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SE Ranking has come a long way since Valery Kurilov founded it in 2013. What started as a focused SEO rank tracker has grown into a full-stack platform for agencies, online businesses, and independent SEO professionals. There are tools covering everything from keyword research and backlink analysis to AI-powered search visibility tracking.

First you get access to a massive dataset, including over 5 billion keywords, 2.9 trillion backlinks, and support across 188 countries. That's a lot of data to work with, whether you're analyzing a single site or managing dozens of client projects. For new users, the platform offers a free trial that requires no credit card, giving you a real hands-on feel before you commit.

Want to know more? This review breaks down everything SE Ranking offers in 2026. What works well, where it falls short, and whether it's worth your money compared to the competition.

• Try SE Ranking here

SE Ranking: Plans and pricing

(Image credit: SE Ranking)

Plan

Starting rate (paid annually)

Starting rate (paid monthly)

Core

$103.20/mo

$129/mo

Growth

$223.20/mo

$279/mo

Enterprise

Custom

Custom

SE Ranking has restructured its pricing in 2026, moving from the old Essential/Pro/Business tiers to three new plans: Core, Growth, and Enterprise. You save 20% across the board by paying annually, and free assisted migration is included with any annual subscription.

The Core plan starts at $103.20/month (paid annually). It's built for marketing teams that need a solid SEO and GEO foundation without managing a large client roster. You get 10 projects, one manager seat, 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 100 daily AI prompts for GEO research, and up to 250,000 pages audited per month. Integrations with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Looker Studio, and Matomo are all included from the start.

The Growth plan at $223.20/month (paid annually) is where most agencies will land. It scales up to 30 projects, three manager seats, 5,000 keywords tracked daily, and 250 daily GEO prompts. You also get full historical data going back across your account's lifetime, page changes monitoring, guest links for client collaboration, and API access with 100,000 credits included. Dedicated customer support is available at this tier too.

For larger teams with custom requirements, the Enterprise plan offers flexible limits and pricing but you'll need to talk to SE Ranking's sales to scope out the right setup. They also offer three optional add-ons that work across plans: the Agency Pack (from +$69/mo, annual only) adds white-label reporting and client-facing tools; the AI Search add-on (from +$71.20/mo) layers in AI visibility tracking across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity; and the API add-on (from +$149/mo, annual only) gives you bulk data access starting at 12 million credits per month.

SE Ranking: Features

SE Ranking gives you a wide toolkit built around the core pillars of SEO — rank tracking, site auditing, competitor research, backlink analysis, content optimization, and now AI search visibility. It's geared primarily toward agencies and freelance SEO professionals, but solo site owners and in-house marketers will find plenty here too. Most tools are well-executed, with clean data presentation and minimal clutter, though the interface does have a learning curve once you move beyond the basics.

SE Ranking really pulls ahead on value in how much it packs into lower-tier plans. You get 120+ metrics in the website audit tool, daily keyword updates, and a 2.9 trillion link backlink index. It still lags slightly behind tools like Ahrefs or Majestic on backlink filtering granularity, though, which matters if deep link analysis is central to your workflow.

At the prices SE Ranking charges in 2026, we think the feature set more than justifies the cost. The addition of AI search tracking, expanded API capabilities, and the new SE Visible product signals that the platform is keeping pace with how search itself is changing. For a Core plan at $103.20/month, you'd be hard-pressed to find a comparable all-in-one tool.

Keyword Rank Tracker

(Image credit: SE Ranking)

SE Ranking keeps your keyword rankings updated daily across desktop and mobile, so you always have a current picture of where your pages stand in the SERPs. The ability to check cached SERP results gives you a useful historical perspective, letting you spot ranking trends over time rather than reacting to single-day shifts.

Managing large keyword lists becomes a lot more manageable with SE Ranking's grouping and tagging system. You can organise keywords by topic, campaign, or client, and the interface makes it easy to move between projects without losing your place. Pro and Business users also benefit from unlimited client projects, which is a meaningful advantage for agencies handling multiple accounts at once.

