I’ve been in the world of written content for over a decade. In that time, I’ve written millions of words.
I know this conjures up an image of an isolated loner in a cabin, but the truth is, I’ve had a lot of help.
While I could just grind out copy from headline to CTA, I use many tools that help me write faster, cleaner, and easier-to-understand content.
And they can help you, too.
Below, I’ll break down the content writing tools I’ve found invaluable when crafting SEO-optimized creative content.
I chose these tools based on their functionality, ease of use, and effectiveness. And they can also be your allies in producing high-quality content that resonates with readers and search engines.
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1. Grammarly
Grammarly is the OG when it comes to proofreading and editing copy. It’s your second set of digital eyes that checks for grammar, punctuation, style, and tone.
It uses AI to help refine whatever you’re working on in real time. This includes offering personalized suggestions to help you write more clearly and effectively.
What I really like about it is that you can install it as a browser extension, so it works right alongside you as you write.
Because of this seamless integration, I use Grammarly all the time when editing content for clients.
One thing to be aware of is that Grammarly sometimes offers too much advice. It’s designed for a more professional audience. So, if you have a unique brand voice that isn’t strictly grammatically correct, it might suggest changing your style entirely.
Grammarly offers a free version of its software. But it’s worth upgrading to Grammarly Premium if you want a heavy hitter that can catch all those little editing mistakes. This costs $12 per month, billed annually.
If you have a grammar authoritarian in your life, Grammarly is the best tool for ensuring they can never dunk on your Oxford commas again.
Pros
- Comprehensive Grammar and Spell Check: Grammarly catches even the most subtle errors, ensuring your content is polished.
- Style and Tone Suggestions: It helps you maintain a consistent tone and style throughout your content.
- Easy to Use: It integrates seamlessly into your writing workflow with browser extensions and a user-friendly interface.
Cons
- Not Perfect for Creative Writing: Grammarly can sometimes stifle creativity by pushing for overly formal or structured writing.
- Premium Features Locked Behind Paywall: The free version is excellent for basic checks, but the premium version is required for advanced features like tone detection and detailed writing suggestions.
2. Frase
Frase is your personal AI sidekick for content creation. It doesn’t just help you write—it builds a roadmap by analyzing what your audience is already searching for.
As a content writing tool, it’s great for generating content briefs, identifying key topics, and even looking at your competitors’ top-performing content.
It takes the guesswork out of content optimization and ensures your writing hits both the SEO mark and audience needs.
Frase offers a free plan that doesn’t offer much. Its paid plans start at $14.99 monthly for the Solo and $44.99 for the Basic Plan. The higher price point lets you analyze more search queries and more words with its in-editor AI writing assistant.
Pros
- Content Briefs: Frase generates detailed content briefs outlining the most important topics, questions, and keywords.
- Search Intent Optimization: The tool helps you tailor your content to match the search intent of your target audience.
- Competitor Analysis: Frase provides insights into what your competitors are writing about, allowing you to fill content gaps.
Cons
- Steep Learning Curve: It can take time to get accustomed to and to use all the features effectively.
- Pricing: While it offers a lot, the cost might be high for freelancers or small businesses.
3. Hemingway App
The Hemingway App is a writing coach that, like the man himself, hates fluff.
Hemingway highlights areas where your writing needs trimming, ensuring your message hits the mark without excess baggage.
It helps you zero in on long, complicated sentences, passive voice, and other common issues, pushing you to simplify and sharpen your writing.
Its goal? Help you edit your article and make it clear, concise, and easy to read.
You can use a limited (but still really great) version of the app for free directly on the website, but if you’d like access to more comprehensive features, you need to sign up for Hemingway Editor Plus.
Plans start at $12.50 per month, billed annually, and give you access to features like AI sentence rewrites and the ability to import and export files.
But honestly, I stick to the free version because it does everything I need for my clients. In my case, simplifying sentences to make them easier to read and more engaging.
Pros
- Simplicity: The app is straightforward, focusing on readability without overwhelming the user with too many features.
- Real-Time Feedback: It provides instant feedback, helping you simplify and clarify your writing as you go.
- Free to Use: The online version is free, making it accessible to everyone.
Cons
- Limited Features: It doesn’t offer advanced grammar checks or SEO suggestions, so it’s best used with other tools.
- No Browser Extension: Unlike Grammarly, Hemingway is only available as a desktop app or in-browser tool, limiting its integration with your workflow.
4. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is a content writing tool that helps content creators optimize their writing for search engines by providing real-time feedback.
I find it really useful for dialing in my SEO copywriting as it helps with key SEO factors such as keyword usage, readability, tone of voice, and originality. Since my team uses a Semrush subscription daily, I use the writing assistant to help me inject more targeted keywords into the content I’m working on.
Once you submit your content for review, the Writing Assistant will check that it’s aligned with SEO best practices, making it more likely to rank in the SERPs.
It’s ideal for writers who want to boost their content’s SEO performance without needing to be SEO experts.
The tool is included with a Semrush subscription, starting at $139.95 monthly. Considering the extensive features, it’s worth it for serious content creators and marketers who prioritize SEO.
However, if you’d like to wet your beak first, they offer a free trial.
Pros
- Real-Time SEO Guidance: The tool offers instant feedback on readability, SEO, originality, and tone, ensuring that your content aligns with the best practices.
- Keyword Suggestions: It helps you include the right keywords in the right places, which is critical for improving your content’s ranking potential.
- Readability Analysis: The tool checks the readability of your content, ensuring that it is accessible to your target audience.
