Freemium SEO TOOLS :

To analyze websites in order to better position them on the SERP of search engines, SEO tools are used. In addition to specific tools analyzing certain SEO criteria in particular, there are others capable of providing technical information.

Said information most often concerns keywords, domain names and backlinks which are elements that form the pillars of SEO.

Anyway, among these various tools, a few are free and meet the basic needs of webmasters as well as professionals. Others, not free, rather cover all areas of SEO applications.

However, to be certain of your choice of SEO tools, you can consider opting for the tools that work according to the freemium plan.

In our agency, we believe that if you are aware of the advantages and disadvantages of freemium, you will be better off. This is why we have developed this little guide on the freemium model.

Freemium model: what are we talking about?

You should know that the termFreemium is an anglicism, that is to say a word borrowed from the English language but which is frequently used in French. More exactly, this term is the combination of two English words which are:

• Free and
• Premium

The first word relates to free while the second relates to costs.

Freemium : késako

Freemium is a commercial approach that consists of offering access to a service without payment in return with the intention of attracting a large number of users to finally sell them a paid version later.

Concretely, it aims to seduce potential users of a service or product through free access to certain options.

In this way, to benefit from unrestricted use of all the options offered by the service or product, the user will have to subscribe to a paid solution. It is this solution that is called premium.

It is therefore an economic model implemented to easily enter a market. The freemium model is often exploited by developers of SaaS applications or software.

This model may be attractive and sometimes successful for companies and individuals alike, but the fact remains that it has drawbacks. This is why before deploying such a model, it is necessary to set up a freemium strategy.

What does a freemium strategy entail?

A freemium strategy is an approach that manifests itself by splitting an offer into two tiers. The first level is completely free while the second is paid and involves subscription to a tariff.

It is a business approach that relies on the basic values ​​of start-ups. These are values ​​such as technique, flexibility, dynamism and inventiveness.

A freemium strategy therefore appears to bea pricing condition which, as said above, establishes a relationship between:

• free offer
• offer a premium and
• users

It is important to specify that if the offer is free then your options are limited. At least for certain elements of the product or service in question. Here are some things that get limits when doing a freemium offer.

Number of features

This is very often noticed when it comes to SEO tools. We sometimes find that their use is limited to a few basic functionalities.

Features 

This scenario is often seen in video games. Before the player-user progresses, he must necessarily buy items. So switching to premium mode is the only way to progress in the game.

Convenience in use

This pattern can be seen in the use of certain SEO tools, online games or even when browsing certain platforms. Indeed, without a premium offer, sponsored advertisements annoy users. What encourages them to subscribe.

Storage volume

This case is observed in services that concern the cloud. A specific and well-known example would be Google Drive.

Assistance technique

With some software or application developers, to have better support, you must subscribe to their premium offer. Thus, you guarantee a remarkable personal follow-up, allowing you to make the best use of said software.

Number of licenses

This is noted in the use of certain applications, office suites and directly installable software. Indeed, these programs can easily be used for personal use.

However, for corporate or group use, it requires a premium subscription.

In any case, the implementation of a freemium model is a beneficial asset for companies, especially if we refer to the objective it aims at.

Purpose of a freemium model

Leading a large number of users to a more comprehensive and absorbing quality premium service is the fundamental objective of a freemium model.

This is why many companies offer this economical prototype. In reality, in such a model, expenses are guaranteed by paid subscriptions.

Thus, for premium services to properly fund free uses, the company deploying this strategy must achieve a certain ratio between free and paid offers. It is therefore a subtle balancing act.

Otherwise, this can have negative consequences on their turnover. Before discussing it properly, I first want to talk about the advantages of the freemium model.

Why is the freemium model exploited by some companies?

Some companies exploit the freemium model very often because at the beginning of its deployment, the advantages it offers to the users of their services or products are visible. And the expected results are quite remarkable.

Already, this model meets the expectations of Internet users who consider the web as a free universe. It is a model that makes it easy to get hold of a number of customers without spending a lot.

Below, I have listed some advantages of the freemium model with the intention of giving you a real understanding of what it is like for companies to exploit this model.

Some Benefits of Leveraging the Freemium Model

Rolling out the freemium plan is a great plus for a few companies when attaching importance to its benefits. Here are a few.

The easy introduction to the market

The offer of freemium services on the web guarantees a large number of leads thanks to the Internet. Moreover, by setting up such a model, some companies stand out from the competition.

