8 Powerful SEO AI Tools and Their Top Features
Written by Yongi BarnardIn collaboration with Semrush
AI tools can be incredibly useful in scaling your SEO efforts.
At Backlinko, we use SEO AI software to support our content marketing activities alongside our team of expert SEO strategists, writers, and editors.
These tools assist us with various tasks. From keyword research to content optimization.
Want to integrate artificial intelligence into your SEO toolkit, too? We’ve tested several options on the market.
Here are our top eight picks for SEO AI tools.
What Is the Best AI SEO Software?
- ChatGPT – Best overall AI SEO tool
- Semrush – Best for customized SEO insights
- MarketMuse – Best for content strategy
- Frase – Best for content optimization
- Shopify Magic – Best for ecommerce SEO
- Yext – Best for voice search optimization
- Alli AI – Best for technical SEO optimization
- Localo – Best for local SEO
#1 ChatGPT
Best AI SEO tool overall
ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model that simulates human-like interactions using advanced machine learning.
It’s basically the Swiss Army Knife of AI tools. Beginners can use it to automate content creation, from metadata to web copy. And advanced users can leverage it for many SEO tasks, such as analyzing the SERPs to create detailed content outlines.
Here’s a look at the SEO tasks ChatGPT can handle:
Create Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
ChatGPT can generate optimized title tags and meta descriptions for your webpages in seconds.
The way it works is simple. You describe what you want the tool to do (called a “prompt”). And it generates the content for you.
When using SEO AI tools, your prompt can affect the quality of your results. That’s why it’s important to provide specific direction.
Like this:
You are an SEO expert. Create 20 unique SEO-friendly title tags for the keyword [INSERT KEYWORD], each under 60 characters. Remember to include the keyword in each title.
Use these title tags from Google’s top 10 as inspiration:
[INSERT LIST OF TITLES]
ChatGPT will give you a list of 20 title tags based on your criteria.
Choose the one that best suits your article.
You’ll follow the same steps for asking ChatGPT to create meta descriptions. But you’ll need to edit your prompt a bit.
Like this:
You are an SEO expert. Create 20 unique SEO-friendly meta descriptions for the keyword [ADD KEYWORD]. You must limit the length of each meta description to 100-155 characters. Remember to include the keyword in each description.
Use these meta descriptions from Google’s top 10 ranking sites as inspiration:
[INSERT LIST OF DESCRIPTIONS]
ChatGPT will generate various options for you to choose from based on the top-ranking articles for your keyword. Edit them as needed before publishing them on your website.
Generate Content Outlines
ChatGPT can generate detailed content outlines that include all the topics and subtopics readers expect to find when searching for a specific keyword.
Enabling you to scale content creation. And potentially improve your rankings.
While ChatGPT can automatically create the outline without much input, providing it with more information will give you better results.
First, you’ll need to copy the subheadings (H1 through H4) from the top 10 articles ranking on Google. There are browser extensions that automate this task. Such as Header Tags Copier and Header Scraper.
Then, use the following prompt:
I will give you a list of headings and subheadings from the top 10 Google articles ranking for the keyword [ADD KEYWORD]. Examine the patterns and variations.
Your task:
- Identify common headings across these articles for an SEO content brief.
- Propose unique headings that cater to search intent but are less common among the articles.
- Structure these headings in a clear outline, using an inverted pyramid format to emphasize the most critical information first.
Here is the list of headings and subheadings:
[ADD THE LIST OF HEADINGS]
ChatGPT will then structure your outline. And recommend everything from an H1 (article title) to subheadings (H2 through H4) to keep your readers engaged.
With this initial groundwork, you’re well on your way to creating an effective content outline for your SEO content brief.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Speed up your content workflow with SEO-optimized first drafts. | The content ChatGPT generates may not always be accurate. You need to fact-check to ensure accuracy. |
| Get recommendations on how to refresh existing content for better search engine rankings. |
Pricing
ChatGPT offers different pricing for individuals and businesses.
