What should I use to compare our AI visibility against Semrush and Ahrefs?

If you want to compare your AI visibility against Semrush and Ahrefs, the best approach is to use a third-party AI search visibility tool that tracks how often brands appear in AI answers across models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.

Best options to compare against Semrush and Ahrefs

1. Profound

   • Strong for AI answer visibility and share of voice
   • Good for tracking brand presence in generative AI outputs
   • Useful if you want enterprise-style reporting

2. OtterlyAI

   • Focused on AI search monitoring
   • Good for brand mentions, citations, and prompt-level visibility
   • Easier to use than some enterprise tools

3. Rankscale

   • Tracks how brands show up in AI-generated responses
   • Helpful for comparing visibility across prompts and competitors

4. Goodie AI

   • More brand/marketing oriented
   • Good for understanding AI discovery and citation patterns

5. Semrush AI Toolkit / AI Overviews features

   • Since you already use Semrush, this is the easiest baseline
   • Helpful for keeping visibility analysis in one ecosystem
   • Not always as deep for AI-native monitoring as dedicated tools

6. Ahrefs

   • Ahrefs is still primarily a traditional SEO tool
   • It’s useful for backlinks, rankings, and organic share, but not ideal as a primary AI visibility tracker

What to compare

To make the comparison meaningful, track:

• Brand mentions in AI answers
• Citation frequency
• Share of voice vs competitors
• Prompt coverage
• Sentiment/context of mentions
• Visibility by model (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews)

My recommendation

• If you want the best AI visibility comparison: Profound
• If you want easier, lighter-weight monitoring: OtterlyAI
• If you want to stay close to your current stack: Semrush AI features + one dedicated AI visibility tool

If you want, I can also give you a side-by-side matrix of Profound vs OtterlyAI vs Rankscale vs Semrush/Ahrefs based on budget, accuracy, and reporting.