SurferSEO

Boost organic traffic, improve rankings, and grow your business with Surfer's content optimization workflow.

SEO & Content Tools
★★★★★ 4.7
2017 Founded
51-200 Employees
150,000+ Customers
Wrocław, Dolnośląskie, Poland Headquarters

Quick Facts

Starting Price
79
Pricing Model
tiered
Company Type
private

About SurferSEO

SurferSEO, commonly branded simply as Surfer, is a content intelligence and SEO platform that unifies content strategy, creation, and optimization into a single workflow. The product is built around a data-driven Content Editor that analyzes hundreds of on-page signals from top-ranking pages and turns them into practical guidelines writers can follow while they draft. On top of that, Surfer bundles AI-assisted writing, topical research, and continuous content auditing, so teams can move from keyword ideas to optimized, published pages without stitching together multiple tools.

Beyond classic on‑page SEO, Surfer has invested heavily in AI-native capabilities. Its Surfer AI writer, Surfy AI assistant, AI Humanizer and Detector, Content Audit, Topical Map, and Rank Tracker are designed to help users generate rank-ready copy, keep existing articles fresh, and systematically build topical authority. More recently, Surfer launched AI Tracker, an add‑on that monitors how often brands are cited or mentioned inside AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews, giving marketers visibility into a new layer of "AI search" performance.

The company behind Surfer was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Wrocław, Dolnośląskie, Poland. It has grown to roughly 90+ employees and positions itself as an independent, for‑profit SaaS vendor focused on content-driven SEO. Various third‑party datasets and directories list Surfer in the 51–200 employee band, with estimated annual revenue in the mid‑eight‑figure range. signalhire.com

Surfer reports that more than 150,000 content creators, SEOs, agencies, and in‑house teams use the platform across over 150 countries, including well‑known brands like ClickUp, Shopify, Square, Bolt, FedEx, Lenovo, Opera and FreshBooks. The tool typically sits alongside suites such as Semrush or Ahrefs, which cover technical SEO and backlink intelligence, while Surfer specializes in on‑page optimization, AI‑assisted content workflows and emerging AI search visibility.

Key Features

Content Editor - real-time SEO content editor with live Content Score, keyword suggestions, and structural recommendations based on top-ranking pages.

Surfer AI article generator - creates long-form, ready-to-rank articles using SERP, topical, and brand-knowledge data.

Topical Map - discovers keyword clusters and content topics at the domain or topic level to build topical authority and content roadmaps.

Keyword Research - explores search demand, difficulty, and related terms to plan content and generate clusters around user intent.

Content Audit / Sites - combines Google Search Console and SERP data to monitor existing pages, flag declines, and pipe pages into Content Editor for re-optimization.

AI Tracker add-on - tracks how often your brand and pages are cited in AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, with prompt-level visibility.

SERP Analyzer & Auto-Optimize - analyzes SERP competitors and offers one-click content optimization runs to close gaps on entities, headings, and structure.

Auto Internal Links - automatically discovers and inserts relevant internal links from your domain into new or refreshed articles.

AI Humanizer & AI Detector - detects AI-generated text and rewrites it to sound more natural and human while keeping SEO signals intact.

Rank Tracker add-on - daily rank tracking for selected keywords, with trends and competitor comparisons, integrated into the broader Surfer workflow.

Collaboration tools - multi-user editing, comments, tagging, and version history so writers, editors, and SEOs can work in the same editor.

WordPress plugin & Google Docs Chrome extension - bring Surfer's Content Score and guidelines directly into popular writing and CMS environments.

Free Chrome extension (Keyword Surfer) - surfaces search volumes and keyword ideas directly in Google search and supports ChatGPT workflows.

Surfer Academy & certifications - built-in training programs, webinars, and courses to standardize SEO content workflows across teams.

