easily get one step ahead.