Search Atlas is an AI-powered SEO platform that covers keyword research, content optimization, site audits, and backlink tracking in one place, but its most distinctive features are AI tools OTTO SEO, OTTO PPC, and the new Vibe SEO tool, OTTO Agent.
I decided to test the Search Atlas SEO platform using its 7-day free trial to see whether it lives up to the buzz around its AI automation features. I looked at the company’s history, its awards, and user reviews, tested all of its tools, and compared its pricing to competitors. Here’s what I found.
What is Search Atlas?
Search Atlas is an AI-powered SEO platform that combines keyword research, content optimization, site audits, and backlink tracking in one place. It focuses on automation and workflow simplification, using its proprietary AI engine, OTTO SEO, to handle technical, on-page, off-page, local SEO, press release distribution, cloud stacking, content, and many more tasks automatically. The Search Atlas platform aims to replace multiple SEO tools while offering a more affordable alternative to competitors like Semrush and Ahrefs.
It was created in 2022 by the entrepreneur Manick Bhan, a 3x INC 5000 founder and the company’s CTO. It has received several industry awards, the latest of which is Best AI Search Software Solution at the Global Search Awards 2025 for OTTO SEO. A significant part of the team is remote and global. Search Atlas keeps a strong focus on SEO testing and research, and offers a scholarship.
Who Should Use Search Atlas
From what I saw, Search Atlas suits anyone who needs to manage SEO at scale without juggling multiple tools. It’s built for freelancers, agencies, and enterprises that want a single, automated platform for everything—keyword research, content optimization, link building, site audits, and even PPC campaign creation.
Freelancers and small teams will appreciate how easy it is to set up and how much time it saves, while enterprise clients can take advantage of its scalable infrastructure and detailed reporting. The pricing also makes it accessible, which lowers the barrier for smaller operations.
Key Takeaways (TL;DR)
- OTTO SEO is great for people who want to automate their processes, especially technical SEO, there’s no manual work.
- Search Atlas works as a single platform that handles most SEO and some PPC tasks.
- The Local SEO toolkit is super useful.
- The platform can be buggy.
- It’s more affordable than competitors, and it integrates tools that only come as add-ons on competitor platforms.
- The reporting is completely white-label and automated.
Pros and Cons
Search Atlas is great for complete automation, innovative tools, and features based on the team’s research of thousands of websites. The platform offers a 7-day free trial with complete onboarding and excellent customer support.
Pros:
- The platform handles a lot of automation on its own, reducing manual work.
- Pricing is more affordable compared with industry giants like Ahrefs.
- Strong support and lots of tutorial videos.
Cons:
- The interface isn’t always intuitive; some tools are tucked in the upper right corner, which took me a while to locate.
- There’s a bit of a learning curve to get fully comfortable with all the features.
- Occasional bugs occur, which is common for newer platforms.
How I Tested Search Atlas
The platform offers most of the standard tools, such as rank tracking, keyword research, and link and competitor analysis. However, it also has plenty of unique tools so I focused on them a bit harder here.
Setup, Onboarding, and Training
First, when you sign up for the 7-day free trial, the platform asks you if you’re using it as an agency or a brand. I picked “brand” (also suitable for individuals) and the platform took me to the onboarding page to set up my project.
Also, you do need to give your credit card details, which I’m always wary of, but I didn’t have any issues cancelling later.
It guides you through the steps and lets you research the tools, connect to GSC, GBP, and GA4, and pick additional services such as additional link building packages and local data aggregation.
The final step takes you to the SEO Theory Facebook group link, tutorials, and personal onboarding sessions.
The company also sends you a step-by-step onboarding email sequence during the trial, and the support is highly responsive, so this part is a plus for me.
For more solo research, there’s a Knowledge Base available, too.
UI
The dashboard has a dark theme and a very modern look. While it isn’t the most important thing, it can be refreshing compared to tools that have a Windows XP-era aesthetic.
While I do like the overall look, I had issues finding some tools, until I figured out they are way up in the right corner. This could be organized much better.
Automation and Vibe SEO Tools
The next thing I tested was the flagship automation tools. What stood out first is how much automation it offers beyond a typical SEO dashboard. The OTTO ecosystem—including OTTO SEO, OTTO PPC, OTTO Agent, and OTTO Implementation Services—feels more like an AI operations team than a set of tools.
