Before I came across the content editor tool, I knew of Surfer SEO. A lot of friends and customers use them for all of their SEO needs, but this was something I never fully understood. The world of SEO is not always an easy one to understand, and when you are busy writing content all day there isn’t necessarily time to really research those target keywords. So, when the opportunity came for me to try out this tool and see what it would be able to do for my work, you can bet that I took the opportunity immediately. What follows here is a detailed look at my time with the Surfer Content Editor.
Before I get into what I loved and didn’t love, it’s probably best that I give you a quick rundown of what the tool actually is. Think of it like Google Docs or Word, but better. The Content Editor allows you to write (or import) your documents just like any other platform. You can adjust the font size, the style, color, all of that. But, there’s a twist.
The Content Editor will also show you all of the keywords you can, and should, use in order to optimize your work. Not only that, but the number of times these words should appear in the document is highlighted. I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, but sounds pretty amazing so far right? Let’s get into the details and really dig into the software.
It’s a lot simpler than you might think, and this is one of the other things I love. When you log into your Surfer app account, the Editor tool can now be found on the Navbar for easy access. All you need to do is click on this and select your primary search term for creating your new document. After a few moments of loading and gathering, you will end up with a blank document and a sidebar packed with all the information you need to get started writing SEO content.
The customization section of the creation process is a handy addition to have as well. This allows you to select competing URLs or those that score top on the SEO rankings so that you can get a good feel for the kind of content you should be writing. It’s all about learning bow to outrank the competition, and Surfer app manages to do this without being intimidating.
However, if the suggested terms do feel overwhelming, there is nothing to worry about. You can remove unwanted words, add your own target keywords, and really make the experience one that is tailored to you as a writer. I think that’s part of what drew me to this tool; it’s not trying to lecture me, it wants to work with me instead.
One of the most common issues we writers have is being amazed at actually penning the content, but not knowing much (if anything) about SEO. It can be difficult, and if a client doesn’t provide you with keywords then you are looking at something even harder. That’s where my handy new friend the editor comes in and saves the day.
With the help of this tool, I can prepare the basic guidelines to write a fully optimized piece of content in a minute. It’s exceptionally fast, and in many ways, it acts as a teacher while you write. Through the editor tool, I have learned more about the way SEO works, and the kind of keywords I need for specific articles. A better basic knowledge has meant that I can come across as more professional with my customers while also having things explained to me by editor in a way I can understand.
Many of my clients provide me with complex guidelines that contain good 15-20 keywords for posts that are around 10k words in length. You can imagine how difficult it is to keep up with this scale, as I constantly have to check the document to make sure each keyword has been mentioned, and that this has been done a specific number of times. With the editor, it is all there for me to see, and it tracks things live so that I am always up to date. What more could I ask for?
Now for the exciting part; the details. It’s in this section that I am going to take you through the ins and outs of this tool so that you can get the most out of it, and also understand why I love it so much. I’ll take it section by section so you can get a good feel for it.
The writing section is the one you will likely be spending the most time with. Its layout is very similar to Google Docs in terms of formatting, which makes it pretty easy to get the hang of. It’s a good size space as well, so you can really focus on the work.
Even if the sidebar becomes distracting, the click of a button is all you need to hide it so that you can really put your attention on what you’re writing. You can open recommendations back up again whenever you like to check on your progress, and it just helps give the experience a customized feel. You can even add images and links, just like the other document programs.
Everything is done for you, which makes things really chilled when you are writing. There is no need to calculate the density of each term because it is done for you, and every important term has its own range of use so that I am able to write freely and without limitation. Even topic research has been made simpler because I know what I should be writing about and there are plenty of terms I can use to inspire me.
The live verification features mean that meeting the requirements set is exceptionally easy. There’s no more losing the flow of your work because you need to switch between article and brief. Everything is right there for me to see clearly, so I can write better, longer, and faster. All of the keywords are highlighted as well, which saves a lot of time finding them while doing optimization work.
The sidebar contains more than just target keywords though, it will soon become your best friend when planning and formatting new articles. Aside from the primary search term at the top, it will also tell you how many words you should have in the piece, the number of headings, paragraphs, bold words, and images to have better readability of your texts.
The suggested topics section is fantastic for planning the outline so that you can get a good feel for what you should be including, as well as some popular headings. The important and relevant terms are the recommended keywords you should be using, and this helps to ensure you are optimizing the blog posts or selling page content in an SEO friendly way.
You can even remove topic suggestions and find your own, ensuring that it is tailored to your needs. I have made such good use out of every feature that it has to offer, and I can tell you that writing SEO content has never been easier for me with this writing assistant.
I honestly love Surfer’s content editor. It’s smooth to use and has a clean look that doesn’t leave the screen feeling crowded. Writing in it feels just like Google Docs or Word, and there really wasn’t much of an adaptation process needed to get into the swing of things. Formatting was really easy as well, the same with inserting links and the odd image. I really was expecting it to feel a lot different and take a good deal of getting used to, but how wrong I was.
Having experienced Surfer’s SEO writing assistant first-hand, I don’t see any reason to go back to writing anywhere else. I have always stood by Google Docs and Word quite loyally, but I think it might be time to move on. Everything is here for me to access quickly, I real-time, and with full customization. The future of content marketing is here, and it comes in the form of the Content Editor.
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