Looking for the best content optimization tools to help your website rank higher and drive more traffic? In both organic search and AI? I've got you covered.
I've tested the top tools on the market so you don't have to.
In this post, I'll break down the pros and cons of each, show you what they do best, and help you pick the right one for your content strategy.
Whether you're focused on SEO, improving readability, or boosting engagement, this guide has everything you need to optimize your content and get results.
The best content optimization tools – summary
TL;DR:
- SE Ranking – Best overall. Complete all-in-one SEO tool with built-in content optimization functionality.
- Scalenut – Best dedicated content optimization tool for most users. Affordable and packed with features.
- Clearscope – Best for larger brands. Great UI and easy to use. No fluff.
#1 – SE Ranking
SE Ranking is our list's best all-in-one SEO tool. And it includes some of the best built-in content optimization functionality. For the money, it's insane value.
SE Ranking is more than just a rank tracker. It's a full suite of SEO tools built to help you improve your content and overall search performance.
Its content optimization features are especially solid. You can analyze your pages for word count, headings, paragraphs, images, and keyword usage. The platform lets you see exactly how often each keyword appears, so you can tweak your content until it hits the mark. There's also a built-in SEO checklist that tells you what needs attention and formatting tools to make your content cleaner and easier to read.
Beyond content, SE Ranking covers everything else you need to run an effective SEO strategy. The keyword rank tracker shows how your site stacks up against competitors, which keywords and pages drive the most traffic, and where you might be losing ground. You can even drill down to country-specific rankings or target specific ZIP codes.
Other features include site audits, backlink analysis, and an on-page SEO checker with a priority indicator, so you know which fixes will are likely to have the largest impact on your rankings.
Considering the range of tools on offer, SE Ranking delivers serious value at a price point that's hard to beat, especially if you want content optimization built right alongside everything else your SEO strategy needs.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Full-suite of SEO tools, including dedicated keyword research | Not as well built out as competing tools |
| Easy-to-use content optimization tool | Lacks 24/7 customer support |
| Keyword rank tracker that delivers valuable insights and a helpful grouping function | |
| Clean and straightforward UI |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $49/month, save 20% with annual billing. No free plan, however, you can get started with a 14-day free trial.
Read our SE Ranking review.
#1 – Scalenut
Scalenut is the best dedicated content optimization tool for most users. It's got some great content creation tools and powerful SEO writing assistant. It makes sense for most users partially because it's far more affordable than most other dedicated tools.
If you want to create content that actually ranks, Scalenut makes it simple.
The platform helps you uncover exactly what people are searching for and why. You get insights on keywords, search intent, and trending topics so every article you write is built to perform. It even highlights the questions people are asking in your niche, giving you a roadmap to answer them before your competitors do.
What I like most is Cruise Mode. You can generate fully SEO-optimized content in minutes or let the AI guide you as you write. It gives live suggestions for keywords, headings, and structure so your content hits all the right signals for Google.
Plus, Scalenut isn't just for new content. You can optimize existing articles, follow AI-powered templates, and even get guidance for featured snippets. The result is content that drives traffic, keeps readers engaged, and gives you a real edge over the competition.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Cruise Mode creates SEO content in minutes | AI does need a good deal of human input |
| Analyze competitor content and view keyword clusters | Few tutorials and a higher learning curve than some tools |
| Quickly optimize both old and new content | |
| Publish content directly to WordPress |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $39/month, save 50% with annual billing. There is no free plan but you can get started with a 7-day free trial.
Read our Scalenut review.
#3 – Frase
Frase is a great option for those that need both content optimization and AI writing functionality in one place.
The platform offers a comprehensive and unified content editor that incorporates content optimization, competitor research, and AI writing. On the latter, various AI writing tools are available from within the content editing window, including generating title ideas, blog introductions, and bullet point answers.
Other dedicated AI writing tools, such as the outline generator and paragraph rewriter, are good options for those with limited time. You can also access community-built tools with new ones added regularly.
