The 7 Best Chrome Extensions For SEO - Semalt Expert
What are the best SEO extensions for Google Chrome? With extensions, Google Chrome (but also Safari, Mozilla, Opera and Edge) give the user the possibility to extend their functionality through small applications.
The Chrome Extensions extend the functionality of the Browser and halve the working time in very different fields of action.
The Google Chrome Extension are small software that extends the functionality of Chrome through the use of technologies and web languages such as HTML, CSS, JSON and JavaScript, which can take advantage of the API (Application Program Interface) of JavaScript, but also your own.
They perform the most disparate functions:
- Interfacing with websites
- Interfacing with the OS in use
- Operation on the system registry
- Interaction with Cookies
- Running Shell commands
- Extension of the Browser functions
- Inhibition of the Browser functions
- … and so on
Browser extensions, alas, are not available for mobile browsers, so the article is intended for desktop computer users.
How to install Chrome extensions?
Like any other application store, Chrome extensions have a Marketplace called the Chrome Web Store.
Inside, there are thousands and thousands of extensions useful in any field, including, of course, the discipline of SEO.
There are many extensions useful for organic positioning and SEO activities of any kind: SERP Analysis, Link Building, Technical Analysis, Trends and more.
Once you have identified the extension and opened the descriptive card, you can add it to the Browser by simply clicking the "Add" button. After a few moments, the extension will be available in your browser.
You can enable/disable it and leave it dormant in your browser, so as not to "flood", let's say, your browser at startup. It's the same concept as WordPress plugins, apps for your smartphone or software for your computer. Too many out of tune!
In the world of browser extensions for SEO, there are apps that can perform activities of vital importance for the digital professional or entrepreneur.
With the SEO extensions for Chrome, you can have useful information in real-time without having to query a tool, log in and move around it.
This, in my opinion, is the real value of a browser extension: the speed of execution!
I've compiled a very personal list of Chrome extensions, aimed at SEO, that have been really valuable to me throughout my career. Some of them are extensions that I simply can't live without in everyday life.
Here are the 7 best (in my opinion) Google Chrome extensions for SEO
1) Semalt SEO extension
Semalt SEO Extension is a free SEO tool that allows you to track your website's ranking on Google.
With just one click, you can see what keywords your site and your competitors are ranking for, how many places they are ranking for and how they are changing over time.
Semalt collects ranking data on 53 million websites for 100 million keywords in over 300 site-specific Google search results. This data is updated daily and sent to the Semalt SEO Extension for free and unlimited analysis; you do not need to have a Semalt account or API key to use the extension.
Semalt SEO Extension is a solid, truly complete, professional and free extension.
It is one of those SEO extensions for Chrome that offers so much in a single free Micro Suite that implements some SEMrush functions very well. It is therefore a complete, free and very precise extension.
Data and Attribute Ranking
- Top keywords
Find out how many keywords your site and your competitors' sites are ranking for in the top 1-100 Google search results. Compare your ranking with that of a few days or months ago to see if your keywords have increased or decreased.
- Distribution of keywords by TOP
Collect more data about your keywords by analysing changes over time for TOP-1, TOP-3, TOP-10, TOP-50 and TOP-100.
- Sorting by keyword
Displays a list of the most popular keywords for which your site ranks. You can compare the rankings in the SERPs for any given date and identify trends.
- TOP-100 Competitors by Keywords
Get to know your competitors with TOP-100 list of competitors. Click on a keyword in the keyword ranking table and it will be generated for the keywords your site is ranked for. As an added bonus, you can also analyse your competitors' sites from the semalt.net list.
- Report
You can download a full report or a list of the keywords your site is ranking for in PDF or CSV format.
- Easy to use configuration
By configuring the Semalt SEO Extension you can analyse your SEO data in a more user-friendly way.
- Position in Google's search results
- Dates
- Advanced filtering and sorting options
2) Keyword Surfer
Keywords Surfer helps you to understand immediately and directly the value of the query evaluated for organic ranking in the SERP.
It is a free extension capable of providing very useful data, such as, for example, the value of the query (CPC, cost per click), the volume and estimates of traffic for the domains present in the search results, the volume of keywords (both globally and locally), suggestions for related keywords and the number of backlinks received by each domain.
The Extension is able to apply this data directly in the search results by entering these values in the input field of the engine, in the sidebar and directly in the search results page.
3) Ayima Page Insight
Ayima Page Insight is one of those super simple and light extensions developed by the London company Ayima. Although very basic, it can be of great help for SEOs: it highlights in real-time the problems on the page, technical problems and common mistakes.
