ChatGPT for SEO: 5 Best Ways to Use It and 3 Things to Avoid

ChatGPT is an incredible tool and proof of how quickly AI is advancing. But not every prompt you enter provides actually useful results.

In this blog, we’ll go over five of the best ways to use ChatGPT for SEO and what to avoid—let’s delve in!

As a versatile language model, ChatGPT can help you quickly complete a number of tasks, including answering questions, generating text, summarizing articles, translating languages, and even writing stories.

Whether you’re a student, researcher, business professional, or just curious about the world, this highly-advanced AI tool can help you find the information you need and express yourself more effectively.

Here’s how to use ChatGPT to your advantage:

1. Construct Regex

Regex refers to regular expression, which is essentially a chain of characters that can identify patterns in a text. For instance, the regex /b[aeiou]t/ is capable of detecting words like “bet, bat, bot, bit, but” on a webpage.

To discover question-based keywords in GSC (Google Search Console), you can ask ChatGPT about the specific regular expression. This regex must identify matches with the words “how, who, what, when, why, where, do” as the initial word.

ChatGPT comes up with this:

Once we obtain the custom regex from the ChatGPT chatbot, we can apply it in the Query filter in GSC.

We should set the Positions filter to greater than 10 and sort the resulting list in ascending order. This will give us a list displaying informative keywords that we can optimize to enhance our site ranking on Google.

2. Create Automation

ChatGPT is not just limited to generating text but can also write code, which may be useful for enhancing your workflow.

For instance, suppose you are executing a link-building strategy and have compiled a list of URLs and domains, as well as the first and last names of the authors you wish to contact. Your next step is to obtain their email addresses.

Manually sifting through each individual’s Chrome extension or web app is time-consuming and inefficient. A more effective approach is to develop a script using App Scripts that can interface with an email-finding API, such as Hunter.io.

Here’s how to use ChatGPT to write code using this sample prompt:

“Use the ‘Email Finder’ API of Hunter.io to create a function named ‘findEmail’ in Appscripts that returns a person’s email. If no such  email address exists, return ‘THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE CONTACTED.’ I’ll provide the first and last names and the domain name. By the way, my API is [MUTED]. Now go!”

After obtaining the generated code, you can open App Scripts and implement it to complete the task:

• Begin by pasting the generated code into the appropriate file and saving it.
• Return to Google Sheets and open the email column.
• Type in “findEmail” within the cell, followed by opening parentheses.
• Select the cells containing the first name, last name, and domain, and then hit “Enter.”
• Drag the formula down to the last cell in the column to apply it to the remaining cells.

This way, the email addresses will be automatically generated for the entire list, streamlining your email-finding process.

3. Write Click-Worthy Titles

Writing a headline can be time-consuming, but with ChatGPT, you can create click-worthy titles that outperform those crafted by humans in mere seconds. By providing the bot with a working title and a sample prompt, you can quickly generate 10 click-worthy titles for your podcast, YouTube videos, or blog posts.

Here’s an example:

Additionally, ChatGPT can optimize your content by incorporating relevant keywords at the beginning of your titles or mimicking the writing style of any author. For instance, you can ask it to produce titles that resemble Shakespeare’s tone of voice—now that’s impressive!

4. Proofreading

Another excellent use of ChatGPT is its ability to proofread. For example, if you employ freelance copywriters, you can save a lot of time by letting the bot proofread their copy. What’s more, ChatGPT may take parts of their work you don’t like (e.g., lackluster language) and improve it.

5. Create Quick Outlines

ChatGPT can also create quick outlines. For instance, you can ask it to use one of the headlines generated in #3 to create an outline for your content. Here’s what the bot came up with, using title #8:

Keep in mind that ChatGPT is not a replacement for your creativity, and you can’t solely rely on its suggested content, as it can be repetitive and lack originality. Instead, use it as an idea generator and modify its suggestions to make your content stand out.

While ChatGPT can be incredibly useful, including for SEO, you should avoid using it for the following:

1. Content Creation

Many SEO professionals consider ChatGPT a promising tool for content creation. They believe that it can help them generate a significant amount of AI-generated content quickly and increase their rankings on Google.

But this approach reveals several issues:

First of all, when you use ChatGPT to write an entire blog post or article, the resulting content will most likely lack originality.

While AI may create content faster and cheaper than any writer ever could, it doesn’t necessarily produce content people want to consume. And that’s the problem: Although AI-generated content may help to achieve a high rank on Google, it’s pointless if your audience doesn’t read it and, therefore, never buys what you sell.

Secondly, ChatGPT lacks experience, expertise, and the ability to provide first-hand knowledge, making it challenging to produce content that meets Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) standards.

To beat the competition, your content must demonstrate originality, provide unique information or data, and incorporate quotes by relevant experts—these are things AI isn’t capable of yet.

Thirdly, you run the risk of plagiarism when using the ChatGPT app to generate content, and major websites like Bankrate and CNET have already been caught plagiarizing content created by AI models.

Fourth, ChatGPT may generate false information, which can be damaging to your website’s credibility.

Lastly, ChatGPT may fabricate information. In fact, it has previously generated fraudulent scientific abstracts, spread misinformation regarding the pandemic, promoted conspiracy theories, invented fake citations, produced counterfeit academic papers, created new data with absolute certainty, and concocted false quotes, articles, and positions.

Additionally, ChatGPT often provides outdated information, as its training is only up to 2021, which limits its ability to know about current developments.

Ultimately, while ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for content ideation, human oversight and intervention are necessary to produce high-quality content that delivers real value to your target audience.

2. Keyword Research

A great way to make use of ChatGPT for SEO is as a long-tail keyword generator. However, the problem with these queries is that they tend to have no actual search demand.

Although some marketers believe that targeting “zero-volume keywords” is a good idea,  the likelihood of such keywords generating significant, if any, search traffic is very slim.

To come up with quality keywords, it’s best to use an expert tool like Semrush. Though, ChatGPT for SEO can still be helpful for generating random keyword ideas.

Another prompt that some marketers use is asking ChatGPT to come up with “easy to rank for” queries.

This is not a good prompt since you need to analyze various factors, such as the SERPs, backlinks, competition, and content on top-ranking pages to determine keyword difficulty.

Since ChatGPT cannot browse the web or SERPs, its ability to accurately assess ranking difficulty is limited.

3. Local SEO

In her article “5 Times ChatGPT Steered Me Wrong in Local SEO,” Miriam Ellis describes the limitations of using ChatGPT for SEO.

She conducted an experiment asking the bot local SEO questions and was given incorrect or misleading answers. This proves that, if used incorrectly, ChatGPT can lead to reputational damage, loss of time, and wasted marketing budget—all of which are significant real-world consequences.

ChatGPT is a truly useful tool that can help users improve SEO with a variety of tasks, including constructing regex, creating automation, writing click-worthy titles, proofreading, and creating quick outlines.

Even so, it’s best not to rely on ChatGPT when creating content, researching keywords, or working on local SEO, as the bot will likely produce incorrect or misleading results.

Without these shortcomings, ChatGPT is a clear example of how AI can improve our daily lives. So, do use ChatGPT for SEO and leverage its full potential by taking advantage of its ability to improve your workflow, save time, and streamline your business processes.