It's worth mentioning the topic planner tool that allows you to develop a complete list of long-tail keywords through SERP analysis in a few clicks–it's still in Beta at the time of writing, but it can give your content marketing a real boost and help you consistently rank on search engines.
I particularly like the ability to create a custom tool on top of Frase's AI tool, enabling you to focus specifically on the areas that matter the most to you. Originally, Frase had its own AI model that it developed in-house, but it recently switched to GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3), which has led to improvements.
All in all, there's a lot to like.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Custom tool creation and community built tools | Can lack accuracy in keyword suggestions |
| Useful outline generator | Add-on required for certain features |
| Easy-to-use interface | |
| Video tutorials that explain key features | |
| Great value for money |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $15/month, there are annual discounts available. Free trial available.
Read our Frase review.
#4 – Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is best known for its content optimization functionality, with easy-to-implement recommended terms and a host of other valuable features.
The content editor is particularly useful as Surfer automatically identifies the content that makes the most sense to optimize against overall. When it doesn't, you can choose for yourself–this is a great feature not commonly found in other content optimization tools.
On top of that, Surfer offers a keyword research tool that enables you to view relevant topic clusters based on your primary keyword. You'll be able to check search intent for your target audience, evaluate monthly search volume, and view a keyword's difficulty.
Surfer's SEO audit tool is also excellent and lets you see where you can improve old content, provides you with a precise list of action items based on what's working for your target keyword, and you can gain insights on everything from missing backlinks, referring domains, and the structure of your meta tags.
There's also an AI writer that allows you to create high quality articles that are fully optimized. No manual content optimization required. Credits for these are separate from paid plans as they're an add-on to the core platform.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Choose which web content to optimize against | High entry-level pricing |
| Keyword research tool provides valuable insights | Low usage limits |
| Extensive competitor on-page insights | No free trial. Only money back guarantee |
| Full SEO audit to see what's working and what needs improving | |
| AI writer is surprisingly good |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $99/month. Annual discounts available.
Read our Surfer SEO review.
#5 – Clearscope
Clearscope is a content optimization platform that provides reliable keyword research and suggestions to help upgrade your content.
The tool enables you to optimize content in the text editor, which is easy enough to use, and features suggested keywords on the right-hand side. As these keywords appear in the editor, the content grade in the top left corner will change accordingly. There's also a readability grade to help you keep your content accessible and web-friendly.
Aside from the text editor itself, Clearscope also provides valuable insights such as the number of times the keyword is searched on Google each month and the competition and CPC; in other words, the competitiveness and cost-per-click in Google for paid advertising campaigns.
Rounding off the package are some welcome integrations for both WordPress and Google Docs. The WordPress integration allows you to optimize your content inside the CMS, and you can publish then and there without leaving. As you might expect, the Google Docs integration embeds Clearscope directly into your Google Docs as you write.
Out of all the content optimization tools that we cover in this list, it has one of the best UI's and it's incredibly easy to use.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Keyword and competitor analysis | Not the best value for money |
| Great customer support on all plans | Few additional features |
| WordPress and Google Docs integration | |
| Simple UI that's easy to use |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $189/month. A free trial is available.
#6 – Outranking
Outranking is an AI-powered content optimization tool with assisted workflows, SERP research, and detailed SEO-optimized outlines.
Outranking uses intelligent AI that guides writers so they can communicate brand value, product features, or services in their writing–it's fair to say that for detailed SEO content briefs, few do it better. The tool auto-generates SEO-optimized outlines using entity analysis, SERP research, and related searches, meaning you write better content in a shorter amount of time.
On the content optimization front, you'll receive complete SEO scoring of crucial on-page SEO factors, including featured snippet optimization, semantic keyword suggestions, and Google NLP (Natural Language Processing) topics. That's not to mention the AI internal link suggestions for pages with semantic relationships, helping you create and build up the best content possible.
Outranking uses automation to generate everything from titles and descriptions to outlines utilizing a mixture of ranking data and AI–it's a fantastic way of giving your writers the information they need to create content that will rank and stay relevant.
