I tested over a dozen platforms to find the 6 best AI mode SEO tracking tools for 2026

Not too long ago, SEO was a simpler process. You would conduct research, write an article, and aim to land on one of the traditional search result links on Google. But with Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity providing answers directly, that old playbook is becoming less effective.

If you’re not cited in these AI-generated answers, you’re essentially invisible to a large and growing segment of your audience. The challenge is determining if your content is appearing in these results. It can often feel like you're working without clear feedback.

To understand the available solutions, I spent the last few weeks testing several top AI SEO tracking platforms. This post provides a breakdown of six tools designed for this new landscape. We’ll look at tools for tracking your presence in AI search and for creating content that’s built to earn those citations, such as the eesel AI blog writer.

Understanding AI mode SEO tracking tools

Let's clarify the terminology. "AI Mode" and "Generative Engine Optimization" (GEO) refer to a shift in strategy. Instead of only trying to rank a webpage, the new goal is to become a trusted source that AI models cite directly in their answers. This is also known as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).

These tools monitor how your brand is mentioned across different AI platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. They act as a monitoring system for what major AI models are saying about your brand.

They keep an eye on a few key metrics that traditional SEO tools may not cover:

• Mentions: How often your brand name appears in an AI response.

• Citations: When your content is used as a source for an answer, with or without a direct link.

• Share of Voice: How visible you are for certain prompts compared to your competitors.

• Sentiment: Whether the AI portrays your brand in a positive, negative, or neutral light.

This is a different approach from Google Search Console. While GSC is still essential, it doesn't separate traffic from AI answers and traditional search results. These specialized tools fill that gap, showing you what’s effective in this new era of GEO.

Criteria for selecting the best tools

To make this list useful, I evaluated each tool based on several practical factors to distinguish the platforms that deliver from those that are less effective.

Here's the checklist I used:

• Platform Coverage: Does it monitor the major players? I focused on tools that track ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity at a minimum.

• Actionable Insights: Data is only useful if you can act on it. I looked for tools that provide clear recommendations to improve visibility, not just a dashboard of charts.

• User Experience (UX): Is it intuitive for daily use, or does it require significant training to navigate?

• Data Accuracy & Freshness: Is the information reliable? And how frequently is it updated? Daily updates are becoming the standard.

• Pricing: Is it suitable for your team's budget? I looked for options that work for different budgets, from solo marketers to large companies.

Top AI mode SEO tracking tools at a glance

If you're in a hurry, here's a quick summary of my top picks. This table should help you find the right fit for your needs.

A detailed review of the best AI mode SEO tracking tools in 2026

Alright, let's dive into the details. Here’s a closer look at each tool, what it’s good at, and who it’s for.

1. eesel AI blog writer

The eesel AI blog writer is a starting point for a modern SEO strategy. While the other tools here are for tracking performance, eesel focuses on creating the content that gets you cited. It’s built specifically for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). You provide a keyword, and it produces a complete, media-rich article structured for large language models to understand and reference. We used it to grow daily impressions from 700 to over 750,000 in three months.

• Pros: Its primary advantage is its proactive approach. You're not just writing content and hoping it performs; you're generating articles that are pre-optimized for AI. They can include AI-generated images, infographics, and Reddit quotes to build authority. This is the foundation of a good GEO strategy.

• Cons: It focuses on content creation rather than performance tracking. For measurement, it should be paired with one of the other tools on this list.

• Pricing: It’s free to try, so you can evaluate the quality for yourself. Paid plans start at $99 for 50 complete blog posts. You can buy more credits as you need them.

2. SE Ranking

For teams that want everything in one place, SE Ranking is a strong choice. It’s an established SEO platform that has integrated AI visibility tracking into its main toolkit. You can monitor your traditional keyword rankings alongside your presence in AI Overviews & ChatGPT from one dashboard. This gives you a complete view of your search performance without switching between tools.

I was super skeptical at first, but SE Ranking turned out to be the only one that didn’t feel like a gimmick. You can actually see what’s triggering and when.

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• Pros: Its primary benefit is convenience. You get a powerful SEO suite and a capable AI tracker in one subscription, with daily data refreshes to keep you up-to-date. Their AI Overviews Tracker is particularly strong and provides clear insights.

• Cons: While the core features are solid, some advanced functions, like deep AI competitor research across more engines, may require purchasing their "AI Search Add-on" at an extra cost.

• Pricing: The main AI tracking features are in the Pro Plan, which has Pro Plan pricing starting at $95.20 per month when paid annually. They also offer a 14-day free trial.

3. Profound

Profound is a tool for enterprise teams that need deep, granular data on how people are actually using AI search. Its standout feature is "Prompt Volumes." It analyzes data signals by using real-time data signals from consumer data panels to show you what people ask AI engines. This can provide a significant advantage for content strategy because you're not just guessing what your audience wants to know.

