You don’t need to spend a penny to do decent SEO. Especially if you’re just starting out. In fact, I’d argue that if you have an SEO budget of £400 – £500 a year and you’re spending it on tools, you’re likely wasting it.
Tools don’t rank websites — people do. So, it stands to reason you should focus on understanding your audience, creating useful content, and building a good website. That’s it. Free tools can support that, but they’re just that: support.
Google Search Console
This is your most important SEO tool — and it’s free. It tells you how your site is performing on Google: what pages get clicks, what queries bring traffic, what’s indexed, and what errors you need to fix.
How I use it: I dig into the “Performance” section and sort by impressions. I look for queries that have high impressions but low clicks.
That tells me I’m showing up but not converting — maybe my title isn’t compelling enough.
I also find overlooked queries here, especially long-tail keywords with zero reported volume on Semrush or Ahrefs.
You’d be surprised how often these zero-volume keywords are driving clicks.
I click into a page and check the queries it ranks for.
Then, I add the most relevant ones (that aren’t already in the content) naturally into the copy.
Sometimes it’s just a phrasing tweak — but it helps.
Google Autocomplete + Keywords Everywhere
This combo is ridiculously underrated. You get raw insight into what people are typing into Google.
How I use it: I start typing in phrases like how coffee machines, why coffee machines, when coffee machines and see what Google fills in. These are real searches.
Then I look at the suggestions Keywords Everywhere shows on the right-hand side.
Even if the volume is 0, I still record anything that looks interesting or specific. Later, I cross-check those in Google Keyword Planner.
Once I find one that shows 10 – 100 monthly searches and a positive trend, I shortlist it.
I’ll also go to Reddit or Twitter/X and see if people talk about this phrase.
That’s real user interest, not just keyword theory.
And remember: if it’s long-tail and zero-volume, chances are the big sites haven’t created a dedicated page for it.
That’s where you can win.
Google Keyword Planner
This tool isn’t just for paid ads. It gives decent insight into search volume ranges — especially useful for verifying those long-tail and zero-volume terms.
How I use it: I upload a list of phrases I’ve collected through GSC, Keywords Everywhere, and Autocomplete.
I filter for terms with 10–100 searches/month and check for terms that show a year-over-year increase.
That’s how you separate fads from trends.
Google Trends
It’s easy to write this tool off, but for certain use cases, it’s gold.
Example: I was once planning a digital PR piece around at-home coffee habits.
I wanted to find a good angle.
I searched coffee machine in Google Trends, filtered by UK, and found spikes in November and January — classic gifting and resolution months.
I adjusted the campaign to land in late October and used phrases like best home coffee machines for gifts.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free version)
This is a technical tool for crawling your website. The free version is more than enough for most small websites (up to 500 URLs).
How I use it: I run it once every couple of months, especially after big content changes. It tells me about missing meta tags, broken links, orphan pages, and duplicate content. You don’t need to use this tool every week — but every few months, it’s worth it.
Manual entity research
Once I’ve picked a keyword, I want to understand what Google expects in the content.
How I do it:
- I search the keyword and look for “People Also Ask” questions, auto-suggest bubbles, and related searches.
- I click around, open the top pages, and note which phrases, features, and ideas keep coming up.
- I group related concepts. These become supporting paragraphs or subtopics in the article.
Focus on the basics first
Honestly, you could do 80% of SEO work with just GSC and Keyword Planner. You do not need expensive tools unless you’re managing dozens of websites or running complex campaigns.
Use GBP for local SEO
If you’re a local business, don’t get distracted by traditional SEO. Focus on your Google Business Profile. Get reviews, add photos, post updates, and make sure every section is filled out.
Your biggest wins will come from GBP visibility and local listings — not some £99/month SEO tool.
One last thing
Get listed on every relevant directory you see in the search results. Type your target keyword, look at the results, and if it’s a directory site — get on it. You’re not trying to out-rank them, you’re trying to get listed by them.