← Back to Articles

10 Free SEO Tools for Liverpool Businesses 2025

By Brian

In Liverpool, standing out is everything. From the bustling crowds of Bold Street to the creative energy of the Baltic Triangle, your business needs to capture attention. Online, that means mastering

In Liverpool, standing out is everything. From the bustling crowds of Bold Street to the creative energy of the Baltic Triangle, your business needs to capture attention. Online, that means mastering Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It’s the critical difference between being the first choice for a local customer and being completely invisible.

Worried about the cost? Don’t be. You don’t need a Premier League budget to compete. An incredibly powerful suite of free tools is available to help you optimise your website, track your performance, and understand exactly what your customers are looking for.

Here is our curated guide to the essential free SEO tools that will help your Liverpool business get found in 2025.

1. Google Business Profile (GBP)

  • What it is: Your digital shop window and interactive business card on Google Search and Maps.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: For searches like “best pizza near Anfield” or “solicitor in the Commercial District,” your GBP is your single most important ranking factor. It’s the first impression for the vast majority of local customers.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Don’t just list your address. Embed your business in the local landscape. Upload high-quality photos of your premises showing recognisable landmarks—perhaps your café with the Liver Building in the distance or your shop front on a sunny day on Lark Lane. In your description, use hyper-local terms like “serving the Georgian Quarter” or “based in the heart of Ropewalks.”

.stk-f868088 .stk-img-wrapper img{border-radius:22px !important;}A stylized, minimalist map of a city district with a prominent location pin icon at the center. The map features simple, clean lines for streets and blocks. Floating around the pin are smaller, related icons: a shopfront, a star for reviews, and a speech bubble. The entire illustration uses a strict blue and white color palette with crisp outlines, in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

2. Google Search Console

  • What it is: A direct line of communication from Google, showing you exactly how your website performs in search results.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: It reveals the real search terms people use to find you, flags technical errors that could be harming your rank, and tells you which pages are most popular.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Use the performance report to see which local postcodes (L1, L2, L17, etc.) are driving the most traffic. Are you getting clicks from “plumber in Allerton” but not “plumber in Crosby”? This insight tells you precisely where to focus your marketing efforts next.

3. Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

  • What it is: The definitive tool for understanding who is visiting your website and what they do when they get there.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: GA4 helps you identify your most valuable online channels. You can see if your traffic is coming from social media, direct searches, or referrals, allowing you to double down on what works.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Go beyond just tracking page views. Set up specific “conversion events” for local actions. For a restaurant on Castle Street, this could be tracking clicks on your “Book a Table” button. For a service business, it could be clicks on your phone number or submissions of a quote request form.

.stk-2c0acc8 .stk-img-wrapper img{border-radius:20px !important;}A stylized document or webpage is shown with a prominent headline. A checklist icon is next to it, with smaller icons representing a keyword, a readability score (an open book), and a meta tag. A cursor icon is actively editing the text. The artwork uses a clean, blue and white, Tailwind-inspired aesthetic in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

4. Google Keyword Planner

  • What it is: A powerful research tool to discover the exact phrases and questions your potential customers are typing into Google.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: Stop guessing what people are searching for. This tool provides data-driven insights into search volumes and helps you find valuable keyword opportunities.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Use the location filter to zero in on “Liverpool” or “Merseyside.” You might discover that while “accountant” is highly competitive, a term like “small business accountant South Liverpool” has significant search volume with fewer competitors.

5. Ubersuggest (Free Version)

  • What it is: A user-friendly tool for quick keyword analysis and a sneak peek at your competitors’ strategies.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: It demystifies SEO by providing clear data on keyword difficulty, search volume, and the top-performing content for any given search term.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Enter the web address of a direct local competitor. Ubersuggest will show you the keywords they rank for. This is your chance to find gaps. If they rank well for “wedding cakes Liverpool,” perhaps you can target “vegan wedding cakes Liverpool” or “last-minute birthday cakes in Aintree.”

