Key Insights:
- In the past few months, artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the way marketers think about search engine optimization (SEO).
- From content creation and optimization to keyword research and link building, AI’s many use cases can benefit any SEO strategy — yours included.
- These tools can be a boon for SEO. We must exercise care, however, to assure we’re presenting accurate information. The output of AI tools is not true “subject matter expertise,” but instead a statistical reckoning of what word comes next.
The age of AI-powered advertising is here, and it’s here to stay.
Today, 64% of marketing businesses have already adopted AI tools into their strategy, with that number on the rise as more YouTube tutorials, crash-course articles, and emerging tools pitch new, game-changing use cases by the minute.
Among its impressive list of functions, however, AI might just take the cake in conquering the art and science of the one thing digital marketers swear by most: search engine optimization.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the most revolutionary ways you can use AI to enhance your SEO strategy and rank higher in the search results — all in half the time and effort you’re spending now.
So, What Exactly Is AI SEO?
AI-based SEO involves the usage of artificial intelligence tools to help improve a website’s organic performance in search results.
Trained on massive data sets, these Large Language Model (LLM) AI tools can support your SEO strategy by analyzing your website, offering insight into not only what you should improve but how you can improve it, and then doing most — if not all — of the recommended work for you.
It’s no secret that SEO can be complex, and the effort it takes to see impactful results can bog down even the most seasoned strategists. But now, apps like ChatGPT are automating the nitty-gritty tasks that go into climbing search rankings, like keyword research, on-page content optimizations, and metadata generation.
Between the headache spared from hours spent in Google Search Console to the writer’s block solution to crafting compelling page titles, the pros of using AI for SEO are unlike anything the industry has seen before, and they’ve only just begun.
The Benefits of Using AI for SEO
The power of AI technology is hitting certain industries the hardest, with online marketing and search engine optimization being at the top of the list.
What does this mean for you?
Hopping on the AI train doesn’t mean caving to the bandwagon. It means adapting to what will eventually become an industry standard and staying competitive at the same time.
You may be left behind if you fail to embrace this sweeping change. But the good news is it comes with a laundry list of benefits, with some including:
- Increased efficiency: AI can automate much of the time-consuming work involved in SEO, freeing up your team to focus on more strategic tasks.
- Improved accuracy: Machine learning can analyze large amounts of data and identify trends on your site that would be difficult for humans to find. This ability can help you make more informed decisions about how to improve your website’s SEO.
- Caveat: When it doesn’t know the real answer, ChatGPT and other LLM-trained AI tools can “hallucinate,” making up very convincing-sounding wrong answers. So, be sure to verify any “facts.”
- Enhanced personalization: AI can be used to personalize the user experience on a website, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions.
It’s important to keep in mind that, although AI can act as a plus-one to your team, it can never replace the level of quality assurance that comes with the human touch. Today, there’s still a need for strategists and creatives to prompt the machine and edit the output to make sure it’s accurate and reflects your values, voice, and tone.
This idea of the human prompt – AI output – human edit is referred to as the AI Sandwich.
AI can significantly improve and streamline your efforts, especially if you do your homework to find the proper tool and use it the right way.
How to Choose an AI SEO Tool
Once ChatGPT broke waves and grabbed the world by storm in November 2022, countless tech companies started the race to create the perfect platform that wins the busy marketer’s time and dollar.
With the sea of options currently available (and more to come), there’s a good chance you’ll find that the hunt for the right AI SEO tool isn’t so cut-and-dry. Some platforms will have overlapping capabilities, others will have exclusive features, and all will claim to be the best of their kind.
Just because the market is highly saturated, however, doesn’t mean you’re bound to a continuous cycle of trial and error until you get it right. Before you invest any significant budget, time, or trust into an AI SEO tool, you’ll want to consider:
- The features and functionality of the tool
- The price of the tool and the required length of subscription
- The reputation of the company that developed the tool
- The reviews of other users and industry leaders
Many businesses and marketers may opt to take the free route, turning to ChatGPT’s basic version to satisfy their SEO needs. Although the conversational chatbot may be a relatively safe starter bet, accessing its latest, most powerful language model, GPT-4, comes with a monthly subscription fee of $20.
Most other quality platforms, like Jasper and Frase, will also require dishing out some dollars. As with any tool, the cost is quickly justifiable if they save you time and money.
Keep in mind that not all AI tools are created equal. Some will have significant limitations or steep prices, so be sure to remain critical while testing your options and only settle once you’ve verified your choice(s) work with your SEO game plan.
How to Use AI to Step Up Your SEO Game
After choosing an AI SEO tool, it’s time to put your platform to work and usher in the results you’re looking for.
Write and optimize your content with ease
Writing winning content and giving it a longer shelf life just got a whole lot easier with a little help from AI and machine learning.
Enter your topic, keywords, URL, and just about any other instruction into an AI-powered content creator tool, and you’ll get an optimized output at lightning speed that’s as competitive as it is time-efficient.
And, if you’re just trying to find your muse, you can ask ChatGPT to recommend titles, headlines, and even outlines to get your started.
Find the right keywords
In the land of search engine optimization, your keywords are one of your biggest allies. But if you don’t have an experienced SEO company aiding your strategy, determining the right targeted searches can feel like a losing battle.
Your saving grace? A list of keyword ideas, segmented by search intent, sorted by difficulty, and fueled by search ranking success — all AI-generated with just a few keystrokes.
And, ChatGPT can even put them in a nicely organized table for you.
Build your links up
66.31% of pages on the Internet have no backlinks. If you’re in that number of sites with no links pointing back to you, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities to build your authority in the eyes of Google and benefit your SEO.
Fortunately, ChatGPT and its machine-learning friends can help you with link building by:
- Analyzing the topical focus of your current content
- Composing a list of on-topic sites you might reach out to
- Generating a great email to the webmaster to make a connection
What Are the Risks of AI for SEO and Business?
A chainsaw is a great tool if you need to chop down a tree. If you find yourself trapped in a shed in the countryside, perhaps not so much.
We are already seeing AI-generated content farms clogging up the pipes of the internet in ways human content never could. And many companies are starting to think of all the ways they can use AI to cut costs.
Dropbox recently announced significant layoffs, citing AI as both an opportunity and a threat for competitive impact.
ChatGPT and the other tools spawned by use of the OpenAI API are only a few months old, and there’s now ways to predict their ultimate impact. If you’re concerned your content or the content you’re getting from contractors are going to trip up that AI filter (not a real thing, by the way), there are tools to help you check the likelihood of AI. Beware, of course, because false-positives happen, so you don’t want to base hiring, firing, or disciplinary decisions on their output.
At Search Influence, we’re cautiously embracing the opportunity to enhance our existing processes. We are reluctant, however, to go all in given the potential risks.
Search Influence in New Orleans: SEO-Proficient, AI-Curious
When used with care, artificial intelligence has the potential to improve SEO outcomes. It seems everyone from small startups to tech giants are turning to this new way of bringing in business.
As Uncle Ben says in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
As a New Orleans digital marketing agency, Search Influence embraces what the future of AI holds. We’re using it to get results for our clients across industries. Whether it’s to inform our keyword mappings or help optimize our blog posts, we believe in the power of AI-based SEO and doing our part to welcome this new era of advertising — the right way.
Curious about where AI SEO will find its place in your marketing strategy? Let’s start talking about it together.
