Surfer SEO Review – The Ultimate On-Page SEO Tool

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If you are considering Surfer SEO, you must be trying hard to rank high in Google search. You are probably hunting for an efficient AI tool to help you create SEO-friendly content.

Surfer’s popularity is growing every day. They currently have 18.6k customers spread across 159+ countries. With 233k+ active users, they have several large customers endorsing them. Examples are FedEx, Opera, ClickUp, Lenovo, Shopify, Square, FreshBooks, and Jasper.

I’ve been in the Tech industry for 20+ years now. I have seen the Internet, Mobile, Big Data, and Cloud impacting our daily lives. In my opinion, Generative AI falls into the same category. A Microsoft survey concluded that 70% of their Generative AI users were more productive in 2023.

I have reviewed and used several AI writing tools over the last year. This in-depth Surfer SEO review covers everything you need about this fantastic software and its features.

By the end of this article, you’ll clearly understand whether Surfer SEO is the right tool for your business. You will know why this is one of the best data-driven tools to help improve your content ranking.

What is Surfer SEO?

Surfer SEO is a cloud-based SEO software that assists in planning, writing, and optimizing content. The content could be blog posts, news articles, or website pages.

It is designed to enhance your organic search ranking. It helps in driving more traffic to your site.

The underlying principle of Surfer SEO is to help you discover trending keywords. On this basis, you can plan your strategy for content and generate post outlines within the same tool.

It analyzes your text content in real time against hundreds of on-page SEO ranking factors. The analysis compares with the first-page search results for your target keywords.

The premise is that if the first page results rank high, they have done something right. So, you are guided to structure your content similarly. Covering the same topics/keywords gives you a good chance of ranking with them or better.

This note simplifies what you get by using Surfer SEO. Further down in this Surfer SEO Review, we will go through its detailed feature list and know how Surfer SEO works.

Surfer SEO – For Whom Is It?

Surfer SEO is your go-to tool whether you’re a content writer, an SEO professional, or a digital marketer.

You could be a small business owner looking to improve your website’s SEO. It’s also a valuable resource for agencies providing SEO content services to clients.

With its robust features and user-friendly interface, Surfer SEO can make your SEO efforts more efficient and effective.

Surfer SEO Review – End User Ratings

Here are the Surfer SEO reviews by end users in various software rating platforms:

These reviews across different portals give you a good understanding of the tool’s popularity.

Surfer SEO Features

Surfer SEO is packed with many powerful features that can assist you in every stage of content creation. Here’s are details of the toolset comprising SurferSEO’s feature:

Content Editor

Use Surfer’s Editor to write articles that reads well and rank high on Google SERPs. This editor is the heart of Surfer SEO and the most popular one.

Surfer SEO allows you to generate a list of relevant keyword suggestions, create an outline, and write optimized content. You continue to get real-time feedback from the Content Editor during the process.

Another option is to combine the keyword research, writing, and optimization process with clicking a button. You get your SEO-friendly completed article in 20 minutes.

Surfer AI, therefore, streamlines the content creation process by assisting with keyword research, writing, and optimization. This assistance with optimization lets you focus on other important matters. You finally only need to do a full review and publish.

The 3-step process for using the Surfer’s Editor:

• Outline Builder: The built-in structures your content into a detailed outline. The outline is with unique potential headings and questions. You can easily generate briefs with catchy headlines .
• Write to optimize: Both happen simultaneously with real-time metrics for structure, word count, NLP-ready keywords, and images. Surfer SEO lets you know what needs to be changed or added to boost your chances of ranking.

They help you rank high anywhere in the world. You can write in a broad range of languages.

• Check & Publish: Checking your article for plagiarism is a good idea to avoid penalties or awkward misunderstandings. After this, you are all set to publish!

Content Score

Within Surfer SEO tools, they have an index called Content Score. It is a numerical value between 0 and 100. This score helps you to understand how optimized is your content for Google Search compared to rivals. It represents the standard and relevance of the website’s content with respect to the specified keyword.

