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Surfer AI vs ChatGPT: Which AI Writing Tool Is Right for You?

All AI writing tools can create content, but not all AI content is optimized to rank.

Surfer AI and ChatGPT are powerful tools that use artificial intelligence to generate human-like content. 

The difference is that Surfer AI is built to help you create ready-to-rank content in minutes; ChatGPT is a conversational chatbot.

But don’t just take my word for it.

In this article, I dive into the differences between Surfer AI and ChatGPT when it comes to the content writing process. 

I’ll also look into what users and the tools themselves have to say in the matter.

So you can make the right choice on which AI content writing tool is right for you.

Let’s get started!

What is Surfer AI?

Surfer AI is a powerful AI writing tool that helps you write long-form SEO content. It reduces hours of research, creating outlines, and writing to mere minutes by allowing you to create long-form content at the click of a button. 

Surfer AI analyzes over 500 real time ranking factors when writing your content.

Tell Surfer AI what you want to write about, and sit back while it does the rest.

With Surfer AI, you can create content in 11 languages: English, German, Dutch, Polish, French, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Italian. 

So you can reach new markets and communicate with your audience in their preferred language. 

Surfer AI also generates copyright-free images accompanied by alt text.

In less than 20 minutes, you can have a fully optimized article ready for publishing.

Check this one out on our blog.

And it’s content that ranks and brings in consistent traffic. 

Not to mention that Surfer AI can save you a ton of time and bring in qualified leads. 

Let’s also check what ChatGPT has to say in the matter.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a conversational AI assistant designed to understand and generate human-like text responses.  

As an AI assistant, ChatGPT’s purpose is multifaceted, primarily revolving around assisting, informing, and facilitating various tasks for users.

Its use cases range from offering explanations on complex topics to debugging code and generating short-form content.

ChatGPT is trained on a vast array of text data, enabling it to engage in conversations on a wide range of topics. 

This can be useful for exploring ideas, refining concepts, or as a means of interactive learning.

There are different models of ChatGPT, both free and paid.

That’s to say, ChatGPT is a powerful AI tool. However, it’s not an SEO content writing tool.

What is the difference between Surfer AI and ChatGPT?

Surfer AI is an SEO content writing tool, while ChatGPT is a chatbot assistant. The tools are built to serve different purposes.

Surfer AI is a specialized AI writing tool built with one aim: to help you write long-form SEO content and generate traffic. As such, Surfer AI has access to real-time SERP data and the latest information on the web.

ChatGPT is not a specialized writing tool, but it can streamline certain aspects of your writing process.

For instance, you can use ChatGPT to brainstorm content ideas and write short-form content like meta descriptions, introductions, and conclusions. 

You can’t use ChatGPT to generate a complete article based on SERP analysis. For that, you have to use an AI writing tool like Surfer AI.

Surfer AI and ChatGPT serve different use cases and applications.

Let’s see what the tools have to say about it.

Here’s Surfer AI’s take from an article on Surfer AI vs ChatGPT.

And when I asked ChatGPT, it agreed with it.

The main factor that differentiates Surfer AI from ChatGPT and other AI writing tools is its ability to write engaging content that is also optimized for SERPs.

Surfer AI vs. ChatGPT: side-by-side comparison

There are a few important factors you need to consider when choosing an AI content writing tool. Quality, efficiency, and SEO results are some of the most important.

In this section, I go over the different aspects of Surfer AI and ChatGPT and how they compare.

Content quality

Quality is a key ranking factor and the most important factor to consider when comparing AI writing tools. 

High-quality content is optimized for both users and search engines. It’s also informative, credible, and engaging.

With Surfer AI, you can create quality articles that align with search intent, are fully optimized, and are ready to rank. 

And search engines reward quality content by boosting its visibility. 

ChatGPT, on the other hand, does not generate complete articles. It creates more generic content that is not optimized for search engines. 

And as one user puts it, ChatGPT content “sounds very AI” and “needs to be tweaked.”

Ease of use

Surfer AI can generate complete, high-quality, and optimized articles in just a few clicks. 

With ChatGPT’s prompt-based interface, it can take a lot of back and forth until you get the desired result—or at least some semblance of it.

Writing an article with Surfer AI

Surfer AI walks you through the step-by-step process of writing an SEO article.

1. Start by entering the keyword(s) you want to rank for.

2. Next, you can adjust your article settings. 

Choose the type of article you want to write and the tone of voice. 

You can also go further into Advanced Settings to check the competitors and add any custom knowledge you’d want the AI to take into account (more on that later).

Surfer AI will then create an outline for you to review and customize as you see fit.

3. Once you’re satisfied with the outline, click Let’s write.

Now sit back and wait while Surfer AI generates a fully optimized article, complete with heading tags and images.

Writing an article with ChatGPT

Writing an article with ChatGPT is not a straightforward task. The tool does not generate long-form SEO content.

ChatGPT is prompt-based. So you have to start from a blank page.

Simply asking ChatGPT to “write an article on the topic of [insert keyword] won’t work. 

