Your Big, Reliable, Go-To Commercial SEO Research Tools

SEMRush and AHREFS are like the Coke and Pepsi of it all—and if there were a third cola out there, we’d have to call it Moz.

Moz: Great free keyword tools. Free account required—but no credit card. (I have also used the paid version.) When I was new to SEO and someone pointed me at Moz, I found it confusing. If this is you, try several others, then come back to Moz.

• Moz—Free account, free pro trial (w/credit card), starts @$79/month

SEMRush: My current favorite of the freemium offers. SEMRush allows you to create a free account (no credit card) and get up to 10 queries a day. I can squeak out useful info within that limit, although I hit the wall regularly.

• SEMRush—Free account with max 10 queries a day, starts @$99/month

AHREFS: Free tool, no account required. On the upside, the free Keyword Generator lets you specify the search engine (Google, Bing, YouTube, or Amazon). Downside? Severely throttled data and no free account or trial. Full set of tools look great through the window.

• AHREFS Free Keyword Generator—No free account or trial, starts @$99/month

Writing with great keywords not enough? Consider your linking strategy.

The Delightful and Quirky Keyword Tools

Answer the Public: Beautiful visuals; love the wheels—both the look of the infographics and the insights they offer. Even with the free account, you can download (limited) keyword lists into a csv file. Uses Google and Bing and is great for people starting out in SEO.

• Answer the Public—Free account gives you 3 searches/day with throttled results, free trial, paid plans start at $9/month or a one-time $99 lifetime fee. (I find that offer unique and tempting!)

QuestionDb: Free on-screen tool is great for blog ideas. It does throttle results; I received 51 of 115 questions asked about my topic—I can work with that. It pulls questions from search sites and social media. Shows you how users frame the questions and everything. Pretty cool tool all things considered.

• QuestionDb—Free, with limits on results; paid plans start at $12.50/month.

Keyword Sheeter: In the quirky camp, for sure. Not quite NSFW, this tool relies on bathroom humor as the core of its brand. Still, fast and free results on your screen, pulled from autocomplete results from Google. Downloading or digging into the results (ahem) requires a subscription.

• Keyword Sheeter—Free on screen; subscriptions start at $9/month.

Need help turning keywords into content? Talk to us. We have efficient, skilled people (real humans!) who can write in your voice, for your audience.

SEO Tools from Search Engines

• Google Trends—Not a generator—more of a keyword smackdown tool. Use it when you’re not sure which term works better with your audience or when you’re planning your next topic. Has some key regional- and industry-specific insights. More useful for content writers than campaign strategists.
• Google Keyword Planner—Designed for campaign strategists, this tool works for anyone. However, you must tell the tool about your campaign. If you don’t have one (because you’re a content editor or writer), you’ll be feeding the tool fiction.
• Bard—Google’s AI in beta will generate keywords and give you insights into long-tail options. You’ll get even more out of it by testing how to approach search-worthy topics.
• Bing Webmaster Tools—Has SEO tools equal to Google’s. Free, but you must make an account to access any of them.
• Bing Chat AI, aka “Discover” button—Find it in the upper right of the Edge browser window (looks like a chat icon). Free and worth exploring. I asked for keyword recommendations and got AI-produced copy, rich with keywords.

Need more results than a pile of keywords? Schedule time to talk with a Stamats digital strategist.

Suddenly, you’ve gone from professional SEO rockstar to the under- or over-dressed one at the swank party. Yes, I speak from bitter, bitter experience. I am not comforted—nor, I imagine, are you—that this is common. Search Engine Land puts it this way: “Your working theory should be that even the best content gets ignored.”

Still, there is hope for every content wallflower out there. It’s not how you’re dressed. (Those keywords are just fine, sweetie.) It’s about getting your links game on.

Links Are the OG Search Engine

Surprise—the Internet predates Google and Bing. How did we find things? We counted on people or entities we trusted to put links to related content or new ideas in their blogs or on their websites. How well did it work? Even though I lived through it, I still find it hard to believe we had an internet before search engines.

