Surfer SEO vs. Semrush: 2025 Review for Agencies

Looking for tools that can help you navigate the remarkable AI and SEO changes underway?

Google's Helpful Content Update devastated sites built on rigid SEO playbooks, while AI Overviews are reshaping searcher behavior.

In this article, I tap my 10+ years of experience in SEO and AI to take you inside 2 of the industry’s most popular tools: Surfer SEO and Semrush.

Both tools use AI to analyze data and optimize content.

This tour will show you what’s possible with these tools. And you’ll see how tool design can shape your assumptions and results, both positively and negatively.

Let’s first define key differences between these platforms.

Surfer SEO vs. Semrush: Overview

Main Difference: The key difference between Surfer SEO vs Semrush is scope and focus. Surfer is a content generator and optimizer, whereas Semrush is a comprehensive marketing toolkit that includes content generation and optimization tools.

Similarities: Both tools aim to help you write and optimize content.

About Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO launched in 2017, during a period of consolidation between corporate SEO playbooks.

In 2023, soon after the release of ChatGPT, Surfer incorporated AI content generation.

About Semrush

Launched in 2008, Semrush quickly established itself as a premier SEO toolkit. Since then, it’s consistently adapted to changes in Google algorithms, as seen in features like AI Traffic tracking.

Semrush is now a suite of digital marketing tools, covering advertising, content planning, social media, market analysis, and more.

It's known for its incorporation of AI into data analysis.

Surfer SEO vs. Semrush Comparison Chart

I want . . .	Surfer SEO	Semrush
Content optimization	✔	✔
AI-generated content	Articles, sections, briefs	Articles, sections, briefs, ads
AI traffic tracking	X	✔
Competitor research	X	✔
Keyword research	Limited	Comprehensive
Backlink analysis	X	✔
Site audit	X	✔
Domain analysis	For owned sites. Limited.	For any site. Comprehensive.
Ad and PPC tools	X	✔

My Personal Experience with Content Optimization Tools

Allow me to share some background that shapes how I test content optimization tools.

For 6 years, in various professional contexts, I was required to use content optimization tools.

That’s not surprising, given that these platforms matched the way most corporate playbooks approached SEO: rankings could be gamed by following rigid rules.

That approach worked for around a decade. Then came algorithm changes, such as Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU), and an increased emphasis on EEAT. The radical changes buried many sites…

This chart, for a website launched in 2021, shows a steep traffic decline from over 363k/month visitors in July 2023 to a low of 37 in April 2025. 

…and surfaced new winners.

Traffic to ExplodingTopics.com grew by 734% between the first rollout of HCU to June 2025, when it hit 1 million+ visitors.

I view most standalone optimization tools as products of a now-defunct approach to SEO.

So, I’m skeptical of making these tools the center of your content marketing process.

Do I use content optimization software? Yes, I use the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant in the final stage of my workflow.

I’ve found it to be genuinely helpful and use it as part of my pre-publication checks.

Also, I don’t use or advocate for AI-generated content.

Now, let’s compare Surfer and Semrush in terms of optimization.

Content Optimization

While Surfer is dedicated to content optimization, Semrush includes more than 1 content optimizer within its digital marketing platform.

For this review, I’ll be comparing Surfer to the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant.

Interface

The interfaces of these tools are similar to Clearscope and MarketMuse.

Namely, there’s an editing pane where you can paste a completed article or draft a new one.

In the right sidebar, there’s a content score followed by recommendations.

The UI for Surfer and Semrush is excellent.

Content Scores

Notice the different approach to content scoring.

Surfer provides a percentage score.

Semrush provides a qualitative score (Poor, Mediocre, Good, or Perfect) and a 10-point numerical score.

To increase your score, you’ll need to act on the tools’ recommendations.

So lesson #1 is: The value of a score increase is directly tied to the value (or lack thereof) of the underlying recommendations.

Later in this article, I’ll address some fascinating details related to content scoring.

For now, let’s take a closer look at the quality of recommendations.

Assessing Optimization Recommendations

To review Surfer’s recommendations, I used an article ranking on page #4 of Google search results for the keyword “ai overviews.”

Below the gauge chart, under “Content Structure,” we see recommendations for page elements.

Each element is depicted as being adequate (green checkmark) or requiring an increase or decrease in value.

And each recommended change is based on an average drawn from pages of ranking content.

I have 2 problems with this:

• In 2025, we know better than to chase word count or number of page elements.
• There’s no evidence that attaining these averages will benefit readers, Google Search, or your rankings.

