10 Content Analysis Tools to Boost Your ROI (Free & Paid)

Sidra Condron
June 27, 2024
8 min read
Contents

Creating high-quality, well-optimized content is crucial for success today. However, consistently producing great content can be daunting without the right tools. This is where content analysis tools come in – they help you identify opportunities to improve your content's quality, readability, and search engine optimization (SEO) performance.

By leveraging these tools, you can streamline your content creation and optimization processes, ultimately boosting your ROI from content marketing efforts. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore the best content analysis tools, both free and paid, to help you make an informed decision and take your content strategy to new heights.

1. RivalFlow AI

RivalFlow AI is a cutting-edge solution that empowers you to continuously improve your existing content and outrank your competitors in search engine results. With its AI-driven recommendations, you can identify gaps and missing pieces in your content that are preventing it from ranking higher.

RivalFlow AI analyzes your content and competitors' content, providing actionable insights on enhancing your content and answering questions more thoroughly. This innovative tool seamlessly integrates into your existing content workflows, ensuring that you unlock the full potential of your content and provide the most comprehensive and valuable information to your audience.

Key Features:

  • AI-driven gap analysis and content recommendations
  • Competitive content analysis and insights
  • Seamless integration with your existing workflows
  • Continuous content improvement for higher search rankings

Pricing: Starting at $79 per month when billed annually.

2. Hemingway App

Hemingway is a free and simple tool that helps you improve the clarity and readability of your writing. It highlights various opportunities for improvement, such as long or complex sentences, passive voice usage, and complex words.

What We Like:

  • Simple and easy to use, with quick and clear feedback
  • A generous free-forever version
  • AI rewrites and integrations are available by upgrading

Pricing: The Hemingway web app is free. You can purchase the desktop application for a one-time fee of $19.99 or subscribe to Hemingway Editor Plus at $10 per month, including AI-powered rewriting capabilities.

3. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a versatile AI tool created to generate responses to user inputs. In the context of content analysis, ChatGPT can provide feedback on various aspects of your writing, such as readability, grammar, spelling, and even SEO optimization.

What We Like:

  • A versatile tool for reviewing and optimizing content for search and readability
  • Can rewrite content as well as analyze it

Pricing: ChatGPT is free. ChatGPT Plus, with advanced features like web browsing, is $20 per month.

4. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that helps you understand your website's organic performance. While it has other uses, such as technical SEO, it can also be a valuable content analysis tool. With GSC, you can:

  • Check how much organic search traffic each webpage receives
  • Identify the keywords users are typing into Google to find your pages
  • Monitor your organic search rankings

What We Like:

  • Great tool for understanding the organic performance of web pages
  • Entirely free and simple to use

Pricing: Google Search Console is available for free, with no paid version.

5. Grammarly

Grammarly is a popular writing and editing tool that offers a generous free version. Like Hemingway, it can review readability but also check spelling, punctuation, and more. Grammarly provides color-coded suggestions to help you improve your writing and offers customizable suggestions based on your writing goals and audience.

What We Like:

  • More customizable than simpler alternatives like Hemingway
  • Extensive features in the free version
  • Useful Chrome extension for on-the-go editing

Pricing: Grammarly has a free version. Grammarly Premium starts at $12 per month for individuals, and Grammarly Business plans start at $15 per seat per month (minimum of three seats).

6. Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one tool suite for online marketing, and it includes several tools that assist with content analysis. One of the most useful is the SEO Writing Assistant, which analyzes your writing and suggests improvements in four areas: readability, SEO, originality, and tone of voice.

What We Like:

  • A comprehensive suite of content tools within one subscription
  • Both SEO and style analysis in the same tool
  • Simple and easy to use

Pricing: Starting at 129.95 per month for the Pro plan. Guru and Business plans include access to SEO Writing Assistant, starting at $249.95 per month. Semrush offers a free trial for seven days.

7. Surfer

Surfer is a content writing toolkit with a content editor, AI tools for generating outlines and articles, and a keyword research tool. The content editor analyzes the organic search results for your target keyword and provides recommendations on word count, keywords to include questions to answer and subheadings.

What We Like:

  • Easy to use, even for writers without SEO experience
  • Integrations with Google Docs, WordPress, Contentful, and Jasper
  • The content analysis feature isn't limited by language

Pricing: Surfer's pricing starts from $89 per month for the base software, including content analysis and editing.

8. Frase

Frase is an AI tool for SEO research that creates outlines and generates AI writing. You provide a target keyword, and Frase uses search engine results page (SERP) data and AI to recommend word counts, keywords to include, and questions to answer. One of Frase's strengths is its outline builder, which allows you to review and select outlines from the current SERP, add or edit subheadings manually, and generate entire outlines with AI.

What We Like:

  • Accessible entry pricing for solo users and a reasonably priced unlimited plan for heavy users
  • Solid at analyzing competitor content and creating content briefs
  • Good AI writing and editing features

Pricing: Frase has an entry price starting at $15 per month.

9. MarketMuse

MarketMuse is a suite of content analysis, research, planning, and optimization tools. It offers core content optimization features similar to other tools, such as suggested keywords, word counts, and content brief builders. Additionally, MarketMuse has a competitive content analysis feature that helps you identify gaps in your competitors' content.

What We Like:

  • Comprehensive feature set suitable for experienced content teams working at scale
  • Good for identifying gaps in competitor content

Pricing: There's a limited free version available. Paid plans start from $149 per month.

10. Clearscope

Clearscope works similarly to Surfer and other tools by analyzing the current organic results for your target keyword and providing content recommendations. It gives a content grade that reflects how well optimized your article is for your target keyword and a readability score indicating the reading-grade level required to understand your content.

What We Like:

  • Simple and effective website content analysis tool
  • Customers get free onboarding and training from the success team
  • Google Docs add-on and WordPress extension for content operations

Pricing: Clearscope's entry price is $199 per month for unlimited user seats and 15 content reports.

Are Content Analysis Tools Worth It?

Regarding readability and writing improvement, free tools like Hemingway or Grammarly are worth it. They can enhance the quality of your work without adding much time or effort.

For search optimization, content analysis tools are likely to be worth paying for if:

  • You want to edit existing content to improve organic rankings
  • You're an SEO manager assigning work to writers who aren't SEO experts
  • You're publishing more than 1-2 pieces of content per month with SEO in mind

Getting Started with Content Analysis Tools

If you're looking for a simple, free tool to get started, try:

  • ChatGPT and Google Search Console to optimize for search
  • Hemingway or Grammarly to analyze writing clarity and readability

If you're looking for the most comprehensive tool to give you a competitive advantage, try RivalFlow AI or MarketMuse.

RivalFlow AI has a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.