Best Technical SEO Tools for Website Owners

Technical SEO gets messy when one tool spots an issue and leaves you to work out what to change. These technical SEO tools cover different parts of the job, from Google’s indexing data to live-site checks that turn findings into a fix prompt.

We’ve put HubSEO first for site owners using AI coding agents. Our workflow ranks live-site findings, generates scoped prompts for external AI coding agents and reruns the same checks after deployment. We’ve then included five other named options for different audit needs.

Table of Contents

* HubSEO * Google Search Console: Google’s own search performance and indexing data * Screaming Frog SEO Spider: raw crawl detail for technical investigations * Sitebulb: technical crawling with prioritised explanations * Semrush: a broader platform with technical site audits * Squirrelscan: audit findings formatted for AI-agent fixes * Lumar: enterprise-scale crawling and website intelligence * Frequently Asked Questions * Conclusion

1\. HubSEO

HubSEO is a self-serve website auditing tool that checks a live site, ranks supported findings and writes a scoped fix prompt for an external AI coding agent. It suits website owners, founders and developers who want evidence before asking an agent to change code.

!Screenshot of the HubSEO website

The free tier gives guests one check every 30 days. A free registered account gets three checks a month. The full ranked check and first fix prompt are included, with no card needed. Nothing is installed on your site.

That makes HubSEO useful when you’re unsure where to start. The check measures signals on the live page, including phone speed, crawlability, SEO details and accessibility. Findings are ranked so you can focus on the highest-priority supported issue instead of handing a coding agent a long, unordered report.

Choose a finding, then use its prompt with an external agent such as Cursor or Claude Code. The agent may edit your code, but HubSEO doesn’t make the change for you. Review the proposed edits before they go live. Once you’ve deployed them, run the same check again to see whether the issue is still flagged.

That loop is the main difference from a report-only workflow: measure the live site, pick a fix, then check the result. A cleared audit flag confirms that the check no longer detects that issue. It does not guarantee better Google rankings, indexing or visibility in AI answers.

If you want to inspect the checks before running one, the free SEO audit report explains the evidence behind its findings. For the hand-off to an agent, our guide to using Claude Code and Cursor for SEO audits walks through the prompt-and-recheck workflow.

Key Takeaway: HubSEO fits when you want a measured live-site finding, a scoped agent prompt and a way to check the deployed change.

2\. Google Search Console: Google’s own search performance and indexing data

Google Search Console is a free service for checking how Google sees your site in Search. It’s a basic account for any site owner to set up, and it’s especially useful when you need to know whether Google can find or index a page.

!Screenshot of the Google Search Console website

Its technical reports cover indexing status, URL inspection and crawl errors. URL Inspection can show Google’s view of a specific page. Use its live test when a page has changed or when you suspect that Google can’t access a key resource. This is useful after a template change, a new page launch or a robots.txt edit.

A page or resource blocked by robots.txt may not be crawled as expected. Use robots.txt to manage crawling, not as a way to stop a page being indexed. To prevent indexing, use a noindex rule or access controls. A sitemap can help Google discover and prioritise important URLs, but it doesn’t guarantee that every submitted page will be indexed.

Keep the signals straight. A canonical tag tells search engines which URL you consider the main version of similar pages. Check that it points to the right URL, especially after a site move or when pages have tracking parameters. Then use Search Console’s indexing reports to investigate what Google reports for those URLs.

Search Console also provides performance reports, but those don’t replace a site crawl. They show search data, while a crawler can find patterns across page titles, links or response codes. Use both when you need to tell a technical fault apart from a page that simply has little search activity.

For a new site, verify ownership and submit the sitemap. For an existing site, start with pages that matter most to your business, inspect a few affected URLs, then look for a shared cause. Search Console is free and gives you Google’s own data, but it won’t write code changes for you.

3\. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: raw crawl detail for technical investigations

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is desktop crawling software for people who want detailed crawl data. It suits engineers and technical SEOs who are comfortable checking response headers, URL patterns and exported rows.

!Screenshot of the Screaming Frog SEO Spider website

The free version crawls up to 500 URLs in a single crawl. The paid licence costs £199 per year and removes that crawl limit while opening up advanced features. The tool runs on a desktop, so the size of a crawl can depend on available memory and storage.