Surfer terms: Next, let’s look at terms. Terms are subtopics that Surfer wants me to add to the article.

In a scrollable sidebar, Surfer recommends a total of 59 terms. That’s a lot.

Here are a few of them.

Keyword density: Notice that for each term, a specific keyword density (number of mentions) is recommended. However, keyword density is almost universally viewed as an obsolete metric.

Irrelevant terms: As in a previous test I did with Surfer, it recommends irrelevant terms such as:

• swapping dinner
• vegetarian dish
• all the information

The higher-level terms include:

• generative AI
• search labs
• ai mode

The latter are worth considering since they’re closely related to the main topic of “ai overviews.”

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant: I added the same article to Semrush, which scored it as “Mediocre.”

The Semrush display is very different. It’s simpler, and in my experience, this makes optimization faster.

To the right of the editing pane is a radar chart with clickable nodes representing

• Readability
• SEO
• Tone of voice
• Originality

As you improve your article, the nodes move toward the outermost circle.

Originality: Click on Originality to ensure no plagiarism is present. (I’ll skip this step in our example, because the article already exists online, so it can’t pass the Originality test.)

SEO: Clicking on SEO, I receive a keyword stuffing alert: the article contains 77 instances of the primary keyword, “ai overviews.”

Apart from recommending a reduction in those instances, what else does Semrush suggest?

Terms: Instead of 59 recommendations of terms, Semrush makes 6, including:

• search generative experience (SGE)
• generative ai
• organic search results

Unlike Surfer’s recommended terms, there are no odd or irrelevant subtopics here. I would choose to cover the 3 above. They’re central to my main topic and therefore valuable to readers.

After fixing the keyword stuffing issues and defining 3 of the recommended terms, the article score improved from Mediocre to Perfect.

Next, I can choose whether to improve the consistency of the tone of voice and whether to enhance the readability of sentences that Semrush deems difficult to understand.

In addition, the SEO Writing Assistant analyzes links and alt attributes.

Are Content Scores Useful?

It’s fairly easy to goose content scores by adding gibberish (which boosts word count) or stuffing terms in.

This is true for any optimization tool.

However, unlike Surfer, when I use the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant to optimize, the scoring seems genuinely helpful and meaningfully calibrated.

Here’s what’s happening.

The quality difference in recommendations: As explained above, this is partly due to the superior quality of Semrush’s recommendations.

Semrush's more conservative approach (e.g., 6 vs 71 term recommendations) suggests they're filtering for high-confidence, high-impact suggestions versus casting a large dragnet that snags distant or unrelated terms.

This restraint leads to recommendations that enhance topical authority rather than promoting term stuffing.

But how can a score be useful if it’s gameable? Semrush takes a more sophisticated approach to content analysis.

Specifically, Semrush appears to use:

• Contextual relevance scoring that weighs how naturally terms fit within content structure
• Semantic clustering that prioritizes tightly related concepts over loosely associated ones
• Content quality signals that span readability, logical flow, and topical depth

So as you make improvements using the SEO Writing Assistant, you’re not just satisfying algorithmic checkpoints. You're enhancing the content's semantic coherence and user value.

Semrush recognizes this through nuanced analysis patterns.

Now that we’ve covered content scoring and optimization, let’s consider AI content.

AI-Generated Content and Additional Features

I don’t recommend using AI to generate articles. As Google notes, it can result in penalties.

For those who are interested in AI-generated content, here’s what’s available.

Both Surfer and Semrush have built-in AI for:

• Article generation
• Passage generation
• Rephrasing and summarizing

The Semrush AI feature is Smart Writer.

Surfer’s “AI Humanizer” claims to make AI-generated content undetectable and more natural-sounding.

I added an article generated by Surfer to the AI Humanizer for scoring.

It scored as 100% AI-generated.

After clicking the “Humanizer” button, the new version was classified as: “This text appears to be created by a human.”

However, when I ran the ‘humanized’ version through GPTZero, it scored the article as 69% AI.

ChatGPT said, in part, “If we had to classify it, we would say this text was rewritten by AI, an AI paraphrase or AI bypasser.”

Semrush also offers an add-on called the Semrush Content Optimizer. This uses the Semrush ContentShake AI to generate and revise content.

In my experience, however, the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is far better. That’s good news for you because to get the Content Optimizer, you’d have to pay an additional $60/month.

Domain Research and Analysis

Domain analysis typically precedes meetings with prospective clients. The quality of the insights you glean from your tools is instrumental in landing clients.

