RankDude
Updated 11/01/2026 · next update 12/01/2026

AI SEO tool market, October 2026

Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude

The market▼ Shrinking

Visits, year on year
-54%
Visits vs September 2026
-20%
Name searches vs October 2025
-30%

Every month I measure Google visits to the 43 AI SEO tool sites I track, and how often people search for them by name. In October 2026 they got about 762,345 visits, 54% fewer than a year ago and 20% fewer than in September 2026.

Below: who grew fastest (one site is up 77% in a year), where the visitors live and what comes next.

Data from DataForSEO, Tranco, Chrome UX Report, Ahrefs and SerpApi · not a ranking

AI SEO tool market: the key numbers for October 2026

Four numbers for October 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.

  • The tracked sites got 762,345 visits from Google in October 2026, 54% fewer than a year ago and 20% fewer than in September 2026.
  • “ai seo automation” gets about 40 US searches a month. People searched the site names 73,970 times in the US in September 2026, 30% less often than in October 2025.
  • No tracked site ranks on Google for “ai seo automation”. Surfer is the most-visited site.
  • 21.1% of visits came from the US (23.5% a year ago), then India, United Kingdom and Canada. The five most-visited sites took 46.3% of all visits.

1How many visits

In plain words: These sites got fewer visits from Google than a year ago (-54%), and October 2026 was a weaker month than September 2026 (-20%).

Visits, October 2026
762,345 (-53.6% on a year ago, -20.2% on September 2026)
US visits
160,631 (-58.4% on a year ago)
24-month peak
2,346,376 in February 2026

WorldVisits a month to AI SEO tool sites, worldwide

0625K1.3M1.9M2.5MNov 24Jan 25Mar 25May 25Jul 25Sep 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26Oct 26762K
Low 762KHigh 2.3MAverage 1.6M
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Source: DataForSEO, Google search visits, all tracked sites.

Miles explains

Judge this line on the year, not the last dot: visits are 54% below a year ago, and 68% below the February 2026 high. One site winning or losing a ranking can swing a single month a lot.

2How many people went looking

People typed a site’s name into Google 30% less often than in October 2025 (-30%). That is the loyalty number, because nobody types a name by accident.

Searches for "ai seo automation"
40 a month in the US, 140 worldwide (12-month average)
Name searches, September 2026
73,970 in the US (-30.2% since October 2025), 312,140 worldwide

USSearches a month for "ai seo automation", United States

0255075100Oct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 2670
Low 10High 90Average 40
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO.

USSearches a month for the site names, United States

050.0K100K150K200KOct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 2674.0K
Low 70.3KHigh 106KAverage 85.6K
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO, to September 2026.

Most searched by name, US

  • Yext
    Searches a month
    12,100
  • Profound
    Searches a month
    9,900
  • Screaming Frog
    Searches a month
    9,900
  • BrightEdge
    Searches a month
    5,400
  • SEO.ai
    Searches a month
    5,400
  • Siteimprove
    Searches a month
    5,400
  • Botify
    Searches a month
    4,400
  • Peec AI
    Searches a month
    4,400

Ordered by US searches for the brand name in September 2026. A measured order, not a ranking.

Miles explains

Name searches are the number I trust most. They are down 30%, and nobody types a site’s name by accident, so this shows fewer people coming back on purpose.

3Who is on Google's first page

No tracked site is on Google’s first page for “ai seo automation”. Being on that page is the biggest single thing that decides how many visits a site gets.

Ordered by US Google position for “ai seo automation”, then Tranco rank. A measured order, not a ranking.

Site

  • Screaming Frog
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    17,997
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 1,198
    Search visits
    30,634
  • Yext
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    18,799
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 1,308
    Search visits
    19,421
  • Writesonic
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    20,981
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 486
    Search visits
    25,690
  • Search Atlas
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    24,573
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 4,718
    Search visits
    28,298
  • Conductor
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    24,850
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 664
    Search visits
    36,362
  • Surfer
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    26,214
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 884
    Search visits
    101,189
  • BrightEdge
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    35,697
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 97
    Search visits
    21,915
  • Frase
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    36,752
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 314
    Search visits
    2,767
  • Siteimprove
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    44,331
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 3,978
    Search visits
    31,032
  • Profound
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    83,289
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 25,349
    Search visits
    30,300
  • AirOps
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    108,577
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 12,256
    Search visits
    2,214
  • MarketMuse
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    115,124
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 2,872
    Search visits
    16,380
  • Clearscope
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    124,308
    Move in 40 days
    ▼ 2,277
    Search visits
    1,782
  • Otterly
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    128,817
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 10,073
    Search visits
    833
  • Peec AI
    Google US
    –
    Tranco
    143,811
    Move in 40 days
    ▲ 49,454
    Search visits
    3,709

Source: DataForSEO (US Google positions) and Tranco, October 2026. First 15 of 43 sites shown.

Miles explains

No tracked site sits high on Google for “ai seo automation”, so most visits here come from people who already know the names.