Which is beneficial because almost all markets are saturated. This model is therefore an asset to consider in your marketing strategy.

Free, a way to encourage

Free reinforces the use or if you want, itencourage experimentation with the service or product.

In reality, free allows users to examine the quality of the platform that sells said service or said product and this without making a subscription.

Most users usually deem a platform expensive if they have never tested it. This is quite natural, because a test is always better before an investment.

In principle, the freemium model removes barriers to purchase. Thus, if the service or product tested by the user lives up to his expectations, he will switch to the premium version without difficulty.

Notoriety

Thanks to the Freemium model, companies tend to attract a certain category of users called “early adopters”.

These are users who generally appreciate the value of a service and find it easy to subscribe to the premium plans. They intervene in the notoriety of the service or product offered on the platform by playing the role of ambassador.

Faithful to the services of the companies, the early adopters will bring in new leads who can quickly adhere to the different values ​​and offers that the said companies offer.

Creativity

The freemium plan also aims to convert leads. As such, the teams of the companies that offer this plan imagine new functionalities each time.

The goal of this boundless search for creativity is to retain customers and convert new prospects. The freemium offer will therefore attract more if these features are included in its free tier.

The freemium model may have interesting advantages both for the user and for the company that deploys it, but the drawbacks notified below are nonetheless to be considered.

Disadvantages of the freemium model

The freemium model is an economic model and as such it has some shortcomings which sometimes hinder its implementation by certain individuals. Here are a few.

Pushy ways of behaving

As the freemium model offers a free tier, it incentivizes upstart users who only have profit in mind. This is a category of customers with a mentality contrary to early adopters.

Indeed, no matter how free you offer, this category of so-called opportunistic users will never subscribe to a premium formula of your offer.

The reason for this behavior is linked to the fact that they are only looking for good deals and for this, despite your efforts, there is no chance that they will subscribe to the paid parlier.

This scheme negatively conditions any loyalty policy since this user profile is considered to be volatile.

Conversion rate issues 

Users who subscribe to the premium offers are those who usually finance the services offered by the freemium plan.

As a result, it is complex for companies to find the balance and have a quality conversion rate so that it is viable for the company.

What you have to understand is that the ROI: Return On Investment is the main flaw of the freemium mode.

A bad reputation of the brand image

Sometimes, because of the free tier of this model, some users get frustrated with features that aren’t inherently flexible. Worse, there is the integration of advertisements that corrupt the quality of the user experience.

These two well-known factors in freemium mode leave users with a bad reputation for the brand.

On the other hand, premium users can also be upset if the paid options do not give them real added value. This situation can lead to negative reviews that tarnish the image of the brand.

Easily succeed in your Freemium strategy: important advice

Before a freemium model becomes relevant and profitable, it is important to practice healthy habits within this framework.

Well targeted to the market

To properly target the market, you absolutely must consider the volume of users.

In principle, the target market must necessarily guarantee you a fairly high number of subscribers to ensure the profitability of your freemium business plan. And vice versa, guarantee the sustainability of your brand.

In this way, even if you have a low conversion rate, the rate of users of the premium plan will be able to cover the free plan.

Work well on your value proposition

Here, the goal is to find an excellent balance to ensure the efficiency and potentiality of your freemium strategy. To this end, consider making the free option attractive enough with the intention of having a large number of free users.

That said, the premium option must include real perceived value to your target customers. Seek to convince them to subscribe to the premium plan in order to allow you to make your conversion rate efficient.

The value in question that is linked to the use of your platform plays a decisive role. Indeed, your brand image must be developed on the basis of a quality offer and on a marketing approach as well as impactful communication.

Cause frustration but with discernment

This may seem contradictory since creating frustration will logically negatively influence your freemium offer. But far from it.

This is actually to make the conversion of free tier users more efficient. To do this, you must carefully select the features reserved for the paid level in order to create dissatisfaction among free users with discernment.

In principle, this should encourage them to subscribe to your premium offer since they will have a feeling of insatiability. In order to succeed easily, between the different avenues to explore, the following emerge from the lot:

• Full or total accessibility to the product or service;
• Reduction of advertising;
• An unlimited volume of uploads or connections.

Gather a community

The measurable nature of your offer, whether free or paid, actually depends on your ability to bring together the different values ​​of your brand around you.

Whether it is values ​​of sharing, assistance or conviviality, federating a community can be considerably beneficial for your premium strategy.

