Get Your Free Bing SEO Scan

Search engine optimization tools can be pricey. But a few, such as Bing Webmaster Tools, are free. It provides several helpful resources, including site scans.

To use, verify your site with Bing. The process is easy if you’ve already verified on Google Search Console. Choose “Import sites from Google Search Console” and allow access through your Google account. Otherwise, verify through DNS, meta tags, or a file upload.

Once verified, allow Bing Webmaster Tools a day or two to collect performance and optimization info. Then go to the “Site Scan” section to start the crawl. (It won’t launch automatically.)

The scan can take about a day. The ensuing SEO report contains “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices.”

Bing Webmaster Tools site scan report contains “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices.” Click image to enlarge.

Errors

This section lists all pages with missing or incorrect components affecting organic search. Examples include:

• Missing meta descriptions,
• Pages returning 400-499 errors,
• Broken redirects,
• Broken canonical URLs,
• Missing title tags,
• Pages blocked by robots.txt,
• Pages returning server timeouts,

Of the reported errors, missing meta descriptions are the least worrisome since they don’t affect search results. Bing will generate a description itself, which it would likely do anyway based on the query.

In my experience, all other errors require fixing. Clicking any error will produce an explanation, instructions for resolving, and the affected pages.

For example, Bing provides the following explanation for the “missing tag” error:

What is the issue about?

The title is missing in the head section of the page. Search engines use the title tag as an important signal for determining the page’s relevancy for a given keyword search. It is important to ensure that your title tag is unique and descriptive, and contains accurate information about the content of the page. The title should be unique to each page on your website.

How to fix?

Add a title to your page using the title tag, which should be placed inside the section of the page’s source. Write a concise, descriptive, keyword-rich page title that best describes the page content.

Warnings

The Warnings section contains issues that could improve your site’s organic rankings but not prevent them. On my Smarty Marketing site, Bing reported these warnings:

• Images missing alt attributes,
• Pages with too-long title tags or meta descriptions,
• Pages with missing H1 tags,
• HTML is too long,
• Meta language tag missing.

Not all of these are critical. I don’t pay much attention to warnings on title tags, meta descriptions, meta language tags, and too-long HTML. Search crawlers are increasingly advanced and can handle longer HTML and missing language tags. Plus, Google has confirmed using longer title tags for ranking signals even if truncated in search listings.

Nonetheless, Bing’s recommendations won’t hurt. Certainly image alt texts and H1 tags could improve rankings.

Overall, Bing’s SEO report covers the basics. It’s an overview of potentially critical errors — at no cost.

SEO Tools to Analyze HTML Headings

HTML headings such as H2 and H3 are powerful ranking signals to search engines. Their importance is increasing because Google’s featured snippet algorithm looks for sections of a page to answer a query. Headings help Google better understand the content.

Thus analyzing competitors’ HTML headings and optimizing your own can improve rankings.

Here are three tools to help.

Devaka Tools

Devaka Tools SEO bookmarklet.

Devaka Tools offers a quick (and free) way to identify and extract on-page headings via a bookmarklet, which the site explains:

Bookmarklets are small JavaScript programs that can be stored as bookmarks in a web browser. Unlike regular bookmarks, which simply navigate to a specific webpage, bookmarklets perform actions on the current page you are viewing. They are executed by clicking on the bookmark, triggering the JavaScript code embedded within.

Install on any desktop browser. Then click the bookmarklet in your browser’s toolbar for any page, select “Headings” in the bookmarklet’s controls, and it will highlight all HTML headings.

Thruuu

Thruuu

Thruuu is an AI-powered analyzer of search engine result pages. Type in a keyword, and the tool will perform a SERP analysis that includes images, keywords, and HTML headings.

Use the “Extended view” to access heading information for every ranking page. The “Explore Headings” feature uses AI to pull headings from all ranking pages. Clicking the “i” icon to the right of any heading shows which URLs use it or a similar version.

Thruuu is a helpful tool for understanding competitors’ HTML headings relative to search queries.

Thruuu’s free trial includes 10 SERP analyses. Paid plans start at $13 per month for 75 SERPs.

Surfer

Surfer

Surfer is a content writing tool using AI to create search-engine-optimized copy. Like Thruuu, Surfer analyzes SERPs for keywords but doesn’t show the details, only the content recommendations.

To use, paste your article text into Surfer with the target keyword. The tool will then provide on-page suggestions — including the number of headings and their keywords — in a guided and clear process.

Pricing for Surfer starts at $89 per month to optimize 20 pages.

