In this detailed SurferSEO review, I'll cover the tool's main features and benefits, pricing options, ideal users, pros and cons, and frequently asked questions.
SurferSEO is a powerful SEO tool that helps content creators and marketers research, write, and optimize content quickly and easily. With its AI-powered features like automatic keyword research, content optimization, and article generation, SurferSEO streamlines and automates many tedious parts of content creation.
In this detailed SurferSEO review, I’ll cover the tool’s main features and benefits, pricing options, ideal users, pros and cons, and frequently asked questions. As an experienced SEO expert and SurferSEO user, I’m excited to share why it has become an indispensable part of my content marketing workflow.
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SurferSeo Features and Benefits
AI Article & Outline Generator
SurferSEO’s AI content generator allows you to create optimized articles and outlines from scratch in just minutes.
You simply enter a topic or keyword to use it, and the AI will generate a unique outline or draft article for you. You can then customize and edit the content as needed before publishing.
The AI is powered by GPT-3 and explicitly fine-tuned for SEO content creation. This means the articles and outlines it generates are well-structured, comprehensively cover the topic, and contain relevant keywords – all the elements needed for high Google rankings.
Having SurferSEO’s AI handle the initial research and writing allows you to skip the most time-consuming parts of content creation. You can focus on finalizing and optimizing the content rather than starting from a blank page.
For businesses and teams producing a high volume of content regularly, the AI generator can help boost productivity and output substantially.
Content Editor
SurferSEO’s Content Editor allows you to optimize and refine existing articles to improve their SEO and readability. It provides an intuitive what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editing interface similar to Google Docs. SurferSEO analyzes the content in real-time as you edit your document and provides optimization suggestions.
Some key features of the Content Editor include:
SEO recommendations: Get suggestions on how to improve headings, meta descriptions, keywords, images, and more.
Readability metrics: Check the reading level, word count, sentence length, and other readability stats.
Keyword optimization: See how you utilize your target keywords and get suggestions to improve keyword density.
Competitive analysis: Compare your content side-by-side with top-ranking competitor pages to see how you stack up.
NLP keyword integration: Add SurferSEO’s NLP-generated keywords with one click to target semantic search.
Copyscape plagiarism checker: Avoid duplicate content penalties by scanning for plagiarism before publishing.
The Content Editor provides robust optimization tools while still being accessible and intuitive. It can help save hours of tedious manual optimization work.
Keyword Research
Thorough keyword research is the foundation of any effective SEO strategy. SurferSEO provides a complete keyword research suite to help you identify high-potential keywords for targeting.
You can generate keyword ideas based on a seed keyword, URL, or topic. Keyword suggestions are tailored to your location so you can see search volume and competitiveness data for your target geographic market.
Once you compile a list of keywords, you can filter and refine them based on the following:
- Monthly search volume
- CPC data
- Keyword difficulty
- Click potential
- Trend analysis
- And more
This allows you to zero in on lucrative long-tail keywords relevant to your content and has enough search volume and competitiveness for your niche. No more wasting time targeting overly broad or competitive keywords.
SurferSEO also provides keyword gap analysis you can use to uncover additional keywords your competitors are ranking for that you’re missing out on. This helps round out your keyword research and identify new opportunities.
Overall, SurferSEO currently provides one of the most robust keyword research suites in SEO software.
Competitor Analysis
Gauging how your website stacks up against competitors is crucial for identifying areas for improvement. SurferSEO allows you to conduct detailed competitor audits to analyze their SEO performance and strategies.
You can input a competitor URL and see data points like:
- Organic traffic estimates
- Top ranking pages
- Page speed scores
- Keyword gaps
- Link building opportunities
- Content optimization opportunities
SurferSEO will then give you specific, data-driven suggestions on surpassing that competitor’s performance by improving elements like page speed, keywords, content structure, etc. The tool also allows you to do side-by-side comparisons of your content against a competitor’s to see how you each utilize keywords, formatting, images, and other on-page factors.
These competitive insights can reveal prime opportunities to optimize your pages and vault better ahead of rivals in SERPs.
Content Planning
SurferSEO provides robust content planning features to help map and organize your content strategy. You can use the tool to:
- Build an editorial calendar to plan content by date, topic, and author.
- Create content briefs to outline goals and optimization strategies for each piece of content.
- Track content performance and progress in an intuitive dashboard.
The content planning features help you maintain organized and methodical with your content creation, ensuring every new page serves specific optimization goals. You can also track analytics like search rankings and organic traffic data within your content calendar. This makes it easy to monitor progress and optimize your approach over time.
Whether you’re an individual blogger or a large marketing team, SurferSEO’s planning features help streamline collaboration and give structure to your content efforts.
Analytics
SurferSEO provides robust analytics to help you monitor the impact of your optimization efforts. You can connect your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to track key metrics like:
- Organic keywords rankings
- Clicks and impressions for target keywords
- Organic traffic growth
- Top landing pages
- Click-through-rates
- And more
The tool visualizes this data in intuitive graphs and charts, making it easy to analyze trends and changes to your site’s performance. You can dig deeper to see rankings and traffic data for individual pages and posts. This granular data enables you to optimize specific pieces of content based on actual search performance insights.