On-Page SEO checker

SE Ranking's on-page checker evaluates your pages against 94 different SEO parameters, comparing your content against competitor data to identify exactly where you're falling short. Issues are categorised as errors, warnings, or notices, with practical suggestions attached to each one so you know what to fix and why.

Website Audit

SE Ranking analysis dashboard (Image credit: SE Ranking)

The Website Audit tool gives you a clear picture of your site's technical health through an easy-to-navigate dashboard. It can analyse up to 1,000 pages quickly and surfaces critical errors with in-depth explanations, so you're not left guessing about what needs attention.

A 2025 update improved how the Health Score is calculated, making it easier to understand how individual issues actually affect your overall score. Over 120 metrics are tracked in total, and you can customize audits to focus on the areas most relevant to your project.

Competitive Research Tool

SE Ranking has all essential SEO tools in one place (Image credit: SE Ranking)

SE Ranking's competitive research tool gives you a thorough view of what your competitors are doing across both organic and paid search. You can assess their traffic sources, targeted keywords, backlink profiles, and active Google Ads campaigns.

This is one of the stronger features in the platform, especially for agencies that need to present competitive data to clients. Monthly ad history tracking and keyword-level PPC data make it useful beyond just organic SEO, giving you a fuller picture of how a competitor is investing across search channels.

Backlink Checker

(Image credit: SE Ranking)

SE Ranking's Backlink Checker draws on a 2.9 trillion-link index, with 58% of backlinks refreshed every 90 days. You enter a domain and get a full breakdown of backlinks, referring domains, and key metrics including follow/nofollow status and a Toxicity Score to flag potentially harmful links.

You can also use the tool to identify which of your content pieces attract the strongest links, and analyse competitor backlink strategies to find new link-building opportunities. If your main use case is deep-dive link analysis, Ahrefs and Majestic still offer more granular filtering options. But for most users, SE Ranking covers the essentials well.

Local Marketing Tool

(Image credit: SE Ranking)

SE Ranking's Local Marketing Tool is designed for businesses that need to win visibility in location-based searches. It shows you how customers find and interact with your listings in search results, surfaces the most effective local keywords, and tracks engagement patterns to help you understand when users are most active.

The Reputation Management feature pulls review data directly into SE Ranking, letting you respond to customer feedback without switching between platforms. You can also mine review language for new keyword opportunities, which is a practical way to connect customer voice with your strategy.

SE Ranking: Support

SE Ranking offers a wide range of educational and supportive resources. Their blog is a valuable source of SEO knowledge, offering detailed guides and real-life client case studies. Plus, to enhance interactive learning, SE Ranking offers webinars where you can even get in touch with industry experts. These webinars can be accessed on-demand or scheduled live. The SE Ranking Academy also offers practical online courses specifically designed for SEO professionals and agency owners to improve their skills.

On the support side, you can use the Agency Catalog, which features a curated list of top SEO agencies from around the world. This helps users find the right expertise for their projects. For those who are unsure about choosing an agency, SE Ranking provides straightforward advice on selecting a partner that best suits their specific needs. Additionally, SE Ranking's 'What's new?' section updates you about the latest features and updates.

SE Ranking: The competition

Semrush is a comprehensive SEO and digital marketing tool that provides a wide array of features, including keyword research, competitive analysis, backlink analysis, site auditing, and more. It offers a user-friendly interface and robust reporting capabilities. Ahrefs is another powerful SEO tool that focuses on backlink analysis and competitive research. It provides extensive data on backlinks, organic search traffic, keyword rankings, and content analysis. Ahrefs also offers features for keyword research, site auditing, and rank tracking.

Moz Pro is a popular SEO suite that offers a range of features for keyword research, rank tracking, site auditing, and link analysis. It provides valuable insights and recommendations to help improve your website's visibility and performance in search engine results.

Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform that offers features such as keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor research. It provides a user-friendly interface and comprehensive data to optimize your website's SEO. Majestic is primarily known for its backlink analysis capabilities. It offers an extensive database of backlinks, allowing you to analyze your website's link profile and track competitors' backlinks. Majestic also provides features for keyword research, site audits, and rank tracking.

