In this guide, we’ll take a look at what keyword research is, how ChatGPT can help you with it, and some tips for successful keyword research with ChatGPT.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of any digital marketing strategy. It helps your website rank higher in search engine results, which in turn brings more traffic to your site.
One of the most important elements of SEO is keyword research, which is the process of finding and analyzing the words and phrases that people use to search for content related to your business or topic.
And if you’re looking for an efficient and powerful tool to speed up your keyword research, ChatGPT is worth checking out.
So, let’s dive right in and see how ChatGPT can help find more and better keywords faster…
What is keyword research?
Keyword research is an essential part of SEO and can have a significant impact on the success of your website or content.
The goal of keyword research is to find words and phrases that are relevant to your products or services and are being searched for by potential customers.
By selecting good keywords and optimizing for them, your content is more likely to appear in search engine results (SERPs) for the queries relevant to your products and services.
The first step in keyword research is to identify the target audience. This helps to determine the types of searches they’re likely to be making and the words they’re likely to be using.
Once you’ve identified your target audience, you can start brainstorming a list of initial keywords that are related to your business.
The next step is to use keyword research tools to identify more words and phrases that are most likely to be used in searches.
You can use tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner to find out what people are searching for. But that only gives you rudimentary data.
If you want more in-depth data you can use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs or SpyFu.
These tools can provide insights into the search volume, competition and potential opportunities for the selected keywords.
Once the right keywords have been identified, you can begin to incorporate them into your content.
You do this by including the keywords in titles and headings, as well as in the body of the content. It’s important to ensure that the content remains natural and engaging for the reader, while still optimizing for the keywords.
By understanding your target audience and selecting the right keywords, your optimized content will bring in more qualified leads to your business.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that helps you create original content quickly and easily. It was developed by OpenAI and is based on the GPT-3 architecture plus some other refinements. You can read the full explanation in this guide.
By using natural language processing (NLP) and it can understand a prompt and generate a response to it that mimics human-written text in style, tone and structure.
Thanks to its big data set (GPT-3), it can understand and respond to almost anything you can imagine. So, by providing it with your unique instructions it can write emails, ads, essays, blog posts, and code based on those parameters.
This also means that ChatGPT, with the right instructions, can do keyword research for you.
And all of this is done in a fraction of the time it would take for you to do it manually. ChatGPT’s AI engine reads through your prompt and produces a unique answer that is specifically tailored to your request in minutes.
And in the case of keyword research, thanks to ChatGPT’s memory ability, you can tell it to write headlines on the keywords you like.
All in the same chat, just like if you were having a conversation with a real human.
From there you can then tell it to use those headlines to generate an article draft that is optimized for search engines.
Unlike other simpler AI systems that mostly do keyword stuffing when writing, ChatGPT can generate keyword-rich content that is optimized while still making it sound like a human wrote it.
How to do keyword research with ChatGPT
Using ChatGPT for keyword research is easy.
As you’ll soon see, all you need to do is enter a well-composed prompt and watch as ChatGPT gets to work.
For these examples, I’ll use ChatSonic, which is Writesonic’s own improved version of ChatGPT and my prefer AI writer.
Since I’m using an alternative version of ChatGPT, you might think that you can’t follow this guide.
But fear not, you can use ChatGPT and still follow along this guide just fine.
The concept is very simple and I’ll show you some real life research examples in a minute.
For now, here’s how to do it.
Step #1:
The fist thing you need to know is that we will be working with something called prompts. Which basically is instructions for the AI.
Fire up ChatGPT, or ChatSonic in this instance. Check out the comparisons here.
Step #2:
Type in a prompt that’s telling ChatGPT what types of keywords you’re looking for.
Step #3:
Smash the enter button and wait…
ChatGPT (or ChatSonic in this case) will now start to generate some keywords.
If you asked it to give you a certain amount of keywords, then it’ll stop when it’s complete.
Now that you understand the concept, let’s have a look at a few examples of keyword research done with ChatGPT.
Plus we’ll also take a look at how you go about creating content from the words generated.
Example of keyword research done with ChatGPT
Let’s say we’re starting a blog targeting cryptocurrencies.
Here’s one way of using ChatGPT to generate both long and short-tail keywords for it.
