For agencies · Updated September 2026
An SEO suite with AI tracking inside it.
Or a programme that writes and publishes.
SE Ranking is an established, well-regarded SEO platform - rank tracking, site audits, backlink analysis, keyword research - with AI-visibility tracking added alongside it. For an agency that already runs classic SEO for its clients, having the AI read in the same login as the rest of the stack is a real convenience, and nothing here argues otherwise. Found by AI answers a different question. The monitoring is not a dashboard - it is the brief. Detection is where other tools stop; the production is what we own.
Stop at the dashboard.
Show the gap. Don't address it with content production. A client looking at a monitoring dashboard with no content production is not a recurring conversation; it's a quarterly question.
Write briefs from keyword tools.
Briefs come from search-volume guesswork. They produce useful articles, but the priorities don't reflect what AI assistants are actually citing for the client's category.
Turn monitoring evidence into the next brief.
Last month's monitoring evidence, competitor appearances, citation gaps, missing facts, weak topics, is where next month's topics are chosen from. Then the Monthly AI-Search Visibility Report shows what changed.
The wedge is the loop, not any single layer of it.
What each one does
SE Ranking measures the surface.
We produce what goes on it.
SE Ranking is a broad SEO suite with AI-visibility tracking as one component among many. That breadth is the reason to buy it: if you need rank tracking, audits, backlinks and keyword research anyway, an AI-answer read in the same tool is efficient, and it removes a line item rather than adding one. What the suite does not do is write the articles, mark them up, or publish them. That work stays with your team, by design.
Found by AI is a white-label AI-search content programme sold through agencies. The loop is the product: monitoring identifies the buying questions leading AI assistants answer without your client in them, those gaps become the month's brief, and we write, publish and measure the content that answers them. Articles can carry a named editor from your team or your client's - a real person, their job title and a public professional profile, with written-by and reviewed-by bylines and structured author data. Review before publish is the default for every new client brand, with a 7-day review window; publishing immediately after our quality gate is opt-in per client; dark until reviewed is available on request, and the client's own writers can publish alongside the articles the programme produces. We publish to a blog we host on the client's subdomain or your white-label domain - one DNS record either way. Portal, Monthly AI-Search Visibility Report and emails carry your agency's brand, and we never solicit a partner's clients.
Where each one sits
Where SE Ranking sits
- An established SEO suite: rank tracking, site audits, backlink analysis and keyword research, with AI-visibility tracking added alongside
- Consolidation is the strength - one login for the whole classic-SEO workflow, which we do not attempt to replace
- The output is measurement. What you publish in response is your team's job, by design
Where Found by AI sits
- One programme, sold only through white-label agency partners - you resell it, we run it, your brand is on every surface
- The loop is the product: monitoring becomes the brief, the brief becomes published articles, the report documents the change
- A named editor from your team or your client's on written-by and reviewed-by bylines, review before publish the default for every new client brand and publishing immediately opt-in per client
The operating difference
Detection is where most tools stop. The production is what we own.
Found by AI runs one loop for agency partners. Every week we put your client's buying questions to AI assistants, for example ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and record who gets named. The questions your client is missing from are where the month's topics are chosen; then we write, publish and measure the content that answers them, and the Monthly AI-Search Visibility Report documents what changed. The monitoring is not a dashboard: it is the brief. All of it ships under your agency's brand.
| Generates content? | Publishes for you? | Publishing surface | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking | No | No | None |
| Found by AI | Yes | Yes | A blog we host on the client's subdomain or your white-label domain, one DNS record, agency-branded; the same articles over the Content Delivery API or our WordPress connector |
SE Ranking
Found by AI
AI does the research and the first draft; a named person from your team or your client's reviews, edits and signs it before it goes out. Articles the programme produces can carry the name of the person who reviewed them; posts your client's team write name their writer. Three publish modes, chosen per client: review before publish is the default for every new client brand, with a 7-day review window; publishing immediately after our quality gate is opt-in per client; dark until reviewed is available on request. Translations follow the same mode as the original. The client's own writers can publish alongside the articles the programme produces. We never solicit a partner's clients.