Surfer SEO vs. Semrush: The key distinction is that Surfer SEO requires access to Google Search Console (GSC) in order to provide domain analysis. This means you can’t use it to analyze competitor domains.

By contrast, you can use Semrush to analyze any domain instantly.

Surfer SEO’s Domain Analysis

After giving Surfer access to your Google Search Console (GSC) account, navigate to Sites to see an analysis of your domain.

Surfer repackages Google Search Console metrics, such as clicks, impressions, and average click-through rate (CTR).

Additionally, Surfer provides some nice filtering, including by:

• Location
• Device
• Pages optimized with Surfer
• Keywords

You’ll also receive recommendations on which pages to optimize.

And it provides content suggestions. I didn’t find these helpful as they were generic.

Semrush Domain Analysis Capabilities

By contrast, the Semrush Domain Overview tool is a powerhouse. It’s my first stop when analyzing competitor or prospective client sites.

You can choose to analyze any domain globally or by one of 119 countries.

Below, I added allbirds.com as the domain.

The top-line metrics provide the big picture, including organic and paid search traffic numbers.

I can quickly see that allbirds’ organic traffic has declined by 329k since September 2022.

The next chart shows that this decline coincides with the September 2022 Google Core Update.

This gives me an idea of where to start investigating.

Minor quibble: I’d prefer to be able to view Google algorithm updates on the Organic Traffic tile.

Scrolling down the Domain Overview, you’ll view a number of tiles highlighting metrics like:

• Top organic keywords
• Keywords by search intent
• Branded vs. non-branded traffic

From each tile, you can click through to a dedicated report.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is foundational to content planning and competitor analysis.

Surfer SEO Keyword Research

Surfer provides modest keyword research capabilities.

In the Sites section, which repackages GSC metrics, you can sort your top 5 keywords by a few dimensions.

The Topical Map presents topic clusters and individual keywords as suggestions for content.

You can view these as a table or as a visual map.

Once you select a keyword to create an article on, you’ll have the option to generate it with AI.

In the menu, under Tools, you’ll also find a Keyword Research section.

The goal here isn’t to analyze competitor keywords but to generate new topics to write about.

Add a seed keyword, like “ai overviews.”

Then Surfer will generate topic clusters.

You can filter by KD (keyword difficulty), volume, or intent.

Notice that Surfer uses different intent labels than Semrush.

Namely, they introduce 2 new labels: “Customer investigation” and “Shopping.” I imagine these correspond to Commercial and Transactional keywords.

Also, notice that “Local” is treated as an intent.

What Surfer is doing is providing content ideas.

In contrast to Semrush, Surfer lacks a detailed set of metrics and filters. Additionally, it is not possible to conduct competitor keyword analysis with Surfer or view SERP features associated with keywords.

Let’s see how Semrush differs.

Get More Search Traffic

Use trending keywords to create content your audience craves.

Analyze

Semrush Keyword Research

In Semrush, you’ll find keyword research capabilities that fully match agency needs, including detailed metrics, keyword suggestions, and gap analysis.

Keyword metrics include:

• Volume (Country-based or global)
• Keyword difficulty
• CPC
• Competitive density
• Intent

Search intent: Semrush sticks with the industry-standard intent labels:

• I for Informational
• N for Navigational
• C for Commercial
• T for Transactional

Keyword Overview: Below, in Semrush, I added “best ski goggles” to the Keyword Overview.

We see this term is “Difficult” to rank for, signals Commercial intent, and has a global volume of 10k+.

Scroll below this top portion to view the SERP analysis. You’ll see all the top-ranking pages for the keyword.

Clicking “Update” gets you fresh results.

SERP features: All related SERP features are also displayed in the rankings as icons with explanatory tool tips.

At the top of the rankings, you’ll see icons representing all available SERP features associated with the keyword. 

This includes AI Overviews.

One of the tools I use the most is the Semrush Keyword Magic tool. Starting with a seed keyword, we can use the tool to find related keywords.

You can filter by intent, difficulty, volume, CPC, and more.

Another tool I have used frequently for years is the Semrush Keyword Gap tool.

Enter your domain and 1-4 competitors to discover keywords they’re ranking for but you aren’t.

After filtering for your preferred volume, keyword difficulty ranges, and intent, you’ll get a useful list of topics for competitive content planning.

Backlink Analysis

Backlink analysis enables marketing agencies to identify high-value link-building opportunities that can enhance brand awareness, drive traffic, and increase sales for their clients.