• Pros: Profound provides useful share-of-voice data and is SOC 2 Type II compliant, which is important for large companies concerned with data security. This can offer a competitive advantage.

• Cons: Its most powerful features, particularly Prompt Volumes, are reserved for custom enterprise plans. The Starter plan has limitations, only letting you track your performance on ChatGPT.

• Pricing: The Starter plan pricing is $99 per month for tracking 50 prompts on ChatGPT. For access to more answer engines and the full feature set, you'll have to contact them for a custom quote.

4. Scrunch AI

Scrunch AI is another enterprise-level platform that emphasizes security, compliance, and brand control. It has a unique feature called the "Agent Experience Platform" (AXP), which creates an AI-friendly site version. This lets you provide AI agents with specific instructions on how to talk about your brand, turning the AI into a more manageable channel.

• Pros: With its SOC 2 Type II compliance and features for setting brand personas and managing risk, Scrunch AI is suitable for companies in regulated fields like finance or healthcare. It offers a high level of control over the AI narrative.

• Cons: This is an enterprise tool, and the pricing reflects that. It does not specify daily data refreshes, which could be a consideration for teams needing immediate feedback.

• Pricing: The Explorer plan pricing starts at $100 per month ($83/mo if billed annually) and includes 100 prompts on ChatGPT only. To unlock the other LLMs, you’ll need the Growth plan for $500 per month.

5. Otterly.AI

If you're a small business, an agency, or any team that already uses the Semrush ecosystem, Otterly.AI is an affordable entry point for AI tracking. It offers a straightforward way to monitor your AI visibility. Its main benefit is its deep integration with the Semrush App Center, letting you run GEO audits and track prompts alongside your existing SEO work.

• Pros: Its key benefits are its price and Semrush integration. It makes it easy to start experimenting with AEO without committing to an expensive, separate platform.

• Cons: The lightweight Semrush version has fewer features than the full, standalone Otterly.AI platform. Also, the data only refreshes weekly, which is slower than some other tools.

• Pricing: It's very accessible, with Semrush App Center pricing starting at just $27 per month for three search prompts. A 7-day free trial is also available.

6. Rankscale.ai

Rankscale.ai is designed for data-oriented SEO professionals who want total control without a large monthly subscription. The platform uses a flexible, credit-based system, so you only pay for what you use. This is useful for running targeted experiments or monitoring a specific set of terms across its list of 10+ supported AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok.

• Pros: The credit-based model is effective for controlling costs and maintaining flexibility. You're not locked into a plan with features you don't need. The platform offers deep insights, including citation analysis and website audits.

• Cons: It's made for users who are comfortable with a hands-on, analytical approach. Users seeking guided recommendations may find its interface less intuitive.

• Pricing: The Essentials plan pricing starts at just $20 per month for 120 credits, and you can buy more credits as needed.

How to choose the right AI SEO tracking tool

Here are a few tips to help you pick the right tool for your team.

• Start with your goal, not the tool. What are you trying to accomplish? If you're an enterprise company needing strict compliance and brand control, look at tools like Scrunch AI or Profound. If you're an SMB looking for an affordable entry point, Otterly.AI or Rankscale.ai are suitable choices.

• Consider your existing workflow. If your team is already in Semrush, Otterly.AI is a logical choice. If you want a single platform for SEO and AI tracking, SE Ranking is a very strong option.

• Don't just track; create. An important consideration is that monitoring your AI presence is reactive. To succeed, you have to be proactive. A tool like the eesel AI blog writer is essential for creating the AEO-optimized content that these tracking platforms measure.

  

  GEO tools add a new layer beyond classic SEO by focusing on AI-driven search visibility and brand presence in AI summaries. They can help, but many are still early-stage, so expect some trial and error. Their long-term value depends on how fast you adapt to Google’s AI updates and if you actually use the insights to tweak your content and outreach.

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• Use the free trials. Nearly every tool on this list has a free trial or an affordable starter plan. Use them to spend time with your top choices to see which one provides the most useful insights for your business before you commit.

For a more detailed walkthrough of how to approach this new landscape, the video below offers a great overview of how to track your brand’s performance in AI-powered search engines and build a strategy around your findings.

This video offers a great overview of how to track your brand’s performance in AI-powered search engines and build a strategy around your findings.

Optimizing for AI search vs. tracking

The search landscape has fundamentally changed. Monitoring traditional keyword rankings isn't enough anymore. You have to understand, measure, and shape how AI discusses your brand.

The tools on this list are all great places to start monitoring your visibility in this new landscape. However, success in the age of AI search involves proactive content creation, not just performance monitoring.

The goal is to give the AI what it’s looking for: high-quality, well-structured, authoritative content that directly answers your audience's questions.

Try eesel AI blog writer and generate your first publish-ready, AEO-optimized article in minutes.