A score between:

• 0 – 33 is a sign of low-quality content or not seeming to match the keyword intent.
• 34 – 66 means average quality and relevance, low quality with high relevance, or high quality with low relevance.
• 67 – 100 indicates optimum quality and relevance.

Content Score is a part of the Content Editor and Audit tools. The name is the same across the tools. But the way it is calculated is different. So, the score you see in the Editor Surfer is not the same score while Auditing the same article.

Keyword Research Tool

This tool in Surfer SEO assists you in establishing topical authority and proving your expertise in a chosen area. You will discover dozens of relevant topic clusters starting with your primary keyword. 

With Surfer’s Keyword Research Tools, you can simplify hours of detailed research. You may use these inputs for ideas to fill your content calendar for months.

You may plan a comprehensive content strategy by checking the search intent of your audience. Evaluate monthly search volume and keyword difficulty on the intuitive screen. With these inputs, you can create relevant content and rank well.

Surfer AI

This Add-on helps you create ready-to-rank articles in minutes. You can study, write, and optimize articles with the click of a button. You can produce content in less than 20 minutes. It works out to be seven times cheaper than hiring a dedicated copywriter.

The four simple steps to writing an article with Surfer’s AI are:

1.    Choose a keyword – Enter your main keyword into Surfer AI to start the article creation.

2.    Choose article settings – Set up the tone of voice relevant to your brand. Choose your organic competitors for the keyword you chose.

3.    Check the article strategy – Go through the outline that Surfer AI has generated. Make your final edits to the suggested H2s and H3s.

4.    Generate article – Finally, click “Write with AI.” Surfer AI will scan, check, and analyze its database to create your masterpiece.

See this video for more explanation about Surfer AI :

SEO Content Audit

This add-on helps you score quick wins and find missed SEO opportunities. It enables you to get more organic search traffic. It gives you steps on how to optimize your content. It results in higher ranks on search engines. You may track your SEO wins using Google Analytics.

The types of insights you can get from the SEO Audit add-on are:

You can figure out keyword omissions and how to fix them. You also get inputs on how often you should include popular phrases and NLP entities. Using omitted terms within your content body is the fastest route to better rankings.

Surfer SEO analyzes top-ranking pages and compares how your content is performing. You may fall short because of your content length, keyword stuffing, partial keyword density in headings, or other issues causing poor user experience.

This SEO Audit add-on recognizes and suggests ways to fix these problems. You can improve your position even for articles that are already published.

Surfer’s SEO Audit will automatically crawl relevant pages on your website. You will be told how many pages link to the audited URL. Surfer SEO will also report related pages that you should link.

Outline Generator

For most content marketers, the first step in writing is finding relevant information and creating a blog post outline. Creating an article outline is a way to organize your ideas concisely and in an organized manner.

Having a clear structure to your article benefits the reader. It will also help a crawler who reads your article. Using an outline generator saves you and your team time and energy. Surfer’s article outline generator is free for you to use.

The process of generating an Outline is simple. You only need to input your target keyword or topic and click the button. The AI will find relevant headings that you should include. The Surfer’s AI generated outline is customizable based on your preferences.

Keyword Surfer Extension

Surfer’s browser Extension for Content and Keyword Research is the fastest way to figure out search data for your keywords. The tools are free to use and currently has 400k+ daily users.

This browser extension provides you with the search volume. You also get a complete list of keyword ideas and suggestions. It includes the overlap score and volume of searches.

It’s great for experts and beginners alike because of its simplicity. You can access multiple data points without leaving Google’s Search Results Page. These insights into Keyword Research are significant inputs to developing a detailed content calendar.

Surfer SEO Integrations

Surfer SEO integrates seamlessly with several platforms to enhance your workflow. These integrations make Surfer SEO a versatile software for your content creation process.

