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    What are the best SEO tools to check a website?

    Updated October 17, 2026

    Key takeaway

    Google Search Console, Ahrefs, PageSpeed Insights and Screaming Frog are named by all four engines as the core tools for checking a website. Semrush is added by ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Engines pair free first-party tools for audits and speed with paid suites for keyword, backlink and competitor work.

    Mostly agree

    Google Search Console is an essential free tool

    Ahrefs and Semrush suit deeper keyword and backlink work

    Where they differ

    How many tools to name

      Verdict

      All four engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Mode, name Google Search Console, Ahrefs, PageSpeed Insights and Screaming Frog. Google AI Mode does not name Semrush, which the other three do.

      What engines actually searched

      The sub-queries each engine actually searched before answering.

      Full responses

      5 of 5 engines that answered. Full stored text as captured, with dashes shown as hyphens. Nothing is summarised.

      ChatGPT17,130 characters Β· October 16, 2026

      Best SEO Tools to Check a Website in 2026

      If you want to check a website's SEO, identify technical problems, improve Google rankings, or see what competitors are doing, there are several excellent tools available.

      My recommendation is to start with Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and PageSpeed Insights. Together, they provide a strong SEO audit without requiring an expensive subscription. If you need deeper keyword research, backlink analysis, or competitor research, add Semrush or Ahrefs. These tools cover different aspects of SEO, so the best choice depends on what you want to analyze. aeogeolabs.com, seorecheck.com

      1. The best SEO tools at a glance

      SEO toolBest forPricing
      Google Search ConsoleGoogle rankings, indexing, and organic trafficFree
      Screaming FrogComprehensive technical SEO auditsFree for up to 500 URLs
      Google PageSpeed InsightsWebsite speed and Core Web VitalsFree
      SemrushAll-in-one SEO audits and keyword researchFree options; paid plans
      AhrefsBacklinks, competitor analysis, and keywordsFree tools; paid plans
      SitebulbVisual technical SEO auditsPaid plans and trial
      Moz ProKeyword research and website optimizationPaid plans
      GTmetrixPage loading speed and performance diagnosticsFree options; paid plans
      Bing Webmaster ToolsBing indexing and website SEO auditsFree

      The tools above are not all direct substitutes. Some analyze your site's technical structure, while others measure search performance, discover keywords, or examine competitors. aeogeolabs.com, mobilestalk.net

      2. The best tools for checking a website's SEO

      1. Semrush - Best all-in-one SEO audit tool

      Best for: Website owners, SEO professionals, agencies, and businesses that want a comprehensive SEO analysis.

      Website: https://www.semrush.com/

      Semrush is one of my top recommendations if you want to analyze a website and discover opportunities to improve its organic search performance.

      What you can check:

      • Technical SEO: Broken links, crawlability, redirect issues, and missing metadata.
      • On-page SEO: Title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and other optimization issues.
      • Keyword rankings: How your website performs for specific search terms.
      • Competitors: Which keywords competitors rank for and where they receive organic traffic.
      • Backlinks: Links pointing to your website and potential link-related problems.
      • Site health: An overview of detected technical SEO issues.

      Its Site Audit feature crawls your website and organizes detected problems so you can investigate and fix them.

      Advantages

      • Combines several SEO tools in one platform.
      • Useful for recurring website audits.
      • Provides keyword and competitor research alongside technical analysis.

      Disadvantages

      • Many advanced features require a paid subscription.
      • The number of projects, reports, and other features depends on your plan.

      My verdict: Choose Semrush if you want one platform to audit your website, research keywords, analyze competitors, and monitor SEO progress.

      2. Ahrefs - Best for backlinks and competitor research

      Best for: Understanding why competitors rank and discovering opportunities to improve your website's authority.

      Website: https://ahrefs.com/

      Ahrefs is particularly useful when you want to understand the link profile of a website and investigate competing websites.

