Is AI SEO a Thing? Insights from 10 SEO Experts and What Tools to Use

When I began testing AI SEO tools, I was excited. I thought these tools could save time and automate the boring tasks. But after trying several, I found myself underwhelmed—none of them seemed to truly deliver a complete solution. I thought I was missing something, so I went on Qwoted and asked SEO experts for their advice on using AI in SEO and which tools to trust.

SEO Tasks (and Tools I Used)

👉 For trends & keyword research

I started off on Exploding Topics and Google Trends to get a better look at what’s currently hyped in the world of SaaS on search. Keyword research is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. It means finding the words and phrases that potential customers use to look for products or services like yours. By knowing these keywords, you can prioritise content that fits your audience's needs better. 

Exploding Topics

One of my favourite tools, as it allowed me to analyse search trends and easily identify trending topics. Unlike Google Trends, it’s not free (14 days trial for 1$) then $39/month but what you get is much better. I personally did not get much value from Google trends. I didn’t even know what category to select, I figured it out after a quick chat with GPT but the results were unstructured to the category selected.

👉 For Search Volume Analysis, Keyword Difficulty Assessment & Opportunity Identification

I decided to focus on one SaaS category to improve this week based on what’s trending: "AI for Video" since Luma AI saw a growth of 950% in the past 6 months as well as other tools like Leonardo AI. A key practice here is to always prioritize keywords that have a higher search volume, as they have greater interest and could lead to potential traffic. 

I then went to SemRush for 

- Search Volume Analysis: to get the keywords with the highest search volume.

-Keyword Difficulty Assessment: to understand how competitive a keyword and guide to what your articles' content should be about. Both SemRush and Surfer SEO provide metrics that show how hard it is to rank for a keyword. This helps you pick terms that match your site's authority and content quality. 

-Opportunity Identification: SemRush shows your keyword opportunities that your competitors might be missing. This can include long-tail keywords or niche phrases that can drive targeted traffic to your site.

👉 For Content Writing & Optimisation

I usually use ChatGPT or Claude 3.5, as I have a custom assistant on Cassidy AI trained on TechBible’s tone, and it’s been generating decent output but it hasn't been performing well. 

SEO expert, Pavel Buev, co-founder of LocalProBook, suggested he uses SemRush AI Writing Assistant for tasks like keyword density analysis and content optimization. He said:

“I use SemRush AI Writing Assistant. It helps to work with content without hiring copywriters. Excellent text analysis and text correction replace a whole department of copywriters.

One example of its use. I analyze the keyword density of the top 10 sites and correct the text on my page. This allows you to optimize content to improve positions.

As we know, Google does not prohibit the use of AI-written texts, they just have to be useful. Within the E-E-A-T algorithm, all texts have a real author who announces the release of articles in their social networks. This allows us to indicate to Google that the text is trustworthy and verified by a person.” 

So, I decided to give it a shot to see if it can enhance my process, it was also the only one offering a free trial. Because I added all my keywords into a list, it was easy to send it into the writing assistant and paste the content draft in to get an analysis. 

Things I liked: 

🚀 Great UI 

🚀 Realtime performance when making edits 

Things I hated: 

🥲Limit to 1000 credits barely enough for one article and costs another $24 on top of the $140

🥲The AI writer : I spent some time setting up the personas and tone, just for the article to turn up worse than Chatgpt’s output 😂

👉 For On-Page Optimization

I used SemRush , the report it gave was really good and had to fix some issues in my front-end, changed the Meta data on the pages and saw immediate results when I reran the analysis! Come back for part 2 with the results in few weeks 😂

According to David Mason, Full-Stack SEO Freelancer, on-page optimization is an area where AI shines for SEO. He recommended trying ClearScope (No free Trial. $189/month) .

Ross Kernez, Director of Search at Mavis, agrees on Clearscope too and says: “AI tools are great for quick fixes, but when it comes to really engaging users, they fall short.” He uses ClearScope and Surfer SEO (No free Trial. $89/ month) to optimize on-page content and keyword usage but stresses that AI can’t handle the nuance required to engage users or understand search intent. “AI is great for optimization, but it struggles to replace the deeper understanding humans bring to the table,” Ross says.

Does Google penalise AI content? 

In my opinion, I highly doubt they can even detect it, unless it’s super spammy! 

BUT Fabio Devin, founder of Dorve, throws a warning flag when it comes to this. “A lot of AI tools are more about hype than results,” he explains. Fabio pointed out that the wrong AI tool could lead to thin, generic content—just the type that Google’s August 2024 Update punishes.

John Butterworth, the founder of Mint SEO, says that AI-written content probably won't do well in Google's E-E-A-T era. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. He explains that AI is good for helping with keyword research and page analysis. However, it still has trouble creating engaging content that keeps users on the page. 

Use AI as your assistant only for Seo, not your strategist! 

Experts like Emily Williams, CEO of Web Copy Collective, stress that AI can assist but never replace human creativity. “AI SEO tools are only effective with a human-focused strategy behind them,” she says.

Tom Jauncey, the CEO of Nautilus Marketing, has also found success with AI. It saves him “five hours a week on keyword research.” He stresses that real results come from combining AI with human skills. “AI tools automate, but SEO success still relies on human strategy.”

Vukasin Ilic, co-founder of Linkter, and SaaS founder also urges caution. He has created an AI-powered tool for internal linking that helps improve SEO. However, he warns against letting AI control your whole SEO strategy. "AI can process the data, but it needs humans to make the big decisions."

I totally get it now! Do you ?