Thruuu is more affordable than Surfer and offers a free trial. Plus it provides more details on high-ranking competitors, which I appreciate. Yet busy entrepreneurs and managers may prefer Surfer’s streamlined approach.

Why Use Google’s Disavow Tool?

Google launched its disavow tool in 2012 to help websites exclude incoming links from affecting organic rankings. At the time, Google was fighting “link spam,” the practice of obtaining low-grade links and link-building tactics.

Google made it clear that websites should use the disavow tool only after receiving a manual penalty notice via Webmaster Tools (now Search Console) and only when that penalty was related to backlinks, stating:

You should disavow backlinks only if:

1. You have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site,

AND

2. The links have caused a manual action, or likely will cause a manual action, on your site.

Nonetheless, many website owners used the disavow tool to preemptively avoid penalties after investing in low-quality link-building services or suspecting “negative SEO attacks” from competitors.

To this day, there’s little agreement in the search engine community on whether (or how) to use the disavow tool. Multiple providers offer disavow services that continue to attract clients. Google’s documentation says the disavow tool “is an advanced feature and should only be used with caution. If used incorrectly, this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google Search results.”

In my experience, most businesses don’t know if their backlinks are spammy. In-house SEO teams don’t typically report on the quality or type of acquired links. Third-party services wrongfully label links as “toxic,” adding to the confusion.

Here are updates from industry practitioners to help you decide.

Disavows are ineffective

The disavow tool has always been a request to Google, which may or may not honor it.

The recent experiment by search optimizer Cyrus Shepard proves the point. He disavowed all links he could find pointing to his site, waited seven weeks, and saw little impact on organic traffic.

Cyrus Shepard, a search optimizer, disavowed all known incoming links to his website. It experienced no material traffic change. Click image to enlarge.

Shepard believes Google processed the document, as his site encountered a slight traffic increase shortly after submitting the disavow list. But the search engine then ignored it, he says.

The only change was the number of backlinks reported in Search Console, although it could have been a widespread reporting bug as many sites experienced it.

Hence Google likely ignores disavows unless your site receives a manual penalty. There’s no reason to invest in preemptive disavow services.

Manual link-related penalties are rare

I know of very few manual link penalties in recent years, and I’ve witnessed just one this year. This likely means Google doesn’t require help or suggestions to determine which links are unnatural or spammy and will likely drop the disavow tool eventually.

Nonetheless, if your site received a link-related manual penalty (as reported in Search Console) and you cannot remove the unnatural links, the disavow tool remains an option. There’s no better alternative at present.

SEO Tools for Keyword Intent, Audience

AI is upending keyword research and analysis for search engine optimization.

I’ve addressed AI’s ability to generate new terms and identify search intent for an existing term. Yet the industry continues to innovate and evolve. Here are three AI tools for analyzing keywords, target audiences, content, intent, and more.

TermSniper

TermSniper identifies search intent for any keyword and suggests content tips for optimizing. Type a keyword, and the tool will provide an analysis.

I typed “best web hosting.” Here’s TermSniper’s analysis:

The primary search intent of this search term is to find and compare the best web hosting services available in 2024. The secondary search intent is to get recommendations and reviews of specific web hosting providers from trusted sources.

Insights

• Tone of voice: Informational
• User’s next action: Continue research
• Webpage format: Listicle
• Expert author needed: Not necessarily
• Brand authority needed: High to medium
• Incentive: Yes, various offers like discounts and promotions are common
• CTR boost: Yes, the use of numbers like “2024,” specific terms like “Top Picks,” and mentions of well-known brands

The tool pulls keywords that can match the search intent. For “best web hosting,” those keywords were “best,” “bluehost,” “wordpress,” and “millions.”

TermSniper scores the related keywords from 1 to 100 depending on how many high-ranking pages include each in their page copy and meta tags. The tool recommends adding words scoring 20 to 100 into your meta title, H1, and first paragraph. Add words scoring 1 to 19 throughout the rest of your page in a natural fashion.

TermSniper offers five free credits to test ‚ with one keyword analysis per credit. Paid plans start at $2 per credit with a $10 minimum.

SEO.ai

SEO.ai offers AI-driven research that can limit keyword lists by the target audience. Provide a base term, click on the “Audience keywords” tab, and describe your target audience. The tool will find related keywords matching that audience.

For “best web hosting,” I described the target audience as “Beginner users who are planning to start a site.”

SEO.ai’s keyword suggestions that match my audience were:

• “reliable providers,”
• “starter plans,”
• “money-back,”
• “low-cost.”

SEO.ai provides keyword suggestions to match a target audience. Click image to enlarge.

I can sort those keywords by search volume or ranking difficulty. Based on those metrics, I can launch a dedicated page, add the words to existing pages, or both.

