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Is ChatGPT Good for SEO? Here’s Why You Should Avoid It

Julia McCoy
Wednesday, 15th Feb 2023
is chatgpt good for seo

The tools you use for SEO can make or break your content marketing success.

That begs the question: Is the newest, shiniest tool on the scene worth it?

Is ChatGPT good for SEO?

In short: no.

Not only is this AI-powered tool ineffective when it comes to keyword research and blogging insights, but there are better ways to leverage AI in your content marketing efforts – without sacrificing quality.

Let’s discuss why using ChatGPT for SEO isn’t a great idea and explore alternative solutions that will help boost your website’s rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Table of Contents

What Is ChatGPT? What Are Its SEO Capabilities?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that ChatGPT is the conversational, artificial intelligence chatbot developed using OpenAI’s GPT-3 technology.

This chatbot was trained on massive amounts of data from across the web, giving it a general intelligence that makes it capable of many amazing feats like:

  • Carrying on a human-like conversation, responding to questions and prompts.
  • Writing poetry, recipes, song lyrics, emails, social media posts, and more in various voices and tones.
  • Writing or editing code.

But is ChatGPT good for SEO? As it turns out, this AI-powered tool can help bloggers and content creators with SEO insights and content ideas. It can:

  • Suggest blog topics and keyword ideas for specific industries.
  • Analyze keywords.
  • Come up with headlines for blogs.
  • Write blog post outlines, introductions, and more (but nothing longer than about 500 words).

ChatGPT can even suggest a content strategy for your business:

On the surface, all of this looks pretty impressive, right?

Therein lies the problem.

ChatGPT is confident… but it’s also notoriously inaccurate. This combination makes it a liar. 🤥

OpenAI itself has said this is one of the chatbot’s biggest issues:

openai says chatgpt is inaccurate and limited

ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it should not be used as an SEO solution.

Why You Should Avoid ChatGPT for SEO

While it may seem like a great way to get ahead in the search engine rankings, using ChatGPT for SEO can actually do more harm than good. Here’s why:

1. Inaccuracy & Incompleteness

The insights generated by ChatGPT are often inaccurate or incomplete, leading to poor keyword choices and ineffective content strategies.

Additionally, the tool doesn’t take into account the context of your website or your target audience when making recommendations, so you could end up creating content that doesn’t resonate with readers.

Just look at what happened when I asked ChatGPT for 10 keyword recommendations for a new content marketing site:

chatgpt suggested keyword list

It gave me a list of keywords that would actually be impossible for a new site to rank for.

The first one, “content marketing”, has a KD (keyword difficulty score) of 100 out of 100 — that’s the HARDEST keyword to compete for. It’s the furthest you can get from the KD I recommend new sites go after: 40 or below. (!!)

semrush keyword overview for content marketing

2. Lack of Contextualization

When it comes to SEO success, contextualizing your content is key – but this isn’t something ChatGPT takes into consideration when generating insights about keywords and topics for blog posts or other types of web pages.

Without taking these factors into account, you risk producing low-quality content that won’t help your website rank higher in search engines or engage readers effectively.

3. It’s Out of Date

When you’re doing keyword research especially, you need up-to-date information and data. You don’t want to choose keywords based on metrics measured months or years ago — but that’s what ChatGPT is working with.

The AI chatbot literally finished training in early 2022. That means its knowledge is an entire year out of date.

chatgpt admits to being out of date

In SEO, where data that’s one month old is useless, that amounts to being lightyears behind

As you can see, the question “Is ChatGPT good for SEO?” only has one answer: NO.

It lacks, accuracy, completeness, and comprehensiveness — all of which you need in content and keyword research to rank higher in search engine results.

For better optimization and more effective content marketing, consider a specialized SEO tool like BrandWell instead.

Better Ways to Use AI for Blogging

ChatGPT is exciting to play around with, sure.

But it’s not a good AI tool for tasks that rely on accurate data that’s not obsolete.

Instead of relying on outdated, error-prone insights from ChatGPT, you can use more accurate AI-powered tools to customize your keyword research and content strategy based on the specific needs of your website.

You can even use smart AI tools to write the first draft of your SEO blog posts (hello, BrandWell!).

Here are some better options for researching trending topics, editing content, and writing first drafts.

Find Accurate Trending Topics for Blog Posts with Google Trends and BuzzSumo

Google Trends and BuzzSumo are two AI-powered tools that are great for identifying trending topics in your industry.

For example, if you’re looking to write about artificial intelligence (AI), using Google Trends will show you which related topics are currently trending in search engine results pages (SERPs).

You can also use it to compare different terms or phrases side by side to see which one has a higher search volume. This way, you know what kind of content is more likely to get noticed by readers.

google trends

BuzzSumo is another useful tool that allows you to analyze how well certain pieces of content have performed over time.