With AI templates to create posts, service, and product pages, it's a tool that most users will quickly find essential.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Makes use of GPT-3 technology | Search results are not real-time |
| Excellent SEO-focused features | Can be expensive |
| Easy to use and clear UI | No free trials |
| AI-assisted workflows with step-by-step guidance |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $49/month with 2 months free with annual billing. There is no free plan or trial, however, they offer a special first month introductory price of $7.
#7 – Dashword
Dashword is a content optimization tool with automated keyword reports, a rank tracker, and a content brief builder.
The content brief creator allows you to add (and edit) new content in a few clicks and contains all of your competitor's outlines in a single location, as well as allowing you to share your brief with an entire team of writers.
When it comes to content optimization, there's almost everything you could possibly need, from keyword suggestions, frequently asked questions, and a content scoring system that provides you with a good idea of how strong your content is and whether it's ready for the web.
With automated keyword reports generated weekly, you can re-evaluate your content based on the most up-to-date results and track the rankings of your pages to keep content fresh and desirable. There's even automated page import functionality where a web crawler monitors your site and adds pages automatically.
It's a great all-around package that gives you more than enough search engine optimization to complete the job.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Affordable and easy to use | Reports take some time to generate |
| Real-time content editor feedback | UI can get cluttered easily |
| Relevant search terms and frequently asked questions | |
| Generate multiple reports and share them for quick collaboration |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $99/month, save 20% with annual billing. First report is free.
#8 – NeuronWriter
NeuronWriter is a content optimization tool that features an advanced content editor, Google SERP analysis, and easy document management.
NeuronWriter is designed to help you create content that's more aligned with what actually ranks in Google.
One of its key features is the ability to incorporate NLP terms. In simple terms, it analyzes top-ranking competitors and suggests topic-relevant words and phrases that can help your content stay competitive. This makes it easier to optimize your articles without guessing what Google wants.
The tool also helps with research. You can quickly analyze competitors' top-performing content, YouTube videos, or other SERPs in your niche. It even allows you to generate content using GPT-3 AI, which can save time when drafting new articles.
NeuronWriter also has a content repository where you can organize and prioritize your projects. You can tag and group content, mark items as complete, and export or share the data with your team.
It's not a complete all-in-one platform, but if your goal is improving organic traffic and staying on top of search trends, NeuronWriter is worth checking out.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Great content analysis features | Interface could be clearer |
| AI text generation tool | Lots of features still to come |
| Support for over 170 languages | Complicated plans and no free trials |
| Google NLP semantics |
Pricing
Paid plans start at €19/month. No free plan or trials available.
#9 – MarketMuse
MarketMuse offers a suite of optimization tools. This includes tools for keyword research, content clusters, and full competitor analysis.
MarketMuse helps you get a clearer picture of your content strategy.
It shows where your site already has authority, which topics are underdeveloped, and where competitors are gaining ground. You also get difficulty scores so you can gauge how hard it might be to rank for a particular topic. The tool draws from a database of 5 billion keywords across 90 locations and languages, giving you a wide view of the landscape.
One handy feature is the content briefs. You can generate structured outlines for your writers, including related topics and suggested questions to answer. This helps your team create content that's aligned with search intent without having to start from scratch.
It's not the cheapest tool on the market, but it can be useful if you want a more data-driven approach to planning and optimizing your content.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Valuable competitor analysis | Expensive plans and not the best value for money |
| Personalized difficulty scores | Sharing features are a bit weak |
| Successfully streamlines the creation of content briefs | |
| Upgrade old content and easily identify gaps |
Pricing
Free plan available. Paid plans start at $149/month, yearly discounts are available.
Final Thoughts
And that's a wrap on the best content optimization tools.
Each of these platforms can help you create content that ranks, drives traffic, and engages your audience. The best one for you depends on your workflow, goals, and how hands-on you want to be with SEO.
Most of the tools on this list offer free trials or free plans, so I'd recommend trying a few out to see which feels right for your content strategy.
If you're serious about taking your content to the next level, picking the right tool and using it consistently can make all the difference. Start testing today and watch your traffic and engagement grow.
Related reading:
Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. If you click on certain links we may make a commission.