- Plagiarism Checker: The Writing Assistant will identify all text fragments that contain plagiarism so that you can rewrite them as needed.
Cons
- Limited Free Version: The free version of Semrush SEO Writing Assistant has limited features.
5. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is your go-to content-writing tool for data-driven content optimization.
It compares your content against top-ranking pages for your target keywords and gives you real-time suggestions for improvement.
Whether it’s keyword density, content length, or structure, Surfer SEO shows you exactly how to tweak your writing to outperform competitors.
It’s like having a blueprint for creating high-ranking content designed to hit all the SEO goals while keeping your writing relevant and engaging for your audience.
Pricing starts at $89 monthly, which is relatively high for beginner content writers. Given its capabilities, it’s better suited for professional content creators and agencies that require in-depth optimization.
Pros
- Data-Driven Recommendations: Surfer SEO uses real-time data to provide actionable insights for content optimization.
- Content Structure Guidance: The tool helps you structure your content similarly to top-ranking pages, increasing your chances of ranking.
- Keyword Density Suggestions: It provides keyword density recommendations, ensuring your content is neither overstuffed nor under-optimized.
Cons
- Expensive for Beginners: The pricing might be a barrier for those just starting with SEO.
- Complex Interface: The interface can be daunting for users unfamiliar with SEO tools.
6. Clearscope
Clearscope is a no-nonsense content optimization tool that helps you get your content SEO-ready by serving up keyword and topic suggestions based on what’s already ranking.
It’s useful for content writers who want to hit the right SEO targets without turning their content into a keyword soup.
Instead of guessing, Clearscope gives you clear, data-backed recommendations, helping you fine-tune your writing so it actually competes in search results while staying relevant to your audience. It also scores your content against competitors, so you know you’re hitting all the essential topics.
It integrates seamlessly into tools you probably already use, like Google Docs and WordPress, so it’s easy to optimize.
Clearscope starts at $189 per month, making it one of the more expensive options. That being said, its powerful optimization features can justify the cost for those serious about SEO.
Pros
- Keyword Suggestions: Clearscope provides comprehensive keyword suggestions, helping you cover all relevant topics in your content.
- Content Grading: The tool grades your content based on how well it aligns with the top-ranking pages for your target keywords.
- Easy to Use: The user-friendly interface makes it accessible even for those new to SEO.
Cons
- Expensive: Clearscope’s pricing is higher, which might be a drawback for individual writers or small businesses.
- Limited Integrations: Compared to other tools, Clearscope has fewer integrations, which can limit its usability.
7. Jasper AI
Jasper AI is an AI powerhouse designed to speed up content creation by helping you generate everything from ideas and headlines to full articles.
It streamlines the writing process by automating parts, making it especially useful when stuck or pressed for time or if you need to create content consistently.
Whether crafting blog posts, social media content, or marketing copy, Jasper AI helps you brainstorm, write, and refine content while keeping your tone and intent in mind.
Since it’s trained on the latest AI models, it’s extremely intelligent and can help you maintain a strong and consistent voice throughout all your content.
It’s like having a writing assistant that can boost productivity without sacrificing creativity.
If you want to go further, it can even generate entire end-to-end marketing campaigns or content strategies from a single brief. It also offers a ton of analytics, insights, and reports that can suggest performance improvements for your content.
Pricing starts at $39 monthly, with higher tiers offering more features. Considering its capabilities and potential for saving time and improving quality, I’d say it’s a bargain.
Pros
- AI-Generated Content: Jasper can generate content quickly, saving you time during the writing process.
- Customizable Tone and Style: The tool allows you to set the tone and style, ensuring that the AI-generated content matches your brand voice.
- Versatile Use Cases: It can be used for various content types, from blog posts to social media updates to entire campaigns.
Cons
- Quality Control: While the AI-generated content is impressive, it often requires significant editing to meet high-quality standards.
8. ChatGPT
No list of content tools can be complete without mentioning ChatGPT – the AI language model that changed everything.
ChatGPT is like having an all-in-one writing assistant ready to jump in whenever needed. It’s one of the best free content writing tools for SEO.
It helps with everything from brainstorming fresh ideas and drafting sections to fine-tuning your copy for clarity and style.
Need a blog post, email, or even dialogue for a story? ChatGPT can generate it in your voice, adapting to your tone.
It’s excellent at tightening sentences, improving grammar, and ensuring your content flows.
It’s also easy to use. Simply feed it a prompt like you would ask anyone a question or declare a statement, and ChatGPT will generate an answer.
People use this tool for all different types of tasks, but I personally find it really useful for first drafts. If I do have to write content from scratch, I’ll use ChatGPT to help with topic suggestions and fill out the blank page.
From there, I edit until I’m satisfied with the tone and style of the piece.
The only thing to be aware of is that it can sometimes generate information that’s not exactly factual — hallucinations — so it always pays to double-check before publishing.
ChatGPT is available for free (and the free version is already incredible), but a premium version (ChatGPT Plus) costs $20 monthly.
Pros
- Versatile Writing Assistant: ChatGPT can help brainstorm ideas, draft content, and edit.
- Conversational Interface: The conversational nature of ChatGPT makes it easy to interact with and get the information you need.
- Constantly Evolving: As an AI model, ChatGPT continues to improve with updates, providing increasingly accurate and helpful suggestions.
Cons
- Requires Supervision: While powerful, the content generated by ChatGPT often needs review and refinement to ensure accuracy and quality.
- Potential for Inaccuracy: Being an AI, it can sometimes generate incorrect or misleading information, especially on niche topics.
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