Today there are 372 different SEO tools for small businesses. We spent 117 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to boost your traffic and search engine rankings.
What is the Best SEO Tool for Small Business?
- Mangools — best of the best
- Semrush One — best for keyword research
- SpyFu — best for competitive analysis
- Ahrefs — best for backlink analysis
- Moz — best for on-page SEO optimization
- Long Tail Pro — best for long-tail keyword research
- Majestic — best for link building
1. Mangools
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $49/month
Mangools is the best solution for small businesses that need to juice up their organic rankings. We think it’s the best because of its amazing location-based SEO features.
The Best Part:
- Location-specific SERP analysis. Mangools allows you to analyze search results and uncover insights specific to over 52,000 locations, helping your small business reach top search results on your location.
The Worst Part:
- Limited rank tracking functionality. SERPWatcher, Mangools' rank tracking tool, does not allow simultaneous tracking of both your domain and search competitors. This limitation requires you to set up separate tracking systems for each.
Get it if you want a comprehensive SEO toolset for your small business, with features designed to help you dominate local search results.
I recommend you start with the 10-day free trial, then get the Mangools Basic plan for $49/month.
(10-day free trial)
Best For
Mangools is best for small businesses that want an affordable, easy-to-use SEO toolset to improve their organic traffic.
Top Features
- Uncover hidden gems with KWFinder. Discover low-competition, high-impact keywords to help your small business rise above the competition.
- Always know your next step with SERPChecker. Dive deep into the search engine results pages (SERPs) and make data-driven decisions to boost your online presence.
- Keep an eye on your rankings with SERPWatcher. Stay informed about your website's search engine rankings and tweak as needed to climb the ranks.
- Amp up your business presence with LinkMiner. Dig up powerful backlinks that give your small business' website a competitive edge.
- Assess your online authority with SiteProfiler. Get an insightful snapshot of your website's overall performance and identify areas for improvement to strengthen your online presence.
Pricing
Mangools offers three pricing plans:
- Mangools Basic: $49/month for small business owners who need essential tools to get started with SEO.
- Mangools Premium: $69/month for growing small business owners who want unlimited keyword suggestions and deep data access within Mangools
- Mangools Agency: $129/month for digital agencies and experienced SEO professionals who require high limits and additional seats.
Annual plans provide a 35% discount.
Try Mangools today with a free 10-day trial.
Our Verdict — Best for Small Business AI Visibility
Price:Starts at $199/month
Semrush is the ultimate tool for solo operators and small businesses that need help with SEO and AI Visibility. We think it’s the best for keyword research because of its in-depth competitive and keyword research capabilities.
The Best Part:
- Unrivaled keyword research capabilities. Semrush One's keyword research tool finds keywords where you can actually rank, instead of a bunch of high-volume terms you'd need years to get. Filter by difficulty to see the opportunities big traffic competitors are leaving on the table.
The Worst Part:
- Steep learning curve. Semrush comes loaded with tons of awesome features, but getting the hang of all of them may take some time.
Get it if you want to tap into Semrush's unbeatable keyword research capabilities and shoot your small business rankings to the top.
I recommend you get started with the 7-day free trial, then upgrade to the Semrush One Starter plan at $199/month.
(7-day free trial)
Best For
Semrush One is best for small business owners who want a comprehensive toolkit to gain a competitive edge with tons of new opportunities.
Top Features
- Draw in new customers. Semrush One finds keywords where a newer site with fewer backlinks can realistically show up on page one, instead of competing against sites that have been building authority for years.
- Get your site ranking-ready. With Semrush's Site Audit you can analyze and pinpoint on-page and technical SEO and AI Visibility issues that stand between you and top search rankings.
- Peek at competitors' traffic sources. See which pages drive the most traffic for any competitor, and which keywords those pages rank for. Finding one competitor's top traffic page you could replicate with a better angle is worth more than months of guesswork.
- Find the gaps. Enter a competitor's domain and see every keyword they rank for that you don't, filtered by traffic opportunity.
- AI Visibility Score. Tracks whether your business appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini responses when buyers search for what you sell.
Pricing
Semrush One offers three pricing plans:
- Starter: $199/month ($165.17/month billed annually). For bloggers, in-house marketers, freelancers, small teams, and agencies. Full SEO toolkit plus AI Visibility Toolkit. Includes rank tracking, website audits, keyword research, competitor analysis, prompt tracking, and AI Share of Voice monitoring.
- Pro+: $299/month ($248.17/month billed annually). For SEO consultancies, digital marketing agencies, and mid-sized businesses. Adds historical data, multi-location and device tracking, plus higher limits on keywords and projects.
- Advanced: $549/month ($455.67/month billed annually). For large enterprises that need to scale. Includes Share of Voice data, PLA analytics, and migration from current tools without losing data or progress reports.
