Digital marketing has become a specialized, niche industry, with experts on every aspect of the process from search engine optimization (SEO) to data analysis experts, and everything in between. Even a guest post on Yale University Magazine carries with it a wealth of information, planning, resource management and commerce. No action on the Internet of Things goes unnoticed by the crawlers which scan and index everything, and every action is either rewarded or punished.
Linux users may sometimes feel sidelined by the sheer magnitude of software options available to mainstream Windows and Mac users, but even open source fans can get in on the digital marketing action without having to switch over to proprietary software. Here are five SEO software options for Linux users in the digital marketing industry.
Keyworda
This program is the contemporary of applications like Moz Keyword Explorer, Keyword Tool and Long Tail Pro, and is reputedly more reliable than Google Keyword Planner. It is created for online marketing professionals and agencies, as well as business owners and content creators for SEO.
The free version of the product can offer up over 1000 long-tail keyword options per search term. Keyworda offers a free, web-based platform, which can be used without needing to download the software or create an account, for keyword research across a variety of local and global platforms (search engines, social media and ecommerce sites). The product is aimed at users of Google, YouTube, Carousel, TikTok, Shopee, Lazada, Taobao and Zalora.
Link Assistant
This application is aimed at companies who wish to create and manage an effective link profile, and is the contemporary of Linkio, Majestic and xGen SEO. There are paid and free versions available. The product offers a way to research and manage thousands of backlink opportunities, as well as the tools to reach out to potential backlink hosts. The program crawls through millions of websites to find related and relevant content with a good domain authority, collects the contact details, and then presents the list in a convenient report, which you only need click on to reach out and request a backlink. Link Assistant belongs to the SEO Powersuite, along with Rank Tracker, Website Auditor and SEO Spyglass, which is a research tool used to prep Link Assistant. There is a currency exchange of sorts, as the download requires a name and email address to which they send the download instructions, but the software is then free to use for life.
Plerdy
Plerdy is a contemporary of Mouseflow, Reactflow and Crazy Egg. It is a SaaS application designed to increase conversion rates and online sales. The company offers a paid version and a free version. The software features heatmaps, which show the which pages attract the most activity (clicks), as well as some very user-friendly pop-up smart forms, and SEO alerts for continuous assessment of the website’s features for optimizing. There are a number of other, complementary tools also available, which will come in quite handy, such as session replays, event tracking, sales performance reports, and conversion funnel analytics. Again, the software is only available to download through a sign-up process which requires personal information and verification.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
This software product is the contemporary of SiteAnalyzer, Netpeak Spider and CrawlCentre. It is aimed at SEO agencies, and integrates with Ubuntu. The programme also offers API access. It is designed to crawl websites and audit them for common SEO errors, with real-time reports. Screaming Frog SEO Spider (SFSS) appears to be quite a flexible tool, with features such as detection of broken links, meta data analysis, site visualization and comparative reports.
The free download is a relatively small Debian package, available without the need for signup or data exchange. The primary difference between the free and paid versions is that the free version limits the user to 500 urls. Despite this limitation, the usability of the product implies that even individual business owners can use SFSS to audit their own websites, if only to determine the effectiveness of their digital marketing consultants.
SEO Content Machine
SEO Content Machine was created for use by SEO content writers and companies offering commercial access to links and private blog networks. It is the contemporary of Menterprise, Aiditorial and nicheness. It claims to be, according to SourceForge, “The first cross-platform, multi-language content toolbox that allows anyone, regardless of skill to create.” API access to the software is available, and with all of the existing features, it seems the articles all but write themselves. This program allows a user to create hundreds of unique, original content products through the use of AI and standardized frameworks. As with Link Assistant and Plerdy, there is a currency exchange of personal data (email and name) for a download link, and this is a limited free trial, unless you buy the software.