Surfer SEO Review: Features, Pricing, and More

This is my complete review of the on-page optimization tool Surfer SEO.

In fact, I’ve personally tested EVERY feature Surfer has to offer.

Specifically, you’ll learn:

• How Surfer SEO works
• Important features
• Things to improve
• How it compares to Clearscope

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

What Is Surfer SEO and What Does It Do?

Surfer is a content optimization and analysis platform that helps you create high-ranking blog posts and articles.

It works by analyzing the content of a page against 500+ on-page signals, like content relevance and topic coverage.

And provides data-driven recommendations to improve your content.

Some of its best tools include:

• Content Editor: Write and optimize content based on real-time suggestions. Including keyword density, headings, and content structure.
• Content Audit: Analyze your existing content and get SEO metrics, such as Content Score, position, and click-through rate. You’ll also get recommendations on the top pages to update.
• Topical Map: Generate relevant topic ideas for new content that resonates with your audience

It also has a built-in keyword research tool.

With that, let’s get into my in-depth Surfer SEO review.

Content Editor: Real-Time Writing Assistant

The Surfer Content Editor is a real-time writing assistant that helps you outline and write optimized content based on what’s already ranking in the SERPs.

But is it worth your time (and money)?

Well, right off the bat, I found something I really like:

You can choose which top-ranking pages you want to analyze.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, most content analysis tools scan the top 10 or 20 results. That always kind of bugged me.

I’m like: “Why would I want to copy someone on the second page?”

So, I like that you can focus on the top 3, 5, or 10 results.

Or even exclude one of the top-ranking pages if you don’t want to include it in the analysis.

Other than that, the Content Editor is pretty straightforward.

You can write your article directly within the editor or copy and paste your content into it.

Another option is to select “Write with AI” to get an AI-generated article based on your target keyword.

In fact, when I tested it, Surfer’s own AI detector gave it a 91% AI score.

But it’s a solid starting point if you’re staring at a blank page.

Just know it’ll need heavy editing to get it publish-worthy.

OK, back to the Content Editor’s features.

You provide a target keyword, and the tool returns an outline.

And SEO recommendations based on the top-ranking pages for that term.

Like an ideal word count for your article.

Along with the recommended number of headlines, paragraphs, and images.

It also has a “Topics and Questions” section pulled from Google’s “People also ask…” box.

This tells you what people want to know about in relation to your target keyword.

And helps you create a more comprehensive and relevant article.

Another helpful feature?

The tool tells you the exact LSI keywords you need to add.

And how many times to mention each one.

As you hit the suggested density, terms turn green.

But be careful this doesn’t tempt you into keyword stuffing. (More on this below.)

You’ll also get a Content Score for every article, which is graded from zero to 100.

It’s based on your article’s quality and relevancy.

And how well-optimized it is compared to your competitors.

I have mixed feelings about this feature.

It helps ensure your content can compete in the SERPs.

But the gamification of it (the more terms you add, the more your score may increase) can lead to over-optimization.

My advice?

Aim to meet or slightly beat the average score—not the top score.

This will be more than enough to create high-ranking content.

And will prevent keyword stuffing just to see your score increase.

“Auto-Optimize” is another Content Editor feature worth mentioning.

The tool automatically adds NLP terms to your content to help boost your Content Score.

While this feature is great in theory, I didn’t find it as helpful as it could be.

Some of the suggestions worked well, but many others didn’t make sense and/or read unnaturally.

Like this one that suggested adding a line about search engine optimization after a closing sentence.

Overall, reviewing the suggestions took longer than if I had just manually added the terms myself.

OK—now, let’s talk about one of my favorite features.

The ability to share the Content Editor with anyone, even those not on your Surfer account.

They can write, edit, optimize, and so on—all without needing to log in.

That’s huge.

This means you can share it with freelance writers, editors, strategists—you name it—without them being able to see your full account and data.

Surfer also offers a handy Chrome extension, so you or your team can write and optimize drafts in Google Docs.

Helpful.

After using this tool, I can say that it’s VERY well done.

It’s easy to use.

Has solid data.

And you can customize it to your liking.

Topical Map: Identify Content Gaps

Next up: Surfer’s Topical Map tool.

This is basically a content gap analysis tool that helps you figure out what topics you should be writing about next.

Here’s how it works:

Connect your Google Search Console account to Surfer.

The tool then analyzes your existing content and identifies topics you’re missing.

The cool thing is: It doesn’t just spit out random topic ideas.

Instead, it looks at your site’s existing authority.

And suggests topics you actually have a shot at ranking for.

I should point out that this feature only works well if you actually connect your Google Search Console account.

Otherwise, you’re flying blind. And the recommendations won’t be based on your site’s actual performance data.

