MarketMuse

Create the content that counts with MarketMuse.

SEO & Content Tools
★★★★★ 4.6
2013 Founded
11-50 Employees
1000+ Customers
Boston, MA, USA Headquarters

Quick Facts

✓ Free Trial
Starting Price
99
Pricing Model
tiered
Free Trial
7 days
Company Type
acquired

About MarketMuse

MarketMuse is an AI-driven content strategy and intelligence platform built for SEO, content, and digital marketing teams that rely on organic search. The software crawls and analyzes a site’s entire content inventory alongside live SERP data to surface high-value topics, gaps, and quick-win opportunities. Its patented topic modeling and proprietary metrics such as Content Score, Topic Authority, Personalized Difficulty, and Competitive Advantage give marketers an objective way to decide what to write, expand, or prune.

The platform combines several applications into a unified workflow. Topic Navigator and Research reveal related topics, entities, and questions to cover for any keyword, while SERP X-Ray and Heatmap show how competing pages are structured and where they fall short. Content Strategy AI generates cluster-level content plans and prescriptive Content Strategy Documents in minutes, recommending which pages to create or update and why. Detailed content briefs and the Optimize editor then guide writers with in-line recommendations, content scoring, and an embedded generative AI assistant.

Founded in 2013 by Aki Balogh and joined early by co‑founder Jeff Coyle, MarketMuse was one of the first platforms to apply machine learning and natural language processing to content strategy. Over the years the company introduced innovations such as automated content inventories, AI‑driven content plans, a large keyword database through its acquisition of Grepwords, and LLM‑agnostic AI for content generation. In October 2024, MarketMuse entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by Siteimprove, integrating its content intelligence capabilities into a broader suite covering analytics, accessibility, SEO, and cross‑channel advertising.

Today, MarketMuse positions itself as an end‑to‑end content command center for brands, publishers, and agencies that publish at scale. It is best known for deep topical analysis, cluster‑first planning, and high‑quality guidance rather than lightweight keyword suggestions. The platform is used by SEOs, content strategists, editors, writers, and digital managers who need to prioritize limited resources toward content that will actually move rankings and revenue, and who want a more data‑driven alternative to manual audits and spreadsheet‑based planning.

Key Features

AI-powered content inventory that automatically crawls your site to build and refresh a centralized inventory of pages, topics, and page-topic combinations with performance metrics.

Topic Navigator and topic modeling that surface related subtopics, entities, and questions to cover so content is comprehensive around a focus topic.

Proprietary Personalized Difficulty, Topic Authority, Competitive Advantage, and Page Authority scores that estimate how hard it is for your specific domain to rank for a topic and where you have an edge.

SERP X-Ray and SERP Heatmap views that analyze the top-ranking pages for a keyword to reveal structure, term coverage, and competitive gaps you can exploit.

Content Strategy AI and Content Strategy Documents that generate cluster analyses and prescriptive content plans in minutes, recommending exactly what to create and optimize in a topic area.

Automated content brief generator with nine brief types, providing objectives, intent, outline, subheadings, questions to answer, and term coverage guidance for each article.

Optimize editor with in-line topic recommendations, real-time Content Score and Target Score, and an embedded generative AI assistant to outline, expand, summarize, and refine drafts.

Connect application that recommends internal, external, and competitive links with suggested anchor text to build strong topical clusters and improve user navigation.

Competitive content analysis at both page and site level to benchmark competitors' coverage, authority, and clusters and find overlooked opportunities in the market.

Numerical content scoring and quality analysis that benchmark depth and comprehensiveness against the MarketMuse topic model and competing pages.

Multi-language topic models currently supporting English and Spanish, enabling optimization for multiple markets while keeping the UI in English.

Customizable views, filters, and tagging so teams can build saved workflows for different segments, projects, or objectives and quickly shortlist content opportunities.

Robust export and reporting options, including exporting data and briefs to Microsoft Excel, Word, and Google Docs, plus copy-ready HTML for pasting into CMSs like WordPress or HubSpot.

