Getting your content to rank high is every marketer's dream.
Top that off with quality traffic, clicks, and leads — and you’re on your way to SEO nirvana.
But writing ‘great content’ is just half the battle won. With close to 91% of content getting absolutely no traffic from Google search - there’s a lot at stake here. We’re here to help you quarterback your content with a comprehensive list of must-have content optimization software and tools.
What is a content optimization tool?
Sure enough, we all want to create and roll out epic (read: viral) content. That’s great, but is your content optimized to cut through all the noise and reach a large audience?
That’s where content optimizations tools step in. Consider it to be another essential SEO tool that is built to help you optimize your content and rank higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs).
With Google taking into account over 200 factors in determining search rankings - it’s about time that you up your content marketing game.
Adding to that, according to SEMRush driving in quality leads and traffic along with improving the SEO performance, appears to be the challenges that are topping the charts for most content marketers.
Source: SEMRush
Content optimization tools will help you:
- Ensure that your blog posts have just the right number of top-ranking, relevant keywords
- Write click-worthy title tags and descriptions
- Include appealing images
- Write easily readable content that matches the users’ intent
- Add the right number of internal and external links
Now, before we check out the best tools in the market, let’s look at the benefits that content optimization software has to offer.
How does a content optimization tool help your content marketing team?
For content creators, a content optimization tool is a savior! These tools have got you covered right from the point you start researching your keywords to creating an outline, drafting, polishing, and finally publishing your content.
Let’s quickly break down the immense benefits that content optimization tools bring to the table:
- Build content that matches user intent: Be it for social media, your email campaigns, or blog posts — content optimization tools will help you write exactly what your target audience wants to read.
- Keep your content in check: One of the greatest benefits of content optimization tools is that they help you identify content issues that could hamper your rankings. * With content score and other ranking-based functionalities, content optimization tools will ensure that you’re creating content that will help you gain authority in the search results.
- Grow your organic traffic: When your content efforts are backed by a top-notch content optimization tool, you’ll be given a list of target keywords with high search volume. Incorporating them into your content, will help you out beat the competition and rank higher in the search results.
- Keep up with the search engine updates: Google has had one too many algorithm updates recently and keeping up with them is quite the task. These content optimization tools will help you stay on top of these updates with optimized content.
Top 7 content optimization tools
It’s time to move on to the real deal - here are our top picks when it comes to content optimization tools that will help you create seamless workflows throughout your entire content journey.
Dashword
If you’re on the lookout for a content optimization tool that offers an advanced feature-set at an affordable price - then Dashword is the tool you need!
The basic plan, Hobby starters at $39, and the Professional plan at $249 which gets you 100 reports/month.
The best part? You can start optimizing your content for free (nope, no credit card details required). From discovering key topics and questions that you could address in your content to getting quality feedback on how you can improve your content — Dashboard lets build content that ranks high.
You also get your content graded — Dashword assigns a score that lets you know how well your content compares to your competitors’.
Pros:
- The content editor gives real-time feedback as you type out your content
- A simple tool that is user-friendly and extremely affordable
- The tool lets you make the reports public and share them with external teammates, making it one of the most loved tools for collaboration
- You get a detailed analysis of your content by generating unlimited reports on the professional plan
Cons:
- Generating a report takes a while - up to 2-3 minutes
Clearscope
Clearscope’s features like competitor analysis, keyword research, content grading, etc, helps you write content that is relevant for your users.
Clearscope’s pricing starts at $170 per month and has three different plans (Essentials, Professional, and Enterprise) to offer, based on the needs of your business.
With Clearscope, you get in-app reports or you can even use it as an add-on to Google Docs.
