Keep in mind that most of the organizations that offer free SEO tools also offer paid SEO services. Some of these tools may represent trial offers, so read the fine print before downloading any tool.

As I stated earlier, if you are serious about using SEO for your freelance business website or blog it is not a bad idea to get a consultation from one of these companies. If you decide to get some help with SEO, remember that not all companies have the same level of expertise, so make your selection carefully.

Here is the list of over 50 free SEO tools by source (in alphabetical order by the site where they are found):

PR Search

1. Link Popularity Checker–Shows inbound links for Google, Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, Allintheweb & HotBot.
2. MSN Position Search–MSN Search for up to 15 keywords on one domain.
3. Page Rank Search–Google search results with PAGE RANK bar and inbound links.
4. Yahoo Rank Position–Shows Yahoo rank position, number of entries indexed.
5. Google Rank Position–Shows Google rank position, PAGE RANK, number of entries indexed, DMOZ and Google Dir status.

SEOBench

1. Google vs Yahoo Graph–Graphically shows the top 50 in Google and Yahoo linked.
2. Keyword Density Analysis–Determines density of one, two, and three word phrases.
3. Multi Datacenter PageRank Checker–Checks page rank values across all Google data centers.

SEO Book (You must register to use these tools.)

1. Rank Checker–Checks the rank of your site on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
2. SEO Toolbar–Allows you to view SEO data as you browse.
3. SEO for Firefox–Adds SEO information to Google and Yahoo search results
4. Myriad Search–Meta search that examines Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves.

SEOMoz (You must be logged in to use these tools.)

1. Open Site Explorer–View site’s analytics on custom API.
2. Linkscape–Professional inlink tool.
3. SEO Toolbar for Firefox–Linkscape as a toolbar for Firefox.
4. Term Target–Examines a specific page to see which keywords are used.
5. Popular Searches–View the most popular sources for a specific date on a number of well-known sites including Technorati, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Yahoo Buzz, Google Hot Trends, eBay Pulse, AOL Hot searches, Lycos, Ask, and Amazon.
6. Trifecta–Provides an estimate of the importance of a page, blog, or domain.
7. Term Extractor–Analyzes a page and shows keywords.
8. GeoTargeting Detection–Checks to see if your website is set up for geo targeting searches.
9. SEO Toolbox–Includes many free SEO tools.

SEO Toolset

1. SEMToolBarTM–Downloadable toolbar lets you view SEO information as your browse.
2. Search Engine Optimization/KSP Tool–Provides Google and Yahoo search engine statistics for specified keywords.
3. Check Server–Looks for issues that prevent your site from being crawled by the search engines.
4. View Page Source–Shows the source code of a URL.

WebConfs

1. Domain Age Tool–Determines the age of the domains entered.
2. Domain Stats Tool–Enter domain and find out domain age, number of pages indexed, and number of backlinks.
3. HTTP/HTTPS Header Check–Lets you examine the HTTP headers from the web server after you request a URL.
4. Search Engine Friendly Redirect-Enter URL–Checks your redirect to see how SE friendly it is.
5. Website Keyword Suggestions–Provides keyword suggestions along and keyword traffic estimates for the entered website.
6. Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer–Blacklink analyzer that shows URL and anchor text.
7. Check Yahoo Page Rank–Allows you to check the Yahoo WebRank of up to five URLs at a time.
8. URL Rewriting Tool-Creates Mod–Rewrites rules to convert dynamic URLs to static looking URLs.
9. Search Engine Spider Simulator–Displays page content minus code.
10. Similar Page Checker–Compares pages for similar content.

Webmaster Toolkit

1. Keyword Research Tool–Tool returns similar keywords found in the meta keywords of sites searched by your choice of nine search engines.
2. Link Appeal-Enter UR–Rates for link appeal.
3. Link Popularity Checker-Enter URL–Displays backlinks on five search engines.
4. Search Engine Position Checker-Enter URL/Keyword–Displays top 50 for nine search engines.
5. HTML Header View–Shows HTTP headers the web server is sending.
6. Web Page Analyzer-Enter URL/Keyword–Checks copy for optimization.