The analytics in SurferSEO give you the comprehensive yet accessible data you need to gauge your SEO efforts and fine-tune your strategy over time.
Intégrations
SurferSEO integrates with many famous content creation and SEO tools. Some of the critical integrations include:
Google Docs: Write and optimize content directly within Google Docs using the SurferSEO add-on.
WordPress: Create SurferSEO content briefs and optimize pages within your WordPress backend.
Jasper: Sync SurferSEO analytics into your Jasper reports to monitor client SEO performance.
Semrush: Bring keyword and competitor data from Semrush into your SurferSEO workflow.
Google Search Console: Connect SurferSEO to see rankings and performance data.
Google Chrome Extension: Lookup rankings data and export keyword lists for research.
These integrations help streamline your workflow and eliminate friction between tools.
What you should know before using SurferSeo
How to Use Surfer SEO
- Here are the basic steps to using Surfer SEO’s key features:
- Sign up for a paid plan and complete onboarding
- Use the keyword research tool to find topics and related keywords
- In Content Editor, create an outline using the builder
- Write content using real-time SEO and style guidelines
- Leverage AI Writer to generate and refine optimized articles
- Publish directly to WordPress or other sites with a click
- Scan existing pages using the SEO audit for improvements
- Monitor traffic and ranks using the Grow Flow dashboard
How to master SurferSeo
To master any software, you need a combination of learning the fundamentals, staying up-to-date, and being part of a community. For SurferSEO, start by enrolling in their Academy, which offers free live training and webinars to teach you the basics.
You can also browse their expansive knowledge base, which covers every product feature in detail. Next, take the SEO writing masterclass to level your skills and obtain an official SurferSeo certificate. With the fundamentals covered, stay in the loop by joining the Facebook community of over 10,000 Surfer users. This network lets you connect with experts, get product updates, and find solutions quickly.
Lastly, as Google’s algorithm changes, retake the official certification course annually. The recertification process will polish your proficiency. With the trifecta of taking structured courses, joining the community, and recertifying, you will become a SurferSEO expert equipped to utilize the platform to its fullest potential. Consistent learning, connecting, and revalidating your skills is the formula to master any complex software suite.
SurferSEO Pricing
SurferSEO offers four pricing plans – Essential, Advanced, Max, and Enterprise.
The Essential plan starts at $69/month, billed annually, and includes 180 Content Editor credits annually.
The Advanced plan is $149/month billed annually and includes 540 Content Editor credits.
The Max plan starts at $249/month, billed annually and includes 1080 Content Editor credits and all add-ons.
The Enterprise plan is custom pricing and includes unlimited Content Editor credits, organization seats, and dedicated customer support.
All plans include organization seats, shareable links, a plagiarism checker, and more. Additionally, add-ons like Audit, SERP Analyzer, and API access can be purchased. There is also a pay-as-you-go Surfer AI service. Overall, SurferSEO offers flexible pricing plans to suit individuals, teams, agencies, and enterprise needs regarding content creation and SEO optimization.
Comparison SurferSEO with its alternatives
Compared to alternatives like Ahrefs and SE Ranking, SurferSEO stands out for its ease of use, clean interface, and competitive pricing. While Ahrefs has a more extensive backlink database, SurferSEO still provides ample backlink data to inform your link-building strategy.
SE Ranking has unique features like social media analysis, but SurferSEO covers all the essential SEO tasks like keyword research, rank tracking, and site audits. For most small business owners and SEO professionals, SurferSEO provides all the powerful SEO tools you need in an affordable package that is simple to use, making it a great choice compared to more complex and expensive options.
The Final Word
After thoroughly testing and reviewing SurferSEO, this tool is precious for any marketer or agency focused on organic search and SEO-driven content.
The AI article generation alone can save countless hours compared to traditional writing and optimization. When you add robust keyword research, competitor analysis, and a seamless content editor, SurferSEO becomes an essential weapon in any content creator’s arsenal.
While it lacks some of the more advanced features in expensive enterprise tools, SurferSEO punches way above its weight class, given its affordable and transparent pricing model. There’s no longer an excuse for creating subpar content that won’t rank or convert. SurferSEO eliminates the friction, complexity, and excuses – you can now produce high-quality, SEO-optimized content consistently at scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What content can SurferSEO optimize?
Surfer can optimize all types of website content, including articles, blog posts, guides, press releases, product descriptions, and more. It works for both new AI-generated content as well as optimizing existing pages.
Does SurferSEO work for local SEO?
While SurferSEO doesn’t have built-in local SEO features, you can use it to optimize location-based content by focusing on local keywords and optimizing for ranking in map packs.
How does SurferSEO integrate with WordPress?
Surfer offers a one-click WordPress integration. After connecting your WordPress site, you can automatically publish optimized content to your blog, sync keywords for research, and analyze your posts.
Can SurferSEO plagiarize the content?
No. SurferSEO’s AI writer creates 100% original content. It does not copy or spin existing text. To prevent accidental duplication, it also checks articles for plagiarism before publishing.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes! SurferSEO offers a 7-day money-back guarantee on paid plans if you are not fully satisfied. Just contact their support team.