First we ask ChatGPT to generate 15 keywords on cryptocurrencies.
Here’s what it came up with:
Next we get a bit more targeted and ask it to generate 10 keywords targeting Bitcoin.
Here’s the result:
Finally we ask it to generate some easy long-tail crypto trading keywords to target on the blog.
Here’s what it generated:
This process took about 10 minutes and it gave us a pretty decent list of keywords that we can target on our crypto blog.
What’s left now is to take the keywords we like and run then through a research tool to get estimations on volume and competition.
After that, it’s time to generate some content to put on our blog.
Crating content from keywords researched using ChatGPT
The first thing we need to do is to tell ChatGPT that we want to create an article targeting one of your keywords.
For this example I’ll ask ChatSonic to write an article covering the topic “crypto trading strategies”.
And in under a minute I have a workable draft.
Let’s look at the details and see how optimized it is for SEO.
- SEO optimized headline – check.
- Article divided into multiple subheadings – check.
- Contains the exact match of the keywords multiple times – check.
- Semantic versions of the keyword exist – check.
Is this a perfect article…no, it still need some work from you, because:
- It’s only a 345 words article, which isn’t enough in my mind. I should probably have changed the prompt to “Write a 1000 word article targeting the keyword crypto trading strategies”. This would have generated a bigger article, so remember that. You could also ask it to expand on certain subheading and add new headings covering more things related to the keywords.
- It has no images.
- And it need a few more headlines and a conclusion.
But it’s still better than starting from scratch, especially if you’re suffering from writer’s block.
What I would do (if you’re a Writesonic user) is to copy this article to the Sonic Editor and start editing.
There you can use other AI tools to add more meat to your article, and you when you’re done you can import it to WordPress.
Once in WordPress you can use Yoast SEO to ensure that you tick all the boxes for an optimized post. Unless you’ve integrated Surfer into Writesonic, the the SEO part is managed in the editor.
Benefits of using ChatGPT for keyword research
ChatGPT is an excellent addition to your current keyword research toolset.
Why?
Because it allows you to quickly and easily identify keywords and phrases that people are using to search for content related to your business.
And here are four more benefits of using ChatGPT when you conduct keyword research:
1. Easy long-tail keywords
If you’ve been working with keyword research before, then you know that long-tail keywords have much more potential than short ones.
A long tail keyword is more like a key phrase that contains 3 or more words.
Whys is this better?
Simple, the more words there are, the more targeted the searcher is. It’s all about search intent…
Think about it, a search for “Nike shoes” is very generic, while a search for “White Nike running shoes for women” is much more targeted.
If you can target content around these long-tail variants, you’re much more likely to get clicks, conversions and sales.
As you saw earlier, ChatGPT makes easy work of finding long-tail keyword variants for its short-tail counterparts.
So, instead of spending hours trying to find long-tail keywords yourself, ChatGPT can generate entire lists of them in minutes.
2. Find “hidden” keywords
Tagging along on the previous point, ChatGPT is very good at helping you find “hidden” gems in your hunt for keywords.
I say “hidden” since I lack a better word for it. It’s not like you’re playing hide and seek with ChatGPT…
Anyway, when you tell ChatGPT to generate keywords for you, you might already have a list of keywords that you want to target.
But your list is probably not complete, especially when it comes to the long-tail variants.
This is where ChatGPT can help you find those hidden gems.
Let’s say you ask it to generate 50 long-tail keywords for a term you want to target.
You will get a list of exactly that – 50 long-tail keywords, and once you start sorting through them, you will most likely find keyphrases that you haven’t thought of.
Phrases that have lots of potentials and are an excellent match for your business.
These are most likely phrases that would have gone under the radar if it wasn’t for ChatGPT’s NLP powers.
3. Speeding up the research process
This is a quick benefit…
If you’ve been in the game for more than a month, you know that keyword research takes a lot of time.
Brainstorming, researching keyword intent, and sorting through pages of potential keywords, all in the name of finding high-volume low competition keywords.
When you add ChatGPT to your toolbox, you can save a bunch of time.
Like in the example above, all you have to do is give ChatGPT a prompt of what you want it to do and it’ll deliver.