Links are still essential to SEO. Google looks at your place in the web of links, particularly your inbound or backlinks (links on other people’s sites that point back to you) to determine your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (“EAT” in the sea of SEO acronyms).

In other words, it’s not what you know; it’s not even who you know; it’s who knows you. But—I can hear your wail way over here in Iowa—that’s my problem! Nobody knows me.

There’s only one solution: start networking. The Internet is like a big party with a billion people talking; your content has popped up somewhere in the mix and is just staring all around. Get into the conversation with these three simple rules.

Craving a deeper dive into how Google sees you and your content? Schedule a free consultation with our digital strategists.

To be honest, this is table stakes in your linking strategy: Have something worth saying. Write great content that matters to your audience. 

Search engines match users with content that answers their questions. They match what goes into a search box (or a voice assistant’s microphone) with the content on your page. Do these things for SERP-worthy content: 

• Answer users’ questions (write for your audience, not to them) 
• Use the words and phrases entered in search engines (do your SERP homework) 
• One idea at a time (write for busy, multi-tasking people) 
• Add to the conversation (I haven’t yet found an AI who can) 
• Maybe: Offer a different take—you might make it into Google’s “Perspectives” panel 

That first idea, answering users’ questions, is the most important. Implicit questions and answers shape user journeys through pages and across sites, even if you never pose a question in a heading. 

To paraphrase Marcus Sheridan, “they ask you answer” is the heartbeat of web content. That’s how you’ll make your first connection—by answering their next question. 

Are your user journeys muddled or stagnant?  Hit us up for a free user journey audit today.

Rule 2: Build Great Interlinks with the Next Question

Interlinks connect your lonely wallflower content with other content on your site. They are the easiest connection to build because it’s all your content. Anticipate related questions—whether the next one in a logical sequence, a sidetrack, or a backtrack—and link to that page.

Start by brainstorming users’ other questions. Do some search engine research. Review your own published content. Make the link or put that next blog topic on your editorial calendar.

What do I mean by the next question? As the user receives their first answer, what other questions does that answer spark?

In Rule 1, when I said, “Do your homework” on keywords, you might have asked yourself, “Is there a keyword research tool I should use?” See, that’s an interlink.

For a page on college costs, a logical next question would be, “Can I get a scholarship?” So, link to the scholarship’s content. For a blog on pediatric epilepsy, a logical next question would be, “What happens as my child grows up?” Link to a blog story or service page for young adults.

Sometimes, the question will go sideways, say from college costs to a moan of “I don’t know what I want to study—is college even worth it?” Those are great interlinks, too.

The best moment at the Internet party? When someone you’ve been talking to grabs you by the hand and pulls you across the room, “My friends just have to meet you!” That’s the treasured backlink.

One of the best ways to earn backlinks is by creating blog stories. They help you rise to the top of the funnel so the rest of your site can be consulted during the messy middle of the prospective student journey. Why? Because they typically focus on answering questions around a singular topic.

Ready for your content to start getting noticed?  Talk with a Stamats blog expert today

Rule 3: Earn Your Best Backlinks

Working the Internet room for worthwhile backlinks is very much like working a room IRL—the people who do it best do it with authenticity (stay on brand!), and hospitality (invite others into the conversation), and warmth (appreciate the other content that’s out there). 

For blog and web content, this translates into practicing these high-level tactics regularly: 

• Use your authentic voice: Have something to say and a distinct way of saying it 
• Invite others in: Guest posts on your blog, web page featured quotes, or user-generated content on any platform 
• Warm up your social media: Even to your competitors. If they do something great for the community or for research, it’s ok to applaud them. Repost from thought leaders in your industry. Repost a quirky but inspiring find. Reduce the me-noise. Amplify the best you find around you. 

