The SEO Suite Everyone Uses. The AI Gap Nobody Sees.
Semrush covers keyword research, backlink analysis, and site auditing. So does visibl — plus Ghost Routes, agentic commerce, revenue-at-risk, and one-click deployment. The question isn't which tool to add. It's which one to keep.
One platform. Not two.
Semrush is a popular traditional SEO toolkit — keywords, backlinks, and rankings. But it was built for the Google era, and the Google era is no longer enough. visibl covers everything Semrush does — site audits, keyword tracking, competitive intelligence, GA4 and GSC integration — and adds the entire AI visibility layer: Ghost Routes, agentic commerce protocols, and verified revenue impact. You don't need two platforms. visibl replaces Semrush and adds what Semrush never had.
Where it gets interesting
| Semrush | visibl | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| WORKFLOW SCOPE | Diagnostic Only (Insight) | End-to-End (Plan + Implement) | Semrush tells you what's wrong. Then you file a Jira ticket. Then dev reviews it. Then QA. Then deploy. visibl's Bilateral Studio lets you generate schema, optimize content, and update protocols — same screen, same session. |
| IMPLEMENTATION TIME | Months (Requires dev team) | Minutes (One-click deployment) | The average enterprise SEO fix takes 90+ days from insight to deployment. In visibl's Action Lab, it takes minutes. No backend code changes required. |
| ENTERPRISE SCALE | Low (Built for SMBs) | Extreme (1M+ page catalogs) | Semrush was designed for freelancers and agencies managing dozens of sites. visibl was built for Fortune 500 teams managing 1M+ page catalogs at enterprise scale. 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 (Traditional keyword focus) | Full (Native ACP & UCP) | Semrush tracks keywords in traditional search. It has zero visibility into how AI shopping agents evaluate your products or whether they can transact through your commerce protocols. |
| DATA INTEGRATION | Siloed (Marketing data only) | Bilateral (GA4 + GSC + Stripe + Shopify + Merchant Center) | Semrush connects to Google Analytics and Search Console. visibl connects upstream (Shopify, Merchant Center, GSC, Stripe) and downstream (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Claude) — with bilateral sync. |
Who Is Semrush?
Semrush is the SEO toolkit that practically everyone in digital marketing has used at some point. At $139-500/month, it's accessible. The keyword research is thorough. The backlink database is massive. The site audit tool catches issues fast. If you need a Swiss Army knife for traditional SEO, Semrush is it.
In 2025, Semrush launched an AI Visibility Toolkit — tracking mentions across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini. They also released a free AI Visibility Index benchmarking 100 top brands across 2,500 real-world prompts. A reasonable addition. The data is limited.
But here's the thing. Semrush's AI features are a new module bolted onto a 17-year-old SEO platform. It tracks AI mentions. It doesn't find Ghost Routes — pages that rank #1 on Google but are invisible to AI engines. It doesn't ensure your Shopify catalog is formatted for AI shopping agents. And it can't tell you how much revenue you're losing because AI isn't recommending you. That's the gap. Meanwhile, visibl offers deep site audits, competitive intelligence APIs, GA4 and GSC integration, and keyword tracking — covering the traditional SEO ground — plus the entire AI visibility and execution layer that Semrush is only beginning to acknowledge exists.
They diagnose. We deploy.
Every other tool stops at the insight. visibl starts at the execution.
Here's how it usually works: Semrush flags a content gap. You write a brief. A content writer drafts it. A developer updates the schema. QA reviews it. It ships in 90 days — if you're lucky. By then, the AI landscape has changed twice.
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 Semrush can't show you
Ghost Routes Detection
Your Semrush dashboard shows you ranking #1 for a high-value keyword. What it can't show you: that same page has zero AI citations. Zero. AI engines don't know it exists. That's a Ghost Route — and it could be costing you $124,500/month in revenue invisible to agentic search.
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 Semrush 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 SEO stack. It's a full visibility platform — site audits, keyword intelligence, competitive analysis, GA4 and GSC integration — plus the entire AI discovery layer that Semrush can't touch. One platform. One vendor. Complete coverage.
Which one fits?
Choose Semrush if...
- You only need basic keyword rank tracking and have no AI visibility requirements
- You're a solo freelancer on a tight budget who won't need AI features
- AI search has zero relevance to your industry 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 site audits, competitive intelligence, 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
Add the layer Semrush can't
See what AI engines really think about your brand. Book a demo and we'll show you your Ghost Routes, revenue-at-risk, and the action gap your current stack can't close.