WebSeoAnalytics

1. WebSEOAnalysis–Comprehensive website analysis. (Exclusive)
2. Keyword Battle–Shows how your site ranks for a particular list of keywords (Exclusive)
3. Keyword Analyzer–Allows you to determine the percentage of keywords in a particular page.
4. Duplicate Content–Lets you compare content between two URLs.
5. HTML Validation–Determines whether a list of URLs are valid according to W3C standards.
6. PageRank Check–Lets you check your site’s page rank.
7. Multi DC PageRank–Lets you check your site’s page rank across multiple data centers.
8. Indexed Pages–Shows which pages on your site are indexed in Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
9. Link Popularity–Shows the number of incoming links to a URL.
10. Reputation Tracker–Tracks recent social media mentions of your site.
11. Domain Info–Provides the current status of your domain name.
12. Site Submitter–Allows you to submit your site to major search engines and directories and includes recent traffic statistics.

Many webmasters often create sites as if they will be the only visitor to it. No wonder that clumsily designed sites with difficult navigation often drive away visitors who hardly return. If you decide to build your own website, make sure that you stay away from such mistakes. To create a user friendly website, you will need to keep certain things in mind:

Easy navigation: Unless your site visitors can surf the web pages at their own will and with ease, they are unlikely to stay for long. Your site should also offer a hassle free way to return to the main menu or the home page from anywhere else on the site. You can even put up a site map to let visitors see what’s on offer at a glance and take their pick without wondering here and there, trying to figure out what pages they would like to visit.

Clean design: The layout and design of your site should not overwhelm your visitors. There should be some uniformity in the general colour scheme, logo, position of your link attributes etc so that the users become familiar with the design and can surf your web pages without any difficulty.

Easy to understand language: No one likes a site that pretends to be different with lots of jargon and mumbo-jumbo, most of which are difficult to understand. Even when you deal with technology or the like, try to keep your site language easy and simple so that even a novice can get hold of your message.

Search tools: Though many sites often integrate a Google search tool, it would pay you a lot better if you can include an internal search function where the user can search your site for products, services or information that he or she wants to know about. So, empower your site visitors with the ability to search your site for specific keywords that are relevant to your niche.

Proper functioning of links and forms: Check your links, feedback forms, guest books etc from time to time to ensure that they work properly. Nothing frustrates a visitor more than a broken link, or a dysfunctional order form and the like. So, don’t drive away your potential clients by ignoring these factors.

Contact details: Include your physical store address, email ids, phone numbers etc so that your site visitors can contact you if they need to do so. Displaying your contact details prominently on your website will build trust in people and they will be more likely to buy from you.

There is nothing wrong in making your site search engine friendly but don’t compromise on the user friendly aspect by concentrating more on coding, design etc and neglecting the readability of your copy or the usability of your site for human users. Try to blend both these aspect into your site to make it interesting for human visitors and search engine spiders alike and see your business soar in no time.

