Here’s a quick one… did you know that Google AdWords has a test site? Go Here. This site “is a tool for AdWords advertisers to test their ads.” It allows you to see how your ad is showing (and for which keywords) without costing you anything. For those of you who conduct PPC campaigns, enjoy!
The free SEO advice for today is to use Google Webmaster Tools to their fullest extent. Not only can you “spoon feed” the search engine your sitemap.xml file through Webmaster Tools, but you can also:
While you’re at it, sign up for a Google AdSense or AdWords account to gain access to their website optimization tools as well. They’ll give you great tips on modifying your site to improve conversion rates.
One of the best search engine marketing tools online is SpyFu.com. It provides PPC intelligence (who’s bidding what, what the average CPC is for a keyword and more) as well as organic results and competitors for a given URL.
As they describe on their extensive “Learn More” page, there’s a free version and a paid version, with the latter providing far more features than the former.
Overall, depend on SpyFu for PPC statistics, not “natural” SEO rankings. (The organic results are poor. ) You can also count on their system to deliver good competitive information to help you budget your campaign. Take a look, the free version is well worth it! 