What is ChatGPT – a quick recap
If you still have not heard of ChatGPT – let me introduce it to you briefly. ChatGPT is a virtual assistant that can hold a conversation with you in a way that Siri and Alexa can only dream of. Think of ChatGPT as the Hermione Granger of language ****** – always ready to drop some knowledge on you and have some fun along the way. So whether you are stuck in a cave or just looking for a new chat buddy, ChatGPT is here to keep you company.
The intro was written by AI, partially inspired by Matt Diggity.
Now, let’s explore the ways you can use ChatGPT for creating SEO content. We will cover:
- Doing keyword research with ChatGPT and whether is it a good idea.
- Creating titles for your articles with ChatGPT.
- Researching and evaluating your competition’s content with ChatGPT.
- How unique AI-generated content can be.
- Overview of AI-generated content vs. SEO.
How to do keyword research with ChatGPT? Is it a good idea?
Since ChatGPT was released, one of the hottest topics that to go around the web is keyword research. Some blog authors and video content creators show that ChatGPT can create a list of great keywords based on one or a few requests sent to the tool. So, I had to check it out for myself!
After testing it a few times, I realized that it sounds better than it works. Why? Let’s get into a simple example.
While I was doing my research on AI in SEO I was looking mainly for high-search volume keywords. Since I heard about ChatGPT’s great understanding of human language, I sent my query just like I would do in a normal day-to-day conversation:
“I am writing an article about using AI in SEO daily basics. Write down 15 keywords related to this topic.”
Here are the results:
Well, that looks impressive, especially that I got it in several seconds.
However, the keywords ChatGPT sent me did not include their search volume. So I checked them in one of the SEO tools we use for keyword research – Ahrefs.
As a result, none of these keywords had any search volume. Only 1 out of 15 were found in Ahrefs’ database, with search volume defined as 0-10. At first, it seems like quite a poor result, especially if you are asking for “high search volume keywords”.
However, a small search volume does not always mean that it is not worth using a certain keyword. And of course, the search volume depends on the tool’s database and the popularity of the topic.
But we were asking for keywords with a high search volume, right?
I did a few more rounds of keyword research with ChatGPT based on different topics and received the same non-value result. Maybe in the near future, the ability of chatbots to provide a list of highly searched keywords for certain topics will improve. Till then, I would not rely solely on ChatGPT for keyword research.
Summing up – is it a good idea to do keyword research with ChatGPT? Sure, try it! But my advice is not to trust it completely. It may give some ideas, which can be a great starting point, but you will have to do the rest of the research using more accurate and data-driven keyword tools.
How to create titles for your articles with ChatGPT
Let’s imagine, you finally wrote a great review article about coffee grinders. But you are struggling to come up with an idea for its title. Nothing to worry about! Just tell ChatGPT what you are working on and what you expect as an answer.
For example: I am working on a title for my blog post about the best coffee grinders in 2023. Prepare a list of catchy titles.
If you do not like the output, you can always ask to modify it. For example: titles should be shorter or should start with specific keywords.
It is worth noticing that ChatGPT remembers the conversation, so you do not need to be super detailed with your next prompt.
Let’s say you would like your title to sound more like a movie title or a catchy slogan. No problem! Just make sure it reflects your content and sounds catchy for readers.
I want it to sound more like a movie title!
When it comes to elements such as blog post titles, headings, or paragraphs, there are limitless options. This feature of ChatGPT really helps you create tailor-made content that matches your brand’s tone and your audience.
AI-generated content with ChatGPT ‒ is it good?
Is AI content against Google?
First things first – is the AI-generated content against Google policy?
The simple answer is, no!
However, it used to be so in previous years. Today, Google understands that AI can generate great content to answer user questions.
According to Google’s latest posts on AI-generated content, if the content is of high quality and fulfills the requirements of E-E-A-T standards, then Google will reward it.
It does not matter if a human or a bot makes the content. As long as it meets quality standards, it is okay.
Generating content – things you should be aware of!