Here are some methods to increase traffic to your blog or website. Some of these techniques will help increase sales as well as hits.
1. Have Your Own Domain – If you use WordPress or blogger, try to avoid using sub-domains or free hosting services. Pay for some web hosting and get your own unique domain name. This will make your website more memorable and encourage visitors to return.
2. Create a Professional and Unique Design with Logo – Code your own template or modify an existing theme for your site or blog. What makes your blog so special if it looks the same as 1000 others on the Internet? Make sure you have a great memorable logo so when people see it; they know it’s your websites. Your design should be clean and simple so it’s easy to navigate. Once you have made it, test it and check everything works, a site with errors will lose visitors.
3. Content is King – You need to consistently write great content on your blog or website. The posts that you make need to be worth reading and have some impact on the visitor. If I am visiting your website for the first time, I want to be impressed and bookmark your website so I return to see what else you compose.
4. Post Linking – When a link is made to your blog from another blog, if activated, it places a link in that blogs comments back to the relevant post. This will help increase back links to your blog and therefore increase traffic.
5. Personality – Do not pretend to be someone you are not as a blogger. Be yourself and do not act otherwise. This is best because your readers want someone to connect with, someone who is a real person and not just a blog with no face.
6. Always Room for Improvement – Always strive to improve your blog or site any way you can. Play around with ad placement, colours and graphics and other features to make your blog more appealing. Ask for reviews to find area’s for improvement.
7. Reply to Your Readers – This means replying to comments and any e-mails that you receive. This is part of your personality and showing that you are a real person who exists and cares about the topic you are blogging about.
8. Real Posts – Ensure that you sound human in your posts. Do not post in the third person. Use words such as “I” and talk about your personal experiences.
9. A Picture – A picture paints a thousand words so why not show your readers who is writing the blog. Upload an image of yourself onto your about page, or if you are not quite comfortable to do that then have a cartoon of yourself made.
10. Comment on Other Blogs – This is a very powerful technique, I know I find myself clicking the link to a person’s website after I have read their comment and this is what you can achieve by leaving your comment on as many other blogs as possible. Blogs that are about the same topic will help you get targeted traffic. Ensure your comment is worth reading and not just a load of rubbish.
11. Question Your Readers – Ask your readers questions in posts, this will help to provoke a response from them. You give them an important role to play and they respond by commenting their opinion. This will encourage repeat visitors to respond to your posts with their opinions.
12. Internal Linking – Linking to previous posts that you have made will create more back links and also encourage readers to re-read or look at some of your older work. Readers of a particular post will be interested in related posts so ensure you link to them.
13. Alternate Text Images – When you use images on your site, ensure that you use alternate text “alt” tags to insert keywords or the name of the image. This will help get the images listed on image search engines and result in traffic from that source.
14. Submit to Directories – Submit your site to online directories. Do this to as many as you can to improve your PageRank. This increased back links to your website and there for you receive higher rankings on search engines. Quality back links are important so try and obtain some from high Page Ranking sites that have similar content to your websites.
15. Image Use – Try to use images when posting on your blog. These make posts more fun to look at and can break up boring text.
16. Join Forums – Join many forums and message boards that are related to your websites content. Place a link back to your website in your profile and signature and frequently post useful information to other members.
17. Keyword Rich Content – When writing articles or posts on your site or blog, ensure you include relevant keywords so that people searching for the topic will have an easier time finding your article.
18. Write Intriguing Post Titles – Ensure that you write intriguing post titles that have keywords in. This is what is going to show up on search engines so ensure your spelling is right and that you would want to click it.
19. Meta Data – Get as much use out of Meta data as you can. Try to have a different page description and keywords on every page of your website.
20. Write a Press Release – Write a press release about something to do with your website and publish this on news sites or press release websites along with sites that are relevant to your niche.
21. Merchandise – Create pens, pencils, t-shirts, mouse mats etc that have your websites logo and address on. Maybe sell the t-shirts from your website however give you the free pens in your local area.
22. Advertise Locally – Place an advert in your local business newsletter or in a local shop. List what the purpose of your website is and hopefully you will receive some interest. Local traffic can really help especially if you are selling something. Visitors will be much more inclined to purchase from someone locally than from the other site of the world.
23. Share a Secret – It is likely that your website will be based on something you have an interest in, so why not share some inside knowledge that many of your readers may not know. Let them know something that has helped you and only you in the past. Curiosity is a marvellous thing.
24. Advert Experiments – Naturally most will want to make some money from their website and therefore adverts will be on there. Try and experiment with your adverts placement to see which gets better results. Do not overload your website with adverts because this will deter visitors. Maybe implement a membership system that removes 50% of adverts when logged in.
25. Social Bookmark Posts Plugin – If you have a blog then get a plugin for your posts that allows your readers to click a button and this will then bookmark your site on digg, stumbleupon, reddit etc. 
26. Ask for Diggs – There is no harm is asking your readers to Digg posts that you have written. This will help increase the number of dig users visiting your website.
27. Ask for Comments – Ask your visitors in your posts to post their comments about the post. If you are not getting as many comments as you would like then anything is worth a try. 
28. Ask for Subscriptions – While asking for comments you may was well ask for other things such as subscriptions to your RSS feed. Ensure there is a big button that can be clicked that allows subscriptions to be made simple and stress free.
29. E-mail Subscription – Allows users to sign up by e-mail so that your blog posts are delivered to their e-mail address. This will ensure visitors do not miss any of your posts.

