Content optimization tools are essential for achieving your content marketing objectives.
They can help improve the quality of content to achieve higher search engine rankings, which leads to increased online visibility.
Although content optimization tools can help you save time and accurately analyze your content needs, creating effective content does not have to be expensive. There are many free tools available to help you create high-ranking content.
However, they are not all the same. This is why we’ve compiled a list of the best free content optimization tools available to help you streamline your content creation process.
In this article, we will review tools like word counters, keyword density checkers, AI-powered SEO content checkers, and more.
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How To Choose the Right Free Content Optimization Tool
It is important to choose the right content optimization tool, as search engines prioritize optimized content over non-optimized content when ranking search engine pages.
Content optimization spans across various elements to ensure that your content is not only search engine-friendly but also resonates with your target audience.
To optimize your content effectively, you need to perform the following key actions:
- Research with competitor analysis, keyword research, ideas, and topic gathering. This can help you stand out among your competitors and lead to real engagement and results.
- Create content while taking care of on-page SEO structure and content readability. This gets search engines’ attention and gives your audience a good experience, which leads to long-term success.
- Continuously update and optimize your content by adding new content and improving existing articles. It is good practice to regularly go over already published content to make sure the information in there is still relevant through changing times and seasons.
We will list tools from the above categories to give you a good chance of optimizing your content.
Depending on your content goals, you can select the one that best suits you.
Our Selection of Free Content Optimization Tools
Here are some of the free content optimization tools for creating high-ranking content without breaking the bank:
Google Search
Google Search is a popular search engine and one of the easiest to use when you need to gather a large volume of information from the highest-ranking websites. All you need to do is type your keyword into the search bar and wait for Google SERP to load.
You can also use Google to track your competitor and determine the purpose of their searches.
By paying attention to the article ranking, related searches, and Google’s PAA feature you can find out what information your audience is looking for.
This will help you know the prevalent search intent and what they are expecting from your content.
For example, if you search for “free content writing tools” you’ll notice that the top-ranking articles are in the form of a listicle and share a long list of free SEO tools.
Here is how Google Search can help you with content optimization:
- Analyzing search intent
- Understanding the content format
- Accessing valuable insights using features like PAA, related search, images, and more.
Google Search Console
This free tool, formerly known as Google Webmasters, provides metrics and other key information to help users monitor, improve, and troubleshoot their site’s presence in search engine results.
Google Search Console (GSC) includes features such as search traffic, which analyzes which keywords drive traffic to your site.
It allows webmasters to see how their content appears in Google searches.
You can also inspect and troubleshoot your website’s mobile functionality and appearance.
One of our favorite approaches to creating a content plan is to export keywords related to one article or one topic from GSC, and then cluster them using our keyword clustering tool.
With this approach, you can highlight the main topic and create keyword clusters from a long list of keywords. Each cluster could become a dedicated article on your blog
If you want to learn more, check out our article on how we created a topic cluster using GSC keywords.
Here is how Google Search Console can help you with content optimization:
- Monitoring your site’s content for crawl error
- Optimizing your content for mobile
- Identifying and targeting relevant keywords
- Create a content plan from keyword clustering
📖 Open in a new tab: 5 Tips to Get Content Ideas with Google Search Console
thruuu Free Website Word Counter
thruuu Free Website Word Counter is a free online tool that counts the number of words on any URL you provide.
To make the most of the word counter, you could enter the URL of the competing articles and calculate the average word count.
Keep in mind the length of an article is not a ranking factor. But it is always interesting to see how long articles ranking on the SERP are.
Here is how thruuu Free Website Word Counter can help you with content optimization:
- Providing an accurate word count on any website page
- Define the length of your content
Detailed SEO Extension
Detailed SEO Extension is a free Chrome extension tool that functions in real-time as you browse through websites.
It analyzes pages for SEO and provides detailed SEO information.
This extension evaluates website title tags and meta descriptions, and checks for technical issues such as broken links, redirects, site speed, and other factors that may affect search engine crawling and indexing.
This tool can help with the following:
- Content analysis and improvement
- Technical SEO audit and fixes
- On-site SEO analysis and optimization
thruuu Free Keyword Density Checker
thruuu Free Keyword Density Checker provides insights into how frequently certain keywords are used on a webpage.
Stuffing keywords does not necessarily improve the ranking of your content, as search engines can penalize your content and give it a lower ranking if you use keywords indiscriminately.
However, the thruuu keyword density checker can help you keep track of the topics discussed by your competitors and optimize your article accordingly.
Here is how this tool can help you with content optimization:
- Identifying frequent keywords
- Optimizing keyword frequency
- Understanding keyword relevance
Keyword People Use
Keyword People Use focuses on discovering the questions people ask. It analyzes the PAA and related search features in Google to provide advanced reports.
Based on given keywords, this tool uses artificial intelligence to create social media captions, blog post ideas, and content outlines.
