Looking for the best SEO score checkers to help you craft SEO content that ranks?
Crafting compelling, informative, and engaging content is just one piece of the puzzle. Ensuring it ranks high on search engine results pages (SERPs) is another.
This is where SEO score checkers become indispensable tools for content creators, marketers, and business owners alike.
In this article, I’ll show you some of the SEO score checkers I use to ensure my content is primed to rank.
In This Article
Understanding SEO Score Checkers
SEO score checkers are tools designed to help you optimize your content for search visibility and readability. They analyze various on-page and technical SEO factors, providing you with actionable insights to improve your content's performance.
From keyword density and readability to meta descriptions and internal linking, these tools offer a comprehensive overview of how well optimized your content is.
The Best SEO Score Checkers: My Top Picks
Let’s quickly dive into the SEO score checkers I've had the best experiences with. Each has its unique strengths to help ensure your content has the greatest chance of ranking high on SERPs.
1. All In One SEO (AIOSEO)
AIOSEO is the best SEO score checker for WordPress users. It’s a powerful yet easy-to-use SEO plugin, boasting over 3 million users who trust it to help them boost their search engine rankings and drive qualified traffic to their sites.
The plugin has features designed specifically for WordPress SEO. It enables you to optimize your posts and pages for improved visibility on search engines.
For step-by-step instructions on how to install AIOSEO, check our detailed installation guide.
Regarding SEO checkers, AIOSEO has several features that help you understand where you stand regarding optimizing your site and content for search engines. Let me quickly show you my 2 favorite—TruSEO Page Analysis and the SEO Audit Checklist.
TruSEO Page Analysis
AIOSEO's TruSEO Page Analysis is a powerful on-page SEO checker that provides real-time feedback as you create and edit your content. It even provides a score for your overall optimization efforts.
The tool analyzes various aspects of your post or page, offering actionable recommendations to improve its relevance and readability for your target keywords.
TruSEO breaks down its analysis into two main parts:
Focus Keyword Analysis
When you enter a focus keyword (and additional keywords, if you have the premium version), TruSEO checks how well your content aligns with these keywords.
It provides suggestions on where to include them, such as in the:
- SEO title
- Meta description
- URL
- Introduction
- Subheadings
- Image alt text
- Throughout the content
It also evaluates keyword density and length.
Page Analysis
This section assesses general SEO best practices for your content. It looks at factors like:
- Basic SEO checks: Meta description length, content length, internal and external links.
- Title checks: Keyword in title, beginning of title, and optimal title width.
- Readability checks: Paragraph length, sentence length, use of passive voice, transition words, consecutive sentences, and subheading distribution.
AIOSEO displays an overall TruSEO score out of 100, combining the scores from your focus keyword and page analysis. While the score provides a good gauge of your optimization, AIOSEO emphasizes that you don't need to aim for a perfect score. Instead, it offers clear, actionable suggestions to help you understand what's essential for your specific content type.
It also features a TruSEO Highlighter that visually indicates areas needing improvement directly within your WordPress editor.
SEO Audit Checklist
The SEO Audit Checklist is a comprehensive site-wide SEO checker that helps you identify critical issues and opportunities for improvement across your entire WordPress website. Once installed, AIOSEO automatically runs an audit and provides an overall SEO health score for your site. Aiming for 50–75 points or higher is generally recommended.
The SEO Audit Checklist covers a wide range of factors, including:
- Crawlability and Indexing: Ensures search engines can find and understand your site (e.g., proper use of robots.txt, sitemaps, and preventing “noindex” tags).
- Security: Checks for HTTPS implementation and other security vulnerabilities.
- On-Page SEO: Evaluates meta descriptions, title tags, heading structure, image optimization, and content quality across your pages.
- Site Structure: Looks at internal linking and breadcrumbs.
- Performance: Assesses site speed and other Core Web Vitals.
- Schema Markup: Checks for the implementation of structured data.
- Mobile-Friendliness: Ensures your site is responsive and provides a good user experience on mobile devices.
A key benefit of the SEO Audit Checklist is its ability to provide clear, prioritized recommendations, making it easier to address complex SEO issues. It also allows you to analyze competitor sites to gain insights into their SEO strategies.
If you’re looking for the best SEO score checker for WordPress, AIOSEO is it!
Pricing: Paid plans start at $49.60/year. Free plan available.
2. AIOSEO’s Headline Analyzer
AIOSEO’s Headline Analyzer is a dedicated tool designed to help you craft compelling and click-worthy headlines that attract users and improve your content's visibility in search results. Your headline is often the first impression your content makes, and a strong one can significantly impact click-through rates.