30. MyBlogLog – This is a great service that shows an image of your visitors on your website if they are registered. There are similar blog social networking sites that can also be used for this.
31. Post Rating – Enable a plug-in on your blog that allows visitors to rate your posts. This is a simple way that does not require registration to enable readers to report on how good a post is.
32. FeedBurner – Using a service such as Feed Burner allows you to monitor the number of subscribers you have. Many readers will be interested to see how many other users are reading your blog and are subscribed to it. Use their publicize services to show the number of readers.
33. Commenting – Try enabling and disabling the “must be registered to comment” feature to see which yields more results. You should find that without registration, more comments will come through; however this does mean that you should implement some spam protection feature.
34. Online Homepages – Many people use Google for example and have iGoogle activated. This is why you should have an RSS plug-in that allows users to click and it adds to feed to such services.
35. Write a List Post or Article – Writing a bulleted list can sometimes be easier on the reader and writer if you have lots on information to roll off in one post. This is a list post and makes for easy reading.
36. Article Marketing – Write an article and post it on sites such as article beech or ezine articles. Ensure you include a link back to your site in the article. Make sure the article is great so that people will want to read more of your work.
37. Autopinger – use sites such as autopinger.com to submit your blog to lots of websites.
38. Submit Site to Search Engines – Manually submit your site to the major search engines on the web and also use auto submitter websites for lesser known search engines. Organic search engine traffic is great and will increase your ad revenue.
39. DMOZ – Submit your website to dmoz.org. if you manage to get listed this will really help your traffic stats.
40. Site Contests – Offer a prize to the 1000th subscriber or commenter to encourage whatever activity you want. The prize could simply be a text link on your website, however the more appealing the better.
41. Banner Exchanges – You could try a banner exchange service however you may not be able to choose what type of banner is placed on your site. Try and contact other bloggers with similar content and ask for a link exchange.
42. Site Load Time – Check how long it takes your website to load and increase the speed if necessary. This is important to ensure visitors are not leaving before the site has fully loaded. Try to use smaller images or multimedia if your site is slow.
43. YouTube – Create a YouTube account and add you link in your profile so that you might get traffic from people who view any videos that you upload. Make videos relating to your website content so any traffic is targeted.
44. About Us – Get your site listed at Wiki – about Us Wiki Page, this is another way to increase back links. On the site you can put information about your website.
45. Tags – Tagging your posts or articles on your website is a great way of entering keywords to help search engines. Make the most of these where you can.
46. Categories – If you have a blog then use blog categories with meaningful names that use keywords so that these show up in the websites URL and on SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages)
47. Permalink – Check to see if this features is enabled. If its not then enable it and have the post title in the URL.
48. Holidays – These are great for marketing so ensure that you are ready. Start making posts and site content about Christmas / Easter or whatever about a month before the event. This gives search engines chance to list your posts. Then when people search for Christmas XXXXXX your site will be there. – Maybe decorate your site to suit the holiday theme.
49. Interviews – Interview other sites and post the interview on your website. Alternatively get interviewed by other sites yourself.
50. Selling your site? – Pretend to sell your website. I sold a site recently and the traffic shot up. If you can list your site free then you have nothing to lose apart from responding to offers. However the chances of any of the traffic you received returning is slim. You may benefit from padding out your MyBlogLog section.
51. Surveys – Have a survey or poll on your website, not large, just a small one in the sidebar somewhere that allows visitors to vote on a controversial question or something that will change on your website depending on a vote.
52. Blog Networks – Create a blog network where you can link all your blogs together. This will take up a lot of your time, however if you have it spare the more the better providing the content is unique and remains at a high standard.
53. Create a Site Template or Blog Theme – As the title states, create a theme and have a link back to your website in the footer. 
54. Plugins / scripts – If you have the knowhow, create a plug-in or script for a website and have a link back to your website.
55. Comedy Writing – If you can write funny content, this will attract lots of readers. I know I have returned to a blog in the past due to its humour.
56. Social Networking Site – Use social networking websites such as MySpace, gain lots of friends and then post a bulletin about your website.
57. Reviewing – If you are honest and able to post great reviews then review sites and products and post about them on your website. If this is successful then other sites will want to be reviewed by you.
58. Get Reviews – Go to other sites and ask them to review your website. No one like’s criticism so be prepared to take some. It is likely to benefit your site in the future though.
59. Post News – Try and be first to post breaking news in your niche. Get listed on news websites such as Google News which will increase your traffic.
60. Awards Program – Create an awards brand. Get webmasters to submit their site and you offer prizes or just a graphic that states they won or passed your tests for a great website. Use your imagination.
61. Resources – Write posts that link to resources that may be useful to your type of reader. A webmaster blog may link to free stock photo sites as a post and list them in order of best first.
62. Treat others as you wish to be treated – This speaks for itself. If a reader of yours needs a hand then take the time out to help them. They will appreciate you for it.
63. Edit Posts – Go back over old content on your website and update it if it needs updating. Insert relevant links into old pages that go to content that is similar.
64. Yahoo Answers – Get an account at Yahoo Answers and post your blog URL in answers where appropriate. Only do this when you have a good reputation and the content is relevant and will actually help the user.
Great! That’s it for this time. If you learned at least one thing from this post it was worth reading!