Jasper

Jasper is an AI tool that creates content with inputs like keywords, titles, and prompts.

With this integration, you’ll have access to the SEO Mode setting within the Jasper dashboard. This SEO mode enables you to leverage Surfer SEO’s Editor.

So, inside your Jasper documents, you can strengthen the SEO parameters of the content. This process results in the ability to marry one of the best content generation engines (Jasper) with SEO Optimization (by Surfer SEO).

You need an active subscription with Surfer SEO & Jasper to optimally use this integration.

WordPress

The WordPress plugin from Surfer is useful for seamlessly transferring content from and to the WordPress platform. The plugin has two modes of operation to export content:

a. straight from the Content Editor to posts on WordPress.

b. by building a new editor to convert WordPress posts to Surfer.

While the plugin is available for free download, its total functionality requires a valid Surfer subscription. You can connect your WordPress page to one Surfer account at a time. But you can connect your Surfer account to many WordPress pages.

The plugin fully supports two popular WordPress editors/site builders, i.e., Gutenberg and Classic Editor.

Google Docs Extension

This extension integrates Surfer with Google Docs. It allows you to utilize Surfer SEO’s Editor parameters within a Google Document.

Using Google Docs as your primary writing tool, you may save the content directly to Drive. This process helps easy collaboration with a copywriter via the Google Docs links.

After installing the relevant browser extension, you will have an extra choice when you open the Editor. The Create New Google Document option is located under the purple Share button. Using it will automatically add a new document to your Google Docs library.

Semrush Integration

Grow Flow, one of Surfer’s tools, integrates with Semrush Backlinks. This integration gives you details of your competitors’ backlinks. It enables you to modify your link-building tactics to increase traffic.

The tasks involve writing an article about particular keywords, adding internal links, and revising assignments every week. You will be aware of which referrals are worthwhile obtaining with the help of this Semrush integration!

How Does Surfer SEO Work?

Surfer SEO uses the principles of correlational SEO to provide its suggestions. This process involves comparing the success of the SERP with on-page elements such as content length, keyword distribution, etc.

Surfer SEO provides valuable insights and recommendations by modeling after the top-ranking content. These are helpful suggestions to start optimizing your content.

It uses machine learning, NLP solutions, and an analysis of over 500 web signals. All SEO improvement keyword surfer suggestions are competition-based, real-time, and helps in Google search ranking. The tool does all the study for you through Keyword Research and specific suggestions in the Content Editor.

Surfer SEO Pros and Cons

Like any tool, Surfer SEO has its strengths and weaknesses. Here’s a quick overview of the significant pros and cons.

Pros

• The best Content Editor: The editor is user-friendly and provides insightful suggestions for SEO optimization in real-time. This editor is a great productivity booster while addressing all the SEO parameters.
• Comprehensive Keyword Research Tool: It offers detailed keyword analysis and groups similar keywords into topic clusters. This tool is useful when the writer is looking to establish topical authority.
• Effective Content Audit Tool: This helps you identify opportunities for improving the search performance of your existing pages. Many users have found impactful results after implementing the audit guidelines.
• Excellent Customer Support: The support team at Surfer SEO is responsive and helpful, resolving queries quickly and efficiently.
• Useful Integrations: It integrates seamlessly with several platforms like WordPress, Jasper, and Semrush to enhance your content generation workflow.
• Insightful dashboards: The tool has good dashboards for marketing agencies to present performance metrics to their customers out of the box.

Cons

• Large Amount of Data: The tool provides valuable insights and details on several SEO variables. With too much data, it could get overwhelming for beginners. With a higher learning curve, one could get lost and lose focus on the essential SEO parameters.
• Low-Volume Keywords insights: The tool provides insufficient data for low-volume keywords. This limitation could reduce its utility for certain types of users.
• Edit keywords in Content Editor: You cannot edit keywords after creating a content editor. Every metric within the editor revolves around the keyword, so you must get the keyword right the first time.
• On-page SEO Focus: While Surfer SEO is excellent for On-page SEO optimization, one needs to rely on other tools for off-page metrics.
• Pricing: The excellent quality comes at a price. Small businesses or low-volume beginners may not find this a budget-friendly tool.

