Appearing in AI-generated answers is unquestionably important for modern brand visibility.
That said, showing up in traditional search engine results (i.e., getting SEO rankings) is still a great way to connect with your audience and drive business results.
This article will cover exactly what SEO rankings are, what affects your rankings, and what you can do to improve your results. And know that many of the same practices for boosting search engine rankings also improve visibility in AI tools.
What is an SEO ranking?
An SEO ranking is a webpage’s organic (unpaid) position among the traditional search engine listings for a query and is influenced by factors related to the page’s relevance, quality, and usability.
In the example below, our webpage holds the #1 Google SEO ranking for the query “seo kpis.” You can see that it’s sitting directly under the AI Overview.
Google uses complex algorithms to rank results automatically, and rankings fluctuate as Google constantly strives to display the best results.
Appearing as a link in Google’s AI Overviews or Bing’s generative isn’t typically considered an SEO ranking. But we’ll still touch on these AI features given they’re quite prominent and tend to affect the results you get from traditional rankings.
Why do SEO rankings matter?
SEO rankings matter because appearing high in search results contributes to increased brand visibility and potential more website traffic.
When generative search features aren't present in search results — or don't fully answer a query — high organic rankings put you in position to capture attention and clicks.
That said, your ranking positions aren’t all that matter. You also need to rank for the right queries (often called SEO keywords). This is because some terms will deliver better results for your business than others.
For instance, it’s more beneficial to rank for a query like “marketing services for small businesses” than “what is marketing” if you own a marketing agency. Because the first keyword represents people who are actively looking to hire a company like yours.
How do search engines rank results?
Search engines rank results by using complex algorithms to understand search intent (what the user most likely wants) and determine which indexed pages will best meet this intent.
Indexed pages are pages that have been added to the search engine’s database of possible search results.
The criteria that search engines use to evaluate your website and determine where to show your pages in search results are called SEO ranking factors. And search engines weight ranking factors differently depending on the meaning and context of the user’s query.
For example, content freshness is more important when the query relates to a trending topic. Like this:
Search engines are somewhat secretive about factors that influence SEO because:
- They don’t want other search engines to copy their algorithms
- They don’t want marketers to be able to manipulate search rankings
That said, Google has confirmed some of its ranking factors, and marketers have made informed guesses about other ranking factors.
The way AI-generated responses in search engines (and AI-generated responses in other tools like ChatGPT, for that matter) work is different.
AI systems use a process called query fan-out to gather information from multiple sub-queries related to the user query, then combine all the information into one cohesive response.
Factors that influence organic search results
Factors that influence organic search results generally fall under on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.
We’ll cover each category of ranking factors below.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO deals with improving pages’ content and structure to signal what your pages are about, so search engines can determine whether to show them for certain queries.
Practically speaking, on-page SEO is largely about incorporating keywords and semantically related terms throughout your content. Here’s what Google has to say on the matter:
“The most basic signal that information is relevant is when content contains the same keywords as your search query.”
Some other on-page SEO factors include:
- Internal links: These are links to other pages on your site. They’re helpful for SEO because they distribute ranking authority throughout your website and help search engines understand relationships between your different pages.
- Title tags: These are HTML titles that can show in search results. Search engines use title tags to influence their decision on whether your content should show for a given query.
- Meta descriptions: These are short, HTML webpage descriptions that can show in search results. While meta descriptions aren’t a ranking factor, they can influence whether users click through to your page from search.
- Header tags: These are HTML elements that indicate headings and subheadings (H1, H2, H3, etc.). Incorporating relevant terms in headings and structuring them logically helps search engines understand whether your content is relevant to a given query.
- Image alt text: This is HTML that describes images, which helps search engines and visually-impaired users understand your images. Writing descriptive alt text can also help you appear in image search results.
Simply including keywords and optimizing page elements isn’t enough to ensure good SEO performance. Google also aims to prioritize quality content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) when ranking search results.
While E-E-A-T isn’t a ranking factor itself, using it as a guide helps you create content that Google is likely to see as high in quality.
Some of the best ways to keep your content quality high are to:
- Ensure your content is accurate and up to date
- Consistently publish content on topics you’re knowledgeable about
- Use credible sources and citations
- Incorporate original insights or ideas
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO aims to improve search visibility via techniques outside of your website by signaling that your content is trustworthy and worthy of ranking highly.
One of the most important off-page SEO techniques is gaining backlinks. Because when prominent websites link to your content, search engines treat it as a vote of confidence in your credibility.
That said, link volume alone isn't the goal. Google's Gary Illyes has noted that links aren't as important as many SEOs believe.
So, focus more on accumulating high-quality links from relevant domains. This is also helpful for AI visibility — our research shows getting high-quality links matters more for appearing in AI-generated answers than simply getting a large volume of backlinks.
Other off-page SEO techniques include:
- Building brand mentions: Simply being mentioned on other websites and platforms can boost your authority
- Influencer marketing: Working with creators to promote your brand and what you offer extends your reach and can make you seem more credible
- Gaining reviews: Getting reviews on relevant platforms (e.g., Google, Yelp, and G2) make you seem more trustworthy to users. And search engines take reviews into account as well.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves improving the technical aspects of your website and the user experience, both of which matter for ranking highly in search engines.
Much of technical SEO is about ensuring search engines can effectively crawl and index your website. So, you can think of technical health as a prerequisite for SEO rankings.