Individuals:
- Free: Unlimited GPT-3.5 interactions. Limited access to GPT-4o.
- Plus: $20/month. Includes access to GPT-4, GPT-4o, GPT-3.5, DALL-E, browsing, and more.
Businesses:
- Team: $30/user/month. Includes higher caps for all tools. Team data is excluded from training by default.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for unlimited tool access. And priority support.
#2 Semrush
Best for customized SEO insights
Semrush is a comprehensive digital marketing platform with a suite of SEO tools.
The tools combine AI and SEO to provide insights into your website’s health, keyword performance, and more. And actionable fixes to help you address any issues.
Get Faster SEO Insights
Semrush Copilot is an AI dashboard assistant that provides personalized insights and alerts for your website based on your Semrush data.
This includes pages with low text-to-HTML ratios, keywords that have slipped in rankings, and new backlink opportunities.
Copilot analyzes six Semrush SEO reports. Including Position Tracking, Keyword Gap, and Organic Search. And alerts you to successes and areas of improvement.
Like keyword ranking spikes. And new competitors to keep an eye on.
Copilot also sends you daily actionable insights. Such as new keyword opportunities, link-building ideas, and visibility trends.
For example, when Copilot monitors your Site Audit report, it alerts you to technical issues that need your attention. Like missing H1 tags and 4xx errors.
It also explains the implications if you don’t take action.
And then suggests how to fix any issues.
This saves you time since Copilot interprets the data for you and translates it into actionable insights.
So you can spend less time analyzing results. And more time optimizing your website.
Automate Content Writing
Semrush’s ContentShake AI is a content writing tool that uses AI and competitive data analysis to streamline the content creation process.
- Generates article ideas by analyzing keywords and competitive data
- Writes SEO-optimized articles with images included
- Edits your content for readability. And optimizes it for SEO.
- Recommends topics to cover based on trending issues within your niche
Let’s see how it helps you write a first draft.
Open the tool and click “Settings.” ContentShake AI will ask you to describe your business. Or the type of content you want to create.
Then, the tool will generate content ideas based on your specifications.
If you already have a topic in mind, enter it into the “My Own Idea” section.
And ContentShake AI will generate a draft for you.
ContentShake AI recommends improvements to content based on top-ranking Google results for your target keyword. Including article titles, introductions, and images.
This allows you to use high-ranking competitor content as inspiration to make your article even better.
Side note: Consider AI-generated content a starting point for your content creation process. Edit for quality, accuracy, expert knowledge, and brand voice. This will help you create AI-supported articles that provide real value to your readers.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Semrush Copilot is ideal for managing multiple websites, allowing you to quickly identify and address critical issues. Before they affect rankings. | Copilot’s search data integration is still in beta. |
| ContentShake AI helps you write optimized articles that follow SEO best practices. | ContentShake AI’s customization is somewhat limited. For example, the tone of voice settings are restricted to five options. |
Pricing
All paid Semrush subscriptions include Copilot and ContentShake AI at no additional cost. This includes three Content Shake AI topic ideas per week, three articles per month, and more.
If you need to generate more articles, ContentShake AI Pro is $60 per month. It includes 25 new content ideas per week and unlimited articles.
Semrush subscription pricing plans include:
- Free: Access to Pro and Guru Plans. Limited features and tools.
- Pro: $139.95/month. For beginners and small teams. Track up to 500 keywords and manage five projects.
- Guru: $249.95/month. For agencies and medium-sized businesses. Track up to 1,500 keywords and manage 15 projects.
- Business: $499.95/month. For large agencies and enterprises. Track up to 5,000 keywords and manage 40 projects.
Additionally, Semrush’s free trial lets you try its wide range of AI and SEO tools for 14 days.
#3 MarketMuse
Best for content strategy
MarketMuse is AI-powered software for planning, writing, and optimizing website content.
