We've been using Surfer SEO for 3.5 years now and have increased the volume of usage per month.
Initially, we started with it as an on-page optimisation tool to focus on increasing the volume of bi-product and semantic keywords we would appear for by inserting NLP keywords.
Whilst we still do this, we've increased use cases as the tool has evolved.
We now also use this for: Keyword Research Content Audits Topic Cluster Planning Competitor Analysis
We use this for our own projects, white-label SEO projects and consulting work for third parties.
Pros
Keyword Research: Not only does it find volumes (geos too), but it provides keyword intent and relative difficulty when connected to the domain's GSC.
On-Page Audits: It compares against competitors on the SERPS and factors in differences in page speed
Content Optimisation: As well as presenting NLP terms, it also suggests internal links
Cons
AI Writing: This is a new feature, and in comparison to alternatives it's poor both from a pricing and result perspective
Monthly Pricing: Surfer used to a clear value for money solution, it's somewhat pricing out solo-operators with the current pricing model
Backlinks: Surfer does have a backlink crawler, but it's quite limited
Likelihood to Recommend
Surfer is well suited for:
Creating (and resisting) articles and web pages to increase their SEO relevancy for a keyword.
To identify NLP terms and the frequency of terms to be added to the page
SurferSEO is an advanced analysis of the content copy in your website. It helps us determine what on-page factors are needed to rank our content at the top of search engines and plans a great strategy for online marketing using their "NLP Content Model." Their tool also has a built in SEO Auditor, which lets you know how well optimized each page is with backlinks that need work done as well.
Pros
Analysis for on-page ranking factors
Competition analytics
NLP Analysis for webpage content
Content SEO scoring
Content editor with details about what to rank for
Plugin that helps with search data on Google
Cons
Integrating better keyword data
Full Site SEO Auditor (independent of copy)
Technical Factor analysis
Likelihood to Recommend
SurferSEO is a powerful and technical SEO tool for any writer to rank on Google. It would be too much information, even overwhelming at times, for someone who has never had experience with this kind of work before, but there's tons of detailed knowledge available when it comes to understanding the features that are most relevant while still meeting your goals in mind.
