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These five essential Google tools help with technical SEO, site speed, content research, and security — all free and easy to use. These SEO tools show you what really matters to Google, giving you helpful insights you won’t find anywhere else.

We will show you the top 5 SEO tools we use every day and explain why they’re so useful for getting real SEO results.

1. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a free SEO tool available in Chrome’s developer tools that helps run quick audits for websites. It’s especially useful for identifying why a well-designed site may not be performing well in search rankings.

How to Access Lighthouse

To open Lighthouse:

• Press F12 (Windows) or Command + Option + C (Mac) to launch Chrome DevTools.
• Click on the Lighthouse tab.
• Or, right-click on a page, choose “Inspect,” and navigate to the Lighthouse tab.

Lighthouse evaluates five key areas:

• Performance
• Progressive Web App (PWA) standards
• Best practices
• Accessibility
• SEO

While accessibility may not seem directly tied to SEO, Google favors websites that provide a better experience for all users.

What Makes Lighthouse Useful

Lighthouse is widely used in the development and SEO community to spot issues and improve site quality. It identifies quick wins for speed and accessibility, though many experts caution against chasing perfect scores. Striking the right balance between performance and usability is more important than scoring 100 in every category.

SEO Features in Lighthouse

The SEO section focuses on technical basics that play a big role in rankings, such as:

• Mobile responsiveness (viewport setup, tap targets)
• Title and meta description presence
• HTTP status codes
• Descriptive anchor text
• Canonical and hreflang tags

Fixing these simple issues can lead to noticeable improvements in search visibility. One limitation is that performance scores can vary between test runs. It’s best to run multiple audits and look for consistent trends rather than relying on a single score.

Best Practices

Use the “Opportunities” section to identify areas for improvement. Exporting results in JSON format helps track changes over time. It’s important to treat the scores as helpful indicators—not absolute measures of quality.

2. PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights (PSI) has become a must-have tool, especially after Google made Core Web Vitals part of its ranking signals. It helps check how fast and user-friendly a website is—something that now directly affects search rankings.

How PageSpeed Insights Works

What makes PSI unique is its two types of data:

• Lab Data – test results from a controlled environment
• Field Data – real user experience data from the past 28 days (via the Chrome User Experience Report)

This mix of data gives a fuller picture. Sometimes, lab results may look poor, but field data shows that users are actually having a smooth experience. That usually means the testing setup doesn’t reflect how real users interact with the site.

What Users Say

Many developers and SEO professionals use PSI but often point out its limitations. One common opinion is that the overall score doesn’t always reflect real-world speed. This is because PSI simplifies many complex metrics into a single number.

How to Improve PSI Scores

Basic steps that often improve PSI performance include:

• Using a caching plugin
• Minifying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Optimizing images and fonts
• Reducing DOM size (too many elements can slow down load times)

One key tip is to focus on mobile performance. Mobile scores are usually lower than desktop scores, and most users today access websites from mobile devices.

Aim for Progress, Not Perfection

Chasing a perfect 100 score often leads to diminishing returns. Improving a score from 50 to 80 can make a big difference, but going from 90 to 100 might take a lot of time and resources with very little impact. It’s more practical to aim for a “Good” Core Web Vitals status instead of perfection.

3. Safe Browsing Test

The Safe Browsing Test may not seem like a typical SEO tool, but it plays an important role in keeping a website visible and trusted in search results.

What It Does

Google’s Safe Browsing system checks websites for security risks like:

• Malware
• Phishing attacks
• Harmful or misleading content

If a site is flagged as unsafe, it can disappear from search results, lose traffic instantly, and show warning messages to users. This tool is available in Google’s Transparency Report, where anyone can check if a website has security issues and when it was last scanned. It also connects with Google Search Console to send alerts if any problems are detected.

Why It Matters for SEO

If a website is flagged by Safe Browsing:

• It may be removed from Google’s search results
• Warning pages may show to visitors
• Click-through rates can drop sharply
• Trust in the site may decline

Even after fixing the issue, it can take 1–2 weeks for the site to be reapproved and fully visible again. That means potential loss of traffic and revenue — which is why prevention is key.

Common Issues and Concerns

Some users have reported false flags, where safe domains were mistakenly marked as harmful. Although rare, this highlights the need for regular checks. Privacy-conscious users also note that Enhanced Safe Browsing shares more data with Google. For most SEO use cases, the standard version is enough.

Safe Browsing Best Practices

To stay secure and avoid SEO damage:

• Run regular Safe Browsing checks using Google’s tools or API
• Act quickly if Search Console reports any security issues
• Review third-party scripts and plugins
• Keep an eye on user-generated content (forums, comments, etc.)

4. Google Trends

Google Trends has become a powerful tool for shaping SEO and content strategies. With updates happening as frequently as every 10 minutes and improved trend detection, it’s a valuable resource for understanding search behavior.

How It Helps in SEO

Google Trends isn’t just about seeing what’s trending. It can be used to:

• Validate content ideas before publishing
• Identify seasonal search patterns
• Spot declining interest in topics
• Analyze regional differences for local SEO
• Compare brand or keyword performance

What to Keep in Mind

It’s important to note that Google Trends shows search interest over time, not total search volume. This means a term may appear to be declining in popularity even if it still receives high search traffic.

Some users have noted that niche or B2B topics may not show accurate or detailed trends due to low volume. Others prefer using paid tools, but Google Trends provides direct insights from Google search behavior, which makes it unique.

Pro Tips for Better Use

• Use comparisons: Comparing terms gives more context than viewing them alone
• Apply category filters: Helps avoid confusion with terms that have multiple meanings
• Check the “Rising” section: Useful for spotting new opportunities early
• Look at regional trends: Helps create location-targeted content

5. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the most essential tools for SEO. It provides real data about how Google views, indexes, and ranks a website.

Key Features

Search Console gives access to:

• Search queries that drive traffic
• Click-through rates for each keyword and page
• Index coverage reports to detect crawling or indexing issues
• Core Web Vitals performance for individual URLs
• Security alerts and manual action reports

This data is only available directly from Google, making it highly reliable for search optimization.

Setup and Use for Google Search Console

Setting up GSC is quick. Domain-level verification is recommended for complete access across subdomains and protocols. Once verified, data usually starts populating within a day or two.

Advanced Uses

Many advanced features in GSC are underused:

• Keyword gap analysis: Filter queries with high impressions but low clicks
• Structured data validation: Check if schema markup is correctly recognized by Google
• Sitemap comparison: Spot pages that are submitted but not indexed
• Performance filtering: Focus on queries ranking on page 2 (positions 11–20) for quick SEO wins

Things to Know

Search Console data is sampled and anonymized, so it doesn’t show every query — just a representative view. Some users find the interface complex, but starting with the Performance and Coverage reports is a good approach.

Google recently removed Analytics integration from GSC Insights, so users now need to compare data manually across platforms.

Final Thoughts: Bringing the Tools Together

These five tools — Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Safe Browsing Test, Google Trends, and Google Search Console — cover all the essential areas of SEO:

• Search Console reveals real search performance and indexing issues
• Trends helps guide content strategy and keyword targeting
• PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse identify technical issues affecting performance and user experience
• Safe Browsing ensures the site remains secure and trusted

Used together, these tools provide a clear picture of what Google values and how to align SEO efforts accordingly. While paid platforms offer more features, these free, official tools form a solid foundation for any SEO strategy. Success comes not from chasing perfect scores, but from using data wisely, focusing on the basics, and responding to how users—and Google—interact with your site.