SEO and content optimization platforms
Asked as “SEO and content optimization platform”, and as “SEO content optimization tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 30 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing
Semrush30% of first choices, right on the leader line, in the least stable category in the edition: every one of the six models changed its first choice when the question was reworded.
First-choice share
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. Leader at 30% or more of first choices; criticized at 25% or more negative labels. Markers are keyed to the table below.
Negative label rate →
25% negative
30% first choices
Criticized challenger
Criticized default
Accepted challenger
Endorsed leader
01
02
03
04
05
06
070%First-choice share →60%
Full standing
| # | Product | First choices | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Semrush | 30% | 21% | 28 | endorsed leader |
| 02 | Clearscope | 17% | 12% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| 03 | Surfer SEO | 7% | 19% | 26 | accepted challenger |
| 04 | Conductor | 7% | 17% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| 05 | Ahrefs | 3% | 18% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| 06 | Frase | 3% | 13% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| 07 | MarketMuse | 3% | 26% | 19 | criticized challenger |
Warned against
A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
MarketMuse26%
5 of 19 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“Content scoring tools (Surfer SEO, MarketMuse, Frase, Clearscope, etc.) are real products, but the failure mode is well documented” Claude Opus 5, negative prompt
Semrush21%
6 of 28 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“its full SEO Toolkit starts at $139.95 monthly, making it difficult to justify for most budget-constrained companies” GPT-5.6 Sol, budget prompt
Surfer SEO19%
5 of 26 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“Surfer's AI writing is limited to its own tool and isn't a replacement for a dedicated generation platform” Claude Opus 5, negative prompt
Ahrefs18%
4 of 22 labels negative · 3 of 6 models
“dropping $130+ a month on premium platforms like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Clearscope often isn't feasible” Gemini 3.1 Pro, budget prompt
Held under rewording
Whether each model's first choice on the direct prompt survived the paraphrase in this category, under the strict rule.
Claude Opus 5
Changed
Claude Opus 4.8
Changed
GPT-6 Astra
Changed
GPT-5.6 Sol
Changed
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Changed
Perplexity Sonar Pro
Changed
Noise floor in this category
Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat (simulated until 12 September 2026). Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.
Claude Opus 5
1 of 4 flipped
Claude Opus 4.8
0 of 4 flipped
GPT-6 Astra
2 of 5 flipped
GPT-5.6 Sol
0 of 5 flipped
Gemini 3.1 Pro
1 of 5 flipped
Perplexity Sonar Pro
2 of 4 flipped
What each model said, prompt by prompt
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. Bold is the first choice, grey the alternatives, red what the answer argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
| Prompt | Claude Opus 5 | Claude Opus 4.8 | GPT-6 Astra | GPT-5.6 Sol | Gemini 3.1 Pro | Perplexity Sonar Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct recommendation What is the best SEO and content optimization platform for a mid-market B2B software company? | Semrush Ahrefs, Clearscope, Peec AI, Profound +2 against: Conductor, Surfer SEO, seoClarity | Ahrefs, Semrush Clearscope, Surfer SEO against: MarketMuse | Semrush Clearscope, Conductor | Semrush Ahrefs, Clearscope, Conductor | MarketMuse, Semrush Ahrefs, Clearscope, Conductor | Semrush Clearscope, Screaming Frog, Surfer SEO |
Paraphrase Which SEO content optimization tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company? | Clearscope Ahrefs, Semrush, Surfer SEO against: MarketMuse | Clearscope, Surfer SEO Frase, MarketMuse, Semrush | Clearscope MarketMuse, Surfer SEO | Clearscope MarketMuse, Semrush, Surfer SEO | Clearscope Frase, MarketMuse, Surfer SEO | Semrush, Surfer SEO Clearscope |
Comparative What are the top SEO and content optimization platforms and how do they differ? | Ahrefs, Semrush Clearscope, Google Search Console, MarketMuse, Moz +2 | Ahrefs, Semrush Clearscope, Frase, MarketMuse, Moz +1 | Ahrefs, Semrush Clearscope, Conductor, Frase, MarketMuse +2 | Ahrefs, Semrush BrightEdge, Clearscope, Conductor, Frase +5 | Clearscope, Surfer SEO Frase, MarketMuse, Semrush | Semrush Ahrefs, Clearscope, Google Search Console, SE Ranking +2 |
