Google offers a strong set of free Web optimization instruments. From easy key phrase analysis to efficiency monitoring, you may sew collectively a full workflow with out spending a dime.
Each Web optimization—whether or not newbie or skilled—makes use of Google’s free instruments in some capability. They’re extensively accessible, they provide a glimpse into how Google’s search and promoting programs work, they usually’re usually the primary place we search for efficiency information.
Right here’s what every of Google’s free Web optimization instruments does, when to make use of it, and a few Ahrefs options for whenever you outgrow the fundamentals.
Google Search Console (GSC) is your direct line to how Google sees your website—and for a lot of SEOs, it’s their solely supply of first-party Web optimization information.
At its core, GSC exhibits which queries convey site visitors to your pages, how these pages carry out in search, and whether or not Google is indexing them correctly.
The Efficiency report is the place most individuals begin: it permits you to analyze Web optimization metrics by web page, question, nation, machine, and date. You may see which pages get probably the most natural search site visitors, and monitor how your efficiency modifications over time.
Then there’s the Indexing report, which reveals which pages are in Google’s index and that are excluded—with particular explanation why. This needs to be your first port of name for any efficiency points. It saves you from the black field of questioning why content material isn’t displaying up.
The URL Inspection device permits for page-level diagnostics. You may see whether or not a web page is listed, the final time it was crawled, if cell usability handed, and whether or not enhancements like schema markup are detected.
And there’s the brand new Insights report, which goals to rapidly present key tendencies and efficiency information to your web site:
GSC additionally contains Core Internet Vitals reporting—monitoring metrics like LCP and CLS that affect rankings—and a handbook actions part, the place you’ll be notified if Google penalizes your website.
And submitting sitemaps by GSC continues to be probably the most dependable approach to make sure new content material will get found rapidly.
Stage up with Ahrefs GSC integration
GSC is nice, however solely shops 16 months of historic information. Should you join it to Ahrefs, we’ll retailer and backfill that information indefinitely—so you may monitor long-term tendencies, examine year-over-year efficiency, and construct extra sturdy Web optimization reviews.
Google Analytics (GA4) helps you perceive what occurs after somebody lands in your website. It’s the device for monitoring on-site habits—issues like how lengthy customers keep, what pages they go to, and whether or not they convert.
Some of the helpful GA4 reviews for SEOs is the Acquisition report. This exhibits you what number of customers arrived through natural search and the way that site visitors compares to different sources, like paid search or direct visits. By analyzing these patterns, you may see which pages are pulling in site visitors and which could want consideration.
It’s also possible to dig into engaged classes and conversion paths. These metrics present how lengthy customers stick round, which pages they work together with, and the way they in the end convert—supplying you with perception into which content material is driving outcomes.
Segmentation is one other GA4 superpower. You may slice your information by touchdown web page, machine sort, nation, site visitors channel, and extra. This makes it simpler to identify technical points (like poor cell expertise) or content material gaps by area.
Stage up with Ahrefs Internet Analytics
GA4 could be overwhelming and surprisingly tough to make use of—particularly in the event you’re simply making an attempt to know the place your web site site visitors comes from.
In order for you one thing just a little simpler to make use of, you may attempt Ahrefs Internet Analytics. It’s a simple-to-use, privacy-focused GA4 different that filters out bots, makes it straightforward to identify site visitors from AI assistants, and is free as much as 1 million occasions per month.
Google Key phrase Planner was initially constructed for advertisers operating Google Adverts, however many SEOs use it for fundamental key phrase analysis as properly.
You may plug in a seed key phrase to generate tons of of associated key phrase concepts. The device additionally offers tough estimates of month-to-month search volumes and a competitiveness ranking—although this ranking displays advert competitors, not natural rating problem.
You may group key phrase options into advert teams or thematic clusters, which could be useful for early-stage content material planning. However there are just a few vital limitations:
- Search volumes are proven in broad ranges (like 1K–10K), which makes it tough to find out which key phrases are literally price concentrating on.
- The competitors metric displays paid promoting competitors, not how arduous it’s to rank organically.
- You may’t simply assess SERP options or perceive the consumer intent behind key phrases with out leaving the device.
These gaps make it tougher to construct a really efficient natural Web optimization technique utilizing Key phrase Planner alone.
Stage up with Ahrefs Key phrases Explorer
A greater possibility for Web optimization-specific analysis is Ahrefs’ Key phrases Explorer. It offers you exact search volumes, Key phrase Issue scores, SERP options, site visitors potential, father or mother matters, and now even development predictions—so yow will discover not simply standard key phrases, however the ones prone to develop in worth.
Google Tendencies permits you to see how curiosity in a subject modifications over time, primarily based on search information from throughout Google’s large consumer base. It’s a superb device for figuring out which matters are gaining reputation and which of them are falling off.
You should utilize Google Tendencies to establish rising queries earlier than they hit their peak, supplying you with an opportunity to publish content material forward of the curve. It additionally lets you examine the relative reputation of two or extra search phrases, serving to you resolve which key phrase is likely to be extra related or well timed to your viewers.
Past that, the device permits you to drill down by area, timeframe, and class, which is helpful for understanding seasonal or regional variations in curiosity. As an illustration, a key phrase is likely to be trending within the US however flat within the UK, or it would peak each December.
Stage up with Ahrefs Key phrases Explorer
Ahrefs’ Key phrases Explorer now contains progress predictions and built-in development filters, which makes this type of evaluation much more helpful. You may simply spot key phrases which are trending up, down, or have sturdy seasonal patterns—all inside the identical dashboard.
