SEO Tools · Personally Tested by Niraj Raut

Best SEO Tools I Use
and Recommend (2025)

After 8+ years in SEO, I've tested hundreds of tools. Here are the ones actually worth your time and money — rated, priced, and explained from real campaign experience.

See My Recommendations Get a Free SEO Audit
8+Years SEO
100+Tools Tested
50+Client Sites
2025Up to Date
My Tool Stack
Ahrefs Keyword & Backlinks
SEMrush Competitor Analysis
Screaming Frog Technical SEO
Google Search Console Performance Monitoring
GA4 Analytics
SurferSEO Content Optimisation

Updated March 2025 · Based on active client campaigns

Section 01

Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research is where every SEO campaign starts. These are the four tools I use (and have used on real client campaigns) to find high-value, low-competition opportunities.

Keyword Research

Ahrefs

£99/mo

My primary keyword research and backlink analysis tool. I use it every single day — the data quality is best-in-class.

What I use it for:

  • Competitor keyword gap analysis to find quick-win opportunities
  • Keyword difficulty scoring to prioritise low-competition targets
  • Content Explorer to identify linkable asset ideas

Pros

  • Best backlink index in the industry
  • Accurate search volume data for Nepal
  • Site Audit feature saves hours of manual checking
  • Content gap tool is genuinely brilliant

Cons

  • Expensive for solo freelancers
  • No PPC data in basic plans
  • Data export limits on lower tiers
View Tool
Keyword Research

SEMrush

$119/mo

My go-to for competitor analysis, PPC research, and the best Position Tracking dashboard I've found anywhere.

What I use it for:

  • Competitor organic research — see exactly what any domain ranks for
  • Position tracking with daily rank updates and SERP feature monitoring
  • PPC + organic overlap research for clients running paid and organic together

Pros

  • Excellent PPC + SEO overlap data
  • Best-in-class Position Tracking
  • Topic Research tool for content ideas
  • Massive keyword database

Cons

  • Slightly lower backlink index quality vs Ahrefs
  • Interface can feel cluttered
  • Pricing jumps sharply between tiers
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Keyword Research

Google Keyword Planner

Free

Underrated by experienced SEOs but absolutely essential — especially for Nepal CPC data, which is most accurate here.

What I use it for:

  • Finding CPC data for Nepal (.np, Nepali-language keywords)
  • Validating search demand before writing content
  • Discovering long-tail variations directly from Google's own database

Pros

  • Completely free
  • Data comes directly from Google
  • Best tool for Nepal-specific CPC estimates
  • Good for broad keyword discovery

Cons

  • Buckets search volumes (200–1K rather than exact)
  • Requires a Google Ads account
  • No keyword difficulty score
View Tool
Keyword Research

Ubersuggest

$29/mo

A solid budget option for beginners getting started with keyword research before committing to Ahrefs or SEMrush.

What I use it for:

  • Quick keyword ideas when you need a fast second opinion
  • Basic site audit for freelancers on a tight budget
  • Content ideas tool for blog topic generation

Pros

  • Very affordable
  • Good UI for beginners
  • Lifetime plan available
  • Decent keyword database for basic research

Cons

  • Data accuracy lower than Ahrefs/SEMrush
  • Limited backlink data
  • Not suitable for enterprise or agency use
  • Support can be slow
View Tool
Section 02

Technical SEO Tools

Technical SEO is the foundation everything else sits on. These tools help me crawl, audit, and diagnose the issues that quietly kill rankings.

Technical SEO

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Free up to 500 URLs / £259/yr paid

The industry standard for technical site audits. I run this on every client site before touching anything else. It surfaces broken links, duplicate content, redirect chains, missing meta tags, and hundreds of other issues in minutes.

  • Full site crawl to identify crawl errors, broken links, and redirect chains
  • Bulk meta tag and heading analysis across thousands of URLs
  • Integration with GA4 and Search Console for data-enriched crawls
Technical SEO

Google Search Console

Free — non-negotiable

If you only use one SEO tool, make it Google Search Console. Direct data from Google on impressions, clicks, CTR, position, index coverage, Core Web Vitals, and manual actions. There is no substitute.

  • Monitoring index coverage and fixing crawl/indexing errors
  • Identifying low-CTR high-impression keywords ripe for title tag optimisation
  • Tracking Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) across your real-user data
Technical SEO

PageSpeed Insights & Core Web Vitals

Free

Google's own tool for measuring page performance. I use this alongside Search Console's CWV report to diagnose and fix LCP, INP, and CLS issues — which directly affect rankings.

  • Diagnosing render-blocking resources and LCP issues
  • Comparing lab vs field data to prioritise real-user impact
  • Validating performance fixes before and after deployment
Technical SEO

Sitebulb

From $13.50/mo

A more visual, client-friendly alternative to Screaming Frog. The Hints system prioritises issues by impact, which is brilliant for creating executive-level audit reports.

  • Creating visual technical audit reports for clients
  • Priority-ranked issue detection with the Hints engine
  • JavaScript rendering crawls to audit SPAs and JS-heavy sites
Section 04

Free SEO Tools Every Beginner Should Know

Before you spend a single rupee on paid tools, master these six free tools. They cover 80% of what you need to start ranking.