      What you can check:

      • Backlinks pointing to your website.
      • Competitors' backlink profiles.
      • Keywords your competitors rank for.
      • Pages attracting organic search traffic.
      • Keyword opportunities and content gaps.
      • Technical problems through Site Audit.

      One particularly useful feature is the ability to identify pages that attract links and search traffic on competing websites. You can use this information to develop your own content strategy.

      Advantages

      • Strong backlink and competitor research capabilities.
      • Useful for identifying content opportunities.
      • Offers free Webmaster Tools for eligible verified websites.

      Disadvantages

      • Comprehensive research features require a paid plan.
      • Some features are unnecessary if you only want to check basic technical SEO issues.

      My verdict: Choose Ahrefs if backlinks, competitor analysis, and keyword opportunities are your main priorities.

      3. Screaming Frog - Best for technical SEO audits

      Best for: Finding technical SEO problems across an entire website.

      Website: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

      Screaming Frog is a specialized website crawler. Rather than simply checking one page, it can crawl a website and analyze its URLs, links, metadata, and other technical elements.

      What you can check:

      • Broken internal and external links.
      • Missing or duplicate title tags.
      • Missing or duplicate meta descriptions.
      • Incorrect heading structures.
      • Redirect chains and redirect errors.
      • Duplicate pages and canonicalization problems.
      • Indexability directives.
      • XML sitemap issues.
      • Internal linking and site architecture.

      The free version supports crawling up to 500 URLs, which is often enough to audit a small website. Larger audits require a paid license. aeogeolabs.com, seorecheck.com

      Advantages

      • Excellent for identifying technical SEO issues.
      • Gives you detailed URL-level information.
      • Useful for small websites and large websites alike.

      Disadvantages

      • The interface takes some time to learn.
      • It is primarily a technical analysis tool, not an all-in-one keyword research platform.
      • Some findings require SEO knowledge to interpret correctly.

      My verdict: If your goal is to discover what's wrong with a website's SEO, Screaming Frog is one of the first tools I would use.

      4. Google Search Console - Best free SEO monitoring tool

      Best for: Understanding how Google sees and ranks your website.

      Website: https://search.google.com/search-console/

      Google Search Console should be a priority for practically every website owner.

      Unlike third-party SEO platforms, it provides data directly from Google's search ecosystem about your verified website.

      What you can check:

      • Search impressions and clicks.
      • Average search position.
      • Search queries that bring visitors to your website.
      • Pages indexed by Google.
      • Pages that Google cannot index.
      • Sitemap processing.
      • Certain crawling and security problems.
      • Core Web Vitals reports.

      For example, you might discover that a page receives thousands of impressions but very few clicks. That could indicate an opportunity to improve its title tag, meta description, or relevance to the search query.

      Advantages

      • Completely free.
      • Provides valuable Google Search performance data.
      • Helps diagnose indexing problems.
      • Essential for monitoring SEO improvements over time.

      Disadvantages

      • Requires access to or verification of the website.
      • Does not replace a comprehensive website crawler.
      • Does not provide the same breadth of competitor research as Semrush or Ahrefs.

      My verdict: Install and configure Google Search Console before spending money on an SEO platform.

      5. Google PageSpeed Insights - Best for speed and Core Web Vitals

      Best for: Finding performance issues that affect user experience and may contribute to poor search performance.

      Website: https://pagespeed.web.dev/

      PageSpeed Insights analyzes individual web pages and provides performance measurements and recommendations.

      What you can check:

      • Loading performance.
      • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
      • Interaction to Next Paint (INP).
      • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
      • Opportunities to reduce unnecessary JavaScript.
      • Image optimization opportunities.
      • Render-blocking resources.
      • Other potential performance bottlenecks.

      It combines laboratory diagnostics with available real-user performance data.

      Advantages

      • Free.
      • Provides specific recommendations for improving performance.
      • Useful for desktop and mobile analysis.
      • Helps identify performance problems that a basic SEO audit might miss.

      Disadvantages

      • Analyzes individual URLs rather than automatically auditing your entire website.
      • A single performance score does not tell you everything about your SEO.