It uses advanced AI and machine learning to help you optimize topic clusters and individual page performance. MarketMuse is especially useful for managing a content marketing team. And scaling content creation.
Let’s look at its top two AI features.
Streamline Content Management
MarketMuse’s AI helps automate content planning and creation by first analyzing your site’s authority.
Then, it provides customized AI-powered recommendations to optimize your strengths and address challenges. Including identifying underexplored keywords based on the content your site already ranks for.
This allows you to discover keyword opportunities that align with your site’s unique content framework.
MarketMuse’s AI can also automate the content audit process, greatly reducing manual tasks.
Get helpful insights, such as which topic clusters need more subpages. And which articles require a full update versus those that need only minor adjustments for potential quick wins.
MarketMuse’s AI can also help you with the content creation process.
The tool generates a first draft, which you can refine or expand based on your research and expertise. You can also regenerate sections as needed.
Throughout the writing process, you’ll get real-time, AI-based suggestions to optimize your content for SEO.
With all your content management needs centralized in one platform, your process becomes significantly quicker and more efficient.
Create Content Briefs Faster
MarketMuse can also help you build detailed content briefs. For both existing and new content.
The AI tool first analyzes thousands of pages online to create briefs that include essential SEO elements. Such as optimized titles, recommended word counts, structured subheadings, and questions to answer.
Whether you’re managing content production for multiple agency clients or creating briefs for your business blog, MarketMuse can help speed up the content creation process. And ensure your content follows SEO best practices.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easily identify existing pages with high-ranking potential that you can quickly optimize. | It’s expensive. Especially for agencies that need unlimited queries and briefs. |
| Minimize extensive rewrites by using one software for the entire content marketing process. From ideation to optimization. |
Pricing
MarketMuse offers four pricing plans:
- Free: Limited SEO analysis. 10 queries per month. Seven-day trial available with the Standard Plan.
- Standard: $149/month. 100 queries per month.
- Team: $399/month. Unlimited queries and briefs.
- Premium: Custom pricing
#4 Frase
Best for content optimization
Frase is an AI tool that helps you research, write, and optimize content. It uses Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and natural language processing (NLP) to suggest relevant keywords and analyze competitors.
Let’s take a look at how Frase’s tools, The AI Article Wizard and the in-editor Writing Assistant, automate content writing with the help of artificial intelligence.
Get an Optimized First Draft
Frase’s AI Article Wizard helps you write a first draft based on your target keyword. Enter your search query to get step-by-step prompts for creating targeted content.
Start by working on the title.
Frase gives you the option to write your own. Or choose from one of the AI-generated suggestions.
It also suggests related topics to include in your blog posts. Based on semantic SEO factors.
Frase then automatically generates an outline that includes topics related to your keyword.
Provide customized instructions for each heading to direct the AI on tailoring the content for each section.
This collaborative approach means that the final draft is a blend of your insights and AI recommendations. Which helps to speed up content creation while maintaining quality.
Generate SEO-Friendly Copy
Frase’s AI tool, the in-editor Writing Assistant, helps you brainstorm article content. Like intros, subsections, FAQs, copywriting formulas, and more.
This is especially helpful if you already have an outline. And want to generate content for it section by section.
Access this feature through the AI Tools menu.
Tell the tool the specific topic for each section, and it will write up to 150 words of content. Add your target keywords, and the tool will incorporate them.
Click “Write more” to expand the length.
Once you’re satisfied with the result, proceed to the next section. By adjusting the Writing Assistant’s settings to match the topic of the new section.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Frase’s AI tools help you brainstorm content ideas and create optimized content for your blog, website, and more. | Writing full articles is slower than other AI writing tools like ChatGPT. |
| Compare your article and keywords to what’s already ranking on Google to increase your ranking potential. |
Pricing
Frase offers four pricing plans:
- Free trial: For one user and one search query
- Solo: $15/month. For one user and up to 10 search queries.
