Semrush vs. aiva: What Is Being Measured?
What This Is About
Semrush and aiva both measure “visibility in LLMs” (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude). At first glance, that looks like the same service. In fact, the two tools differ considerably – in methodology, depth, language and controllability.
This document compares the two tools honestly. The goal is not to show that Semrush can do nothing – but to make transparent which questions one can answer and which the other can.
In Brief
- Semrush AI Visibility is an automated monitoring add-on to the classic SEO suite. It delivers a quick basic overview – with synthetically generated prompts, primarily US English, with limited competitor and industry logic.
- aiva is a strategic LLM visibility analysis – with manually curated prompts per industry, persona, intent and use case, multilingual (incl. German), with customer-specific competitors and an open, auditable methodology.
- For a B2B company with multiple industries, multiple languages and a serious GEO/LLMO strategy, the Semrush module alone is not enough.
Comparison Table: What Is Being Measured?
Rows = dimension, columns = tool. Highlighted in light blue: aiva.
Dimension | Semrush AI Visibility | aiva |
|---|---|---|
| Which world is measured? | Visibility in LLMs as a supplement to the classic Google SEO suite | Visibility in generative LLMs as a strategic discipline in its own right (GEO/LLMO) |
| LLM coverage | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini (Claude partially / being expanded) | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini – all fully covered. Claude matters because of its different training-data logic. Plus all Chinese LLMs: DeepSeek, Doubao, Ernie, Qwen3, Hunyuan and Kimi-k2. |
| Prompts (what is actually asked?) | Synthetically generated by the tool based on domain + location. The customer has only limited visibility into what is being tested. | Manually curated prompt sets per industry, persona, intent and use case. Fully transparent and adaptable. |
| Language | Primarily US English. Multilingual coverage severely limited. | Multilingual, incl. German – decisive for DACH markets and international industrial customers. |
| Regions | Currently approx. 6 countries (US, UK, CA, AU, IN, ES). | Freely definable – no fixed country list. |
| Competitor definition | Up to 4 competitors, suggested by the tool – usually at domain level. | Defined by the customer, different per industry. Important for multi-industry companies, since competitors change almost completely from one industry to another. |
| Brand logic | Domain-centric (one main brand per account). | Multi-layered: corporate brand, group companies, product brands, generic material/product terms – all measurable in parallel. |
| Persona & intent | Branded vs. non-branded queries. | Multidimensional: persona (buyer, spec, end user …) × intent (discovery, selection, comparison …) × use case × industry. |
| Methodology transparency | Black box: the customer sees the result, not the logic behind it. | Open methodology. Dimensions, personas and prompts are available as Excel – viewable, auditable, adaptable. |
| Depth of results | Score, share of voice, topic coverage, competitive comparison. | Score plus context: why this visibility, which sources are cited, who do you lose to per use case, which recommendations for the GEO strategy. |
| Question that gets answered | “How visible am I for prompts the tool considers reasonable?” | “How visible am I for the questions my real customers ask LLMs along their buying journey?” |
| Strategic character | Monitoring tool. Runs in the background, updates weekly. | Consulting-based setup. The dimensions are the result of GEO/LLMO strategy work, not auto-configuration. |
Why This Difference Matters to You
You control what is being tested
In Semrush, you get an answer to questions the tool invents. In aiva we define the prompts together – derived from your real buying journey, your use cases and your sales knowledge. That is the difference between an “automatically generated score” and an “answer to the strategically right question”.
Language and region are non-negotiable
If your customers ask ChatGPT in German, you must measure in German. Semrush currently covers primarily US English – a blind spot for most DACH industrial customers. aiva is designed to be multilingual from the outset.
Competitors are not the same across industries
In automotive, BASF / Covestro / SABIC are relevant. In medical, rather Solvay / Evonik / Victrex. A global “MCA visibility” figure without industry context is meaningless. Semrush allows 4 competitors per account – aiva allows a separate competitor configuration per industry.
Brand is not the same as domain
Many B2B companies operate under several brands: corporate brand, subsidiaries, product brands. If a user asks ChatGPT about a subsidiary, that is visibility for the group – but LLMs do not always make that connection automatically. aiva captures this multi-layered structure; Semrush measures primarily at domain level.
Methodology transparency is an audit requirement
For strategic decisions (“Should we invest in GEO? How much? Where?”), you need to know how the numbers come about. aiva lays the methodology open: you see every dimension, every persona, every prompt. In Semrush, that is not the case.
Our Honest Positioning
Semrush AI Visibility is a good, quick basic overview and makes sense as a by-product of the SEO suite. If you need a first indication of whether you are fundamentally “on the map” in LLMs – Semrush delivers that.
But as soon as you – as in your case – have multiple industries, multiple languages, multiple brands or a real GEO strategy, the toolkit reaches its limits. That is exactly where aiva comes in: not as a replacement for Semrush, but as the level above – the strategic visibility analysis that also supports steering decisions.
In a nutshell:
- Semrush AI Visibility = monitoring.
- aiva = strategy foundation.
A Question for Self-Assessment
Before you decide whether the Semrush module covers your needs, ask yourself this question:
“Can I see in Semrush which specific prompts are being tested?
Can I add my own prompts from my real sales reality, in any language, whether German or Chinese, and define which specific competitors I want to measure against per industry?”
If the answer is “no” or “only partially”, the tool does not answer the question that really counts for your GEO strategy.
➡️ Learn more about aiva here
➡️ Download aiva sample analysis (PDF).
➡️ Request your custom analysis here!