How do AI search engines describe your brand—and what happens if they get it wrong? In this detailed case study, Czech SEO specialist Zbyněk Fridrich shares his exact workflow for improving organic search performance and AI visibility. By harnessing AI sentiment insights from Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit, he transforms how brands are perceived by both users and algorithms. This process is crucial for boosting traffic, enhancing visibility, and securing a competitive edge in an AI-driven search landscape.
The Growing Challenge of AI Search Perceptions
Search is no longer just about keywords. Modern AI search engines, like Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE), synthesize information to form opinions about brands. These AI-generated summaries, or "snapshots," are based on the sentiment found across the web. If the prevailing sentiment is negative or inaccurate, your brand's visibility can suffer dramatically.
Zbyněk Fridrich identified this as a critical blind spot for many businesses. Traditional SEO focuses on rankings and backlinks, but often misses the narrative AI is building. Proactively managing this narrative is now a non-negotiable part of a robust SEO strategy. You can learn more about building a comprehensive strategy in our guide on enterprise SEO audit and performance evaluation.
The Workflow: From AI Sentiment Insights to Action
Fridrich's method is systematic and repeatable. It turns vague concerns about brand reputation into concrete SEO actions. Here is the core workflow he uses with his clients.
Step 1: Uncover the AI's Current Narrative
The first step is diagnosis. Using Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit, Fridrich analyzes the brand's target keywords. The tool reveals the exact sentiment—positive, negative, or neutral—that AI models associate with the brand for each query.
This moves beyond guesswork. Instead of wondering how AI sees a brand, he gets a clear, data-driven report. This baseline is essential for measuring improvement.
Step 2: Identify and Prioritize Sentiment Gaps
Not all sentiment issues are equal. The toolkit highlights where negative or inaccurate sentiment is most damaging—typically for high-intent, commercial keywords. Fridrich prioritizes gaps that directly impact revenue and conversion opportunities.
For example, a negative sentiment for "brand X pricing" is more urgent to fix than one for a broad informational term. This prioritization ensures resources are allocated to moves that will have the biggest business impact.
Step 3: Execute a Content and PR Offensive
With gaps identified, the next phase is active reputation shaping. This isn't about publishing spam. It's about creating high-quality, authoritative content that addresses the specific concerns or topics flagged by the sentiment analysis.
The action plan typically includes:
- Creating Targeted Content: Publishing detailed blog posts, case studies, or guides that directly counter misinformation or highlight positive attributes.
- Earning Quality Press: Securing features and quotes in reputable industry publications to build positive, authoritative backlinks.
- Optimizing Existing Assets: Updating old website pages and meta descriptions to better reflect the desired brand narrative.
This approach mirrors the principles of improving organic reach through quality content.
Tangible Results: Traffic, Visibility, and Trust
This workflow delivers measurable outcomes. For his clients, Fridrich has documented significant improvements not just in sentiment scores, but in core business metrics.
Increased Organic Traffic and Rankings
As the AI's perception shifts, so do traditional rankings. Pages optimized with positive sentiment signals often see a boost in visibility for target keywords. This leads to a direct increase in qualified organic traffic.
Enhanced AI Search Visibility
The primary goal is to influence AI snapshots. Success is measured by the brand appearing in generative AI answers with a positive or neutral summary, rather than being absent or portrayed negatively. This captures traffic from the future of search.
Stronger Overall Brand Authority
The process naturally builds a more robust backlink profile and a richer library of branded content. This strengthens E-E-A-T signals, which are crucial for both human users and AI evaluators. Understanding how AI interprets signals is key; explore our related article on how we taught AI to understand complex concepts.
Conclusion: Proactive Sentiment Management is Essential SEO
Zbyněk Fridrich's case study proves that AI sentiment is a powerful, actionable ranking factor. Waiting for AI to form an opinion about your brand is a risky strategy. The winning approach is to audit, analyze, and actively shape that narrative with high-quality content.
By leveraging tools like Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit, SEOs can bridge the gap between traditional optimization and the new world of AI search. Start auditing your brand's AI sentiment today to protect and enhance your visibility. Ready to transform your brand's AI narrative? The team at Seemless can help you implement this powerful strategy—get in touch for a consultation.
