Every week someone sends me a new AI tool that’s going to “revolutionise marketing.” Every week I have a look. Most of them don’t make the cut.
Here’s what I actually use in my day-to-day SEO and Google Ads work, what it’s good for, and the hype I don’t buy.
The AI assistants: ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
I use these every day, but probably not the way you’d think. I don’t ask them to “write a blog post about plumbing” and hit publish. That gives you the same bland content as everyone else.
What they’re great for:
- Brainstorming. Twenty headline ideas in ten seconds. Nineteen will be average, but one might be gold.
- Sorting messy data. Paste in a big list of search terms and ask it to group them by theme. Hours of work done in minutes.
- Writing formulas and scripts. Spreadsheet formulas, small tracking scripts, regex for filters. Huge time saver.
- First drafts of ad copy. A starting point I then rewrite so it actually sounds like the business.
- Explaining things. When a client asks something technical, AI helps me find a simpler way to explain it.
The rule: AI does the grunt work, I do the thinking and the final say.
The AI built into Google Ads
Google has packed its ad platform with AI: smart bidding, Performance Max, AI Max for Search and automatically generated ads. Some of it is genuinely good. Smart bidding, fed with good conversion data, often beats manual bidding.
But “AI-powered” doesn’t mean “set and forget.” Google’s AI is trying to hit the goal you give it, with the data you give it. Give it rubbish conversion tracking and it’ll confidently optimise for rubbish. Keeping an eye on it is still my job.
SEO tools with AI features
The SEO tools I already used (Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog and friends) have all added AI features. The useful ones help me spot content gaps, cluster keywords and audit sites faster.
Google Search Console and GA4 are still my main sources of truth, though. They’re free and they come straight from Google. Everything else is a helpful estimate.
AI visibility trackers
A newer category: tools that check whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews mention your business. They’re handy for spotting trends, but take the numbers with a grain of salt. AI answers change every time you ask, so treat them as a rough guide, not gospel.
The hype I ignore
- “Publish 100 AI blog posts a month and watch your traffic explode.” Google is very good at spotting mass-produced content with nothing new to say. This is a fast way to tank a website.
- “Our AI will run your ads, no human needed.” Someone still has to understand your business, your margins and your customers. Software can’t tell when your best tradie is on holidays and you need to slow the leads down.
- Fully automated link building. If a tool can get you links with zero effort, they’re the kind of links that get you in trouble.
- AI tools that promise guaranteed rankings. Nobody can guarantee rankings. Not a person, not a robot.
Trends worth watching
- AI search is growing. More people are asking AI tools for recommendations. Being the clear, trusted answer matters more than ever.
- Ads are moving into AI platforms. ChatGPT now has ads in Australia, and Microsoft has ads in Copilot. Still early, but it’s moving fast.
- Automation in ad platforms keeps growing. That makes good tracking and a sharp human strategy even more valuable, not less.
Bottom line
AI is the best assistant I’ve ever had. It saves me hours every week, which means more of your budget goes into strategy and less into admin. But it’s an assistant, not the boss.
If you want an expert who uses AI to work smarter, not to cut corners, check out my AI SEO & GEO services or get in touch for a quote.