Surfer SEO Alternatives

Knowing the alternatives Surfer SEO has, is good to get a complete picture. Here are a few you might consider:

Frase.io

This tool analyzes and condenses content from the top search results of any query. You can explore SEO competitors’ content easily via an intuitive research panel. You can visualize key SERP metrics like word count, domain rating, and heading count.

These tools use AI to generate full-length, optimized content briefs in seconds.

You can produce SEO-optimized copy instantly with an AI Writer. It incorporates the search results for your target queries. You can design an outline using the Outline Builder and convert it into a draft. The tools are designed for seamless teamwork, simplifying collaboration with freelancers and coworkers.

The intuitive text editor uses a topic model to assess your content compared to competitors. You get a list of related topics and their recommended mention frequencies. This editor helps you create content that performs well in Search.

Writesonic

Writesonic is an AI-powered content research and copywriting platform. Writesonic is optimized for long-form content writing as well as caters to a variety of use cases.

A dedicated content editor, AI outline generator, and plagiarism checker generates excellent content. They use inputs such as keywords and competitor articles.

The Writesonic includes an image generator and chatbot builder. They are competitively priced with a free trial that remains free forever.

However, Writesonic’s Content Editor does not have the rich SEO optimization that Surfer’s tool offers.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a set of comprehensive SEO tools that can perform keyword research and content audits. You can track the keyword strategy of your competitors as well.

SE Ranking includes built-in content optimization functionality and is less pricey than Surfer SEO, making it a viable alternative.  The range of SEO metrics on offer is well-organized in their portal and intuitive for beginners.

However, they do not have a content editor providing real-time analytics like Surfer SEO.

Surfer SEO Pricing

The Surfer SEO pricing includes various plans to suit different needs and budgets.

It provides four core plans: Essential, Scale, Scale AI, and Enterprise. For the Enterprise plan, you’ll need to contact Surfer’s Sales for a quote.

See the screenshot below for details.

The above amounts are monthly prices billed annually. You get a discount over the monthly billing in this way. Each of the plans has differing Content Editor articles limits and Organization seats.

Here is additional information regarding Surfer pricing:

• Unused Content Editor credits do not roll over to the next billing period. The only exception is when you upgrade to a higher plan and have credits left from your previous plan.
• If you run out of Editor articles within your billing period, you can buy as many as you want. You need an active subscription on one of the plans to purchase “Pay-as-you-go” articles.
• The other features are pretty much the same across plans. All the Add-ons are included by default in the Enterprise plan. They can be purchased individually by other plan subscribers.
• The available Add-ons are Audit tools, SERP Analyzer, Whitelabel, and API. The pricing for them is the same across Plans.

Surfer Free Trial

Surfer does not offer a free trial period. They do provide a 7-day Money back guarantee.
If you have purchased one of the subscriptions (excluding Enterprise), but the tool didn’t match your expectations. Or if you change your mind, let them know within seven days.
You will get a complete refund, no questions asked. They will only ask you for feedback on how to make the tool better.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Surfer SEO is a robust and user-friendly tool that can significantly boost your content’s SEO performance. I am confident you won’t go wrong with on-page SEO using this tool.

The Content Editor and its features are valuable to any SEO toolkit. It is by far their most popular tool and has made a difference to many users. You will have understood by now, why Surfer SEO is one of the best SEO tools available.

While it may seem pricier than its alternatives, the associated ROI is a reasonable justification. If you want to improve your SERP rankings, I highly recommend trying Surfer SEO.

You will notice a marked impact on your organic rankings in weeks, if not months.

I would love to know your experience with Surfer SEO in the comments.

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