9 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress (in 2024)

Optimizing your content is crucial for improving your search engine rankings and getting more organic traffic. But it can be time-consuming and challenging to implement all the necessary optimization techniques manually.

After 15 years as a webmaster, I know first-hand that strategic content optimization can lead to significant increases in organic traffic and conversions. In fact, according to one survey, well-optimized content leads to a 775% higher conversion rate on average.

Luckily, there are many great online tools that can analyze your content and provide actionable suggestions to make it more SEO-friendly. These content optimization tools look at various factors like readability, keyword usage, meta titles and descriptions, headings structure, outbound links, and more.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll share the top 9 online content optimization tools to help you improve your WordPress content for better SEO and higher rankings. I‘ll also provide tips from my experience for getting the most value from each tool based on your specific needs.

What is a Content Optimization Tool?

A content optimization tool examines your existing content and gives you specific tips and suggestions to optimize it for search engines. The tool will look at key elements like:

• Keywords – Are you targeting the right keywords and using them optimally?
• Readability – Is your content easy to read and scan for users? Optimized readability improves time on site.
• Word Count – Is your post the ideal length compared to top-ranking content? Shorter posts tend to rank worse.
• Headlines & Subheadings – Do you have effective headlines that grab attention? These improve click-through-rate.
• Media – Are images and videos properly optimized with alt text and file compression? Visual media boosts engagement.
• Outbound Links – Are you linking out to authority sources? This shows expertise and gives Context.
• Page Speed – Will your post load fast enough for users? Faster pages have higher user retention.

The tool will analyze all these factors and more to provide an optimization score and concrete improvements you can make. This saves you time manually optimizing each post.

Now let‘s dive into the top content optimization tools for WordPress. For each tool, I‘ve provided insight on who it‘s best suited for based on my experience.

1. Clearscope – Best for Competitive Content Analysis

Best For: In-depth competitive analysis and content gap identification.

Clearscope offers a wide range of optimization features to make your content rank higher in search engines. It analyzes your draft and compares it to top-ranking content in your niche.

You simply add your working headline or draft content. Clearscope will suggest high-potential keywords you should target based on content that currently ranks well. This allows you to align your content with user search intent.

It also examines key metrics like word count, outbound links, subheadings usage, and readability. You get a content score showing how optimized your draft is compared to the top competition.

Clearscope highlights areas needing improvement and gives clear recommendations to boost your score. For example, it may suggest increasing word count or improving subheading structure.

This allows you to easily identify weaknesses in your draft and optimize your article before publishing. I recommend Clearscope for sites competing in difficult niches who want actionable data on improving their content.

Pricing: Starts at $170/month for one user. Enterprise plans available. Free demo offered.

2. Surfer SEO – Best All-in-One Optimization

Best For: Quick and easy all-in-one optimization.

Surfer SEO makes it easy to create search-friendly content. It analyzes your draft and suggests high-potential keywords to include naturally in your post.

The tool examines key metrics like readability, word count, and keyword density to provide an optimization score. Surfer SEO compares your content against top pages in your niche to highlight areas for improvement.

You can view an outline of your draft, showing its structural optimization. Surfer SEO also offers page speed checks, so you can improve load times.

For beginners, Surfer SEO is one of the easiest tools to use for quick optimization. It combines multiple features into a simple point-and-click interface. Just paste your draft content to start seeing suggestions.

Pricing: Starts at $69/month for up to 2 users. 7-day money-back guarantee.

3. SEMrush Content Analyzer – Most Robust Analysis

Best For: In-depth optimization and competitive research.

SEMrush is a robust SEO platform. Their Content Analyzer tool helps optimize your existing or draft content quickly.

Add your title and text. The tool will examine key elements like readability, word count, keyword usage, and more. You get an optimization score showing you how your content compares to top results.

SEMrush Content Analyzer highlights improvement areas. It suggests keywords and topics to target, analyzes headline and body copy, and improves readability.

I recommend SEMrush for established sites who want to perform deep competitive research during content creation. The tool integrates directly with SEMrush‘s huge database for insights.

Pricing: SEMrush Pro plan starts at $99.95/month. Free trial available.

4. MarketMuse – Most Advanced Analysis and Insights

Best For: Enterprise-level sites with dedicated marketing teams.

MarketMuse offers robust optimization for larger sites. It examines your draft content and compares it against competitors.

You get a personalized difficulty score showing how hard it will be to rank your post. MarketMuse analyzes key factors like readability, word count, and keyword usage.

