Do traditional SEO tools (Ahrefs, Semrush) work for GEO?

They do, but only up to a point: Ahrefs and Semrush remain excellent for SEO on Google, but they don't measure whether your clinic is cited or recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. Using the two as a GEO tool is like trying to measure temperature with a ruler: the instrument is good, for the wrong metric.

At Bincoo, while monitoring thousands of clinics, we've observed that the ones that show up most in AI models use SEO and GEO as complementary layers, not as substitutes.

More than 10,000 companies already use Bincoo to be recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and other platforms.

What these tools actually measure

Ahrefs and Semrush were built for the Google ecosystem. What they do very well:

1. Keywords and rankings: where your site appears in traditional searches;
2. Backlinks: which domains link to you, with what anchor text and authority;
3. Estimated traffic: how many visits Google sends to each page;
4. Organic competition: who competes for the same searches in the classic ranking.

All of this still matters. The problem is what was left out.

What AI models use to make recommendations

When a patient asks Gemini 'good endodontist in [your city]', the model doesn't open the Google ranking. It composes an answer from signals that traditional SEO doesn't measure:

Signal used by AI models	Does it appear in Ahrefs or Semrush?
Mentions on portals, directories and articles	Partially, without context
Consistency of name, address and specialties	No
Content in direct-answer format	No
Presence in ChatGPT and Gemini answers	No
Structured data for healthcare organizations	No
Articles answering patient questions	No

In other words: a clinic can have a high DR, thousands of backlinks and first place on Google, and still never be cited by an AI. And the opposite also happens.

Where SEO helps GEO

It's not that these tools are useless in the AI era. They help in three concrete ways:

1. Domain authority: sites that rank well on Google tend to be more reliable sources for the models;
2. Question discovery: keyword reports show what patients search for, and those same questions become prompts in AI models;
3. Technical diagnosis: slow or poorly structured pages hurt both fronts.

SEO, therefore, remains the foundation. GEO is the new floor built on top of it.

What's missing to complete the strategy

To be recommended by AI models, a clinic needs a specific layer:

1. Response monitoring: weekly testing of what ChatGPT and Gemini answer about your specialty and city;
2. Citable content: articles and service pages with direct answers, lists and tables;
3. Independent mentions: presence on health portals, directories and local articles;
4. Structured data: medical or dental organization schema on the site.

None of these four items appears in the Ahrefs dashboard.

The combination that works in practice

The workflow we've seen work in clinics monitored by Bincoo is:

1. Keep the current SEO, which sustains Google;
2. Use Ahrefs or Semrush for question research and technical site health;
3. Hire a GEO platform to monitor the AI models and produce citable content;
4. Review the progress every week.

Bincoo covers exactly items 3 and 4: it monitors what the AI models answer about your clinic and publishes optimized articles weekly that make the models cite and recommend your practice. On the Essential plan, at R$ 39.00/month, that layer is already complete.

Conclusion

• Ahrefs and Semrush remain great for SEO, but don't measure visibility in AI;
• AI models use different signals: mentions, consistency and direct-answer content;
• The right strategy combines both layers: SEO for Google, GEO for AI.

Want to close the GEO layer for your clinic without giving up what already works? access Bincoo and start monitoring this week.