The 4 best content optimization tools in 2025

Content optimization tools help identify and add related keywords, improve readability, focus on quality, update meta information, and link to external and internal sources, so you can create high-ranking, search- and LLM-friendly content.

If you're looking for an AI-powered content optimization tool to help you create content that best answers search queries in detail—or take your existing content to the next level—you've come to the right place.

I considered and researched more than 50 apps and did in-depth testing on the top contenders to narrow it down to these four SEO content optimization tools.

The best content optimization tools

• Clearscope for producing highly relevant content

• Dashword for ease of use

• SE Ranking for working in an all-in-one SEO platform

• PageOptimizer Pro for affordable accuracy

What makes the best content optimization software?

There are plenty of lists of the best content optimization tools, so what makes this one different? For starters, many of those lists become intertwined with tools masquerading as content optimizers or with AI writing generators. Here, I'm focused on AI-powered content optimization tools that use the best natural language processing models and proprietary technology to underpin their recommendations for how to make your content stand out in search results.

Also: I didn't just read these apps' marketing materials and customer reviews. I spent dozens of hours researching and testing the best AI-powered content optimization tools.

When reviewing these apps, I signed up for each one, got to grips with its workflow, and ran a test on the keyword "best SEO content optimization tools." I checked to see what recommendations the tools made for a new piece of content and also tested it against an older version of this article.

As I was testing the apps, here's what I was looking for:

• Ease of use. Is the content optimization software easy to use without requiring a Master's in data science? When you're optimizing content, you want something relatively straightforward. Any apps that were confusing, hard to decipher, or difficult to read were eliminated.    

• The ability to build and share content briefs and outlines. Content optimization isn't always a solo effort. You often need to share outlines and briefs with external stakeholders like writers and editors without paying for extra user seats.    

• A solid content editor. At the heart of any content optimization workflow, you need a robust content editor where you can write or update content. Some tools provide Google Docs extensions if you prefer to work in that environment.   

• Content grading/scoring metrics. Your content optimization tools should offer a high-level content scoring or grading system that shows your target and actual scores in real-time, so you know how you're progressing. 

• AI technology in the background. When I say AI, I don't mean generative AI. I mean software that uses natural language processing and machine learning to provide actionable recommendations to optimize your content.

• SEO and GEO capabilities. The shift to GEO (generative engine optimization) is well underway, so it's important that your content optimization tool enables you to optimize for both traditional search engines and LLMs, AI search, and agentic search.

• Integrations with your content workflow. Content optimization is just one part of the content creation process, so you need a tool that integrates with your CMS, and ideally other tools in your workflow as well.  

Overall, I whittled the list down from over 50 possibilities to the four best content optimization tools.

The best content optimization tools at a glance

Best SEO content optimization tool for producing highly relevant content

Clearscope

Clearscope pros:

• Feature-rich

• Shareable brief templates

Clearscope cons:

• More expensive compared to most comparable alternatives

Clearscope helps you produce content that's highly relevant to what people are searching for. The AI-powered platform uses advanced NLP models from IBM Watson, Google, and OpenAI to analyze the top 30 to 40 search results and build topic models from the data.

The content editor uses Clearscope's scoring metrics—Content Grade, WordCount, and Readability—to improve the quality of your content as you work your way through the three tabs:

• The Terms tab highlights the key phrases to include, ordered by importance, unused, or headings. For example, it would be more important to add "digital marketing" than "AI content" from the missing terms list for our test article.

• The Research tab suggests themes to cover, questions to address, common citations others have used, and external resources to research. 

• The Outline tab lets you compare what the top 20 pages have included in their headings (H1/H2/H3, etc.), so you can see the page structure. You can also click the link to open the page and see the content in context. 

If you're creating a new piece of content, you can use this information to build a brief for your writers via a shareable link—no need for additional user seats. If you're unsure what to include, use one of the brief templates.

Clearscope also includes a Content Inventory to help you audit, grow, and protect your existing content as it ages. You can take proactive measures to ensure your existing content maintains or increases in important metrics such as Content Grade, clicks, average position, and SEO value with regular content refreshes.