Google Search Console

Your direct line to Google's data. Impressions, clicks, indexing, Core Web Vitals. Absolutely non-negotiable — set it up today.

Visit Tool

Google Analytics 4

Understand user behaviour — where traffic comes from, which pages convert, how users move through your site. Free and essential.

Visit Tool

Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing is a meaningful traffic source, especially for international audiences. Free keyword research tool included — massively underused.

Visit Tool

Google Trends

Spot seasonal trends, validate keyword interest over time, and compare Nepal search behaviour vs global. Perfect for content calendars.

Visit Tool

Answer the Public

Visualises the questions and prepositions people attach to your seed keyword. Brilliant for building FAQ content and voice search coverage.

Visit Tool

LSI Graph

Generates semantically related terms to enrich your content. Helps with topical authority and avoiding over-reliance on exact-match keywords.

Visit Tool
Section 05

SEO Tools for Nepal-Specific Research

Doing SEO for Nepali businesses or targeting Nepali audiences requires a slightly different approach with these tools. Here is how I handle Nepal-specific research:

Using Ahrefs for Nepal

  • Set the country filter to Nepal (NP) in Keywords Explorer to see search volumes for Nepali queries
  • Use Site Explorer to analyse .com.np domains and find what keywords Nepali competitors rank for
  • Filter backlink reports by referring domain country to see which Nepali sites link to competitors
  • Use the Content Explorer with language filter to find top-performing Nepali content in any niche

Using SEMrush for Nepal

  • Set the database to Nepal in Keyword Overview and Organic Research — SEMrush has a dedicated Nepal database
  • Use Market Explorer to see the landscape of competing domains targeting Nepali keywords
  • Position Tracking can be set to Nepal location targeting for accurate local rank monitoring

Google Keyword Planner + Nepal

  • Set location to Nepal in the targeting settings for real CPC and competition data
  • Search in Nepali language (Devanagari) to find Nepali-script keyword opportunities that almost no one targets
  • Cross-reference with Google Trends (Nepal) to validate seasonal demand patterns

Want to learn how to use these tools for your Nepali business? My SEO Training Course covers Nepal-specific keyword research in depth, using Ahrefs and SEMrush on live Nepali sites.

Nepal SEO Landscape

~1.2MMonthly Google searches originating from Nepal
LowAverage keyword difficulty for most Nepali niches
HighROI potential for early movers in Nepali SERPs
Mobile~80% of Nepal search traffic is on mobile
Section 06

My Recommended Starter SEO Stack

Not sure which tools to start with? Here are three curated stacks based on your budget and goals.

No Budget Required

Free Stack

Everything you need to start ranking — completely free.

  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics 4
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Bing Webmaster Tools
  • Google Trends
  • Screaming Frog (free, ≤500 URLs)

This stack will get any beginner 80% of the way there. No excuses.

~$30–50/mo

Mid-Range Stack

Serious freelancer or small business owner level.

  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics 4
  • Ubersuggest ($29/mo)
  • Screaming Frog (paid)
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Moz Link Explorer (free tier)

When you start earning from SEO, invest here first.

~$200–300/mo

Pro Stack

Agency-level toolkit for serious practitioners.

  • Ahrefs (£99/mo)
  • SEMrush or Screaming Frog
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics 4
  • SurferSEO (content optimisation)
  • Sitebulb (client audits)

This is what I use. Built for results, not demos.

FAQ

Common Questions About SEO Tools

Google Search Console is the single best free SEO tool available. It gives you direct data from Google on impressions, clicks, average position, Core Web Vitals, and index coverage. Pair it with Google Analytics 4 and you have a powerful free foundation. For keyword research specifically, Google Keyword Planner is excellent — and for Nepal, it provides the most accurate CPC data available anywhere.

Yes, absolutely — if you are doing SEO professionally or for a business generating meaningful revenue. Ahrefs at £99/month saves me 10–15 hours of research time per week. It lets you filter keyword data by Nepal specifically, so you can see real search volumes for Nepali queries. For a beginner just starting out, start with free tools and upgrade to Ahrefs once you have your first client.

No. Nepal's digital landscape is still relatively low-competition compared to global markets, which means you can achieve solid rankings using Google Search Console, GA4, Google Keyword Planner, and Screaming Frog's free tier. Paid tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush dramatically accelerate competitive research and backlink analysis, but they are not a prerequisite — especially in the early stages.

From my experience and conversations with other practitioners, most professional SEO agencies in Nepal use a combination of Ahrefs or SEMrush for keyword and backlink research, Screaming Frog or Sitebulb for technical audits, Google Search Console and GA4 for performance monitoring, and reporting tools like Google Looker Studio. Some also use SurferSEO or Clearscope for content optimisation.

Technically yes, but it is extremely time-inefficient. SEO tools help you uncover opportunities, diagnose issues, and analyse competitors in minutes — work that would take days manually. Even just using Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (both free) gives you enormous insight. The further you progress in SEO, the more you will appreciate what a good tool saves you in time and guesswork.

Ready to Put These Tools to Work?

Knowing the tools is one thing. Knowing how to use them on real campaigns is another. I'm Nepal's go-to SEO Expert Nepal — and I've been doing this for 8+ years. Let me show you exactly how.

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