SEO monitoring: every site owner, web agency, web writer, blogger… in short, anyone working in content marketing should do it. Yet this task, often seen as tedious, is frequently put aside. Still, SEO monitoring is essential to stay informed about search engine news.
It is the sine qua non for having a healthy website and, above all, one that ranks well. With the SEO monitoring tools and the specialists to follow that we present to you, you'll realize that setting up effective monitoring isn't as complicated as it seems…
SEO monitoring tools: what for?
You may already practice informational monitoring: keeping up with news in your sector to write blog posts about current trends or recent events. The principle of SEO monitoring is the same, except here we care about search engine news.
Search engines, especially Google, constantly update their algorithms to match user preferences. So if you don't stay informed about the latest updates, your website can quickly lose positions in the SERP.
Concretely, thanks to effective SEO monitoring, you'll know the latest natural referencing techniques and you'll always be one step ahead of your competitors.
To do SEO monitoring, you must collect all information related to SEO : articles, podcasts, infographics, interviews… Provided this information comes from reliable sources and recognized SEO experts.
But staying on top of the latest web search developments takes time. Hence the usefulness of SEO monitoring tools…
4 SEO monitoring tools
To monitor regularly, you should dedicate one to two hours per week to reading different information sources. And that's not counting the time spent finding those sources… unless you use these aggregators and SEO monitoring tools!
1/ Feedly
Feedly is a very practical, powerful and easy-to-use tool for monitoring the web and saving time. Just subscribe to the RSS feeds of the websites you want to follow to automatically receive all SEO news. You can try this content aggregator for free, then switch to the paid version which costs €6 per month.
2/ Netvibes
Netvibes is a must-have for strategic monitoring. In a few clicks, you can gather in one place all the websites you want to follow. Then simply open its dashboard to monitor SEO information. The monitoring tool is free in its basic version; to access additional features, the subscription is €2 per month.
3/ Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a very effective free monitoring solution. Enter a keyword in the tool's search bar and you'll receive a Google Alert as soon as it is mentioned somewhere on the web. You can create an entire list of keywords and stay informed about SEO news across all social media (forums, social networks, blogs…).
4/ Visualping
We finish the SEO monitoring tools with an extension that integrates directly into your browser (Chrome only). Visualping detects and alerts you as soon as a change occurs on the Internet. Use the free version and monitor 5 web pages. If you need more sources for professional web monitoring, the monthly subscription starts at $10.
4 SEO experts to follow
1/ Olivier Andrieu
Renowned SEO consultant Olivier Andrieu is the founder of the site Abondance. He regularly publishes articles on SEO news and his books are references in the field (Réussir son référencement Web, Le SEO en 500 questions…).
2/ Laurent Bourrelly
Laurent Bourrelly is an SEO expert who will help you improve your online visibility and surpass your competitors. He also frequently publishes articles on his blog about web SEO and best SEO practices (internal linking, on-page optimization, content writing…).
3/ Miss SEO Girl
SEO consultant Miss SEO Girl, aka Alexandra Martin, shares her SEO knowledge on her blog and through her books (Techniques de référencement Web and E-commerce Content Strategy). The professional blogger even shares her SEO writing monitoring on her blog!
4/ Neil Patel
His name is globally known in digital marketing. Neil Patel is one of the biggest SEO influencers. He is the creator of several very popular SEO tools, including Ubersuggest, and the author of one of the world's leading marketing blogs: Quicksprout.
7 sites to follow for SEO monitoring
Finally, here is a list of the most relevant websites to build effective monitoring. Don’t hesitate to sign up for their newsletters as well.
1/ Google's blog
The famous search engine's blog is of course the most relevant for SEO monitoring. You won't find sources more reliable than those presented in the Google blog for webmasters.
2/ Abondance website
Every day Olivier Andrieu posts an SEO news item on his site Abondance. You will find all the information about the latest Google algorithm updates, optimization methods, white-hat and black-hat techniques, etc.
3/ The Semrush blog
The Semrush blog offers comprehensive articles on all aspects of SEO (local SEO, technical SEO optimizations, SEO fundamentals, link building…).
4/ Search Engine Land news site
If you’re comfortable with English, add the site quickly Search Engine Land to your monitoring process. This web magazine is full of articles and videos about SEO and even offers regular webinars.
5/ OnCrawl blog
If you want to keep up a watch on best practices for technically optimizing your website, the OnCrawl blog is the perfect site. You’ll find plenty of tips and advice to optimize your technical SEO in the form of articles, guides, white papers…
6/ Redacteur.com blog
You will find in the Redacteur.com blog all the articles you need to optimize your site and move it up in the search results: marketing strategy, semantic tools, user experience, SEO auditing. If you want relevant marketing monitoring, this is THE blog to include in your SEO monitoring tools.
7/ Your competitors' websites
SEO monitoring also means competitive monitoring. Watching competitors will allow you to identify:
- The keywords your competitors rank best for.
- The backlinks pointing to their websites.
- If they have set up paid campaigns.
However, remember to verify the accuracy of information published on their blogs or social networks. An influential competitor is not necessarily a reliable source…
Our extra tip beyond SEO monitoring tools
Monitoring and analysis go hand in hand. Whatever your monitoring strategy, always remember to check your sources carefully. Try not to spread yourself too thin and select the most reliable and relevant sources so you don’t get overwhelmed by the information flow.
As for your content optimizations, don’t forget that your SEO depends on the quality of your web content. So, if you want to improve your ranking in search engines and boost your conversion rate, order your texts from Redacteur.com !