      My verdict: Test your homepage and your most important landing pages, then investigate any significant performance problems.

      6. Sitebulb - Best for visual SEO audits

      Best for: SEO professionals who want detailed technical reports that are easier to understand.

      Website: https://sitebulb.com/

      Sitebulb crawls websites and presents technical SEO findings using prioritized recommendations and visualizations.

      What you can check:

      • Website architecture and internal linking.
      • Broken links and redirects.
      • Duplicate content and metadata.
      • Indexability and canonical tags.
      • JavaScript rendering issues.
      • Technical SEO problems affecting individual pages.

      Advantages

      • Clear explanations of technical problems.
      • Helpful visualizations of website structure.
      • Useful for creating reports for clients or development teams.

      Disadvantages

      • Primarily focused on technical SEO rather than keyword research.
      • Advanced features require a paid plan.

      My verdict: Choose Sitebulb if you want an audit that's easier to interpret and present to other people.

      7. Moz Pro - Best for straightforward SEO research

      Best for: Small businesses and marketers who want keyword research and website optimization tools.

      Website: https://moz.com/products/pro

      Moz Pro offers several features for analyzing and improving a website's search performance.

      What you can check:

      • Keyword rankings.
      • Keyword difficulty and opportunities.
      • Backlink profiles.
      • Website crawl issues.
      • Competitor performance.
      • On-page optimization opportunities.

      My verdict: Moz Pro is worth considering if you want a straightforward SEO platform with keyword research and site auditing capabilities.

      8. GTmetrix - Best for diagnosing slow websites

      Best for: Website owners who want to understand why pages load slowly.

      Website: https://gtmetrix.com/

      GTmetrix focuses on website performance rather than comprehensive SEO analysis.

      It can help you investigate:

      • Slow-loading pages.
      • Large images and other heavy resources.
      • JavaScript and CSS bottlenecks.
      • Server response time.
      • Waterfall charts showing how page resources load.

      My verdict: Use GTmetrix alongside PageSpeed Insights when website speed is a concern.

      9. Bing Webmaster Tools - Best additional free tool

      Best for: Monitoring your website's visibility and technical health in Bing.

      Website: https://www.bing.com/webmasters/

      Bing Webmaster Tools provides search performance reports, indexing information, and website scanning capabilities.

      It can help you identify:

      • Indexing problems.
      • Search queries bringing traffic from Bing.
      • Technical SEO issues.
      • Sitemap problems.
      • Opportunities to improve search visibility.

      My verdict: It's a useful addition to Google Search Console, particularly if you want to monitor your website across multiple search engines.

      3. Which SEO tool should you choose?

      Here's how I would choose based on your primary goal.

      Your goalMy recommendation
      Check a website's overall SEO healthSemrush
      Find technical SEO errorsScreaming Frog
      Check if Google has indexed your pagesGoogle Search Console
      Find out why a website ranks poorlyGoogle Search Console + Screaming Frog
      Analyze competitorsAhrefs or Semrush
      Discover backlink opportunitiesAhrefs
      Check page speedPageSpeed Insights + GTmetrix
      Audit a small website for freeGoogle Search Console + Screaming Frog
      Analyze a large websiteScreaming Frog or Sitebulb
      Create professional SEO audit reportsSemrush or Sitebulb
      Monitor Bing search performanceBing Webmaster Tools

      These recommendations reflect the tools' primary strengths rather than a claim that one platform is best for every SEO task. aeogeolabs.com, seorecheck.com, mobilestalk.net

      4. My recommended SEO audit workflow

      If I were auditing a website from scratch, I'd follow these steps.

      Step 1: Check the website's technical health

      Use Screaming Frog to crawl the website.

      Look for:

      • Broken links.
      • Missing title tags and meta descriptions.
      • Duplicate titles.
      • Redirect errors.
      • Incorrect canonical tags.
      • Pages that should be indexable but aren't.

      Step 2: Check Google's indexing and search performance

      Open Google Search Console.

