Semrush SEO Writing Assistant: Is it the Best Alternative to Clearscope?

A content optimization tool can help your website rise to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), appear in AI search responses, and generate conversions.

For almost 10 years, Clearscope has been the SEO content tool of choice for many marketing teams. But Semrush now offers a great tool for creating high-quality, high-ranking content: The SEO Writing Assistant.

But is Semrush’s tool a good alternative to Clearscope?

In this guide, I’ll break down exactly how Clearscope and the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant compare—and help you figure out which tool to use.

What is Clearscope?

Clearscope is a semantic keyword research and content optimization tool. You can use it to:

• Learn more about the top-ranking results on a SERP
• Assess how well your current content is optimized for search
• Conduct research to draft new high-quality content from scratch
• Edit and improve content with real-time feedback

How Does Clearscope Work?

Clearscope uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the content appearing at the top of a SERP and compares it to your blog post or article.

You need to have a keyword in mind before you start using Clearscope. When you know what topic you want to write about, you can generate a report that checks the SERP for:

• Common keywords
• Reading difficulty
• Average word count

This information is then organized into a report that:

• Suggests a target word count and reading level
• Lists recommended semantic keywords in order of importance
• Extracts headers from the top-ranking content
• Sources related questions from the People Also Ask (PAA) SERP feature and other sources

You can opt to start from scratch and use Clearscope suggestions to build an outline and write content, or use Clearscope to analyze and improve content that’s already on your site.

As you work, Clearscope assigns a letter grade to your content, with F being the worst and A++ the best.

How Much Does Clearscope Cost?

Clearscope isn’t cheap. Plans start at $189 per month for 20 keyword reports, and unused reports don’t roll over between billing periods.

There isn’t a free plan available, though a paid user can share editable reports with others for free via a link.

What is the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant?

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is another content optimization tool that you can use to:

• Analyze competitor content at the top of a SERP
• Flag keyword, readability, and structure issues in your content
• Outline and draft new optimized blog posts or articles
• Create and edit content with real-time feedback

One of the biggest differences between the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant and Clearscope is that Semrush lets you optimize content for multiple keywords simultaneously. Clearscope restricts you to one keyword per report.

How Does the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant Work?

Like Clearscope, the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant scans SERPs for your target keywords and develops a series of recommendations. It shows you:

• Keyword suggestions
• Typical reading levels
• Average word counts
• Suggested tones of voice

As you write or edit your content, the SEO Writing Assistant recommendations change. This means you get continual feedback on:

• Keyword use
• Ways to improve readability
• Adherence to target tone of voice
• Content length
• Originality

I like how the SEO Writing Assistant uses a chart to show me which parts of my content are strongest and weakest.

The chart shows us that Semrush is considering more than just keyword use in its scoring. I find that this approach is more in line with true E-E-A-T principles than Clearscope’s keyword-focused grading system.

How Much Does the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant Cost?

The SEO Writing Assistant is available to every Semrush user, even those on the free plan! The number of reports you can generate depends on your plan tier:

• Free and Pro accounts can use the tool to optimize two pieces of content
• Guru and Business subscribers can use the SEO Writing Assistant on an unlimited number of documents every month (note that the tool does consume SEO Idea Units)

This means that unlimited SEO Writing Assistant use starts at $208.33 per month when billed annually and includes access to the entire Semrush SEO Toolkit.

Clearscope vs. the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush is a complete SEO platform, while Clearscope is focused on content optimization. That said, you can use the two tools to carry out some similar functions beyond content scoring.

	Clearscope	Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Free Plan?	⛔	✅
Multiple Topics Per Report	⛔	✅
Local Targeting	✅	✅
Keyword Research Tools	✅	✅
Content Research Tools	✅	✅
Competitor Research Capabilities	✅	✅
WYSIWYG Content Editor	✅	✅
Google Docs Extension	✅	✅
Microsoft Word Add-On	✅	✅
WordPress Plugin	✅
AI Features	✅	✅
Plagiarism Detector	⛔	✅
Content Decay Dashboard	✅	⛔

Keyword Research

Semrush is a complete suite of tools for digital marketers. All users get access to a large keyword database and research tools that make it easy to find:

• Search volume
• Search volume by country
• Search competition level
• Paid vs. organic traffic volume
• Search intent
• Related keywords and questions
• Cost per click (CPC) price for paid search
• Top SERP results
• Relevant SERP features like the AI Overview or Image Pack

Clearscope offers some support for keyword research, but it’s limited. You can use the Clearscope Keyword Discovery tool to see:

• Search volume
• Search competition level
• CPC
• Limited related keywords

I’ve tried to use Clearscope as my keyword research tool for some projects and I always find myself going back to Semrush—Clearscope’s Keyword Discovery tool simply doesn’t give me enough data to make informed decisions.