OTTO SEO won Best AI Search Software at the Global Search Awards for 2025, and I was pretty excited to test it. The platform guides you through the installation process, which is a relief since I got a bit confused. Namely, OTTO SEO recently switched from pixel-based tracking to DNS verification, so I expected a different process. Anyways, DNS is definitely cleaner and more accurate.
So what does OTTO SEO do?
OTTO SEO monitors different issue categories, including technical fixes, content optimization, schema markup, instant indexing, GBP optimization, link building, and digital PR. You get 24/7 tracking of issues, and not just recommendations on how to fix them. You see all of them in the dashboard, choose what to execute, and once you approve changes, OTTO SEO implements them instantly on your site, no matter the CMS.
Inside OTTO SEO, there’s a Link Building Exchange tool that leads to LinkLaboratory, which is the world's biggest publisher exchange. The AI finds the most relevant sites for you to outreach to, scans for spam, and speeds up the process with outreach tools. Serious timesaver.
The latest OTTO addition is OTTO Agent, an AI companion that lets you execute SEO tasks through a conversational UI, latching onto the trend of Vibe SEO. It can do almost anything, such as auditing sites or Google Business Profiles, distributing press releases, and mapping topical clusters.
However, it’s clearly a new tool and needs a few loose ends tied up, given that it got a bit buggy. Still, I’m curious to see where they go with it next.
On the paid side, OTTO PPC (OTTO Google Ads) builds full campaigns in a few clicks, generating ad groups, keywords, and copy automatically. I was skeptical at first, but the tool does have plenty of good reviews, although I didn’t create an actual campaign with a budget and all that. But given how much time setting up a Google Ads campaign takes, full automation with AI is worth a try. Plus, the platform regularly adds improvements, having recently enabled retargeting campaigns as well.
And finally, for teams that want a hands-off approach, OTTO Implementation Services lets the Search Atlas team oversee execution and ensure automation aligns with strategy. Not my cup of tea, as I like to test things out myself, but busy brands might enjoy the service.
Site Audit & Technical SEO
The combination of site auditing and automation is one of the platform’s main selling points, and I can tell why. Combined with OTTO SEO, you get to monitor and fix issues with more efficiency and less technical knowledge required.
The live monitoring part is a must these days, so good that it’s available. And you can see all issues at once, so this part is simplified for anyone who isn’t a fan of technical SEO.
The overview shows you how your site's health changes over time, and it’s not much different than standard technical SEO tools at first glance.
I’d like to highlight Crawl Monitoring in this section, as it lets you see which bots recently crawled your site, including LLM bots, which might be crucial info given the recent industry changes.
OTTO SEO also lets you automate schema markup, helpful for large websites and teams, as you choose a type, enter the details, and you get schema markup you can just copy where needed.
So far, OTTO SEO has left the strongest impression. Instead of just giving recommendations, it lets you implement fixes directly from the dashboard, and it covers a really wide range of tasks. For agencies, this makes auditing multiple sites much more manageable, and the pricing scales so adding more sites actually gets cheaper per site.
Keyword research
The platform provides the Keyword Research tool, the Keyword Gap Tool, the Keyword Rank Tracker, and the Keyword Magic Tool for finding related terms. I first tested the Keyword Magic Tool by entering a seed keyword and selecting a target location. It returned related terms with volume, difficulty, and search intent. Then I tried the Keyword Gap Tool, which lets you compare your site against up to five competitors. It highlighted ranking gaps, shared terms, and unique opportunities, and it organized them into Gap, Opportunities, and Unique Keywords.
So far so good, but the research tools aren’t particularly groundbreaking. And while they worked fine during my testing, I’ve seen users mention occasional bugs in keyword research.
The platform is better known for its rank tracking, as it gives you a choice to really narrow the rank tracking location down, and it’s directly connected to GSC, so you have a reliable overview of where you stand.
Full Content Pipeline
Search Atlas puts a strong focus on content, with a full pipeline that covers everything from research to optimization. The Topical Map Generator is where you start: you enter a topic, choose clusters, and set how many long-tail keywords and blog titles to generate. It helps connect themes, guide internal linking, and keep topical consistency across a site.
