Incorporating AI SEO software into your marketing efforts gives you the opportunity to improve search engine rankings, drive organic traffic to your website, and save time creating content.

In short, the best AI SEO tools can be vital to the success of your online content.

Below, we’ll cover 10 popular AI-powered SEO tools and how you can use them to drive results.

As an added bonus, we'll also discuss Semrush's Copilot, a free AI SEO tool included with all Semrush memberships. So you can start optimizing without the need for a separate subscription.

1. Clearscope

Image Source: Clearscope

Clearscope uses natural language processing to help uncover search intent. When you enter a keyword, its AI-driven algorithm looks at competitors’ content and pulls out common themes and questions that are relevant to your target audience. 

The tool generates a report of keywords and suggested headers based on up-to-date competitor insights. 

This helps writers, marketers, and SEO professionals create optimized content.

The real-time data is critical for matching search intent.

For example:

The search intent for the word “coda” changed after the release of the movie CODA. It caused SERPs (search engine results pages) to prioritize articles related to the film over those about the collaborative doc platform, Coda.

Clearscope also runs your content through a grading system to see how well you rank for search intent.

Its research function analyzes the top-ranking pages for a given keyword. And it provides data-driven recommendations for improving on-page SEO elements, such as word count, headings, and keyword usage. 

Clearscope also identifies unused words and phrases from competitors’ content, helping you optimize your own content to stay ahead of the competition.

Image Source: Clearscope

Main Use Cases

• Using real-time data to pinpoint search intent
• Giving data-driven recommendations to improve on-page SEO
• Identifying unused words and phrases from competitors’ content

Pricing

Clearscope pricing starts at $170 per month. You can also book a demo with the sales team.

2. Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant (SWA) analyzes the SEO potential of your content and offers real-time feedback to help you improve readability, tone of voice, originality, and structure.

The tool uses AI in its Rephraser, Compose, and Ask AI features to assist you in composing and rewriting text. 

How does it work?

Start by entering one or more keywords. Then, choose your target audience and click “Get recommendations.”

You can then import existing content or simply begin typing. SEO Writing Assistant will analyze the text and give you a score based on readability, SEO, originality, and tone of voice.

Beneath your score, you’ll see the Smart Writer menu with options for creating or enhancing your content using AI.

The Rephraser feature uses an AI algorithm to generate variations of content you want to rephrase, simplify, expand, or summarize. Select the text you want to change and click which option you want to employ:

The algorithm will generate a new version of the content to fit your request. You can also click the Rephraser option on the menu and enter the text you want to revise. 

The tool will generate several options for you to choose from.

SEO Writing Assistant can also help you compose new content or generate text to fill in gaps in an existing piece. 

Click “Compose.”

The Compose tool uses AI to predict seamless content generation based on your keywords and existing text. You can then decide whether to accept or reject the new text. Or ask the tool to try again. 

Finally, you can use AI algorithms to get more information on your topic. Click the “Ask AI” button and enter a question.

The AI tool will generate an answer based on its analysis of the topic. 

Main Use Cases

• Generating and refining optimized content with ease
• Enhancing SEO with keyword recommendations based on real-time data
• Maintaining your brand's voice across all content you create

Pricing

Semrush pricing starts at $139.95 per month and offers a free trial for seven days. 

Further reading: SEO Writing Guide + 9 Tips to Optimize Your Content

3. ChatGPT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is an AI-powered natural language processing tool that can assist with writing tasks (e.g., emails, blog articles, social media, and programming code), answer questions, and engage in human-like conversations.

One of its main strengths is its capacity to learn and adapt to new contexts.

What does this mean?

Unlike some tools, ChatGPT can retain information from previous conversations and use it to generate more relevant responses by feeding it prompts with detailed information.

But ChatGPT has known issues—feeding disinformation, fueling conspiracy theories, and not reliably citing sources. So, proceed with caution.

