AI SEO Advice Is BROKEN: Here's What to Do Instead

About this video

Presented by David, who works with Kevin, this video argues AI SEO advice is broken because AI models change constantly, tactics may not fit your industry, and AI makes it easy to be duped by experts without real-world experience. The solution is to test changes like a scientist using Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit, partnered for the video at $99 per month. The goal is not ranking first as in Google search, but getting the most brand mentions across as many AI answers as possible. Adapting a seven-step playbook detailed by Ethan Smith on Lenny’s podcast, the steps are: find questions you want to rank for, track them, run controlled experiments, find what content type ranks, write content, build an off-site mention strategy, and fix AI SEO errors. Questions can come from Google Search Console data fed into ChatGPT, Semrush Prompt Research (described as drawing on over 100 million queries), Visibility Overview, Competitor Research, and Narrative Drivers. For experiments, split tracked prompts into test and control groups and wait at least a week or two. Content should address a topic and ideally over a hundred specific follow-up questions, while off-site citations are checked for platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and Quora. The Site Audit tool is used to find and fix technical AI search errors.

Key takeaways

• Treat AI SEO as brand mentions, not first place: win the most mentions across the most AI answers to drive qualified traffic
• Do not blindly follow advice; run controlled experiments by splitting tracked prompts into test and control groups and waiting a week or two
• Source target questions from Google Search Console, Semrush Prompt Research, Visibility Overview, Competitor Research, and Narrative Drivers; stick to one to two topics to see impact
• Study citations for a prompt to learn what content type ranks — e.g., listicles — then write content covering ideally over 100 long-tail follow-up questions and use your help center
• Build off-site mentions where AI cites sources (B2B is linked to YouTube and Reddit in the video; B2C to affiliate sites) and regularly run Semrush’s Site Audit for AI search errors

Episode details: published November 13, 2025 · 14:13 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: Jira Tutorial for Beginners — Learn Jira in 20 Minutes · Next: Wix Tutorial for Beginners – Step-by-Step →

All Kevin Stratvert videos · Kevin Stratvert profile · Kevin Stratvert on YouTube