A crawl can surface broken links, server errors, redirect chains and loops. It can also flag missing or duplicate page titles and meta descriptions. For a site migration, crawl a known URL set and check where redirects lead. For a content review, export titles, descriptions and headings so you can sort patterns outside the crawler.

Raw crawl detail is useful when the first report raises a question. Is a page returning an error, or does another URL link to it? Does a canonical point to a different page? Is the URL blocked by robots.txt or marked noindex? Screaming Frog can help you inspect those signals across a set of URLs rather than checking each page by hand.

It can also render JavaScript pages with Chromium. That matters when a page’s links or content appear after scripts run. It crawls pages from your computer and does not offer a live-site audit.

The trade-off is the detail. A large export can leave you with plenty to interpret. If you plan to pass findings to a coding agent, first reduce the crawl to a clear issue and a small URL set. Our guide to AI agents for coding SEO fixes explains why a narrow, testable task is easier to review than a broad instruction.

4\. Sitebulb: technical crawling with prioritised explanations

Sitebulb is a technical SEO crawler with desktop and cloud versions. It suits technical leads who need to explain why one finding should be fixed before another, especially when developers need evidence to accept the work.

!Screenshot of the Sitebulb website

Its audit uses issue scoring, priority hints, comparisons between audits and crawl analysis. The visual reports can help you see how pages relate to each other, while explanations give a team more context than a bare list of flags.

Sitebulb has desktop software and a browser-based cloud option. The desktop version uses your computer’s resources. Sitebulb starts at £149 per year. Sitebulb also describes a 14-day desktop trial that needs no credit card. Its cloud version is aimed at larger crawls or teams that need to work from shared crawl data, with pricing starting at £95 per month.

That split matters for a small team. A developer working alone may prefer a local crawl they can inspect in detail. A team sharing audit work may value browser access to the same crawl data. Before choosing, match the setup to who needs the report and how often they’ll use it.

Sitebulb’s priority hints can help make a case for a fix, but a hint still needs context from your site. A report may show an issue across many URLs, while only a subset matters to customers or search. Check the affected pages and confirm the cause before turning the finding into a ticket or code prompt.

If you’re deciding between a desktop crawler and a browser-based audit workflow, our Sitebulb alternative overview lays out the operational differences. The right fit depends on whether your main need is crawl visualisation or a live check that helps you verify a deployed fix.

5\. Semrush: a broader platform with technical site audits

Semrush is a wider marketing platform with a technical Site Audit alongside keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking and backlink data. It suits teams that want technical checks near their wider search research.

!Screenshot of the Semrush website

Its Site Audit runs more than 140 automated checks and produces a health score weighted by issue severity. The checks cover areas such as crawlability, HTTPS, mobile use, performance, Core Web Vitals and structured data. You can schedule repeat audits and compare progress after changes go live.

That makes it useful when you need a broader view of search work. For example, a team can review a technical issue alongside keyword and ranking data. Semrush also describes checks of access for several AI crawlers, so you can spot some cases where bot access may be blocked.

A health score is a summary, not a verdict on every page. Open the issue details and confirm which URLs are affected. A high score doesn’t mean every important page is sound, and a lower score doesn’t tell you which fix will matter most to your business. Treat the score as a way to track a set of checks over time.

For a coding hand-off, Semrush can export Site Audit issue lists as CSV files. That can help a team move findings into its existing work queue. You’ll still need a developer or an external coding agent to make and review code changes. HubSEO ranks live-site findings, generates scoped prompts for external AI coding agents and reruns the same checks after deployment; it doesn’t implement fixes. Clearing an audit flag doesn’t guarantee Google rankings, indexing or visibility in AI answers.

Semrush also includes keyword research, which is useful when a technical fix sits beside a question about what people search for. If you only need query ideas, the HubSEO keyword research tool focuses on suggestions from Google’s autocomplete expansion.

6\. Squirrelscan: audit findings formatted for AI-agent fixes

Squirrelscan is a website auditing tool with findings formatted for AI coding agents. It suits developers who want to pass structured audit output into an agent workflow, then check the site again.

!Screenshot of the Squirrelscan website

Squirrelscan provides AI fix suggestions and fix verification. It also covers checks such as Core Web Vitals, crawlability, robots.txt, structured data, HTTPS, mobile rendering, accessibility and meta tags. The report format is intended to make findings easier for an agent to read and act on.