For example, WordPress has been able to prioritize support and user-friendliness by choosing open source. This allows its users to participate dynamically in the improvement and therefore the competitiveness of the solution over time.

You should also know that bringing together a community takes time, but can be easily achieved by creating a forum. Forum that must be maintained with the greatest rigor and different interactions.

You can also increase the number of subscribers on your social networks by regularly sharing your values, your advice or your expertise.

In any case, a well-executed mutual commitment and a good promotion of the members of your federation will encourage them to become real ambassadors of your brand.
A rather healthy way to advertise your business because this community will be a source of proposals for your various offers.

Unlock your APIs and offer your white label offer

The challenge here is to remain creative and anticipate the actions of the competition, but also to increase monetization solutions.

In fact, in the B2B sector, unlocking your APIs or a certain part of the formula of your white label product or service can be a good idea. Because it allows:

• make your product or service unique in terms of functionalities and graphic charter for the specific needs of B2B customers.
• restrict the fragmentation of your offer: for example, employees in the same sector can subscribe to your offer free of charge through a personal e-mail address, but for the purpose of professional use.

Indeed, when you open the APIs of your products to professionals, you will get suggestions and application strategies from them. Thus, you will improve your own products and services, while engaging a new audience and therefore potential customers.

Consequently, your sources of income will increase and you will develop in the same way new customers who will serve as intermediaries.

As I said before, the freemium model is a well-known commercial approach among software and application developers, especially in the SEO sector.

Freemium SEO tools: what are they?

Before saying what exactly freemium SEO tools are, we must already understand what the term “SEO tools” implies.

These are indeed online or offline programs that help both SEO professionals and website publishers to perform their optimization task. These tools generally contribute to:

• content analysis
• keyword research
• the analysis of backlinks or even
• the audit of a website in its entirety

In principle, these tools allow you to better develop your content strategies in order to better position your website in the SERPs of search engines. They allow you to make reasonable decisions regarding your different SEO behaviors.

If the use of SEO tools implies that professionals use part of the features for free to finally subscribe to a premium plan, these are freemium SEO tools.

Indeed, the latter are precisely tools that have several features that you can use without paying. In return, you will not benefit from the completeness of the functionalities.

In other words, if you want to make full use of the features of freemium SEO tools, you must upgrade to a paid plan called premium.

Anyway in the SEO market, freemium tools are the most used by professionals.

That said, finding the best freemium SEO tool is another task. Indeed, it is sometimes complicated to make a good choice since there are a large number.

This means that even if sometimes the free use is perfect at the beginning, in the end the tool chosen may not correspond to your expectations. Moreover, there are many times that subscribing to the premium plan can be huge in terms of budget.

In which case, as an SEO professional, you must ask yourself the question of how to find the right freemium optimization tool for your activity.

What you need to know is that there are certain categories of freemium tools that you absolutely have to consider in the sector. I’ll tell you about it right after.

10 SEO Tools Using the Freemium Model

Before you list my top 10 best SEO tools that use the freemium model, it is important that I absolutely remind you of one detail.

Indeed, when it comes to SEO, there are many elements that come into play. Among this lot of elements, some are necessarily necessary. As it happens :

• keywords
• SEO techniques
• backlink monitoring and analysis
• tracking your position in the SERPs.

Reciprocally, the above elements call upon determined categories of tools. In this section, we will mainly discuss these tools.

Freemium keyword research tools

As you know so well, one of the key factors of SEO happens to be keywords.

From detecting keywords with high search volume to gathering traffic forecasts for keywords or better than all of that, the following freemium tools can help.

1. Ubersuggest

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Ubersuggest is a freemium optimization tool that stands out from most with its “keyword analyzer” functionality. The purpose of this feature is to show the most relevant queries.

What makes it dynamic is that it suggests ideas for content and keywords related to your different themes.

However, only three uses are allowed per day with the free plan. To increase the number of usage, you need to upgrade to its premium plan.

2.  Text metrics

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This tool allows you to discover relevant keywords to target that you can easily add to your content to attract Internet user engagement. And vice versa to better work on your visibility on the first pages of the results.

It is particularly interesting insofar as for each keyword proposed, Textmetrics presents key metrics for your SEO such as the level of competition or the search volume.