The Headline Analyzer provides a score for your headline and offers specific recommendations based on several factors, including:
- Word Balance: It analyzes the mix of common, uncommon, emotional, and power words in your headline, suggesting how to achieve an optimal balance for engagement.
- Sentiment: It identifies whether your headline conveys a positive, negative, or neutral sentiment, with positive sentiment often leading to higher clicks.
- Headline Type: It can identify if your headline falls into popular and effective categories like “How-to,” “List,” or “Question” headlines.
- Length: It provides character and word counts, ensuring your headline is within optimal ranges for search engine display and readability.
- Beginning & Ending Words: It highlights the first and last three words of your headline, as these are often the most noticed.
- Search Preview: It allows you to see how your headline might appear in Google search results, helping you ensure it doesn't get cut off.
The Headline Analyzer works in real-time within WordPress, giving you instant feedback as you experiment with different headline variations.
It also keeps a history of previous scores, allowing you to track your improvements and refine your headlines until you achieve the best possible result for driving traffic and engagement.
If crafting clickworthy headlines is your goal, Headline Analyzer is the SEO score checker you need.
Pricing: Free.
3. SEOBoost
SEOBoost is a powerful AI-driven content optimization platform that has completely transformed how I approach content creation. What sets SEOBoost apart in the crowded field of content optimization tools is its comprehensive approach to the entire content lifecycle. Rather than focusing on just one aspect of content creation, SEOBoost provides solutions for every stage.
Regarding SEO content scores, SEO grades your content according to the top-ranking articles on SERPs.
It considers factors such as:
- Keywords
- Word count
- Readability
- Images
- Headings
- And more
What I like about SEOBoost is that it also offers recommendations for improving your score. Doing this increases your chances of ranking higher on search engines. It’s an excellent choice for content creators and teams looking for a robust solution to optimize their content for search engines, ensuring their efforts translate into higher rankings and increased organic traffic.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $27/month. A 14-day free trial allows you to experience its full capabilities before committing.
4. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is a comprehensive content optimization platform designed to help you research, write, and audit SEO-optimized articles efficiently. It distinguishes itself by analyzing top-performing pages for any given keyword and providing data-driven recommendations to improve your content's on-page SEO.
One feature that helped popularize Surfer SEO is its powerful on-page content optimization tool. This module employs AI to analyze top-performing content on SERPs. It then delivers actionable reports, highlighting the crucial keywords you need to integrate into your writing.
To help ensure that your content is well-optimized, Surfer SEO provides a color-coded score to help you hit the mark. It allows you to audit existing content on your site and:
- Identifies gaps in your content
- Suggests missing keywords
The tool then provides actionable steps to update and optimize old articles to improve their rankings.
Surfer SEO is an ideal tool for content creators, SEO specialists, and marketers who want to create high-ranking content efficiently and effectively, backed by data-driven insights.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $99/month.
Check out our list of the best AI SEO tools for even more AI-powered recommendations.
5. Semrush Site Audit
Semrush is a popular all-in-one digital marketing tool used by millions of marketers. While primarily recognized for its robust keyword research and competitor analysis features, this platform also offers a range of additional tools.
The Site Audit tool is a cornerstone for identifying and resolving technical and on-page SEO issues that can impact your content rankings. After analyzing your site, it assigns a score indicating how well-optimized it is. Besides scoring, it also helps you uncover technical impediments to content visibility. This makes it an essential component of any comprehensive SEO strategy.
While the main Site Audit focuses on technical aspects, Semrush also offers an On-page SEO Checker. This tool helps you identify specific areas for improving your content, including optimizing page titles and meta descriptions, and provides recommendations based on competitor analysis.
Semrush’s Site Audit is crucial for maintaining the technical health of your website, which directly supports the discoverability and ranking of your content. It ensures that your content efforts are not undermined by underlying technical deficiencies.
Pricing: Semrush’s paid plans start at $119.95. However, to use the SEO Writing Assistant, you must be on the higher plans starting at $229.95.
6. Moz On-Page Grader
Moz is a well-respected name in the SEO industry, and its On-Page Grader is a valuable asset for content creators seeking to fine-tune their pages for specific keywords. This tool provides a detailed analysis of your content against a target keyword, offering actionable recommendations to improve its on-page SEO performance.
The On-Page Grader analyzes up to 27 on-page SEO factors, providing a score out of 100. These factors include keyword usage in the:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- Headings
- Body text
- Image alt text
- URL
It also checks for content length and internal/external links.
