SEO Toolbox
A curated, opinionated list of the SEO tools, browser extensions, APIs, and resources I actually use to run enterprise SEO operations — so other operators don't have to rebuild their stack from scratch.
Why this list exists
Most SEO "tool list" articles are SEO bait — bloated, indistinguishable, written to rank rather than to help. This is the opposite: the small set of tools I use every day, what each one is genuinely good for, and where I'd skip the paid tier.
The list is grouped by job-to-be-done rather than category, so you can jump to the part of the workflow you actually need: research, audit, monitoring, content, or reporting.
Research & analysis
For finding opportunities, sizing markets, and understanding intent.
Best link index in the industry; Site Explorer's "Best by Links" view is the most useful single SEO screen there is. Worth the spend if you do anything competitive.
Strongest keyword data outside the US, plus the best ad-copy intelligence layer. I use it more for paid + organic crossover than for backlinks.
Free, ground-truth, irreplaceable. Hook it up to BigQuery for query-level analysis no third-party tool can match.
Technical audits
For finding what's actually broken — not just what looks broken.
Still the only crawler I trust for enterprise sites. JS rendering mode + custom extraction handles 95% of audit work; the other 5% needs a log file.
More opinionated audit reports than Screaming Frog — faster way to brief a non-technical stakeholder. Pairs well, doesn't replace.
Real-user metrics from the Chrome UX Report. Treat field data as truth; treat lab data as a hypothesis.
Monitoring & reporting
For knowing when something has moved before the client does.
Cost-effective rank tracker for portfolios. Holds up at the price point; the API is the reason I keep it.
For anything portfolio-level. Pulling GSC, GA4, and Ads into one warehouse beats every dashboard product on the market once you're past 10 properties.
Whatever you think of GTM, you'll be using it. Spend the time to set up Server-Side once — it'll save you in the cookie-deprecation cycle.
AI & automation
The newer end of the stack. Mostly Anthropic-flavoured because that's the model I trust.
Default model for content briefs, audit summarisation, and any analysis where reasoning quality beats raw speed. Sonnet for volume, Opus for hard problems.
For repo-aware tasks — site-template work, programmatic schema fixes, automation glue. Plus, the same login powers Codetta's AI panel.
My own editor — lightweight, BYOK, and it understands the projects I'm in without burning API credits if I already pay for Claude.