The free plan limits you to tracking 10 keywords.
Annual billing saves 17%.
All paid plans come with a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Try Semrush One with a 7-day free trial.
3. SpyFu
Our Verdict — Best For Competitive Analysis
Price: Starts at $39/month
SpyFu is a powerful SEO spying tool for businesses who need to outrank their competition. We think it’s the best for competitive analysis because of its competitor spying tools.
The Best Part:
- The name is Bond. SpyFu is crafted to spy on your competitors' search engine strategies, providing you with unmatched insights to level up your SEO game and become the search engine leader in your industry.
The Worst Part:
- Tricky data sharing. Small business owners may face some hurdles when it comes to sharing specific reports and insights with their team or clients.
Get it if you want an affordable, user-friendly tool that empowers you to uncover your competitors' secret SEO tactics.
I recommend you get started with the Basic plan for $39/month.
(30-day money-back guarantee)
Best For
SpyFu is best for small business owners who want reliable software to stay on top of what their competitors are doing with their search engine ranking efforts.
Top Features
Devise a master plan. Dig into your competitors' domains with SpyFu's SEO workflow to learn the ins and out of their tactics and create a killer content strategy.
Hijack link-building opportunities. Spy on the pages linking back to your competitors, so you know the best places to retrieve your links from.
Steer clear of trouble. Spot the slip-ups in your competitors' SEO, thanks to Google updates, so you don't repeat their mistakes.
Broaden your scope. Sniff out new competitor sites to keep an eye on and stay a step ahead in the SEO race.
Size ‘em up. Gauge your competitors' SEO authority, so you know who's nailing it and what they're doing so right.
Pricing
SpyFu offers three pricing plans:
- Basic: $39/month for small business owners who need essential SpyFu features but don't require custom branded reporting or API access, covering up to 5k weekly keywords.
- Professional: $39/month for the first month, then $79/month for small businesses that require long-term historical competitor data, custom branding, and API access, covering up to 15k weekly keywords.
- Team: $299/month for small business teams and agencies that require access for up to five user accounts, supporting up to 40k weekly keywords.
Annual plans provide up to a 50% discount.
Try SpyFu today with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Our Top Three Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
- Mangools — best of the best
- Semrush One — best for keyword research
- SpyFu — best for competitor analysis
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
Mangools | 10-day free trial | Starts at $49/mo |
| Semrush One | Free plan | Starts at $199/mo |
SpyFu | 30-day money-back guarantee | Starts at $39/mo |
Ahrefs | Free plan | Starts at $99/mo |
Moz | 30-day free trial | Starts at $99/mo |
Long Tail Pro | 60-day money-back guarantee | Starts at $59.99/mo |
Majestic | Free preview | Starts at $49.99/mo |
Here are the top 50 SEO tools for small business we considered in this review:
- Mangools
- Semrush One
- SpyFu
- Ahrefs
- Moz
- Long Tail Pro
- Majestic
- Google Search Console
- Ubersuggest
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Yoast SEO
- Answer The Public
- WooRank
- SEOptimer
- Google Trends
- Keywords Everywhere
- Google Keyword Planner
- SEOquake
- Google Analytics
- SERProbot
- DeepCrawl
- Siteliner
- BrightLocal
- Schema.org
- BuzzSumo
- SEObility
- Rank Math
- SEO PowerSuite
- SERanking
- OnCrawl
- SEOProfiler
- Varvy SEO tool
- Linkody
- Keyword Hero
- CanIRank
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Botify
- Raven Tools
- Netpeak Spider
- Dareboost
- GTmetrix
- MarketMuse
- SEO Panel
- Serpstat
- Conductor
- CognitiveSEO
- Nightwatch
- Advanced Web Ranking
- Sitechecker
- LinkResearchTools
What to look for when buying SEO tools for small businesses?
- Keyword analysis tools to identify relevant keywords
- Location-based and online reviews tools
- Tools for finding competitive keyword for your target audience
- Keyword tracking features to monitor search volumes and click-through raters of your target search terms
- Valuable insights into the search intent behind search terms
- Organic traffic stats and search traffic patterns
- Tools that enhance the user experience, such as broken links fixer
- Features to help with both on-page and off-page SEO
- Integration with their social media platforms
- Content ideas based on keyword search volumes
- SEO performance benchmarking tools
- Backlink profile analysis tools
- Content optimization tools to turn regular articles into high-quality content
- Alternatively, you can go with simpler DIY SEO tools.
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best SEO tools for small business to try this year:
- Mangools — best of the best
- Semrush One — best for keyword research
- SpyFu — best for competitive analysis
- Ahrefs — best for backlink analysis
- Moz — best for on-page SEO optimization
- Long Tail Pro — best for long-tail keyword research
- Majestic — best for link building