Let’s take a look at 18 timeless blogging tips on how to improve your blog and stand above the competition.

1. Judge a blog by its cover – If it doesn’t look pretty, people have a hard time focusing on what you have to say. Take a look at the home page of your blog, focusing on the uppermost region (without scrolling down). Would you want to take a look around after arriving on the home page as a new visitor?

2. Comment smartly and consistently – Bloggers are tired of seeing the overused “Nice post!” or “This is really interesting!” Stand out by trying to put some thought into your comments and, most importantly, make it sound like you actually read the article.

3. Get a Gravatar- Before you start commenting on blogs, it’s a good idea to register your own gravatar. If you follow step 2, readers and blog owners will become familiar with you for better or for worse.

4. Show your personality in your writing – Establishing a voice in your writing is a crucial element is producing content that people will want to keep coming back over and over again for more. Don’t be that Average Joe in a sea of Average Joes.

5. Use plenty of pictures in your blog posts – No one wants to see endless blocks of text, especially while reading online. The moment your readers’ mind wanders off, they’ll be jumping to another site before you know it. Here are some great sources for finding images: Flickr, Photobucket, picapp, Google Image Search.

6. Study SEO like your life depended on it - Driving traffic to your blog through search engines is what you call “organic traffic.” Other types include referral sites, and direct traffic. Of the three mentioned, organic traffic is what you need to be able to sustain long-term visibility of your blog. To help you get started, take a look at this comprehensive guide on SEO: The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings For Your Blog.

