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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteFor a broad paid SEO and competitor-research suite in 2019, choose SEMrush; for backlink analysis and content-gap research, choose Ahrefs. If you do not need a subscription, combine Google Keyword Planner for ideas and advertising signals, Google Search Console for queries reaching an existing site, and Google Trends for direction and seasonality. No single tool was best for every SEO job, and none of the third-party metrics should be treated as Google’s own data.
Historical scope: This is a guide to the 2019-era tool landscape, not a current buying recommendation. Product names, features, limits, interfaces, and prices have changed; current vendor pages are linked for reference, but their present-day details should not be read back into 2019.
Quick comparison: which SEO tool fit which job in 2019?
| Tool | Best for | Keyword discovery | Competitor research | Backlinks | Rank tracking | Technical SEO | Free option | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEMrush | Broad SEO, PPC, and marketing research | Strong suite tools, including Keyword Magic Tool | Organic and advertising research | Included, but not its sole specialty | Yes | Site Audit and on-page workflows | Free access was limited; historical 2019 limits not stated | Broad feature set and subscription could be excessive for occasional keyword work |
| Ahrefs | Backlinks, competitor pages, and content gaps | Keywords Explorer | Site Explorer and content research | Core strength | Yes | Site Audit | Historical 2019 free-tier limits not stated | Paid platform may be more than a small site needs; its estimates are not complete records of the web |
| Google Keyword Planner | Keyword ideas and commercial advertising signals | Yes | Limited organic competitor analysis | No | No | No | Available through Google Ads; access and data depended on account setup | Designed for advertising research, not an organic ranking forecast |
| Google Search Console | Queries and page performance for a verified site | Existing-query discovery | No broad competitor database | No | Google Search average position and performance reporting | Search-related reports, not a full crawler | Yes | Cannot reveal a complete keyword universe for a new topic or unverified site |
| Google Trends | Trend direction and seasonality | Topic comparison and direction | No | No | No | No | Yes | Relative interest index, not absolute search volume |
| Moz Pro | Approachable core SEO suite | Keyword Explorer | Some competitor and link analysis | Link Explorer | Yes | Site Crawl | Historical 2019 free limits not stated | Not the strongest fit for extensive PPC research or deep backlink workflows |
| KWFinder / Mangools | Simple long-tail research for small sites | Yes | Basic SERP and keyword review | Bundled tools include link data | Bundled rank tracking | Not a full-scale technical crawler | Historical 2019 free limits not stated | Smaller-scale data and limits than broad agency suites |
| Ubersuggest | Budget-conscious keyword ideas and basic research | Yes | Introductory competitor research | Basic link information | Capabilities and limits varied by version | Introductory site analysis | Availability and quotas changed; historical 2019 limits not stated | Not equivalent to the depth of larger research platforms |
| AnswerThePublic | Question discovery and content ideation | Question expansion | No comprehensive competitor suite | No | No | No | Historical 2019 limits not stated | Ideas need validation against search results and business value |
| Keyword Tool | Autocomplete-based suggestions across platforms | Yes | Limited | No | No | No | Historical 2019 limits not stated | Suggestions are not automatically validated opportunities; metrics may require a paid plan |
| Majestic | Specialist backlink analysis | No broad keyword research | Link-focused | Core strength, with proprietary link metrics | No general rank-tracking suite | No | Historical 2019 free limits not stated | Not a complete SEO platform |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Technical site crawling | No | No | No | No | Core strength | A free tier existed; exact 2019 limits not stated | Reports crawl findings but does not replace keyword, backlink, or analytics tools |
The table describes 2019-era roles, not a verified feature-by-feature audit of every historical plan. Historical prices and quotas are omitted because they are not established here; do not use current pricing pages to infer what a product cost in 2019.
What an SEO tool does—and why categories matter
“SEO software” is an umbrella term. A keyword database helps generate and evaluate topics; a backlink index estimates links; a rank tracker records search-result positions; a crawler checks pages and technical signals; analytics and Search Console report performance on a site you control. PPC keyword research is related, but advertising metrics answer different questions from organic ranking data.
#1 Best Overall
- Discovery and demand: keyword ideas, questions, search-volume estimates, and trend direction.
- Opportunity and SERPs: search-result review, ranking competition, intent, and potential clicks.
- Competitive research: competitor pages, organic keywords, paid keywords, and content gaps.
- Authority and links: backlink and referring-domain estimates.
- Measurement: rankings, impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversions.