Structural comparison
Deliberately no plan or price table. Their packaging changes, and a stale figure on our page would be worse for you than no figure at all - check anything commercial on SE Ranking's own site. What follows is the difference in shape, which doesn't go out of date.
| Found by AI | SE Ranking | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A delivered AI-search content programme, resold by agencies | An SEO suite with AI-visibility tracking inside it |
| What arrives each month | Published articles plus a report on what moved | Measurement across the SEO and AI surfaces |
| Who writes | We do | Your team |
| Who publishes | We do - client's subdomain or your white-label domain - one DNS record either way | Your team |
| Classic SEO tooling | None - we don't do SEO | Comprehensive - this is what SE Ranking is for |
| Author accountability | A named reviewer from your team or your client's - real job title, public profile linked - with role-accurate written-by / reviewed-by credits and structured author data | Not applicable - they aren't the publisher |
| Review before publish | Three modes per client: review window (the default, 7 days), publish immediately (opt-in), dark until reviewed (on request); the client's own writers can publish alongside the articles the programme produces | Your team's own editorial process |
| Whose brand the client sees | Yours - portal, monthly report and emails are white-labelled | Theirs |
Key differences
Choose SE Ranking if…
- You need classic SEO tooling anyway. Rank tracking, audits, backlinks and keyword research are the job, and an AI read in the same login is the efficient way to add it
- You have editorial capacity in-house. If your writers exist and are underdirected, better measurement is worth more to you than a delivery partner
- You want to consolidate tools rather than add a supplier, and your clients are buying SEO with an AI dimension rather than the other way round
Choose Found by AI if…
- You run an agency with no spare editorial capacity, and another dashboard nobody has the hours to act on is not progress
- You want a monthly artifact that defends the retainer: what the assistants said, what we published about it, what changed
- You want the whole thing under your brand, with a supplier who never approaches your clients
We would rather lose the deal than win it from an agency SE Ranking fits better. Qualifying out is cheaper than a cancelled contract, for both of us.
Frequently asked questions
What does SE Ranking actually do?
SE Ranking is an established SEO platform - rank tracking, site audits, backlink analysis and keyword research - with AI-visibility tracking offered alongside the classic toolset. The measurement is the product; the writing, the markup and the publishing stay with you. For plans, packaging and current AI coverage, read their own site - we deliberately don't restate competitor figures here, because ours would go stale and theirs are authoritative.
Is Found by AI a replacement for SE Ranking?
No, and we'd be misleading you if we implied it. We don't do rank tracking, site audits, backlinks or keyword research, and we have no plans to. If those are part of what you sell, you need a suite like theirs regardless of what you do about AI search. Found by AI replaces one thing: the gap between knowing what AI assistants say about a client and having published something that changes it.
Does SE Ranking publish content for you?
No - and they don't claim to. It measures; writing, schema markup and publication stay on your side. That is the structural difference this whole page rests on. With us, articles get written against the monitoring evidence, can carry a named editor from your team or your client's with written-by and reviewed-by bylines, pass whatever review step you've configured for that client, and go live on a blog we host on the client's subdomain or your white-label domain - one DNS record either way.
Can an agency run both?
That is probably the most common honest answer on this page. SE Ranking for the SEO practice you already sell, us for the AI-search content behind a retainer you want to defend. There is a small overlap at the monitoring layer, and ours is deliberately narrow - it exists to generate the month's brief, not to be browsed. Keeping the suite and adding the production line is a perfectly reasonable stack.
When is SE Ranking the better buy?
When SEO is the job and AI visibility is a dimension of it, and when you have writers to act on what the suite tells you. That agency is squarely their buyer, and we'd tell you so on a call rather than after you'd signed with us. We're the better fit when the bottleneck is hours, not measurement.
Bottom line
SE Ranking is a solid SEO suite and the AI tracking inside it is a sensible consolidation - if you need the suite, buy the suite. Found by AI answers a different question: what happens when nobody has the hours to act on any of it. We take the monitoring as the brief, produce and publish the content with a named editor from your team or your client's behind it, and document the change each month - under your agency's brand, and we never approach your clients. We promise the process, not a position in anyone's answer.
More comparisons
Next step
Run the loop on one client. Judge us on three reports.
Bring one retained client. We show you the monitoring, the articles it produced, the review flow and a real report. Three monthly reports later, you decide.
Founder terms, for agencies signing up through 31 December 2026: the founder rate is locked when you claim it and runs on a 12-month agreement per client brand, with one brand swap inside the term. Your first client brand is the trial: one retained client, three monthly report cycles, then decide at the third report. Roll out on the founder term, or stop there and take a full export. No minimum on standard monthly terms. No per-brand setup fee; a one-time partner onboarding fee applies, waived for founding partners.
Not an agency? Then we're not the right people to buy from, but your agency might be. Get in touch and we'll tell you plainly whether there's a partner for you.