The Ultimate SEO Tutorial for Search and AI Visibility

This is a SUPER detailed SEO tutorial for 2026.

Follow it, and you’ll learn how to get found everywhere your audience searches.

This means ranking in Google and getting cited in AI answers from tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode.

Because SEO and AI visibility go hand in hand.

This tutorial will walk you step-by-step through how to:

• Find the keywords and AI prompts people actually use
• Create content built to match what search and AI reward
• Promote your content so it earns links, mentions, and citations
• Fix the technical basics so both Google and AI crawlers can find and read your content

Let’s dive right in.

1. Find Keywords That People Search For

Before you create content, you need to know what people want.

The best place to start? The questions they actually ask.

Someone asking a question is telling you exactly what they want to know, and pointing you to the topics and keywords worth targeting.

In this step, you’ll gather keyword ideas from a few sources, then judge which ones are worth your time.

(Your AI prompts come next, in Step 2. They work a little differently, so we’ll handle them separately.)

Start With Your Customers

If you already have customers, take note of the questions they’re asking.

They’re the same ones your prospects are asking in Google and AI tools.

No customers yet?

Reddit, Quora, and niche forums are full of real questions.

Scan the threads in your space for questions that come up again and again.

Those recurring questions are content ideas waiting to happen.

Google Autocomplete is another free source.

Start typing a topic into the search bar. Google fills in the rest based on what people actually search.

Add a letter after your topic (a, b, c…) and Google serves up a fresh batch each time.

Add the questions you keep seeing to your keyword list.

Borrow Keywords from Competitors

Your competitors have already found high-value keywords.

Borrow their strategy.

Drop a competitor’s domain into a competitor analysis tool like Semrush’s Top Pages.

It lists their pages in order of traffic, so the ones at the top are their most valuable.

That’s where you start. Because their best-performing pages reveal the keywords already driving real traffic in your space.

Next, look at the “Intent” Column.

Semrush tags every keyword with its search intent (meaning, what someone looking up that keyword is looking for):

• I = informational, just learning (e.g. “how much protein powder per day”)
• N = navigational, looking for a specific site (e.g. “Optimum Nutrition login”)
• C = commercial, comparing options before buying (e.g. “best protein powder”)
• T = transactional, ready to purchase (e.g. “buy whey protein online”)

C and T should be your priority, because that’s where the buyers are.

Click into any page (this opens the Organic Rankings tool).

You’ll land on the Positions tab. This lists every keyword that page ranks for, with its intent, volume, and difficulty.

Select the keywords that match what you sell, then click “Add to keyword list.”

Skip the ones that use your competitor’s brand name or product names. You’ll rarely outrank a brand for its own name.

For the full process, see our guide to SEO competitor analysis.

Spot Untapped Topics That Are Trending Up

New topics (or ones that have suddenly become popular) aren’t likely to be super competitive yet.

So they can be an easy win for both AI visibility and SEO rankings.

Start with Google Trends. It’s free.

Enter a topic from your niche, then look at the rising related searches.

Anything tagged “Breakout” has grown by over 5,000%, so it’s climbing fast.

See one you could write about? Add it to your list.

In crowded niches, your rising searches can come back as nothing but brand names and news items. Hard to use.

The fix: search a related topic instead.

Say you sell protein powder. Your customers care about the wider fitness world too.

Instead of “protein powder,” you could try something narrower and related like “creatine for women.”

That returned some breakout topics that could make for less-competitive, high-potential content ideas.

Google Trends tells you if a topic is rising. It’s less good at surfacing new ones you haven’t thought of.

That’s where a dedicated tool like Exploding Topics comes in. It’s built to find emerging trends before they peak.

Just enter your main idea into the search bar, and you’ll see new related trending topics.

If that topic seems like something that you’d want to write about, add it to your list of keywords. And move on to the next step.

Expand Your List of Keywords

Now make that list bigger.