Content Research

Every Clearscope report shows you the top content on a SERP—complete with company names, URLs, and full content outlines.

This makes Clearscope a reliable source for content research after you’ve decided what topic to write about.

Semrush can do this too—the Keyword Overview tool and the SEO Writing Assistant both give you useful information about direct SERP competitors and related content.

But you can also use Semrush to conduct higher-level topic research that helps you decide which keywords to target. You can do this using the:

• Keyword Magic Tool
• Topic Research tool
• Domain Overview report
• Keyword Gap tool

Writing Tools

Both Clearscope and the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant include a what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) text editor with basic formatting controls.

If you’re like me, though, and prefer to write in a dedicated word processing tool, you’re in luck. Both companies offer extensions for Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

You must have an account with either service to use their respective extensions, though.

There are also Clearscope and Semrush SEO Writing Assistant plugins for WordPress, though Clearscope hasn’t updated theirs recently. (WordPress advises that the Clearscope plugin may not be compatible with some versions of the CMS.)

Content Grading

For many people, the biggest draw of a tool like Clearscope is that it provides real-time feedback and scores how SEO-ready a blog post is.

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant does this too but uses slightly different scoring metrics than Clearscope.

Clearscope	Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Scores content based on word count target, reading level, and semantic keyword use	Scores content based on word count target, reading level, semantic keyword use, tone of voice, and originality

I find that while Clearscope might tell me my content is hard to read, it doesn’t give me any actual suggestions on how to improve. Semrush, on the other hand, highlights specific passages that:

• May be improved by switching from passive to active voice
• Contain words better suited to a higher target reading level
• Could be confusing to a reader
• Can be simplified by using slightly different wording or removing jargon

Link Suggestions

Internal and external links are an important part of creating SEO content.

Clearscope shows common citations (backlinks) found throughout the SERP, but these are likely to include your direct competitors. The keyword-focused content reports don't highlight any potential issues with the links you do have in your text, either.

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant doesn’t suggest links to use, but it does flag potential link issues and give you suggestions for improvements.

AI Content Generation

Both Clearscope and Semrush offer their own take on AI-powered content generation.

Clearscope users can generate outlines based on the platform’s SERP analysis. These outlines are largely based around content headings, so you’ll need to fill in more details yourself before drafting copy or sharing it with a writer on your content team.

Semrush gives you access to more AI writing capabilities. The Smart Writer feature, embedded in every SEO Content Writing Assistant report, lets you:

• Ask AI questions about your content topic and get more information
• Automatically rephrase complex sentences or reword content in different ways
• Compose AI-generated content to spark new ideas or help you get over writer’s block
• Summarize content

You can start the Smart Writer from the sidebar in your writing assistant report or by highlighting text that you’d like to change.

Extra Optimization Features

Each Clearscope plan also includes access to the platform’s keyword discovery tool and its “content inventory” feature that monitors changes in page optimization and makes suggestions that can help you keep your content fresh and properly interlinked.

This is the extent of what Clearscope offers, though. It’s not a comprehensive SEO tool.

A Semrush account, on the other hand, gives you access to dedicated tools for:

• Keyword research
• Content brief generation
• Competitor analysis
• Content strategy development
• Content planning
• Position tracking for Google search, ChatGPT, and more
• On-page SEO analysis
• Social media scheduling
• Technical site audits

The Best Clearscope Alternative for Most People

I’ve tried a lot of SEO content tools over the years and I find that Semrush offers the best Clearscope alternative. While I continue to use both tools in my everyday work, if I had to choose one, I’d pick Semrush. This is because the Semrush platform gives me access to far more SEO and digital marketing tools than Clearscope. It’s the best choice for most people.

Semrush also gives me access to different apps that enhance my experience—a big one being Exploding Topics. I use the Exploding Topics Pro app when researching topics to write about.

Exploding Topics allows me to see what my target audience is talking about, where, and if their interest is likely to change over time. This allows me to focus my efforts on creating new content that’s likely to be popular over the next few months.

You can use Exploding Topics Pro by itself, paired with Clearscope, or on top of your Semrush subscription—try it out with a seven-day free trial and see how much it can help you with planning and creating content.