Here you will find ten great and free tools provided to you by Google. Some should be used more then others but if you want to achieve great performance on line for your site you probably will use each one of them at least once.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster tools gives you an insider look into Google’s view of your site. Most importantly it will show you if Google found problems with your website such as duplicated content, broken links, malware and much more. On a more positive note, it will also give you information about sites linking in, +1 and keyword positioning.
Google Analytics
I will not expend to much on GA, if you are a complete novice, check out Google Analytics official page. Once you are past the basics GA can become your favourite Google tool. Advanced setup of GA will enable you to track which pages and keyword actually convert and drive sales.
Google Website Optimizer
Imagine you have a page that is under-performing, you have a number of different ideas of how to improve it. How do you choose which one to use? Google Website Optimizer allows you to create a number of different versions and split the traffic between them. Once enough data is accumulated you can choose the best performing one as your permanent page.
Google Zeitgeist
Google Zeitgeist is not a tool per say. It’s a global overview of search trends, it enables you to see what are the fastest rising and falling terms people are interested in.
Google Trends
Google Trends enables you to compare up to five search terms and see their relative popularity over time. This is the first place where you start compiling an actual keyword list for your website. You can also compare website but only the once with high traffic are included.
Google Insights for Search
Insights for Search is like Google Trends on steroids. It allows you to take a much deeper dive into the trends of search. Much more specific then Google Trends and allows you to start narrowing down to what you really should be using.
Google Traffic Estimator
This tool is designed to estimate traffic for specific keywords if you are using Adwords. The data can be adopted to organic search if you keep in mind the way ads are being shown on Adwords (“broad match”, “phrase match” and “exact match”).
Google Keyword Tool
While Google Traffic Estimator gives you and idea of the traffic as it pertains to specific keywords, Google Keyword Tool will actually recommend the keywords you should use. Also, built for Google Adwords.
Google Search Based Keyword Tool
This tool is similar to the Google Keyword Tool, but it takes your actual website into account. The keywords it will recommend will have a better chance of working with your website.
Google Ad Planner
Google Ad Planner is like Alexa and SpyFu in one. It is useful for analyzing competition and leaders in your field.