Sure, it will produce an output, but it won’t be a long-form, quality article based on keyword and competitor research. 

You have to walk ChatGPT through the research, outline creation, and content writing process. 

Even then, ChatGPT has an output limit of around 4,000 characters. So you will need to put the article together piece by piece. 

This defies the purpose of using AI tools to make the content writing process easier.

SEO capabilities

Surfer AI analyzes 500+ ranking factors and live SERPs for the sole purpose of writing content that ranks.

Surfer AI starts by analyzing the top pages that are ranking for a specific keyword so it can create a comprehensive article that aims to outrank the competition. 

Surfer AI articles are fully on-page optimized. 

You can further optimize the articles inside Surfer’s Content Editor to boost the article's Content Score.

The Content Score measures the competitiveness of the article. It indicates how well the content relates to your main keyword. It considers factors like the article structure, length, and topical coverage.

Your aim is to be in the green, not necessarily to achieve a perfect score.

You can increase the score by looking at the Content Structure and Terms panel in the Editor.

In Content Structure, you can see whether the article’s word count, the number of headings, paragraphs, and images fall within the optimal range and adjust accordingly.

Look at the Terms panel to review relevant keywords and phrases you can manually add to the article. 

You can also use the Auto Optimize feature to automatically add content that includes these terms.

Its goal is to incorporate the terms naturally throughout the content and fill information gaps.

You can also use Insert internal links and Surfer will link to relevant articles from your website.

As you can see, Surfer has built-in capabilities to help you reach your SEO goals.

While you can use ChatGPT for content writing, it lacks built-in SEO capabilities.

Customization options

Surfer AI offers a ton of customization options to ensure your articles align with your expectations and fit your overall content strategy.

ChatGPT does not offer any customization options. You have to give it instructions via prompts.

With Surfer AI, you have control over the entire content creation process.

Surfer AI will invite you to customize the article right after you enter the topic you want to write about.

You can choose your Article type between Blog Post, Product Roundup, or Single Product Review.

If you choose Product Roundup, you can allow Surfer AI to choose the products based on its SERP analysis, or you can define them yourself.

Choose Tone of voice from 13 voices.

Optionally, you can enable Advanced Settings to provide AI with further instructions.

Add Custom Knowledge such as information or links you want Surfer AI to take into consideration.

You can also choose which Organic Competitors to include or exclude from the research phase.

Once Surfer AI builds the outline based on your settings, you can customize the outline before it writes the article.

And lastly, you can use Surfy, the AI writing assistant inside the Content Editor, to further edit the article.

Highlight a section and tell Surfy what you want to achieve. Surfy will do the rest.

Surfer AI provides you with customization options at every step of the process.

AI detection

Surfer AI has a built-in anti-AI detection feature. Enable it, and it will ensure your articles pass AI content detector tools.

ChatGPT does not offer any anti-AI detection capabilities.

Ultimately, search engines don’t discriminate between human and AI content, as long as the content is engaging and provides value. 

However, if it’s important to your company or clients to pass AI detection, then Surfer AI got you covered.

Pricing

You can get access to Surfer AI if you’re subscribed either by purchasing AI credits by by subscribing into Surfer’s Scale AI or Enterprise plan.

You can have a complete and ready-to-rank article in mere minutes, for as little as $19 per article. 

For full details, check our pricing page

If you’re unsure whether you want to commit yet, Surfer offers a 7-day money-back guarantee!

ChatGPT offers both a free and paid version of the tool.

As we saw throughout this article, ChatGPT is not a specialized SEO content writing tool. Hence, the lower price point.

Meanwhile, Surfer AI does the research, writing, and keyword optimization for you. 

Surfer AI vs ChatGPT: choosing the right AI writing tool

If you are looking for an SEO content writing tool, then Surfer AI is the solution. Simple as that.

While Surfer AI and ChatGPT are both AI tools capable of producing human-like text output, they serve different purposes.

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that can assist you with various tasks, but it cannot create a complete article that’s optimized for search engines and user intent.

With its prompt-based interface, limited output, and lack of SEO capabilities and customization options, ChatGPT is ineffective at generating quality SEO articles.

Surfer AI is a specialized AI writing tool designed to write content that ranks.

Its aim is to fuel your SEO marketing efforts.

Our users see real results with Surfer AI articles. The CBD Supplier increased its organic traffic by 557% over a period of 12 months using Surfer AI.

As you can see, Surfer AI can take your SEO efforts to the next level, there no need to look for alternatives

Use Surfer AI to write content that ranks

Surfer AI is the AI built to supercharge your SEO growth.

You can generate fully optimized and engaging articles in just a few clicks. What would take hours of research, writing, and editing can now be done in mere minutes.

The tool walks you through the steps of creating a long-form SEO article and lets you customize it as much or as little as you wish. You’re in full control over the final output.

Try Surfer AI today and start ranking!

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Screenshot of Surfer SEO Content Editor interface, displaying the 'Essential Content Marketing Metrics' article with a content score of 82/100. The editor highlights sections like 'Key Takeaways' and offers SEO suggestions for terms such as 'content marketing metrics