28 June 2023

AI SEO tools are quickly changing the way businesses get noticed online. They help brands move past old-school SEO checklists and appear in the places people actually search today.
It’s no longer just about ranking for traditional Google blue links. Businesses now need to show up in Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT answers, and even Perplexity results. Because of this shift, using AI-powered SEO tools has become almost necessary for anyone who wants to stay competitive in 2026.
These tools make keyword research faster, help you create content more easily, and can fix many technical SEO issues in just a few minutes. They also show you how your brand appears across both search engines and AI search engines.
In this article, you’ll find the 10 best AI SEO tools to use in 2026.
So, let’s dive in!
AI SEO tools use artificial intelligence to make both SEO and GEO work smoother and faster. They handle tasks like keyword research, content optimization, and basic technical checks, so you don’t have to do everything manually.
Unlike traditional SEO tools, these platforms adjust to the way modern search engines and AI systems process information. They don’t just track rankings—they also help your brand show up in AI-generated answers on tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
Most AI SEO tools come with helpful features such as SERP breakdowns, writing assistance, and smart internal link suggestions. Many can audit your site, generate meta tags, and point out areas where your overall strategy can improve.
Put simply, AI SEO tools save time and boost accuracy. They help you create content that matches search intent, uses the right keywords naturally, and performs well for both human readers and AI-powered search engines. For most businesses, these tools have become essential for staying competitive in search results.
The rise of AI tools has sparked a big question: Can AI replace SEO? The simple answer is no. AI can handle a lot of SEO tasks, but real SEO still needs human planning and direction.
AI tools are great at sorting data, suggesting keywords, and even creating basic content. They can point out technical issues on your site and offer quick fixes. But AI can’t fully understand your audience, your brand voice, or the real meaning behind why people search for something.
Search engines like Google still want content that is helpful, accurate, and trustworthy. If you publish AI-written content without checking it, you risk low-quality writing, mistakes, and missed chances to connect with readers. This is why the best AI SEO tools work best as helpers, not replacements.
In the real world, businesses see the strongest results when they mix human-led SEO strategies with smart AI tools. AI makes tasks faster, but humans bring the creativity and judgment needed to stand out in both search results and AI-generated answers.
Here are some best ones:

Semrush is an all-in-one platform that helps you manage almost every part of your website’s growth. You can use it for SEO, content marketing, social media, and even paid ads.
We’ve used Semrush for years to run site audits, track performance, research niche keywords, and create better-optimized content. It’s packed with over 55 tools, organized into seven toolkits, so it’s easy to find exactly what you need.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the main Semrush toolkits:
If you’re into SEO and AI, it’s worth checking out Semrush One. It combines the classic SEO tools with advanced AI features to help you track and improve your presence in AI search results. You can monitor 50 prompts and 500 keywords per day across up to five domains.
Here is what the AI Toolkit includes:
In short, Semrush gives you a clear picture of how AI search engines view your brand compared to your competitors. It also offers practical suggestions to help you improve your content, products, and marketing so you can show up more often in AI-generated results.

If you’re a content creator or website owner, this is a powerful AI SEO tool to add to your workflow.
Thinking about trying Semrush One? Here’s a bonus:
Semrush offers a 7-day free trial. It’s a nice way to test it out with no rush.
You can also dive deeper into the features in our full Semrush review.
Semrush has several product tiers and add-on toolkits, so prices vary depending on what you need.
If you want the best value, Semrush One is usually the smarter choice. The AI Visibility tool alone costs $99/month per domain when added to a classic plan, so the bundle ends up saving you quite a bit.

Surfer SEO is an on-page SEO tool that also includes Keyword Research, Topic Research, Content Optimization, AI writing, and an AI visibility tracker.
In simple terms, it combines several SEO tools into one platform. This makes it easier to manage your entire workflow—from finding keywords to creating and optimizing your content—so you can improve your rankings in both organic search and AI search results.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what Surfer offers:
Content Editor: Think of this as your AI-powered writing partner. You can use it to improve an existing draft or create a new piece from scratch. Once your draft is ready, Surfer compares it to your competitors and recommends keyword additions, structure tweaks, and internal link suggestions.
The Auto-Optimize option can even add missing keywords and sections for you. It’s convenient, but it’s still a good idea to review the draft afterward to make sure everything sounds natural.