To add an SEO element to your content, just prompt ChatGPT to generate anything from meta descriptions to headings and other on-page elements. 

Here’s an example of how ChatGPT can help write SEO content:

You can also use it to ask for a list of keywords related to the ones you’re targeting. 

It won’t show how popular the keywords are, but it can help you by providing words to research.

Among other features, it can also help you generate schema markup to improve visibility and help your site take up more real estate in search results. 

Image Source: ChatGPT

Once generated, you can paste the snippet in your CMS’s HTML text editor. 

You can also create FAQs for articles by asking the tool what questions people ask about a given topic.

Further reading: How Does ChatGPT Work? (Simple & Technical Explanations)

Main Use Cases

• Generating on- and off-page SEO elements like schema markup, meta titles, and FAQs
• Using prior conversations to generate more relevant content 
• Writing content based on keywords, blog post subjects, and more

Price

ChatGPT is free for everyone. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month for access to more premium features.

4. Writesonic

Image Source: Writesonic

Writesonic is built on OpenAI’s GPT-3. It uses data from these models to generate SEO-optimized product descriptions, articles, emails, and more. It also generates landing page copy. 

Users can input specific parameters, such as the topic, tone, and style. And Writesonic will generate content that matches those parameters. 

You can then edit and refine the generated content to your liking. 

Here’s an example of Writesonic’s output for story creation:

Image Source: Writesonic

Writesonic also includes 70+ use cases for various businesses, like landing page copy. 

Its free Landing Page Generator is designed to write website copy based on your brand. Simply input information about your brand or product, including a description and features, and click “Generate.”

Image Source: Writesonic

For ecommerce businesses, you can write simple, SEO-friendly product descriptions in minutes and tailor them to your brand’s tone of voice.

Image Source: Writesonic

Main Use Cases

• Writing landing page copy
• Creating SEO-friendly product descriptions
• Generating content for 70+ uses

Price

Writesonic offers a forever free plan. Paid plans start at $19 per month.

5. Jasper

Image Source: Jaseper.ai

Jasper, like Writesonic, uses OpenAI’s GPT-3 model (plus other third-party AI models) to help users write and optimize their content for search engines. It uses data from these models to generate content based on your prompts and brand information. 

It can create content like: 

• Long-form blogs or stories
• Short-form social media posts or email newsletters
• Meta descriptions, SEO titles, and more

It also has Jasper Chat, a ChatGPT-like conversational platform that lets users interact with AI in a natural dialog to generate customized content. And Jasper Chat will reference all the sources it uses (but you should still fact-check every response for accuracy).

Image Source: Jasper.ai

Jasper helps users write high-quality, engaging, and SEO-friendly content. 

You can customize the tone of voice to whatever you want, such as a specific author or brand voice for consistency across all content pieces.

Image Source: Jasper.ai

Main Use Cases

• Creating content with source links
• Producing natural, human-like text catered to certain audiences
• Generating different content formats: blog posts, social posts, website copy, etc.

Price

Jasper starts at $49 per month and offers a free trial for seven days.

6. Brand24

Brand24 is an excellent backlink building tool. Especially when it comes to identifying unlinked mentions (i.e., people mentioning a brand without linking to its website).

These unlinked mentions are a great opportunity to get backlinks from authoritative websites.

But how do you find them?

Brand24 is an AI-powered media monitoring tool. Meaning it monitors all mentions of your brand across the web and presents them to you in a single dashboard.

So if someone mentions your brand in a review or social media post, Brand24 will tell you.

To get started, sign up for Brand24 for free. And set up your account by telling the tool the keywords you want to target (i.e., different variations of your brand name). And selecting a language to monitor.

Now you should have a dashboard that monitors how many mentions you get. And a list of where those mentions are located.

Find your most relevant mentions using Brand24's filters. Like "Sources," "Sentiment," "Influencer score," and "Importance."

