BuzzSumo is a content research platform that shows you what’s performing well across the web and social media. Henley Wing and James Blackwell founded it in 2013 in the UK, and it was acquired by Brandwatch (now part of Cision) in 2017.
Enter any topic, keyword, or domain, and BuzzSumo surfaces the most shared, liked, and linked-to content from across the web. This data is invaluable for content marketers trying to figure out what resonates with audiences before investing time writing their own pieces.
The Content Analyzer is the core tool, indexing billions of articles and tracking social engagement metrics from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Pinterest. The Question Analyzer mines forums and Q&A sites like Reddit and Quora to find real questions people are asking about any topic — a goldmine for content ideation.
BuzzSumo’s Influencer feature identifies key content sharers and writers in any niche, useful for outreach and link-building campaigns. The Monitoring tool sends alerts when your brand, competitors, or specific topics get mentioned online.
The Journalist tool is a newer addition, providing a database of journalists and the topics they cover, making it useful for PR outreach. You can see what a specific journalist has recently published and what content they tend to share.
Pricing starts at $199/month for the Content Creation plan, which covers the basic research tools. BuzzSumo carved out a durable niche in the content marketing stack — it won’t help you write or optimize content, but it’s one of the best tools for figuring out what content to create in the first place.
