How to Use Semrush for SEO Research and AI Visibility Tracking
A practical guide to the right order of work: study competitors, filter keywords, fix technical problems — and only then measure your visibility in ChatGPT.
Beginner8 min read
What you'll be able to do by the end
- Understand that Semrush is a deep SEO platform around ten years old — keywords, competitors, backlinks, and ad research in one place
- Recognise the AI Visibility Toolkit, which measures whether ChatGPT and Gemini mention your brand — a separately priced add-on, not a free feature
- Do the real cost math: $199/month for the base plan, another $99 for the AI visibility tool, and every extra domain or tracked query raises the bill fast
- Treat weaker-market keyword numbers as relative trends, not exact figures, and verify them with a second tool before any important decision
- Order your work correctly: traditional SEO first, always, and AI visibility measurement as the last step — never the first
Before you start
- A site or blog with organic traffic you actually care about, or an agency managing several clients needing competitor analysis
- A clear monthly budget — Semrush is priced for companies and agencies, not personal blogs
Semrush is an SEO research platform around ten years old that has become the default choice for most marketing teams: keyword search volumes, competitor traffic estimates, backlink analysis, and ad research — all under one roof instead of ten scattered tools.
The headline addition for 2026 is the AI Visibility Toolkit, which measures whether ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar tools mention your brand when people ask questions in your field — a channel most companies don’t measure at all. But this tutorial focuses on getting the order right: study competitors, filter keywords, fix technical site problems, and only then add AI visibility measurement — not the reverse.
One thing to know plainly before subscribing: pricing is built for companies and agencies rather than individuals, and keyword data outside English is considerably weaker and always needs cross-checking.
The steps
The steps below follow the actual order of work: from a domain overview through competitor research, filtering, technical fixes, and finally measuring AI visibility.
Steps
Step 1: Start with an overview of your own domain to set the baseline
Before analysing any competitor, run the Domain Overview report on yourself — the keywords you rank for, estimated traffic, and the pages bringing most visitors. This is the baseline every later improvement gets measured against; without it you can't tell whether your next steps did anything.
Note: Don't start with competitors before knowing exactly where you stand — otherwise you'll be comparing numbers against no reference point.
Step 2: Study a successful competitor before planning your own content
Run competitor analysis on a domain that genuinely competes with you: their best organic-traffic pages, the keywords they rank for, even the paid ads they run if any. The fastest content plan is a list of what already works for a competitor in your niche, rather than guessing from scratch. Ad research is worth it even if you never plan to run ads — a competitor's paid copy reveals which message actually converts for them.
Note: Don't stop at one competitor. Compare two or three to spot shared patterns — those are the reliable ones.
Step 3: Use Keyword Magic Tool and filter by difficulty mercilessly
Look for keywords with real search volume that you can actually compete on, not just high-volume terms that look attractive. High-volume keywords you can't realistically rank for will waste an entire quarter of writing with nothing to show for it. Difficulty filtering matters more here than search volume itself.
Note: Working outside English or in a smaller market? Treat the numbers as ratios, not absolutes — a thousand versus a hundred is a real signal, but the raw figure itself won't support precise forecasts because non-English samples are far smaller. Verify any important number with Google Keyword Planner before deciding.
Step 4: Fix what Site Audit exposes before writing anything new
Run Site Audit and look at the technical issues quietly strangling your rankings — broken links, load speed, duplicate pages, crawl errors. These often matter more than any new content you could write, because they stop Google indexing or evaluating your pages at all. Fix them first, then add content on top.
Note: Prioritise issues flagged as critical first; postpone secondary improvements until the basics are done.
Step 5: Add the AI Visibility Toolkit only after traditional rankings stabilise
Once your positions in regular search are stable, enable the AI Visibility Toolkit to see whether ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar tools mention your brand when people ask about your field — a channel most companies don't measure at all, with reports down to each individual query. But don't start here. Models lean heavily on the same trusted sources that surface in ordinary search, so if your pages don't rank there, they likely won't appear in AI answers either. Traditional SEO first, always; AI visibility measured after it.
Note: The tool is a $99/month add-on on top of your plan (one domain, 25 tracked queries). Extra domains or queries raise the bill quickly, so don't activate it until you genuinely need it.
Common mistakes — and how to avoid them
MistakeSubscribing to Semrush as a personal blog or small site because you heard the tool is powerful.
Do this insteadPricing is built for companies and agencies — $199/month and up, with add-ons raising it fast. As an individual or small site, the cost usually isn't justified by the benefit.
MistakeActivating the AI Visibility Toolkit first because it looks like the newest, most important feature.
Do this insteadStabilise traditional SEO first — keywords, content, technical fixes. The AI visibility tool is the last layer you add, not the first.
MistakeTaking smaller-market search-volume numbers at face value and building a precise content plan on them.
Do this insteadTreat them as rough directional data only, since samples are far smaller than English. Verify any important figure with Google Keyword Planner before relying on it.
MistakeWriting content against high-volume keywords without filtering by ranking difficulty.
Do this insteadFilter by keyword difficulty mercilessly. A high-volume term you can't rank for wastes your time; a smaller one you can actually win is more useful.
❓ Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Semrush and Ahrefs?
Semrush is broader — covering ads, social, and content alongside SEO — and moved early on AI visibility tracking. Ahrefs historically has the stronger backlink index. Most teams pick one and settle, because the real cost is learning the platform, not the subscription itself.
Does the AI Visibility Toolkit replace normal SEO?
No. Models lean heavily on the same trusted sources that rank in traditional search. If your pages don't rank in ordinary search, they most likely won't be mentioned in AI answers either. Fix traditional SEO first, then switch on the measurement.
Is non-English keyword data as reliable as English?
No. Samples are much smaller, so the numbers work as relative signals — a thousand versus a hundred is a genuine difference — but not as absolute figures for precise forecasting. Cross-check anything important in Google Keyword Planner.
Is it worth the price for one person running one site?
Usually no. $199/month for the base plan alone, plus $99 for the AI visibility add-on. The tool is designed for an agency or company whose organic traffic justifies that budget, not a small individual site.