Create a virtuous cycle of paying attention to others to get attention back (backlinks). Like all public relations and brand building, it takes time, repetition, and staying your course. 

Turbocharge the virtuous cycle by investing staff time or budget dollars in professional PR. Pay someone to build the connections that turn into relevant backlinks—not inauthentic, spammy purchased links—as well as brand equity. 

The internet party has some specialized side corridors where you can strike up particularly useful connections for future backlinks: 

• Broken links mining: If you’d love a backlink from Platform X, search that platform for broken links that could instead go to your content. Reach out to the person who manages Platform X and alert them to the broken link, offering your link as an alternative. 
• HARO (Help a Reporter Out): Get your SMEs in front of journalists looking for someone like your SME as a source. There are lots of nuances to this rapidly growing and specialized PR practice. The SEO-toolmaker Ahrefs posted a lengthy HARO guide in late 2022. 

Keep the cycle virtuous and healthy:

• Monitor for lost or toxic backlinks: Use an SEO tool like SEMrush to audit your backlinks regularly. You might be able to reclaim a lost backlink simply by asking. If you find toxic backlinks, you might consider disavowing them. Oddly enough, there are many circumstances where you should just let the toxic backlinks ride. Dig into it more if you see an uptick in spammy backlinks. 
• Celebrate new backlinks: When a quality site links to you, give them a nod. Maybe in a them-focused social media post or just an email to the editor. You can even give them a backlink if your users will find the link useful. Google’s pretty good at sniffing out shallow reciprocal backlinking schemes, making those lose-lose propositions. 

Backlinks in the Future: Will Your Hard Work Matter for SEO?

Yes, backlinks will continue to signal your site’s authoritativeness and trustworthiness, but Google predicts diminishing weight on backlinks. As usual, there are few clues on what will replace inbound links. 

My prediction is that backlinks will go the way of keywords. As the search engines got better and better at natural language processing, keywords on their own meant less and less. Keywords in context still matter—they add to the algorithm’s overall assessment when it matches content to a query. 

So, I see a future where search engines have grown better and better at assessing the overall economy of authoritativeness and trustworthiness across the web. Quality backlinks will still be part of that assessment, just not the strongest signal. 

Links are, and will always be, the OG search engine. They’re how we find stuff. 

Forming Fruitful Partnerships

During the 70s, Stamats developed a strong partnership with Amana Refrigeration. This collaboration would prove to be a game-changer, as they took on the production of the legendary “Radar Range” cookbook for Amana’s microwave oven. This endeavor not only showcased Stamats’ expertise in content creation and publishing but also opened doors to expanding their commercial printing operations.

To accommodate their growing endeavors, Stamats opened a new printing facility spanning an impressive 15,000 square feet. This new facility housed a range of cutting-edge printing equipment, including a four-color press, two two-color presses, and two one-color presses.

“It was state-of-the-art with sophisticated offset printing,” recalled Stamats President and CEO, Peter Stamats. “It brought new jobs and more commercial printing business. We were running that business 24 hours a day.”

Bidding Farewell to an Era

While one area of business soared, another found itself on the fringes. In the early 80s, Stamats was at a crossroads, leading to a bittersweet decision to close its syndicated publishing business. The division housed three iconic brands: Perfect Home, Building Progress, and Ownership. These publications were staples in the real estate industry since the mid-1930s. For nearly 50 years, these publications provided valuable insights and information to countless readers and great marketing exposure for realtors and property developers. However, shifting trends in the marketplace and economic challenges forced the end of this era.

Building a Bright Future Ahead

Stamats witnessed remarkable growth in popularity and profit for their Buildings magazine division. “Buildings magazine really flourished during that period,” Stamats said. “We were in a qualified subscriber business model, now known as ‘Opt-In’. At that time, it was an incredible accomplishment to provide something with significant value that people are willing to opt-in to any large numbers.”

Stamats attributes the success to the company’s ability to provide high-quality, informative, and compelling content for a select, highly qualified audience. This strategy has been the underpinning of the company since its inception.