Surfer also includes an AI assistant named Surfy. It helps you edit, rephrase, or polish your content in real time. With the Custom Voice feature, you can keep your own writing style while still following SEO best practices.
If you ever feel like a piece of content is missing important information, the Coverage Booster can help. It pulls in key facts and ideas based on what top-ranking pages include.
Content Audit: When you connect your site through Google Search Console, Surfer scans your pages and tells you what you can improve to boost organic visibility. It’s much faster than doing a long manual audit. Surfer checks your pages daily, highlights opportunities, and even lets you apply fixes automatically using Auto-Optimize.
Topical Map: This feature shows you how well your content clusters are covered and helps you identify missing topics. If you spot a gap that fits your niche, you can add it directly to your content plan.
Surfer also includes essentials like a Rank Tracker to monitor your keyword positions and a Keyword Research tool to explore clusters and traffic potential.
Beyond these standard tools, Surfer adds AI-powered features like Surfer AI and AI Tracker.
Surfer AI creates long-form articles (over 2,000 words) that are fully optimized. Just enter your prompt, click “Write with AI,” and you’ll get a complete article in about 15–30 minutes.
AI Tracker monitors how visible your brand or keywords are across AI-generated search results. It tracks mentions in Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, giving you insight into how your brand shows up in these new search experiences.
Together, these tools make Surfer SEO one of the most powerful AI-driven SEO platforms available.
Surfer offers three main pricing plans, and you get a 20% discount if you choose annual billing.
The entry-level Essential plan costs $99 per month. To track your brand’s visibility in AI search, you’ll need the Scale plan, which costs $219 per month.
Plus, you can also purchase the AI Tracker separately costs $95/month.

If Semrush feels too expensive and you need a more affordable SEO tool that still covers all the essentials, SE Ranking is a great alternative.
It includes everything you would expect from a full SEO platform—keyword research, site audits, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and more.
On top of that, SE Ranking has recently added a wide range of AI features to help you plan and execute stronger SEO strategies.
Its AI toolkit can help you:
SE Ranking also offers a helpful Content Marketing toolkit with two main tools: the Content Editor and the Content Idea Finder.
Like Semrush, it lets you compare your content against top-ranking pages and gives clear suggestions on how to improve your optimization. It also uses AI to analyze search results for any keyword, estimate your potential traffic, and provide reliable data you can actually use.
Overall, SE Ranking is a solid all-in-one platform for improving both your SEO and your visibility in AI search engines. Even better, it comes with a 14-day free trial so you can try everything before you commit.
You can also check out our full SE Ranking review for more details.
SE Ranking has three pricing plans, and the cost depends on the features you need and how many keywords you want to track. You also get a 20% discount with annual billing.
Their entry-level Essential plan costs $65.00/mo (or $52/mo billed annually) with tracking for 500 keywords. If you want to track more keywords and want an AI Tracker, you need a Pro plan costs $199.00/mo (or $159.20/mo billed annually).
They also offer many add-ons that you can purchase separately.

Writesonic isn’t just another AI writing tool. It’s a complete SEO and content platform built for modern teams, founders, and marketers who want better results across both Google search and AI-driven search tools.
Everything you need—writing, real-time optimization, and AI visibility tracking—lives in one place. You don’t have to jump between different apps or pay for a bunch of separate subscriptions.
Whether you want to speed up blog generation, run quick competitor research, or track how your brand appears in Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and more, Writesonic helps you get it done faster and with less effort.
Here’s what makes Writesonic stand out:
If your goal is to scale SEO and stay visible in both Google and generative search, Writesonic is one of the most complete and future-ready platforms available.
You can get started with a Free Plan, which includes a small number of credits to test core features like basic web search and content creation.
Writesonic offers different pricing plans divided into two categories.
If you only want Writesonic for SEO and Content Automation, the entry-level Lite plan costs $49/month (or 39/mo billed annually). If you want to use Writesonic for SEO + Content + AI Search Tracking and Optimization, you need to purchase a Professional plan costs $249/month (or 199/mo billed annually).

Search Atlas is a new all-in-one AI tool for SEO that launched in 2024, and it’s already becoming a popular alternative to big names like Semrush and Ahrefs.
Here’s why people are paying attention to it:
The best part is that everything is in one platform, so you don’t have to switch between a bunch of different SEO tools.
We haven’t personally used Search Atlas yet, but the feature set feels like a strong, more affordable alternative to Ahrefs and Semrush.
Overall, it’s a budget-friendly AI SEO tool that delivers many of the same features without the high price. You can try it free for 7 days to see how it works for your workflow.
Search Atlas has three paid plans, and the Starter plan starts at $99 per month.

Clearscope is one of the most trusted AI SEO tools for improving online content. It helps writers and marketers create pages that actually rank by focusing on the right keywords, clear writing, and matching search intent.
Unlike traditional SEO software, Clearscope puts a strong emphasis on quality and on creating content that fits both traditional SERP and AI-generated answers.
One thing that makes Clearscope stand out is its grading system. Each piece of content gets a score that shows how well it aligns with SEO best practices and what searchers want. These scores make it easy for writers to adjust and improve their work until it’s ready to compete on Google.
Clearscope is also great for updating older articles. Comparing your content to top-performing competitors highlights gaps and gives specific suggestions. This makes it one of the best AI SEO tools for improving both new posts and older pieces that need a refresh.
For teams that care about accuracy and results, Clearscope helps every article match search demand and audience expectations. It takes the guesswork out of optimization and makes SEO easier for both humans and AI engines.
The Essentials plan starts at $129 per month.