For example, I connected Traffic Think Tank’s GSC, and it gave me cool ideas for topics we haven’t yet covered on that domain.

Like “seostack keyword tool,” which I could turn into an SEO tool comparison.

And “keyword ranking in google,” which could be a helpful how-to post.

If you find a topic you want to write about, you can send it directly to the Content Editor.

Or choose to have Surfer AI write the article for you, so all you have to do is edit and optimize.

Overall, I’d say the Topical Map feature is a nice addition to Surfer’s suite of tools.

While not groundbreaking, it definitely helps streamline the content planning process.

Content Audit: Optimize Existing Content

Now, let’s take a look at Surfer’s Content Audit tool.

Like most of Surfer’s features, it’s super easy to use.

Just plug in your domain, and you’ll get a detailed analysis of your content’s SEO performance.

Including each page’s Content Score, position, traffic, impressions, and click-through rate.

Select the “Recommendations” tab to see which pages the tool thinks you should update.

These are pages the tool identified as being “most likely to get you the best traffic increase in the least amount of time.”

Sounds good to me.

Click “Optimize” on any recommendation to be taken to the Content Editor, where you’ll get suggestions on how to improve the article’s Content Score.

For example, I did this for a Traffic Think Tank article, and the Content Editor said I should add more headings, paragraphs, and images.

It also gave me a loooong list of NLP terms to add.

Some could be great additions, like “internal linking in SEO.”

Others seemed unnecessary.

Like adding the phrase “internal links” into the content 12 to 32 more times.

Considering this keyword is already in the article 52 times, following this guidance could lower the readability of the article.

And turn off readers.

As I mentioned in the Content Editor review section, it’s best to take the term recommendations with a grain of salt to avoid over-optimizing your content.

Overall?

This tool would be valuable if you have a large amount of existing content to refresh.

It gives you an easy way to identify quick wins and optimize content (all in one platform).

But can encourage keyword stuffing if you’re not careful.

Keyword Research: Find New Keywords to Target

Next, I wanted to try Surfer’s keyword research tool, which is also available as a free Chrome extension.

This works like pretty much any keyword tool on the market.

Type in a seed keyword.

And you’ll see metrics like monthly search volume and keyword difficulty.

It also groups keywords into content clusters automatically.

This helps you build a more robust content strategy from the start.

So: how is this feature overall?

It’s definitely helpful but not as comprehensive as other keyword research tools.

Like Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool or Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer.

For example, Keyword Magic Tool has tons of filters that Surfer’s Keyword Research doesn’t—like “Questions” and “Competitive Density.”

It also tells you a lot more about each keyword, including SERP features and cost per click (CPC).

Surfer only tells you monthly search volume, difficulty, and intent.

However, you can connect your domain to get a Relative Difficulty Score, which gives you a more realistic idea of what you can rank for.

(This is somewhat similar to Semrush’s Personal Keyword Difficulty score.)

Overall, this feature is great if you need basic keyword research capabilities.

But if you need more than that, you’ll have to invest in an additional tool.

SERP Analyzer: Detailed Breakdown of Google’s First Page

This is an interesting tool.

It’s basically a VERY in-depth breakdown of the SERPs for a given keyword.

In this breakdown, you get data on:

• Average word count (aka content length)
• Keyword density and frequency
• Use of partial match keywords
• Hidden content
• Page speed
• Character count in title tags
• Alt text

And a bunch more stuff.

I’ve personally tried (and reviewed) over 200 SEO tools. So it’s fair to say I’ve seen pretty much every feature under the sun.

And yes, I HAVE seen a lot of the data you’ll find in Surfer in other tools.

But Surfer goes into much more detail. And provides some data that I haven’t seen before.

For example, it actually shows you how many words appear above the fold on a page.

The average number of H2 headings that appear on each page.

And how many links a first-page result tends to have.

I think this data is interesting. And unique.

But is it useful?

I’m not 100% convinced.

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you just wrote a blog post. And you want to make sure it matches the on-page SEO that content on the first page is already using.

Well, you pop that keyword into Surfer… and get this:

What do you do with all of this information?

Should you match the number of H2s that your competition has? Or add hidden content just because it’s correlated with rankings for that keyword?

It’s pretty overwhelming.

Besides, on-page SEO is on-page SEO. There isn’t a separate Google algorithm for each keyword.

So why wouldn’t you include your target keyword in your title? Or not mention your keyword above the fold?

This is stuff that you should do anyway.

Overall, I think the SERP Analyzer is pretty cool.

It has a lot of unique data points. Some of which are helpful.

But I think they should actually remove some of these data points.

That way, they can help users focus on the stuff that actually matters.

Surfer SEO Support

So at this point, I tested out all of the key features in Surfer SEO.