Pros & Cons

👍 Pros

  • Delivers strong SEO gains by helping users identify topic gaps, structure content around clusters, and systematically improve rankings for important keywords.
  • Content briefs and the Optimize editor give writers clear guidance on structure, topical coverage, and target content scores, improving quality and consistency across teams.
  • Proprietary metrics like Content Score, Topic Authority, and Personalized Difficulty provide objective, data-driven insight into which pages and topics to prioritize.
  • Users frequently praise MarketMuse for reducing manual research time, replacing spreadsheet-heavy audits with automated inventories and AI-generated plans.
  • Customer success and support are described as responsive, knowledgeable, and proactive in helping teams onboard and get value from advanced features.
  • Particularly effective for refreshing and expanding existing content, with many reviewers citing noticeable improvements in organic traffic and keyword rankings after optimization.

👎 Cons

  • Pricing is significantly higher than many competing SEO and content tools, making it challenging for freelancers and very small teams to justify.
  • The interface and depth of data can feel overwhelming, especially for users without a strong SEO background, leading to a notable learning curve.
  • Some reviewers report occasional slowness, crashes, or frustrating authentication flows when working in the Optimize editor or logging in.
  • Native integrations and plugins are more limited than some competitors, so workflows often still rely on exporting data and copy-pasting into CMSs.
  • Trial and free plan limitations mean it can be hard for some prospects to fully test premium capabilities before committing.

User Reviews

G2
4.6
★★★★★
Capterra
4.6
★★★★★
TrustRadius
9.2
★★★★★

Integrations

Ahrefs Asana Blackboard Brightspace Canvas ContentKing Copyscape Cornerstone OnDemand Docebo Google Analytics Grammarly HubSpot Jira Microsoft Teams Moodle Screaming Frog Slack Trello Zapier Zoom Acrolinx WordPress Google Docs Microsoft Word

Best For

Company Size

smb mid-market enterprise

Industries

SaaS Technology Media & Publishing E-commerce Digital Agencies

Use Cases

SEO content strategy and topic cluster planning Auditing and optimizing existing content to improve rankings Identifying content gaps and building data-driven editorial roadmaps Creating detailed content briefs for in-house writers and freelancers Planning and maintaining content clusters and internal linking structures Monitoring content performance and prioritizing refreshes based on authority and difficulty

FAQ

What is MarketMuse?

+

MarketMuse is an AI-powered content strategy and optimization platform that analyzes your website's content and live search results to identify high-value topics, content gaps, and quick-win opportunities. It generates topic models, content plans, briefs, and in-editor optimization guidance so SEO and content teams can create comprehensive, authoritative content that ranks better and drives more organic traffic.

How much does MarketMuse cost?

+

MarketMuse uses a tiered pricing model. There is a Free plan with limited queries and no inventory, followed by paid Optimize, Research, and Strategy plans that start around $99 per month and scale based on users, tracked topics, and the volume of content briefs and strategy documents you need. Enterprise and custom Siteimprove bundle pricing are available by contacting sales, and a short free trial of premium features is typically offered.

What are the main features of MarketMuse?

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Key MarketMuse features include automated content inventories, Topic Navigator and topic modeling, proprietary metrics such as Content Score and Personalized Difficulty, SERP X-Ray and Heatmap analysis, Content Strategy AI documents, an AI-powered content brief generator, the Optimize editor with in-line recommendations and generative AI, the Connect internal linking tool, and export options to Excel, Word, Google Docs, and common CMS workflows.

Who are MarketMuse's main competitors?

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The main competitors and alternatives to MarketMuse in the SEO content and optimization space include Surfer SEO, Clearscope, Frase, Scalenut, SearchAtlas, and broader SEO platforms such as Semrush or Conductor. These tools vary in focus from real-time drafting assistance to full SEO suites, whereas MarketMuse emphasizes deep topical analysis and content strategy.

Is MarketMuse good for small businesses?

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MarketMuse can be valuable for small businesses that rely heavily on organic search and publish content regularly, but its pricing and complexity are often better suited to growing SMBs, agencies, and mid-market or enterprise teams. Solo creators and very small businesses may start with the Free or lowest paid tier to test the workflow but might find more budget-friendly, lightweight tools sufficient if they only need basic keyword research or simple optimization.

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