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SEO work involves various elements, and understanding how each one functions is crucial for success. While many of the best all-in-one SEO tools come with a hefty price tag and require a monthly subscription, they are often only accessible to larger companies that can justify the expense. For smaller businesses, investing in an expensive SEO package can be challenging.

That’s why we’ve gathered a list of the best free SEO tools available today, including Prowly, which can help you enhance your search engine optimization efforts without breaking the bank. Start optimizing your website today by exploring the most effective free tools you can use right away.

Getting started with Prowly

As mentioned in my Demio review, the convenience of SaaS allows you to quickly use software through your browser. Signing up for Prowly is as simple as clicking the “Try it for free” button in the upper right corner of the site.

Prowly pricing

Prowly offers a 7-day free trial so users can try before they buy. Beyond that, they offer an Essential plan for smaller-scale users and a Professional plan for agencies.

The most basic form of the Essential plan starts at $119/mo, while the Professional plan starts at $189/mo. You can add features to your plan—including media monitoring and access to Prowly’s media contact database—for an additional cost.

What can Prowly do?

Remember that thing I said about customer experience? Prowly clearly got the memo, because as soon as you sign up, they invite you to schedule a meeting with them. This shows a real dedication to customer support that you don’t see every day. But since I’m only trying out the product for a review, I opted out.

Dashboard

Prowly’s dashboard maintains a simple, inviting design. This is especially helpful since the choices you’re presented with are a bit overwhelming. As someone with limited PR experience, the very idea of starting a press release feels daunting.

Still, front and center on your home page is a simple timeline you can use to wrap your head around Prowly. It breaks it down into four easy steps: creating press releases, finding media contacts, setting up a newsroom, and sending email pitches.

Let’s take a look at each of those features.

Making press releases with Prowly

Prowly has a wide array of options for crafting press releases. You can upload a .docx file, start from scratch, or choose from various templates like event announcements and new hires.

These templates are designed to get your mind jogging, rather than filling in the blanks Mad Libs-style. The text editor is fairly simple with limited font and formatting options. Still, you generally don’t want to get too wild with a press release.

Make sure not to hit “Publish” before it’s fully done, as you can’t go back and change it. 

Finding media contacts

Like with the press release tool, there are a few ways to get started with finding media contacts. You can import or manually add your existing contact list, but you can also peruse Prowly’s extensive database.

Media contacts range from entertainment to politics, business to beauty. They include some of the biggest names and publications in journalism. Just keep in mind, you’ll have to buy an upgraded plan to get access to the contact database.

If you just want to get started, importing existing contacts makes for much less hassle. At the bare minimum, you can put in a few emails and move on to the next step…

Creating a Prowly newsroom

A Prowly newsroom is a custom webpage designed to compile your brand’s content, press releases, and other news. While it’s less customizable than your own website, it allows your media contacts to easily find all of your content in one place.

This can be a useful tool for shaping your narrative. You can organize your PR output into tabs and categories, and customize the design to suit your brand. Still, I’d argue you could probably do better making a media tab on your own website.

Sending an email pitch

Finally, the main event. You’ve made your press release, your newsroom, and compiled all your contacts. Time to pitch!

You can choose to select certain recipients or email your whole contact list. Prowly gives you the tools you need to create an engaging email, with a dozen professional fonts and a bevy of text options.

Where the newsroom layout is fairly one-size-fits-all, you have much more customization options with your pitches. This makes sense since the email pitch is the thing that gets your media contacts hooked.

You can add images, tables, files, and links to your pitch, as well as additional press releases and a call-to-action button.

Like many CRMs, Prowly includes personalization tokens. These are variable text elements that can be tailored to specific recipients. For example, you can add a Greeting token that inputs different greetings for different recipients. Then, by applying values to people in your contact list, you can ensure they each get a greeting that’s specific to them.

After that, simply review your email and send it off! Prowly recommends you sort your emails into campaigns, which makes it easier to keep track of different releases and review their success.

Monitoring and reports

One of Prowly’s more impressive features is its media monitoring dashboard. Above and beyond keyword research, this tool includes widgets to track sentiment, reach, domain authority, and much more.