Rankability is an AI-powered SEO tool that makes it easier to research, write, and optimize content for both search engines and AI platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
It was created by SEO pros Nathan Gotch and Simon Smith, who have spent years working in the industry.
Here’s what Rankability offers:
If you’re a content marketer, blogger, or affiliate, Rankability can save you a ton of time and give you clearer direction on what to create. It simplifies the whole content process and gives you an advantage backed by real data.
If you run an SEO agency or freelance in the content/SEO space, this tool can help you scale, improve your results, and work much more efficiently.
The best part is that it includes a 7-day free trial. You can try it, see how it performs on your site, and decide for yourself.
Highly recommend giving Rankability a look.
Rankability offers three pricing plans. The SEO Specialist plan starts at $149/month (or $124/month when billed annually).

MarketMuse is a well-known SEO tool that helps with content planning and optimization. Instead of guessing what to write about, how deep to go, or which keywords to use, it gives you data-backed suggestions.
The platform analyzes topics, search intent, and competitor pages so you can create content that actually ranks.
With MarketMuse, you can:
One thing that makes MarketMuse stand out is how well it maps content to search intent. It looks at keyword density, search volume, and your competitors’ strategies, then gives clear, simple guidance on what to do next.
It’s great for teams that want to publish more content without lowering quality.
MarketMuse isn’t only for creating new posts—it’s also strong at improving existing content. By pointing out weak areas, it helps boost SEO across your whole site.
This mix of research, competition analysis, and smart optimization makes it one of the best AI tools for SEO for businesses that want steady growth.
You can try MarketMuse with its Free plan before deciding to upgrade.
MarketMuse has three pricing plans, but the exact prices aren’t listed on its website. You’ll need to contact their team to get a quote.

Optimizing content for SEO can feel confusing and take a lot of time. The team behind Frase understands this, and that’s exactly why they built a tool that makes the whole process much easier.
Frase is an AI-powered platform designed to help you create, improve, and analyze your content so it can rank better on both traditional search engines (like Google) and newer AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Here’s what you can do with Frase:
One of the features that really makes Frase stand out is its GEO Score. It gives you a clear snapshot of how well your content performs in generative engines, not just search engines.
Overall, Frase is a solid choice if you want to optimize your content for both Google and modern AI platforms. You can start with a free trial to see how it works before upgrading.
Frase has four pricing tiers, and the Starter plan starts at $38 per month.

Alli AI is another in the list of AI-powered SEO tools that help you identify and fix technical SEO issues on your site. It scans your pages for common problems like missing H1 tags, unnamed links, and missing meta descriptions. When it finds something, you can apply the suggested fix with a single click.
If you prefer making changes on your site yourself, the platform includes a Live Editor. This lets you update titles, descriptions, and other on-page elements without touching the backend of your website.
Alli AI also comes with a search visibility engine designed to make your site easier for AI systems and large language models to crawl. This is helpful if your site relies on JavaScript or if tools like Cloudflare are blocking AI crawlers. Without proper access, you might miss out on citations in AI chat tools, and Alli AI helps prevent that.
The platform includes a Schema Generator as well. It scans your site and creates the most relevant schema markup so search engines can better understand your content. If you already have a schema in place, it will suggest ways to improve it.
There’s also an internal linking tool that looks for missed linking opportunities throughout your site and recommends where to add them.
Alli AI offers a 10-day free trial, so you can test everything before deciding to upgrade.
Alli AI entry-level Business plan costs $299/month (or $249/month billed annually).
AI SEO tools aren’t just “nice to have” anymore—they’re becoming must-haves for anyone who wants to rank in search results and show up in AI-generated answers.
These tools handle everything from keyword research and SERP insights to technical fixes and content improvements. They take a lot of the manual work out of SEO and make it easier to boost your visibility.
As we move into 2026, success will come from combining classic SEO tactics with AI-focused strategies. When you use AI-powered SEO tools and work on improving your visibility in AI answers, you increase your chances of getting cited and building real authority.
The businesses that adapt early will have the biggest advantage. Take a look at the AI SEO tools in this list and pick the ones that fit your goals.
The good news? Most of these tools offer a free trial or even a free plan, so you can test them before you decide.
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Traditional SEO focuses on optimizing a website for Google’s ranking algorithm to earn a click from a list of links (e.g., keywords, backlinks, load speed).
AI SEO (often called Generative Engine Optimization or GEO) focuses on optimizing content’s structure and clarity so that AI Overviews and LLMs (like Gemini or ChatGPT) can easily understand, trust, and cite your content when generating an answer, often resulting in a zero-click answer.
AI is great for handling many everyday SEO tasks. It can suggest keywords, review search results, and even help with technical audits. Still, it can’t replace human judgment. You need real people to bring creativity, make confident decisions, and keep everything aligned with actual business goals. In the end, AI tools work best as helpful assistants that save time and boost productivity—not as full replacements for an SEO expert.
No, AI-generated content doesn’t hurt your Google rankings. However, content quality matters a lot in SEO. The most relevant and helpful content, aligned with users’ search intent and properly optimized for rankings, can rank high regardless of how it’s created.