In short, Clearscope does exactly what it says on the tin. You'll know what keywords to include, which questions to answer, how to structure the article, how long to make it, and how it compares to the top competitors. The Clearscope team is getting set to launch 2.0, which will focus more on GEO and AI. The update will expand Clearscope's feature set to include the full content lifecycle and bring a new focus on optimizing for LLMs and AI agents.

Clearscope pricing: The Essentials plan costs $189/month. There are also custom pricing options for Business and Enterprise plans if you need advanced functionality for larger teams.

Best content optimization tool for ease of use

Dashword

Dashword pros:

• Extremely easy to use

• Real-time updates of scores as you write and edit

Dashword cons:

• Reports can sometimes take longer to generate than other tools

Dashword's refreshingly easy-to-use interface shows you only what you need to improve—rather than bamboozling you with unwanted data.

After running a keyword report, you can create a content brief in minutes. Inside the brief generator, simply click on the item you want to add from several sources, including competitors, FAQs, related keywords, links, and an AI outliner. You can also add your own items and then rearrange things as you want. When it's ready, you can export and share the link with your team so they can access it without needing an account. 

You can write content directly in the content editor or install the Google Docs add-on if you prefer to work there. At the top of the screen, you see the content grade and word count, and as you write or edit, these scores adjust in real-time. You have all the relevant terms to include in the left sidebar, so you can compare how many times you've used them vs. the average. You can also check examples for each term to see how it's used in other content. And if you find an erroneous suggestion, you can "mute" it and "improve" your score. There's also a toggle switch to hide keywords you've used, so you can just focus on what's missing.

Dashword pricing: Start with a free trial with one report; then choose the Startup plan for individuals and small teams at $99/month or the Business plan for organizations requiring more reports and content monitoring from $349/month.

Best content optimization tool in an all-in-one SEO platform

SE Ranking (Content Marketing Platform)

SE Ranking pros:

• All-in-one tool for SEO- and GEO-related tasks

• Easy to remove irrelevant and redundant suggestions

SE Ranking cons:

• Overkill if all you need is content optimization

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform with tools for tracking keyword rankings, analyzing competitors, and checking backlinks. But it also includes a content editor for creating detailed briefs and writing SERP-winning articles using top AI and NLP technologies.

After entering your keyword(s) and choosing your country and language, you can work through the brief settings, choosing which competitors, content parameters, terms, questions, structure, and links to use. For example, you can select the competitors with the best content score or highest word count. This is a helpful way to weed out irrelevant competitors and redundant NLP terms. Also, it's nice and easy to manipulate elements as you build the content structure.

In the editor, you can paste the structure from your brief (or generate a draft with the AI Writer tool). Like the other apps, you'll use the recommendations to increase your overall content score—one of my favorite things about SE Ranking's editor is how clearly it shows how each "improvement" will affect your score, so you can prioritize the most impactful changes. There's also a quality score based on grammar, punctuation, stop-word ratio, and readability.

At any point, you can share the brief or article with external parties via a link. And if you prefer working in Google Docs, you can install the extension and follow the recommendations to edit and optimize your content there. Plus, Zapier lets you connect SE Ranking with thousands of other apps so you can go beyond simple integrations and automate complete content workflows.

SE Ranking pricing: Start with a 14-day free trial; then choose from 3 plans—starting at $52/month (billed annually)—depending on how many articles you want to edit and optimize per month. (Note: If you choose the Essentials plan, you'll also need to purchase the Content Marketing Tool add-on starting at $23.20/month).

Best content optimization tool for affordability and accuracy

PageOptimizer Pro (POP)

PageOptimizer pros:

• Suggested optimization terms are more relevant than some competitors

• Monitor your optimized pages and get alerts when they need updating

PageOptimizer cons:

• Takes slightly longer than other tools to run the initial analysis reports

PageOptimizer Pro (POP) is a powerful suite of tools for SEOs and content teams that helps you create, optimize, and maintain high-performing content for Google with speed and accuracy. 

