Content is hard to create, especially quality content. And as the competition online improved and became bigger and bigger with each passing day, creating content (that ranks) without any help became virtually impossible. That’s why content optimization tools started growing in popularity and eventually became a necessity for any digital marketer.
Clearscope is one such tool that managed to rise through the ranks with rapid speed and become one of the most popular tools of its kind currently in use. However, it is quite pricey, and many can’t afford a tool with a starting price of 170$/mo. Plus, no matter how good it may be, it is not the perfect fit for everyone.
For that reason, we’ve come up with a list of similar tools that can help you optimize your content that have slightly different features but won’t leave you penniless at the end of the month.
1. MarketMuse
MarketMuse uses AI to analyze the quality of any content you’ll be putting out. It’s basically going to accelerate your research process and content optimization. The sheer speed at which it does content research is staggering. So when you start using it, you’ll no longer have to scroll through an infinite loop of content to figure out what’s relevant and what you’re supposed to be focusing on.
This tool also comes with a feature called Compete Application, which allows you to compare your content to that of your competitors and find any gaps or potential areas for improvement in your own content. This will, in turn, make your content stand out from the crowd since it will be both more comprehensive and unique.
There are plenty more useful features included in this tool, but the most noteworthy is the User Intent feature. This feature, as its name would suggest, shows how well your content matches up with the user intent of your topic.
Plus, if you follow MarketMuse’s guidelines to a tee, you’ll undoubtedly increase your content’s ranking as well as conversion rates.
MarketMuse is currently on offer on AppSumo, and you can get this fantastic tool through a one-time purchase of either $69, $138, or $207, depending on the size of your chosen plan.
2. Topic
Topic can be a great alternative for Clearscope, especially if you’re looking to improve your content writing speed by using better outlines. And its primary purpose is to consolidate your research.
When using it, all you have to do is enter a keyword related to your next article, and Topic’s AI will find headings, questions, and other keywords to include with the help of the top 30 results found on Google.
After your research is complete, just create an outline of what you plan to publish next using the outline builder, which comes with an idea generator.
And when you think your content is ready to be published, maybe give it a second thought and use the content grader feature. This will show what the outline is missing, so you’ll be able to improve it, thus making the best out of every article.
The prices for purchasing Topic vary depending on the amount of content you’re putting out every month. These start at $50/mo for five content briefs and go all the way up to $500/mo for a hundred content briefs.
3. PageOptimizer Pro
PageOptimizer Pro is another tool that aims to help you take full advantage of keywords and improve your content in the process. It is the perfect choice for those that always have a fear of lagging behind their competition.
The main task of PageOptimizer Pro is to help you with on-page SEO. And that process goes something like this: you download the PageOptimizer Pro Chrome extension, login to your content editor, select the project you want help with and run the scan. When the scan is done, you’ll get a list of recommendations on how to best improve what you’ve written.
Although you can always pick which recommendations you wish to implement and which to skip, we advise you do everything the tool suggests as its methods have been tried and tested time and time again.
PageOptimizer Pro has both single-user and agency plans. The single-user plans cost anywhere from $12/mo for 12 reports to $30/mo for an unlimited amount of reports. But if you need the tool for your agency, you’ll be looking at a price anywhere from $78/mo to $99/mo.
4. Textmetrics
Amongst all the tools listed so far, Textmetrics is probably the simplest one, but that doesn’t make it any less helpful. The reason for this is that it will give suggestions on possible changes you can make as you’re writing your content.
It comes with an ability to analyze why and how your competitors are ahead of you when it comes to Google SERP. And using it, you can drastically improve your content’s quality without ever having to click-off the main workspace.
Its algorithm is set up to improve your lexicon and general language use, follow your company-wide standard and help reach your ultimate goals. You can even set it up to be wary of inclusive language so that your content is always appealing and respectful to everyone.
As far as pricing goes, Textmetrics provides custom pricing options for all customers depending on the number of users and type of use.
5. SimilarContent
The idea behind SimilarContent is to improve how your content performs once published by making it more relevant to the user.
So, after you’ve written something, you put it through a scan, and then you’ll get a prediction of how well it’s going to do and how high Google is going to rank it. From here, you can easily figure out what you need to improve to make sure your content doesn’t tank. Not now, not ever again.
You can also use this tool to check if your articles are readable enough and how deep you must delve into a certain topic to make sure an article does well. On top of that, SimilarContent is going to give you an exact number of backlinks you need to measure up to the top ten searches.
There are three different price plans you can choose from if you decide that SimilarContent is for you. The Starter plan allows only one user and two projects for $9.99/mo. The Business plan allows one user and up to five projects for $19.99/mo. And if you need access for two users, you’ll be looking at the Agency plan, which costs $49.99/mo.
Final Thoughts
Content creation should be fun, and doing research for it should be interesting, not mortifying. However, spending endless hours on it can truly make it a hassle.
So if you want to end this type of suffering once and for all, we whole-heartedly recommend you use one of the tools mentioned and focus on creating interesting high-ranking content instead of worrying about it all the time.
