What Are The Best AI Tools to Spark Your SEO?
You’d have to be living under a rock not to be acutely aware of how much AI is changing the world of business. But one of the challenges for companies as they adapt to the ever-expanding ‘AI bubble’ is sifting through the flood of AI software tools now available to find the ones that will really make a difference to them. In recent posts, we’ve been trying to help frazzled decision makers see the wood for the trees by sharing our thoughts on the best AI marketing tools currently out there. So far, we’ve covered products that help you create, deliver and manage a winning content strategy, as well as AI content writing tools.
This time around, we’re turning our attention to SEO. Search and search optimisation are changing radically under the influence of AI. But on the flipside, AI tools are also helping businesses be more precise and efficient in their SEO work, using their immense data-handling capabilities to streamline otherwise laborious tasks and identify opportunities in the ultra-competitive search marketplace. Plus, as you might expect, AI is pretty handy for adapting to the new reality of AI-powered generative search.
Collectively, we have decades of experience in SEO and search engine marketing, and we fully appreciate just how important SEO software tools are for managing workloads. As an SEO agency, we’ve had no choice but to keep up to speed with the latest developments in AI. So we thought we’d share the fruits of that experience for your benefit.
The Best AI SEO Tools for Small Businesses
Small business owners running a website by themselves arguably have the most to gain from AI-powered SEO tools. Search engine optimisation can be a laborious, frustrating and often complicated process. When you’ve just launched your own digital business, or you’re trying to grow your presence online and don’t have the budget for agency support, it can be incredibly hard to find the time you need to put into SEO to see results.
In that regard, AI is a game-changer. One of the main reasons AI is transforming every aspect of business is because of its ability to simplify and take on demanding tasks. In the context of SEO, the best SME-friendly services focus on content optimisation over more technical aspects like auditing, backlink analysis and keyword research. This gets to the heart of what small website owners need most – a fast, user-friendly, but effective way to produce page content that ranks.
Market leaders in this category include SurferSEO, which combines content planning, research, auditing, writing and optimisation in a single user-friendly platform. For new and existing content, it provides ranking scores based on AI competitor analysis, and clear pointers for how to raise your score. It has a plug-in so you can optimise as you write in Google Docs or WordPress. And it has recently added AI search visibility for the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini.
NEURONwriter is a very similar optimisation tool. Like SurferSEO, it scores content based on competitor ranking analysis, and breaks down term coverage, headings, structure and title description requirements into a clear, colour-coded interface. It’s very affordable and also offers an AI writing tool.
Frase is similarly low-cost, especially its single-seat plans. It is popular for the level of detail in its optimised content briefs, and provides user-friendly ranking and keyword analysis. It also covers both traditional and generative search optimisation, including a free GEO score checker.
Best AI SEO Tools for Professional Marketers & Agencies
Streamlined content optimisation tools are great for speed and simplicity. But they will only get you so far if you are aiming for the very top rankings for high-volume search terms. That’s when all the other ranking factors become important.
Professional marketers and agencies are often looking for full-service SEO toolkits that a) help them manage the more technical and complex sides of SEO and b) help them do so at scale, because you might be trying to juggle optimisation of hundreds of pages at once.
One of the most popular platforms in this category is SEMrush. SEMrush breaks its products down into a series of different toolkits. Its original SEO toolkit boasts a keyword database with billions of entries and an AI-powered research and suggestion engine, plus in-depth analysis of backlinks, rankings and traffic potential and technical audits. Its Content toolkit covers SEO-ready creation and optimisation, and it has dedicated toolkits for local SEO and generative search visibility. And as all of these (and more) influence one another, you can combine the lot in its latest, AI-enabled SEMrush One suite.
Ahrefs is another hugely popular platform trusted by marketing professionals around the world. It’s well-known for its backlink indexing and powerful competitor research tools – Keyword Explorer analyses the ranking terms competitors are optimising their pages for, while Site Explorer reports on all ranking factors. These are particularly useful for identifying keyword and content gaps you can exploit. Ahrefs also runs rank tracking for your own pages and now includes an AI visibility tool for generative search.
Looking at the emerging field of AI-powered SEO automation, Search Atlas is one to check out. Its OTTO AI provides a turnkey solution that connects to your site and manages things like content and schema fixes automatically. It can also be used for Google Ads paid campaigns and generative search visibility. In a similar vein, Alli AI has a host of automation tools designed to handle large numbers of pages, covering on-page automation, a schema markup generator, backlink automation and more.