A New Identity

As Stamats continued to evolve and expand its reach in the groovy decade, a defining moment arrived in the form of a company-wide name change. The transition from Stamats Publishing Company to Stamats Communications was more than a mere rebranding; it reflected the company’s emerging identity as a comprehensive communications company. Now with a diverse range of services that encompass publishing, printing, video and multi-media production, full-service marketing, brand campaigns, content strategy, and complete creative services.

To this day, Stamats provides unparalleled marketing, communications, and creative services to its niche customers. Embracing and evolving with change is the company’s key to growth and sustainability.

Related reading: A Landscape of Change

A New Era of Efficiency

Technological advances dominated the publishing landscape in the early 1980s. Stamats adopted digital typesetting, a cutting-edge technology that enhanced efficiency and precision. It empowered the company to explore new creative possibilities while meeting the demands of a rapidly changing market.

Seizing Opportunities

In the pursuit of growth and expanding its influence, the company seized strategic opportunities for expansion. The establishment of the research division in 1988, led by Bob Sevier, allowed the company to tap into the power of data-driven decision-making, providing clients with valuable insights and a competitive edge.

“We really wanted to provide some quantitative research to help us confirm some of the creative approaches we were taking for clients in that space,” emphasized Stamats President and CEO, Peter Stamats.

Stamats faced a pivotal choice in this decade—the sale of their printing division.

“Commercial printing was a highly competitive marketplace,” Peter Stamats explained. “We either needed to go more deeply into the capital invested in printing or focus strictly on the creative processes. So, we took our chances and sold our printing division.”

Some of the funds from the sale were then invested in the acquisition of the publication Meetings Monthly, which later became Meetings Today. This choice broadened Stamats’ reach into the thriving meetings and events industry.

Experimenting with New Strategies

Stamats fearlessly ventured into new territories and experimented with diverse offerings. During this decade, the company saw a growing need for comprehensive healthcare resources. Stamats tapped into their syndicated publishing expertise by providing emergency care guides to hospital system communities.

Additionally, Stamats embraced the rising popularity of film and video and ventured into the realm of visual storytelling. Leveraging their creative talent and technical expertise, the company began producing engaging films and videos for a diverse range of clients. By expanding into this medium, Stamats effectively communicated complex ideas, captured attention, and left a lasting impact on audiences.

“This period was a great example of when you start things, you might try 10 things, and only one will work out,” said Stamats. “You may have a lot of failures, but you only need a couple of them to work out to be okay.”

These bold moves not only expanded Stamats’ capabilities but also showcased its visionary approach to communication and its desire to make a positive impact in various markets.

Related reading: 1993-2003: Modernizing from the Ground Up

One of the most relevant points Michael and I shared is this: create the site for the user, not for your org chart. And when you do that, they will come (yes, I’m from Iowa, not far from the Field of Dreams).

There are two really great examples of areas that were originally focused on the department content. The team at IU was ready to make a change so there was no pushback; their site was dated and everyone was aligned to an audience-based site to message #ResearchCuresCancer.

Giving – Audience Focused Content

For more than a decade, the cancer center’s Giving page directed potential donors to an institutional landing page. Instead of actionable content, users had to make their way through unfocused side navigation that had grown over time. If visitors found the giving fund they were interested in, the page was likely too long or too short to impact their decision.

It was focused on who they were, not the amazing impact they have had on research.

Our strategy to create an engaging page: 

• Emphasize donor impact—tie funding opportunities directly to related research
• Elevate key donor interests
• Add patient survivor stories
• Include researcher photos and testimonials
• Cross-link event and volunteer pages

The outcomes:

• Direct connections between donors and research breakthroughs
• Personal stories of high-profile scientists 
• Multiple voices sharing consistent key messages 

The results:

• 53% increase in pageviews for the Giving section since launch (January 2023 to January 2022)
• Significant engagement with landing page calls to action

Visit the Giving Page live

Community Outreach & Engagement – Audience Content

The original Community Outreach & Engagement web page consisted of a rural landscape graphic and a high-level synopsis of the department’s official mission and goals. And that was it—a single page with no branding and no calls to action. This office was doing amazing things, and the page was not telling their story!

