Search Engine Optimization - 11 Sep 2024

How to Use ChatGPT for SEO Content (Without Hurting Your Ranking)

When ChatGPT first began picking up speed, there was a rush of users flocking to the platform to ask for everything from creating weekly meal plans based on caloric intake to developing comprehensive marketing strategies for startups. But now that the dust has settled, we are starting to better understand the uses and limitations of AI software and where and how it can be deployed.

Content creation quickly became one of the top uses for ChatGPT. A recent study found that by 2025 as much as 90% of online will likely be AI-generated. This could spell trouble for those depending on AI for SEO content, because not only does this content lack human nuance and reads a little bland, but also because AI models degrade quickly when relying solely on AI-generated content, eventually delivering completely false or nonsensical responses. But that’s a conversation for another blog; today we’ll focus on where and how can use programs like ChatGPT to strengthen your SEO strategy without compromising quality. But first, let’s go over why you can’t replace your writing team with ChatGPT.

The Risks of Relying on AI-Generated SEO Content

On the surface, ChatGPT appears to write some pretty compelling content. Some may even argue that it mostly passes as human-generated; however, the key here is almost.

Let’s say for example you’re a realtor looking to add some content to the business website. You can prompt ChatGPT to write you a blog post on tips to stage your house to sell faster and it will deliver something like this:

Now this blog isn’t terrible, but it’s also not great, and if you’re trying to rank in a competitive market like real estate that could be a problem. You can try to make this post a little more engaging by asking ChatGPT to refine the tone to make it more fun, but as you can see, the improvements are mediocre at best.

While this AI-generated blog example does a decent job of laying out some generic staging advice, it doesn’t offer anything new or particularly insightful. Without delivering anything of substance, your content isn’t contributing meaningfully to your SEO strategy, and worse, it could be dragging you down.

Content quality is one of your most important SEO ranking factors. While search engines like Google have not come out to say they will penalize AI-generated content, this type of generic writing adds little value for the user and may go against Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust) which could have major implications of the effectiveness of your strategy.

Keyword-heavy, repetitive, and factually dubious content will not help your website rank. On the other hand, original, engaging, and well-researched content has been proven time and again to boost SEO performance.

How to Use ChatGPT for SEO Content (The Right Way)

Now that we’ve covered why it’s not a great idea to let ChatGPT be your sole source of SEO content generation, let’s go over a few ways the AI model can be used to make your SEO work a little easier.

Keyword Research

While ChatGPT isn’t the best keyword tool out there, it is a pretty effective resource for sussing out potential targets. However, it probably shouldn’t be the only tool you use. Unlike dedicated keyword tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs the base version of ChatGPT doesn’t have access to search volumes and even higher models offer limited keyword insight.

Where ChatGPT does come in handy is in brainstorming. With a few quick prompts, you can get a very workable list of keywords which you can then work off to refine your list of prime targets.

Getting this list was certainly fast, but you’ll notice it’s not overly detailed nor does it provide search volumes which is extremely important in identifying which keywords to target.

Finding Related and Semantically Related Keywords

Once you have a list of keywords, ChatGPT can be a great resource for uncovering other related and semantically related (conceptually similar) keywords. Prompting the AI with your primary keywords, it can quickly generate a list of secondary keywords that can help broaden the scope of your content and boost your chances of ranking. Here’s an example.

Let’s say you’re working with the keyword “house cleaning services.” You can ask ChatGPT to generate related keywords, which could look something like this:

As mentioned previously, while these suggestions might not have specific search volume data attached, they’re useful starting points for more extensive research.

Similarly, ChatGPT can help you uncover semantically related keywords. Sometimes referred LSI (latent semantic indexing), these terms may or may not be synonymous with your keyword and you won’t be directly targeting them, but they are conceptually linked and can help provide search engines with context, which can help give you a ranking boost.

As you can see, with a few simple prompts you have a very workable list of keywords to get your SEO content jump-started. It will still require some tweaking, but as far as brainstorming goes, ChatGPT has provided its worth.

Nailing the Tone

Relying on ChatGPT to write your SEO content isn’t a great idea, but if you are struggling to maintain or produce the right tone in your writing, the AI platform can be a handy tool. As we saw in one of the previous examples, you can feed ChatGPT a copy of your text and prompt the AI to rewrite it in any desired tone.

There are lots of ways to use this feature. You take a causally written blog and ask ChatGPT to make it more formal, you can ask it to take a passively written passage and rewrite it in an active voice, or you can even take a technical article and have it rephrased in simpler terms to appeal to a more general audience. This can be a real time-saver, especially if you’re juggling multiple projects or writing on complex topics. Just keep in mind that while it can adjust tone, ChatGPT still lacks the humanness needed to emotionally connect with audiences. A well-crafted, human-written post will always have more subtlety than anything an AI can create, and for that reason, it should always the be foundation of your SEO content.

Content Outlines and Ideation

One of the hardest parts of writing SEO content is coming up with original ideas and creating a workable outline. These are two where ChatGPT truly shines.

We’ve all suffered from writer’s block but with the right prompts, ChatGPT can help you ideate topics related to your target keywords, and maybe even offer suggestions you haven’t considered. Let’s say you’re drafting a post about the best SEO practices for small businesses, you can ask ChatGPT to give you topic suggestions and then get it to draft an outline.

With a solid framework, you can easily expand upon the sections and infuse them with your voice and expertise. It saves time on the front end, leaving more time for you to focus on the quality of the actual content.

Generating Meta Descriptions and Titles

Meta and title tags are crucial to ranking well in online searches, but for whatever reason, no one likes writing them. Another way ChatGPT can be super helpful in your SEO content efforts is by generating meta descriptions and SEO-friendly titles. Meta descriptions need to be short, snappy and engaging. They must also include your primary keyword in a way that makes sense and doesn’t detract from the readability. With a few prompts, ChatGPT can quickly generate SEO-optimized meta descriptions for your blog posts, landing pages, or product descriptions. Here’s an example.

Let’s say you’ve just finished a blog post about how to optimize images for SEO. You can prompt ChatGPT to give you a meta description like this:

While you still need to review and tweak these AI-generated snippets, having them drafted for you can save a lot of time and effort.

Optimizing Existing Content

Producing new content is an essential part of most SEO strategies; however, it takes a lot of time and effort. Another solution is to update and re-optimize existing content, and yes, this is a job ChatGPT is great for.

Telling search engines that your content is new tends to be rewarded with a spike in traffic; that’s a major payoff for minimal work. You can take older blog posts and ask ChatGPT to refresh them with updated information, more relevant keywords, or a better structure. For instance, if you wrote a blog post about SEO trends back in 2020, ChatGPT can help you update it for 2024, incorporating the latest best practices. Just make sure to fact-check the suggestions and verify the accuracy of the updates.

This approach won’t replace the need to produce actual new content, but it is a great way to give your active blogs a boost and maximize the return on your previous content investment.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of AI-Generated SEO Content

There is no question that AI tools like ChatGPT are transforming the way we work, there’s a right and wrong way to use it as part of your SEO content strategy. While ChatGPT can unquestionably help streamline certain aspects of your SEO strategy, it’s far from a complete solution, and relying solely on AI for your SEO content could wind up hurting more than helping.

Using ChatGPT for things like brainstorming, keyword research, and content outlines can save time and spark creative juices but human-driven content is what will power your ranking performance. To maintain the integrity of your SEO content and your competitive edge, it’s best to leverage ChatGPT as another writing tool, and not a writing replacement.