SEO.ai offers a 7-day free trial with a credit card. Paid plans start at $49 per month.

Free SEO Keyword Research & SERP Analyzer

Free SEO Keyword Research & SERP Analyzer is a custom GPT for all ChatGPT users. It can scrape any Google search-result page (or any page) and analyze keyword usage, intent, and the target audience.

For “best web hosting,” the tool’s  SERP analysis was as follows:

• User Intent: Users searching for “best web hosting” are likely looking for comprehensive reviews, comparisons, and recommendations to make an informed decision on web hosting services.

• Content Freshness: Most articles are from 2024, ensuring up-to-date information on the latest web hosting trends and services.

• Authority & Trust: The top results come from reputable tech review sites like TechRadar, PCMag, and CNET, as well as a highly engaged community platform (Reddit).

As with any ChatGPT or custom GPT prompts, users can refine the prompt as needed. For example, follow-up prompts could be:

• “What are the most common keywords found in search snippets for this query?”
• “What types of pages rank for this search query?”

Users can also identify any URL ranking for a target query and prompt the custom GPT to analyze its keywords and usefulness and compare it to users’ own pages.

Tracking AI Overviews Queries, Links

Optimizing for organic search now requires knowing which queries trigger AI Overviews and the URLs those summaries reference. Neither metric — queries or citations — is easily identified because Overviews appear only for logged-in users, and Search Console does not include separate Overviews reporting.

We have only third-party sources. Here are three tools for AI Overviews tracking and analysis.

ZipTie

ZipTie is a standalone AI Overviews tracker that monitors users’ important queries weekly and sends alerts when opportunities are missed.

To start, import your queries — I used Search Console‘s list. ZipTie will then generate a report containing:

• Your page rankings for each query.
• Whether your page is featured.
• Whether your query triggered an AI Overview and if your page was referenced.

ZipTie reports users’ queries that produce Overviews and whether users’ domains were cited. Click image to enlarge.

Click any query in the report to see which URLs are included in the AI Overview and where they rank organically. This is helpful insight I could not find elsewhere.

Click any query to see which URLs are included in the AI Overview and where they rank organically. Click image to enlarge.

Early tests confirm that Search Console’s Performance tab includes clicks from AI Overviews. And ZipTie’s “Standard” tier at $89 per month integrates with Search Console. Thus combining ZipTie with Search Console will show clicks to your links in Overviews.

Otherwise, ZipTie.dev offers a free 14-day trial with a credit card. Paid plans start at $29 per month for “Basic.”

Semrush

Semrush includes AI Overviews in its Position Tracking section. To see whether your site was included in Overviews, create a project in Position Tracking with your website URL and list of keywords.

Once the project is running, go to the Overview tab and use the “SERP features” filter to limit your report to queries that trigger AI Overviews. If your site is referenced in any AI Overview, an icon will appear next to your organic position.

If any AI Overview references your site, an icon will appear next to the organic position. Click image to enlarge.

In my testing, ZipTie.dev provided more accurate results as I couldn’t replicate some of Semrush’s reported AI Overviews.

Semrush offers no free trial. Paid plans start at $129 per month to track 500 keywords.

Google AI Overview Impact Analysis

Google AI Overview Impact Analysis is a free Chrome extension that analyzes Overviews for multiple queries.

Install the extension and then type your comma-separated queries into its sidebar. The extension will run each search, identify AI Overviews, and report which Overview includes your URL.

The “AI Overview Citations” report includes all the URLs referenced in each Overview and how often each domain appeared for all queries. This feature was handy for identifying domains referenced from multiple Overviews for my important queries. The report is downloadable as an Excel file.

The “AI Overview Citations” report includes all the URLs referenced in each Overview and how often each domain appeared for all queries. Click image to enlarge.

3 Ways to Depersonalize Google SERPs

Google’s search results are highly personalized. Varying levels of personalization exist for each query based on:

• Search history,
• Interaction (clicks) history,
• Search Console properties of searcher,
• Location,
• Browser settings (e.g., language).

Thus what a merchant sees in search engine result pages, for example, could differ from shoppers. Here are three ways to depersonalize the results to understand what others may encounter on important keywords.

Chrome Incognito Mode

The Incognito mode prevents Chrome from saving browsing history, cookies, site data, and form-completion info.

Searching Google using Incognito will remove the three top personalization types — search history, clicks, and Search Console properties — but not necessarily location and browser settings.

To access Incognito, go to “File” > “New Incognito Window.”