After identifying suitable unlinked mentions, use specialized SEO tools like Semrush to get more information about the domain.

And then contact the author to request a link.

Main Use Cases

• Comprehensive AI media monitoring
• Identifying unlinked brand mentions
• Detailed analysis of mentions

Price

Brand24 offers a 14-day free trial. Paid subscriptions start at $149/month.

7. Frase

Frase uses AI to automatically generate content based on information you provide. Your queries help it provide comprehensive insights (e.g., outline suggestions, content gaps, keyword research, and average word count).

Once you enter your focus keyword for any given content, Frase’s AI algorithm analyzes the top results for that keyword to provide insights like: 

• Average number of words, headers, links, and images
• Commonly used headers
• Frequently asked questions 
• Key stats
• Recent news about the keyword
• Related Wikipedia articles

The algorithm will also generate headings from search results or ideas to save users time when creating content. 

Once you create your content, Frase identifies unused words or phrases from competitors’ content. 

It then shows users where they might rank in the SERPs due to keyword usage, links, domain authority, and word count.

Main Use Cases

• Discovering important topics related to your industry
• Generating headings based on SERP competitors
• Showing how optimization can impact KPIs (key performance indicators)

Price

Frase offers a five-day trial for $1. Paid plans start at $14.99 per month. 

8. MarketMuse

Image Source: Codeless.io

MarketMuse provides content optimization, SEO strategy, and creation insights. 

MarketMuse uses patented AI algorithms to collect and analyze a user’s existing content. 

It uses natural language processing to identify gaps in your content strategy and provide topic recommendations, keywords to target, and suggestions for optimizing existing content. 

And it provides a comprehensive audit of your competitors’ websites so you can see their content strategy to identify gaps to use to your advantage.

Image Source: MarketMuse

This tool also analyzes top SERPs to help users gain insights into best practices for content creation. 

It offers guidance on the appropriate number of images, header tags, hyperlinks, and keywords to optimize content for maximum impact.

MarketMuse also offers data-driven insights into your content’s performance and topic value, all in one place.

Image Source: MarketMuse

As your content inventory grows, gaps can go unnoticed. 

But, MarketMuse can help:

It analyzes your content at the site level to show where you have authority and where you don’t, revealing quick wins, topics with no content, and pages at risk due to authority concerns or competition. 

Main Use Cases

• Building briefs and managing content planning workflows
• Analyzing where your site is lacking in authority
• Identifying gaps in your content strategy

Price

MarketMuse offers a free plan. It costs $149 per month for the standard plan.

9. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is another writing tool built on OpenAI’s GPT-3 large language model. It uses machine learning to generate personalized sales copy, long-form posts, product descriptions, and more. 

It also includes social media post generation.

Users input what platform to tailor the content to and the main points to cover. You can then select a tone of voice option, like friendly or professional. 

Here’s an example of Copy.ai’s social media post feature:

Once generated, you can edit the post and share it directly on your social channels. Or through a third-party social media management tool.

And Copy.ai’s Sentence Rewriter can transform your wordy sentences into clear copy in seconds. It can also correct your writing to reflect your desired tone of voice.

Main Use Cases

• Writing social media posts
• Fine-tuning generated copy with specific tone, style, and brand guidelines
• Generating marketing copy for different channels

Price

Copy.ai offers a free forever plan limited to 2,000 words. Paid plans start at $49 per month.

10. Surfer AI

Image Source: Surfer

Surfer AI is a powerful AI-driven writing add-on to Surfer’s SEO tool that both creates content and works to boost its performance. 

How does it work?

Surfer AI combines natural language processing and machine learning to capture and analyze SERP content. It then uses generative AI to write and edit competitive SEO content. 

It acts as both a writing assistant and a content optimization tool.

Image Source: Surfer AI

The tool retrieves data from top-ranking pages and provides recommendations for you to include. It can also generate an entire article from just one or two keywords with the click of a button.

