Surfer SEO Review 2024: How Good Is It?

Surfer SEO ReviewPin

Welcome to our Surfer review.

Surfer is a tool that helps you research, write, and optimize your content.

The tool compares your site to those at the top of the search engine results so you can upgrade your content accordingly.

The most important question: is it worth the money?

Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. By the end of this review, you’ll have a definite answer to that question.

In this review, we’ll cover everything Surfer offers, detail the plans available, and disclose what we think are the platform’s biggest pros and cons.

What is Surfer SEO?

Surfer started its journey when five friends, consisting of marketers, engineers, and developers (with a healthy amount of entrepreneurial spirit!), wanted to democratize SEO.

01 Surfer SEO PagePin

The friends wanted to streamline the day-to-day, and they went on to transform SEO not just in Poland but globally.

In other words, Surfer began solely as an in-house tool—quite the transformation.

Today, the tool is a household name in the marketing community, trusted by world-renowned corporations and individuals alike. It’s used in 140 countries and by over 15,000 businesses.

While competition is fierce in the space, Surfer gives its users an SEO workflow that can boost organic traffic, increase visibility, and improve your rank on search engines in an intuitive and gamified fashion.

You’ll find everything from a dedicated content editor to keyword research, full SEO audits, an AI outline generator, and data-driven SEO insights.

But is it the right tool for your business?

Keep on reading this review for a complete breakdown. I’ll cover the pros and cons, as well as some Surfer SEO alternatives.

What features does Surfer SEO offer?

Surfer SEO is (primarily) a content optimization tool with much to offer its users. The key features worth knowing about include the following:

  • Content editor
  • Keyword research tool
  • Keyword Surfer
  • AI outline generator
  • Surfer SEO audit tool
  • Customer support

Below, we’ll explore each of these features and give you a first-hand look at the SEO tool.

Please note: Some of the features below may only be included in specific plans. See the pricing section of this review for a full breakdown of which features come with each plan.

Content editor

Surfer SEO provides users with a Content Editor that allows them to better structure their articles, receive a comprehensive list of relevant keywords, and acquire real-time feedback on their ongoing optimization efforts.

Real-time metrics are provided for structure, word count, NLP-ready keywords, and images, allowing you to boost your old content and upgrade new pieces when you create them.

The Content Editor is the main focus of Surfer. To make use of the Content Editor, start by logging into the Surfer SEO dashboard.

From there, you’ll see Content Editor listed in a menu at the left-hand side of the screen, like so:

02 Content EditorPin

Click it, and you’ll be taken to a new screen where you’ll be asked to put in your keywords.

On this screen, you’ll be able to decide the location for your search results as well as the ability to import content from a URL.

Once you’re done, click the purple button that says Create Content Editor:

03 Create Content EditorPin

The Content Editor for the keywords you picked should now have been created. Click the freshly created document, and you’ll be taken to a new screen.

Here you’ll be able to start writing your piece. Impressively, the document will now have formatted guidelines and terms for you to follow, as well as provided you with links to competitor pieces, recommended titles, headers, and some key questions to answer.

The UI of the Content Editor is consistently intuitive, and the recommended terms and phrases to include are easy to write into your articles.

The Content Score is the primary indicator of how well you’re doing with a piece so far, as shown below:

04 Content ScorePin

There’s also the option of exporting your finished document to WordPress, sharing it with other team members that can be given the ability to edit it, and running a plagiarism checker to keep the content original.

You can tweak settings further in the Content Editor by clicking on the cog icon, like so:

05 Content Score SettingsPin

From here, you can customize your content guidelines and the competitors you optimize against. By picking at least five URLs, you’ll get given the most relevant results—a great feature not easily found elsewhere.

You can customize the structure of your content as well, with the capacity to change the number of words, headers, paragraphs, and even images. Changing the values will, of course, affect your content score, but that’s the real magic of the tool.

In other words, you can choose–almost exactly–what content goal you want to reach and then upgrade your content from there. What’s more, you can select which terms to include (and which to ignore) and can mark them as headers by hitting “H” on your keyboard.

You can further refine your content document by picking the most relevant topics and questions to answer—Surfer extracts these topics and questions from the top-ranking pages on Google:

06 Content StructurePin

Finally, by writing them into the provided text box, you can leave additional notes to a team of writers, such as benchmarks or deadlines. The text box allows you to quickly insert competing articles, as well as format it to your heart’s desire.

Overall, the Content Editor is the central proposition of Surfer SEO, and it doesn’t disappoint. With an intuitive UI, plenty of customization options, and a transparent gamified approach to improving your content across the board, it’s nothing short of excellent.