7. Start with a WordPress.com blog and then switch over to a self-hosted WordPress blog - Three reasons to use WordPress: 1) Lots of people use it 2) Recognition and reputation 3) Strong support. If you are just started blogging, I recommend you get a free WordPress.com blog to get your feet wet. It can’t hurt you to do so and besides, what’s the rush?

8. Avoid grammar mistakes by proofreading – One thing that really annoys me about a blog is poor grammar. If you were listening to your teacher lecture about quantum physics and his grammar is dreadful, you would want to leave that class in a heartbeat. Same thing with blogs. You came looking for value but it’s all mixed up with a misplaced “has” and “their” and terrible spelling. Would you want to keep reading? Probably not.

9. Make you blog content rich in media – In my Studio Art class last quarter, we studied about human culture and psychology (Shrug). It would’ve been the most boring class in my entire schedule if my professor had not included numerous videos and other media into out 1- 1/2 hour long lectures. It kept me attentive and engaged. and helped me connect topics more cohesively. In other words, utilize the power of Youtube and other media sources and incorporate them accordingly into your blog content.

10. Figure out your niche and stick to it – If someone asked you what your blog was about, would you be able to answer without hesitation? If not, write down in 140 characters or less(no pun intended) a succinct and clear definition of what your blog is about. E.g: Pet Food Blog- The Blog where Pet Owners can Learn How to Better Feed Their Beloved Pets. The second important thing is “to keep the main the main thing.” If you feel like writing a post about electron polarization and its effect on our ecosystem (shrug), do you really think that readers to your Pet Food Blog would appreciate it?

11. Blog on a set schedule – There is no right answer to how often one should blog. Whatever schedule you start out with, make sure you stick with it every week. Take for example, Mashable. After visiting the site a couple of times, you can safely expect to see a new article every single day. The important thing is that they stick with that routine.

12. Reply to comments on your blog – Replying to questions or comments from readers is your way of letting people know that your blog is “alive.” It gives readers the opportunity to interact and engage in conversation. Best thing of all? It artificially inflates the true number of people who comment on your blog. Very sweeeeeet.

13. Make it easy for readers to navigate your blog – If it takes more than 3 seconds to look for a search bar or category list on your blog, than your site’s navigation needs to be improved. No one likes the feeling of being in an unfamiliar place with no directions to their destination. They feel desperate, unhappy, and hopeless. The thing with being lost in an unfamiliar site as opposed to being lost in a shopping mall is that readers can easily exit with a single click of a button. This will definitely not help your blog traffic.

14. Put an author section in your blog posts – No one wants to read material written by a face-less author, let alone by one without a name. Check out this article by Chris Spooner on how you to create your own author section.

15. Forget about the stats – How much time do you spend checking the stats of traffic to your blog? You’ll be amazed by how much more productive you will be if you focus on maximizing the time you spend writing new blog posts instead. One method to fight off your debilitating addiction for numbers is to disconnect your computer from the internet. Say what?! Yep, that’s right. If you can’t get online, you can’t get look at your stats. Pull out Microsoft Word and start writing your next blog post there. It’ll work out. Trust me.

16. Don’t think about making money…at first – If making money from your blog is your primary goal, I will not argue against that. The problem with focusing solely on money in the beginning is that you lose sight of the far more significant goal every new blog must reach first: quality content. What good will you provide your readers if you only post hundreds of affiliate links and self-promotional articles in the hope of winning people’s credit card numbers? Don’t be greedy. Money is great but don’t let it destroy your blog.

17. Write killer headlines - With eye-catching headlines, you have effectively completed over 50% of your blog’s advertising. Tell me, would you rather read an article titled, “How to Cook Delicious Spaghetti Sauce” or “How to Make Your Spaghetti Sauce Taste Orgasmic” ? (I apologize if you were eating) Anyways, the point is to avoid the overused and generic blog titles and strive for ones that are unique and thought-provoking.

18. Guest post – Don’t let the thought of submitting your written articles to other reputable blogs intimidate you. Remember, if you don’t try, how can you possibly succeed?