SpyFu is a competitive intelligence tool that focuses on competitor analysis and keyword research. It provides insights into your competitors' SEO strategies, including their top-performing keywords, ad campaigns, and organic search rankings.

SE Ranking: Final verdict

Overall, we found SE Ranking to be a great helping hand at running various SEO tests and analyses. It excels in tracking specific keywords, conducting thorough on-page SEO audits, and even delving into detailed backlinks and keyword analysis.

Plus, it provides regular updates and practical insights which helps you stay updated throughout the time. However, it's also important to keep in mind that you might have to pay extra for certain additional services. And if you’re someone, it all boils down to your strategic needs and finding a tool that might be the best fit for it.  

• Here's a list of the best free SEO keyword research tools on the market

Google dominates search, so it makes sense that its own set of search and analytics tools would be among the most powerful available, even if they're all free to use. Whether you run a small personal blog or a large e-commerce site, Google offers a suite of tools that lets you understand how people find you online, what they're searching for, and how your pages are performing in real time.

In this review, we take a close look at the main tools Google offers for website owners and SEO professionals: Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and Google Business Profile. We'll walk you through what each tool does, where they shine, and what they're still missing compared to paid alternatives.

Google SEO tools: Plans and pricing

Plan

Starting Rate

Google Analytics (Standard)

Free

Google Analytics 360

Custom

Google Search Console

Free

Google Trends

Free

Google Keyword Planner

Free (Requires a Google Ads account)

Google Business Profile

Free

Google Ads

Variable (Pay-per-click)

All of Google's core SEO tools are completely free to use. You just need a Google account to get started. However, Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click model and Google Analytics 360 is an enterprise-grade upgrade available for large organizations.

Google SEO tools: Features

Google's free SEO toolkit remains one of the most comprehensive available at any price point. Across Analytics, Search Console, Trends, Keyword Planner, and Business Profile, you get a full-stack view of your site's visibility. It's broad enough to serve solo bloggers, yet deep enough for professional teams managing large properties.

The tools are best suited to users who are already operating within the Google ecosystem. Because everything ties back to Google Search, the data you receive is first-party and highly accurate. That said, the lack of a unified dashboard still means you're jumping between separate interfaces to get the full picture.

Yet what Google does particularly well is continuous iteration. In 2025 and 2026, Search Console received a string of meaningful upgrades that close the gap with paid SEO tools. Below, we've broken these down under dedicated sections.

Google Analytics 4

(Image credit: Google)

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the current standard for web and app analytics, having fully replaced Universal Analytics, which was shut down on July 1, 2023. GA4 uses an event-based data model—rather than the session-based model of its predecessor—which gives you a more granular view of how users interact with your content across devices and platforms.

You can track everything from page views and scroll depth to custom events like video plays or form submissions, all without writing code. Cross-platform tracking is built in, so you can follow the same user across mobile and desktop visits. GA4 also integrates tightly with Google Ads, making it easier to trace conversions back to specific campaigns.

Google Search Console

(Image credit: Google)

Search Console is your direct line to how Google sees your website. It shows you which queries bring people to your pages, how your content is indexed, and whether any technical issues are affecting your visibility. Unlike third-party SEO tools, this data comes straight from Google, so it's as authoritative as it gets.

In December 2025, Google also introduced an experimental AI-powered configuration feature inside Search Console's Performance report. Instead of manually clicking through filters and dropdowns, you can now describe what you want to analyze in plain language. For example, saying "show me mobile queries containing the word 'reviews' over the last 90 days" gets Search Console to configure the report automatically.

The feature handles filter application, metric selection, and date comparisons on your behalf. It's still in an experimental rollout to a limited number of users and properties, so you may not see it in your account yet. When it does land, it's a genuine time-saver for anyone who regularly digs into performance data.

Google PageSpeed Insights

(Image credit: PageSpeed Insights)

PageSpeed Insights evaluates the performance of individual pages on both mobile and desktop, scoring them from 0 to 100. It draws on both Lab Data (simulated test conditions) and Field Data from the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), which reflects how real users experience your pages across different devices and connections.

The tool is free to use at pagespeed.web.dev and requires no account. Just paste a URL and you'll get a breakdown of Core Web Vitals, along with specific recommendations for improving load speed, layout stability, and interactivity.

