ChatGPT for SEO: Boost rankings & automate workflows

Using ChatGPT for SEO is probably not a new concept, but if you’re only using ChatGPT to develop content ideas or write content, you’re missing opportunities to streamline workflows, write code, and get your content ranking faster.

ChatGPT is an SEO and search discovery tool that is shaping the future of SEO in real time. First, we had ChatGPT, then Google’s rollout of search generative experiences (SGE) and AI overviews, and most recently, the launch of AI mode.

In this guide, we cover how to use ChatGPT for SEO, why it matters, and the limitations and risks so you can maximize ChatGPT’s benefits while avoiding common AI adoption pitfalls.

What is ChatGPT, and why does it matter for SEO?

ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) developed by OpenAI. LLMs generate human-like text by predicting the most likely token (or, essentially, “word”) to follow a sequence of tokens.

There are two main reasons why ChatGPT matters for SEO:

1. ChatGPT is reshaping content and workflows. It can be a useful SEO tool that helps SEO professionals complete work faster, ideate and write content and code, undertake competitor analysis, and more.
2. ChatGPT is impacting search. People are using ChatGPT as an alternative to traditional search engines, so it’s become another place SEO strategists should secure visibility for the websites they’re optimizing.

The impact of AI overviews and search generative experiences (SGE) is significant for SEO. AI overviews enable people to self-serve at Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). This experience can result in zero-click searches because users don’t need to click anything to fulfill their queries—the AI does it directly from the SERP.

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Plus, users may not even go to Google to search at all. Instead, they might go directly to generative AI platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity to ask questions or perform searches.

For this article, we’re focusing on ChatGPT as a tool for SEO.

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Further reading: If you’d like to read about generative engine optimization and ranking in ChatGPT, read SEO for ChatGPT search: 4 key observations

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Core SEO use cases for ChatGPT

Here’s how SEO professionals use ChatGPT.

Content ideation

You can use ChatGPT to find content creation opportunities. One way to do this is to save your sitemap.xml as a .txt file (using an application like Notepad) that lists all the URLs on your website. If you’re paying for ChatGPT, you can upload the file and ChatGPT will review it and identify opportunities for content.

Here’s an example of a simple prompt:

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Please analyze the content and suggest other useful web pages and articles that I could add. My goal is to provide helpful content to my audience and gain rankings where my competitors are.

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The summary of the output from ChatGPT is pictured below. It includes recommendations to develop content that addresses distinct search intents, and it also addresses buyer persona content and use cases. 

The above image is just a snapshot of what ChatGPT returned. You could develop an entire content strategy this way.

Additionally, you can improve the content idea output by providing a more detailed prompt, including things like:

• What you do
• Your target audiences and their challenges and needs
• What makes you unique
• Content goals

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Pro tip: You can list your competitor URLs in column A of a spreadsheet and your URLs in column B, then ask ChatGPT to analyze content gaps.

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If you’re not paying for ChatGPT, you can still provide your list of URLs in a text prompt, which will be fine for smaller websites.

ChatGPT is good for generating content ideas, but you can’t rely on it entirely. It’s essential to cross-reference ChatGPT’s content suggestions with your sense of what your buyers want to read or reference, as well as your keyword and content strategy.

Keyword research

ChatGPT is very useful for keyword research, particularly keyword clustering. It’s free and can provide keyword ideas around any topic.

With keyword research, ChatGPT doesn’t know what monthly search volumes are, but it will often provide a search volume number. But be careful about the information that ChatGPT provides, as it’s known to make up, or “hallucinate,” information. We cover hallucinations in more detail in the “Limitations and SEO risks of ChatGPT” section of this guide.

Fortunately, with the evolution of AI search and ChatGPT, the way we think about keywords and topics has changed. While ChatGPT doesn’t know keyword volumes, this metric is becoming less important because of zero-click searches—just because a keyword is searched, that doesn’t mean it’ll earn clicks to a site. 

Google is also getting more sophisticated. Gone are the days of stuffing keywords into content and writing content purely for ranking.

What matters instead?

• Providing value to readers
• Topical relevance and coverage
• Addressing the audience’s pain points and user intent
• In-depth articles that are well-written and accurate

Keyword volumes are still helpful, especially when using tools with large keyword databases. Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool has 26.7 billion keywords and contains the largest database of keywords, which means you can find opportunities that you may not have considered without it. 

