Surfer SEO has taken the SEO world by storm and it’s no wonder why. This software boasts tons of features that help improve your rankings and increase traffic to your site.
But does Surfer SEO really live up to its promises? There are many different opinions out there about this tool but this article will go through the pros and cons of this SEO tool.
As far as the features of Surfer SEO, there’s no shortage to choose from.
Some of them are easy to understand and simply provide an easier way of doing things while others are a little more complex.
The real question is “is it just another time-saving tool or can it actually improve your rankings?”.
Let’s find out.
~ Nat’s Take
While it’s not a mandatory tool for you to rank in Google, I’m confident it’s a must-have addition to your SEO toolkit when it comes to content optimization. By structuring and optimizing your content the way Google loves, rankings can happen faster. Also, their customer support is top-notch, the interface is really sweet and intuitive. I mean, it’s worth giving it a shot!
What I Love: Clean UI & intuitive interface
simple commands & easy to use, integration with Google Docs & WordPress, great and friendly support.
Can Improve: Ability to sort suggested keywords by importance and add keyword difficulty score.
What is Surfer SEO?
Powered by AI technology, Surfer is a cloud-based software that’s designed to accelerate the content creation and optimization process with hopes to get higher rankings in Google SERPs.
As a matter of fact, Surfer is not only about creating and optimizing blog posts, but the tool offers organization facilities where you can group your keywords by search intent. Talk about a well-planned content strategy!
If you’re looking to upgrade your SEO game, i.e, produce high-quality and optimized articles, boost your rankings, drive more traffic and increase your bottom line, then it might be worth trying out Surfer SEO.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind though:
If you’re relying on it to rank higher and get more traffic, then you might be disappointed because you simply cannot get better rankings and more traffic from Google if you don’t:
Even though Surfer is packed with features and can help you save a lot of time, it will NOT make you a better writer or improve your grammar. That’s on you!
The software helps you make better decisions content-wise, by guiding your writing process with proper keywords, headlines, and so on.
Surfer SEO is not for everyone. It’s for people who have a content strategy in place and are looking for an efficient way to implement or improve it.
Surfer SEO allows you to take the time-consuming tasks out of the equation, which is why it’s important to figure out what your SEO strategy is first before using the software.
In other words, don’t just use Surfer SEO because a friend recommended it or you watched a few demos on YouTube without understanding its full potential.
Does Surfer SEO Really Make You Rank Better?
If you look at what other SEO experts are saying about Surfer SEO, it’s a pretty mixed bag. Some people will say that it’s helped them rank higher while others will say that it does nothing.
With that said, let’s talk about some benefits you can reap from using a software like Surfer SEO.
1. Speeds up Your Writing Process
One of the key features of Surfer SEO is the fact that it’s able to help you accelerate your writing process.
The way surfer helps in that sense is that it will give you all the keywords that they think you should be including in your article and they also suggest the number of times these keywords should appear in the article.
Basically, Surfer analyzes the top results for a particular keyword and then suggests these relevant keywords to fill up your content with. (We’ll develop this in the content editor section.)
2. Helps you Create High-Quality Content
Another great benefit of using Surfer SEO is that you won’t have to waste your time on writing high-quality content for a poor ranking.
A lot of people feel that ranking higher is one of the top goals when it comes to SEO but in reality, your writing quality has a lot more to do with how much time and effort you put into it.
Surfer knows what should go into well-written and highly relevant content for both humans and the algorithm.
In other words, Surfer SEO will take care of you by suggesting the right keywords so that your content has engaging and quality sections.
3. Gives you an Instant Evaluation
With Surfer’s content score climbing up as you write, you can see how your article is doing. The higher your score, the better. This means your article is properly optimized and ready to shine in the search engines.
4. Improves Your Workflow
The amazing thing about Surfer is that it’s been programmed to reduce the time between thinking and writing. Essentially, this software helps you increase your productivity in various ways by suggesting relevant ideas and headlines and even expanding your vocabulary in a particular niche.
5. Seamless Integration with 3rd Party Tools
Do you write your article in Google Docs? I hope so! Then you don’t have to worry about copying and pasting your content because Surfer SEO is able to integrate with other 3rd party tools thanks to its Chrome Extension.
This allows you to make your workflow much more seamless and save some time along. If you plan to use Jasper, the AI writing assistant, in the future, you can also connect both tools for an amazing writing experience. Surfer SEO can also integrate with WordPress and Webflow.
