The best AI tools for SEO

Let’s face it — SEO isn’t the sexiest use of AI. You’re not making research breakthroughs, running a smart home, or generating wild imagery. But if your business needs to grab Google Search eyeballs to succeed, these AI tools can help carve out a niche in a very tough field.

The best AI tools for SEO

You’ll notice that the running theme here is writing. While every SEO tool uses AI in the old-fashioned sense of the term, what you’re probably here for is generative AI, something in the style of ChatGPT. Within an SEO context, the best application of generative tech is almost always going to be writing, though it can also handle tasks such as brainstorming and keywords.

• Jasper
• Originality.ai
• Scalenut
• Copy.ai

Jasper

Jasper handles more than just SEO — it’s described as an “AI copilot” for marketing teams that’ll handle everything from emails and blog posts to social media. In writing you can define aspects like tone, brand, and product positioning, including custom voice and style guides. There are a lot of potential integration options too, ranging from Google Chrome to Google Docs and Grammarly.

There’s almost too much to cover here, since there are components for project management, publishing, images, and yes, SEO. It supports over 30 languages, and you can even switch between different AI models, which might be a lifesaver if one engine is overwhelmed by online traffic or seems to be producing strange results.

After your trial is done, a single-user subscription starts at $49 per month or $468 per year. Those costs jump to $69 per month or $708 per year for a Pro plan, which is required for things like collaboration. Signing up for the Business tier requires a talk with the Jasper sales team.

Originality.ai

Originiality.ai might almost seem like the opposite of an SEO tool at first, since its main purposes are flagging AI content, catching plagiarism, and verifying facts. But the ethical use of SEO involves accurate and original material edited by human writers, and you may be able to one-up rivals if they’re caught stealing or lying (intentionally or otherwise). In the long run, Google is likely to devalue purely AI-created content in search results. There are some other SEO-related benefits here too, such as the ability to gauge the readability of content, which can improve rankings.

An unusual aspect of the tool is its pricing model. If you like you can pay a $30 one-time fee, which gets you 3,000 credits — each credit can be used to scan 100 words for plagiarism or AI, or 10 words for facts. You’ll also get readability scans, but you need to upgrade to a $14.95 monthly subscription to access options like an API, file uploads, and scans of URLs or entire sites. You get 2,000 credits per month in this arrangement, but you can buy more at a penny per credit.

Scalenut

Scalenut is similar to Jasper, down to being described as an “AI copilot” for SEO content. The tool takes you from the planning stages of SEO marketing through topic and keyword research, generating on-brand writing, and enhancing it with optimization and analytics. There are plagiarism and fact-checking functions built-in.

While it can potentially be a one-stop shop for online marketing, be wary of Scalenut’s promise that it can generate entire blog posts in 5 minutes or less. Realistically that’ll only get you to a first draft, and you should definitely have a human take a look to fix any problems and add an original touch. Similar things can be said about tools like Jasper, but it’s important to highlight here.

Plans for Scalenut start at $228 per year or $39 per month. You’ll need to pay for one of the higher tiers to unlock full features, including an unlimited cap on AI-generated words.

Copy.ai

Copy.ai is geared not just for ads, social media, and blog posts, but also things like content briefs and product descriptions. Indeed you can access an e-commerce dashboard for those descriptions, complete with language translation options and product-specific email chains. As with Jasper you can define positioning, create voice and style guides, and switch between multiple AI models. Its SEO workflow will spit out a number of optimized posts in minutes, or you can set a content calendar to space things out.

A key selling point is its pricing model. If you’re flying solo it’s completely free, although you’re limited to 2,000 words when talking to the chatbot, and you’ll get just 200 credits to spend on tasks like generating content or web scans. A Pro subscription costs $49 per month or $432 per year, but covers five users, fully unlocks chat, and ups your credits to 500 per month. There are two more plans above that, the top one being Enterprise. That offers unlimited users and dedicated AI training, although you’ll be negotiating for the cost.