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What Is SEO Automation Software? 7 Leading Tools

Contextual Targeting Guide: How To Do Contextual Targeting

Keeping your ecommerce website up-to-date is a crucial but time-consuming task. Beyond ensuring your product pages are current, managing data security, and staying on top of software updates, you also need to keep up with the ever-changing world of search engine optimization (SEO). Between algorithm updates and technical reviews, managing your SEO efforts takes effort and expertise.

Automated SEO software can lighten the load. These tools manage some of the more labor-intensive SEO tasks, such as running audits, fixing site errors, and optimizing product pages—helping your store stay discoverable as it grows. That way, you can spend less time on technical details and more time doing what matters most: building your brand, telling your story, and making sales.

Let’s take a deeper look at what SEO automation is, which tasks it can handle for your store, and which tools are worth exploring.

What is SEO automation?

SEO automation uses software to handle the technical and repetitive work behind search optimization, so your store stays visible without constant manual effort. 

Instead of spending hours running SEO audits and fixing issues one at a time, you can work with SEO automation software to gather insights from Google Search Console (Google’s visibility-tracking tool) and other data sources, detect technical issues, and even apply approved changes.

Most SEO automation platforms can help you:

  • Monitor how people find your site—whether through local SEO (nearby searches such as “jewelry stores in Boston”), organic search (non-paid Google results), or referrals (traffic from other websites)—using data from tools like Google Analytics.

  • Suggest and implement improvements to your on-page SEO (like optimizing headings, image alt text, or internal links).

  • Optimize meta tags and meta descriptions—the titles and descriptions that appear in search results.

  • Catch technical SEO issues (such as broken links and slow-loading pages) before they cause harm.

  • Turn complex data from SEO reports into actionable insights (for example, showing which products attract the most search traffic or which keywords are underperforming).

In short, SEO automation handles the technical heavy lifting while you focus on what makes your business yours—your unique story, your customer relationships, and your creative vision.

What types of SEO tasks can you automate?

You can automate most of the repetitive, data-heavy parts of SEO. Together, these automation layers keep your store optimized, visible, and running smoothly while freeing up time for growth and creative work.

Broadly, automation platforms help with the following:

Monitoring and reporting

Modern SEO automation tools give you 24/7 SEO oversight. They track your domain authority (i.e., an estimate of how likely your site is to rank), keyword rankings, and organic traffic. They can even alert you to sudden dips in search visibility or site health. Clear dashboards replace manual spreadsheets, showing where your SEO performance is improving and where to devote more attention.

Insights and recommendations

AI-powered SEO platforms don’t just collect data—they help you interpret results and provide valuable insights. They can flag missing meta descriptions, slow-loading pages, or declining web traffic and recommend solutions. For instance, they might show how optimized product pages achieve higher conversions or how merging duplicate blog posts strengthens your topical authority.

Content production

Creating SEO-optimized content takes time. AI SEO software can speed up the process by generating blog post outlines, inserting relevant keywords into drafted content, and updating meta descriptions in bulk. The goal isn’t to replace your brand’s voice but to automate first drafts, research, and formatting so your content stays fresh without constant rewriting.

Website changes

Some SEO automation tools can take direct action on your website by fixing broken links, compressing images, and updating structured data (i.e., the code that helps search engines understand your content) across hundreds of pages. These routine improvements help maintain site speed, user experience, and overall SEO health.

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Leading SEO automation software

Traditional SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush focus on keyword research and analysis. Automation platforms extend that work by turning insights into action, helping you fix errors (like broken links or missing tags), update content, and refine site performance in real time. Some specialize in analytics, while others focus on content or technical fixes. The following tools exemplify how SEO automated software is evolving: 

AthenaHQ

AthenaHQ offers deep AI integration, delivering actionable insights into competitors and recommending strategies to boost your search rankings. 

Its strength lies in assessing visibility in AI-driven search (like AI-generated summaries in search results) and improving performance in AI-generated responses across platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini. This approach benefits businesses looking to stay ahead of emerging search trends and use AI to enhance search visibility and conversions. 

Pricing: Self-serve plans start at $270 per month (billed annually); custom enterprise-level plans are also available.

Daydream

Daydream bridges software and service, pairing a dedicated strategy team with an automation software stack that runs in the background. Its platform automates core tasks such as SEO audits, keyword tracking, and content updates while providing strategic oversight. Daydream’s unique emphasis on generative engine optimization (GEO)—optimizing content for AI-driven search—positions it for where SEO is heading, not just where it is today.

Pricing: Plans are custom-priced.

AirOps

AirOps automates the entire content life cycle, from keyword research to content optimization, publishing, and performance. Its drag-and-drop interface allows you to create AI-enabled SEO processes that integrate directly with Google Search Console, Shopify, Notion, Semrush, and more. 

