I manage content for online retail brands. With the abundance of affordable generated content from AI, the question I focus on has evolved. It used to be “Can we publish this?” Now it is “Will anyone see it?”
My preferred tools for content marketing don’t actually write content. Instead, they inform me on whether my content is being viewed and its source.
2 Systems
Search and discovery traffic now come from Google and AI platforms. Ranking in one system does not guarantee visibility in the other. An analysis by Ahrefs in August 2025 revealed that only around 12% of the links referenced by genAI platforms also ranked in Google’s top 10 for the search term.
AI referrals make up a small portion of web traffic, but some benchmarks suggest they have a higher conversion rate than organic search.
My approach to measuring content performance has also changed. While I still monitor engagement metrics like time spent on page and returning visitors, I now also consider actions taken afterwards: visits to product pages, email sign-ups, assisted conversions, and revenue from organic or AI-referred sessions.
Increasingly, I analyze whether a page is referenced.
My Stack
My tools are divided into two layers: data collection and data interpretation.
Layer one: data collection
Google Search Console reveals the queries that lead to my content, offering insights that paid tools cannot replicate.
Google Analytics provides information on user behavior and traffic sources, and a simple referral filter captures clicks from AI platforms. Ahrefs offers keyword, backlink, and competitor analysis, along with AI citation tracking via BrandRadar.
Otterly serves as my dedicated AI visibility tracker. For a monthly fee of around $29, it answers my weekly question: “Are ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews referencing my content?”
Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider identifies potential obstacles to Google and AI crawlers before they impact visibility.
Layer two: data interpretation
Claude integrates the tools, allowing me to query about the data instead of exporting multiple spreadsheets. I connect Ahrefs and Otterly to Claude for insights, such as pages ranked by Google but overlooked by genAI.
NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) transforms data from exports and reports into analyzable insights.
Notice the absence of content generation tools in this stack.
Performance
Begin with Search Console and Google Analytics. Incorporate an optimization tool like Ahrefs for traditional keyword, backlink, and competitor data.
Activate Ahrefs’ AI visibility tracking. Interpret the data as trends over multiple checks rather than a single day’s snapshot, as outcomes can vary by prompt. Utilize ChatGPT, Claude, or similar tools for data analysis, not content creation.
While content performance has always been a focus, the evaluation process now extends beyond traditional organic search rankings and conversions. It is crucial to determine if a page is referenced in AI responses, where these references appear, and the subsequent actions of visitors upon reaching the site.