Take one of your keyword ideas and drop it into Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter it as a seed, and you’ll get hundreds of related keywords, each with its search volume, difficulty, and intent.

Use the “Questions” filter to pull out the question-based keywords people search for.

Add the relevant ones to your list, and repeat with your other strong seeds.

Prioritize Your Keyword List

By now your keyword list is long.

Most of it won’t be worth chasing. So next, you narrow it down.

I’ll be using Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool for this, but you can use any keyword research tool that provides keyword metrics.

In the search box, paste your keywords separated by commas. Keyword Overview allows you to input 100 at once.

You’ll get a table showing each keyword’s difficulty (KD), volume, CPC, and intent, side by side. Everything you need to compare them in one place.

Sort by Difficulty

Every keyword tool has a keyword difficulty score. It’s an estimate of how hard it’ll be to rank on page one for that term.

The higher the number, the tougher the competition.

So filter out what’s out of reach.

If your site’s new, stick to keywords Semrush rates Easy — a difficulty of 29 or below.

You can stretch to Possible (30–49) as your site gains authority, but anything higher probably isn’t worth chasing yet.

Check CPC

When I started out, I ignored cost per click. Instead, I chased keywords that got tons of searches.

Big mistake.

Sure, I’d rank. But the people searching weren’t there to buy. Not then. Not ever.

So now I pay attention to commercial intent.

And CPC is a quick proxy for it.

A high CPC means advertisers are bidding real money on that term. And they only do that when there’s buying intent behind it.

So keep the keywords with an above-average CPC for your niche. Those are the ones with buyers behind them.

Check Search Volume

Volume is the average number of monthly searches for a term.

You want keywords that get a decent number — enough that ranking is worth the effort.

Sort your list by volume.

You’ll quickly see what’s high and low for your space.

Set a floor, and cut what’s below it.

What’s left is your shortlist: keywords that are winnable, worth money, and actually searched.

Those are the ones to build content around.

2. Find AI Prompts Worth Targeting

In Step 1, you built a list of keywords — the terms people type into Google.

But you can’t just work on your Google rankings anymore. You need to think about your AI visibility too.

37% of consumers now start their search with AI tools instead of Google.

People phrase AI prompts in longer, more specific ways than they type into Google.

So it’s time to create a second list.

Find the Prompts People Use

To find prompts worth targeting, use a tool like Semrush’s Prompt Research.

Enter a topic. You’ll get the real prompts people ask AI, grouped into topics.

Click into any topic to see its prompts, plus an intent breakdown that tells you what each searcher is after.

You can also determine intent straight from the words:

• “What,” “why,” and “how” mean someone’s still learning and looking for informational content
• “Best,” “top,” “vs,” and “review” mean someone’s comparing options (commercial intent)
• “Buy,” “subscribe,” and “for sale” mean someone’s ready to act (transactional intent)

Specific prompts that include comparison, product, or use-case language can indicate that someone is closer to a decision.

Take these two:

• “What is protein powder?” is someone just starting to look
• “Best protein powder for a vegan training for a marathon” is someone comparing options who is close to a decision

Keep the specific ones. Set the broad, early-research prompts aside for now.

Appearing as a mention, product recommendation, or citation to a high-intent prompt can put your brand in front of someone as they evaluate their options.

Look for Keyword and Prompt Overlap in Your Lists

SEO and AI visibility are inseparable these days.

A Semrush study from 2025 found that people who started using ChatGPT used Google more, not less.

Often, your best keyword and your best prompt point to the same topic.

When that happens, you’ve found the topics worth prioritizing.

Because one piece of content can earn you visibility in search results and AI answers at once.

Those are the ones to build first.

3. Publish Content That Searchers Want

You’ve got your topic and your keywords. Now you write the content.

But not just any content. Content built to get found.

Which means giving searchers exactly what they’re after when they look up that term.

And the fastest way to see what that is? Look at what’s already winning.

Look at What’s Ranking for That Term in Google

Search your keyword in Google and study page one, especially the top few results.