While easily sending out and keeping track of pitches is great, this tool makes Prowly worth your while. Every tool at your disposal from WordPress to Google Ads has some flavor of monitoring, but this is the rare dashboard that synthesizes every metric a PR agency needs. Just as important, the custom widgets also let you exclude the data you don’t need.

Prowly is teasing a forthcoming feature that lets you view stats on your campaigns through PR reports. As advertised, these reports go above and beyond, compiling data to show the complete picture of your PR work.

As it currently stands, the lack of specific stats on a campaign’s success is one area where Prowly could improve. For PR workers, the ability to compile deliverables makes a big difference, so I hope this feature gets rolled out sooner rather than later.

Is Prowly worth it?

For companies, agencies, and entrepreneurs working in PR, Prowly (wait a sec… PR owly!) promises an easier way. It highlights the ability to easily create, release, and track press releases online.

Prowly’s most impressive features are its media monitoring tools and contact database. I was somewhat less impressed with the press release tools themselves, but I acknowledge the utility of having a simple online dashboard to keep track of them.

Prowly is definitely a strong PR tool; the contacts and monitoring tools alone are enough to make it worthwhile. Still, it faces a common SaaS problem: how much ownership will you give up for convenience?

For that purpose, I like the fact that Prowly also lets you import releases, contact lists, and more. You can choose whether you want a convenient experience or a custom one, which is an attitude more SaaS programs should have.

Prowly is sort of the Canva of PR software. It’s shiny, accessible, and gets the job done, with a few impressive tools that put it over the top. But if you want something fully custom, you’ll still have to make it yourself.

Final rating: 7.9/10 ✅

Like what you see? Sign up for Prowly today.

On March 3, 2022, Oppo launched its first-generation Air Glass, a monocle-style Augmented Reality (AR) device designed to pair with Oppo smartphones. The Air Glass featured a lightweight design (just 30 grams), a microLED display with up to 1400 nits brightness, and supported functions like navigation, real-time translation, calendar reminders, and teleprompter mode. Despite its futuristic appeal, Oppo released it only in limited quantities within China, with no plans for international availability. Priced at 4,999 yuan (around $745), the Air Glass was more of a conceptual showcase than a consumer-ready product, aimed at demonstrating Oppo’s vision for assisted reality.

Main Features

While many AR experiments focus on pushing purely technical capability, the Oppo Air Glass accepts some clear hardware limitations to play with an exciting form factor. Adi Robertson of The Verge tested a set of glasses and a matching smartphone. Robertson found a design idea so obvious and still needs more improvement.  

Augment Reality is a spectrum, and the Air Glass is considered a “simple notification machine” aspect. It differs from those realistic holograms in products such as Microsoft HoloLens. 

Below are some of the noticeable features of Oppo Air Glass: 

• The device is a single lens with a microLED display. The display can have a staggering peak brightness of up to 1400 nits!
• The powerful Spark Micro Projector shows all the dual Sapphire crystal glass information.
• Oppo Air Glass is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100 SoC.
• This innovative device is equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS with in-built speakers and microphone.
• This device can turn into a mini teleprompter. Since the teleprompter displays any text you want, you can use it more creatively.   
• Currently, automatic translation is still limited to English and Chinese.

When you pair the smart device over Bluetooth with a China-only Oppo smartphone, you’ll see a green heads-up display that covers a tiny but significant portion of your vision. But Robertson said she was amazed by the assumption behind Oppo’s design. It is because it’s a solid idea to offer lots of style options while mitigating the usual AR creepiness. 

Nine years ago, Google Glass conducted a similar experiment. They invented the expensive camera and projection system and let them wear them at all times. But it looked awkward.

Other Specs and Features

Oppo’s AR interface relies on widget-like applications in the form of “cards,” which the wearer can manage from the paired smartphone application. It can be controlled using a touchpad on its side. Hand gestures are also supported, as is the peculiar feature of using the motion of the head to control it. Moreover, voice control is also incorporated.