What I love about this tool is that instead of just listing issues, the tool provides a prioritized list of recommendations with easy-to-follow steps. This helps you focus on the most impactful changes first, maximizing your optimization efforts.
The Moz On-Page Grader is an excellent tool for content creators who want to ensure their individual pages are perfectly optimized for their target keywords, leading to improved visibility and higher rankings in search results.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $99 per month.
7. Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is a powerful online writing tool designed to make your text bold and clear. While not a traditional SEO score checker in the same vein as AIOSEO or SEOBoost, it plays a crucial role in content optimization. It focuses on readability and conciseness, which are increasingly important factors for search engine rankings and user engagement.
Hemingway scores your content using grade levels. The lower the grade, the easier your content is to read. This translates into users staying longer on your page, signaling to search engines that users find your content valuable. As a result, your chances of ranking higher improve.
By focusing on the clarity and conciseness of your writing, the Hemingway Editor complements traditional SEO tools, ensuring that your content is not only optimized for ranking but also easy to read.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $8.33/month. A free version is also available.
How to Use SEO Score Checkers Effectively
While SEO score checkers are incredibly powerful tools, their effectiveness hinges on how you utilize them. Simply chasing a perfect score without understanding the underlying principles can be counterproductive. Here are key strategies to leverage these tools effectively and truly skyrocket your content rankings:
Don't Chase a Perfect Score Blindly
It's tempting to aim for a 100% SEO score, but this can sometimes lead to over-optimization or content that feels unnatural. As search engines become increasingly sophisticated, they're now able to discern content created solely for SEO purposes. This means that to rank well, user experience (UX) and content quality are now the top priorities.
A high SEO score is a means to an end, not the end itself. Focus on creating valuable, comprehensive, and engaging content that genuinely answers user queries and provides a positive experience. If achieving a perfect score compromises readability or natural language, it's often better to prioritize the user.
Prioritize Recommendations
SEO score checkers often provide a long list of recommendations. It can be overwhelming to address every single one. Instead, prioritize. Focus on critical issues first. Then, proceed to recommendations that offer the most significant impact for your specific content and target audience.
For instance, if your content is already ranking well but could use a boost, focusing on internal linking or improving readability might be more beneficial than minor keyword adjustments.
Regularly Review and Update Content
SEO is not a one-time task; it's an ongoing process. Search algorithms evolve, competitor strategies shift, and user intent changes. Regularly reviewing and updating your existing content is crucial. Use SEO score checkers to re-evaluate older posts, identify areas for improvement, and ensure they remain relevant and competitive. This practice, often referred to as content refreshing, can significantly enhance the rankings of your evergreen content.
Understand That Scores Are Guides, Not Rigid Rules
Finally, remember that the scores provided by these tools are algorithmic interpretations of SEO best practices. They are excellent guides and provide valuable direction, but they are not infallible. Use them as a framework for improvement, but always apply critical thinking and consider your unique content, audience, and overall SEO strategy.
The ultimate goal is to serve your users and provide the best possible content, which in turn will be rewarded by search engines.
Best SEO Score Checkers: Your FAQs Answered
What is an SEO score checker?
An SEO score checker is a tool that analyzes various on-page and technical SEO factors of your content or website page and provides a score or recommendations for improvement. These tools help you understand how well your content is optimized for search engines and what steps you can take to enhance its visibility.
How accurate are SEO scores?
SEO scores are generally reliable. However, they are not absolute indicators of ranking success. While a high score suggests good optimization, real-world ranking also depends on factors like domain authority, backlink profile, competition, and overall user experience. Use scores as a framework for improvement, not as a definitive measure of success.
How often should I use an SEO score checker?
It's advisable to use an SEO score checker during the content creation process to ensure initial optimization. Beyond that, regularly reviewing and updating your existing content (e.g., quarterly or semi-annually) using these tools can help maintain its relevance and competitiveness. This is especially important as search algorithms evolve and new content is published by competitors.
The Best SEO Score Checkers: My Top Picks
The best SEO score checker for WordPress is undoubtedly All In One SEO. The plugin does a fantastic job of analyzing content and helping you follow SEO best practices.
For technical SEO, I recommend Semrush. The Site Audit tool does an excellent job of pinpointing technical issues that are negatively impacting your performance.
I hope this post helped you find the best SEO score checkers for your site. You may also want to check out other articles on our blog, like our guide to local SEO and our list of the best analytics tools for WordPress.
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