The idea is similar to a developer’s review loop: inspect the issue, let an agent propose a change, review the diff and run the audit again. That last check matters. An agent can make a code edit that looks right but doesn’t change what the live page returns. Rechecking the deployed site tests the outcome rather than the intent.

Some audit findings are mechanical, such as a broken link or a missing meta description. Other findings need a person to decide what the page should say or whether a business detail is accurate.

That distinction is worth keeping. Don’t ask an agent to invent business facts to satisfy a structured-data warning. Review changes that affect product claims, contact details or page meaning. The audit can point to what needs attention; it can’t make those decisions for you.

When you compare agent-focused audit tools, check how the report explains each finding and whether you can confirm the result after deployment. Prompt generation saves time only when the task stays scoped and the final change is reviewed. HubSEO ranks live-site findings, generates scoped prompts for external AI coding agents and reruns the same checks after deployment.

7\. Lumar: enterprise-scale crawling and website intelligence

Lumar is a cloud-based website intelligence platform for enterprise sites. It suits large organisations that need to crawl many pages and track how changes affect site health across teams.

!Screenshot of the Lumar website

Lumar starts at £1,000 per month.

For a site with frequent updates, an enterprise platform may be worth assessing against your release process. A shared decision process can also help SEO, development and user-experience teams agree on priorities. This kind of workflow is aimed at organisations with enough site scale and team needs to justify an enterprise platform.

Use the table as a fit check, not as a scorecard. It compares Lumar’s focus with the other shortlist options by the kind of job they’re set up to support.

Decision point| Lumar| Other shortlist fit ---|---|--- Site scale| Enterprise sites| Screaming Frog or Sitebulb for crawl investigations; HubSEO for live-page checks Shared team work| Cloud-based website intelligence platform| Sitebulb Cloud supports shared crawl data; Google Search Console gives Google’s own reports Audit-to-code loop| Enterprise SEO crawling| HubSEO turns ranked findings into scoped prompts and supports rechecking after deployment Starting price in supplied research| £1,000 per month| Sitebulb starts at £149 per year; HubSEO has a free tier

For a smaller site, the cost and scale may be more than you need. For a large site with many teams changing pages, consider whether an enterprise platform fits your organisation’s needs.

Pro Tip: Before buying a crawler, write down the URL count you need to check and who must act on the results. That keeps the choice tied to your real workload.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best technical SEO tools for a small website?

For a small website, start with Google Search Console and a live-site audit that shows evidence for its findings. HubSEO’s free tier includes a full ranked check and a first fix prompt, with one guest check every 30 days or three checks a month for a free registered account. Add a desktop crawler when you need a wider crawl or deeper URL-level detail.

Is Google Search Console enough for technical SEO?

Google Search Console is useful, but it isn’t a full site crawler or a code-fix tool. It gives you Google’s indexing and search performance data, plus URL Inspection for individual pages. Use a crawler or audit tool to find repeated patterns across URLs, then use Search Console to investigate how Google reports important pages.

What’s the difference between a crawler and a live-site audit?

A crawler follows links and collects details across a set of pages. A live-site audit measures the page or site as it responds at the time of the check. Some desktop crawlers can render JavaScript, but that doesn’t make them the same as a hosted live-site audit. Pick based on whether you need crawl depth or a quick check of deployed changes.

Can an AI coding agent fix technical SEO issues?

An AI coding agent can help with clear, mechanical fixes, such as editing a missing meta description or correcting a broken link. You should review its code changes before deployment. It shouldn’t invent facts or make business decisions, and you’ll need to rerun checks on the live site to see whether the issue was resolved.

Do technical SEO audits guarantee better rankings?

No. An audit can show technical issues and help you confirm whether a specific check passes after a change. That does not guarantee rankings, indexing or citations in AI answers. Search visibility depends on more than a clean technical report, and search engines make their own decisions about crawling, indexing and ranking pages.

Conclusion

If you use an AI coding agent to maintain your site, start with HubSEO’s free check. Choose one supported finding, review the prompt and the code change, then rerun the check after deployment. Use Search Console for Google’s own indexing data, and add a crawler when you need deeper site-wide detail.