      Review:

      • Which pages are indexed.
      • Which pages are excluded from indexing and why.
      • Which search queries generate impressions and clicks.
      • Which important pages have low click-through rates.
      • Whether any significant indexing or crawling problems exist.

      Step 3: Analyze website speed

      Test your homepage and important landing pages using PageSpeed Insights.

      Pay particular attention to Core Web Vitals, especially on mobile devices.

      Don't focus exclusively on the numerical performance score. Identify the underlying problems and prioritize fixes that will meaningfully improve real-user experience.

      Step 4: Analyze keywords and competitors

      Use Semrush or Ahrefs.

      Investigate:

      • Your main organic search competitors.
      • Keywords your website already ranks for.
      • Relevant keywords you aren't targeting.
      • Pages attracting organic traffic to competitors.
      • Backlinks pointing to competing websites.

      Step 5: Prioritize the problems

      Don't try to fix every reported issue simultaneously.

      Start with problems that could prevent important pages from being crawled or indexed. Then address significant technical errors, improve important pages' content and on-page SEO, and investigate performance issues.

      Finally, use Search Console to monitor the results.

      5. The best free SEO toolkit

      If you don't want to pay for anything, I'd start with these four tools:

      1. Google Search Console - Search visibility, indexing, and organic performance.
      2. Screaming Frog - Technical issues across up to 500 URLs in the free version.
      3. PageSpeed Insights - Speed and Core Web Vitals.
      4. Bing Webmaster Tools - Bing search performance and additional technical checks.

      This combination covers the essential areas of a basic SEO audit without requiring a paid subscription. aeogeolabs.com, seorecheck.com

      My final recommendation

      If you only want to use one tool, I'd choose based on what you're trying to accomplish:

      • Semrush for a comprehensive website audit and ongoing SEO work.
      • Screaming Frog for finding detailed technical SEO issues.
      • Google Search Console for free, first-party Google search data.
      • Ahrefs for backlink analysis and competitor research.

      You don't need to subscribe to all four. For many websites, Google Search Console and a crawler provide a good starting point.

      Let me narrow it down for you

      What kind of website do you want to check?

      • A. My own business website - I want to find SEO problems and improve Google rankings.
      • B. A competitor's website - I want to see their keywords, traffic, and backlinks.
      • C. A website I'm building - I want to check technical SEO, speed, and on-page optimization.
      • D. Any website - I want a tool that generates a complete SEO audit report.
      • E. An agency or client website - I need professional SEO audit and reporting tools.

      Tell me which one fits best, and I'll recommend the most suitable tools for that specific purpose.

      Gemini logo Gemini5,634 characters Β· October 16, 2026

      When checking a website's SEO health, performance, and visibility, the "best" tool depends entirely on what you want to check (e.g., technical errors, keyword rankings, backlink profiles, or page speed).

      The industry's top SEO tools are categorized below by what they do best:

      1. Essential Free Tools (Must-Haves)

      • Google Search Console (GSC):

      • Best for: First-party data straight from Google. 24 best SEO tools I'm using in 2026 (free + paid) - Marketer Milk

      • What it checks: Your exact keyword impressions, clicks, average rankings, indexing errors, mobile usability, and sitemap status. Every website owner should have this configured. 24 best SEO tools I'm using in 2026 (free + paid) - Marketer Milk

      • Google PageSpeed Insights:

      • Best for: Core Web Vitals and speed audits.

      • What it checks: How fast your pages load on both mobile and desktop devices, highlighting specific technical bottlenecks (like unoptimized images or slow server response times) that hurt rankings.