Plus, keyword research tools find related keywords or long-tail keywords that might inspire content that targets very specific audiences or problems.

For example, if you use a keyword research tool and search for “best CRMs,” you’ll find a search volume of 3,600 searches per month. It’s a short-tail, head keyword, which is broader (less targeted) and more likely to be difficult to rank for. Head keywords, on the other hand, are more likely to bring a wide range of audiences to your website, resulting in higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates.

Related keywords from the same keyword research tool include:

• best crm for virtual assistants​ (30 searches)
• best crm for medicare agents​ (50 searches)
• best crm for health insurance agents (90 searches)

With these long-tail keywords, you can create industry-specific pages and messaging that speaks directly to the audience.

The best solution for keyword research is a combination of both keyword research tools and ChatGPT. Before you focus on a keyword suggested by ChatGPT, it’s good practice to cross-reference the keyword with a dedicated keyword research tool to make sure people actually search for it. 

Alternatively, you can use Google Search Console (GSC), which identifies search queries that are already attracting impressions and clicks to your site. The limitations of GSC are that it can only provide information on queries your site is already ranking for, so it’s very limited and most effective for larger sites with many keywords ranking.

Keyword clustering

Keyword clustering is the process of grouping keywords. 

There are two main ways keywords can be clustered:

1. Semantic clustering groups keywords with similar meanings together. For example, “professional SEO services” and “SEO services.”
2. Search intent clustering groups keywords that return the same page when searched in Google, even if the phrasing isn’t semantically related. For example, “sales CRM for startups” and “best tools to manage leads for small teams.”

For the best SEO results, keywords should be grouped using search intent rather than semantics.

ChatGPT is good at semantic clustering. It quickly groups keywords with similar words or themes and organizes them into categories. The limitation of ChatGPT is that it won’t analyze search engine results pages (SERP) before recommending clusters, so you need to do it.

SERP analysis involves reviewing SERPs and looking at what’s ranking, including the topics and keywords used in a ranking page. This information gives you a cluster. Fortunately, SEO tools can do the work for you.

Good keyword research tools group content based on search intent. Unlike semantic clusters, clusters based on SERP analysis include keywords that don’t mean the same thing but return the same page when searched in Google. These clusters are more comprehensive for SEO, allowing you to build a strategy that gives your site the best chance of ranking for desired keywords.

Here’s an example:

Keyword Strategy Builder follows five steps before generating keyword clusters:

1. Analyzes SERPs for keywords entered
2. Collects keyword synonyms 
3. Selects relevant keywords
4. Groups keywords
5. Generates a recommendation for your website’s structure

Here’s how you find this tool.

Go to Semrush > In the left-hand menu, click “Keyword Strategy Builder” > Type in a keyword you want to rank for > Click “Create”

The following image shows results for the keyword “professional SEO services.”

The tool provides keyword clusters for various topics.

Here’s an example of keywords clustered for the keyword “SEO internet marketing consulting.” Some keywords are what you’d expect to see clustered and are semantically related, such as “SEO marketing consultant” and “SEO consulting agency.” 

However, the tool also clusters “SEO beratung online” and “expert SEO company.”

Without search intent clustering, it would be easy to assume that a keyword like “expert SEO company” should return an article separate from a service page that might be returned for a keyword like “SEO internet marketing consulting.” 

The tool tells us that these keywords are better clustered together and used on the same page. Perhaps “expert SEO company” becomes a section or an FAQ on a services page with the focus keyword “SEO internet marketing consulting.” 

SEO tools take a few minutes to provide keyword clusters because it does analysis beforehand. ChatGPT is quicker but requires more work from you once you’re given its responses. 

If you’re building a more robust keyword strategy, SEO tools outperform ChatGPT. Conversely, if you’re looking to quickly cluster keywords while knowing you’ll need to add a layer of manual analysis, ChatGPT is a good option. 

Content outlines, brief creation, and FAQs

A lack of SERP analysis limits ChatGPT in the keyword clustering phase, but it helps ChatGPT excel in content outlines and brief creation.