Meanwhile, the Air Glass looks like an earbud for your eyes. Oppo Air Glass weighs only 30 grams, making it incredibly lightweight to wear. Users can wear it over their frames, but only two specific sizes exist.

It’s a product that takes people’s concerns about privacy and distraction seriously instead of trying to hide what they’re worried about inside a smaller package. It also helps that this version of Air Glass doesn’t have to include a camera. But Oppo says it doesn’t rule the option out for future versions.

“Unfortunately, after my first few hours with the glasses, I became slightly motion-sick and developed a headache within minutes of putting them on. The discomfort seemed to improve over time, but my eyes still feel strained after wearing them”, says Robertson.

Since then, Oppo has continued refining its AR ambitions, culminating in the Air Glass 3 prototype revealed in 2024, which integrates AI capabilities and a more natural eyewear form factor.

Ever felt dizzy or nauseous after using your laptop or smartphone? These could be signs of cybersickness. But what is cybersickness? Angelica Jasper, a Ph.D. student in Human-Computer Interaction at Iowa State University, explains its symptoms and how to cope with it

What is Cybersickness?

Cybersickness is a cluster of symptoms during the absence of physical motion, akin to motion sickness. These symptoms are categorized into nausea, oculomotor issues, and general disorientation. Oculomotor symptoms, including eye strain, fatigue, and headaches, involve stressing the nerve that controls eye movement. Disorientation can manifest as dizziness and vertigo. Meanwhile, several cybersickness symptoms overlap categories, such as difficulty concentrating and blurred vision. These issues can persist for several hours and may affect sleep quality.

People can experience the symptoms when using daily devices like computers, phones, and TV. In 2013, Apple introduced a parallax effect on iPhone lock screens that made the background image seem like it floated when a user moved their phone around. But, many people found it extremely uncomfortable. Surprisingly, the reason behind the discomfort is that it triggered cybersickness symptoms. 

However, some researchers have different views about why people experience cybersickness. For instance, sensory conflict theory assumes that it is due to a mismatch of information sensed by our body parts that regulate vision and balance. Using every device can cause this conflict between visual perception and physical experience.

Cybersickness in Virtual and Augmented Reality

Cybersickness symptoms are perceived to become more intense with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

VR is widely available through popular gaming platforms like Facebook’s Oculus devices and Sony PlayStation VR. VR can trigger severe levels of nausea that increase with the duration of use. Also, this can cause some applications and games unusable for many individuals.

AR, on the other hand, are head-mounted devices that allow the user to see what’s in front of him. This includes games like Pokémon Go, accessible on your phone or tablet. Prolonged use of AR devices can result in more severe oculomotor fatigue. 

A rise in the popularity of owning AR and VR devices can trigger an increase in cybersickness symptoms. Research and Markets estimate that adopting these technologies for various purposes may grow over 60 percent and reach USD 905.71 billion by 2027.

Cybersickness Symptoms Is Dangerous

While cybersickness symptoms may initially appear mild, they can have enduring effects over time. This may not seem like a big issue initially, but lingering symptoms may affect your ability to function well and could be dangerous. Symptoms such as severe headache, eye strain, or dizziness could affect your coordination and attention. If these symptoms persist while driving, it could lead to a car accident.

How to Deal With Cybersickness 

If you are experiencing cybersickness symptoms, there are a few ways to ease the discomfort. 

• Use blue light glasses to block out some of the blue light waves on your device screen. 
• Zoom in your device screen or use larger font sizes to lessen eye strain and make daily work more sustainable and productive.
• Adjust devices visually, so your eyes are as comfortable as possible.
• Use devices in open spaces to reduce the risk of getting injured if you get dizzy and lose your balance. 
• Take a short break if you start to feel any discomfort.

Proper Use of New Technology

The work-from-home trend has grown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commuting to work at an office setup was replaced with staying at home and enduring endless Zoom meetings. Even though the convenience is undeniable, it has also come with an increasing awareness of how hard it can be to look at a screen for over 40 hours per week.

However, don’t let cybersickness affect your motivation. As researchers continue to find ways to address cybersickness across all devices, people may be able to enjoy advancements in innovative technologies in the future without feeling uncomfortable.