Question

What is the benefit of using SurferSEO to optimize articles? I am not seeing any positive impact after optimising a number of articles? It seems like Google doesn't pay much attention to the optimized articles rather the focus is on the authority of the domain.  

Answer 1

Do not overrate on using tools like SurferSEO because everybody is lying about content. Content is not the king but also one thing. If you can get bunch of backlinks you can rank the first page even with meaningless content.  

Comments

@osteoclast 100%. There are garbage sites being ranked aswell .  

Answer 2

It really depends. Sounds like to me your going after competitive keywords. I would suggest you try finding some low comp long tail keywords

Answer 3

Google's algorithm is layered and weighted. And although an argument can be made on behalf of other "human" factors such as manual reviews, CTR, page views, etc. etc. (contentious points), The rest of the algo is largely math. Having the right words, in the right densities, in the right context, etc. WILL make the difference (all other things being equal). Sometimes content optimization isn't the underlying issue. Links, link velocity, relevancy, on-page site performance factors, internal link structure, and so on, play just as big of a role.  

Answer 4

Optimizing for long tail keywords is the first thing you should do -- but SurferSEO also requires you to make sure you are picking the right sites to optimize against. When you choose your competitors make sure you are picking sites as close to yours as possible (don't leave amazon, techcrunch or large sites as sites to optimize against). This seems to be the biggest issue people have with SurferSEO. Also -- the Surfer team is great - you can ask them to look at what you have done and they may help you to make sure you are using the tool right.  

Comments

@whipstock Agree with this from the SERP analyser point of view (word count, density . etc), but from an NLP point of view (which is all I use surfer for) amazon listings and manufacturer listings hold the gold when it comes to those so called “EAT” keywords that would never show up as long tails

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@duiker I have never had any luck using it with the likes of amazon or any of those big sites. We cannot compete with them from an authority --- it is like comparing and apple to an orange. Even Surfer SEO says not to do that. if you are getting success from it using it that way - then that is awesome!  

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@whipstock Purely for grabbing industry related NLP keywords, things no expert on the topic would ever think to mention. If it was about cars for example, keywords like injectors, manifold, driveshaft (I’m no car expert ) These are keywords that are not found in general long tail analysis, but google knows are, and should be associated. If you’re in an affiliate niche only scraping competitors sites, there’s no guarantee your competitors mention these types of industry terms so sometimes the big retailers can help fill in those gaps and give you an edge. For us, it works, and it works well. We’re not in local niches but not in highly competitive weight loss niches either

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@duiker Ahhh gotcha! That's a good idea! I may try that.  

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@duiker may I ask what does NLP stand for? Is it Neuro Language Programming.  

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@dodge1840 Almost  Natural Language Processing

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@duiker  ah okay, thanks for clarifying.  

Answer 5

I tried surfer and had same experience. No results. I think it’s a good tool for people who dont know how to write in depth content on a topic. As in, they don’t know what words to include. Surfer helps you with that information. So its good for freelance writers but not so much for experts on their own niche. Just my observation.  

Comments

@fondafondant not at all. Is more about picking fights you can win so you can move a step closer to the real battle.  

Answer 6

Instead of Surfer, I advise to use Cora if you want to analyze in-depth. But it is not user-friendly tool and taking so much time to analyze. So you need a powerful server

Answer 7

It takes time to see results . I've optimised my articles and have seen it jump from #8 to #3 and some others have jumped significantly. give it time

Answer 8

POP it like it’s hot, free to try.  

Comments

@undertone yes.  

Answer 9

I have good results with surfer. My main optimization engine is me myself and I. My message: do your research yourself. Check your competition by hand with your own eyes and let surfer support this.  

Answer 10

Tools like Surfer can be detrimental when used by people who don’t know how to balance the keyword stuffing (that’s what this is at its basic level) with good info architecture and accommodate for readability.  

Comments

@demoss176 I agree. A client asked me to use it and follow all its recommendations which if I had done so would have definitely been keyword stuffing quite drastically!  

Answer 11

When I started using Surfer at the end of last year I was not impressed, probably because people in the Surfer FB group bragged about getting results overnight and this didn't happen with me. The results really started to appear after a few months and now I have to say it definitely works (unless I'm confusing correlation with causality). One thing I noticed though, if Google doesn't like your site or doesn't want you to rank for a certain keyword than all the SEO tools in the world won't help.  

Answer 12

I usually see increases within 3-4 weeks (everything else untouched) with POP, (but surfer should be pretty much the same) so don't be impatient and just assume it will come overnight.  

Comments

Listen here @demoss176 don't you know true SEO wizards can get results with a snap of their fingers and a magical uttering?  

Answer 13

Google is in bitch mode right now anyway. The core update mixed everything up. Ridiculous sites are ranking in the top ten with very thin content. I would wait a few weeks before to start with optimizations.  

Answer 14

You can just based on one thing. There's so many moving parts and to say on software or one method doesn't work is not really accurate.  

Answer 15

Kamil, I have helped lots of folks in this group, send me your page & kw, I will look at it for free. Happy to give you some pointers.  

Answer 16

I used SurferSEO for around 3 months and even gave lots of suggestions to Michael Suski and his team. Subsequently they got busy with the Chiang Mai Conference and that's where they hit paydirt with a few deals. The top 10 analysis that SurferSEO provides is still one of the best in the market. I did get a nominal improvement out of SurferSEO during the time I used it but I noticed that my writing which used to flow naturally became disoriented and focused more on 'keyword inclusion' than on providing value to the user. SurferSEO during the third month was no longer a writer's friend but turned into a tool I started using less and less until I stopped the $59 monthly subscription. I started to look for alternates and started testing other tools. Luckily I found one that I have been using for 5 months now and I my love for writing is back. My landing pages are hitting the mark and moving up faster than ever before.  

Answer 17

I tried it once and the post tanked. Not sure what to make of iy

Answer 18

I used surfer and POP and did well than got tanked in the recent update.