FREE VS Paid SEO Tools

In this article, I will explain which paid SEO tools are available and which free alternatives you can use instead. I had posted a short video on this earlier, and many people requested a detailed explanation on the tools their usage and how to utilize their free alternatives. So let is dive in.

WP Rocket Plugin: Paid vs Free Alternatives

I have searched for the WP Rocket plugin here. This is a paid plugin though I do offer it for free to some limited number of students. If you are interested in using this plugin for free and with the functionalities of this plugin-the theme helps in optimization of website speed. Doing website speed optimization requires you to put emphasis on two elements which include image compression and lazy loading.

Smush Plugin for Image Optimization

You can use the Smush plugin for image optimization. This helps compress the size of your images and reduce their file size. There are other settings available in this plugin that you should configure to get the best results.

Lazy Load Plugin

You also have Lazy Load the plugin that slows down the load of images within your website. Once you have installed this particular plugin then images and any other media is only loaded to the page only when the visitor scrolls down through the page itself which there by reduces the loading time of a page on first request.

WP Fastest Cache Plugin for Caching

The other tool is WP Fastest Cache. This caches the local versions of your site's resources at the user's browser that will create load on the server when it's visited again. Once a visitor goes back to the site then the local version of the page is loaded instead of going and fetching again from the server. Thus it greatly enhances speed optimization.

Using Google PageSpeed Tools

Google's PageSpeed Tool helps you to test your website's speed. Just enter the URL of your website and you will find all the statistics as to how your site is performing. It is a good tool to be further analyzed and optimized.

Alternatives for Paid Tools: Free Keyword Research Tools

Now let is talk about keyword research for those who cannot pay for expensive paid tools. For keyword research you can study titles and content to see if a page is relevant to your search. You can also use Moz's keyword tools which may be difficult to gain access to for free.

SEO Wallet Extension

The other way is the SEO Wallet extension. You can install this to get data about website headings and titles. Understanding whether the competitive site's content is relevant to yours by analyzing its keywords and titles will be possible.

Free Alternatives for Paid Website Audit Tools

There are multiple tools available for website audits. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can audit websites. However, if you are looking for a free alternative, the Screaming Frog tool is useful for websites under 500 pages. If you have more than that, you should be able to find licenses available in the market. You may also want to try Surfer SEO for optimizing content.