I also like the Content Planner, which is especially useful for agencies managing multiple clients or freelancers trying to save time. You input a seed keyword, homepage URL, and region, and it generates keyword clusters with volume, competition, and search intent to guide writing priorities.
For drafting, Content Genius includes workflows for manual writing, AI-assisted writing, or bulk content generation. It applies brand context, adapts tone, and can even generate topic-related images. The writing itself definitely needs some polishing, but it does information-retrieval and competitor research really well. One-click publishing is convenient, though not unique.
The platform’s on-page audit works across large numbers of pages, checking meta data, keyword use, and other on-page signals in a single view—great for bigger sites. Scholar is an interesting addition: it scores content and competitors on ranking factors like entities, clarity, and factual language. Some of these metrics take time to understand, but it’s a unique angle for assessing content quality, and it’s been confirmed through Search Atlas research based on Google Leaks.
Backlink Analysis Tools
The platform has three main backlink tools: the Backlink Research Tool, the Backlink Gap Analysis Tool, and the Backlink Profile Comparison Tool.
They’re in the Site Metrics section, mostly, with some also in the upper right corner thing, so the navigation here is confusing. Still, the tools are doing what they’re supposed to and giving you a pretty good overview of your site and competitors.
The Backlink Research Tool analyzes backlinks by domain, subdomain, or specific URL, showing linking domains, anchor text patterns, link types, and page-level metrics. For profile comparison, you get to analyze up to six domains at once, side by side, with pretty nice visualizations.
It helps that the outreach tools are integrated into the platform, so you can just finish the process without switching to another tool.
Competitor Analysis
In the same Site Metrics section, there’s a solid set of competitor overview and research tools. Some are standard tools that look similar to Ahrefs Site Explorer, but with additional features. For example, Search Atlas has its own authority metric, Domain Power, and research so far shows it’s more accurate in predicting actual rankings. This is primarily useful for link building.
Also, you see other authority metrics, traffic, keywords, LLM visibility, and an analysis based on Holistic SEO, which the founder of Search Atlas is a great proponent of.
So unlike keyword research tools which serve the standard industry offer, the competitor research offer in Search Atlas is much more unique and innovative. Topical Dominance, for example, is one of a kind, and it shows you exactly how you stand against competitors for each topic, while also showing which keywords they rank for in each.
LLM-Visibility
LLM Visibility is a part of Site Metrics, but it gets a separate section given that it’s becoming a highly necessary feature, and not all platforms have it. The tool tracks your brand across AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. It shows brand mentions, sentiment, share of voice, and ranking in AI answers.
It is usually an expensive add-on, but in Search Atlas it’s integrated. While that is a big plus, I can see it's still a new tool, so it will need more work.
GBP Galactic
What I liked about GBP Galactic is that it has a set of tasks that it tracks, so it’s much easier to organize your time, especially with a lot of clients. Automated review responses, Q&As, and GBP posts are another plus. You can also manage service descriptions, business addresses, and completely organize and automate your local SEO workflow.
Also, the company’s Local SEO Heatmaps let you track how you rank in any location with a lot of customization, from area size to map shape.
I heard a lot of users pick Search Atlas because of its affordable data aggregator, which gives you the 5 biggest data aggregators with a discount if you use all of them. This is cheaper than local SEO specialized tools.
Authority Building
The tools in the Authority Building section help you automate outreach, which is time-consuming, especially for freelancers. The Link Building Outreach and Digital PR Tool manages outreach campaigns, link prospecting, and HARO-style pitching, and it speeds up the whole process with automated filters, scheduled follow-ups, and centralized messaging.
You also get to create cloud stacks automatically, and easily distribute press releases with the help of AI, which is excellent for boosting your authority.
Another specialty of Search Atlas is LLM Quest. With this tool, you improve your visibility in LLMs as it lets you find their sources for a query and contact the site directly to build links with them, and hopefully, end up in the LLM's knowledge base.
IMO, this will come in handy in 2026 if AI browsers start really taking off, although it’s also a top feature now.
Report Builder and White-Label Options
I tested the Search Atlas Report Builder and found it useful for pulling all SEO data into one place. It connects to Google Search Console, GA4, Rank Tracker, Backlinks, and Local Heat Maps, so I could combine everything into a single client report. The drag-and-drop layout makes it easy to customize sections, add a logo, and adjust widgets. I liked that I could schedule automatic reports, and the AI summary really helps clients who don’t have time to get into the details.