The last thing you want when creating content is to do everything competitors do and nothing else. This is what can happen when you use tools to create content outlines and briefs using SERP analysis: they simply provide headings and topics that everyone else is writing about.

When using SEO briefing tools, you must take the time to build upon the brief supplied and add new insights.

What makes a good content outline and brief?

• An outline that covers everything ranking pages do and more
• Engaging content that sets you apart from competitors
• Information gain so you add information to your piece that makes it more accurate, comprehensive, and/or useful

Enter ChatGPT.

The screenshot below shows what a basic content outline looks like. The prompt deliberately asks for H2s only, so the ChatGPT output is succinct. Still, you could elaborate on the brief as much as you like, asking ChatGPT to provide further headings such as H1, H3s, and H4s, and even some direction on what to include within each section.

The best content outlines and briefs are created both with tools that do the SERP analysis to ensure you’ve covered a topic in full, and with ChatGPT to help you develop ideas to add information, including sections and FAQs.

A major benefit of ChatGPT for content outlines and briefs is that its predictive model can estimate what FAQs people will ask about a topic.

Even better, if you get ChatGPT to write the content for you, it’ll use natural language, which will likely help you appear in AI search and sweep up queries that people type into Google.

ChatGPT is particularly good at this kind of short-form content. But be careful with ChatGPT-generated content—in the must-read “Scaling SEO with ChatGPT” section of this guide, we discuss the limitations of writing content with ChatGPT.

Meta title tags, meta descriptions, and headings

Any short-form content can benefit from ChatGPT, including title tags, meta descriptions, and headings.

You can either have ChatGPT generate this content from scratch or provide an example and ask for alternatives.

Ready to automate generative AI at scale?

Since meta descriptions are often missing on sites, let’s look at generating meta descriptions in bulk. You can ask ChatGPT to fill a column on a spreadsheet if you have the paid “Plus” ChatGPT subscription, which costs $20/month.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create a spreadsheet using your chosen tool. Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel works well. Save the file on your computer.

2. Add your title tags in one column. You need to provide the AI with some details about the content to generate a meta description. The title tag is a good start, but you could provide page summaries. The more you provide, the better the output.

Here’s what the spreadsheet might look like:

3. Prompt ChatGPT. Here’s the prompt that we used:

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Hi, please write meta descriptions in bulk. The meta description must be between 120 and 158 characters. I will provide a spreadsheet with the title tag in column B. Please add the meta description in column C.

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You can amend this prompt by adding a page summary to your spreadsheet. Make sure to give the AI clear instructions about:

• The datasets you provided
• Column(s) the data is recorded in 
• Column(s) you want the AI output

ChatGPT should respond by asking you to upload the file.

4. Upload the file

In the bottom left of the same chat, click the “+” >  Click “Add files”

A window will pop up (called “File Upload Dialog” in Windows and “Open Panel” in Mac) that prompts you to attach a file. Select your saved spreadsheet, which includes title tags and/or page summaries.

ChatGPT will take a few minutes to analyze and fill in the spreadsheet. It will return its output in the chat.

5. Download the table by clicking the “Download the completed file”.

6. Review the meta descriptions and the length

One limitation of ChatGPT is that you can give it clear prompts, like “The meta description must be between 120 and 158 characters,” but the output doesn’t always meet the character limit, or sometimes it far exceeds it.

Check character limits in bulk by adding this formula in the column where you want the character count to appear:

=LEN(C1)

The cell, C1, should be where your first meta description was placed if you followed this guide. If you added columns with summaries or moved the meta description output, you just need to update the cell reference.

You can sort the length column to see which meta descriptions most need editing to increase or reduce length.

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Important note: It’s unlikely that you’ll ever get a perfect output for bulk generative text like this, but it will be much quicker than writing everything manually. Check descriptions carefully before uploading them to the website.

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It’s also worth noting that meta descriptions are a good use case because they’re not a ranking factor, so unlike title tags, they’re not of the highest importance. However, they can influence click-through rate, which means having meta descriptions filled in and engaging is still ideal. 

Remember, AI is best used to complete tasks that are time-consuming and of lower importance.

Content writing

Content writing feels like the most common use case for generative AI and ChatGPT. 