Some common technical SEO factors include:
- Core Web Vitals: Metrics that measure page speed, stability, and interactivity
- Mobile-friendliness: How well your website performs on mobile devices
- HTTPS: Whether your website uses the secure HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP
- Intrusive interstitials: Whether your website uses pop-ups that obscure the main content
Nowadays, Google says: “While not all of these may be directly used to inform ranking, we do find that all of these aspects of page experience align with success in search ranking, and are worth attention.”
How to improve your website’s SEO rankings
Here’s how to improve your website's SEO rankings:
Target low-competition keywords
Targeting low-competition keywords that don’t attract a lot of competition maximizes your chances of earning high SEO rankings.
You can use a free keyword tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to find keywords. And then look at those terms’ search results pages to gauge relevancy and competition levels.
But it’s quicker and easier to use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. Just enter a term to base your search around, along with your domain and target country.
The Keyword Magic Tool will search our database of over 28 billion keywords to find keyword ideas. And for each keyword, it will calculate a Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) score, which indicates how hard it’ll be for your website to earn a top-10 SEO ranking.
We recommend that you filter for keywords in the 0-29 PKD % (very easy to easy) range.
Then, sort the “Pot. Traffic” column from high to low to see which keywords have potential to drive the most monthly traffic to your website.
When you find a keyword that you’re interested in targeting, analyze its search intent.
Analyze search intent
Analyzing a term’s search intent allows you to check if that keyword is relevant to you and develop an effective content plan.
To analyze search intent, look at the search engine results page (SERP) for your chosen keyword and see what kinds of results perform well. Consider aspects like:
- The types of websites that rank highly
- The types of content that ranks highly
- What subtopics the top-ranking pages cover
- Which SERP features (non-standard results, such as maps results and AI Overviews) appear
For example, the SERP for “best laptops” contains an AI Overview that links out to comparison articles. And the ranking pages are also comparison pages.
If the keyword seems like a good fit for your website, you’re ready to create content that satisfies search intent and meets Google’s helpful content guidelines.
Find and fix technical errors on your website
Finding and fixing technical errors on your website could be key to improving your SEO rankings.
You can learn about many crucial errors through Google Search Console (GSC).
If you haven’t already, sign up for GSC and create a property for your website. Then, check these key reports:
- Page indexing: Check which pages on your website are and aren’t indexed by Google. Take corrective action if there are any mistakes.
- Sitemaps: Make sure you’ve successfully submitted an up-to-date XML sitemap to Google. To help ensure your chosen pages are indexed.
- Core Web Vitals: Learn how your URLs score in terms of Core Web Vitals and get insight into the most important issues
- HTTPS: Ensure that all the indexed URLs on your website are HTTPS URLs. This is important for website security.
- Manual actions: Make sure that you haven’t received a manual action, also known as a Google penalty. Penalties can seriously harm your SEO rankings.
- Security issues: Find out if Google has detected any important security issues on your website. If so, it’s important to fix them.
If you struggle to manage technical issues, use Semrush’s Site Audit tool to crawl your website. The tool checks for over 140 issues and categorizes them into errors, warnings, and notices to help you prioritize what to fix.
Site Audit makes it easy to create tasks for your team via Zapier or Trello.
Keep track of your progress by scheduling regular audits and monitoring your reports.
Build quality backlinks to your website
Building quality backlinks to your website can improve its perceived authoritativeness and lead to higher SEO rankings.
Here are some of the best ways to get backlinks to your website:
- Email outreach: Actively share your useful content with publishers that may be interested in linking to it
- Digital PR: Generate newsworthy stories and promote them to reputable publications
- Respond to media requests: Answer journalists’ requests for expert commentary and ask for backlinks as attribution
- Pursue unlinked brand mentions: Find unlinked references to your brand online and encourage creators to add a relevant link to your website. Just keep in mind that mentions are also helpful, so there’s no need to make every mention a backlink.
- Broken link building: Find broken backlinks to your own or competitors’ websites, then convince creators to replace them with working backlinks to your website
You can manage your link building campaigns through Semrush’s Link Building Tool.It helps you identify link building opportunities, find relevant contacts, send and track outreach emails, and monitor acquired backlinks.
Track your SEO rankings
Tracking your SEO rankings helps you gauge the success of your SEO strategy. So you can invest more in the tactics that work and adapt the tactics that don’t.
You can monitor your average organic rankings for up to 1,000 top queries (selected by Google) via Google Search Console.
Beyond position, monitor impressions to see how often your pages appear in search results. High impressions with an extremely low click-through rate (CTR) can signal that your pages aren’t truly aligning with what searchers are looking for.
Alternatively, use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to monitor the exact keywords you care about. The tool displays your SEO rankings on the dates you’ve selected. And uses AI to calculate your potential ranking positions.
You can also track your AI Overview rankings by checking the box next to “AI Overview” from the “SERP features” drop-down at the top of the “Overview” report.
Frequently asked questions
How do you check your SEO rankings?
You can check your SEO ranking by searching your target keyword in an incognito browser window and noting where your page appears. For more accurate tracking across multiple keywords, locations, and devices, use tools like Semrush's Position Tracking or Google Search Console.
How long does it take to see SEO ranking improvements?
SEO ranking improvements typically happen over the course of up to six months, though timelines vary depending on niche, competition level, website authority, and content quality. Quick wins on low-competition keywords can happen in weeks, while competitive terms may require many months of sustained effort.
What is the difference between SEO rankings and organic traffic?
The difference between SEO rankings and organic traffic is that SEO rankings indicate your position in search results, while organic traffic measures how many visitors actually visit your site.