A couple of years ago, I noticed something scary: my site’s traffic was flattening, even though I was still ranking decently in traditional Google results. People weren’t clicking the blue links as much anymore. They were getting answers straight from Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, or Perplexity—and my content wasn’t showing up there.
If you’re in SEO or content marketing, you’ve probably felt this shift too. AI is rewriting how search works, and brands that ignore it are quietly losing ground. That’s when I dove deep into Semrush, a tool that’s been evolving fast to handle both classic SEO and this new AI-driven world.
I’ve been using Semrush for over a year now (full disclosure: I started with their [14-day free trial](https://www.semrush.com/semrush-free-trial/) to test it out), and it’s become my go-to for keeping my site relevant. Here’s my real experience—think of it as a mini case study on adapting to AI search without losing your mind (or your traffic).
The Wake-Up Call: Traditional SEO Wasn’t Enough Anymore
My site focuses on digital marketing tips, and I was doing okay with keyword research and backlinks. But in late 2024 and into 2025, AI summaries started dominating queries. I’d search for my own topics and see competitors cited in AI answers, while I got nothing.
Semrush was one of the first tools to call this out and build features around it. Their platform, used by millions of marketers, combines rock-solid classic SEO tools with new AI-specific ones. It’s not just hype—it’s helped me spot where my content was being ignored by AI engines and fix it.
Key Features That Made the Difference for Me
- Keyword Research with an AI Twist
The Keyword Magic Tool is still my favorite for finding variations, volumes, and difficulty scores. But the game-changer is Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD)—it calculates how hard it’d actually be *for my domain* to rank, based on my authority and competitors.
Plus, Potential Traffic estimates use AI to predict real upside, not just raw numbers. And now it flags keywords that trigger AI overviews, showing if my site’s already cited. This helped me prioritize topics where I could win in both traditional and AI results
- Competitor and Domain Insights
The Domain Overview gives a quick snapshot of traffic, authority, and top pages. The Key Topics widget pulls non-branded themes driving competitor traffic—pure gold for content ideas.
The AI Overview analysis shows what % of my keywords trigger AI summaries and how often I’m mentioned. For one competitor spy session, it revealed they were dominating AI citations on industry trends I was sleeping on.
- Site Audits Geared for AI Crawlers
Regular audits catch technical issues, but Semrush now has an AI Search category. It simulates crawls from AI bots (like OpenAI or Perplexity user agents) and flags problems that block your content from AI answers—think schema gaps or crawl blocks.
Fixing these boosted my visibility in generative responses almost immediately.
- Position Tracking Across AI Platforms
Daily ranking checks are standard, but Semrush’s Prompt Tracking monitors how my site shows in actual AI answers on Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and more. You get visibility scores, citation snapshots, and even brand sentiment breakdowns.
In my case, tracking specific prompts (like user questions in my niche) showed steady gains after optimizations—my share of voice in AI went up 40% over six months.
- The AI Visibility Toolkit Add-On
This is where Semrush really shines for the future. It’s a separate toolkit (now often bundled in plans like Semrush One) with dashboards for AI mentions across platforms, brand performance reports (sentiment, tone), and prompt-specific tracking.
It’s the only tool I’ve found that quantifies AI visibility like this—no more guessing if ChatGPT loves (or hates) your brand.
Other handy bits: AI-powered content tools like the SEO Writing Assistant for real-time suggestions, and Topical Authority checks to build credibility in niches.
My Results: Traffic Rebound and Peace of Mind
After focusing on these features, my organic traffic stabilized and started growing again—about 25% uplift in AI-referred visits over the past year. More importantly, I’m showing up in AI summaries for high-intent queries, driving better-qualified leads.
Pricing and Who It’s For
Plans start around $139/month for Pro, up to Guru or Business for more limits. The AI stuff is integrated or available as add-ons/bundles (check current details, as they’ve rolled out Semrush One for unified SEO + AI). It’s premium-priced, but if AI visibility matters to your growth (agencies, teams, scaling sites), the ROI is there. For small blogs, it might be overkill—stick to basics or cheaper alternatives.
If you’re serious about future-proofing your search strategy, I recommend starting with Semrush yourself. Grab their here—it’s the best way to see if it clicks for you, like it did for me.
(Note: Just as this landscape evolves, big news hit recently—Adobe announced plans to acquire Semrush in late 2025, which could supercharge its AI capabilities even more once it closes.)
What about you? Have you tried adapting to AI search yet? Drop your experiences below!