After lively interviews with the OCOE team, it was clear that community outreach and engagement are vital to cancer research, and they were ready to share that message and build community connections.

Our strategy to create an engaging page: 

• Expand to a full section 
• Shorten navigation label to “Community” to de-emphasize org chart influence 
• Surface key messages and stories from social media 
• Integrate Simon Says video series and promote across the site. The team had invested in this really helpful channel, but it was orphaned on their website as a standalone page—and that meant the community was not accessing this information
• Move events and volunteering from Giving to Community and reframe content to highlight community impact 
• Show the full spectrum of diversity across Indiana with lots and lots of people photos 
• Give a voice to the OCOE team—all-new content emphasizing the scope of their work—engagement statistics, community partners, research articles

The section outcomes:  

• Clear user journeys 
• Prominent calls to action 
• Meaningful images 
• Strong voice 

The results: 

• Increased engagement within the site: moved from 24^th to 6^th in clicks from homepage 
• Simon Says video series now accounts for 47% of traffic through Community section

Visit the Community & Outreach page live

Takeaways and Recommendations

Write for the audience. This most likely means it won’t look like your org chart. A department’s content might live in more than one navigation menu item.

A frequent real-life example I share is one we are all familiar with. At the grocery store, the aisles are not aligned by the company products. There is no General Mills, Post, or Nestle aisle. The aisles are aligned by product category, spreading their brands over multiple aisles. Why do stores do this? It’s best for the consumer, and what is best for the consumer is best for the store.

Tell your stories. Dig deep during the discovery process. Let the subject matter experts talk during stakeholder interviews. Find out what excites them and who the “unsung heroes” are. Listen closely and pull out the threads of recurring themes.

Make the connections. Craft key messages that weave together those story threads using your unique voice and tone. Use design components to guide users through their journeys. Give them opportunities to answer the calls to action and discover related content. Make use of dynamic content to maintain the momentum.

“This period was where we began to see a significant transition,” said Stamats President and CEO, Peter Stamats. “The need for our company to recognize the transition away from what had really been its leading marketing medium, which was print, either direct mail or magazine publishing, and moving towards the beginning of the digital age.”

The Rise of the Digital Era

Stamats launched its first website in 1996. At this point it was purely informational, the Internet’s capabilities and level of sophistication were still in its infancy. The company also secured URL’s and launched B2B websites for its Buildings and Meetings brands.

But as the decade progressed, the Internet became a force that transformed every aspect of life. This era transformed the way that organizations could reach their audiences. The emergence of new technologies and platforms like email, CD-ROMS, and search engines opened new possibilities for marketers.

“A lot of people were forecasting that advertising and marketing agencies would go out of business in the future because people were now able to produce their own creative materials on their computers,” said Stamats. “But that never really panned out because there’s still a real art to design and creativity and it takes the right people and expertise to execute high-quality, effective materials.”

Implementing New Concepts

Higher education began rapidly evolving during the digital boom. Colleges and universities desperately needed new ways to capture the attention of their audiences and Stamats was equipped to take on the challenge.

Bob Sevier, one of Stamats’ influential market research leaders, championed the concept of integrated marketing in the education market. This strategy challenged colleges and universities to think about the whole picture of marketing efforts—from the beginning of the funnel, connecting all the dots on your lead generation and nurturing those audiences. To the end, leading to qualifying materials and decision-making materials for prospective students. This approach was relatively new at the time, and Sevier’s expertise helped Stamats become a leader in the field positioning us at the forefront for branding work. Stamats’ integrated marketing strategies included everything from traditional print materials to digital content which at that time was on CDs and mailed out. Stamats was the first marketing firm in higher education to create a digital viewbook on CD-ROM for Villanova University.

