The world of SEO is awash with scores of tools that promise to make a marketers job easier.

Wading through all these options can be a daunting task and not a few of these products are quite expensive.

But take heart.

These tips offered by Search experts during the recently concluded SES (Search Engine Strategies) Toronto 2009 conference could help you avoid a ton of labour and expense.

Before presenting the list of free or low-cost Search Engine Optimization tools offered by Search gurus it's best to begin with the caveat offered by Ken Jurina, president and co-founder of Epiar Inc., an Edmonton based Search Engine Optimization services provider.

"No single tool will answer all of your problems," Jurina said. "But there are a few you can use in combination to help you accomplish what you need."

He noted that many tools are developed by little known software companies, but can be accessed from sites we very likely already use.

"Firefox and Google for instance are terrific sources of free goodies. All you need to do is do a little snooping."

Jurina was one of the presenters of the segment titled Tool Time: The Search Marketer's Free-to-Cheap Goodie Bag.

Here are his top picks:

Web Developer toolbar -- The Firefox Web Developer Toolbar is one of the most useful tools you can have for Web design. It brings together functions related to Web development, validation services, and links to standards and other documentation.

SEO Quake: Allows Web masters and marketers to view tons of important Search Engine Optimization parameters inside the toolbar and/or search bar.

Ice Rocket: An invisible tracker that counts the visits your blog receives along with other important blog details.

Google GEO Search: Enables users to view their rankings within different geographic regions for paid and organic listings in Google.

G-Site Crawler: This is a site map generator for Yahoo and Google. While use of Google Sitemaps fosters optimal site indexing by Google, GSite Crawler helps you generate the best Google site map file for your Web site.

BackTweets: Searches for links from Twitter (shortened and unshortened) pointing to your Web site.

SpyFu: Allows you to spy on competitors organic and paid keywords. The paid keyword information includes competitors' daily budgets, clicks, average cost-per-click.

Google Insights for Search: With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.


[itbusiness.ca]