to navigate SEO keyword searches in the age of ChatGPT

Microsoft is making rapid progress in its plan to leverage its investment at ChatGPT’s parent firm, OpenAI. ChatGPT has already appeared in the Microsoft Bing interface.

Just months after Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai called chatbots a ” red“, Google soft launched Bard as its answer to ChatGPT.

User interest is growing. ChatGPT’s popularity has increased dramatically since its release to the public in November.

The path to a future where chatbot results are combined with Google’s (and Bing’s) fundamental focus of ” useful content” is complicated for SEOs.

This article will focus on keyword research in ChatGPT.

• The good news is that things have changed.
• There are potential threats.
• You never know what might happen next.
• SEOs must have the right skills and mindset to achieve success.

Let’s get started.

Artificial Intelligence in Search: What can it do?

First, AI-driven chatbot technology is not new. ChatGPT was made suddenly widely accessible.

ChatGPT is a popular tool for keyword research. Many SEOs have already used it, either by reading one of the thousands of articles or simply trying the free tool.

Here is an example of block-and-tackle that it can assist you with.

Query

Initial output

Drill-down

We took two quick queries and sorted a large list of keywords by topic. Then we assigned the user intent.

This is a fantastic surface-level start and saves SEOs tons of time over manual methods. This is a great example ChatGPT’s utility as a tool.

ChatGPT generally speeds up research. ChatGPT can be used to quickly create topics, help you classify keywords lists and can also look at semantics to cluster them.

It’s the same way you would use Excel to think about it. Macros in Excel allow you to spend more time on analysis than manually writing formulas. ChatGPT is able to perform a similar function. It does the gruntwork and leaves more time for the human layer.

What are the potential threats?

Here, I will stick to keyword research. It would take thousands of words just to get into the topic of AI-generated content and human-generated contents, the business risks of chatbots keeping users off brand sites and the AI-driven SERPs vs current SERPs.

ChatGPT’s main threat to keyword research effectiveness is the same as that posed by other powerful tools. It tempts marketers to use too many shortcuts.

It’s tempting to ask ChatGPT for keywords and then have it find them all. It won’t be very professional and there might be a cheaper alternative.

After that , the next step should be a gap analysis. What is missing?

It is difficult to find a negative. To find the missing piece, it takes a lot of thought and reading. You can find keyword gold by identifying the need that no one else is meeting.

ChatGPT is a dangerous tool for keyword research. It’s easy to fall in love with it.

Good SEOs are still able to recognize negative space and nuance. (Once AI is able to do this, there will be new threats for us to discuss.

What isn’t changing?

ChatGPT doesn’t have any effect on the questions I get about keyword quantity or word count.

It should not exceed 300 words. I get this question all the time. And “How many times should the main keyword be included in this?” With regularity.

ChatGPT has not changed the way I answer these questions.

It’s delivering value , and not words or keywords.

Good SEOs use keywords in order to assess intent and to understand the user’s needs.

They try to understand the psychology and needs of a searcher. Sometimes they only need short content (“How do I double-knot my shoelaces?” Sometimes they require a book (“How do you double-knot your shoelaces?”). “).

As systems become more intelligent in delivering what people want, the human differenceiator of assessing psychological nuances of keywords will be more important.

“Keyword drafting” is a process I use. This involves thinking first about the concept and then writing the draft, focusing only on the quality and value of the answer.

Only then can I ask for keywords and then revise the content.

This is especially useful if you have customer information from your sales and product teams. Now that you have a topic, it’s time to write content.

What’s next?

ChatGPT’s near future is likely to include it in keyword planning tools, content analysis and topic analysis. Chatbots powered by AI will be more integrated into the SEO planning process than a separate workflow.

We will closely examine the details of Microsoft and Google’s AI-driven chatbot rollouts. To gauge the impact of the AI-driven chatbot rollouts on the SEO industry, marketers will closely monitor user behavior and traffic trends.

It is certain that understanding and using AI to conduct keyword research can now help SEOs get a better idea of the models and their training.

You can use AI to your advantage by building more understanding now.

Search marketers have the opportunity to gain an edge

ChatGPT, like most tech innovations will force marketers understand and to develop skills around the layer(s), of expertise that will turbocharge the tech output.

ChatGPT will have its say in keyword research. The psychology and nuance of intent should inform your actions with keywords, including identifying gaps that the tech isn’t yet able to fill.

Search Engine land first published the post How to navigate keyword research in an era of ChatGPT.