From there, use third-party SERP extractor tools to copy to a local file. For example, Serpsonar exports SERPs in an Excel file to include ranking URLs, titles, and descriptions. SEO Minion, a Chrome app, offers a one-click copy of the entire SERP in view.

To access Incognito in Chrome, go to “File”> “New Incognito Window.”

Keyword Insights

Keyword Insights freemium SERP Explorer can extract up to 100 results per query. The tool will extract all components of the SERP, not just organic results.

It also provides country- or city-specific SERPs without a needing a VPN service or proxies.

To start a new SERP Explorer project:

• Type a keyword,
• Choose the target location and language,
• Select the type of search results: web, image, news, shopping, or video,
• Select device: desktop, mobile, or tablet.

Once extracted, the search results are easily copied and retained locally.

SERP Explorer offers five free daily searches with exports limited to the top 10 desktop results. To access all features, upgrade to the professional tier at $145 per month.

To start a new SERP Explorer project, type the keyword (“buy laptop”), location, language, and more. Click image to enlarge.

Thruuu

Thruuu is an AI-powered optimization tool for keyword discovery, SERP analysis, and content creation. The tool extracts organic results and additional SERP components such as local packs, videos, and “People also ask” sections.

Thruuu extracts up to 100 results on mobile and desktop devices and provides additional data for each listing, such as the number of words, number of images, publication date, on-page schema types, page type, and page rank (via the Open PageRank initiative).

Users can download the SERP and related data as an Excel file.

Thruuu offers four free credits to analyze and compare SERPs. Paid plans start at $19 per month.

Thruuu is a tool for keyword discovery, SERP analysis, and content creation. This example is for the keyword “buy a laptop.” Click image to enlarge.

How to Monitor Google’s Updates

Google releases updates to its search algorithm seemingly nonstop. Each release typically lowers organic rankings for many sites. Hence keeping an eye on those updates and their impact is essential for evolving optimization strategies.

Here are four tools to track the releases and their effect.

Google Search Status Dashboard

Google Search Status Dashboard

Google provides algorithm updates and error fixes through its Search Status Dashboard.

This is the only reliable way to confirm when an update has started and ended. It is also helpful for determining if search fluctuations are due to non-algorithm incidents such as crawling and indexing glitches.

Sistrix

Sistrix’s Google Updates page.

Sistix is premium SEO software with a free tool to evaluate the impact of a Google update on your site. Choose your country and type your domain; the tool will check your ranking fluctuations for each update, allowing 25 daily queries for free.

Sistix also provides a summary of each update and its purpose.

Always confirm Sistrix’s findings with Search Console reports and Google Analytics data.

Advanced Web Ranking

Volatility graph on Advanced Web Ranking.

Advanced Web Ranking publishes daily SERP volatility and fluctuations based on approximately 400,000 desktop keywords (and 200,000 mobile) across multiple countries.

Users can filter reports by industry, device, and country — with confirmed Google updates.

The tool offers free alerts on volatility and Google-announced releases.

GSC Guardian

Search Console overlay on GSC Guardian.

GSC Guardian is a free Chrome extension to track Google’s updates against overlays in Search Console reports. Users can create annotations of tasks or observations in their Search Console dashboards.

The extension simplifies evaluating the impact of a Google update on your organic search visibility.

Monitoring Google’s updates is essential, but remember, organic traffic fluctuations are normal, and core algorithm releases often address queries and their intent, not weaknesses in websites.

Thus traffic declines are not typically penalties. Assess search result pages and note the changes. Have your organic positions changed, or are they pushed down the page owing to AI Overviews or new SERP features? For example, recent updates replaced review sites with ecommerce results for many queries.

Not all ranking fluctuations are reversible. But knowing the status of target queries and SERPs is key for identifying new opportunities.

Chrome Extensions for Search Console

Artificial intelligence is upending Google Search. Merchants who rely on organic search traffic must track a nonstop flow of changes and updates to maintain performance.

Search Console is the most reliable tool because it uses Google’s own data. Here are three Chrome extensions to better understand Search Console’s data.

GSC Guardian

Sample overlay on Search Console from GSC Guardian. Click image to enlarge.

GSC Guardian overlays Search Console reports with information from Google’s Search Status Dashboard. Users can create annotations on Search Console for tasks or observations and then export them to a CSV file or Google Sheet.

The extension helps correlate Google’s updates with your site’s traffic, to react accordingly.

Search Console Enhanced Analytics

Google Search Console Enhanced Analytics compares clicks, impressions, and positions across periods. Click image to enlarge.

Google Search Console Enhanced Analytics compares clicks, impressions, and positions across two periods to analyze (via color coding) traffic fluctuations, trends, and more.