Using ChatGPT as a tool to generate content is good, but its output is very limited. It’s important to remember that generative AI predicts words and sentences. It can’t add anything unique.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of content writing with ChatGPT.

Start with a clear prompt

The better the prompt, the better the output. Include examples and your brand values or tone of voice documents. 

A poor prompt will lack detail (for example, “write 500 words on [topic]”). A good, detailed prompt will improve information like who the piece is written for, what you want to achieve, and any points you must include, such as industry research you want to cite and your direct experience. 

You can provide anecdotes in the prompt so they’re included in the output. You can indicate your target keywords, and leverage AI to naturally hit semantically related terms.

Write content in sections, not entire articles

Prompt ChatGPT to generate content in sections—this way, you can better manage the output in chunks instead of having to review an entire article or guide at once. The goal is to write the content alongside ChatGPT. 

Try a prompt like: “Now that you understand the content audience and goals, start writing the introduction only.”

Inject your insights

Make sure you edit the content and include your experience. A good prompt is an excellent start to including your own experience, but you might find the AI output isn’t quite what you wanted it to be; after all, the AI wasn’t actually there to experience anything first-hand. 

Edit the experience so it comes across as seeming authentic and in your brand voice. You might want to add more details, and make sure the AI hasn’t removed important information provided in the prompt (sometimes, the AI doesn’t quite “get it,” so you may need to refine your prompt or add follow-up instructions).

You can also take this opportunity to optimize internal linking and make any changes that enhance user experience, like breaking up the content using subheadings or creating graphics that clarify and engage.

Fact-check everything

Generative AI is known to hallucinate “facts,” meaning it writes falsities with conviction, as if they were true. It can also cite outdated or even hallucinated sources. 

Working section by section helps with this process because it’s less overwhelming to fact-check a paragraph or two than a long-form article. Providing a good prompt referencing the data you want to cite will also alleviate the need to fact-check because you already know the data is good. 

If you’re creating content with ChatGPT and you’re not the subject matter expert in your industry, create a workflow that includes a review from a subject matter expert so they can spot any errors.

Backlinking outreach emails

Outreach emails are a good use case for generative AI content. It’s short content and doesn’t benefit significantly from being unique, though you should add some unique content that will help you connect with the recipient and stand out.

Here’s a prompt:

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Please write a flexible and reusable outreach email formula I can adapt for multiple websites and recipients. Use a structure that helps me connect with the recipient and politely request a backlink on their relevant content.

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And here’s how the input and output turned out:

ChatGPT provided a template with placeholder content that can be easily replaced with personalized data for each recipient and website. Be sure to amend the tone of the email so it follows brand guidelines in both tone and structure.

Schema markup generation

AI is pretty good at generating schema. The major benefits of using AI to generate schema are:

• Saving developer time because you’ll be able to create a draft yourself
• Test the schema before you permanently add it to the site. You can manually add the draft schema to a page to test its benefits. For example, add schema to get a page to earn a rich result, like review stars in Google. If the code performs and you get what you want, you can implement it site-wide.
• Understanding schema properties and types that you can use on your website. You can ask ChatGPT to recommend a suitable schema.

There is one problem with ChatGPT and schema: sometimes schema outputs are not entirely correct. 

In most cases, you’ll need support from someone who understands schema application. However, using ChatGPT first can alleviate work for the person reviewing the schema. It can also help you build confidence with the schema if you’re inexperienced.

First, you need to choose which schema type you need to create. You can choose from a list of schemas here. For example, organizations can always benefit from adding the Organization schema.

On the Organization schema page, you’ll see a list of properties associated with this schema type.

Scroll through the options and see which are suitable.

For most organizations, the following schema properties will suffice:

• numberOfEmployees to detail how many employees work for the company
• foundingDate to share the date the company was founded
• foundingLocation to share the location where the company was founded
• contactPoint to identify the organization’s main point of contact
• sameAs to connect online entities such as social media profiles for the organization

Once you know what to create, you can ask ChatGPT to generate the code.

Here’s a simple prompt:

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Please generate the organization schema using the following properties:

numberOfEmployees
foundingDate 
foundingLocation
contactPoint i
sameAs 

Here’s the data:

numberOfEmployees – 5 
foundingDate – 7th June 2000 
foundingLocation – New York 
contactPoint – Joe Bloggs 
sameAs – LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram

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The AI will populate the schema and data if you provide it. ChatGPT advises how to tweak the output so it’s correct for your organization and provides further options for schema.