- Basic: $45/month. For one user and up to 30 search queries.
- Team: $115/month. For three users with unlimited search queries.
All users have access to the Writing Assistant. But, access to the AI Article Wizard costs an extra $35/month. For up to 30 AI articles/month.
#5 Shopify Magic
Best for ecommerce
Shopify is an ecommerce platform for online stores. All stores come with Shopify Magic, a suite of AI-powered tools.
These tools help online store owners quickly create content for various aspects of their business. Including emails, live chats, and product pages.
Let’s focus on its top AI feature for SEO.
Generate Product Descriptions Automatically
Shopify Magic generates optimized product descriptions automatically.
To use it, enter your target keywords and key product features. And Shopify Magic will create SEO-friendly descriptions.
Let’s say you need a product description for one of your client’s products: “castware iron pans.”
Click the Shopify Magic icon. Then, add the keyword and the product features, such as:
“castware iron pans, pre-seasoned, 3-set, handles, non-toxic, smooth finish”
Select a tone of voice that matches your brand’s identity. Options include “expert,” “daring,” and “persuasive.”
If these don’t fit, choose “custom” for more flexibility.
Shopify Magic will then suggest a product description based on your input.
Use it as is. Or edit to suit your needs.
If the generated description isn’t accurate, you can provide additional instructions to create a new version.
Rephrase, extend, or simplify the product description. To add more depth. Or improve clarity.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Access Shopify Magic with one click in the Shopify ecosystem. At no additional cost. | Has limited language support. |
| You can use the tool to create content for all Shopify pages, including the homepage, about page, chatbots, and emails. |
Pricing
Shopify Magic is a free feature that is integrated into all Shopify subscriptions.
Shopify offers four pricing plans.
- Basic: $39/month. Or $29/month with annual payment. Ideal for solo entrepreneurs.
- Shopify: $105/month. Or $79/month with annual payment. Ideal for small teams.
- Advanced: $399/month. Or $299/month with annual payment. Ideal for businesses ready to scale.
- Plus: Starts at $2,300/month. Tailored for complex businesses, with a three-year term.
#6 Yext
Best for voice search optimization
Yext is one of the best digital marketing tools for businesses with multiple locations.
It excels at local search optimization. Making it ideal for voice search.
Why?
Because voice searches are often for local information.
So, using Yext to improve your local SEO can also increase your chances of appearing in voice searches.
Let’s look at one of its AI features.
Create Standalone SEO-Optimized Landing Pages
With Yext Pages, you can quickly create landing pages that answer your target customers’ common questions. About your industry, brand, or products.
The AI tool helps create content for these pages using information from Yext Content—formerly Knowledge Graph—where you can add and update your business’s information.
Use Yext to add schema markup to your content, improving search engine understanding and visibility.
And enrich the landing page content with photos, videos, and detailed descriptions. To enhance your content’s quality and engagement potential.
These pages are hosted within Yext. Outside your or your client’s CMS.
This setup simplifies the design and publishing process.
And allows you to create SEO-optimized content without relying on client-side development resources.
This results in faster turnaround times and greater flexibility. Making it a great tool for agencies with tight deadlines.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Create support pages quickly with insights from Yext. Which are based on user search queries on your site. | Yext has a lot of unique terminology, like “Knowledge Tags” or “Entities.”
Which can make it challenging to train new employees. |
| Add custom schema.org markup to your pages even without technical knowledge. |
Pricing
Yext offers different pricing plans for enterprises, single-location small businesses, and reseller partners.
Packages for reseller partners
The reseller package is the best option for agency owners. Or Yext partners who resell Yext solutions directly to their clients.
All pricing is customized. And not pre-listed.
The plans are:
- Base: Access to Yext’s headless CMS
- Starter: Includes all “Base” features plus visibility and engagement tools like Geocoding and Knowledge API
- Professional: Includes all Starter features. Brand reputation and customer feedback management tools. Most popular option.