Keyword research tool

Surfer’s Keyword research tool enables you to discover relevant topic clusters based on a primary keyword, check search intent for your target audience, and assess monthly search volume and keyword difficulty.

To start using the tool, click where it says Keyword Research at the top of your dashboard, like so:

08 Keyword ResearchPin

You’ll be taken to a new screen that looks like this:

09 Create Keyword ResearchPin

On this screen, you simply put in your chosen keyword, choose where you want the results to come from, and then click Create Keyword Research.

Surfer will create new topic clusters for your specific keyword, which you can view by clicking the keyword, under Keyword Research History, itself.

You’ll be taken to a screen that looks like this:

10 Keyword Research HistoryPin

This is where you can really dive deep into the keyword clusters themselves, and you can view related keywords, the search volume, as well as the search intent for them.

The difficulty of the keyword and the total traffic for each is also displayed, allowing you to assess whether it’s a good area to focus on or if your efforts are better spent elsewhere. You can even export your research to a CSV file for convenient viewing later.

There’s a lot to like here overall. Surfer will fundamentally provide you with a wide-ranging content plan for months to come. For fresh content ideas and to keep a team busy, it’s ideal.

Keyword Surfer

On the topic of keywords, Keyword Surfer is another part of the Surfer package that’s more than valuable. It’s an easy-to-use Google Chrome extension that enables you to see the search volume, cost per click, and estimated traffic directly from your browser on Google’s Search Results Page.

You’ll be able to view the word count of competitor pages, the exact number of keywords used, and a complete list of keyword ideas with the search volume included.

That’s not to mention the option to create folders of keywords you want to collect and monitor and then export those same folders as CSVs whenever you need to—both practical and smart.

To start using the tool, just head over to the Chrome Web Store, search for Keyword Surfer, and then click the blue Add to Chrome button like so:

11 Add to ChromePin

The Chrome extension will install itself from there.

On Google, Keyword Surfer will show up on the right-hand side of the screen:

12 Keyword IdeasPin

You’ll be able to see keyword ideas, volume, and overlap automatically—no need to open multiple tabs. The tool uses datasets from over 70 countries and, best of all, is free, regardless of whether you sign up for Surfer or not.

It’s a definite highlight of an already strong package.

AI outline generator

Another free tool included as part of Surfer is the AI outline generator that allows you to generate entire content outlines for your pieces.

The tool works well, particularly as you just need to type in a few words, and within two minutes, you have a rough outline for a new piece of content. The outline will need some adjustment (and human input), as well editing and rewriting.

It’s a handy tool that can quickly get you started with your content creation efforts, and you can test it out for yourself on Surfer’s site for free. Here’s one I generated earlier:

13 AI outline generatorPin

The AI technology used to power the outline generator is the same as that used in the Content Editor itself. There’s a 7-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to go in-depth with the AI outline generator as well.

I recommend giving it a try to see if it’s for you.

SEO audit tool

Surfer’s SEO audit tool enables you to quickly repurpose old content and find SEO errors across your whole site. I found it easy enough to use and could immediately see the value on offer.

Using the tool will give you access to critical insights, including the number of headings to use, the length of the content, your NLP entities coverage, and keyword density. Not to mention the NLP sentiment of the piece, your meta tags structure, and any missing backlinks to keep search engines happy.

To get started with the tool, click where it says Audit on the dashboard, like so:

14 SEO audit toolPin

From there, you’ll be taken to a screen that looks like this:

15 AuditPin

Simply place in the URL you want to check and the keyword(s) you want to assess, and when you’re done, click the purple button where it says Create Audit.

On the following screen, you can select which competitors to optimize against and can view your content score, missing backlinks, word count, and the terms you need to use, as well as the title and meta description length.

With step-by-step instructions on how to optimize your content and automatic internal link suggestions, it’s a comprehensive tool that will give your content a serious boost—and all with a UI that remains easy to follow.

Customer support

Customer support is another area in which Surfer excels. The customer support we’ve experienced has been timely and professional, and any queries we’ve had were resolved without any issues.

You can access customer support with a few clicks as soon as you’re logged into the dashboard:

16 Customer supportPin

Surfer offers customer support that feels personal, and today, that’s some of the highest praise I could give it.

There’s also the option to ask the community, as well as training videos and the Surfer Knowledge Base; the latter is a great place to stop by and see if an issue has already been covered in detail.

Integrations

Surfer offers integrations with a range of key platforms, including Semrush.

In case you didn’t know, Semrush is an SEO tool that performs keyword research and tracks the keyword strategy of your competitors, plus a good deal more. The two tools working together make for an almighty combination, and best of all, the integration is free.