Whether you're optimizing an existing page or creating a new one, you need to answer a few questions to get the project started, such as domain, URL, and keyword. POP takes about three minutes to work its magic—slightly longer than some of the other tools. But that's more likely down to POP's advanced algorithms based on over 400 tests, combined with AI toolsets, processing over 100 SEO factors to generate a report.

From the report, you can use the AI writer to boost your optimization score or go the manual route. On the latter, the Best Practices pop-up window lists 17 tips on how to get the most out of the software, including not following the recommendations blindly—in other words, making informed decisions.

The report creates a content brief divided into sections for meta title, page title, subheadings, and body. Each section lists the important terms, current usage, and target range. Each is color-coded, plus there's a "Must Use" flag alongside your keyword. There are also indicators for Google NLP and POP NLP next to some terms so that you can differentiate the source suggestion. Unlike some tools I tested, all the suggested terms looked relevant.

POP also makes other recommendations to improve your content, including:

• Page structure: Filters show all/high priority/resolved tips. For example, increase the number of H3 headings on your page by 4, add a FAQ section, add a TOC, and reduce the number of H2 headings. 

• EEAT signals: If your page doesn't include enough of these, you might drop in the search rankings. POP lists what you have and could add, plus what your competitors have.

• Schema: Understand how your page's schema compares to your competitors. You can add items manually or use AI to generate them.

You can pull your existing content from the URL into the main section of the content editor. On the right, you get all the details from the report. You can also add the POP Chrome extension to work in WordPress and Google Docs. And for a $1 one-off fee, you can integrate your own OpenAI API key to produce limitless AI-generated optimized content.

When you've completed your optimization, POP Watchdog will monitor your pages and alert you when something has changed, such as modifications made by competitors or a Google update.

PageOptimizer Pro pricing: Choose from 4 plans, starting at $37/month

Other SEO content optimization options

There were a few other tools that didn't quite make the cut for one reason or another, but I still think they're worth a mention:

• Surfer SEO is a popular tool with content agencies and teams. It includes a customization panel if you want to overrule Surfer's suggestions on competitors, structure, terms, topics, and questions. This is good because some of the recommended suggestions can be a bit flaky, e.g., use "equally important" or "overarching priorities" 1-2 times. Prices start at $79/month, billed annually.

• Semrush (Content Marketing) is a strong alternative to the other all-in-one SEO platforms. The Content Marketing toolkit includes topic research, content templates, an SEO writing assistant, and a generative AI tool called ContentShake. Prices start at $139.95/month for the full SEO platform or $60/month for the Content plan.

• MarketMuse spearheaded the shift from keywords to topic-driven optimization, and the tool includes all the features you need to research, create, and optimize content.

• Content Harmony is an affordable option with a regimented "content workflow" that includes a keyword report, content brief, and content grader. It comes with two different brief templates, or you can save your own to use across the team. I didn't love the brief features and found the initial new workflow generation a bit slow, but it's a capable option at a much more competitive price point than many.

Should you use a content optimization tool?

If you want to give your content the best chance of ranking at the top of the SERPs and appearing in AI queries, you'll find a content optimization tool invaluable. But as with any AI-powered software, you shouldn't accept all the recommendations. You still need to take the time and exercise due diligence to ensure any optimization you make fits the context of your content. Just because a content optimization tool suggests you use the term "project manager" in your article on prioritization doesn't mean you should. If you check the SERPs, you'll probably find a project management software company using the term in its article as it's relevant to them.

Your best bet is to take a few of these tools for a spin and see which one best suits you. Some have a free trial; otherwise, sign up for a month before investing long-term. Whether you're a blogger or a large enterprise, there's a content optimization tool to fit your content operations.

Related reading:

• The best AI grammar checkers and rewording tools

• The best free keyword research tools

• Make your content stand out in the AI writing wave

• The best WordPress SEO plugins

• The best SEO audit tools

• How will AI change SEO?

This article was originally published in July 2023 by David Hartshorne. The most recent update was in August 2025.