Stamats continues to uphold these practices and approaches today. Leveraging their expertise in market research, creative design, and storytelling, they provide clients with the most effective and comprehensive marketing solutions possible.

Building for the Future

As the business shifted away from print, they wanted to create an environment that harmonized with their creativity and growth. In 1999, the Stamats headquarters in Cedar Rapids underwent a major renovation. They focused on creating an aesthetically pleasing and architecturally modern look that would attract prospective employees in a competitive market. As well as a place they felt proud to host clients.

During a decade of rapid change, Stamats continued to find avenues to showcase their expertise, creativity, and willingness to adapt and modernize. They were able to connect their clients to the right audiences and help them thrive during evolving environments.

The company’s success is rooted in its commitment to providing innovative solutions to clients in select industries, including higher education, healthcare, and business-to-business publishing.

“We have been able to establish and maintain tremendous personal relationships with our clients over the years,” said Peter Stamats, President and CEO of Stamats. “Those relationships and our ability to provide value in the markets our clients serve have been a mainstay for us and kept us engaged through good times and through bad times.”

Stamats has a long history of embracing new technologies and adapting to changing market conditions, which has helped us stay ahead of the curve and continue to provide cutting-edge service.

“We’ve morphed and changed from a fledgling marketing business to one with a national reputation for higher education and health care marketing,” said Bill Stamats, Executive Vice President of Stamats.

To commemorate our centennial, Stamats will be launching a series of events and initiatives throughout the year. These will include a microsite that will host narratives documenting each decade, a historical timeline with photos of the company’s growth and achievements, and a celebration event.

“The main reason we’ve been successful is our people,” said Peter Stamats. “One hundred years is a legacy to live up to. All of us can take away a real sense of pride in the work that we’ve recently done and the work of those who came before us. We continue to look for ways to sustain that and to carry it forward with the same level of dedication and passion.”

Stamats is excited to mark this historic occasion, and we look forward to continuing to provide innovative marketing solutions to clients for many years to come.   

About Stamats:

Stamats is a leading digital marketing and research company providing a complete range of services including websites, mobile, PPC, SEO/SEM, content marketing, email, research, traditional media, live events, and database marketing. Stamats focuses on distinct markets to gain unique category knowledge and experience for the benefit of Stamats’ clients. These markets are higher education, healthcare, publishing, and audience development. Stamats was founded in 1923 and today maintains corporate offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Making the Right Moves

Traditional print outreach and advertising were declining, and the world was shifting to new and emerging digital communication technology. Not only were the communication platforms shifting, but now jobs and responsibilities had to morph. 

Stamats looked for new methods to better serve colleges and universities. In an effort to stay ahead of the curve, we underwent a significant digital transformation. 

In 2014, Stamats acquired the established brand strategy company, The Thorburn Group. To this day, we continue to bring creative, customized, and thoughtful strategies to each client we serve. 

“We went from being a print-centric company with a lot of the products and offerings in the markets that we served to becoming digitally centric,” said Stamats President and CEO, Peter Stamats. “We found ourselves transitioning our staff and retooling.” 

Stamats has found ways and opportunities to expand its reach to help connect more companies to their audiences. We launched Audativ, the audience management services, and tools to help other publishers, as well as branching out into the healthcare industry.

Staying Nimble Through the Unknown

Towards the end of the decade, Stamats had to navigate a different kind of transformation—one that no one saw coming and disrupted the whole world and how we operate. COVID-19. 

But working in disparate teams was not new news for us; Stamats was well-versed in the remote, results-focused working style. The president himself had been working remotely for years before the pandemic. “The pandemic proved to all of us that we can work remotely. And that we kind of like it,” said Stamats. 

Trends and technology will continue to change, but you can expect Stamats to hold true to its founding values of providing high-quality, creative services to our customers for the next 100 years.