Surfer SEO vs. Semrush: A key difference between Surfer SEO and Semrush is that Surfer doesn’t offer backlink analysis.

Semrush Backlink Analysis

In Semrush, navigate to Link Building to find related backlink tools.

Enter a domain to analyze in Backlink Analytics, and you’ll find a helpful overview, including the number of:

• Referring domains
• Backlinks
• Monthly traffic

Notice the 7 tabs across the top, revealing the breadth of available analysis.

Below this upper portion, you’ll find 3 visuals, including a radar chart with 3 axes representing Link Power, "Organic Traffic," and "Natural Profile.”

At right is a network graph , with a “Healthy” tag, indicating there’s no evidence of link schemes.

Further down are 16 widgets that provide a fast overview, such as:

• Categories of referring domains
• Referring domain and backlink trends

One of the most useful tools is the Backlink Gap analysis. Add your domain and up to 4 competitors to identify the best link-building opportunities.

Advertising and PPC Research

Because of Surfer’s focus on article creation, it doesn’t provide advertising and PPC research tools.

What’s available in Semrush?

Semrush Ads Launch Assistant and PPC tools

Semrush provides an advertising dashboard

What I like about the Semrush Ads Launch Assistant is that you can create and launch Google or Meta ads right from the dashboard.

You can do this by simply filling out a form.

For professionals, this speeds up your workflow. But the process is simple enough that beginners can launch ads.

Semrush will also make recommendations on maximizing ROI.

These recommendations key off of the business goal you select for your campaign.

Analyze competitor ads: The level of detail available in competitor ad analysis is surprising.

For any competitor, you can analyze their advertising:

• Strategy
• Keywords
• Budget

You can view actual ads, regardless of the language or country in which they ran.

Technical SEO Audit

Technical SEO audits are a staple for agencies. Whether you’re meeting with a client for the first time, prepping for a discovery meeting, or monitoring a project, these audits highlight technical issues that can impact rankings.

Surfer: No Site Audit

As mentioned previously, Surfer SEO pulls in Google Search Console (GSC) data.

However, that data only includes traffic information. It doesn’t include any errors, issues, or warnings from GSC.

Semrush Site Audit

Semrush offers a Site Audit tool and a Log Analyzer.

Even though the Site Audit identifies technical issues, including warnings and crawlability, it’s not necessary to connect to Google Search Console. So you can run an audit on a prospect’s site or a competitor’s site.

You’ll find expected metrics like:

• Site health
• Errors
• Warnings
• Crawlability

Scroll below the visuals, and you’ll find a list of top issues, along with details on how to resolve them.

You can also customize your audit crawler. For instance, you can enable it to analyze the impact of JavaScript.

Under the Issues tab, I discovered that AMP-related items are only accessible by bumping up to the Business plan for $449/month.

Surfer vs. Semrush: Agency Features Comparison Table

Both Surfer and Semrush offer automated reports and APIs.

Semrush offers the widest range of agency-specific solutions, including the Lead Finder, AI Traffic tracking, Market Analysis, and Audience Profiling and Demographics.

Agency feature	Surfer	Semrush
Automated reports	✔	✔
API	✔	✔
Agency partner program	X	✔
Lead generation tool	X	✔
PPC tools	X	✔
Market analysis	X	✔
AI traffic tracking	X	✔
Audience profile and demographics	X	✔
Social media tools	X	✔

White Labeling

Surfer offers white labeled links and reports for its audit and content editor.

Semrush offers dozens of white labeled reports, ranking from site audits to PPC.

Pricing Plans

Both Surfer and Semrush offer monthly or annual billing.

Monthly prices are below.

Semrush	Surfer
Pro: $139.95/month	Essential: $99
Guru: $249.95/month	Scale: $219
Business: 449.95/month	Custom: Call for pricing

Annual billing discounts:

• Semrush offers up to 17% off
• Surfer offers up to 20% off

Free Trials

Surfer doesn’t offer a free trial.

Semrush offers a 7-day free trial.

Surfer vs. Semrush: Summary

We’ve seen how Semrush is far more comprehensive than Surfer.

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant features a superior design and yields better results than Surfer’s content optimization.

Unfortunately, Surfer guides users to target averages of things that don’t matter.

Its term recommendations include low-level keywords. Additionally, users are encouraged to achieve page element targets.

In sum, I see no value in paying for a standalone optimization platform when Semrush includes a superior optimization tool.

Grow, Compete, Win

Start your 14-day free trial of Semrush to explore this powerful toolkit—and discover how it can help your agency grow, compete, and win.