4Who grew, who faded

Biggest gain in October 2026: Autoblogging.ai (+19%); biggest loss: BrandWell (-51%). Year-on-year growers are on the demand page.

Biggest moves in October 2026

Up this month

  • Autoblogging.ai
    Sep 26
    7,249
    Oct 26
    8,640
    Change
    +19.2%
  • Profound
    Sep 26
    27,106
    Oct 26
    30,300
    Change
    +11.8%
  • SEO.ai
    Sep 26
    66,759
    Oct 26
    74,188
    Change
    +11.1%

Down this month

  • BrandWell
    Sep 26
    35,442
    Oct 26
    17,529
    Change
    -50.5%
  • WriterZen
    Sep 26
    118,322
    Oct 26
    62,157
    Change
    -47.5%
  • Surfer
    Sep 26
    163,885
    Oct 26
    101,189
    Change
    -38.3%
  • SurgeGraph
    Sep 26
    79,352
    Oct 26
    54,512
    Change
    -31.3%
  • Rankability
    Sep 26
    52,320
    Oct 26
    38,826
    Change
    -25.8%
  • MarketMuse
    Sep 26
    20,044
    Oct 26
    16,380
    Change
    -18.3%

Brand demand, since October 2025

Searched more

  • Peec AI
    Oct 25
    1,900
    Sep 26
    4,400
    Change
    +131.6%
  • Profound
    Oct 25
    5,400
    Sep 26
    9,900
    Change
    +83.3%

Searched less

  • Rankability
    Oct 25
    1,600
    Sep 26
    320
    Change
    -80.0%
  • RankIQ
    Oct 25
    1,000
    Sep 26
    260
    Change
    -74.0%
  • Writesonic
    Oct 25
    8,100
    Sep 26
    2,400
    Change
    -70.4%
  • Surfer
    Oct 25
    8,100
    Sep 26
    2,900
    Change
    -64.2%
  • MarketMuse
    Oct 25
    1,000
    Sep 26
    390
    Change
    -61.0%
  • Clearscope
    Oct 25
    1,300
    Sep 26
    590
    Change
    -54.6%

Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO.

5Where the visitors live

About 21 of every 100 visits come from the United States.

US share of visits
21.1% (23.5% a year ago)
Largest outside the US
India, United Kingdom and Canada
US share of "ai seo automation" searches
29%

USShare of visits that come from the US (%)

06.2512.518.7525Nov 24Jan 25Mar 25May 25Jul 25Sep 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26Oct 2621.1
Low 13.9High 24.3Average 20
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

US share of worldwide search visits, month by month.

Country

  • India
    Search visits a month
    141,543
    Share of the measured countries
    61.6%
  • United Kingdom
    Search visits a month
    28,365
    Share of the measured countries
    12.4%
  • Canada
    Search visits a month
    21,275
    Share of the measured countries
    9.3%
  • Germany
    Search visits a month
    14,643
    Share of the measured countries
    6.4%
  • Australia
    Search visits a month
    14,539
    Share of the measured countries
    6.3%
  • France
    Search visits a month
    5,657
    Share of the measured countries
    2.5%
  • Brazil
    Search visits a month
    3,589
    Share of the measured countries
    1.6%

Source: DataForSEO, October 2026.

Miles explains

The US is the single biggest market, but only about 21 in every 100 visits. India alone is 61.6% of the countries I measure outside it.

6Links and ratings

The tracked sites had 248,152 referring domains between them in October 2026; this is the first reading, so there is no year-on-year figure yet. The average Domain Rating is 72. Screaming Frog has the strongest link profile at DR 87.

By Domain Rating (Ahrefs)

  • Screaming Frog
    DR
    87
  • Surfer
    DR
    85
  • BrightEdge
    DR
    84
  • Conductor
    DR
    84
  • Writesonic
    DR
    84
  • Yext
    DR
    82
  • Profound
    DR
    81
  • Siteimprove
    DR
    81

By referring domains

  • Screaming Frog
    Domains
    26,082
  • Writesonic
    Domains
    25,785
  • Surfer
    Domains
    21,010
  • BrightEdge
    Domains
    16,793
  • Conductor
    Domains
    15,744
  • Siteimprove
    Domains
    10,849
  • Frase
    Domains
    10,503
  • Yext
    Domains
    10,461

Source: DataForSEO and Ahrefs, October 2026.

AI SEO tool analysis, month by month

This page is rewritten every month from that month’s frozen snapshot. Edition 2, for October 2026, was published on 1 November 2026; the next one replaces it on 1 December 2026. The months before it, in brief:

  1. Edition 1 · September 2026

    The AI SEO tool market in September 2026: what the data says

    Every number I track for the AI SEO tool sites I follow, read as one month. Search visits down 41.3% on a year ago and up 4.4% on the month before, with the Google positions, the demand and who moved.

    Visits
    955K
    Year on year
    -41%
    Name searches
    71.0K

    Published 15 October 2026 · visits +4.4% on the month before