Google Trends

(Image credit: Google)

Google Trends lets you explore how interest in specific search queries changes over time, across regions, and in relation to competing terms. It's particularly useful for content planning, spotting seasonal patterns, and validating whether a topic is growing or declining in popularity.

The tool is entirely free and requires no login. You can compare up to five terms at once, filter by region, time period, and search category, and access real-time trending data. If you want to embed Trends data directly into a site, Google also provides an API for that purpose.

Google Keyword Planner

(Image credit: Google)

Keyword Planner is part of Google Ads and is primarily designed for advertisers who want to research keywords before building campaigns. That said, it's widely used by SEO professionals too—it provides search volume estimates, competition levels, and cost-per-click data that can inform both paid and organic strategies.

Note that Keyword Planner requires a Google Ads account to access. You can create one for free without spending money on ads, but the account is a prerequisite. Volume data shown to accounts that aren't running active campaigns tends to be displayed in broad ranges rather than precise figures.

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business, which was rebranded in November 2021) is the tool businesses use to manage how they appear in Google Search and Google Maps. You can add your address, hours, phone number, photos, and service details, and respond to customer reviews directly from the dashboard.

For local SEO, Business Profile is essential. An optimized listing significantly increases your chances of appearing in the local "map pack" results that appear at the top of many location-based searches. The tool also provides insights into how customers find and interact with your listing.

• We've also listed best SEO tools of 2026

Google SEO tools: Interface and in-use

Google is famous for its friendly user experiences, and Analytics, Search Console, and Ads exemplify why. All three SEO tools use an easily navigable left-hand menu bar with drop-down menus that help to organize your data displays. On top of that, within Analytics, you can create custom dashboards and reports to put the most useful performance information in front of you.

Perhaps the biggest issue with Google’s SEO interface is that Analytics, Search Console, and Ads are three different platforms. You can link Search Console and Ads, but you still need to navigate back and forth between the two interfaces for most tasks.

Separating the three platforms helps keep their respective missions—monitoring performance, optimizing performance, and creating ad campaigns—clearly delineated. But, it would be a more streamlined experience if they were rolled into a single user interface.

• We've also listed the best on-page SEO tool of 2026.

Google SEO tools: Support

Google offers support for Analytics and Search Console by web only. Both platforms have extensive documentation centers, and you simply need to describe your issue to find the appropriate help file. If you get stuck, though, support is limited to posting in a help forum and hoping that another user answers your question.

Support for Ads is more concrete. There’s an online documentation library similar to what you’ll find for Analytics and Search Console. But, you can also get help over the phone, by live chat, or by email.

• We've also listed the best SEO keyword research tool of 2026.

(Image credit: Google)Google SEO tools: The competition

Google's tools are in a category of their own when it comes to price. Everything is free, plus the underlying data comes directly from the world's most-used search engine. No third-party tool can replicate that. Where it falls short, however, is in competitive intelligence: you can see how your own site performs, but not how you stack up against competitors on specific keywords.

That's where paid platforms like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz Pro come in. These tools build on top of Google's data using Search Console API connections, while adding features like backlink analysis, competitor keyword gap tools, rank tracking for arbitrary keywords, and site audit crawling.

If you're managing SEO seriously across a competitive niche, you'll likely find yourself using Google's tools alongside one of these platforms rather than choosing between them. For website analytics specifically, Matomo and Plausible Analytics are popular privacy-focused alternatives to GA4, particularly for users in regions with strict data protection regulations.

• We've also listed the best free SEO tools in 2026.

Google SEO tool: Final verdict

The trifecta of Google Analytics, Search Console, and Ads is an extremely powerful combination for website owners. The three tools together allow you not only to monitor your website traffic, but also to build more traffic through organic and paid search results.

The only major thing that Google’s SEO tools are lacking is information about how your website is ranking in search results against competitors. Also, there's no visibility when it comes to other search engines like Bing or AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Still, given that Google doesn’t charge anything for its SEO suite, it’s pretty hard to complain. Paid options like Semrush and Ahrefs exist for those who want to take their SEO game to the next level.

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