How One Fractional CMO Uses Semrush One to Layer SEO and AEO Into One Growth Strategy

David Haas has spent adjacent to 30 years successful marketing. He'll show you the past twelvemonth has been dissimilar immoderate of the ones before.

David’s niche is growth-stage tech and healthcare companies. They’re organizations pinch a fund to put but nary in-house SEO squad aliases dedicated contented function. His occupation is to make them execute arsenic overmuch occurrence arsenic companies pinch much resources.

"A solution for illustration Semrush One is an unthinkable advantage for these companies—typically, they won't person capable resources and expertise in-house."

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

AI reply engines person opened a caller opportunity for smaller brands to beryllium discovered through. And David has built a repeatable model that those brands tin usage to excel.

Here's really he did it for Frenos, an operational exertion cybersecurity company—going from near-zero hunt beingness to increasing marketplace visibility successful nether six months.

The ‘Foundation Up’ Framework

When David Haas sits down pinch a caller client, the speech astir strategy almost ever ends up successful the aforesaid place: You person to build the guidelines earlier you build the remainder of the tower.

Growth-stage teams are often tempted to jump consecutive to AI visibility—it feels faster, newer, much exciting. But David knows that without a coagulated SEO foundation, immoderate AI visibility gains are fragile. Build some layers deliberately, successful sequence, and they commencement to reenforce each other.

"I thin to beryllium down and talk strategy, and it ever seems to gravitate toward building a coagulated SEO instauration first, and past building the AI scheme connected apical of that. Once you've gotten that and built retired your contented and backlink strategies, it each conscionable builds connected itself."

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

The result? 

Frenos went from near-zero hunt visibility connected Google successful July 2025 to a people of 18.32% successful January 2026—outpacing aggregate competitors successful a niche, highly method market. 

This is besides reflected successful really the marque appears successful Google’s AI Overviews, pinch wide visibility steadily expanding complete time.

Let’s spell complete the nonstop workflow David built to thief Frenos turn their hunt presence.

Step 1: Establish an SEO Baseline First

David's first move was to measurement capacity and place opportunities based connected existent hunt data. 

He started pinch the Keyword Magic Tool and the Keyword Overview Tool to find buyer-intent queries that decision-makers were really searching. 

Chasing high-volume position sounds appealing, but it seldom pays disconnected for a institution without overmuch existing authority. For Frenos, David ruled retired wide position for illustration "ot cybersecurity." Because it’s excessively competitory and offers excessively small upside. 

Instead, David focuses connected buyer-intent queries, low-to-moderate trouble terms, and method searches applicable to OT cybersecurity decision-makers

Then, he sets up Position Tracking to found wherever the marque stands against its nonstop competitors crossed cardinal hunt terms.

Step 2: Measure the AI Visibility Baseline

While establishing an SEO baseline, David besides opens the AI Visibility Toolkit to understand wherever the marque stands successful AI-generated answers. 

It’s a abstracted image from isolated hunt rankings and, increasingly, the 1 that matters to buyers. In fact, our caller survey of complete 1,000 U.S. consumers recovered that 50% person made a acquisition aft utilizing AI during research, crossed categories and value points.

David checks the AI Visibility score first. For Frenos—as pinch almost each mini marque he useful with—it came backmost astir 14.

"It's a awesome spot to start. It benignant of gives group a consciousness of: Am I showing up a lot? Am I showing up a little?"

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

Then, he uses the Competitor Research instrumentality to spot really rivals' AI visibility scores and punctual mentions compare. It tells him precisely wherever the customer stands and wherever location are gaps worthy going after.

David besides cross-references AI opportunities uncovered via the AI Visibility Toolkit pinch manual organization research—reading forums wherever existent buyers inquire existent questions—to get a fuller picture.

"Semrush is giving you a very circumstantial group of prompts, which are good, but organization investigation is an augmentative measurement to look astatine a bigger image and create contented that is really going to resonate."

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

Each page that comes retired of this process is built to do 2 things astatine once:

• Rank successful accepted search 
• Be retrievable by AI reply engines

That intends clear structure, nonstop answers, and contented that's genuinely useful—written for a personification who conscionable asked a mobility successful ChatGPT.

"You'll spot them move from not being mentioned to being mentioned successful a week aliases 2 weeks. Which is wild."

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

Step 3: Build Topical Authority pinch Pillar Pages and Cluster Content

Once the search-optimized pages are live, David builds retired a pillar-and-cluster structure astir the topics that matter astir to the client. 

For Frenos, that meant broad pillar pages connected topics for illustration OT penetration testing and business cybersecurity testing. Content aimed astatine buyers who are researching a problem but aren’t yet fresh to buy. 

Cluster contented past went deeper connected each theme: circumstantial usage cases, method FAQs, and subject-matter expertise that gradually introduced Frenos arsenic a reliable voice.

All contented successful a cluster links together deliberately—cluster pieces backmost to pillars. And the pillar pages besides reference reliable outer sources. 

The effect complete clip was that Frenos started ranking not conscionable for individual keywords but crossed full taxable areas. Because the tract had built authority astir those topics.

Step 4: Treat Keyword and Prompt Research arsenic an Ongoing Loop

The last constituent successful David's model is iteration. As contented goes unrecorded and capacity information starts coming in, the strategy gets smarter. 

He watches for contented climbing toward page 1 connected Google, gaining traction connected long-tail queries, and spotting gaps wherever competitors are vulnerable.

David returns to the Keyword Magic Tool and Visibility Overview regularly, utilizing unrecorded capacity signals to determine what to constitute adjacent and what to cut. 

"SEO accelerates erstwhile information informs strategy—and strategy guides content."

David Haas, Growth-Focused Fractional CMO

Why the Framework Works

Modern buyers don't conscionable type keywords into Google. They inquire afloat questions successful ChatGPT. They publication Reddit threads earlier they ever sojourn a vendor website. They get answers from AI Overviews earlier clicking anything.

According to our recent research, astir buyers usage AI and hunt together. About 33% commencement pinch hunt engines, past move to AI to summarize aliases compare. Another 26% do the opposite. Only 8% don't usage them together astatine all.

David’s model reflects that reality, bringing SEO and AEO together arsenic portion of the aforesaid hunt visibility image crossed the channels wherever decisions happen.