AI-driven answers are increasingly dominating search, with more users relying on tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity for recommendations. If your brand isn’t featured in these AI responses, you risk losing a significant and growing portion of the market. To help marketers navigate this shift, Semrush developed the AI SEO Toolkit — a powerful resource for understanding AI’s impact on your business. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to utilize it effectively, illustrated with a real example. **TL;DR: Measure Your AI Search Visibility** ### What Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit Does: - Tracks brand appearances across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity, highlighting included prompts and gaps. - Offers prompt tracking, content audits, and competitor comparisons. ### Pricing: - $99/month per domain, with no trial. --- ### Step 0: Choose a Brand for the Example For this walkthrough, we use Petlibro, a fast-growing startup selling smart pet feeders and water fountains, selected from Exploding Topics’ ecommerce category. This is an unbiased example. ### Step 1: Get Your Search Baseline Check traditional SEO performance using Semrush’s Domain Overview. For petlibro. com, growth has been strong over 18 months, mostly from the U. S. , ranking for over 25, 000 keywords, with a Domain Authority Score of 43 and 2. 8K referring domains. Their solid SEO foundation often correlates with good AI visibility. If your brand is behind on SEO, now’s the time to integrate an AI SEO strategy. ### Step 2: Check Your AI Visibility In Semrush’s dashboard, access the AI SEO section and enter the brand domain. The Brand Performance dashboard reveals metrics like Share of Voice and Sentiment Score across AI platforms. For example, Petlibro has low (6%) Share of Voice on regular ChatGPT (pre-training cutoff Sept 2024), but performs better on SearchGPT, Google AI Mode (27. 8% Share of Voice), and Perplexity, which use live search data. ### Step 3: Analyze Visibility at the Prompt Level Under the Visibility Overview tab, explore: - Top-performing topics - Opportunities to improve visibility - Popular prompt sources in your industry - Competitor mentions you’re missing - Your current appearances in AI responses Review the Narrative Drivers tab for your brand’s Share of Voice by AI platform and compare competitor performance over time.

Use filters to identify prompts your competitors rank for but you don’t — these form the basis for your AI optimization priorities, similar to traditional keyword research. ### Step 4: Evaluate Your Brand’s Trust Factors In the Brand Performance tab under Key Business Drivers, see where your brand appears strong or weak versus competitors in trust-related areas that influence user perception. For instance, smart home integration is a key factor for smart pet feeders; brands like PetSafe are mentioned for this, but Petlibro isn’t — signaling a content gap. Address these by adding trust factors and unique selling points on your homepage, product pages, FAQs, and blog posts. ### Step 5: Audit Brand Sentiment in AI Tools Review the Perception report’s Key Sentiment Drivers to identify: - Brand Strength Factors (areas AI mentions positively) - Areas for Improvement For Petlibro, strengths include app connectivity and customer support; improvement areas suggest creating optimized content and possibly enhancing products or services. These insights transcend content creation, informing product and marketing teams to better align and improve the overall customer experience and growth potential. ### Step 6: Find More Content Ideas Use the Questions tab’s Query Topics to find questions to address in new or existing content. For example, Petlibro might create a blog on “How to Stop Your Cat Shaking Food Out of Its Feeder, ” or enhance product pages with detailed FAQs and features supporting different meal portions. Evaluate specific prompts in AI tools like ChatGPT with web search enabled to assess competition and relevance. Some prompts may feature scientific research or social platforms like Reddit, indicating alternative marketing opportunities such as Reddit engagement. Compare competitor content to understand why they rank better — do they emphasize trust signals, have more detailed descriptions, or offer comprehensive FAQs?These tactical insights help refine your content strategy. --- **In Summary:** An AI SEO audit using Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit is essential to prepare your brand for AI-driven search environments. It provides visibility into where you rank, gaps to fill, trust factors to highlight, sentiment to manage, and content to create or improve. But the audit is just the start. Use these insights to fuel actionable improvements across SEO, content, product development, and marketing, ensuring your brand thrives in the evolving AI search landscape.