- Technical and on-page work: crawling, indexability checks, metadata review, redirects, and site-audit findings.
These categories should not be judged by one score. A crawler is not a keyword database, and a backlink index is not first-party traffic measurement.
Best all-in-one paid SEO tools
SEMrush: strongest broad-suite choice
For a marketer in 2019 who wanted SEO and PPC research alongside competitor analysis, position tracking, audits, and content workflows, SEMrush was the broadest single-subscription recommendation in this comparison. Its relevant toolset included Keyword Magic Tool, Organic Research, competitor keyword comparisons, advertising research, Position Tracking, Site Audit, and on-page recommendations. See the SEMrush product site.
SEMrush suited agencies and marketers managing several search-marketing tasks because one platform could support research, monitoring, and reporting. Its breadth also created a trade-off: a small site seeking a handful of keyword ideas could pay for workflows it would not use, while extensive datasets and proprietary difficulty or traffic estimates could overwhelm a beginner. Export, project, country, device, and reporting limits depended on the relevant plan; historical 2019 quotas and prices are not established here.
Ahrefs: strongest for backlink-led research
Ahrefs was a strong fit for SEOs, publishers, link builders, and content strategists who needed backlink intelligence, competitor-page discovery, content gaps, and keyword research. Its tools included Keywords Explorer, Site Explorer, Content Explorer, Rank Tracker, and Site Audit. Ahrefs announced Keywords Explorer 3.0 in February 2019, adding data sources and extending research beyond Google to platforms and engines including YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu; see the 2019 update announcement.
Backlink and traffic figures remain estimates, not a complete census of the web or audited competitor analytics. For a new local business with little link competition, an advanced backlink-led subscription may be unnecessary. Ahrefs describes its own emphasis as backlink intelligence and keyword research, and characterizes SEMrush as broader across marketing channels; that is vendor positioning, not an independent comparative test (Ahrefs FAQ).
Rank #2
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Moz Pro: approachable core suite
Moz Pro offered Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer, rank tracking, Site Crawl, and on-page recommendations. It was a reasonable starting point for a beginner or small team that valued an approachable interface and a set of core SEO workflows. Its Domain Authority and Page Authority scores are Moz’s proprietary predictive metrics, not Google ranking factors. Moz was a weaker fit for users prioritizing extensive PPC intelligence or the deepest competitive backlink analysis. Product details are available at Moz Pro.
SEMrush or Ahrefs?
- Choose SEMrush when broad marketing functionality, PPC research, and all-in-one reporting matter most.
- Choose Ahrefs when backlinks, competitor pages, content gaps, and link-led strategy matter most.
- Choose Moz when a gentler learning curve and core SEO workflows matter more than deep PPC or backlink analysis.
For a serious campaign, whichever paid platform you choose should complement—not replace—Google’s first-party site data.
Best free tools and first-party data
Google Keyword Planner: ideas and advertising signals
Keyword Planner supplies keyword ideas, search estimates, and advertising-cost information. It is useful for location-specific campaign research and for spotting commercial signals, but it was designed primarily for Google Ads rather than organic SEO. Access and the detail available depend on Google Ads account setup. Google notes that forecasts can vary with bids, budgets, ad quality, location, seasonality, and user behavior; those projections are not an organic ranking forecast. Read Google’s explanation of keyword-planning forecasts.
A cost-per-click estimate can suggest advertiser competition or commercial interest; it does not tell you how hard it will be to rank organically. Search estimates may be ranges or grouped variants rather than a precise count for a single phrase.
Google Search Console: what your own site earns impressions for
For a verified site, Search Console can show queries and pages associated with Google Search impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position. It is especially useful for finding unexpected queries, pages with visibility but weak click-through, and pages that may merit improvement. Google describes Search Console as a way to understand a site’s performance in Google Search (Google Search documentation).
It does not provide a complete keyword universe for topics you have not yet covered, and average position is not a fixed universal ranking: results vary by query and search context. In 2019, query-level data in Google Analytics was limited by “not provided,” making Search Console more useful for Google query performance on a site you controlled. Historical interface details and retention should not be inferred from the current product.
Google Trends: direction, region, and seasonality
Trends helps compare relative interest over time or by region and can expose seasonal patterns, emerging topics, or fading demand. Its index is relative, not an absolute monthly search count; low-volume terms may have little or no visible data. A rising line alone does not establish commercial value or a viable ranking opportunity. Use Google Trends to check direction, then validate demand and intent elsewhere.
