What Is Surfer SEO?<\/h2>\n
Surfer SEO<\/a> (now called “Surfer,” but for the sake of this update, we’ll continue using both names<\/em>) is an AI-powered tool that helps you improve your content and optimize it for better rankings in the search results.<\/p>\n Its main feature is its powerful SERP Analyzer. If you enter your main keyword into the tool, it scrapes all the sites that rank for that keyword, and then pulls the results into a dashboard. From there, you can analyze 500 key data points that relate to that niche, your keyword, and the actual competitors in the search results.<\/p>\n Surfer\u2019s other key feature is its content editor. You can simply drop your main keyword into the search section of the editor and wait for it to do its magic to help you keep up with Google\u2019s advanced use of natural language processing<\/a>.<\/p>\n From there, you can write or just paste your content into the editor and Surfer will tell you how to improve it based on similar content from your competitors\u2019 websites. It\u2019s almost like having a specific checklist based on actual benchmarking, rather than someone else\u2019s take.<\/p>\n As a bonus feature, Surfer SEO also includes a web browser extension that displays additional keyword data in your search results, which is incredibly helpful when you\u2019re at the research phase of creating content.<\/p>\n Surfer SEO does a good job of helping you benchmark your competitors, but it\u2019s not perfect.<\/p>\n If you want to optimize your site, SEO testing<\/a> is just as important as benchmarking. SERPs differ significantly from niche to niche, and from keyword to keyword. Not only do you need to know what\u2019s working in your niche to apply it to your site, but you also need to test<\/em>\u00a0your changes to make sure they\u2019re effective.<\/p>\n Clearscope<\/a> is another content optimization platform widely used in content marketing and SEO. It helps businesses and other content creators refine their SEO efforts and make their content more robust from an SEO perspective.<\/p>\n Unlike SurferSEO, Clearscope has a more defined product with pretty much one main feature: the Content Editor.<\/p>\n After entering the keyword you\u2019re creating content around, Clearscope will deliver the data needed to create optimized content for your site or clients, including:<\/p>\n Put simply, Clearscope both provides deeper insights into Google\u2019s algorithm and allows users to get a pretty good idea of how their content will rank even before they post it.<\/p>\n Clearscope focuses exclusively on keyword research and content optimization to help you rank higher on SERPs. Its primary advantage over Surfer SEO is that it doesn\u2019t waste any time trying to do anything else, and its tighter focus pays dividends.<\/p>\n Clearscope has a cleaner, more intuitive interface than Surfer. It\u2019s noticeably easier to use, and you\u2019ll likely experience less of a learning curve with Clearscope than you would with another topic research tool.<\/p>\n Clearscope has three pricing plans. The cheapest, Essentials, costs $170 per month for 20 report credits and one user. The Professional plan offers 50 report credits and allows up to three users. If you want more than that, you can get custom pricing under their Enterprise option.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong> What Is a Content Optimization Tool and Why Do You Need It?<\/a><\/p>\n Like Surfer SEO, MarketMuse<\/a> is primarily a benchmarking SEO software that helps you optimize your content for higher ranking in Google’s SERPs.<\/p>\n Its content editor feature, also called Optimize, includes slightly more data than Clearscope\u2019s, but not so much more that it becomes cluttered like Surfer\u2019s on-page SEO tool. It includes current, average, and optimal word counts, as well as LSI keyword distributions among the top-ranking competitors for your keyword. It uses these to give your content a score out of 100.<\/p>\n Perhaps the greatest benefit of this tool is that it also gives you the average score of the top-ranking content for your main keyword plus a target to shoot for instead of just a letter grade. That\u2019s really helpful for testing your approach against the content strategy of your top competitors.<\/p>\n In addition, MarketMuse has several other handy features for writing SEO-optimized content. For example, it can use AI to create briefs for you content that include suggested topics, LSI keywords, internal links<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n One of MarketMuse\u2019s primary advantages over many of its competitors is that its page optimization tool does a better job of finding legitimate, value-add keywords. Some tools tend to suggest generic words that fail to help create better content, but MarketMuse uses AI effectively to weed these out.<\/p>\n It also has a plan option with no monthly payment, which is great for businesses on a tighter budget since SEO optimization and content planning can be expensive.<\/p>\n MarketMuse has three pricing plans. First, there\u2019s the Free option, which has limited usage, but still lets you access many of the features. Next, there\u2019s the Standard option, which is $149 per month and has unlimited queries. Finally, there\u2019s the Premium plan, which is $999 and allows virtually unlimited usage, including unlimited users.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong> 10 Most Important Google Ranking Factors (& How to Optimize for Them!)<\/a><\/p>\n RankScience<\/a> is a dedicated piece of SEO software that allows A\/B testing for SEO.<\/p>\n Similar in concept to conversion rate optimization<\/a>, RankScience lets users make changes to title tags, on-page copy, and other important elements like headings and alt tags.