Look, you don't need to spend hundreds on fancy SEO tools when you're managing a small educational site. There are solid free options that do the job.

Google Search Console is non-negotiable. It's free, straight from Google, and shows you exactly how your site appears in search results. You'll see which pages are indexed, what errors exist, and how people find you. Takes about 5 minutes to set up.

Screaming Frog lets you crawl up to 500 URLs for free. This thing finds broken links, missing meta descriptions, and duplicate content. I use it every time before publishing major changes.

PageSpeed Insights tells you why your site loads slowly. Parents often upload massive image files without realizing a 5MB photo takes forever to load on mobile data.

For checking mobile-friendliness, Google's Mobile-Friendly Test is simple. Just paste your URL and it shows exactly what needs fixing.

Ubersuggest gives you basic keyword research without the premium price tag. You get 3 free searches per day, which is plenty for a school website.