The popularity of ChatGPT has prompted us SEO pros (no pun intend) on how to use the tool to create great content that will rank well in Google. So let's dive in.
What is ChatGPT?
In case you've been hiding under a rock, ChatGPT is a powerful language model that has revolutionized the way businesses interact with their customers. It is a tool that was modeled based on information from the internet. It allows you to ask questions in chat and produces It can be an amazing writer, but it is not really capable of effectively writing high quality SEO articles on it own. ChatGPT as a tool. When used correctly, it can speed up content creation.
Problems with using ChatGPT to write SEO Articles
ChatGPT writes very well, but the text lacks the required depth and accuracy you need. It cannot discern what is true. This means you can't just tell it to write an article and hit publish. It also struggles to understand certain industry-specific terms. This means you spend a lot of time editing and rephrasing. The lack of customization options also makes it difficult to tailor the content to specific audiences.
The second issue is that ChatGPT tends to follow a similar pattern when writing. An opening statement, 2–3 statements and a conclusion. It overuses phrases like “it is important to” or “it is critical that.” So when you use it, you have to often rewrite these sections. With all that said, I can still create a high quality article 50% faster than I could before. Here are some ideas on how to use ChatGPT for SEO.
Using Chat AI for SEO Keyword Research
You can use chat AI tools to help you find keywords for ranking higher in Google. Start by entering a broad keyword related to the topic or product. From there, the tool will provide a list of related keywords that can be further researched for their potential to drive traffic to a website. While you can do this with keyword tools, its usually a quick way to generate some ideas. Then you can take those keyword ideas and check the content, relevancy and traffic.
Utilizing AI to Generate SEO Article Ideas
You can do this in 2 ways. Just ask for article topics on a broad idea. I usually ask ChatGPT for a specific number of article ideas. Also, if you find an article you like that already exists, you can put that article URL in ChatGPT and it will read it. Then you ask it to generate ideas for similar article titles.
Yes, ChatGPT is Awesome for Generating Article Outlines
Input a topic or keyword related to the article. ChatGPT will then generate a list of headlines. I usually have ChatGPT give me 15 headline ideas then I pick, choose, re-order 5-10 of the subheadings. The outline can then be used as a guide when writing the article. So instead of writing one single article, you focus more writing paragraphs under each headline.
Ask ChatGPT to Create Compelling Headlines
Enter a topic or subject and ask ChatGPT to provide 10 options for a title or headline. It will produce a wide range of potential headlines that can be used to entice readers to engage with your content. I usually ask it for “interesting” or “unique” or “compelling” headlines, subheadings or titles. I still find idea generation to be time-consuming so this allows me to streamline the process.
How to Use ChatGPT for SEO Meta Descriptions and Excerpts
When you are finished writing an article, you can just post the URL in ChatGPT and ask for a meta description or excerpt. It does a particularly good job of summarizing. Depending on what tool I’m using, I sometimes just ask it to for a meta description based on the article title.
Using AI Chat Plugins for Websites
I normally have ChatGPT open in a tab while I'm writing. But most often I'm using plugins, browser extensions and 3rd party AI websites to help me do the work. There are several good WordPress plugins that are super helpful in creating, writing, rewriting or expanding on content, headlines, subheading, meta data, etc. AI Power is the one I use most often. Here is a non-sponsored link to check it out.
Asking ChatGPT to Find Related Keywords
So you have a topic and maybe even an article written. Often you are going to rank higher if you include related keywords. Aski ChatGPT to read your article or even a summary paragraph and suggest other keywords. You will often see SEO's referring to semantics, which is simply increasing the topical depth in your content. Researchers have found articles with more keyword depth will rank higher.
Conclusion – ChatGPT for SEO
We have been trying to figure out how to use ChatGPT for SEO content for the last 6 months, and we continue to rebuild our process almost every week. At this point, its more of an assistant, but absolutely saves time. With such a new technology, there isn't an obvious roadmap. There are new tools, ideas, plugins, extensions and strategies released every single day.
The best way to learn how to take advantage of the technology is trial and error. And make sure you are staying abreast of what is new. One thing about generative AI – the technology advancement is moving at warp speed.