Google Alerts screens the online for mentions of a model, competitor, or key phrase. It’s a easy device that lets you arrange alerts for particular phrases and obtain electronic mail notifications at any time when new content material matches your standards.
You may customise alerts by language, area, and content material sort (akin to blogs, information, or boards), which makes it pretty versatile for Web optimization and PR use circumstances. This device is very helpful for monitoring press mentions, discovering unlinked model citations it’s possible you’ll need to reclaim, or retaining tabs on what rivals are saying or doing.
Stage up with Ahrefs’ Content material Explorer
Ahrefs’ Content material Explorer takes this to the subsequent degree by monitoring mentions throughout billions of pages and letting you filter outcomes by area authority, estimated site visitors, backlink profile, and publication date. It’s a strong possibility for digital PR, hyperlink constructing, and broader content material monitoring methods.
Should you function a neighborhood enterprise, your Google Enterprise Profile (GBP) is among the most vital property in your Web optimization toolkit. It determines how your corporation seems in Google Maps and native search outcomes, together with the coveted native pack—the highest three map listings that present up for location-based queries.
Your GBP permits you to show important info like opening hours, enterprise classes, companies supplied, and call particulars. It’s also possible to add photographs, publish updates, reply questions, and interact with prospects through messaging or evaluation responses. All of those interactions affect how your itemizing performs and the way reliable it seems to potential prospects.
Importantly, Google will robotically change components of your GBP itemizing (just like the companies you provide) primarily based on opinions, so it’s vital to observe which modifications Google has made.
Google can change
Stage up with Ahrefs Enterprise Profile Monitor
Managing your Google Enterprise Profile manually could be tedious—particularly in the event you’re overseeing a number of areas.
That’s the place Ahrefs’ Google Enterprise Profile Monitor is available in. It helps you catch unauthorized modifications, reject malicious edits, and handle a number of profiles effectively from a single dashboard. You’ll obtain real-time electronic mail alerts for any change, whether or not it’s made by you, your crew, or Google, and you may bulk edit fields like enterprise hours, classes, and call particulars.
PageSpeed Insights assesses your web site’s loading efficiency and offers an in depth evaluation of what’s slowing it down.
It focuses on Core Internet Vitals—particularly Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Structure Shift (CLS), and First Contentful Paint (FCP)—that are key efficiency metrics that affect each consumer expertise and search rankings.
PageSpeed Insights suggests helpful actions to hurry up web page efficiency, like compressing giant photos, minimizing JavaScript and CSS, leveraging browser caching, or decreasing server response instances. This makes it a sensible useful resource for bettering website velocity even in the event you’re not a developer.
What units PageSpeed Insights aside is that it pulls in real-world subject information from the Chrome UX Report (CrUX), displaying how your website performs for precise customers on totally different gadgets and community situations—not simply lab simulations.
Stage up with Ahrefs Website Audit
For a extra streamlined workflow, you may allow PageSpeed Insights instantly inside Ahrefs’ Website Audit. This integration permits you to audit and resolve web page velocity points alongside different technical Web optimization issues like crawl errors, damaged hyperlinks, and duplicate content material—all in a single dashboard.
Should you’re utilizing structured information in your web site, the Wealthy Outcomes Check is your go-to device for validating that markup.
Structured information helps Google perceive your content material higher and allows enhanced search options like wealthy snippets—these attention-grabbing listings with stars, photos, or FAQs. Structured information may additionally enhance how your content material is surfaced and interpreted by giant language fashions (LLMs), rising the possibilities of your content material being referenced in AI-generated solutions and instruments like Google’s AI Overviews or Bing Copilot
With the Wealthy Outcomes Check, you may enter any stay URL or paste in a code snippet to see in case your markup is eligible for wealthy outcomes. The device will verify for numerous enhancements akin to evaluation rankings, recipe info, product particulars, FAQs, and extra.
It additionally highlights whether or not your structured information is appropriately carried out, flagging any warnings or errors that will stop your content material from showing in enhanced codecs.
Stage up with Ahrefs Website Audit
To transcend particular person URL checks, Ahrefs’ Website Audit permits you to flag any pages with structured information points. This function crawls your complete web site and flags issues at scale—like lacking fields, invalid schema sorts, or unsupported wealthy end result sorts. 
However what about AI Web optimization?
Google affords a variety of free instruments for conventional Web optimization, but it surely hasn’t but launched something that helps SEOs measure or handle their visibility in AI-powered search experiences—like AI Overviews or AI Mode.
This creates a blind spot. If extra individuals are turning to AI to purchase merchandise and reply questions, how do you reply, and get your model featured?
That’s why we’ve constructed Ahrefs’ Model Radar, our new AI search device constructed to trace how your model exhibits up in AI-driven search—and make it easier to flip it right into a progress channel.
Model Radar permits you to see how giant language fashions (LLMs) point out your model, merchandise, and rivals throughout main AI search platforms, together with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and AI Overviews.
You may benchmark your visibility towards rivals, establish key matters and prompts driving AI site visitors to your website, and observe the quantity and sentiment of AI mentions over time.
AI-powered assistants are altering how folks search. Model Radar helps guarantee your model is the one they discover first.
Ultimate ideas
Google affords a strong (and free) basis of Web optimization instruments. You should utilize them to trace web site efficiency, brainstorm easy key phrase concepts, and even get notified when your model or rivals are talked about on-line.
However in the event you’re utilizing Google’s free Web optimization instruments and operating into a few of their limitations, it is likely to be price trying out Ahrefs. You’ll discover extra information, deeper insights, less complicated workflows, and instruments that can assist you enhance your visibility in AI search.
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