Analytical applications and services help you see how your blog is performing against your competition. Search engine optimisation services provide additional information on what keywords you rank for and how you can improve your ranking.
By knowing where your blog stands, you can plan your future articles and promotions.
 | AhrefsAn SEO service that offers a lot of SEO tools such as a backlink checker, mentions tracker, and link batch analysis. The cheapest package costs $79 per month and allows 5,000 site explorer results, 60 reports, and 100 backlink reports. |
 | AlexaFamous for its toolbar, Alexa is one of the leading metrics services online. It is fairly accurate for high traffic websites however results can be way off the mark for lower traffic websites. |
 | Bright Local SEO ToolsAn SEO service that provides six tools for tracking local SEO performance. Plans start from $19.99 per month. |
 | ClickyAn analytical service that offers on-click analytics, uptime monitoring, and search keyword rankings. It costs $9.99 per month to track up to one million page views. |
 | CompeteOne of the world’s leading companies on consumer online behaviour. With its cheapest plan starting at $199 per month, it is easy to understand why it is only used by high-traffic blogs. |
 | Google Adwords Keyword PlannerA useful tool for researching what keywords and phrases to target. It was formerly known as the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. |
 | Google AnalyticsThe most widely used free traffic analysis service amongst blog owners. It is very easy to set up and free to use. |
 | KeywordSpyAn interesting service that allows you to spy on your competitors and discover what keywords they are using to rank in the search engines. It also informs you how much they are spending on Google Adwords. Plans start from $89.95 per month. |
 | Kontent MachineKontent Machine is an SEO link building application that will generate spinned content from keywords you enter. The quality of content generated using the script is low, however they do have a marketplace where you can buy higher quality articles. |
 | Link ProspectorA service that promises to uncover the links that will improve your rankings. Most reports cost one credit. Five credits can be bought for $10, with bigger savings for those who purchase a monthly plan. |
 | Long Tail ProOne of the most effective keyword research and analysis tools that is available online. It provides 800 results per keyword and shows you lots of information on your competitors. |
 | Market SamuraiMarket Samurai is a keyword research tool that was regarded as the best of its kind for many years. It has lost ground due to the popularity of other applications such as Long Tail Pro; however it remains a fantastic script. Features include keyword research, domain checking tool, rank tracker, and your SEO competition. |
 | MozA feature rich service that allows you to monitor your SEO and social media performance. Packages start from $99 per month. |
 | Open Site ExplorerFind out the domain and page authority of your blog. The service allows you to compare up to five websites. The service is free to use, however to get statistics about social media performance, you need to go pro at $99 per month. |
 | PiwikOpen source web analytics software that is free to download. It boasts over 500 features including goal tracking, email reports, and campaign tracking. |
 | PRCheckerA free tool that lets you check your Google PageRank. |
 | QuantcastA great service that lets you measure your audience free. The service is used by many blogs to verify their traffic levels. |
 | Rank CrackerRank Cracker is a free software tool that allows you to import a list of links that point to your competitor’s websites. It then shows you how you can replicate these links yourself for your own website. This will help you outrank them in the search engine results pages. |
 | Screaming Frog SEO Spider ToolAn SEO program that fetches key SEO information from websites. It is available free on Windows, Mac, and Linux. |
 | SEMrushSEO software that provides analysis about your competitors. It gives information on backlinks, keywords, domains, and more. It retails at $69.95 per month. |
 | SEOBook ToolsA wide array of free SEO related Firefox browser extensions and web-based tools. |
 | SERPSAn SEO dashboard that provides reports on your SEO performance. Plans start from $48 per month. |
 | SpyFuA keyword research service that allows you to download your competitors more profitable keywords. Monthly plans start from $79 per month. |
 | URL TrendsA free analytical tool that provides a report on your link popularity, PageRank, Alexa Rank, keyword ranking, and much more. |
 | Wordtracker ScoutA browser extension that allows you to find the most popular keywords without even leaving your blog editing page. |
 | XML-SitemapsA free online sitemap generator that creates an XML sitemap that can be submitted to Google, Bing, and Yahoo. |