Coming up with ideas for new content can sometimes be a real struggle. Sometimes you do not know how to start or you have run out of creativity in the middle of the process. As you have probably already guessed, you can head to ChatGPT which generates new content in a few seconds by writing simple requests in the chat tab.
Since there are plenty of examples of AI’s abilities to create new content, we will leave it here. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that ChatGPT can sometimes give you false information.
Let’s imagine we are creating a press release about the earthquake in Turkey that happened in February 2023.
So, I ask ChatGPT:
Write a paragraph about the earthquake in Turkey
As an answer, I received information about the earthquake that happened 3 years ago!
Taking this into consideration, I still think you can head to ChatGPT for ideas, however, I strongly recommend you not to rely on it completely. Always double-check the information it returns. If that sounds like too much confusion, then my advice would be to avoid generating content you are not familiar with and the ones that require expert knowledge.
So is AI-generated content good or not?
Even though today, Google is okay with AI-generated content, you should always be really careful with it. Posting not up-to-**** or false information can hurt your authority and reflect in your organic visibility. In my opinion, relying solely on AI-generated content is not enough to create expertise and trustworthiness of your brand, and it still requires a lot of human interaction.
Nevertheless, ChatGPT can be a great assistant and a decent supply of ideas for interesting, eye-catching content.
Can AI create unique and valuable content?
I was curious how unique content AI can generate based on asking for the same thing. Taking into consideration that AI can generate content only upon data input, I did not expect much. However, it was still worth checking, so I conducted a small experiment with a few conditions:
- The same prompt given in the same session in different tabs and on a different day.
- Similarly constructed prompts in the same session in different tabs and on a different day.
I asked the chat to create two things for me. First, I wanted to receive a paragraph about Google’s opinion regarding AI-generated content. Secondly, I wanted the chat to return the list of benefits of creating a disavow file.
Analysis was made by using file comparison in CopyLeaks.
| Prompt | Conditions | % of Match | Comment |
| Write a paragraph about Google’s position on AI-generated content | The same prompt was written in the same session | 0%
MATCH |
|
| Write down the benefits of creating a disavow file and sending it to google. | The same prompt was written in the same session | 77.6%
MATCH |
1.6% – Identical
7.3% – Minor changes 68.8% – Paraphrased |
| Write a paragraph about Google’s position on AI-generated content | The same prompt in different sessions (days) | 61.7%
MATCH |
61.7% – Paraphrased |
| Write down the benefits of creating a disavow file and sending it to google. | The same prompt in different sessions (days) | 44.7%
MATCH |
44,7% – Paraphrased |
| 1. Is Google okay with AI-generated content? Write one paragraph about it.
2. Write a paragraph about Google’s position on AI-generated content |
Different prompts in the different sessions (days) | 27.5%
MATCH |
3,7% – Identical
23.9% – Paraphrased |
| 1. What are the pros of creating a disavow file?
2. Write down the benefits of creating a disavow file and sending it to google. |
Different prompts in the different sessions (days) | 24.6%
MATCH |
1.7% – Identical
22.9% – Paraphrased |
| 1. Is Google okay with AI-generated content? Write one paragraph about it.
2. Write a paragraph about Google’s position on AI-generated content |
Different prompts in the same session | 90.8%
MATCH |
26.6% – Minor Changes
64.2% – Paraphrased |
| 1. Write down the benefits of creating a disavow file and sending it to google.
2. What are the main benefits of creating a disavow file? |
Different prompts in the same session | 91.9%
MATCH |
50.2% – Identical
41.8% – Minor changes |
If you want to get more into detail with this research, please go to this spreadsheet.
The match percentage fluctuates over almost the entire range, and the output may not be as accurate as it would be in a larger sample of data. Nonetheless, the goal of doing this experiment was to check if my assumptions were correct.
If you are interested in this case, I strongly recommend playing with these ChatGPT’s features more by giving it some more hints related to:
- Expanding or shortening a section.
- Adding keywords or anything important from your point of view into generated text.
- Changing the tone of voice of the whole text or just a part of it, for example: making it more formal, official, funny, etc.
How to optimize your content with ChatGPT?