<\/p>\n By adding just one line of javascript to your site, you can make changes on the fly. Add the code and you can split your landing pages into two groups: your original HTML in the first version of the page, and the new page with changes. These are both served up to Google, and you can work out which page performs better in the search results.<\/p>\n Once the test is complete, you can see if the variant page performs better, and then make the new page. You can then move onto your next test.<\/p>\n RankScience also includes a content editor that can easily compete with the other tools on this list of all Surfer SEO alternatives. It\u2019s called the Content Insights tool, and it lets you drop your current content and focus keyword into the tool for a grade based on:<\/p>\n As with the others, you\u2019ll get a checklist that’s relevant to your niche, your keywords, and what\u2019s already performing well in the SERPs.<\/p>\n One of the primary downsides of Surfer is that it doesn\u2019t have any functionality for A\/B testing for SEO. However, this is RankScience\u2019s flagship feature.<\/p>\n Many SEO testing tools ask you to make changes to a given page, and then it\u2019s your job to see if the new page outperforms the old one. With RankScience, you minimize the risk associated with this because you still have your variant page and can switch back to it at any point.<\/p>\n RankScience doesn’t make their pricing explicitly clear, which is always a bit of a worry. However, when you sign up, you\u2019ll see that you get a 30-day trial. After that, it costs $295\/month.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, nowhere on their site does it say how many tests you can run for that price or what the limitations are on searches and checks.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong> What Is A\/B SEO Testing?<\/a><\/p>\n Last but not least, we have Topic<\/a>, which is an SEO tool that focuses on streamlining the entire content creation workflow from research to outlining to content optimization.<\/p>\n Many of the options on this list focus primarily on content optimization on the back end, but Topic is uniquely suited to adding value on the front end.<\/p>\n Before you even write your content, you can enter your target keyword into Topic and it will analyze the top competition in the current search results. It\u2019ll provide you with headings, questions to answer, and broad topics to cover. You can use that research to create an outline in their outline builder feature.<\/p>\n Topic can also generate outlines from scratching using AI. You just plug in a title and a description. When you combine that with the research the tool provides, you can create a more comprehensive brief in a much shorter time.<\/p>\n Once you have a draft for your content, you can drop it into their Content Grader to help optimize it, like many of the other Surfer alternatives. If you want, you can download their plugin to connect your content grader to your Google Docs or even WordPress.<\/p>\n Topic\u2019s primary selling point is its superior ability to add value before you even begin creating your content. It\u2019s a lot easier to create high-quality content when you have such a comprehensive, detailed, and data-driven outline to work with from the beginning of the process.<\/p>\n Topic offers three pricing plans. Their Starter option costs $99 per month, which works out to $10 per content brief. The Plus option is $199 per month or $8 per brief. Finally, the Premium plan costs $299 per month or $6 per brief. They allow one, three and five users, respectively.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong> If you\u2019re looking for effective tools that can help you improve your content for SEO, all of the Surfer SEO alternatives above provide great value. Ultimately, the ideal tool for you comes down to personal choice.<\/p>\n Find out which area of content creation you find most important for your niche and your site, then pick a tool that supports you the best in that area.<\/p>\nWhy You Might Be Looking for a Surfer SEO Alternative<\/h2>\n
\n
1) Clearscope<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Clearscope](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Clearscope.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"Clearscope](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Clearscope-content-editor.png\")
<\/p>\nWhy <\/strong>Choose Clearscope<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
ClearScope Pricing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
3) MarketMuse<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"MarketMuse](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/MarketMuse-1280x643.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"MarketMuse](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MarketMuse-content-editor.png\")
<\/p>\nWhy Choose MarketMuse?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
MarketMuse Pricing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
4) RankScience<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"RankScience](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/RankScience.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rankscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/home-sample-result.png\")
<\/p>\nWhy Choose RankScience?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
RankScience Pricing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
5) Topic<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Topic](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Topic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Topic](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Topic-Content-Grader.png\")
<\/p>\nWhy Choose Topic?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Topic Pricing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n* 21 Paid & Free SEO Tools That Will Improve Your Ranking<\/a>
\n* 9 Quick SEO Tactics That Only Take 10 Minutes to Implement<\/a>
\n* 10 Effective SEO Techniques to Drive Organic Traffic in 2023<\/a>
\n<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n