Wondering how Chat GPT affects your SEO work? We clear up the risks and benefits of using Chat GPT for SEO.
Since its introduction in November 2022, Chat GPT has been a
central topic of conversation, which has also become an integral part of SEO
circles.
Many are excited about the new opportunities opening up for the
online marketing industry, while others warn of the possible misuse and risks
involved.
In this post, we will discuss to what extent Chat GPT can
facilitate the work of SEO professionals and under what conditions its use
should be avoided. Let’s start with the basics.
What is Chat GPT?
Chat GPT is an AI-powered Chabot developed by Open AI. The
software generates human-like responses to user queries by sourcing the
responses from an extensive pool of training data.
Think of Chat GPT as a general-purpose AI assistant.
Here are just a few examples of what Chat GPT’s AI language model
can do:
• Answer questions and follow-up questions in a fun way
• Write essays, emails, and advertising copy
• Summarize large amounts of text and data
• Understand the mood of a text
• Help users with coding and debugging
• Translations
What does Chat GPT have to do with SEO?
Since the launch of Chat GPT, there has been speculation that
advanced AI tools could soon displace search engines like Google – making SEO
obsolete.
One of the main arguments is that search engines are less convenient
than Chat GPT. With Google, you usually have to select and click on a result to
get the information you want, while with Chat GPT you get a direct, tailored
answer to your question.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether these functional
differences will lead to advanced AI catboats replacing search engines.
But for SEO professionals, the question is more: how to use Chat
GPT to be more productive? Which SEO tasks can you shift to the tool? And which
use cases should you rather avoid?
We will turn to these questions next.
What opportunities and risks do Chat GPT hold for SEO?
Below we look at some popular SEO use cases for Chat GPT and see
where the risks and rewards lie.
Keyword research with Chat GPT
Chat GPT can be a useful resource for keyword ideas, as it
suggests numerous keyword variations on any topic you choose.
For example, here are some long-tail keyword variations for
“smoothie makers.”
If you want to deepen certain sub-topics, you can of course ask a
follow-up question directly.
Importantly, Chat GPT currently does not have real-time access to
information on the Internet. This means that their suggested keywords won’t
necessarily reflect current search demand, and search volume data will likely
be inaccurate.
While you can use Chat GPT to supplement your keyword research,
you should use professional keyword research tools and your own knowledge to
create complete, data-backed keyword lists.
Content planning with Chat GPT
You can also use Chat GPT to gather research material and
formulate outlines for your content.
Especially if you want to create a comprehensive article, it can
easily happen that you overlook important points that your text should contain.
Chat GPT can do the sifting through of existing online material for you by
providing you with an overview of the main and sub-topics you should cover.
For example, here’s an outline that Chat GPT recommends for an
article titled “How to Use a Smoothie Maker.”
But again, when planning content, you should use Chat GPT
primarily as a source of inspiration and to fill in gaps and not solely rely on
its results.
Even though the software draws its suggestions from a huge pool of
data, this data is limited and also includes existing web content. More often
than not, you want to create content that gives readers insights they won’t
find anywhere else, and that requires expertise and creativity from you.
Content creation with Chat GPT
Now we come to the most contentious topic when it comes to Chat
GPT and SEO: content writing.
Given Chat GPT’s impressive ability to craft countless persuasive
texts on any topic, it’s understandable that some providers are excited about
the idea of using AI to create content quickly and conveniently. Why hire human
writers when Chat GPT can provide the same results for free?
Even Google is hinting that AI-generated content isn’t necessarily
a bad thing. The problem is content that aims to manipulate search engine
rankings – regardless of whether it was written by a human or a machine.
So why are SEO experts hesitant to use Chat GPT for content creation?
First off, it’s important to keep in mind that Open AI openly
admits that Chat GPT has some significant limitations. These include the
problems already mentioned, e.g. B. the fact that Chat GPT pulls information
from a fixed dataset, as well as issues related to built-in bias and nonsensical
responses.
These limitations mean that the content generated by Chat GPT
sometimes contains factual inaccuracies and ultimately even plagiarism. It’s
clear that posting this type of content can significantly damage your brand’s
reputation. For example, in January 2022, Futurism.com revealed that tech
company CNET had published several glaringly flawed articles that appeared to
be authored by Chat GPT.
But are these concerns serious enough not to use Chat GPT to write
content? Doesn’t most SEO content just repeat what is already known? And
couldn’t mistakes in the content created by the AI be corrected with proper
editorial control?
Perhaps. But checking AI-generated content for accuracy can be
more of a hassle than it’s worth, especially on specialized topics where
there’s a greater chance of error. Plus, we all know that one of the best ways
to rank high is by publishing genuinely valuable content—content that’s packed
with expert knowledge, personal experiences, unique perspectives, and original
ideas. You can’t achieve that with Chat GPT.
Okay, but let’s assume your AI-generated content manages to rank
well. The question is: will your readers get benefit from reading them? Do they
offer something new that isn’t also found in a similar AI-generated article? If
not, the organic visitors you attract are unlikely to convert, and poor
engagement metrics will cause you to rank lower in search results again.
In short, we do not recommend using Chat GPT to create publishable
content. Feel free to use the tool to organize your thoughts and research, but
it should not be used as a substitute for human creativity or quality
assurance.
Formulate headlines with Chat GPT
Writing headlines is often a surprisingly time-consuming process.
You sometimes have to come up with several variants to find one that draws the
reader in, adequately describes your content, and uses the keywords of your
target audience.
Good thing Chat GPT can help you brainstorm headline ideas. You
can even ask it to write headlines in a certain style, e.g. B.
“convincing”, “shocking” or “humorous”.
Here are some suggestions for “attractive” headlines for our How
to Use a Smoothie Maker article.
As always, you should evaluate Chat GPT’s suggestions with your
own expertise and adjust as needed.
Editing content with Chat GPT
While Chat GPT is not a substitute for a professional editor, it
can help you check your text for spelling and grammatical errors, awkward
phrasing, and stylistic inconsistencies.
For example, if you’re having trouble getting a message across
clearly or concisely, you can ask Chat GPT for suggestions.
Here we asked Chat GPT to rewrite a sentence as if explaining the
concept to a 10-year-old.
Conclusion: Should SEOs Use Chat GPT?
Chat GPT is an extremely useful tool that will relieve you of a
significant part of the work involved in running SEO campaigns. It can save you
tons of time by automating mundane tasks like developing headlines, collecting
keyword ideas, and creating a table of contents.
But the tool is only suitable to a limited extent for really
creative, value-adding activities such as writing content. Chat GPT is not
innovative. Unlike humans, it cannot provide original insights that you use to
outperform your competitors.
Don’t get me wrong: Chat GPT is extremely impressive. If you use
it skilfully, it can be an incredible source of inspiration and critical
feedback. And as technology continues to evolve, there will surely be more and
better ways it can help with SEO and content marketing tasks – we’re excited to
see what’s to come!