Pros:
- Detailed competitor analysis that lets you view the content score of your competitors
- Advanced artificial intelligence capabilities assign grades on the readability of your content
- Google Doc plugin lets you have immediate access to the tool while keeping all your content work in one place
- Great resources and customer support
Cons:
- Difficult to manage multiple projects at the same time
- Suitable for businesses with larger budgets as it is priced on the higher side
MarketMuse
MarketMuse is a comprehensive SEO tool that lets you evaluate your existing content as well. Your existing content will be assigned content scores and you will also get to know which keywords your content will rank high for.
This tool is ideal for enterprises that need help in rolling out large volumes of content. You can even get ready-made content briefs on the platform if you’re running short of time.
MarketMuse Standard plan starts at $149 per month and their premium plan is at $999 per month.
Pros:
- You get great suggestions for internal and external linking
- The tool evaluates existing content, pits your content with competitors’ content, and assigns difficulty scores
- You get a 7-day free trial that allows unlimited usage
Cons:
- Complex workflows make it a difficult tool to use
- Expensive when compared to other alternatives and their credits are priced too high
SEMRush Writing Assistant
SEMRush Writing Assistant comes as a Google add-on, making it extremely easy for those content creators that use Google Docs day in and out.
The tool is also available on WordPress and is considered to be one of the best tools for beginners.
Pros:
- Provides recommendations in real-time and giving content creators great insights on tweaking their content
- Analyzes the content piece and recommends key areas where you can add relevant search terms
- Ensures that you stick to your brand’s tone and voice across all the content pieces that you create
Cons:
- Does not show how your content ranks when compared to the competitors’ content
- Some of their recommendations are not as effective as the recommendation by the alternative tools
Topic
If you’re looking to save time with your content research process then Topic is the tool for you.
Topic lets you roll out great content by helping you understand what topics to cover and what content your target audience wants to read. The Starter pack is at $99 per month and they charge you $10 per brief.
Pros:
- Great tool for collaboration with external agencies and teammates
- Saves up a lot of time on content research
- You get one-month content brief roll-over
Cons:
- Takes a long time to load
- No functionality for content readability
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO’s content editor lets you optimize content in different languages and for multiple keywords at a time.
The tool also pulls up detailed reports on relevant keywords and their search volume. The pricing for this tool starts at $49.
Pros:
- Alerts you when it detects keyword stuffing in your content piece
- Helps you build great content structures and is very easy-to-use
- Enables detailed keyword research and lets you optimize content in different languages
Cons:
- Not a great tool for team collaboration
- Only a limited number of queries are allowed in a month
Content Harmony
Content Harmony is a content optimization tool built to speed up the content creation process with data-driven brief creation workflows.
The tool helps content teams move fast by enabling them to analyze users’ search intent, discover new ideas, and draft content outlines, a lot quicker than before.
The pricing starts at $99 and they even have custom pricing starting at $1000 per month for enterprises.
Pros:
- Provides detailed and comprehensive content briefs
- Great tool for large content teams
- Enables large-scale keyword search intent analysis
Cons:
- Semantic word association is not very strong
- Steep pricing plans make it more expensive than most of its competitors
Complementary writing tools for content optimization
Now, if you need help in writing content that is enjoyable and keeps your users hooked on — then these writing tools will help you a great deal.
Prowritingaid
If you need help polishing your content and rolling out grammatically correct and engaging content assets then Prowritingaid is your go-to tool!
Whether it is creative writing, business writing, or academic writing, Prowritingaid is built to help you present your content in a style and manner that speaks to your target audience.
InstaText
InstaText is a writing and editing tool that is designed to help writers who are not native English speakers, improve their writing and communicate both effectively and professionally.
Hemingway Editor
Lastly, if you’re looking to make your content more readable - then Hemingway Editor will help you identify and quickly fix the portions of your content that might seem complex and difficult to read.
Ready to optimize your content to the fullest?
If you’re looking to get your content in front of the right people, then taking the help of content optimization tools and writing tools is the best way to go about it.
Dashword was built to help you win the search engine battle with high-ranking content that brings in quality traffic and leads. Get started today for free and unleash the power of optimized content.