      2. Best All-in-One Paid Platforms

      3. Best for Technical Site Audits

      4. Best for Beginners & Small Businesses

      Summary Recommendation

      Google AI Mode2,582 characters Β· October 16, 2026

      When checking a website's health, performance, and search engine optimization, the best approach depends on whether you need a deep technical crawl, a broad competitor analysis, or free baseline data directly from the source. Best SEO Audit Tools Backed by 1,200+ Website TestsBest tools for website audit in 2026? : r/TheSEOExpertsHub

      The industry-leading SEO tools for checking and auditing a website are broken down by their core strengths below:

        • Google Search Console : The ultimate free baseline tool straight from Google. It shows you real-world indexing data, crawl errors, click-through performance, security issues, and allows you to submit sitemaps. [OneLittleWeb +1]

      • Semrush : The gold standard for all-in-one SEO suites. Its Site Audit tool checks over 140 technical and on-page SEO issues, tracks Core Web Vitals, flags broken links, and provides actionable improvement steps. The 10 Best SEO Audit Tools in 2026 | Zapier

      • Screaming Frog SEO Spider : Best for deep technical crawling. Installed directly on your computer, it crawls up to 500 URLs for free (unlimited with paid) to unearth broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing meta tags, and schema markup errors. [Zapier +2]

      • Ahrefs : Exceptional for combining backlink profiles with technical audits. Ahrefs' Site Audit gives granular categorization of website health issues while plugging directly into the web's most robust link-intelligence database. [Zapier +1]

      • Google PageSpeed Insights : Essential for checking site speed and Core Web Vitals on both mobile and desktop, highlighting exact script and layout shifts slowing your pages down.

      • Sitebulb : Best for visual audit reports. It crawls websites similarly to Screaming Frog but translates the data into intuitive graphs, visual site structures, and prioritized troubleshooting lists. [OneLittleWeb +1]

      If you'd like, tell me:

        • What is your budget (free vs. paid)?

      • Are you looking to fix technical errors , check keywords/traffic , or audit a competitor?

      I can help narrow down the exact tool you need to get started.

      Perplexity774 characters Β· October 17, 2026

      For a quick, free check, start with Google Search Console for indexing and search performance, and PageSpeed Insights for speed and Core Web Vitals.(blog.hubspot.com)(seo.com)

      For a deeper technical audit, Screaming Frog is a strong crawler; Semrush and Ahrefs offer broader paid audit suites.(zapier.com)

      Copilot logo Copilot3,004 characters Β· October 16, 2026

      Here are the best SEO tools in 2025 to check and optimize a website, depending on your needs:

      πŸ”Ž All-in-One SEO Platforms

      • Ahrefs – Best for backlink analysis and content research. Huge link database, accurate keyword metrics. Great for competitive research.

      • SEMrush – Most comprehensive suite (SEO, PPC, content, social). Ideal for agencies needing multi-channel insights.

      • SE Ranking – Affordable all-in-one tool with strong keyword tracking and site audits. Good for SMBs.Top 10 SEO Tools Compared for 2025: Pricing, Features & Verdict | BestPage.ai

      βš™οΈ Technical SEO Tools

      • Screaming Frog SEO Spider – Industry standard for crawling and diagnosing technical issues (broken links, redirects, duplicate content). Free up to 500 URLs, paid version for unlimited.

      • Sitebulb – Another advanced crawler with strong visualization of site architecture.

      • Google PageSpeed Insights – Free tool to check performance and Core Web Vitals.19 Best SEO Tools that SEO Experts Actually Use in 2025

      πŸ“Š Free & Essential Tools

      • Google Search Console (GSC) – Direct data from Google: indexing issues, search queries, backlinks, Core Web Vitals. A must-have for every site.

      • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Tracks traffic sources, user behavior, and conversions.

      • Google Trends – Useful for spotting keyword trends and seasonal search interest.Best SEO Tools in 2025 - 10 Top Tools to Consider

      πŸ“ Content & Keyword Tools

      • Surfer SEO – AI-powered content optimization based on SERP analysis.

      • Ubersuggest – Budget-friendly keyword research and site audit tool.

      • AnswerThePublic – Free tool for discovering content ideas based on real search queries.15 Best SEO Tools for 2025

      πŸ•΅οΈ Competitive Analysis Tools

      βœ… Recommendation:

      Would you like me to create a comparison table showing features, pricing, and best use cases for these tools? That way you can quickly see which fits your situation best.