When it comes to workflow, many of us welcome time-saving tricks and tools with open arms. This is especially true in the complex, fast-paced world of digital marketing, where everything can change in the blink of an eye and it’s up to us to keep up with it.
If you’re not already taking advantage of the incredible capabilities that Google Chrome has to offer, now is the time to start. As of January 2021, Chrome accounted for over 63 percent of the worldwide browser share, making it the most popular browser in the world.
Part of its popularity stems from its hundreds of thousands of extensions available in the Chrome web store. Each one is designed to help users save time and boost productivity.
With so many to choose from, where do you start? At The Loop, we rely on some of the best Chrome extensions for marketers that the browser has to offer. Here are our favorites.
Must-have Chrome extensions for digital marketing
Bitly
Nobody has time for long, ugly links.
With Bitly’s Chrome extension, you can create a shortened link for any website and customize it for your company or project. In addition, Bitly provides real-time statistics on each link’s performance, allowing you to easily see what’s working and what’s not.
The Chrome Extension also allows you to add tags to each Bitly link you create, which will bring your A/B testing organization to a whole new level.
Pro tip: Upgrade your Bitly account to include custom links. These will allow you to replace the “bit.ly” portion of each link with your own brand’s name and increase clicks by 34 percent. View plans and pricing here.
500,000+ users | 4 stars | Get it
Buffer
Already a must for social media marketers, Buffer allows users to plan, collaborate on, and publish content across all platforms in one place.
With the extension, users can schedule to Buffer directly from the platform (including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn), allowing them to post the articles directly or add them to the schedule.
300,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
BuzzSumo
Already a staple for digital marketers, BuzzSumo allows marketers to discover content ideas, review platform insights, and identify influencers, journalists, and more.
The Chrome extension makes finding engagement rates even easier. With just a click, users can view backlink counts, who shared the page on Twitter, and analyze the current website’s most-shared content.
20,000+ users | 4 stars | Get it
ColorZilla
Nobody wants to be the person constantly emailing a client’s creative department for brand standards or style guides. Enter ColorZilla.
You can easily identify all colored elements displayed through Chrome using ColorZilla’s Photoshop-quality color picker, CSS gradient editor, and ability to pull colors from Flash objects. Plus, users can store colors for future use.
2,000,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
ContactOut
LinkedIn is an amazing resource when you’re looking to connect with other professionals, but sometimes simply connecting isn’t enough. ContactOut is a simple extension that helps users find the email address, phone number, and social media profile of any LinkedIn user (of which there are 740 million).
If a 97% accuracy rate or the fact that 76% of Fortune 500 companies rely on ContactOut isn’t enough for you to sign up, they do offer a free trial. Register here.
100,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
Grammarly
Sure, spellcheck is fine, but what if it could detect grammatical errors, and highlight contextual mistakes while providing weekly feedback on your writing performance?
Whether you’re writing tweets, drafting an email, or updating your company’s Facebook page, Grammarly will double-check nearly all of your web copy. Plus, it has a tone detector and plagiarism checker, which means you essentially have a personal writing coach at your fingertips.
10,000,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
Harvest Time Tracker
As a digital marketer, chances are high that your company relies on time tracking to keep an eye on budgets and productivity. Gone are the days of pen and paper and here to stay are trackers like Harvest (which we at The Loop use daily).
To make it even easier, Harvest has created an extension that acts as an online timer. By allowing users to track their time throughout various projects, it becomes one of the best Chrome extensions for productivity and time management. Time can be categorized by client or project, and coworkers can easily see productivity metrics teamwide.
50,000+ users | 3.5 stars | Get it
Hunter
Much like ContactOut, Hunter is a great way to find the email addresses of other professionals. Rather than just using LinkedIn, Hunter goes one step further and works on the website of the organization the individual works for. In addition to name and email, users also have access to job titles, social networks, and phone numbers.
Don’t worry – no privacy boundaries are broken by Hunter since each entry is already online. All data comes from public sources (detailed in the results); Hunter simply stores all the information in one place.
400,000+ users | 5 stars | Get it
LastPass
Keeping track of passwords is never a walk through the park, and it’s tempting to develop bad habits, like using the same password for all of your accounts (or even worse – writing them on sticky notes).
Password manager LastPass is an office favorite for solving this problem. Instead of having to keep track of passwords for apps and sites we all use, we instead save them in a virtual vault, which is locked under one password. Now, when we log in, we simply click the LastPass icon in the empty field and it auto-populates itself.
10.000,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
Mozbar
Get a boost on your SEO game with this all-in-one toolbar.
While the extension doesn’t have full Moz capabilities, it does provide users with basic SEO information and metrics for any page or SERP instantly. This includes link metrics across pages as well as page elements and attributes, as well as the ability to highlight keywords quickly.
You’ll have to use Moz’s free subscription to get access to this tool, which will provide limited features. The Pro Subscription includes more page optimization, metrics, and keyword rating abilities. View plans and pricing here.
700,000+ users | 4 stars | Get it
Nimbus Screenshot
Forget “Prt Scrn” and “Shift-Command-4” – this extension allows you to capture all or part of your screen, annotate screenshots, record video from your screen and webcam. When you’re done, you can even convert video to GIF and MP4, and capture screenshots of other programs.
1,000,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
History & Cache Clearer
It’s important to clear your cache while making website updates, but admittedly, taking the time to manually clear the history and cache on Google Chrome can be cumbersome. This extension allows you to clear both in one click, and you can even easily indicate how far back you’d like it to be cleared.
20,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
Bonus: One-Click Extension Manager
If a row of extensions is just as distracting or overwhelming for you as having multiple tabs open at once, One-Click Extension Manager is the answer for you.
The extension allows users to place every extension icon into an easily accessible and searchable drop-down menu where you can view, enable, disable, or remove them with ease.
30,000+ users | 4.5 stars | Get it
Keep in mind, these Chrome extensions are only the tip of the digital marketing iceberg. Contact The Loop Marketing to enhance your digital marketing efforts.
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