Best Backlink Index on Earth. Blind to AI Citations.
Ahrefs built a strong backlink database and recently added Brand Radar for AI prompts. visibl covers competitive analysis, site audits, keyword intelligence — plus Ghost Routes, agentic commerce, and one-click fixes. The question isn't which AI tool to add. It's whether you still need Ahrefs.
One platform replaces two.
Ahrefs has a strong backlink index and recently added Brand Radar for AI prompt tracking. But Brand Radar is a monitoring bolt-on — it can't find Ghost Routes, can't ensure AI shopping agents transact through your commerce protocols, and can't deploy fixes. visibl covers competitive analysis, site audits, keyword intelligence, and GA4/GSC integration — plus the full AI discovery layer with one-click execution. You don't need Ahrefs plus an AI tool. visibl is the single platform that does both.
Where it gets interesting
| Ahrefs | visibl | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| WORKFLOW SCOPE | Diagnostic Only (Insight + Brand Radar) | End-to-End (Plan + Implement) | Ahrefs shows you who links to you and what keywords you rank for. Then you build a content brief and wait for a developer. visibl's Bilateral Studio lets you generate schema, fix AI citations, and update commerce feeds — same screen, same session. |
| IMPLEMENTATION TIME | Months (Requires dev team) | Minutes (One-click deployment) | Brand Radar identifies which AI engines mention you. Fixing what it finds requires manual content updates, schema changes, and dev coordination. In visibl's Action Lab, remediation takes minutes. |
| ENTERPRISE SCALE | Low (Built for freelancers & SMBs) | Extreme (1M+ page catalogs) | Ahrefs serves freelancers, consultants, and small agencies beautifully. visibl was built for enterprise teams managing 1M+ page catalogs, enterprise-grade security, and multi-brand portfolios. With deep site audits, competitive intelligence APIs, and full GA4/GSC integration, visibl covers the traditional SEO ground while adding the AI layer. |
| AGENTIC READINESS | Zero (Keyword + backlink focus) | Full (Native ACP & UCP) | Ahrefs tracks keywords and backlinks. It has zero visibility into AI shopping agent behavior — whether OpenAI's Operator can actually purchase from your store, or whether your Shopify feeds are formatted for autonomous commerce protocols. |
| DATA INTEGRATION | Siloed (SEO data only) | Bilateral (GA4 + GSC + Stripe + Shopify + Merchant Center) | Ahrefs connects to Google Search Console. visibl connects upstream (Shopify, Merchant Center, GSC, Stripe) and downstream (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Claude) — with bilateral sync back to source. |
Who Is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a well-known SEO tool, particularly for backlink analysis. The Site Explorer is solid. The Keyword Explorer covers a wide database, and Content Explorer helps find content opportunities. At $129-249/month for most users, it covers the basics.
In January 2026, Ahrefs launched custom AI prompt tracking through Brand Radar — letting you define specific prompts and see how your brand appears across 6 AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Overviews, and Claude). With 190M+ prompts in their database, the dataset is growing.
But here's the thing. Brand Radar is a monitoring module bolted onto a backlink-first platform. It shows you where you appear in AI responses. It doesn't find Ghost Routes — pages ranking #1 on Google that AI engines can't see. It doesn't check whether your product feeds comply with agentic commerce protocols. And when Brand Radar surfaces a problem, fixing it still means opening a Jira ticket and waiting. The gap isn't just AI — it's execution. visibl provides competitive intelligence APIs, deep site audits, GA4 and GSC integration, and keyword tracking alongside the entire AI visibility layer. Everything Ahrefs does, plus everything it can't.
They diagnose. We deploy.
Every other tool stops at the insight. visibl starts at the execution.
Here's how it usually works: Brand Radar shows you're missing from Perplexity for a key query. You write a content brief. A writer drafts it. A developer updates the schema. QA reviews it. It ships in 90 days — if you're lucky.
visibl's Bilateral Studio is a split-pane workspace: the left side shows what's broken (missing schema, misformatted commerce feeds, Ghost Routes). The right side is a code editor where you fix it. Generate schema, optimize content for AI citation, update commerce protocols — one click. The fix syncs back to Shopify, Merchant Center, or your CMS instantly.
Fortune 500 teams deploy optimizations in minutes without touching a single line of backend code. Speed of a startup, scale of a titan.
What Ahrefs can't show you
Ghost Routes Detection
Your Ahrefs dashboard shows you've earned 47,000 backlinks to your top product page. Brand Radar confirms you appear in ChatGPT responses. What it can't show you: that Perplexity and Gemini don't cite you at all for the same queries. That's a Ghost Route — and it's costing you revenue you can't measure with backlink data.
Agentic Commerce
We don't just track AI mentions — we ensure shopping agents can actually buy from you. visibl monitors both OpenAI's ACP and Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, ensuring your Shopify and Merchant Center feeds are formatted for autonomous purchasing via API handshakes.
Revenue-at-Risk
By syncing Stripe data with AI citation rates, visibl calculates the exact monthly revenue lost when your products aren't cited in AI buying advice. Not estimates. Not guesses. Verified revenue impact tied to real transactions. CFO-level data, not marketing dashboards.
Why teams replace Ahrefs with visibl
- Keyword tracking and SERP monitoring
- Deep site audits with technical diagnostics
- Competitive intelligence via dedicated APIs
- GA4 + Google Search Console integration
- Ghost Route detection across every AI engine
- One-click deployment via Bilateral Studio
- Agentic commerce protocol compliance (ACP + UCP)
- Stripe-verified revenue-at-risk attribution
visibl isn't an AI add-on you bolt onto your backlink tool. It's a full visibility platform — site audits, competitive analysis, keyword intelligence, GA4 and GSC integration — plus the entire AI discovery layer that Ahrefs can't touch. One platform. One vendor. Complete coverage.
Which one fits?
Choose Ahrefs if...
- Backlink profiling is your only workflow and you don't need AI visibility
- You're a solo consultant who only does link building
- AI search has zero relevance to your clients today
- You're comfortable adding a second platform for AI visibility later
Choose visibl if...
- You want one platform for SEO + AI visibility instead of managing two tools
- You need competitive analysis, site audits, AND AI discovery in one place
- Ghost Routes and agentic commerce readiness matter to your revenue
- You want GA4/GSC integration plus Stripe-verified revenue attribution
Other comparisons
Your backlink strategy needs an AI chapter
Ahrefs tells you who links to you. visibl tells you who AI recommends instead of you — and gives you the tools to change it. Book a demo.