The Tool Desk
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Analytics helps evaluate what visitors do after arriving—such as whether organic visits lead to a signup, sale, or inquiry. It is not a substitute for a keyword database, and in 2019 it generally did not expose complete organic Google query data because of “not provided.” Pair outcome measurement with Search Console’s search-performance data. See Google Analytics.
Best lower-cost and specialist tools
KWFinder and Mangools: simple long-tail discovery
KWFinder was a practical option for bloggers, freelancers, and small businesses that wanted a straightforward interface for long-tail ideas, a SERP overview, related terms, and keyword-difficulty estimates. Mangools bundled additional tools for SERP checking, rank tracking, backlinks, and site profiling. Its simplicity was useful for small-scale planning, but its data and limits were less suited to agency-scale exports, extensive competitor intelligence, or many projects. A low difficulty score is only meaningful within the tool’s methodology and after checking the actual results. See Mangools.
Ubersuggest: introductory research on a tight budget
Ubersuggest could help a beginner generate keyword suggestions, basic competitor ideas, content topics, and introductory site-analysis observations. A contemporary roundup characterized it as a lower-cost alternative with fewer capabilities and less data depth than Moz or SEMrush (roundup). Its product, limits, and pricing changed over time, so it should not be treated as equivalent to a larger competitive-research suite. Verify important decisions with Search Console, live search results, and another source. See Ubersuggest.
Rank #4
AnswerThePublic: questions to investigate
AnswerThePublic is useful for turning a topic into question and phrase ideas—particularly who, what, why, and how angles for content planning. It is an ideation tool, not a complete opportunity system: generated queries still need SERP review, demand validation, and a check that the topic serves the business. See AnswerThePublic.
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Keyword Tool: autocomplete expansion
Keyword Tool draws on autocomplete suggestions across platforms such as Google, YouTube, Amazon, Bing, or app stores, depending on the edition and interface available at the time. It can widen an initial seed list, but autocomplete suggestions do not prove search volume, commercial intent, or ranking opportunity. Search-volume and competitive metrics may require a paid plan, and platform behavior differs. See Keyword Tool.
Majestic: backlink-index specialist
Majestic is suited to link-focused work and metrics such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow. Those are proprietary link-index measures, not Google scores, and the product does not replace keyword research or a broader beginner SEO stack. See Majestic.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: technical crawling
Screaming Frog crawls a site to help locate broken links, redirects, titles and meta descriptions, canonicals, indexability signals, XML sitemap issues, and duplicate or thin pages. JavaScript rendering depends on configuration and edition. It is not a keyword-volume, backlink, competitor-traffic, or analytics tool; large crawls need resource planning, and a reported issue still needs technical and business interpretation. A 2019 Search Console Speed report also used Chrome User Experience Report data and connected to PageSpeed Insights; that report was a distinct performance resource, not a replacement for a crawler (Google’s November 2019 announcement). See SEO Spider.
Choose tools by the SEO job
| Job | Practical 2019 choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Generate broad keyword ideas | SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, or Keyword Planner | Paid suites add competitive context; Keyword Planner supplies advertising-oriented ideas and estimates. |
| Find real queries for an existing site | Google Search Console | It reports first-party performance for a verified property rather than modeled competitor traffic. |
| Explore questions for content | AnswerThePublic, then live SERP review | Question generation is useful for ideation but does not validate the opportunity. |
| Check trend and seasonality | Google Trends | Useful for relative direction, not absolute volume. |
| Analyze backlinks and content gaps | Ahrefs; Majestic for link-index-focused work | Ahrefs combines competitor and content research; Majestic specializes in links. |
| Research both SEO and PPC competitors | SEMrush | Its broad marketing and advertising workflows are the key differentiator. |
| Audit technical crawl issues | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | It crawls URLs and reports technical and on-page findings. |
| Start on a limited budget | Keyword Planner + Search Console + Trends + manual search; add Screaming Frog for crawling | Combines ideas, first-party performance, demand direction, SERP inspection, and a specialist crawler. |
How to choose a tool without buying features you will not use
- Budget: If you need occasional ideas, start with Google’s free tools and live SERPs. Pay when recurring research, exports, reporting, or time savings justify the expense.
- New site or existing site: A new site needs topic discovery and manual competition checks; an established site should first mine its Search Console queries and pages.
- Backlinks: If links and competitor authority are central, prioritize Ahrefs or a specialist such as Majestic. If not, do not pay mainly for link features.