You could take this further and ask for recommendations on how to enhance the schema. There are hundreds of opportunities in schema, and ChatGPT may be able to provide recommendations. 

Once the schema is generated, use Schema Validator to check it.

Visit Schema Validator  > Click “Run new test” > Click “Code snippet” > Paste in the code supplied by ChatGPT > Click “Run test”

For the schema we received, Schema Validator confirmed it was correct with zero errors or warnings.

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Important note: Before permanently adding or automating schema on your website, have it reviewed by someone who understands schema and structured data. It’s not uncommon for small errors to slip through when ChatGPT generates the code.

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Competitor analysis 

You can complete some competitor analysis using ChatGPT, but ChatGPT can only provide insights into data that’s already publicly available.

A good use case for ChatGPT and SEO competitor analysis is for brainstorming. Think of ChatGPT as a junior marketer rather than an experienced marketer or strategist.

Here’s how to use ChatGPT for competitor analysis: 

Create competitor lists based on products or target audiences similar to yours

ChatGPT has the benefit of identifying niche solutions—you can ask for very specific products and ChatGPT provides data. On Google, you might search “the best CRM” to identify competitors, but ChatGPT and natural language processing make finding niche solutions easier. 

For example, you can prompt ChatGPT with “I need the best CRM for a manufacturing company struggling with lead management.” Add an audience and a problem that you solve and see who’s also writing about this on their website. ChatGPT will find nuance better than traditional Google search.

Analyze competitor messaging, USPs (unique selling propositions), and values 

Provide competitors’ content or URLs to ChatGPT and ask for a summary. You can create digital battle cards with this data. Battlecards are sales tools that detail essential information about competitors. They help sales teams address objections and win deals against competitors.

Identify content gaps

Content gaps are a useful output from competitor analysis.

Why?

Because someone has (probably) already done the research. You can “piggyback” off this research and use content ideas from competitor sites in your strategy. Make sure you look at competitors who seem to have a good handle on content and digital marketing. 

A caveat: There’s no point creating content just because competitors have it on their site. It needs to make sense for your business, your audience, and your overall strategy, including SEO.

Utilize the sitemap.xml and URL list tips from the “Content ideation” section above—this process is great for competitor analysis. 

Create a SWOT analysis 

Ask ChatGPT for a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of your competitors and your own business, then use it to see how AI tools perceive your brand compared to others. 

Identify what you’re doing well, as there may be something worth doubling-down on to differentiate yourself, and note what your competitors are doing better than you. If areas that competitors excel in feel like a worthy marketing investment for you, you can include this in your own marketing planning.

Technical SEO and audit prompts

If you’re stuck with technical SEO, ChatGPT might be able to help. It can’t conduct the audit for you, but it can do the following:

Help you understand audit issues

If you paste in an issue identified by a technical SEO tool, ChatGPT can help you know what the issue is and how it can be resolved. 

For example, your audit tool might inform you that you have hundreds of URLs using a temporary redirect. If you’re not sure what this means, you can ask ChatGPT and ask for the solution to fix it.

Write technical checklists

ChatGPT can help generate a plan of action for your site by organizing a technical checklist for you. Try a prompt like “Create a technical SEO checklist so I can audit my WordPress website.”

Explain and prioritize issues

Copy and paste all of your site problems into ChatGPT and ask for prioritization. Ask ChatGPT to rationalize its suggested prioritization to see if you agree with its ordering.

Generate code or technical SEO elements

Use ChatGPT to generate crucial elements like schema, hreflang tags, and robots.txt. You can even create code for simple website elements like a calculator. That said, you’ll need to review outputs with a technical SEO or developer.

Scaling SEO with ChatGPT

ChatGPT for SEO is powerful. You can significantly accelerate SEO workflows and create content at unprecedented rates.

But, over-reliance on ChatGPT is risky.

To scale effectively, balance automation with a human touch. Generative AI should support your strategy, not replace editorial or professional judgment.