- Ultimate: Includes the most advanced features for competitive intelligence and maximizing online discoverability
#7 Alli AI
Best for technical SEO optimization
Alli AI is an AI-powered SEO optimization tool designed for agencies and teams that automates technical and on-page SEO optimization.
It analyzes your website and detects SEO issues. Such as missing canonical tags and meta descriptions. And automatically resolve them with a single click.
Let’s take a closer look at this key feature.
Resolve On-Page and Technical SEO Issues
Alli AI crawls your site. And identifies on-page and technical SEO issues.
The tool reports problems like missing image alt text, titles, and H1 tags. It can also generate schema markup, automate internal linking, and optimize page speed.
Once issues are detected, Alli AI gives targeted recommendations for each error, which you can approve individually. Or in bulk.
You can also authorize Alli AI to fix all identified issues for you with a click of a button.
With this AI-driven on-page optimization, you can save hours of manual SEO work. And ensure your website stays optimized.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Implement SEO best practices with minimal effort. | You need some technical SEO knowledge to ensure you’re approving changes that align with best practices. |
Pricing
Alli AI offers three pricing plans:
- Business: $299/month for up to five sites and five team members. Includes AI features like JSON-LD schemas, AI meta descriptions, and AI meta titles.
- Agency: $599/month for up to 15 sites and 15 team members. Includes daily crawl intervals, API access, and AI features similar to the Business plan but with higher caps.
- Enterprise: $1,199/month for up to 50 sites and 50 team members. Similar AI features as the other plans but with the highest caps.
All plans include a 10-day free trial.
#8 Localo
Best for local SEO
Localo provides the tools you need to dominate local search and improve your business ranking on Google Maps. It also helps you optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) using AI-powered features.
Increase Google Maps Visibility
Localo boosts your visibility on Google Maps. It analyzes your Google Business Profile and compares it with your competitors.
The tool then gives you weekly optimization tasks like creating a post. Or responding to a customer query.
The suggested tasks help improve your profile for keywords relevant to your target audience. And help you maintain your local SEO rankings.
Localo’s AI further supports your SEO efforts by generating optimized content automatically.
The tool suggests article topics and generates content so you can quickly respond to reviews. It also provides recommendations for answering customer questions.
With these AI-powered features, you can focus on delivering great customer experiences. While Localo makes it fast and easy to update, manage, and optimize your presence on Google.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Regularly monitor your Google Business Profile and track local rankings minus the manual work. | The Free and Growth plans limit the number of daily posts and photos.
This can be prohibitive if you want to share more content daily. |
Pricing
Localo offers three pricing plans:
- Free Plan: Free for a single business profile
- Growth: $29/month per location. Unlimited business profile protection.
- Agency: $99/month per 4 locations. Includes tools for agencies including white-label mode. And business position reports for sales departments.
Ready to Start Using AI SEO Software? Here are Our Top 2 Picks
Two AI SEO tools stand out for scaling your SEO optimization efforts.
1. ChatGPT
The SEO tasks you can perform with ChatGPT are only limited by your imagination and skills.
It’s ideal for making your SEO workflow more efficient. From optimizing outlines to generating title tags.
You’ll need to learn prompt engineering for the best results, especially for its advanced features. But if you’re willing to do that, it will save you lots of time and resources on your SEO campaigns.
2. Semrush
Semrush offers a comprehensive SEO toolset that gives you the insights you need to rank your website highly on search engines.
Its AI Copilot speeds up access to these insights.
This enables you to manage multiple projects and client websites easily. It also helps you quickly identify tasks that need your immediate attention. This way, you can allocate resources and respond to issues before they escalate.
Your Next Step
Ready to get started with AI SEO tools?
Check out our detailed guide on using ChatGPT for SEO, including how to write better prompts.