Best for Keyword Research & Clustering
Keyword strategy is still a crucial part of SEO, not just for optimising individual pages, but also for informing search-friendly content strategies that give you effective coverage over topic clusters in a way that demonstrates authority to search crawlers.
Keyword Insights is purpose-built for this. It claims to be the first AI tool built specifically for increasing topical authority. How does it do that? It runs in-depth keyword research, then classifies terms by search intent. It then uses these insights to suggest topic clusters, content plans and briefs. It also includes an AI writing assistant and a generative writer to help you turn plans into actual optimised copy.
MarketMuse comes at things from a different angle but delivers much the same results. It’s a content planning platform that uses AI to analyse how competitors are covering any given topic, what is ranking and why, and then carries out keyword research and clustering. By also generating content plans and briefs, MarketMuse provides an end-to-end solution for fully optimised content.
Best Free Tools
Finally, before you commit to paying for any SEO services, it’s always worth considering whether you can meet your needs for free. Sure, you’re not going to find free tools that automate whole swathes of your SEO pipelines. But there are plenty available that do surprisingly good jobs.
Chief among these is Google Search Console, which is a must-have for everyone who works around SEO, whether you’re a one-person start-up launching a website or a professional SEO agency. Search Console gives you invaluable first-hand access to data from the world’s biggest search engine. It’s best known for monitoring page performance and health, with a diagnosis of ranking issues that show you exactly where improvements can be made. It can also be used for keyword research, allowing you to see directly where popular search terms are underserved by competitors.
SEMrush and Ahrefs both offer an impressive range of free tools. Most of them take the form of ‘checkers’ – input a page URL and get free insights into everything from optimisation analysis to page speed to ranking authority; or lookup any keyword for things like top-ranking pages, volume of real-world searches and in-depth SERP metrics.
Final Word
Trying to manage search optimisation without software tools is like trying to hike up a gravel-strewn mountain with no shoes on. It’s not worth the pain, and it takes forever. Finding the right tools to suit your needs is therefore an important part of any SEO strategy. AI has already been a game-changer in the way it improves the accuracy and scalability of SEO tools. As we now enter the era of AI search, its importance to optimising for AI visibility is only going to increase.
It’s still important, however, to remember that AI is just a tool, not a ready-made solution. It can help to transform your visibility in traditional and generative search for certain. But the most important ingredient is knowing how to use it for maximum effect.
While AI SEO tools are an essential investment for all forms of search marketing, they are no replacement for SEO expertise. So before you pay for any platform, why not get in touch with the Key Element team and let us explain how our SEO services can help you get even more from your investment. You can check out some examples of our SEO pedigree here, including how we took on full responsibility for content creation and optimisation when we launched a new website for a firm of chartered surveyors.
Frequently Asked questions
How do AI SEO tools help with generative search platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini?
Many modern tools now include AI visibility scoring or generative search optimisation features. These analyse how your content may appear, or fail to appear, in AI-generated search responses. SurferSEO, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Frase have started integrating such capabilities.
Why are AI tools becoming essential for SEO?
AI tools can process huge amounts of data, spot optimisation opportunities instantly, and automate tasks that traditionally take hours, like keyword research, content optimisation, and technical audits. As search evolves into an AI-driven ecosystem, these tools help businesses stay visible in both traditional and generative search.
What are the best AI SEO tools for small businesses?
For SMEs and solo website owners, tools like SurferSEO, NEURONwriter, and Frase are ideal. They simplify content optimisation with intuitive scoring systems, AI writing assistance, and clear guidance on how to improve rankings, all without requiring deep technical SEO knowledge.
Do businesses still need SEO agencies if AI tools are so advanced?
Yes, AI speeds up execution, but agencies provide the strategic expertise, experience, and critical thinking needed to interpret data correctly and build SEO ecosystems that last. Agencies know how, when and why to deploy AI tools to deliver maximum ROI.
How can Key Element help me get more from AI SEO tools?
Key Element blends expert SEO strategy with hands-on experience using leading AI platforms. Whether you need help selecting tools, building content pipelines, optimising for generative search, or scaling technical SEO across a large website, the team can guide you and maximise your return on investment.
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