Budget constrained What is the best SEO and content optimization platform for a company with a limited budget? | SE Ranking Google Search Console, Mangools, NeuronWriter against: Ahrefs, Keysearch, Moz +2 | Mangools, Ubersuggest Google Search Console, Rank Math, Screaming Frog against: Surfer SEO | NeuronWriter Frase, Google Search Console against: Semrush | Frase Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Ubersuggest against: Semrush | SE Ranking Ahrefs, Frase, Google Search Console, Mangools +2 against: Ahrefs, Clearscope, MarketMuse +1 | SE Ranking Frase, Rank Math |
Scale constrained We are a 500 person company evaluating an SEO and content optimization platform. What should we look at? | no first choice | no first choice | Conductor, Semrush, seoClarity BrightEdge, Surfer SEO | BrightEdge, Conductor, Semrush, seoClarity Ahrefs, Botify, Lumar, MarketMuse | no first choice BrightEdge, Clearscope, Conductor, MarketMuse +2 against: Ahrefs | no first choice |
Negative framing Which SEO and content optimization platforms should I avoid or be cautious about? | no first choice against: Clearscope, Frase, MarketMuse +4 | no first choice | no first choice against: Ahrefs, Semrush, Surfer SEO | no first choice Google Search Console against: Clearscope, Frase, MarketMuse +6 | Clearscope, Frase, Surfer SEO Ahrefs, Semrush against: Article Forge, BrightEdge, ChimpRewriter +9 | no first choice |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
Category-scoped readings
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
None awaiting human review.
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
Every prompt and answer
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, latency and cost. Full answer text is in the responses download on the Data page.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:03 | yes | 36 | 92 s | $0.46 |
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:04 | yes | 30 | 65 s | $0.31 |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:08 | yes | 4 | 33 s | $0.39 |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:09 | yes | 5 | 34 s | $0.19 |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:07 | no | 0 | 175 s | $0.03 |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:04 | yes | 20 | 13 s | $0.01 |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:09 | yes | 20 | 54 s | $0.23 |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:10 | no | 0 | 21 s | $0.06 |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:11 | yes | 4 | 25 s | $0.28 |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:12 | yes | 4 | 42 s | $0.23 |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:11 | no | 0 | 29 s | $0.03 |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:10 | yes | 20 | 5 s | $0.01 |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:13 | yes | 24 | 60 s | $0.27 |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:14 | yes | 34 | 66 s | $0.40 |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:15 | yes | 9 | 45 s | $0.44 |
| Comparative | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:17 | yes | 11 | 93 s | $0.40 |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:15 | no | 0 | 31 s | $0.03 |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:14 | yes | 19 | 10 s | $0.02 |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:18 | yes | 22 | 51 s | $0.20 |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:19 | yes | 37 | 65 s | $0.36 |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:20 | yes | 4 | 25 s | $0.27 |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:21 | yes | 3 | 44 s | $0.18 |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:19 | no | 0 | 25 s | $0.02 |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:19 | yes | 20 | 7 s | $0.01 |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:22 | yes | 38 | 91 s | $0.39 |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:23 | no | 0 | 23 s | $0.06 |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:24 | yes | 5 | 45 s | $0.36 |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:25 | yes | 12 | 77 s | $0.31 |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:23 | no | 0 | 31 s | $0.03 |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:23 | yes | 20 | 8 s | $0.02 |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 11:27 | yes | 42 | 62 s | $0.25 |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 11:27 | yes | 39 | 50 s | $0.19 |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 11:29 | yes | 5 | 45 s | $0.40 |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 11:30 | yes | 12 | 61 s | $0.24 |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 11:28 | yes | 5 | 41 s | $0.06 |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 11:28 | yes | 19 | 7 s | $0.01 |