Portfolio Summary also stood out. It gives a quick overview of all client accounts and assigns a health score to each, labeling them as Biggest Wins, Stable, or At Risk. It’s a good way to see which campaigns need attention without checking every dashboard.
User Reviews, Case Studies, Testimonials
Search Atlas has a solid ranking on G2 (4.7/5) and Capterra (4.8/5), and mixed but mostly positive reviews on Reddit.
This fits the solid impression I got from the Local SEO tools. Other reviews mention the usefulness of automation, as it lets them focus on strategy and leave the low-level tasks to AI.
However, some users mentioned OTTO SEO created issues for their sites. I also noticed the Search Atlas team responding quickly, and I expect the new DNS installation system will resolve these occasional problems.
Also, a common complaint was that Deep Freeze (keeping the OTTO SEO changes after cancelling) was paid. I checked, and it is now free as the company decided to pay attention to the complaints.
Pricing
| Starter | Growth | Pro |
| $99/month | $199/month | $399/month |
| 1 OTTO SEO Project, 10 OTTO Google Ads campaigns, 3 GBP Galactic projects, 2 user seats, 2000 tracked keywords, 5 GSC projects | 2 OTTO SEO projects, 10 OTTO Google Ads campaigns, 10 GBP Galactic projects, 3 user seats, 3500 tracked keywords, 15 GSC projects | 4 OTTO SEO projects, 10 OTTO Google Ads campaigns, 25 GBP Galactic projects, 5 user seats, 6000 tracked keywords, unlimited GSC projects |
There is also an Enterprise Plan with custom pricing and quotas. Also, additional OTTO SEO activations scale in price: $99 per site initially, dropping per site as volume increases. This makes the platform highly affordable for enterprises.
Overall, the tool is cheaper than its biggest competitors and offers plenty of integrated tools that others sell as costly add-ons. For example, the report-building tool is $999 per year, while here, reporting is integrated and comes with the price.
How Does Search Atlas Compare to Competitors?
Let’s look at the two biggest ones, as the platform claims it can replace them.
Search Atlas vs Semrush
After testing both, I’d say Semrush feels like the safer, more established choice, while Search Atlas focuses on automation and speed.
Semrush impressed me with its massive keyword database, long historical data, and detailed competitive intelligence. It’s the go-to option for large companies that need deep market research and advanced PPC features. However, it’s expensive, takes time to learn, and offers little automation, so most tasks still require manual setup.
Search Atlas, on the other hand, feels more modern. Its OTTO AI handles audits, on-page fixes, and campaign setup automatically, which is a serious timesaver. It integrates directly with WordPress and it’s much more affordable. Still, its keyword database is smaller, the platform is newer and can be buggy, and reviews are mixed.
In short, Semrush gives more data depth, while Search Atlas delivers faster automation and better value for teams that want to move quickly.
Search Atlas vs Ahrefs
Ahrefs stands out for its massive keyword and backlink databases, visual reports, and precise competitor analysis. It’s great for users who want to control every step manually. The tradeoff is that it’s expensive, especially for enterprise plans, and it requires more hands-on time to manage.
Search Atlas feels built for efficiency. Its OTTO SEO agent automates content optimization, technical audits, and internal linking, which removes a lot of manual work. It also includes local SEO tools and real-time tracking, and its entry plans cost less than Ahrefs. However, its data coverage is smaller, and automation sometimes misses finer analytical detail.
I’d say Ahrefs is the stronger option for data depth, while Search Atlas is better for automation and workflow speed.
Final Verdict
After testing Search Atlas, I can say it’s one of the more ambitious AI SEO platforms I’ve tried. The OTTO tools let you act on insights directly, handling SEO, PPC, and content tasks automatically. Features like the Site Auditor, Content Genius, and LLM Visibility add useful depth, and the content pipeline works well for freelancers and agencies managing multiple clients.
The platform has some drawbacks. The interface can be confusing at first; there is a learning curve, and occasional bugs appear. OTTO automation is powerful but requires trust since it makes changes directly on your site.
Pricing starts at $99/month and includes many tools that competitors sell separately. For anyone looking for automation, centralized management, and scalable SEO, Search Atlas delivers strong value and is worth trying.