Pros & Cons

👍 Pros

  • User-friendly interface and onboarding that make complex on-page SEO and content optimization approachable for non-experts.
  • Powerful Content Editor and Content Score with granular, SERP-based entity and keyword recommendations that help close gaps versus top-ranking competitors.
  • Combines keyword research, topical maps, audits, AI writing, and rank tracking in a single workflow-focused platform, reducing the need for multiple tools.
  • AI features like Surfer AI, Surfy assistant, and Auto-Optimize significantly speed up drafting and optimization while staying aligned with SEO guidelines.
  • Highly rated customer support and extensive education (Surfer Academy, webinars, documentation) that help teams operationalize a consistent SEO content process.

👎 Cons

  • Tiered pricing and credit-based limits for Content Editor and AI features can feel expensive or restrictive for freelancers and very small teams.
  • Over-focusing on achieving a high Content Score or exact keyword counts can encourage over-optimization and less natural writing if users do not apply editorial judgment.
  • AI-generated output and the AI Humanizer sometimes feel generic or need substantial manual editing, especially for technical or very niche subject matter.
  • Guidance may be less useful for topics with limited SERP competition or mixed search intent, where there are few strong reference pages for the algorithm to learn from.

User Reviews

G2
4.8
★★★★★
Capterra
4.9
★★★★★
TrustRadius
8.9
★★★★★

Integrations

Google Docs WordPress Google Search Console Semrush ChatGPT Zapier Google Sheets Slack Google Drive Google Forms Shopify Notion Airtable Facebook Lead Ads ClickUp YouTube Contentful ActiveCampaign monday.com

Best For

Company Size

smb mid-market enterprise

Industries

Marketing & Advertising SaaS & Technology E-commerce & Retail Media & Publishing Professional Services

Use Cases

On-page SEO optimization for blog posts, landing pages, and knowledge base content. Data-driven content planning and topical mapping across entire domains or product lines. AI-assisted long-form content creation and briefing for in-house writers and freelancers. Refreshing and auditing existing content at scale based on GSC and SERP data. Tracking brand visibility and citations across AI search and LLM-generated answers.

FAQ

What is SurferSEO?

+

SurferSEO (Surfer) is an AI-powered content intelligence and on-page SEO platform that helps marketers, writers, and agencies plan, write, and optimize content. It analyzes top-ranking pages for a given keyword, generates guidelines around structure, entities, and word count, and provides tools like Surfer AI, Content Editor, Topical Map, Content Audit, Rank Tracker, and AI Tracker to manage the full lifecycle of SEO content.

How much does SurferSEO cost?

+

Surfer offers three main plans. Essential starts at $99/month or $79/month when billed annually, Scale costs $219/month or $175/month annually with significantly higher limits and added features, and Enterprise starts from $999/month billed annually with custom limits, SSO, API, whitelabeling, and strategic support. Optional add-ons like AI Tracker and extra AI credits are priced separately. surferseo.com

What are the main features of SurferSEO?

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Core features include the Content Editor with live Content Score, Surfer AI for generating rank-ready articles, Topical Map and Keyword Research for planning, Content Audit for monitoring and refreshing existing pages, Auto-Optimize and Auto Internal Links for one-click improvements, AI Detector and Humanizer, Surfy AI writing assistant, Rank Tracker, and the AI Tracker add-on that measures brand visibility inside tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews.

Who are SurferSEO's main competitors?

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Surfer competes with other content optimization platforms like Clearscope, Frase, and MarketMuse, as well as broader SEO suites such as Semrush and Ahrefs that offer keyword research, backlink data, and technical audits. Many teams use Surfer alongside one of these all-in-one SEO tools, relying on Surfer primarily for AI-assisted content workflows and on-page optimization.

Is SurferSEO good for small businesses?

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Yes. The Essential plan is designed for solo marketers, freelancers, and small teams who produce a steady stream of SEO content and want clear, SERP-based guidance without hiring a full-time SEO specialist. However, the monthly price and credit limits can feel high for very small or low-volume publishers; in those cases, occasional use or pairing Surfer with lighter-weight tools may be more cost-effective.

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