Instead of thinking about ChatGPT as a sophisticated marketer or using it like a content mill, think of it as a junior strategist. 

ChatGPT is an excellent tool for generating ideas and taking some work, but it relies entirely on professional insights and high-quality prompts to create helpful content.

Here’s a framework for a quality prompt to create helpful content:

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I want to create a helpful, in-depth article on [subject]. The target audience is [audience details], and the goal is to [inform/educate/solve a problem/inspire action/etc.].

The article needs to refer to the following research and studies:

• [research one]
• [research two]
• [research three]

Please include:

• A compelling introduction that hooks the reader and explains why this topic matters to them
• Clear, structured sections that address the main questions or pain points this audience has about the topic
• Practical insights, examples, or tips that the audience can immediately apply
• A conclusion that summarizes key points and encourages a next step (e.g., action, reflection, further reading)

Please confirm you understand the brief. Once done, I will send our tone of voice and content guidelines.

Optional: Include a short FAQ if relevant to the topic.

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Remember to add unique insights and stand out. In the age of AI, differentiation matters more than ever. We know this because one month after ChatGPT launched, Google added an extra “E” for experience in its E-A-T (expertise, authority and trust) framework. 

Coincidence? Maybe, but Google wants us to show our unique experience, which is a good marketing tactic that’s always stood the test of time. People want to buy from people and brands they trust. Inject your brand voice into everything you do and weave anecdotes and experience throughout your content.

Limitations and SEO risks of ChatGPT

We’ve already covered some limitations of ChatGPT throughout the use cases above, but here we’ll highlight some crucial limitations and SEO risks that you can’t ignore.

Hallucinations and factual errors 

Hallucinations are fake information that generative AI tools provide. They’re a high risk because ChatGPT presents hallucinations with conviction.

For example, ChatGPT might provide a study, the researcher, and the year the study was completed, yet the information could be entirely fake or misleading. The researcher might exist, but the study does not.

A recent example of ChatGPT hallucinations causing controversy is the Chicago Sun-Times’ AI-generated book list of 15 summer reading recommendations.

The problem?

Only five of the 15 books were legitimate. The rest were hallucinations—ChatGPT attached authors to book titles that they’d never written.

Sure, in this instance ChatGPT didn’t generate hallucinations that wrongly advised someone about their health or made incorrect legal claims. But despite being, on the scale of things, a fairly inoffensive mistake, it’s not a good look for brands. Chicago Sun-Times has since had to make public apologies in the wake of embarrassing news coverage about the incident:

Avoid hallucinations by fact-checking everything you can. ChatGPT and generative AI can’t be relied on to provide factual information every time. Google even has a caveat regarding AI overview readings: “AI responses may include mistakes.”

There are some things you can do to mitigate mistakes, though don’t rely on these entirely—you still need to fact-check outputs:

• Provide the data you want the generative AI to use and cite. You can add this to your prompt or send URLs and files.
• Ask the generative AI to cite sources. Sometimes this works out, and the AI will provide the URL where the information is. Sometimes it provides an inaccurate citation, though.

Duplicate and generic content risks 

AI content lacks originality and predicts words based on what comes before it. With no original thought, generative AI produces generic content and often repeats ideas.

For example, in a long-form AI-generated article, you might find the exact point is made multiple times throughout the article. It seems that the longer the text and the more room you give generative AI to freestyle, the more likely the AI is to repeat itself. 

You can prevent this from happening by working with AI section-by-section of an article. With you guiding each section, you can input the specific talking points to keep everything focused.

Avoid generic AI outputs by providing details such as anecdotes and your experience to prompts. For example, if you’re writing an article about a new tool available on a piece of software, you might include a case study about how the tool saved its users time. You can add this story to the prompt so the generative AI output includes it.

Here’s an example prompt:

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Please create an article on [subject]. The target audience is [audience details], and the goal is to [inform/educate/solve a problem/inspire action/etc.].

I have experience that I want to weave into this article.

[Add your direct experience or anecdotes and how it relates to the article]

Please include:

• A compelling introduction that hooks the reader and explains why this topic matters to them
• Clear, structured sections that address the main questions or pain points this audience has about the topic
• Practical insights, examples, or tips that the audience can immediately apply
• A conclusion that summarizes key points and encourages a next step (e.g., action, reflection, further reading)

Please confirm you understand the brief. Once done, I will send our tone of voice document and content guidelines.

