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For a beginner, embarking on the Search Engine Optimization process is a daunting task indeed. Beating literally hundreds and thousands of websites to the first page of a search engine’s results is no small feat, and optimizing your site content to fit the stringent requirements of top search engines is a task as difficult as it is important. However, your life can be made much, much easier by using some of the most popular and most reliable SEO tools. Here are some of the major types of SEO tools and what they can do for you. Bear in mind that there are numerous alternatives available for each tool, and you can choose one depending on your budget and on exactly what you need to analyze.

Here is a brief introduction to the top few tools to get you started on optimizing your website.
Top SEO Tool Types:
•    Domain Name Tools:
Examples: PsychicWhois, BustAName, DomainNameSoup

Function: These tools help you find a name for your domain that will attract the most traffic and help your site maintain a high search engine ranking. Domain names are particularly important as they are analyzed by search engines and compared to users’ search strings. These tools can help you come up with a domain name by suggesting prefixes, suffixes and synonyms.
•    On-Page Keyword Analysis Tools:
Examples: SEO Keyword Density Tool on http://developers.evrsoft.com/seotool/

Function: These tools analyze the keywords on a given page of your site. They search the headers, starting paragraphs, titles and other prominent places for keywords and help you get an idea of how many keywords you are using and whether there are too many or too few.
•    Keyword Rank Checking Tools:
Examples:  SeoMoz Rank Checker, Shoemoney serps script
Function: These check the ranking of any keywords in major search engines, giving you an idea of how popular your chosen keywords are.
•    Site Diagnostic Tools:
Examples: Search Engine Spam Detector, Bad Neighbourhood Tool
Function: These perform various functions, essentially checking your site for problems that could cause a low search engine ranking, such as ending up in spam filters, bad links to external web locations etc.
You can use several tools to analyze various aspects of SEO on your own site or own competing sites, or you can find a single firm or tools that does everything. For example, the TriFecta Page/Site/Power tool helps you analyze your own site in detail; it offers a comprehensive report on your page power and other SEO related aspects of your site and offers ways for improvement.
Additionally, some tools can also help you see a list of the websites with the highest search engine rankings. Search Engine Reports often compile a list of the top 100 websites. You can visit these sites and observe how they use SEO to improve their rankings. You can get some great ideas on how to improve your own website’s ranking.