How to Optimize Your Website with AI

Updated January 20, 2025

The beauty of AI in SEO lies in its ability to work behind the scenes to create a seamless user experience. AI-driven tools not only help optimize content but also enable faster loading times, personalized user interactions, and improved navigation, all contributing to better engagement.

Your favorite Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools are already beginning to integrate AI, making it even easier to optimize your website. Today I’m covering the two tools I recommend for this (you only need to pick one) and how to use each one for maximum results.

The TL;DR version of this article is: You can make your site smarter, faster, and more personalized for your visitors with AI. 

With so many SEO tools integrating AI, there’s no shortage of options to tailor your website’s SEO strategy to fit your brand’s needs. These tools help even those without deep SEO knowledge, making advanced optimization strategies accessible to all.

Consider this your sign to spend a few hours on it – it will NOT be a wasted effort.

The two best AI tools for SEO are are SEMrush and Ahrefs. They’ve been around forever and they’ve each tied AI into their already-successful platforms. Here we go:

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits and content gap suggestions.

• Keyword research has been revolutionized by AI. Ahrefs, for example, can recognize search intent nuances, providing keywords that closely align with what users are looking for. This increases the likelihood of your content matching user needs, improving search rankings
• The backlink gap analysis highlights high-authority websites that link to competitors. Targeting these sites for backlinks can improve your domain authority and ranking. Ahrefs’ AI-powered insights offer valuable guidance to prioritize the most impactful backlinks.
• One often overlooked benefit of AI-driven site audits is that they monitor website security. A secure website is essential for SEO, as search engines prioritize safe sites. AI-powered audits flag potential vulnerabilities so you can proactively protect your site.
• Competitive content analysis tools also give insights into your competitors’ content strategies. You can see what’s working for them and incorporate similar strategies to attract a similar audience. This gives you a head start in developing competitive content.

In short, Ahrefs now uses AI to enhance everything it does. 

This might sound like something only digitally savvy people should use but nope – anyone can use this tool. Here are a few ways I like to use it, including step-by-step instructions for first timers:

How to Use Ahrefs

Keyword Research

• Navigate to the “Keywords Explorer” tool.
• Enter a keyword related to your business.
• Review the keyword metrics, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and click potential.
• Use the “Keyword Ideas” section, powered by AI, to discover related keywords and phrases.

This gives you a clear picture of how your customers are searching for products/services like yours. Incorporate these words into your website for better SEO.

Backlink Analysis

• Go to the “Site Explorer” tool.
• Enter your domain or a competitor’s domain.
• Analyze the backlink profile to see referring domains, backlink types, and link growth.
• Use the “Backlink Gap” tool to identify opportunities where competitors have backlinks, but you don’t.

Backlinks are a valuable way to bring new traffic to your website, and they build digital clout. Understanding how you and your competitors stack up helps you plan for future backlink development.

Site Audit

• Access the “Site Audit” tool from the dashboard.
• Set up a new project and enter your website URL.
• Let Ahrefs crawl your website to identify technical SEO issues.
• Review the audit report to find and fix issues like broken links, duplicate content, and slow-loading pages.

Content Gap Analysis:

• Use the “Content Gap” tool under “Site Explorer.”
• Enter your domain and up to three competitor domains.
• Ahrefs will highlight keywords that your competitors rank for, but you don’t.
• Use AI to create or optimize content to target these gaps.

By consistently leveraging AI-powered insights, you’ll refine your SEO strategy over time, continually adapting to new trends and algorithm changes. This agility is crucial to maintaining a competitive online presence, regardless of industry.

SEMrush is an equally powerful and versatile SEO platform. It is absolutely one of the best AI tools for SEO – its AI capabilities include advanced keyword recommendations, automated content optimization, and predictive analytics.

SEMrush’s AI-powered features analyze large datasets to uncover trends, optimize ad campaigns, and enhance overall SEO strategies.

How to Use SEMrush:

This is very similar to Ahrefs but you can see some of the USPs in each:

Keyword Research

• Navigate to the “Keyword Magic Tool.”
• Enter a seed keyword to generate a list of related keywords.
• Use the filters to narrow down keywords by search volume, difficulty, and SERP features.
• Review the “Keyword Overview” for insights on trends, variations, and questions related to the keyword.

Site Audit

• Go to the “Site Audit” tool from the main dashboard.
• Set up a new project and enter your website URL.
• Run the audit to identify technical SEO issues.
• Review the audit report to address issues like crawlability, HTTPS implementation, and site performance.

Competitive Analysis:

• Access the “Domain Overview” tool.
• Enter your domain or a competitor’s domain.
• Analyze the overall domain metrics, including traffic, backlinks, and organic search positions.
• Use the “Organic Research” tool to see which keywords your competitors rank for and their top-performing content.

Content Optimization:

• Use the “SEO Content Template” tool.
• Enter a target keyword to receive recommendations on how to optimize your content.
• Review the suggested keywords, readability score, and content length.
• Utilize the “SEO Writing Assistant” to get real-time optimization tips as you create or edit content.

Both Ahrefs and SEMrush leverage AI to process vast amounts of data, generate actionable insights, and automate complex SEO tasks, making it easier than ever to optimize your website

Rachel Creveling is an AI Consultant and the owner of Belle Strategies Marketing Agency. She pairs data-driven strategy with ethical use of emerging tech to produce maximum ROI for her clients. Get in touch: rachel@bellestrategies.com or book a Complimentary Consultation.

Rachel Creveling

With nearly two decades in the industry, Belle Strategies Owner Rachel Creveling is a seasoned business consultant who crafts comprehensive frameworks that integrate operations, marketing, sales and HR to position her clients for optimal success. She excels at incorporating trending tech ethically and studied Strategies for Accountable AI at Wharton.