Check the Formats

Are the winners guides, listicles, tool pages, or videos?

For example, let’s take the question keyword “how much protein should a beginner take?”

Page one is dominated by one format: clear, authoritative explainers.

So that’s the format Google is telling you people want in response to this search term: a trustworthy guide that answers the question directly.

Consider Depth

Are the top results short, get-in-get-out answers, or long deep dives?

That sets the bar for how thorough yours needs to be.

Here, they’re backed by real authority: medical institutions and dietitians.

For this topic, credibility is the bar. Google is rewarding sources people trust.

That’s E-E-A-T in action: the experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust Google and AI systems look for.

Look at the SERP features

A featured snippet means Google wants a direct answer it can lift. So give it one.

A “People Also Ask” box shows the follow-up questions searchers have.

So answer those on your page too.

Look at What AI Pulls From

You also might see an AI Overview like this one:

This SERP feature means Google is answering the question itself, using AI, by pulling from a handful of sources.

Many searchers will read it and never click through.

The cited sites are sources Google selected to support that particular response.

In the AI Overview for this term, you can see exactly which sites it drew from. Those are the sites you’re up against for that answer.

Often, they’re not the same ones ranking on page one.

Note who keeps showing up.

Also consider how the AI answer is built. Does it lead with a direct number? A formula? A definition?

That structure is a clue to how your content should be organized to get pulled in.

For example, here the answer opens with a formula.

Make Your Content Better Than What’s Out There

The goal here is information gain: giving readers something they can’t get from the pages already ranking.

Where should that new value come from?

A few reliable sources.

Proprietary Data

Run your own survey, analysis, or test and report numbers no one else has.

It’s the hardest thing for a competitor to copy, and the easiest thing for another site, or an AI answer, to cite.

Firsthand Testing

Actually do the thing and report what happened. Sign up for the tools, run the process, cook the recipe six times. Real results from real use are something AI-generated summaries and quick rewrites simply can’t fake.

Custom Visuals and Tools

A diagram or a small interactive calculator gives readers something they can’t get from a wall of text.

And it’s exactly the kind of asset other sites link to.

Expert Input

Quote people who actually do this for a living. Firsthand expertise is a signal both readers and search systems weigh heavily.

Information gain doesn’t just help you rank.

It also helps you show up in AI responses.

When you publish something genuinely new — a stat, a study, a framework, an expert opinion — other people start referencing it.

They link to it, quote it, mention your brand as the source.

That web of references does double duty. It builds the authority that lifts your rankings.

And it’s exactly what AI tools read when they decide which brands and sources to trust.

The more places your content shows up across the web, the more likely your brand will become part of how AI understands the topic.

4. Make Your Content Easy to Read (By People and LLMs)

Great content still fails if people can’t skim it.

And you’ve got a second reader now: the AI tools that pull answers straight off your page.

A few formatting habits keep both happy.

Front-Load Your Most Important Content

It’s super important to hook people the SECOND that they land on your website from Google.

In other words, you don’t want to greet people with a giant stock photo that takes up the entire above-the-fold area of your page.

Instead, lead with a clear intro or a list of key takeaways.

Format Your Content for Better AI Visibility

Avoid giant walls of text, like this:

Instead, break up your content into sections.

And ensure the content below every subhead directly answers or addresses each section.

Leading with a clear answer makes it easier for readers to use and may make relevant passages easier for search systems to understand or feature.

Think of your headings as signposts.

A good heading tells the reader and AI systems exactly what the section below it covers.

Then the section delivers on it immediately.

Other elements that help make your articles skimmable:

• Bullet points
• Numbered lists
• Tables
• Graphics
• Screenshots
• Images
• Callouts
• Short paragraphs
• Table of contents
• Jump links

5. Implement On-Page SEO Best Practices

Your content’s written. Now you fine-tune it.

These are the on-page details that tell Google and AI exactly what your page is about.

Small tweaks can make a real difference.