3. Spy Fu

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It is an effective tool that allows professionals to have quality traffic to their websites by offering specific keyword suggestions. Moreover, a simple search for a keyword gives you the possibility of having:

• the keywords associated with it
• position history for the keyword
• the history of advertisers for this keyword…

Using the freemium model, the Spy Fu tool also offers tracking of the ranking of your keywords on different search engines.

Technical SEO freemium tools

This type of SEO tool supports you in monitoring the web performance of your website. It is a set of tools that influences the ranking of your site on the SERPS. They are very important if you really want to have a good SEO performance.

These are tools that allow you to see what search engine crawlers are seeing. They intervene better in the maintenance of your website, but above all allow you to detect, revise and optimize your:

• meta tag irregularities
• different redirects
• broken links and crawling faults on your web pages
• so-called canonical page references.

Here are some tools in this category.

4. Moz

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Very well known in the SEO environment, it is an all-in-one SEO suite that provides information on website problems. Its site analytics “Overview” module lets you see what the Moz bot sees. Thus, he can know if the website has problems like:

• long URLs
• the various redirect chains
• plagiarized content
• missing descriptions if any exist
• the various meta tags without index.

Either way, it provides solutions to fix and improve the ranking of affected websites.

5. Dareboost 

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This freemium tool is also an all-in-one which is involved in the evaluation of the performance of websites thanks to user journeys and synthetic monitoring of your various web pages.

The latter proposes after the analysis of a website a list of defects encountered by said site. But like all the other tools in this category, it offers a series of actions to perform to solve the various problems.

6. Yoast SEO 

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Essential in the WordPress community and in the world of SEO, this plugin allows you to better reference the content of your web pages for optimization by regularly offering you suggestions when you write.

It has several other features that can help your website rank quickly and easily.

Freemium backlink monitoring and analysis tools

Backlinks as you know are URLs that come from other websites and point to yours. The latter are elements that intervene effectively in your off-page SEO.

Having an idea of ​​the status of these backlinks can therefore only be beneficial for you and for your website. In principle, you should be able to define whether these backlinks are relevant to your website or not.

This is why the use of this category of tools orients you better in:

• monitoring your website backlinks
• the analysis of the robust links that redirect to your website
• competition analysis
• identifying and eliminating poor backlinks
• checking the distribution ratio of links…

The freemium tools in this category that I offer are the following:

7. Majestic Backlinks Analyzer

It is a freemium tool that crawls your website to present metrics that it classifies into several categories. More precisely, it is a plugin that automatically provides an overview of the number of backlinks as well as the number of domains linked to the URL.

8. Ahrefs

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Widely used by SEO professionals, it is a tool that provides you with information that you can use to make your website perform better. Thus, its use ensures that the website is easily visible to search engines.

It has several features such as:

• the search for relevant keywords for writing your content
• competitive analysis
• looking for back links
• monitoring your website

It is therefore an all-in-one freemium tool that can support you in almost all of your SEO.

Freemium Rank Tracking Tools

This is the category of tools that best contributes to the position of your website. Simply put, these are tools that take care of the health of your website.

These guide you in your various decision-making in terms of SEO strategy. They are therefore essential if you want to impose yourself in the SERPs. They generally allow you to:

• follow the ranking of your website compared to that of others
• measure impressions and average user click-through rates
• check keyword rankings for desktop platforms
• detect the best performing keywords from the worst performing ones

Understanding the different issues of the SERP and keywords is a way to have an excellent place in search engine rankings. Here are two freemium tools that can help you.

9. Serpfox

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This very handy tool takes care of tracking the position of ranks in search engines. This is a platform that effectively crawls search results to show you where your website ranks for each chosen keyword.

It presents the data clearly with the aim of making tracking your location very easy. It is for this reason that even as a beginner in SEO, you can easily use it.

10. SERPWoo

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This tool has the ability to analyze all of the websites visible on the SERPs. In this way, you will be able to know the reason why these different sites are positioned on the SERPs.

With SERPWoo, not only can you properly track your position, you can also analyze competing websites.

In summary

SEO tools are necessary in your various tasks of optimizing websites for search engines. They have several advanced features that can allow you to study all the factors involved in the ranking of a website.

Better, they effectively improve your different SEO strategies. While some tools are free, others are chargeable. However, both free and premium do not always guarantee the effectiveness of the tool in question.

It is for this reason that the most advantageous SEO tools are those that use the freemium model.

A business model that allows professionals to use some core features for free. That said, to benefit from all the features, they must necessarily subscribe to a premium plan.