- PPC: If you manage advertising as well as organic search, SEMrush’s broader workflow may be more useful. Use Keyword Planner for Google Ads estimates.
- Scale and reporting: Agencies should inspect project, user-seat, export, geography, device, and white-label report limits before subscribing. These limits vary by plan and are not interchangeable with feature lists.
- Technical needs: If the main problem is crawling and indexability, a crawler is more relevant than buying another keyword database.
- Local targeting: Check geography and location support, then inspect the local results themselves; a generic national difficulty score may not reflect a local pack or service-area competition.
- Billing risk: Before a purchase, confirm billing cadence, trial or refund terms, renewal, and cancellation process directly with the vendor. No historical 2019 price or trial term is verified here.
A cheaper tool can be entirely adequate for a local business, personal blog, or small affiliate site with occasional planning. It becomes a poor fit when the workflow requires large exports, multiple countries, daily tracking, many projects, agency reporting, or deep historical competitor analysis.
Best Value
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- Helpful in various ways
Why SEO tools disagree—and how not to be misled
Different tools can report different search volumes, difficulty, traffic potential, or competitor rankings without either number being a direct Google measurement. Platforms may use different keyword databases, country and language coverage, search engines, devices, refresh schedules, volume models, click-through assumptions, SERP-feature treatment, historical windows, and rules for grouping close variants. Their difficulty, domain authority, domain rating, Trust Flow, and traffic estimates are proprietary or modeled metrics, not standardized Google scores.
- Do not equate volume with visits. Ads, featured snippets, other SERP features, navigational intent, refinements, and grouped variants can reduce or redistribute organic clicks. Google Search in 2019 already included features beyond blue links, including featured snippets, Knowledge Panels, and Autocomplete (Google’s account of Search).
- Do not compare difficulty scores across vendors. A score of 20 in one product is not equivalent to 20 in another.
- Inspect search intent. A query that looks informational may return product pages, local businesses, videos, tools, or major brands. Your page format needs to match the need reflected in results.
- Use competitor traffic as direction, not audited fact. Third-party estimates are modeled and no index sees the entire web perfectly.
- Prioritize value, not volume alone. Consider relevance, conversion potential, competition, existing authority, traffic potential, content cost, publishing time, and whether you can serve the query better.
A 2019 Ahrefs analysis of 100,000 keywords illustrates why rank position alone is not a business outcome: the page ranking first did not necessarily receive the most search traffic (Ahrefs’ study). Rankings matter as an input; clicks, conversions, and revenue determine whether the work served its purpose.
A practical 2019 keyword-research workflow
- Define the business outcome. Decide whether the page should produce leads, sales, affiliate revenue, local visits, subscriptions, or useful informational traffic.
- Build seed topics. Start with products and services, customer questions, competitor pages, Google autocomplete, Keyword Planner, and question ideas from AnswerThePublic.
- Expand the list. Use a suite such as SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool, Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, or Moz Keyword Explorer, or a smaller tool such as KWFinder, Ubersuggest, or Keyword Tool.
- Check first-party evidence. If the site already exists, inspect Search Console queries and pages before relying on third-party estimates.
- Check demand direction. Use Trends to distinguish stable interest, seasonality, temporary news interest, and decline.
- Inspect the actual results page. Note intent, content format, brands, featured snippets, local packs, shopping and video results, forums, page quality, topical depth, and the backlink strength of ranking pages.
- Group by intent and page fit. Keep close variants together when one page can satisfy them; separate queries when their intent differs, even if a tool groups them.
- Prioritize the opportunity. Weigh relevance and likely business value against competition, authority, traffic potential, content effort, and time to publish.
- Publish and measure outcomes. Track Search Console impressions, clicks, CTR, and position alongside analytics conversions and revenue; refine based on actual performance.
Historical context: treat 2019 lists as dated snapshots
“2019 tools” lists did not always reflect products newly assessed in 2019: one prominent 2019-oriented list was originally published in January 2018 and updated in November 2018 (the article’s publication history). Similarly, a contemporary expert roundup placed SEMrush ahead of other keyword-research choices, but that is the ranking of that roundup—not an industry-wide or objectively tested verdict (roundup).
The practical historical conclusion is use-case-specific: SEMrush for broad SEO and PPC research, Ahrefs for backlink-led competitor and content work, and Google’s tools for advertising estimates, trends, and performance on a site you control. Historical prices, plan quotas, and availability are not verified here. Check current vendor pages for present-day purchasing details, but do not treat those details as evidence of 2019 terms.
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