Weave in Your Keywords Naturally

Pick the strongest keyword from your list.

For a page about protein powder for beginners, that might be “protein powder for beginners.”

Then put it where it counts: in your title, your URL, your first paragraph, and at least one heading.

Then add in your secondary keywords.

For “best protein powder for beginners,” those might be “protein for beginners,” “how much protein do you need,” or “different types of protein powder.”

Work them in where they fit — in subheadings, in the body, wherever they belong naturally.

A tool can speed this up.

Clearscope, for instance, analyzes the top-ranking pages for your keyword and hands you the related terms and questions they cover.

It can even mark which of those terms already show up in AI answers for your query. So you can prioritize the ones LLMs are using when they respond.

Write a Title Tag and Meta Description That Stands Out

Your title tag is the headline searchers see in the results.

And increasingly, the headline AI tools show when they cite your page as a source.

Either way, it helps someone choose whether to click on your content or someone else’s.

The rule of thumb: Put your keyword near the front, say clearly what the page delivers, and give someone a reason to choose you.

Take this title from page one for “how much whey protein powder should a beginner take”:

It works because you know exactly what you’re getting before you click. The keyword’s right there at the front. And it gives you a reason to pick it over the result above or below.

Quick note:

Google rewrites the title it displays about three times out of four, especially when it’s much too long, vague, or keyword-stuffed.

But following best practices can help prevent that.

Do the same for meta descriptions: make them compelling, include your primary keyword, and be specific.

Keep them to 155 characters or fewer.

Use Your URL as a Signal

Your URL helps tell readers and AI what your content is about.

Start with the basics: keep it readable, use your keyword.

A path like /best-protein-powder beats /blog/2026/post-id-4471.

If your URL contains the keyword someone just searched for, they’re going to say: “Nice! This page has what I’m looking for.” And they’re going to click.

But don’t stop at the bare keyword. It’s a good idea to be more specific.

/protein-powder/whey-vs-plant-based tells a reader — and a retrieval system — far more than /protein-powder alone.

That specificity may help you surface for precise questions.

When someone asks an AI a narrow, long-tail question, a URL that already signals that exact focus can help you get pulled.

Use Internal and External Links

Links help readers and search engines move through your content. And they help establish what your page connects to.

Start with internal links. When you mention something you’ve covered in depth elsewhere, link to it. This does two things:

• Lets readers go deeper without cramming everything on one page
• Helps search engines see how your pages connect and which ones matter most

In the screenshot below, you can see we linked to two Backlinko articles, one on Answer Engine Optimization and the other on AI optimization to make it easy for the reader to find more detailed information.

Be deliberate about which pages you link to. Point links at your most important pages: the ones that convert, or that you most want to rank.

Use descriptive anchor text that tells people and search engines what they’ll find on the other end. “Our guide to keyword research” beats “click here.”

I also recommend adding external links to related content on other reputable sites.

Citing credible sources signals that your claims are backed by evidence.

And that’s exactly the kind of trustworthiness Google tends to reward.

As you build out content across a topic, you’ll be able to interlink all of it. This is part of building topical authority — the depth of coverage that tells search engines and AI you’re a real source on the subject.

6. Promote Your Content (And Build Mentions)

Hitting publish is the start, not the finish.

Good content doesn’t spread on its own. You have to put it in front of people — and AI tools.

Show Up Where Your Audience and AI Systems Look

Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, niche forums…these are where people actually go to ask questions, compare options, and figure out what to buy.

Being genuinely present there puts you in front of your audience at the moment they’re looking.

And now there’s a second reason to be there.

AI tools lean heavily on these same platforms when they build answers.

Where to focus depends on what you do.

Reddit tends to win for consumer and experience-based topics; LinkedIn for B2B and professional ones; YouTube for anything people would rather watch than read.

For example, here’s a LinkedIn newsletter on AI for brand management.

And here it is again, showing up as a cited source in the AI overview.

Either way, the rule is the same: you can’t spam these places.