Use a premium feature to generate search volume for each query your site ranks for, per Search Console, at $0.05 per request.

GSC Crawl Stats Downloader

GSC Crawl Stats Downloader builds a handy visualization of crawl activity. Click image to enlarge.

GSC Crawl Stats Downloader provides a better way to download crawl stats from Search Console. Instead of downloading multiple CSV files (by response, file type, purpose, Googlebot type, or summary), this extension can download everything with one click.

Google assigns a crawl budget for every site. Knowing how often Google visits your site is essential. The crawl frequency or page volume usually implies the priority (to Google) — sites with higher rankings typically see more crawls.

Conversely, it’s a possible structural problem if Google crawls many pages but fails to index them.

Install the extension and click it while viewing Search Console. The extension will identify and merge the crawl stats and build a handy visualization to show the crawl activity at a glance.

Gemini’s YouTube Extension Streamlines Marketing

Google’s Gemini has launched extensions that integrate with external platforms. Its YouTube extension is live and available for activation in the Gemini settings behind the “Extensions” tab.

The extension lets users search and summarize YouTube videos inside Gemini. Here’s how it can help video marketing.

Find Top Videos

Native YouTube search is highly personalized by viewing history and subscriptions. To see non-personalized results, searchers must log out or use a browser’s privacy (“Incognito”) mode. Even then, the results differ among users.

Moreover, exporting search results from YouTube is burdensome, requiring copying each video’s URL without the parameters.

Gemini’s extension produces the top five search results without personalization. Users can watch any video inside Gemini without impacting their viewing history on YouTube.

Watch YouTube videos without leaving Gemini. Click image to enlarge.

Simply prompt:

@YouTube search for [keyword]

Or create a more advanced prompt:

@YouTube search for [keyword] and return results as a table containing the video title (linked), number of views, and creator’s name (linked)

My results for the query “how to build a website” are below. I’ve reproduced Gemini’s table for this article.

Produce Video Ideas

Like any generative AI platform, Gemini is a good brainstorming tool. It can suggest helpful video topics to research and refine. The YouTube extension can find competing videos on each proposed topic.

Here’s my prompt:

My target phrase is “how to build a website.” Generate specific video ideas for that audience @YouTube.

Here are two of Gemini’s suggestions:

• Building a website with HTML in 30 minutes or less (targets beginners who want a quick and easy introduction).

• Creating a simple portfolio website using HTML and CSS (targets those who want to showcase their work online).

My next prompt (link):

Search @YouTube for each idea and produce examples.

Gemini’s results are well-ranking videos for each idea.

Gemini produced well-ranking videos for each idea in this partial list. Click image to enlarge.

Improve Video Descriptions

Gemini’s YouTube extension can create detailed descriptions of videos on YouTube and add clickable timestamps.

In my testing, Gemini responds better to one task per prompt. Here’s my first prompt: a YouTube video from Brian Dean, “SEO for Beginners: Rank #1 In Google (2023).”

@YouTube Summarize this video by pulling key takeaways and action items [link].

Here is Gemini’s response:

The main takeaways and action items:

Find low-competition long-tail keywords that are trending:

• Use Google Autocomplete to find these keywords.
• Look for keywords that are more specific and answer user queries in detail. For example, instead of targeting a broad keyword like “skin care routine”, target a long-tail keyword like “skin care routine for dry skin”.

Create high-quality content that satisfies search intent:

• When creating content, make sure it answers the questions users have behind their search queries.
• Focus on providing value and insights instead of just creating generic content.
• Look at the content structure of websites like Investopedia where they answer user queries directly and in a clear way.

Optimize your content for on-page SEO:

• Include your target keyword in the title, the first couple of hundred words of your content, and a few other times throughout the content.

Optimize your content for user experience:

• Make sure your content is easy to read and navigate.
• Use short paragraphs, subheadings, and bullet points to break up your text.
• Front-load the value by placing the most important information at the beginning of your content.

Build backlinks to your website:

• Create content that is link-worthy, such as content with unique data or insights.
• Target specific statistics in your niche that other websites might want to cite.

My next prompt:

Add a timestamp for each takeaway from the video. The format: mm:ss.

Here’s Gemini’s response with clickable timestamps:

• Target low-competition, long-tail keywords that are trending and not yet mainstream (01:53)
• Create content that satisfies search intent and gives searchers exactly what they’re looking for (02:51)
• Optimize your content for on-page SEO by adding your keyword to your page a couple of times (04:11)
• Optimize your content for user experience by making sure people can get value as soon as possible after landing on your site (04:22)
• Build backlinks by being the source for a specific statistic in your niche (05:04)