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The generative AI will be able to weave this added context into its output. You’ll likely still want to edit the content ChatGPT generated, but you should have a solid first draft that will save you time compared to having to write everything from scratch. 

Google’s stance on AI-generated content

Google is committed to providing helpful, reliable, people-first content. Using generative AI doesn’t necessarily mean content can’t achieve these commitments. 

Google says:

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Google’s ranking systems aim to reward original, high-quality content that demonstrates qualities of what we call E-E-A-T: expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It’s important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam. Automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts. AI has the ability to power new levels of expression and creativity, and to serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.

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Google also provides recommendations on how to use generative AI. 

Here’s what it says:

To summarize, Google’s stance is that it’s fine to use AI to create helpful, original content and that not all AI-generated content is spam. Google’s algorithms reward expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). 

However, generating large volumes of low-value content may violate Google’s spam policies. It all comes down to content quality. High-quality, helpful content, whether generated with AI or not, is the goal.

Manual reviews and AI detection

Google’s Search Quality Raters are humans who manually check websites against Search Quality Evaluator guidelines. Search Quality Raters are trained to identify scaled content and AI overuse.

According to the Search Quality Evaluator guidelines, scaled content abuse includes:

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Using automated tools (generative AI or otherwise) as a low-effort way to produce many pages that add little-to-no value for website visitors as compared to other pages on the web on the same topic.

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As long as AI is mindfully used, there’s nothing wrong with using AI-generated content or AI tools to supplement or aid your SEO strategy. Content generated by AI often flies under the radar and no one notices. 

When AI-generated content is published without review, however, users can notice something’s wrong (as demonstrated with the aforementioned Chicago Sun-Times book list controversy).

Brand trust

What matters more than Google’s stance on AI-generated content is the perception of humans on your website. If your audience senses you’re overusing AI, it may influence how they perceive your brand.

Nearly half of consumers (46%) trust a brand less if AI was used when they expected services to be delivered by a human.

It seems that the issue is when an expectation isn’t met. The solution could be as simple as transparency. 

For example, if you’re a technical SEO and you use AI to flag technical issues on a site, you don’t need to hide this action. Disclose the use of AI and explain all the reasons why it’s good (e.g., it monitors sites in real time 24/7, notifications triggered by AI results in faster human intervention, your mental space is freed up so you can focus on more important issues).

That said, proceed with caution.

Recently, Duolingo announced it was going AI-first. The language learning app’s CEO, Luis von AhnIts, proudly reported via a LinkedIn post that Duolingo would “stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t expect backlash from the announcement.

And the backlash was significant.

Top comments on the LinkedIn post included negative sentiments like:

• App uninstallations and renewal cancellations from its most active members (one member cancelled with a 2,124 day streak and described the decision as “truly heartbreaking”)
• “Will not be renewing my subscription”
• “Disgraceful”

Duolingo’s mistake is perhaps the approach and the messaging. Unbeknownst to Von Ahn, the statement had hit people where it hurts. The threat of AI is still a real fear for many. A study by Pew Research found that 52% of workers are worried about the future impact of AI, and 32% believe AI will replace jobs in the future.

Von Ahn has since contradicted his LinkedIn post and said that he does not “see AI replacing what our employees do.”

Remember, AI doesn’t automatically erode brand trust. Poor communication does.

Tools, workflows, and integrations for AI-enhanced SEO

AI can help streamline workflows and integrate with other tools. Here are some examples.

Pairing ChatGPT with SEO auditing tools

Many SEO auditing tools and ChatGPT don’t have an integration, but you can use the tools in tandem to streamline workflows.

For example, you can generate SEO reports using tools. Before you send reports to stakeholders, you might include a summary of what’s happened and why it’s important. ChatGPT can create a summary if you prompt it with the data about a website’s performance from auditing tools.

Zapier, Airtable, and Google Docs for automating briefs 

Zapier lets you connect Airtable, Google Docs, and ChatGPT to automate content briefs that SEO professionals produce for writers. With this Zapier integration, you can pull data such as keywords from Airtable forms, and ChatGPT will create the blog outline based on the information provided.