And it was time to see how their support stacked up.

Fortunately, asking a question to their support is easy: they have a little Intercom chat button at the bottom of every page.

And I decided to ask them a question:

How does Surfer calculate a site’s authority?

I noticed this data point in their Content Editor.

But there wasn’t an explanation of how it’s calculated.

So here’s exactly what I asked:

And their response:

The answer was a little vague. I expected to learn the metrics they use to estimate website authority.

I asked for clarification, but they weren’t able to provide further details.

In general, I’d say Surfer’s SEO support is “good, not great.”

I got a reply super quickly (good).

But the initial response didn’t fully answer my question (bad).

Surfer SEO Pricing

Here’s a breakdown of Surfer’s pricing:

If you go with monthly billing, you’ll pay:

• Essential: $99/month
• Scale: $219/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

You save 20% if you select annual billing.

The features are basically the same for each plan (with a couple of exceptions):

The SERP Analyzer is only included in the Scale and Enterprise plans (you’ll have to pay extra to use it with Essential).

And the Essential and Scale plans don’t include access to Rank Tracker, Surfer’s position-tracking tool.

This will cost you another $17 for 200 keywords if you want to add it on.

But you can run WAY more reports with the higher tier plans.

For example, you get 30 Content Editors/month with Essential. And 100 with Scale.

How does Surfer SEO’s pricing compare to similar tools?

Well, you really can’t compare a full-fledged SEO suite like Ahrefs with Surfer. Ahrefs has WAY more features.

Surfer primarily focuses on on-page SEO analysis.

But it doesn’t have any features for backlink analysis or SEO site audits like Ahrefs has.

So, I don’t think it’s fair to evaluate Surfer’s pricing based on an SEO software suite like Ahrefs. They’re two different tools.

But you CAN compare Surfer with its main competitor: Clearscope.

Like Surfer, Clearscope offers three plans:

• Essentials: $189/month
• Business: $399/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

You get 50 keyword searches per month for $189/month with Clearscope.

But Surfer’s Essential plan gives you 100 keyword searches per day for $99/month.

Which is much cheaper.

Obviously, the tools aren’t exactly the same. But they’re similar.

So, it’s fair to say that Surfer SEO is a really solid value compared to Clearscope.

Surfer SEO vs. Clearscope

A lot of people ask me: “Which tool do you prefer? Surfer SEO or Clearscope?”

So, I thought I’d quickly compare and contrast the two tools.

At a high level, both tools do essentially the same thing: scrape the current first page of Google’s search results.

Show you the terms that show up most often on the top pages.

And update in real-time as you tweak your content.

And both have a few differences.

For example, Surfer has an extremely detailed SERP breakdown feature. And Clearscope also analyzes whether or not your page’s headers contain the keywords that they should.

Overall, I prefer Clearscope. But it’s close.

I like Clearscope’s UI much more than Surfer. It’s cleaner and easier to navigate.

But most important of all, Clearscope gives your content an overall letter grade (and the average letter grade of your competition).

Which simplifies the process so you know exactly where your content stands.

On the other hand, Clearscope is much more expensive than Surfer.

So, if you want the best value, along with some tools like Topical Map and Content Audit, definitely go with Surfer.

Things I Liked About Surfer SEO

Unique data + features: I was consistently impressed with the unique features and data that I came across in Surfer’s platform. It’s clear that the people behind it are legit SEO experts who “get” SEO. And they did a solid job of including features that help SEO pros do their jobs.

Excellent Content Editor: Surfer’s Content Editor is AWESOME. Easily their best feature.

Great for on-page optimization: You can pretty much do all of your on-page optimization in Surfer—keyword research, topic research, optimization, writing—you name it. Surfer AI is included (to some degree) in every plan, so you can generate articles or refresh old content instantly.

Things That Surfer SEO Should Improve

SERP Analyzer overwhelm: I have a love/hate relationship with Surfer’s SERP Analyzer. I love the depth. But I hate how you’re presented with (literally) hundreds of variables. It’s not practical (or even useful) to try to optimize for all that stuff. They need to scale it back or make it easier on the eyes.

Basic keyword tool: Their keyword research tool needs to be fleshed out a little bit more.

Expensive: While the Essential plan comes with a decent amount of access, you’ll have to pay more to use SERP Analyzer and Rank Tracker. If you run out of Content Editors for the month (or need more Surfer AI access), you’ll have to pay more—all of which can get pricey, fast.

Surfer SEO Review: Is This Tool Worth It?

Overall, I think that Surfer SEO is worth a try.

It’s definitely not perfect. And could use some UI work.

But if you’re looking for a tool to help you optimize your content, you really can’t go wrong with Surfer.

Want to explore other options?

Check out my review of the top 41 SEO tools.