Every time the SEO reaches a page from the Browser, the extension will analyze it and show any problems detected on the screen.
The reports are divided into three categories: Errors, Warnings and Information. The extension will then let you know, in case of errors, what it found and how you can fix the warning.
It is possible, for greater precision and a more complete amount of data, to connect the Google Search Console.
The Extension performs the aforementioned "client-side" checks and the data is not sent and recorded in external/third party services. The SEO extension proposed is one of those light and quick extensions to use before sending a new project online or after making improvements and technical optimizations on the pages.
I recommend this extension for SEO newbies who do not have "important" professional knowledge of nomenclature and development.
4) User-Agent Switcher
User-Agent Switcher is another very simple and light SEO extension for Chrome, -I would say even spartan- which allows you to look at the web page with the eyes of different User-Agents and to identify what is wrong if the website or the page web is visited and scanned by a browser.
The extension also comes in handy to test operation on Mobile Browsers as well as Desktop Browsers.
With this extension, you can quickly and easily switch from one User-Agent to another.
But what is a User-Agent?
A User-Agent is an application that sends a text string to the server to identify the technology used: for example, the name of the client (Browser), the OS (operating system), the language of the web page and the version.
As well as the clients, the crawlers/spiders of the engines also provide a User-Agent so that they can be identified.
This Extension is useful for SEOs to fix all the problems related to the Browser + OS + Device combination in use. The display troubleshooting does not provide obvious and direct help with SEO, but it does help solve usability issues that improve the user experience.
With the User-Agent Switcher extension, the SEO can operate on robots.txt to inhibit the indexing of some or more parts of the site to specific Search Engine Crawlers.
I only have 3 little tips to give to improve this extension:
- Implementation of new User-Agents.
- Improvement of the too-high impact on Browser performance.
- Correction of sporadic user-agent storage problems even after disabling the extension.
5) Lighthouse
Immediate analysis of Performance, PWA, Best Practices, Accessibility and SEO through a click on the popup and then results in a new tab.
All the power of Lighthouse in a much more immediate browser extension than using the Chrome developer console.
This extension allows you to speed up optimization operations, taking into account the 5 key points to improve the site's layout directly in a popup in Chrome.
Why should you use the extension, since Lighthouse is integrated into the Chrome developer console? Simply for convenience.
The operators of the sector who work with "little space" in the monitor or, better, who work with only one monitor can adopt this solution to save space and hardware resources (we all know how the expenditure of ram in Chrome has significantly increased).
This extension is fundamental for SEOs because through analysis and possible corrections it is possible to achieve incredibly high performance, accessibility and security goals.
6) SEOquake
SEOquake is a SEMrush SEO extension for Chrome that displays important metrics such as page indexing on Google, Alexa Rank, SEMrush Ranking, page indexing on Bing and much more.
The results show various information about the pages in the SERPs, including information about backlinks, WHOIS information, traffic information, number of pages indexed and the age of the domain.
In the latest update, an SEO Audit was also implemented, so that the technical aspects can also be processed in a global optimization vision.
7) SEO Search Simulator
SEO Search Simulator is a Chrome extension for SEO that aims to simulate the Google search result by setting the language, country of origin and presence of the URL to be analyzed.
Through this extension, you can easily monitor the positioning of your website or the rankings of your competitors.
Often and willingly, if they don't have a Professional Tool to question and rely on, SEOs adopt unorthodox methodologies to know for sure where the site is and what position it occupies.
With Nightwatch Simulator, on the other hand, it is possible to have an answer without the influence of the location and/or the language of the Browser. Also useful for those who do SEO on foreign search engines, such as, for example, Google.co.uk., .fr, .de, .es, etc.
I think it is useful for SEOs to receive immediate and certain answers on the position of the pages in the SERP. Always having the extension available in the browser, you can do a search in real-time, change the country, the language and set one or more domains of any competitor... all in a few seconds.
Some of the proposed SEO extensions for Chrome share the same functions; some more, some less, all offer great features and values for free.
Conclusion
In my view of things, you can never rely on a single SEO Suite for the knowledge of all aspects of the website to be positioned.
It is necessary to elaborate on various data packages, put them together and have a clear and global vision of the analysis scenario. That's why there are similar extensions in my Google Chrome SEO extension tips.
You will notice how, comparing the data obtained from the analysis of your favourite SEO tools, there are many discordant aspects, as, for example, it can happen when analyzing backlinks.
One tool says 100 and another 1000! One SEO Tool Finds 10 Problems and Another 1000! Modern browsers have, through extensions, an extra gear that is definitely useful for the work and everyday life of an SEO expert and beyond.