Beyond creating new titles, headings, descriptions, or content, ChatGPT can also analyze your content and tell you something about it. This way, you can reinforce the belief that your text will be understood by bots correctly.
I understand that content should be created for users instead of bots. However, users will not find your great content if Google does not index it properly.
And yes, ChatGPT is not Google, but they both understand content similarly. To pull out essential information about the text you wrote, you can ask for it.
In this example, I used an AI-generated paragraph:
Write an introductory paragraph for the article about the best coffee grinders 2023. Up to 100 words.
Then I asked for extracting entities from it.
Now extract key entities from the text You wrote.
Based on it, you can think if a given sample is understood correctly by a bot and check if something is missing or not highlighted enough. And here comes another excellent chat ability you can do with it – AI auto-optimization.
Let’s say the paragraph is missing a few keywords that are important for you:
- electric coffee grinder,
- manual coffee grinder,
- quiet coffee grinder
- and types of coffee grinders.
With the help of the AI, you can put these keywords into the text within seconds.
It is mind-blowing how effectively you can optimize any piece of content and how much time (and usually money) can be saved, letting you focus on more important aspects of your article.
This auto-analyze feature is excellent if you want instant feedback on how the AI model understands your content. Google and OpenAI are not using the same language model, however, based on how accurately ChatGPT can understand a given sample, I strongly believe its insights are on point.
Wrapping up, I recommend trying it yourself before launching new articles, product descriptions, or any content of your choice.
How to research your competition’s content with ChatGPT
If you take care of your brand’s organic visibility on a daily basis as an SEO, marketing specialist, or a business owner, you might wonder why your competitors rank higher in SERPs than you do. There are two options: you are doing research manually, checking each of your competitors’ pages on your own, or… (yes, you guessed it) can turn to the AI for support.
Matt Digity did a great job and found that ChatGPT can help you evaluate your content based on the given criteria. In his example, he used Google documentation that explains how to write high-quality product reviews. Documents cover a lot of information that can help you understand what Google expects from a good product review. However, it can be really overwhelming trying to understand and match the guidelines.
That is why he came up with the idea to extract the most important criteria from it by using AI. Here is an example:
Based on this article extract 5 of the most important criteria:
[copied text from Google documentation]
As you can see, ChatGPT extracted five key points and summarized them. But I wanted to go further. I asked AI to evaluate the content and give me some feedback. Here is what I did:
For educational purposes, I used homegrounds.co
Based on the criteria below evaluate the following review on a scale from 1 to 10.
Criteria:
[List of criteria]
Article:
[pasted text]
And voilà – in no time you get AI’s evaluation of the provided content and insights right after the score. In this example, we can clearly see that the criteria “supporting evidence” has the lowest score, and we get hints on how to improve it. It is worth noticing that the score might not be accurate in some cases. In this particular case, “supporting evidence” has decreased its score because of missing video, even though the content from which I copied and pasted the sample contains it. The reason for that is quite simple. The only way to interact with a chatbot is writing prompts in the chat bar, and the only type of data that can be provided is text, so it cannot analyze video or images.
However, if you are hungry for more insights, you can ask AI to develop on the evaluation it delivered.
For example:
What specifically should be done to improve criteria number 4.
Knowing how AI evaluates the content of given criteria, you can thoroughly analyze your competitors and effectively optimize your website.
Last but not least, if you want to see the bigger picture, you can create a sheet with all your most essential pages and criteria you were researching with ChatGPT. This way you can clearly see which pages need action.
One more thing before you jump out! The example I used for this research purpose is based on Google’s documentation on quality product reviews. But you do not have to limit it just to one guideline, you can go with any documentation of choice.
Wrapping up
ChatGPT can be a very powerful tool, but it still has its flaws. It still needs to be double-checked, especially if you care about creating unique, valuable content. However, relying on it as support can be an excellent approach. I do recommend heading to AI anytime you need to generate additional concepts, gain insight, or overcome any content creation or analysis obstacles. Furthermore, try conducting your own experiments to find out how you can get the most out of this tool and create better content for you and your audience.