Surfer SEO Key Features
Now let’s dissect the key features of Surfer SEO that can make your life so much easier:
1. Content Editor
This is the central feature of the software and where you can start creating high-quality content for your blog. It is where you can focus on writing and optimizing your articles based on the relevant keywords that Surfer suggests to you while writing.
Depending on your plan, you will have a quota of articles that you can publish in a month. The cool thing about the content editor is that you’re writing with guidance.
No more switching between Google and your content while trying to put the pieces together. This is a very unique feature that sets Surfer apart.
Features of Surfer’s Content Editor
All in all, Surfer’s content editor allows you to write your content while giving you suggestions based on what the algorithm wants.
Let’s move on to the second next key feature of Surfer SEO.
2. Content Planner
Surfer’s content planner is a true time-saving jewel. You can easily create a solid content strategy by finding relevant keywords and organizing them by search intent, all in one place.
Yes, you read that well! Surfer automatically tells you the search intent behind each keyword. With that being said, filling up your content calendar should be a breeze with Surfer!
However, the content planner is not just that! It’s more than just gathering some keywords here and there.
Instead, it will take you from the research phase to the writing phase in just a few clicks.
After building your content strategy through keyword research, you will have the option to just send the keyword to the content editor, together with all its relevant keywords.
3. SERP Analyzer
If you don’t have the budget to spend on expensive SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush, the SERP analyzer in Surfer might be a good starting point. With this feature you will be able to:
Surfer’s SERP analyzer is great for dissecting top results in the SERP, which will help you with the rest of your SEO strategy.
After scanning 500+ ranking factors and the top 50 results on Google for a particular keyword, SERP Analyzer will generate a comprehensive competitor analysis report.
As a result, you will spend less time doing the manual work and you can thus dedicate more time writing higher-quality content to rank.
4. SEO Audit
Sometimes as content marketers, we don’t have much time to do all the extensive work that comes with SEO. That’s where the SEO audit comes in handy.
This feature will help you analyze your web pages and articles to identify the errors that could be hurting your rankings.
The SEO audit feature can help you fix all these errors in one go and if performed well, you can truly boost your rankings.
With the SEO Audit tool, you can easily find new ranking opportunities by repurposing outdated content. Remember that Google loves fresh content!
Tapping into new keywords and topic areas is exactly what Google wants you to do and Surfer SEO can help you with that.
Surfer SEO Shortcomings
As I always say, not one software or tool under the sun is perfect. However, Surfer SEO has its own pros and cons that you might want to take into consideration. Here are a few things I want to make you aware of:
1. Missing Keyword Difficulty
When we want to tackle a keyword, we obviously want to know if it’s worth going after.
Unfortunately, Surfer SEO doesn’t provide a difficulty score and for those of you who don’t have Ahrefs or another keyword research tool, this is kind of a big deal.
For instance, if a keyword has a high difficulty score, as a new blog, that would be impossible to rank without a few hundred backlinks.
So, you would be wasting time producing content for something you don’t have a chance of ranking. Pretty bummer I know!
The good news is that the team at Surfer says it’s coming soon! Let’s wait!
2. Awkward Keyword Suggestions
Sometimes, a few keyword suggestions are simply funny. I remember writing an article about the best graphic design tools and in the list of keywords, the tool suggested that I include the word “chair” 3 times.
As a seasoned copywriter, I failed!
I came up with only one phrase “After getting the best graphic design tools, you can sit on your chair and start working”…LOL (I didn’t include the word chair ok).
I don’t know how did this come up but in cases like this, it’s logical to use your judgment. There are other keywords that they will suggest you to include way too many times.
But it doesn’t happen every time though! Not a big deal!
Surfer Pricing
Let’s talk money! How much does Surfer SEO cost? Are their pricing plans worth it?
Well, sincerely, I think for the features you get and the possibility to increase your rankings on Google, it’s worth a try.
Despite its minor flaws, Surfer SEO gives its users an amazing user experience and robust features every SEO person can easily fall in love with.
Below are their pricing plans:
- Basic plan: $59/month (best for testers)
- Pro Plan: $119/mo (best for freelancers)
- Business Plan: $239/mo (best for SEO agencies)
You can get a 17% off when taking their annual plans.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a blogger, an agency, or a freelancer looking to experiment with the software, all I can say is, give it a try!
Surfer SEO has proven itself as truly great SEO software among many SEO experts and I really believe it’s worth the investment.
If you are serious about ranking your site and you want to go balls deep in the search engine game, Surfer might surprise you.
**Stay tuned for my traffic stats analysis after using Surfer for 6 months now.