The free SEO tools a small business needs most come from Google itself: Google Search Console, Google Business Profile and Google Analytics. Add PageSpeed Insights and Bing Webmaster Tools and you can see how Google finds your website, how locals find you on Maps, and which visits turn into enquiries, without paying for anything. ADEL SEO helps local businesses get more enquiries from Google, Google Maps and AI search, with websites, SEO and Google Ads. Founded in Adelaide in 2014 by Wilson Tiong, who has been doing SEO since 2007.
Key takeaways
- Start with the free tools Google makes: they show Google's own data about your business.
- Set them up in order: Search Console, Business Profile, Analytics, then the checkers.
- Free keyword tools show what people search; they don't tell you which searches bring jobs.
- Free tools find problems. Knowing which ones cost you calls is the hard part.
Can you do SEO for free?
Partly. The tools are free and many fixes are free: claiming your Google Business Profile, writing a page for each main service, asking happy customers for reviews. What isn't free is the time, and the judgement to know which of the hundreds of warnings a tool shows actually matter. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is work that helps a business show up in Google's free results for the searches its customers make, and the tools below are where that work starts.
The 5 free SEO tools to set up first
| Order | Tool | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Search Console | Which searches your website shows up for, which pages Google has stored, and problems Google finds |
| 2 | Google Business Profile | How you appear on Google Maps and in local results: categories, services, hours, reviews |
| 3 | Google Analytics | Who visits, where they came from, and which visits turn into calls and form enquiries |
| 4 | PageSpeed Insights | How fast your pages load on a phone, and what slows them down |
| 5 | Bing Webmaster Tools | How Bing sees your site; Bing's index also feeds ChatGPT search |
1. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows which searches a website appears for and any problems Google finds. It's the closest thing to seeing your website through Google's eyes: the searches you show up for, your average position, which pages are indexed and which aren't, and why. If you set up only one tool, make it this one. Google Search Console
2. Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is a business's free listing on Google Search and Google Maps, with hours, reviews and photos. For a local business it often brings more calls than the website. Check your main category, list every service, set your service area and add photos of real work. More: local SEO. Google Business Profile
3. Google Analytics
Google Analytics shows who visits your website and what they do. The part most small businesses miss is tracking calls and form enquiries as key events, so you can see which visits turned into work. Without that, you're guessing. Google Analytics
4. PageSpeed Insights
Paste in your web address and PageSpeed Insights scores how fast the page loads on a phone and desktop, using the same speed measures Google uses (Core Web Vitals). Slow pages lose visitors before they call. PageSpeed Insights
5. Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing is smaller than Google in Australia, but Bing's index also feeds ChatGPT search, so being listed properly in Bing helps you in AI answers too. It's free and can import your settings from Search Console. Bing Webmaster Tools
Free keyword research tools
A free keyword research tool shows what people type into Google and roughly how often:
- Google Keyword Planner sits inside Google Ads. You need a Google Ads account, but you can use the planner without running ads. Keyword Planner
- Google Trends shows whether a search is growing, shrinking or seasonal, and where in Australia it's searched most. Google Trends
- Google Search Console again: the best keyword list you'll ever get is the searches you already show up for.
What free keyword tools can't tell you is which searches turn into jobs. "Pest control course" and "pest control near me" both contain "pest control"; only one brings a customer.
Free SEO audit tools
A free SEO audit tool crawls your website and lists problems: missing titles, broken links, slow pages. Most SEO software companies offer a free version with limits. They're useful for a first look, with one warning: they show hundreds of issues with the same urgency. A blocked service page and a missing image description can look equally red.
Two free checks from Google are worth knowing:
- Rich Results Test checks the schema markup on a page: code that tells Google and AI tools exactly what a business is, where it is and what it offers. Rich Results Test
- URL Inspection inside Search Console tells you whether a single page is indexed, and lets you ask Google to look at it again.
If you'd like a person to sort the real problems from the noise, our free SEO audit is an on-page and technical check of your website, with what we'd fix first.
What are the best free SEO tools?
For a local business, the best free SEO tools are the ones with Google's own data: Search Console, Business Profile and Analytics. Third-party free tools estimate. Google's tools report what actually happened on your website and your profile. Start there before anything else.
What we use ourselves
We use the same free Google tools every day for every client: Search Console for searches, indexing and links, Google Analytics for enquiries, and each client's Google Business Profile. On top of that we pay for SE Ranking (keyword volumes, Google page 1 checks, backlinks, site audits, AI search tracking) and Nightwatch (rank tracking). More on paid tools: SEO software.
When free SEO tools stop being enough
Free tools are enough to keep a small website healthy. They stop being enough when you want to know why a competitor outranks you, which links they have that you don't, or how your rankings move week to week across many searches. That's when paid SEO software, or someone who uses it daily, earns its cost. See technical SEO for what we fix once the problems are found.
Free SEO tools FAQs
Is Google SEO free?
Showing up in Google's normal results is free: you don't pay Google per click. The work to get there takes time or money. Google Ads, the paid results at the top, cost per click.
What is the best free SEO tool?
Google Search Console. It's free, it comes from Google, and it shows the searches your website appears for and the problems Google finds.
Can I do SEO for free?
Partly. The tools and many fixes are free. What costs is the time, and knowing which problems matter. Our what is SEO? guide explains what SEO work involves.
Can ChatGPT do SEO?
It can explain SEO and help draft text. It can't see your Search Console data, your Google Business Profile or which of your pages Google skipped. Use it with the free Google tools, not instead of them.
Which free SEO tools are best for a small business?
Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, PageSpeed Insights and Bing Webmaster Tools, in that order.