What you actually need, at no cost.
ESSENTIAL
- Google Search Console: what queries bring you traffic, what is indexed, what errors exist. Nothing replaces it.
- Web analytics: what visitors do once they arrive.
- PageSpeed Insights: performance, with specific recommendations.
USEFUL
A site crawler with a free tier, which finds broken links, duplicate titles and redirect chains across the site A structured data testing tool A mobile-friendly testing tool A redirect checker
FOR LOCAL
Your business profile dashboard, which reports how people found and interacted with your listing.
WHAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY FOR
At small business scale, the free tools cover almost everything. Paid tools become worthwhile when you are managing many sites or competing seriously on content.
Do not buy a subscription before you have used Search Console properly for six months.
WHAT TO BE WARY OF
Free tools that report dozens of urgent problems and then sell a fix. Most such reports are noise.
