AI is showing up more in search results. Organic clicks? They’re getting harder to earn. And that old SEO playbook? It just doesn’t cut it anymore.
But here’s the good news:
You can still win—if you’ve got the right tools.
Not by chasing the latest hacks, but by working smarter, moving faster, and focusing on what actually works.
These are the exact tools my team and I use to drive over 867,000+ sessions a month (most of that from organic search!).
And the best part?
They still work really well in today’s AI-powered search landscape—no matter your business size or industry.
Let’s jump in.
🔧 My Top SEO Tools for 2025
1. Semrush
Best for: Digging into your competitors’ SEO (and PPC) strategies
Pricing: Starts at $139.95/month — free plan available
Yes, Semrush always pops up on SEO tool lists—but for good reason. It’s a beast. You can do almost anything SEO-related in one place.
But I don’t use it for everything. I like to pick the best tool for each job. And when it comes to competitor research? Semrush is top-tier.
🕵️♂️ See What Your Competitors Are Ranking For
The Domain Overview tool is my go-to. It shows how a site’s organic traffic is trending, which keywords are driving that traffic, and how they rank.
Say you’re in the travel space and want to check out Sandals.com. You can quickly see:
- Whether their traffic is going up or down
- How many top 3 rankings they have
- Which keywords bring them the most traffic (a lot of them are branded!)
- What percentage of traffic comes from branded vs. non-branded terms
If a brand is getting most of its traffic from branded searches, like Sandals.com, that tells me they’ve built strong brand recognition.
💰 Find Out Where They’re Spending on Ads
Semrush also lets me spy on competitors’ paid search campaigns.
Why does this matter for SEO?
Because if someone is consistently spending money on certain keywords, there’s a good chance those keywords are profitable.
I use the Advertising Research tool to see where competitors are investing. This helps me find high-converting keywords I might want to rank for organically.
📚 Uncover High-Performing Topics
The Organic Research tool also breaks down top-performing content and topic clusters. When I analyze Sandals.com, for example, I notice a lot of their traffic comes from content about Jamaica.
That tells me Jamaica-related content is a core part of their SEO strategy.
Each topic cluster also shows subtopics, search volume, and keyword difficulty—super helpful when planning content.
✅ Pros:
- Powerful competitor analysis for both SEO and PPC
- Detailed ad insights
- Great for local SEO too
❌ Cons:
- The number of features can be overwhelming for beginners
Also Read: What do SEO Audit Tools Offer?
🔁 Semrush Alternative: Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another all-in-one SEO tool I like, especially for content ideas and backlink analysis.
It’s easy to use and has a clean interface. But Semrush usually gives you more features for a similar price—and it covers more than just SEO (like social, PPC, and outreach).
2. SEO Gets
Best for: Agencies or SEO managers tracking multiple sites
Pricing: $49/month — free version available
SEO Gets is my favorite for making sense of Google Search Console data. It gives me an instant overview of all my websites—no need to click into each one separately.
📈 Check Which Pages Are Growing or Slipping
With one dashboard, I can see which pages are gaining traffic and which are losing it. It helps me prioritize updates and decide where to put my energy next.
🧩 Track Topic Cluster Performance
Instead of tracking single keywords, I can track whole topic clusters like “YouTube SEO” or “Backlink Building.”
I can see impressions, clicks, and average rankings—plus whether things are improving or slipping.
You also get Content Groups, which sort pages by URL section. That’s perfect for understanding what areas of your site are doing best.
🔍 Follow Keyword Trends
One of the features I check daily is keyword movement. You can instantly see which keywords are trending up or down, and compare performance over time (like this month vs. last).
This helps me spot opportunities fast.
⚠️ Identify Content That’s Slipping
Honestly, this is my favorite part of the whole tool.
You can instantly see what content is decaying. If a page is losing traffic, it’s probably time for a refresh or some new internal links.
And if a page is blowing up in traffic? Double down on it.
✅ Pros:
- All your most important SEO data in one place
- Super easy to spot trends and shifts
❌ Cons:
- Like Semrush, there’s a learning curve for beginners
Also Read: How to Use Google Analytics for SEO?
🔁 SEO Gets Alternative: Google Search Console (GSC)
GSC is free and great—but it only lets you view one site at a time. SEO Gets pulls in all your properties into a single dashboard and gives you trend insights that are much easier to read.
3. Screaming Frog
Best for: SEO pros who need deep crawls and audits
Pricing: $259/year — free version available
Screaming Frog is a classic SEO crawler. It runs on your desktop and mimics how search engines crawl your site.
It checks for broken links, duplicate content, bad redirects, metadata issues—you name it.
🛠️ Customize Your Crawl
One of the things I love most is the flexibility. You don’t always have to crawl your whole site. Sometimes I just want to analyze a handful of URLs—like a blog section or product pages.
That saves a ton of time.
🔗 Bring in Real User Data
Screaming Frog connects with GA4, Google Search Console, and even OpenAI. So I can layer crawl data with real-world user insights like bounce rate or CTR.
That way, I don’t have to jump between tools to figure out what’s working and what’s not.
You can even use the ChatGPT integration to help write meta descriptions or alt text. It’s nerdy, but powerful.
✅ Pros:
- Deep technical audits with customizable crawls
- API integrations bring everything together
- Great value for the price
❌ Cons:
- No cloud version—you’ll need to install it
Also Read: Which SEO Metrics Matter Most?
🔁 Screaming Frog Alternative: Sitebulb
Sitebulb is similar but includes more visual reporting (like charts and heatmaps). It’s great if you want audits to be more presentation-ready.