Surfer also integrates with the following third-party platforms:

  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Google Sheets
  • Google Docs
  • Zendesk
  • Amazon S3
  • Xero
  • Facebook Marketing
  • Shopify

Surfer additionally integrates with Writesonic, an AI writing tool that helps create content for blogs and social media. Writesonic’s integration with Surfer will speed up your content generation and the process of optimizing the content itself.

How much does Surfer cost?

Surfer offers four core plans: Essential, Advanced, Max and Enterprise. Of course, each plan comes with differing features, benefits, and usage limits.

Let’s take a good look at each of them.

Essential

Starts at $89/month and includes 30 content editors per month (additional editors cost $5), 2 organization seats and 100 keyword searches/day.

All basic features are included such as shareable links, plagiarism checker, Google Docs & WordPress integration and more.

Scale

Starts at $129/month and includes 100 content editors per month (additional editors cost $1), 5 organization seats and 100 keyword searches/day.

Has the same features as the Essential plan; only difference are the seats and content editors. This plan also offers 100 audits/month.

Scale AI

Starts at $219/month and includes 100 content editors per month (additional editors cost $1), 10 organization seats and 100/day keyword research. In addition 10 AI written articles and offer 100 audits/month.

Enterprise

If you need a custom plan you’d need to contact Surfer directly for a quote. However, for features you’d get access to all features listed in the lower plans as well as a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training, premium support and more.

Add-ons can be purchased separately for an additional fee.

Annual discounts are available and Surfer offers a 7-day free trial.

Surfer’s pros and cons

Surfer is an excellent SEO and content optimization tool all around, but few things are flawless.

Here’s a quick roundup of what we thought were Surfer’s biggest pros and cons.

Surfer pros

  • Intuitive content editor. The main attraction of Surfer, and for good reason. The content editor is easy to use and intuitive, helps you include easily missed topics and terms, and enables you to create awesome content right across your entire site.
  • Easy keyword and content optimization. Provides both keyword and content writing optimization in one place. Most keyword tools don’t provide content editors inside the platform, and you would have to pay for an additional tool altogether—great value for money.
  • Customer (and technical) support. Any queries we’ve had have been resolved quickly and without issues. Friendly, professional, and timely support that has a personal touch. It’s backed up by useful training videos, a detailed knowledge base, and the option to ask the community.
  • Keyword Surfer. The free Chrome extension is more than worth using, especially as it’s free and can be installed in minutes. You’ll get access to genuinely useful insights, such as search volume, cost per click, and estimated traffic, directly from your browser.
  • Content Auditing. Surfer offers a powerful content auditor that offers plenty of insights. You can use this in combination with the content editor to improve rankings for your legacy content.

Surfer cons

  • Sometimes irrelevant suggestions. Some of Surfer SEO’s suggestions are a bit irrelevant, and this includes the internal linking itself. We expect the accuracy of these will improve with time, however. It should be said that the suggestions are better than most other content optimization tools we’ve tested.
  • AI writer is expensive. Surfer finally released their own AI writer but it’s far too expensive to be a viable option, especially when compared to other AI writers on the market. That said, it’s offered as an add-on so wouldn’t be paying extra for something you’re not using.

Surfer alternatives

Looking for some Surfer alternatives or just want to compare? Check out these other great SEO tools before we head to our Surfer SEO review conclusion:

  • Frase | Our review — Best for those that need content optimization and AI writing functionality in one place. A reputable Surfer SEO alternative.
  • SE Ranking | Our review — The best all-in-one SEO tool with valuable built-in content optimization functionality. Offers a healthy array of features.
  • Scalenut | Our review — A content optimization tool that offers some excellent content creation tools and an SEO writing assistant to help you get ahead. Well worth a look.

Final thoughts

That completes our Surfer SEO review.

Overall, Surfer is one of the best SEO tools available and offers great value for money compared to most others out there (Clearscope and MarketMuse offer little to justify their price).

Five ambitious, driven friends (and a lot of hard work!) have created (arguably) the on-page SEO tool to beat.

We really like the content editor, the ease of use and the intuitive UI, not to mention the excellent customer support and free Keyword Surfer Google Chrome extension.

There’s no doubt your content can really start to shine in just a few days with both keyword and content optimization in a single place.

All in all, we’d definitely recommend Surfer if you’re a copywriter, small business owner, or even a medium-sized organization. Even large businesses and enterprises will find a lot to like here.

That said, their new AI writing functionality isn’t the best. But it’s offered as an add-on so you shouldn’t be paying extra unless you needed to use it.


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