This level of integration is rare, making it ideal for stores with large product catalogs looking to maintain consistent processes as they expand. While the learning curve can be steep, the platform’s flexibility and end-to-end automation make it a powerful choice for growing brands that need scalable SEO management. 

Pricing: AirOps offers a free plan for one user with limited monthly usage and custom pricing for multiuser plans.

OTTO SEO (Search Atlas)

Part of the Search Atlas suite, OTTO SEO offers automation with full transparency. It identifies SEO issues and automatically applies approved fixes—updating meta tags and descriptions and resolving technical problems. 

OTTO stands out for its balance between automation and control—you get full visibility into all changes before they go live, so nothing happens without approval. This is especially useful for businesses managing large catalogs or multiple sites to ensure technical SEO is consistent across all pages. 

Pricing: Plans range from $99 to $399 per month.

DIY automation: ChatGPT + Zapier

ChatGPT and Zapier can work together to automate basic SEO tasks. Zapier connects your apps and data sources, triggering ChatGPT to generate or update content automatically. It can help you by creating meta tags when a new blog post is published or by drafting product descriptions based on updated inventory data. This setup offers a flexible, low-cost way for small teams to experiment with AI-powered SEO automation, though it still requires setup and testing to fine-tune results.

Pricing: ChatGPT offers a free basic plan and paid business plans starting at $25 per user per month (billed annually); Zapier also has a free tier, with paid tiers starting at $19.99 per month (billed annually).

Work smarter with apps

Expand your store features with more than 8,000 apps from the Shopify App Store. Find everything from dropshipping suppliers to AI-powered customer support and additional apps to help you do more.

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SEO automation for Shopify stores

Shopify store owners already have built-in SEO tools that automatically generate sitemaps, create web page title tags, and enable SSL certificates to enhance security and trust. Beyond that, the Shopify App Store offers plug-ins to automate various SEO tasks.

Booster SEO

Booster SEO is a Shopify app with an AI AutoPilot feature that finds and fixes SEO issues based on customized rules. This includes monitoring and auto-redirecting broken links, bulk image compression to improve page speed, and meta tag optimization. Shopify merchants often cite Booster’s prompt, personalized support, describing it as a reliable solution for automated technical SEO.

Pricing: Booster SEO offers a free basic plan, with paid plans starting at $29 per month (paid annually).

Sherpas: Smart SEO

For Shopify stores with image-heavy catalogs, Sherpas automates image resizing and alt-tag generation to help boost search rankings. Using AI, Sherpas lets you edit thousands of images, titles, and descriptions at scale in your own voice. In addition, Sherpas provides a backlink report to help with link building and supports structured data with JSON-LD markup.

Pricing: Sherpas offers a free basic plan and paid plans that range from $9.99 to $29.99 per month.

How to choose the right automation approach

No two businesses have the same SEO strategy, but these steps can help you integrate automation into your process. A key principle is to start small and review changes before going live. Automation should save you time, not put your brand voice at risk—especially when using AI tools for content creation

The goal is to build automation in layers—starting with data, then insights, then content.

  • Start with monitoring. Use tools such as Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, or Search Atlas to measure your SEO performance baseline.

  • Add insight tools. Platforms like AthenaHQ or AirOps pinpoint technical SEO issues and opportunities.

  • Expand to content. Use AI-powered tools like ChatGPT to speed up writing and updates.

  • Automate site changes with care. Start small—fix broken links or missing meta tags—and then scale.

  • Review outputs often. Check SEO reports weekly to ensure automation continues to support your SEO strategy and online visibility goals.

The best automated SEO software for your business depends on where you are in your growth journey. Early-stage stores may start with monitoring and reporting, while established brands benefit from full-scale automation that integrates across SEO campaigns and teams.

SEO automation software FAQ

What’s the best software for SEO automation?

The best SEO automation software depends on your goals, budget, and technical comfort level. For example, AirOps puts a premium on flexibility, OTTO SEO is ideal if you value hands-off automation, and Shopify’s tools are a strong option for ecommerce.

Can AI really help with SEO?

Tools like ChatGPT, AthenaHQ, and OTTO SEO use AI integration to identify gaps, automate fixes, and improve search rankings. Human creativity, however, still leads the way when it comes to creating engaging content and developing your brand voice and authority. The best path forward is to work with AI tools to find ways to optimize your site.

Can automation replace SEO specialists?

SEO automation software does the heavy lifting, but humans bring the creativity, strategy, and nuance that turn clicks into loyal customers. Automation won’t replace SEO specialists but allow them to focus on higher-stakes tasks, such as campaign planning, content strategy, and audience engagement.

This article originally appeared on Shopify and is available here for further discovery.