by Kim Roach

Search engine optimization is a complex process with many facets. Some of these include keyword research, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, acquiring inbound links, and tracking your rankings.

Fortunately, there are many tools that have been created to aid web masters in each of these tasks.

Below I have reviewed 7 of the top SEO tools so that you can quickly find out what your site needs to rise in the search engines.

First up is the "Cool SEO Tool". I'll let you decide whether or not it lives up to its name.

Cool SEO Tool

This tool allows you to compare your site against the top 10 listed sites in Google for a particular keyword or phrase. You simply enter your keyword and the system will begin comparing 9 different metrics for the top 10 rankings. This allows you to quickly compare the Yahoo rank, MSN rank, Google pages indexed, altavista pages indexed, backlinks to page, backlinks to domain, allinanchor rank, age of url, and whether or not the phrase is on the page.

This tool can unveil extremely valuable information on how you can break into the top 10 search engine positions. Try it out at http://www.webuildpages.com/cool-seo-tool/

XML-Sitemaps

Google wants to make sure that webmasters have a way of communicating information that is important about their sites. To accomodate this, they created Google Sitemaps in 2005. Using this tool, you can tell Google when you have created new pages and how often your pages are updated. To get your pages indexed as quickly as possible, it is in your best interest to create a sitemap for Google as well as for Yahoo.

Unfortunately, finding a sitemap generator that is easy to use can be a frustrating task. However, after a lot of digging, I think I've found one that you will like.

At xml-sitemaps.com, they have created a sitemap generator that enables you to create a xml sitemap for Google and a text-based sitemap for Yahoo. In addition, the generator can also create an optional HTML sitemap for human visitors.

Go to http://www.xml-sitemaps.com for step-by-step instructions on how to get started.

Ultimate Keyword Tool

Keywords are the lifeblood of any site. Choose the wrong ones and your site will quickly fizzle. Choose the right keywords and you will start to see an abundance of traffic as well as sales. The key is choosing keyword phrases that aren't viciously competitive and convert well into sales.

For example, did you know that keyword phrases that are 3-5 words long convert into sales much more often than any other keyphrase length? Not to mention, these longer keyword phrases are also usually much easier to rank for.

One of the best keyword tools is provided by SeoBook.com.

You simply enter in a keyword or phrase and hit sugggest. Once you have done this, the keyword tools will return a variety of data, including:

• overture suggestions of additional keywords
• top overture bid prices
• estimated monthly search volume
• number of Google, Yahoo, and MSN search results
• Wordtracker keyword suggestions
• Google traffic Estimates
• synonyms and....
• additional related keywords using the Adwords keyword tool

For a keyword tool that has it all, go to http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/

Link Popularity

For many of the top search engines, link popularity is one of the top ranking factors. Because of this, there have been a large number of link popularity tools to be released. However, after trying out quite a few of them, I settled on URLTrends.com (http://www.urltrends.com/). This site enables you to find out your link popularity on 8 different search engines.

Monitor Your Search Engine Positions

Monitoring your search engine positions is crucial to any successful marketing campaign. To obtain the highest possible search engine traffic, you must be able to monitor any sudden drops in your rankings. If you don't know where you stand, there is no way you can take corrective measures.

Fortunately, there is a tool that allows you to track all of your keywords for free.

This tool allows you to track:

• numerous keyword rankings