How this tool can help you with content optimization
- Keyword discovery and expansion
- Keyword clustering and organization based on themes
- Content recommendations for keyword placement, relevance, and frequency
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a chatbot developed by OpenAI that gives responses similar to humans within a short time.
It is a powerful tool for performing various content optimization tasks such as
- generating topics,
- developing outlines,
- creating content systems,
- writing content,
- reviewing content,
- and more.
Using carefully crafted prompts, you can instruct ChatGPT to perform any of these content optimization tasks.
There has been some debate in the content marketing community since the release of ChatGPT.
This is because it is powered by AI, and search engines now penalize content generated by AI providing low value.
This is not intended to discourage you from using the bot, but to ensure that you use it effectively and work alongside it rather than relying solely on it.
Here is how ChatGPT can help you with content optimization:
- Content paraphrasing and rephrasing
- Content drafting
- Keyword research
Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is a free desktop and web application that can help you make your writing more readable and understandable.
It relies on Ernest Hemingway’s writing style, which emphasizes active voice, concise sentence structure, and obvious word choice.
This tool suggests grammar and style changes by highlighting different aspects of your writing.
It also gives you a readability score, which can help you decide whether to simplify the complex nature of certain sentences.
When it comes to SEO, this tool can help you reduce keyword stuffing, which will lower your search engine ranking.
Here is how Hemingway Editor can help you with content optimization:
- Improving readability
- Identifying complex sentence structures and passive voice
- Highlighting the overuse of adverbs
AI-powered Google Quality Rater & Helpful Content Checker
This tool compares content against Google’s Helpful Content Guidelines and Search Quality Guidelines.
By automating the process, you can ensure that your content follows the guidelines established by search engines.
This replaces the need to manually search for guidelines and compare each aspect of your content to them.
With its simple user interface, it provides useful analysis and suggestions for improving content.
Once your content is published, it is ultimately up to you to accept the suggestions made by the tool.
How this tool can help you with content optimization
- Identifying alignment with search intent
- Improving overall content helpfulness
- Assessing content authoritativeness and trustworthiness
thruuu Free SEO comparison tool
thruuu free SEO comparison tool is a good resource for comparing the content and SEO performance of your website to that of your competitors.
It compares various SEO factors, allowing users to identify areas where their content needs to be improved.
After entering the two URLs (yours and your competitor’s), this tool will extract data for both web pages, such as
- page titles,
- meta descriptions,
- dates,
- JSON schema,
- word count,
- image count,
- content outlines,
- headings,
- most frequently used keywords,
- and FAQ schema.
By upgrading to the paid version of thruuu, you can quickly analyze Google SERPs and create content outlines and briefs with a single click.
It also strengthens your SEO strategy by grouping keywords and forming topic clusters. It’s a one-stop solution for all your SEO needs.
Here is how this tool can help you with content optimization
- Identifying content improvement gaps
- Improving keyword targeting
- Benchmarking content against industry standards
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Ahrefs platform has a collection of tools that help webmasters with their SEO performance and visibility in search results.
The tool provides insights into website health, technical issues, keyword rankings, and backlink profiles.
To use the tool, start by signing up if you don’t already have an Ahrefs account.
After signing up, verify your website. You can do this by simply adding a meta tag to your website’s homepage or by uploading an HTML file to your website’s root directory.
Once this is done, Ahrefs webmaster tools will crawl your website and tell you any technical issues that may be affecting your indexing on search engines.
Here is how this tool can help you with content optimization:
- Identifying and fixing technical SEO issues
- Monitoring keyword rankings
- Analyzing backlink profiles
Google Trends
Google Trends analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages.
It provides a graphical presentation of how certain keywords or topics were queried over a period of time.
This can give you insight into how interests change over time and you can observe patterns and seasonality around certain topics or keywords.
After entering your keyword, set the time range and location, and analyze search interests.
For example, you may find Christmas-related keywords on Google Trends to be more frequently searched towards the end of the year than the beginning, showing an annual seasonality in the last quarter of every year.
Here is how Google Trends can help you with content optimization:
- Identifying trending topics
- Analyzing seasonality
- Understanding keyword demand
thruuu Content Optimization Solution
This tool is a complete content optimization solution that helps you in creating relevant, search-engine-optimized content.
It analyzes the SERP, creates brief and cluster keywords, and more. It also provides performance data for previously published content.
You can start using the tool today for free. The free trial is ideal for users who want to have an idea of how the tool works.
During the free trial, you will be able to put the tool’s ability to generate ideas, improve content quality, and improve SEO performance to the test.
Here is how this tool can help you with content optimization
- Identifying content gaps
- Generating content ideas
- Content structure enhancement
Empower Your Content Team
Our end-to-end content optimization solution empowers your team to crack the Google algorithm, craft exceptional content, and achieve remarkable organic search results.