The output will be a brief created in a Google document.

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Further reading: For more details on Zapier integrations for automating briefs, read Create blog outlines with ChatGPT from submitted Airtable forms.

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Zapier improves audit workflows with integrations between marketing tools

This Zap connects SEO tools and ChatGPT. You set triggers, such as a completed site audit, and a message can be sent in Slack channels with a summary of what happened and the appropriate action.

For example, when a site audit is completed, you might send a message to the developer’s Slack channel so someone can review the audit for errors.

Google Sheets + GPT API

GPT API is an extension that integrates with Google Docs and Google Sheets. To explore this extension, you must first install it.

Go to GPT for Sheets > Click “Install”  > “Continue” > Sign in to the Google account you want to use this extension with > “Continue” > “Allow” > You will receive confirmation of installation.

Next, go to Google Sheets > In the menu, click “Extensions” > At the bottom of the extension menu, select “GPT for Sheets and Docs” > “Open”

The extension sidebar will open on the right, and you can use the AI within Google Sheets. 

You can use the AI for a range of tasks such as:

• Creating content 
• Translations
• Automating research
• Generating prodigy descriptions
• Writing and understanding spreadsheet formulas
• And more

Final thoughts: The future of SEO with AI

Generative AI, ChatGPT, and other AI tools like Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity are here to stay. Used well, they make excellent co-pilots supporting SEO efforts and streamlining workflows.

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Success comes from blending AI with your established brand voice and identity, and using the tool to support your great work by optimizing flows, generating schema, or accelerating content production.

Curious about the future of SEO and how you can further prepare? Read The future of SEO: why today’s SEOs must become growth & visibility experts. It covers modern-day SEO and how professionals can stay relevant while managing SEO or GEO (growth engine optimization) to keep websites visible in all search discovery tools.

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FAQs about using ChatGPT for SEO

Can ChatGPT replace human writers for blog posts or landing pages?

Most pros treat it as an assistant, not a substitute. AI drafts still need human editing to hit brand voice, E‑E‑A‑T and compliance standards.

Think of ChatGPT like a force‑multiplier, not a one‑for‑one substitute for a skilled writer. It can slash drafting time and spark ideas, but you still need humans for originality, brand voice, subject‑matter depth, compliance, and final quality control.

Can ChatGPT find long‑tail keywords without live search‑volume data?

Yes, ChatGPT can generate plenty of long‑tail keyword ideas by drawing on its language knowledge and semantic patterns. It will suggest variants, questions, and modifiers that humans might not immediately think of.

However, the model has no built‑in access to real‑time search‑volume or competitiveness metrics. That means the ideas it produces are unvalidated hypotheses, not data‑backed targets.

Treat its output as a creative springboard, then run the shortlisted phrases through tools like Google Search Console or Semrush to confirm volume and difficulty.

Pairing ChatGPT’s ideation speed with hard numbers is the reliable workflow; relying on ChatGPT alone risks chasing keywords nobody searches for.

Is it safe to let ChatGPT generate schema markup?

Yes, ChatGPT can generate valid schema markup (like JSON-LD for FAQPage, Article, or LocalBusiness), and it’s a great time-saver for templated use cases. However, you should always review and test the output before deploying it live.

Common issues include outdated properties, incorrect nesting, or missing required fields. Use tools like Google’s Rich Results Test or Schema.org Validator to catch errors.

Will Google penalize sites that publish large volumes of AI text?

Not if the content is genuinely helpful; problems arise when you churn out unedited, low‑quality pieces at scale. Those can trigger penalties under Google’s scaled content abuse policy.

How do I measure the ROI of AI‑assisted content?

To measure the ROI of AI-assisted content, track both production efficiency and content performance. Start by comparing time and cost savings per piece versus fully human-created content. Then assess outcomes like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversions using tools like GA4, Google Search Console, or Semrush. You can also compare engagement metrics and backlinks to human-written benchmarks. Ultimately, ROI comes from producing high-performing content faster and at a lower cost—without sacrificing quality.

And if you want to see how you fare in AI search, use Semrush Enterprise AIO. This platform analyzes the top AI search platforms and offers insights into brand mentions, brand sentiment, and more.