Surfer AI has additional features that take it a step beyond AI content generation. It will analyze and match the tone of voice of the top SERPs (but allow you to adjust tone for your own preferences). 

It also includes a plagiarism checker.

Further reading: How to Establish Tone in Writing (Guide + Examples)

Main Use Cases

• Creating competitive articles based on SERP analysis
• Matching tone of voice of top-ranking pages
• Writing long-form content on general topics

Price

Surfer’s pricing starts at $89 per month. There is a seven-day money-back guarantee. 

11. ContentShake AI

ContentShake AI is an app from Semrush that helps you ideate, write, and publish unique, engaging content. 

It uses AI and machine learning algorithms to help you find tailored topic ideas and generate an outline or a full article with headers. (It composes content based on keywords it finds using Semrush).

Start generating ideas by entering keywords related to your business:

The tool will give you additional related tags. Choose which you want to write about and click “Start writing” to generate a list of topics.

Click on each to learn about search intent and see a list of potential article ideas. 

Find one that interests you and again, click “Start writing” to generate content.

The app will return an optimized first draft. From here, you can review additional recommendations or review sections used by competitors.

ContentShake AI also helps you optimize your copy. It scans your text and gives it a quality score based on three factors: Readability, SEO, and Tone of voice. It will also offer details and suggestions for improving issues in these categories.

One feature that sets this ideation and writing tool apart is ease of publishing. The ContentShake AI plugin lets you publish your optimized content directly to your WordPress site with a single click.

Main Use Cases

• Ideating high-quality articles
• Optimizing text based on keywords found through Semrush
• Publishing articles directly to a WordPress site

Price

ContentShake AI offers a free forever plan or a paid version for $60 per month. The paid plan offers more expansive features including unlimited articles and rewrites, 25 new content ideas per week, and one-click publishing to WordPress.

12. Semrush Copilot

Semrush’s Copilot is a unique AI SEO assistant included in your Semrush subscription at no extra cost. It’s an accessible tool for all SEO professionals using the platform. 

As an AI SEO assistant, Copilot continuously monitors your website's performance and provides actionable insights to improve your online visibility as soon as you log into Semrush. 

Simply log into Semrush to see Copilot on your main Project page. From here, you can review Copilot’s suggestions and follow the link to the corresponding tool for further analysis. 

Note: To take advantage of Semrush Copilot, make sure you have a Semrush project set up. 

Main Use Cases

• Technical SEO Checkup: Identifying technical issues that may be hindering your site's performance
• Keyword Opportunities: Discovering untapped keywords with high potential to drive targeted traffic
• Competitor Analysis: Monitoring competitors' rankings and strategies to stay one step ahead
• Backlink Health: Assessing the quality of your backlink profile and identifying opportunities for improvement
• Content Optimization: Providing insights to enhance content for better visibility and engagement
• Visibility Tracking: Keeping an eye on visibility changes and helping to address any drops

Price

Semrush Copilot is free with every level of Semrush subscription. 

Getting the Most Out of AI SEO Software

AI SEO software tools aren’t a direct substitute for human-generated content. Human involvement in the content creation process is needed to maintain high-quality standards.

Why?

AI can access data quickly. But it doesn’t always accurately cite sources or understand context, nuance, and subjective factors that content creation requires. 

Marketing tech founder Nate Materson shared an example of how AI-created content initially worked for a company but later saw diminishing performance. 

The charts in the example show how organic traffic and keyword rankings dropped off:

The takeaway is clear: AI SEO tools should complement human content creation. Keep this in mind as you incorporate AI SEO tools.

A Ticket to SEO Success

We covered the 10 best AI SEO tools to help marketers and SEO professionals optimize their content, analyze their competitors’ strategies, and plan their own strategies with data-driven insights. 

As each tool has its strengths and limitations, by integrating multiple tools, you can gain a more holistic understanding of your website’s performance and pinpoint areas that require enhancement.