Gane, the publisher, sells software in this category. Every product here is measured by the same method as in every other category. How the conflict is handled.
Eight of fourteen models named Semrush first on the direct prompt; one named Conductor. Semrush was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Conductor by eleven and Semrush carries 57 labels and Conductor 19, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Boston, United States, founded 2008. Named in six categories this edition.
New York City, United States, founded 2006. Named in two categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the SEO and content optimization platforms page.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Semrush and Conductor were named in the same answer seventy-five times, of the 355 answers naming Semrush and the 146 naming Conductor. In those answers Conductor took the first choice twenty-nine times and Semrush nine.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | ||||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | ||||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | ||||||
| Perplexity Sonar | ||||||
| Grok 4.20 | ||||||
| Mistral Small | ||||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | ||||||
| Llama 4 Maverick | ||||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | ||||||
| Kimi K2 | ||||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | ||||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | ||||||
| GPT-6 Luna | ||||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B |
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“Don't pay for expensive tools like Semrush ($139+/month)” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · hard negative
“the best overall SEO and content optimization platform is a combination of Semrush (or Ahrefs) for research/strategy + Surfer SEO (or Clearscope) for content optimization” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · first choice
“Best for: Full digital marketing suites, agencies, power users ... Largest keyword database (26.6B Google keywords)” Kimi K2 · comparative prompt · first choice
“For most mid-market B2B companies, Semrush is the best overall SEO and content optimization platform” Perplexity Sonar · direct prompt · first choice
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“Avoid for Mid-Market: BrightEdge/Conductor (enterprise pricing, $1K+/month, too complex)” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · hard negative
“certain enterprise SEO platforms like Conductor or BrightEdge) are sometimes criticized for not delivering value commensurate with their price tags” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“the best choice is usually Conductor if your priority is a unified SEO + content optimization workflow” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · first choice
“#1 first-choice share among enterprise B2B buyers; API-based; no published pricing” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.