Week 8 · 5–6 hours
Ahrefs, Semrush & AI Visibility Tools
Become familiar with commercial SEO platforms and the emerging AI-visibility category without learning buttons for their own sake.
Tools change. Transferable skills matter more: demand, intent, competitors, links, technical issues, performance, citations and clear recommendations.
Learn
Complete only the named pages or lessons below. Links inside them are optional unless the task says otherwise.
How to use Ahrefs
Why this: Choose this route if Ahrefs is your primary platform; the full course is more than three hours.
Pay attention to: Complete only the lessons listed below. Use manual AI prompts unless you already have access to Brand Radar.
- Site Explorer: Introduction, Overview, Organic keywords, Organic competitors and Top pages
- Site Explorer: Backlinks
- Keywords Explorer: Introduction, Overview and Matching terms
- Competitive Analysis: Content Gap and Link Intersect
SEO Essentials with Semrush
Why this: Choose this route if Semrush is your primary platform; do not complete the full course this week.
Pay attention to: Only: Measure Your Visibility, Identify Your Target Keywords, Identify Backlink Opportunities and AI Visibility Toolkit.
- Walkthrough: Measure Your Visibility
- Walkthrough: Identify Your Target Keywords
- Walkthrough: Identify Backlink Opportunities
- Walkthrough: AI Visibility Toolkit
Check your understanding
You should be able to explain these without relying on course terminology.
Practise
Apply this week’s learning through a guided practical exercise.
Scenario
Choose two competing websites and one primary platform or free-access workflow.
Your task
Produce a maximum two-page comparison covering five keyword or topic gaps, three leading pages per website and three backlink patterns. Test no more than three relevant AI prompts, where accessible, and record mentions, citations or cited sources. Label estimates, unavailable data and sample limitations.
Good work should contain
- One clear primary tool
- Comparable data
- Vendor metrics labelled
- Useful conclusions beyond screenshots
Common mistakes
- Learning every button
- Treating DR or AI visibility as Google metrics
- Hiding sample size
Organic & AI Visibility Competitor Review
Review and refine the exercise to a client-facing standard, then save the finished version as portfolio evidence.
Suggested filename 08-organic-ai-visibility-review.pdf
Skill demonstrated SEO platforms and emerging visibility metrics
An interviewer may ask “How have you used Ahrefs or Semrush outside commercial work?”
Career task
Alongside the SEO exercise, complete one small job-readiness task each week. These tasks build towards confident junior applications.
Start applying. Choose two genuinely suitable roles, tailor an application for each and record the date, status and next follow-up in your job tracker.
Notes
Personal notes stay separate from the questions intended for Chris.
Personal notes
Capture useful observations, definitions and reminders.
Question for Chris
Use this for uncertainties or points you want to discuss.
Finished this week?
Mark the week complete once you have finished the learning, exercise, portfolio output and career task.