The SEO tools that Google offers for free and why you should be using them for your business

Author: Ryan Walsh

Date: 31/07/2025

Table of contents:

  • What is Google Search Console, and what’s it used for?
  • What is Google Analytics?
  • What is Google’s Keyword Planner?
  • What is Google Trends Discover?
  • What is Google Alerts?
  • What is Google Business Profile?
  • What is Google Page Speed Insights?

 

Should we be using Google’s free SEO tools?

Well, the short answer to that question is a resounding yes.

However, don’t think that these tools are just for large businesses with multi-million-pound turnovers.

The reason is that Google’s SEO tools are suited to any-sized business. This means firms ranging from sole traders through to your large PLC businesses can benefit from using Google’s SEO tools.

In this article, we will walk you through why so many businesses use Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

We shall also explain the benefits of using other popular Google tools such as Google Alerts.

 

What is Google Search Console?

Imagine driving down a road and the dashboard on your car suddenly stops working, displaying a dead screen offering no information about the car’s stats at all.

This would shock anyone, leaving you feeling like you’re left in the dark.

This is how a marketing company would feel if, for any reason, Google Search Console went offline.

The dashboard within Google Search Console provides valuable insights into your website’s performance.

For example, using GSC, you can see the number of clicks the website has received, where your ranking for specific keywords is, and where some of the business’s backlinks have come from.

Google Search Console is therefore used by marketing companies daily.

 

Indexing, traffic and links

As highlighted above, Google Search Console is simply brilliant.

It allows you to spot, for example, indexation issues that could be hampering your website’s performance.

Imagine for a second that a bunch of essential pages could not be indexed; that would be a significant issue. The reason is that if Googlebot can’t index those pages, they may not appear in Google’s organic results.

Therefore, Google Search Console is worth signing up for. Even if you don’t use all the features, you should use them to obtain accurate information on your website’s ranking. You can also use it to see if there are any indexation issues, for example.

Core web vitals reporting.

An aspect that is sometimes overlooked when improving a business’s organic search engine optimisation is the website’s speed.
Top web designers will track metrics such as LCP and CLS, which can have a direct bearing on rankings.

 

Manual actions

If you have thrown Google’s Webmaster Guidelines out the window and thrown caution to the wind when implementing your business’s SEO, then this can be a recipe for disaster.

For example, some businesses do like to cut the odd corner to save time and money.

This could mean building spam links, also commonly referred to as low-quality links.

Now, this may seem like a good idea initially. However, if you subsequently log into your Google Search Console account and see that a manual action has been applied against the website, this can mean that the website becomes de-indexed.

De-indexed means removed from Google altogether, almost as if Google has waved a magic wand and removed the website from the index.
What Google then wants is action taken; this could be to delete spammy links or improve the website’s content marketing that has been deemed as low quality.

However, a word to the wise: don’t think that after a Google penalty, such as a manual action penalty, all will return to normal quickly.

Businesses can suffer from lower keyword rankings or even be de-indexed for many years due to a Google manual action penalty being applied to the website.

This is referred to as the “Google penalty recovery.” Therefore, implementing quality work is our best advice, and it’s essential to avoid shortcuts.

 

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is to an SEO consultant what a screwdriver is to an electrician – it’s essential.

GA4, the latest version of Google Analytics, will help you understand where visitors are coming from.

It provides crucial SEO information, including bounce rates and dwell times, which indicate how long a shopper spends on your website.

Therefore, businesses globally rely on Google’s GA4 Acquisition reports to reliably inform them how many visitors are visiting the website directly, through social media or the business’s organic rankings.

 

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is primarily used by businesses that are running Google Ads. However, it’s also widely used as a keyword research tool.

The reason is that you may believe, for example, that you just need to optimise your company website for the keyword “ladders” – as that’s all your business retails.

However, when you use Google’s Keyword Planner, you can quickly discover that one of the highest searched for terms about ladders might be “roofing ladders”.

Therefore, by not optimising your website for this important term, you’re missing out on a significant business opportunity.

Consequently, we would recommend that when your business is conducting keyword research, you use Google’s Keyword Planner and also other SEO tools.

We recommend using another quality SEO tool, such as Ahrefs, alongside the current one to see if it provides any additional information.

 

Google Trends

Google Trends is used by marketing companies globally.

What it allows you to do is see what’s trending at the moment. For example, it might be something related to a celebrity who’s hit the headlines for a particular reason.

It can be used to identify which topics are currently gaining popularity quickly.

The purpose is to create content marketing that taps into a current trend, which can generate more clicks, visitors, and organic traffic.

 

Google Alerts

A business can set up Google Alerts to track when its company name is mentioned. Some SEO agencies also use this Google tool, in particular, to see when a direct competitor’s name gets mentioned.

The reason is that this could offer a link-building opportunity.
Google Alerts could notify you of a direct competitor being mentioned.

For instance, a quality business directory could provide a good-quality backlink for your business. You may have only found that business directory because Google Alerts alerted you that a competitor has set up a business profile on that website recently.

You can receive email notifications when your business is mentioned.

 

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a vital marketing asset that your business should utilise.

It’s essential to have if you deal with your customers locally.

For example, if you’re based in the city of Cardiff and serve your businesses locally, then you should set up a Google Business account as it’s free and straightforward to do. It’s also useful for customers who travel.

For example, you may offer a specialised service, where sometimes a customer may be willing to travel to your business from some distance.

Therefore, the Google Business profile can be used to help shoppers find directions to your business.

 

Google Page Speed Insights

Google Page Speed Insights measures LCP, or largest contentful Paint.

CLS, or Cumulative Layout Shift, is a key metric that businesses need to improve to enhance their users’ experience.

Businesses, especially e-commerce websites, therefore compress large images and minimise the amount of JavaScript that they use. This is all to make a website much faster and offer the shopper a smoother shopping experience.

For instance, if a page loads slowly, shoppers are likely to become annoyed with the company’s website and leave.

If too many shoppers visit the first page they visit, it indicates the website has a high bounce rate.

Businesses with high bounce rates over an extended period may experience a decline in their organic rankings.