On Reddit especially, drop a link and you’ll get ignored or removed.

You can learn how to get it right in our guide to Reddit marketing.

Show up to genuinely help, answer questions in your space, share what you actually know, and let your content come up where it’s relevant.

For example, “ItsWahl” is a plumber. But they don’t promote their services in this Reddit thread. They just provide helpful information.

That’s what works with the community and what gets you cited.

7. Build Backlinks and Brand Mentions

So at this point you’ve promoted your content. And, hopefully, a few people have shared it around.

Now you build the authority that makes it rank — and makes AI trust it.

For a long time, that meant one thing: backlinks. Other reputable sites linking to yours.

But things have changed. Links still matter. But the goal is broader now.

Brand Mentions Count, Not Just Links

A backlink is a vote Google can follow. But AI tools notice when your brand gets talked about, even without a link attached.

When your name keeps showing up around a topic, AI systems start to associate you with it.

And when your brand appears alongside the recognized names in your space (what’s called a co-citation), those systems begin to treat you as one of them.

So an unlinked mention isn’t a wasted one anymore.

A link helps you rank; a mention helps you get cited. You want both.

Find the Right Sites to Pitch

Not every site is worth your time. Aim for ones that are both authoritative and genuinely about your topic.

Start by searching your topic in Google and AI platforms.

Note which sites keep coming up, and which ones the AI tools cite repeatedly.

Those are the places worth earning a mention from, because they already carry weight with both search and AI.

Look at who links to your competitors.

Run a competitor’s domain through a backlink tool and check their referring domains.

Sites that have already linked to content like yours are your warmest prospects.

Before you pitch any of them, sanity-check the quality.

For example, a quick look at a site’s Authority Score in Semrush’s Backlinks tool tells me whether a mention there is worth pursuing.

8. Get the Technical Foundation Right

You’ve done the hard part. Great content, optimized, promoted, earning links.

Now make sure nothing technical is undoing all your hard work.

The good news? For most sites, this comes down to a handful of checks. You don’t need to be a developer.

Make Sure Your Pages Can Be Found and Read

Before a page can show up anywhere — Google’s results or an AI answer — a bot has to visit it, read it, and file it away. Google calls it indexing.

Start with Google, since it gives you the clearest view.

Open Google Search Console, choose your site, and go to Indexing → Pages.

That opens the Page indexing report, which shows how many URLs are indexed, how many aren’t, and why. Click any issue to see the pages affected.

It tells you, in plain numbers, how many of your pages made it in and flags any problems. The report names each problem and points you to the pages affected.

Some non-indexed pages are normal. But if an important page is missing, that’s your cue to look closer.

Getting your pages indexed properly by Google also establishes the technical foundation for appearing in Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.

There are a couple of extra things to check for AI:

First, the easy one: make sure you’re not accidentally turning away AI crawlers.

Sites have a small file (called robots.txt) that can block bots from certain pages.

It’s usually set up fine by default, but it’s worth confirming it isn’t blocking the crawlers behind tools like ChatGPT.

Some site audit tools will flag this automatically for you.

Second, many AI crawlers can’t read JavaScript. They read your raw HTML and move on.

So if your content only appears after JavaScript runs, those tools may miss it.

Your page can rank fine on Google and still be invisible in AI answers.

Run a Full Site Audit

Some issues are too small to spot by hand, but they add up across a whole site.

So let a tool crawl it for you.

Semrush’s Site Audit checks every page and flags the problems that pile up as a site grows.

Things like broken links, duplicate pages, and pages that have quietly become hard to reach.

And, because the two are fully intertwined these days, it will give you both your SEO site health and your AI search health.

Start With One Topic This Week

The fastest way to make all of this stick is to run through each step once, start to finish.

Check what’s winning in both Google and AI for a topic/keyword, build something better, optimize it, and promote it.

Use the SEO + AI Visibility Checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything.

When you’re ready to go deeper, our guide to generative engine optimization picks up where this guide leaves off.