Every tool starts at zero and earns points for what it does and what it costs. Here is exactly what earns them.
The short version
- We check each tool on 6 things a buyer cares about. Together they are worth 100 points.
- The final score is those points out of 10. A tool with 84 points scores 8.4.
- Everything comes from the tool's own website. We don't take payment for points.
Keyword research and rank trackingSite audit, competitors and backlinksPrice and free accessContent writing and optimisationWorks with your toolsTeam and support
What earns points
1. Keyword research and rank tracking
30 of 100 pointsCan it find keywords worth targeting, and tell you where your pages rank on Google and how often it checks? That is the main job of an SEO tool, so it carries the most points.
Keyword rank trackerup to 3
| Unlimited (some plans) | +3 |
| Scales by plan | +3 |
| Fixed cap | +2 |
| Pages via Search Console | +1.5 |
| None | 0 |
Rank updatesup to 2
| Daily | +2 |
| Weekly / on-demand | +1.3 |
| Monthly | +0.5 |
| Manual only | +0.5 |
| No rank tracking | 0 |
Keyword research with volume and difficultyup to 2
Keyword clusteringup to 1
Countries coveredup to 1
| Global (multi-country) | +1 |
| Limited regions | +0.5 |
Connects Google Search Consoleup to 1
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 30 of the 100.
2. Site audit, competitors and backlinks
20 of 100 pointsCan it scan your website for technical problems, and show you what your competitors rank for and who links to them?
Technical site auditup to 4
Competitor analysisup to 2.5
Backlink analysisup to 2.5
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 20 of the 100.
3. Price and free access
20 of 100 pointsWhat the cheapest paid plan costs each month, and whether you can try it for free first. Cheaper plans earn more points.
Monthly price, cheapest paid planup to 6
| Up to $20 | +6 |
| Up to $35 | +5 |
| Up to $50 | +4 |
| Up to $75 | +3 |
| Up to $100 | +2 |
| Up to $150 | +1 |
| Over $150 | 0 |
Free trialup to 1.5
| None | 0 |
| 1 to 6 days | +0.5 |
| 7 to 13 days | +1 |
| 14 days or more | +1.5 |
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 20 of the 100.
4. Content writing and optimisation
15 of 100 pointsCan it write articles for you, help you improve a draft, and suggest links between your own pages?
Writes full articlesup to 3.5
Content editor with a scoreup to 2
Internal link suggestionsup to 2
Content languagesup to 1
| 1 language | 0 |
| 2 to 10 languages | +0.5 |
| 11 languages or more | +1 |
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 15 of the 100.
5. Works with your tools
10 of 100 pointsDoes it plug into the tools you already use to write and publish?
Google Docs add-onup to 2
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 10 of the 100.
6. Team and support
5 of 100 pointsCan you share it with a team and clients, and reach a real person when you are stuck?
White-label reportsup to 4
Seats on the cheapest planup to 3
| 1 | +1 |
| 2 | +2 |
| 3 to 4 | +2.5 |
| 5 or more, or unlimited | +3 |
Live chat with a personup to 3
Each section adds up to 10, then counts for 5 of the 100.
When a tool doesn't say
If a tool's website doesn't answer a yes-or-no question, it gets half the points for that item. Not zero, because a missing answer isn't the same as a no, and not full marks, because silence shouldn't beat a vendor who answers honestly. For a number, like a price, it gets the typical value of the tools that do publish one. Every item scored this way is marked on the tool's scorecard.
If a tool leaves out more than a third of what we check, we don't show a score for it at all. A number built mostly on guesses wouldn't be fair to you or to the tool. Right now 25 of the 25 tools we checked have enough information to be scored.
A real example: Semrush
Here is how Semrush got its 8.3.
| Section | Points |
|---|
| Keyword research and rank tracking | 30 of 30 |
| Site audit, competitors and backlinks | 20 of 20 |
| Price and free access | 9 of 20 |
| Content writing and optimisation | 11.3 of 15 |
| Works with your tools | 10 of 10 |
| Team and support | 2.8 of 5 |
| Total | 83.1 of 100 = 8.3 out of 10 |
See every fact behind Semrush's score.
What the score doesn't tell you
We score what a tool offers and what it costs, as its own website describes it. That's not a hands-on test. The score can't tell you whether a tool is easy to use, whether its data is accurate, or whether support answers quickly. The review covers that.
See the AI SEO & Content tools ranked or read how we review tools in general.