Most digital marketing tools are extremely expensive, making it challenging for small businesses and individual marketers to access high-quality resources. But, there are powerful and effective digital marketing tools available for free. You just need to know where to find them.
This article introduces 21 must-have free digital marketing tools that can help you build a successful marketing stack on a shoestring budget.
Each tool listed has been trialled and tested by yours truly and was found to provide real value.
Without further ado, let’s go!
Best free SEO tools
Technical SEO tools – TechnicalSEO.com
TechnicalSEO.com is an awesome collection of technical SEO tools. It’s the first step in my technical SEO website auditing process.
It provides a comprehensive suite of resources, including a fetch & render simulator, a robots.txt testing tool, Google Search Console lost impression URL inspector, JS/CSS coverage, performance audit a sitemap generator and much more. Another great resource, completely free of charge, is an archive full of SEO presentations categorised by topics.
Website crawler – GreenFlare.io
Greenflare.io offers a free SEO analysis and crawling tool that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Unlike other free web crawlers, Greenflare.io has absolutely no crawl limits. It provides crawl stats, status codes, broken links, and metadata, offering a robust SEO analysis tool for free.
Javascript rendering check – SearchViu
The SearchVIU javascript rendering checker helps you compare the source code and rendered HTML to identify discrepancies, providing insights into Javascript-related SEO issues. It’s an intuitive tool with a user-friendly interface.
Page Performance testing tool – WebpageTest.org
There are many great and free site performance testing tools out there, including GTMetrix and Google’s own PageSpeed Insights. One that’s standing out is WebPageTest.org.
WebPageTest.org is a versatile tool for analysing website performance, allowing you to test from various locations and browsers. Its customisable options make it an invaluable resource for SEO and page speed optimisation.
Mobile marketing tools – Mobile Moxie
The MobileMoxie suite is made up of three mobile marketing tools that will help you deliver great mobile experiences to your customers.
The mobile SERP checker gives you access to mobile search results at whatever location you want: an address, or by city, state or postcode.
The mobile page simulator emulates your mobile landing pages in real-time across all mobile devices and any location.
And lastly, the app rank analyzer lets you track a mobile app’s changes in ranking. All three tools can be used up to three times per day for free, for more reports you can sign up for a paid plan.
Critical Path CSS generator – Sitelocity.com
The critical path CSS generator from sitelocity.com is a straightforward tool that automatically generates the Critical Path CSS for your website and generates a single minified CSS file from all the CSS files your website uses.
SERP scraper – THRUUU
Thruuu by Samuel Schmitt is a free SERP analysis tool that provides detailed information about the top search results for a given query. It offers excel export functionality for in-depth analysis and is useful for keyword research and competitor analysis.
Google algorithm update checker – Panguin Tool
Panguin tool helps identify if your website has been impacted by a Google algorithm update. By analysing organic traffic along a timeline of known updates, you can determine whether algorithm changes have affected your site.
Keyword research tool – Keywordsheeter
A basic but effective keyword research tool, Keywordsheeter pulls Google’s autocomplete suggestions for a given query. With a click of a button, you can export your list or simply copy-paste. I like using this tool as an idea generator to get me started with keyword research.
Website auditing chrome extension – SEO Quake
I love a good chrome extension and SEO Quake is up there with the best. This free SEO tool provides quick on-page SEO audits. It checks for internal and external links, metadata, and other SEO parameters, allowing you to perform quick audits on any webpage.
Best free paid advertising tools
Audience analysis – YouTube Find My Audience
Ever wondered which personas fall into YouTubes in-market and affinity audiences? Google’s own audience insights tool gives you exactly that information. It’s also great for discovering new potential audiences and creating free audience profiles.
Negative keyword list builder – Free DM Tools
If you work with Google Ads you know how important negative keyword lists are and how cumbersome they can be to build. The Free DM negative keyword tool looks for similar queries to your chosen keyword and gives you a comprehensive list of suggestions to add as negatives. Once done, simply copy all or download as txt.
Competitor research – Meta aka. Facebook Ads library
Ever wondered what ads your competitors have running across Facebook? Insert Facebook Ads library. Before looking up an ad, choose your location and ad category. Then simply search by brand or keywords to gain inspiration for ad strategy or ad creatives.
Text converter – Covertcase
Convertcase is a text transformation tool that allows you to switch between lower and upper case, capitalise, uncapitalise, or convert to mix case. This tool is handy for writing ad copy and other marketing materials.
Best misc marketing tools
Buyer persona creator – SEMrush
Creating buyer personas is (or should be) the starting point of all marketing activities, from identifying the right messaging and channels to crafting engaging and converting content. And SEMrush’s free buyer persona template builder helps with exactly that. Build as many profiles as you like, for free.
Google Sheet templates – Sheets for Marketers
Sheets for Marketers offers a library of free digital marketing spreadsheets ready to be copied and used by marketers of all levels. The template library is extensive and includes Google Analytics templates, SEO and website audit templates and competitor research templates, just to name a few. I love the PPC & SEO calculator templates, which have saved me a lot of time and are definitely worth a look.
Marketing dashboard templates – Looker Studio
Looking for something more visual? Google offers its own library of nifty Data Studio templates ready to use or customise as you like. The platform allows you to share and collaborate on dashboards.
Thesaurus and word tools – Word Hippo
WordHippo is a no-fuss tool that I use religiously (no more searches for “what’s another word for…). What sets it apart is its extensive list of synonyms, antonyms, word meanings, rhyming words, and more. They also have an IOS/Android app for use on your mobile devices.
Presentation & graphics design – Piktochart
We all know and love Canva, an awesome and easy-to-use graphic design tool (they also have a free plan so please check it out!). A lesser-known but similar software is Piktochart. It’s aimed at business professionals who want to spice up presentation slides and reports or create infographics, flyers, posters, and more. The free plan is limited but for occasional use more than enough.
AI-based Content Creation – ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a cutting-edge AI language model designed to generate human-like text. It’s a versatile tool for digital marketing, helping with content creation and ideation. Marketers can use it to generate blog posts, social media content, email responses, and more. The free plan provides basic features, making it a useful addition to your marketing toolkit.
So there you have it, a collection of my favourite free digital marketing resources. I hope you get value out of them and most importantly, I hope you can save money on pricey software in the future.
Do you have a suggestion? Something missing? Just let me know and I’ll add it.
