Last updated: July 2026. Most “AI for SEO” advice is either magical thinking or a thin wrapper on a keyword tool. What actually works in 2026 is narrower and duller than the pitch: AI is good at research and structure, mediocre at drafting, and dangerous at scale. Here’s what we use and what we’d avoid. Some links are affiliate links; it never changes our picks — disclosure.
What AI is genuinely good at in SEO
- SERP research. Reading what already ranks and extracting the structure, terms and questions — minutes instead of an afternoon.
- Briefs. Turning that research into concrete targets a writer can work from.
- Optimisation scoring. Telling you where a draft is thin against the pages it’s competing with.
- Internal linking. Finding the connections across a site you’ve forgotten you made.
What it isn’t good at
Drafting publishable content. Every AI writer we’ve tested produces something that needs real editing before it’s worth publishing, and shipping the raw output at volume is precisely the pattern that gets sites demoted. The tools below are strongest where they inform your work rather than replace it.
The two we've tested
| Tool | Our score | Best for | From | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Surfer SEO | 8.3/10 | Writers optimizing content to rank. | $59/mo | Expensive for solo |
 Frase | 7.7/10 | Fast SEO research and content briefs. | Paid | Optimizer less refined |
| Scored on | Surfer SEO | Frase |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 7 | 8 |
| Features | 9 | 8 |
| Value | 6 | 8 |
| Performance | 9 | 7 |
Scores are ours, from hands-on use — how we test. Pricing verified Aug 2026; vendors change prices, so check the tool page for the current position.
Surfer SEO — optimisation scoring that’s actually predictive
Surfer scores a draft against the pages currently ranking for your keyword and tells you concretely what’s missing — terms, headings, length. In our experience the content score is genuinely predictive, with one large caveat: when you don’t game it. Writing to the score honestly correlates with results; stuffing terms to hit a number does not, and over-optimising is the failure mode we see most.
The cost is the problem for solo publishers. It’s expensive against one person’s output. If you publish steadily for search it pays back; occasionally, it won’t.
Frase — faster research, cheaper entry
Frase is better value for the research-and-brief half of the job. SERP analysis is fast, and the briefs it produces — headings, questions, terms — are the actual deliverable you hand a writer. Question research from what people actually search is what makes those briefs concrete rather than generic.
Its optimiser is less refined than Surfer’s and the built-in AI writer is average. Use it for research and briefs; don’t expect the draft to carry itself. It’s a close call between the two and it comes down to which half of the job you need.
The data tools we haven’t scored
Keyword and backlink research is a separate category with two obvious names. Ahrefs runs its own crawler, which is why its backlink data is trusted. Semrush is broader, covering paid search and social alongside organic. Clearscope sits alongside Surfer on optimisation, aimed at enterprise editorial teams. We haven’t formally tested any of the three, so they’re listings on this site and carry no score.
A workflow that actually holds up
- Pick the keyword, and check you can realistically compete for it.
- Run SERP research and generate a brief — this is where AI saves the most time.
- Write the draft yourself, or have a human write it from the brief.
- Score it, and fix what’s genuinely missing rather than chasing the number.
- Add internal links deliberately.
- Come back in three months and audit what moved.
The thing we’d warn you about
Publishing AI-drafted content at volume is the single fastest way to damage a site. We’re saying that from the inside: this domain was hit for thin content once, and digging out took removing pages, not adding them. Google’s stated position targets unhelpful content rather than the tool that produced it — but “unhelpful at scale” is exactly what unedited AI output looks like. Fewer, better pages beat more pages, every time.
How we tested
We paid for Surfer and Frase and ran the same three keywords through both: brief generation, drafting against the score, and re-auditing a published page that had slipped. Scores cover ease of use, features, value and performance, with the reasoning on each tool page. Full method: how we test AI tools.
FAQs
Surfer or Frase?
Surfer if you want the strongest on-page optimisation scoring. Frase if you want faster research and briefs at a lower entry price. Genuinely close.
Will Google penalise AI content?
Not for using AI as such. It targets unhelpful content, and unedited AI output published at volume tends to be exactly that. Edit everything.
Can AI do technical SEO?
Partly. Audits are well automated. Fixing what they find still needs someone who understands the site.
Do I need one of these at all?
If you publish for search regularly, a scoring tool pays for itself in avoided guesswork. If you publish occasionally, spend the money on better writing instead.
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