6. AnswerThePublic

  • What it is: A brilliant idea generator that visualises what people are asking about any topic.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: It helps you create content that directly answers your customers’ questions, establishing you as a trusted local authority.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Search for a core service like “Liverpool solicitors.” It will generate dozens of real questions people are asking, such as “how much does conveyancing cost in Liverpool” or “where to find a family lawyer near me.” Each of these is a perfect topic for a blog post or an FAQ page.

7. Screaming Frog SEO Spider (Free Version)

  • What it is: Your website’s personal MOT. It “crawls” up to 500 pages of your site to find technical problems like broken links, missing page titles, and redirect errors.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: A technically sound website is easier for Google to crawl and rank. This tool ensures you’re not being held back by simple, fixable mistakes.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Before launching a major promotion—like a new menu for Restaurant Week or a student discount for Freshers’ Week—run a crawl. Ensuring all your links work and your key pages are optimised will maximise the campaign’s impact.

.stk-dca3b96 .stk-img-wrapper img{border-radius:22px !important;}An illustration showing a rocket ship taking off, symbolizing speed and optimization. Below the rocket, a stylized representation of a website's code structure is visible, with icons for a checkmark (indicating health) and a broken link being fixed by a cogwheel. The design is modern, using only blue and white in a web-illustrated style, set to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

8. PageSpeed Insights

  • What it is: A Google tool that analyses your website’s loading speed on both mobile and desktop.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: A slow site frustrates users and hurts your rankings. First impressions are vital, and a page that takes too long to load is a guaranteed way to lose a potential customer.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Many of your customers will be searching for you while on the move—walking through Liverpool ONE or waiting for a train at Lime Street. A fast-loading mobile site is non-negotiable. This tool provides actionable recommendations to improve it.

9. Yoast SEO (Free WordPress Plugin)

  • What it is: An on-page SEO coach that lives inside your WordPress dashboard, giving you real-time feedback as you write.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: It makes fundamental on-page SEO accessible to everyone, helping you optimise page titles, meta descriptions, and content structure without needing to be a technical expert.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Use the snippet preview to craft compelling, location-specific meta descriptions. Instead of a generic description, write something like: “Award-winning dog groomers in Wavertree, Liverpool. Easy online booking. Click here to see our services!” It’s your 160-character advert in the search results.
  • What it is: A tool to explore the popularity of search terms over time, helping you spot seasonal and trending topics.
  • Why it’s essential for a Liverpool business: It allows you to align your content and marketing efforts with what’s currently capturing the public’s interest.
  • The Liverpool Advantage: Track local trends. See when searches for “Liverpool Christmas Market” begin to spike and publish your relevant content just before. If you’re in the hospitality trade, monitor trends around major events like the Grand National to create timely and highly-searched-for content.

A Simple SEO Workflow for Liverpool Businesses

Don’t be overwhelmed. Use these tools in a logical order:

  1. Step 1: Build Your Foundation: Start with Google Business Profile. Make sure it’s complete, accurate, and rich with local detail.
  2. Step 2: Find Your Opportunities: Use Keyword Planner, AnswerThePublic, and Ubersuggest to research what your customers are searching for and what your competitors are doing.
  3. Step 3: Optimise & Create: Write your content using Yoast SEO to guide you. Build pages that answer the questions you discovered in Step 2.
  4. Step 4: Monitor & Refine: Use Google Search Console and GA4 to track your results. Use PageSpeed Insights and Screaming Frog to keep your site technically healthy.

Conclusion

You don’t need a massive budget to make a significant impact in Liverpool’s digital landscape. The key is consistency. By dedicating a small amount of time each week to using these powerful free tools, you can steadily improve your visibility, attract more qualified local customers, and achieve sustainable online growth.

Your challenge: Pick one tool from this list and spend 30 minutes exploring it this week. Small, focused actions are the first step toward major SEO success.

Want to grow your business online?

Let's have a chat about what you need.

Get in Touch →