It makes natural language recommendations to improve your content, instead of just targeting keywords. You can also view detailed competitive analysis showing weaknesses to improve.

For large sites, MarketMuse provides advanced insights powered by artificial intelligence. The amount of data can be overwhelming for smaller sites.

Pricing: Starts at $149/month for 1 user. Custom pricing for larger plans. Free limited version available.

5. INK Content Optimization

Best For: Smaller teams on a budget.

INK is an affordable optimization tool for small teams. It analyzes your draft content and offers an optimization score.

You can view key metrics like word count, keyword density, readability level, and outbound links usage. INK will suggest keywords and topics to add or remove from your content.

It also examines your content structure, use of headings, paragraphs length, and more. You can see how your draft compares to top pages in your niche.

For smaller sites, INK provides straightforward optimization without being overwhelming. It‘s easy to use and budget-friendly.

Pricing: Starts at $29/month for up to 3 users. 14-day free trial available.

6. Frase AI – Most Automated Optimization

Best For: AI-powered writing and optimization.

Frase AI is an intelligent tool that helps you optimize and expand your draft content using artificial intelligence.

It analyzes your post and provides an optimization score. Frase will suggest topics, statistics, and examples to add more value for readers.

The AI can rewrite sentences or entire paragraphs to improve readability and engagement. This saves you time expanding your drafts.

Frase also offers tools for headline analysis, keyword research, content gap analysis, and more. It‘s easy to use even for beginners.

If you want automated optimization powered by AI, Frase is a top choice. It takes human effort out of the optimization process.

Pricing: Starts at $14.99/month for 1 user annually. 7-day free trial.

7. Redirectly – Fix Broken Links

Best For: Analyzing and fixing broken links in content.

Redirectly is a simple tool for optimizing your outbound links. It analyzes the existing links in your content.

The tool checks whether sites you‘ve linked to are still active or if they now redirect elsewhere. Redirectly will automatically update your links to avoid broken ones.

You also get metrics like domain authority on sites you‘re linking to. Redirectly makes it easy to improve the quality of outbound links in your content.

I recommend Redirectly for anyone who publishes content regularly and wants to maintain link integrity. It takes seconds to scan your posts and fix broken links.

Pricing: Free version. Premium plans start at $10/month with more features.

8. Coschedule Headline Analyzer – Optimize Titles

Best For: Optimizing post headlines for clicks and traffic.

Coschedule Headline Analyzer is a free tool for writing effective blog post titles. It examines your headline and gives it a score out of 100.

The tool checks for keyword usage, length, emotional triggers, power words, and more. You get tailored suggestions for improving your title.

Coschedule also shows previews of how your headline will look in Google search results on desktop and mobile. This helps ensure your titles are optimized for clicks.

For quickly improving your headlines, the Coschedule Headline Analyzer is easy to use and completely free. It‘s worth testing all your titles through it.

Pricing: Totally free tool.

9. Hemingway Editor – Improve Readability

Best For: Improving content readability for users.

The Hemingway Editor helps improve your content‘s readability for users. It highlights complex sentences and adverbs that make text harder to read.

The tool gives your post a grade level score, with lower being better. Hemingway Editor makes suggestions to simplify sentences and replace hard-to-read words.

This allows you to refine text for optimal reading ease, which also improves SEO. The tool is free and very user-friendly.

For optimizing readability, Hemingway Editor is invaluable. It identifies problem areas in seconds to help you improve.

Pricing: Free online tool

Summing Up the 9 Best Content Optimization Tools

Using online content optimization tools makes it much easier to create website content that ranks higher in search results. They analyze all the key elements required for discoverability and provide specific suggestions for improving your draft.

My top recommendations based on 15 years as a webmaster are:

• Clearscope – For in-depth competitive analysis and gap identification.
• Surfer SEO – Quick and easy all-in-one optimization.
• SEMrush – Robust optimization combined with competitive insights.
• Frase – AI to automate parts of the optimization process.
• Hemingway Editor – Boost readability for users and search engines.

Start with free tools like Coschedule Headline Analyzer and Hemingway Editor. Then explore paid options like Clearscope and Surfer SEO for your specific needs.

Optimizing your existing content can also lead to significant gains. Check out our guide on optimizing old blog posts to get more organic traffic.

I hope this comprehensive guide to the best content optimization tools for WordPress helps you take your website content to the next level! Let me know if you have any other questions.