Useful Digital Marketing Resources

These are all tools I use regularly and people who provide useful and relevant information for digital marketing.

I like to take a less is more approach – For instance, I don’t think there is a great deal of value in following lots of different people talking about the same subject. There is just too much to keep track of, most of which isn’t going to be relevant to your particular situation. Just find a few individuals who are pitching things at your level or know about your particular niche, and learn from them.

Digital Marketing Tools

Ahrefs for Keyword Research: Really powerful, and being able to filter by intent (transactional, informational etc), local search, and industry makes deep diving into keyword research a breeze. It’s really designed for SEO professionals with multiple clients working for agencies or on very large websites with lots to keep track of. So, for day to day management of smaller sites it’s probably overkill, and Moz would be more useful.

Moz Pro for SEO management: I like that it focuses on the key metrics that will move the needle for most small business users, such as search volume, page authority, backlink authority, and provides an idea of what sort of domain authority you need to rank on page 1. I also find the score for how well the page is optimised for a particular keyword really useful. It does lack a some of the data depth of Ahrefs, but I think it’s much better set up for people who are newer to SEO or small businesses.

Google Search Console: Essential for anyone managing a website. Submit pages for indexing, see what you rank for, and get alerted about any issues that may be preventing you from appearing in the search results. It’s free and there is really no reason not to use it if you have a website.

Honourable mentions:

  • Bing Webmaster Tools
    • Like Google Search Console, but for Bing. Useful free competitor backlink checker.
  • Google Analytics
    • Really designed for enterprise users these days. Far too complicated for smaller sites. But, I don’t have a better website analytics option yet, so currently using it begrudgingly.

People I Recommend Following For SEO & PPC

Edward Sturm: Super useful info about SEO. I’ve taken Edward’s Compact Keyword course, which I’d highly recommend for anyone interested in learning SEO. And he provides a ton of useful free info and interviews great guests on his YouTube channel.

David Quaid: Really knowledgeable about search engine marketing, and is able to explain how Google works and what to focus on for SEO in a straightforward and easy to understand way. David has started posting regularly on YouTube, and his interviews on Edwards Sturm’s channel are all well worth your time.

Shaun Anderson: Definitely someone who understands how Google and SEO works – he has a few free eBooks on his website, ranging from beginner level to professional. Essential reading for any aspiring SEO.

Austin LeClear: Provides easy to understand walk-throughs for Google Ads – If you want to know how to set up and run paid ad campaigns, such as Google Shopping, Performance Max, and plain old paid search, effectively and without wasting a load of ad spend, then his videos on the Grow My Ads YouTube channel are second to none.