Enter a topic into the platform’s search bar, and it will provide detailed information about the most shared articles related to that topic across various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. This gives you an idea of what type of content resonates with people online.

Ensure Your Content Is Readable and Error-Free with Grammarly

Grammarly helps ensure that all your content — from blog posts to tweets, emails, website copy, and more — meets high standards for grammar accuracy and readability levels.

grammarly

It uses advanced algorithms powered by natural language processing technology so that even subtle errors don’t slip through your content unnoticed. This ensures each post looks professional before going live on your website.

Write the First Draft of Your SEO Blog Posts with BrandWell

Want to write a better first draft for your SEO content with AI?

BrandWell is a powerful all-in-one brand growth platform designed specifically for writing rankworthy content.

It uses a mix of three different NLPs (natural language processors) plus proprietary software that crawls the top of Google right then and there. That means it produces unique content optimized for SEO every time you use it.

brandwell UI

Want to see how it works? Check out this full tutorial, or get started with BrandWell right now.

Use ChatGPT for Ideation and Brainstorming

If ChatGPT is bad for SEO…

…then what is it good for?

Short answer:

Ideation. Brainstorming.

ChatGPT is your best friend in the face of a blank page and an empty mind. Ask it for help, and help it will give:

chatgpt brainstorms blog topic ideas

ChatGPT can be a great tool to help you generate ideas for blog posts and content, but it’s important to remember that there are other options out there when it comes to SEO keyword research.

Let’s explore some of these alternative tools in the next section.

4 Better Tools For SEO Keyword Research Than Chat GPT

When it comes to keyword research, there are many tools available that offer more accurate results than ChatGPT.

If you want accurate, up-to-date data, rely on these tools PLUS your analytical powers as a thinking human. 🧠

1. Semrush

Semrush is one of the most popular options, offering comprehensive keyword analysis as well as competitor analysis features.

With its intuitive interface and easy-to-use features, Semrush makes it simple for entrepreneurs and business owners to quickly find relevant keywords for their website content. It also provides detailed reports on each keyword’s search volume, competition level, cost per click (CPC), and estimated monthly traffic potential.

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another great option for SEO keyword research. This tool offers an extensive database of over 10 billion keywords from over 200 countries around the world.

Ahrefs’ advanced filters make it easy to narrow down your search results based on specific criteria such as language or location so you can target the right audience with your content marketing efforts.

Additionally, Ahrefs provides a wealth of data about each keyword including average monthly searches, difficulty score (how hard it will be to rank in Google), organic clicks (the number of times people clicked through from Google’s organic search results), and more.

3. KWFinder

KWFinder is a great choice if you’re looking for an affordable way to do effective SEO keyword research without breaking the bank.

KWFinder has a large database of over 5 million keywords which makes finding relevant terms quick and easy – plus they provide helpful metrics like SERP overviews which show how competitive certain phrases are in different countries around the world.

4. Moz Pro

Moz Pro is yet another powerful SEO tool designed specifically for bloggers and marketers who want to optimize their websites for better rankings.

Moz Pro allows users to easily track their site’s performance by monitoring key metrics like domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA). It also helps identify high-value keywords that have low competition levels so you can focus your efforts on those terms first when creating content or optimizing existing posts/pages on your website.

Unlike ChatGPT, these standard SEO keyword research tools can provide valuable, current insights into the best keywords to target for your website. The data is vetted and updated regularly.

That’s how you create content that resonates with your audience and improves your search engine rankings. NOT through using dubious shortcut tools like the notorious AI chatbot. 🤥🤖

Is ChatGPT Good for SEO? I Think Not

You may have wondered at some point, “Is ChatGPT good for SEO?”

And I don’t blame you.

The AI power of ChatGPT is impressive — and it does have its uses! — but it doesn’t provide reliable insights for SEO.

There are better tools out there for finding keywords and topics that will actually help your content rank.

For example, Google Trends and BuzzSumo are great alternatives for identifying trending topics in your industry. For comprehensive keyword analysis, Semrush and Ahrefs are better options than ChatGPT.

These tools offer more accurate results for analyzing websites’ content performance and helping you find keywords that will drive organic traffic. With their detailed reports on search volume, competition level, related keywords, etc., they can help you create an effective SEO strategy that will get your website noticed by potential customers.

Want a tool that does keyword research and content creation? BrandWell is capable of both, plus it has SEO, content intelligence, and generative AI features that make it the most complete brand growth solution today.

In stark contrast, using ChatGPT for these things is akin to taking a cheap shortcut.

Written by Julia McCoy

See more from Julia McCoy
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