So instead of spending 2 days finding 50 keywords on your own, ChatGPT can do it in under a minute.
4. Faster drafts
One of the biggest benefits of using ChatGPT for keyword research is the speed at which it can generate drafts.
Simply by asking it, it can create content that is optimized for your target keywords as well as for search engines.
And all of it can be done in the same chat session.
For example, when ChatGPT has provided you with a list of 47 keywords, you can ask it to generate five headlines for keyword 32.
Then you can ask it to generate an article draft for headline two.
This process can be done in a matter of minutes, compared to the hours it would take if you were to do it on your own.
Plus, with some fiddling with the prompts, it can help you come up with more creative headlines and meta descriptions. Leading to improved click-through rates.
Thanks to the increased content production speed and optimization, you can create more in less time. While at the same time ranking higher in search engine results and bringing more traffic to your site.
Tips for successful keyword research with ChatGPT
We all know that keyword research is an essential part of any successful digital marketing strategy.
By understanding what keywords your target audience is using, you can create content that is more engaging and has higher conversion rates.
And here are some tips for successful keyword research with ChatGPT:
1: Start with brainstorming:
Before you start researching any keywords, take a few moments to brainstorm potential search terms.
These should come from your own knowledge of the field/niche you’re in.
Think about what type of words your target audience might be using to find your site, products, or services.
Consider related topics, synonyms, industry jargon, and more.
I’ve learned that for hypertargeted-niched sites, your own knowledge about the niche holds some extremely good keywords.
You know those long-tail keyphrases that only those in the niche know about.
I run another super-niched site where my experience and knowledge beats almost any research tool.
The interesting this is that these “hypertargeted-niches” typically show no to low search volume in keyword research tools.
However, the fact is that there are hundreds of people searching for the terms, looking for answers.
So if you have good knowledge about your niche, then defiantly add those niche-specific keyphrases to your list.
2: Use keyword research tools:
Once you have a list of potential keywords, it’s time to use keyword research tools to extrapolate important data.
You can use tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner, Moz, SpyFu or Ahrefs to find information about search volume, ranking difficulty, and related keywords.
At this point, it’s also time to start using ChatGPT to further extend your list with related keywords.
By typing in for example “Write me 25 low-competition keywords to target a blog about mountain biking”.
Based on this, ChatGPT will generate a list of keywords that is targeting mountain biking.
There is in this list you’ll find those “hidden” keywords I talked about earlier.
So whenever you find a keyword that makes you go “Huh, Why didn’t I think of that one”, add it to your list.
3: Analyze your keyword list
After you’ve gathered a list of relevant keywords it’s time to analyze the data to determine which keywords you should focus on.
The best way to do this is to use a good keyword research tool that can provide you with lots of data. In this case, more data is definitely better.
Google Ads Keyword Planner is free to use but a bit too basic. SpyFu is good if you’re on a budget, and Ahrefs, Ubersuggest and Moz are great if you can spend some more.
Now, start by going through each keyword on your list and look up at least search volume, competition and ranking difficulty.
Adding both your keywords and the data into Google Sheets document makes it easier to sort everything.
4: Refine Your List:
Finally, the last step is to refine your keyword list by eliminating irrelevant terms and removing duplicates.
Yes, some keywords will end up in the bin simply because they aren’t worth the work.
What I like to do when working with Google Sheets is to sort the columns on search volume, then on the competition.
This should, if done right, show you keywords with low competition and high volume at the top.
You could also go a step further and do a bit of math that automatically will give every keyword a score. You can then sort your sheet based on this.
I have seen some SEO gurus do this, if I just could remember their names…
At this stage, you can also start to look for similar terms and group them together.
This will help you create highly targeted ad campaigns and content that’s accurately optimized for SEO.
By following these tips, you should be able to create a comprehensive list of targeted keywords in a fraction of the time it would usually take.
Common pitfalls to avoid with ChatGPT
When using ChatGPT for keyword research, it’s important to avoid some of the common pitfalls.
Always analyze the keywords generated.
The most common pitfall when using ChatGPT for keyword research is people skipping the analyzing part.
I know that analyzing lots of keywords takes time, but it’s time well invested.
Since ChatGPT doesn’t provide you with search volume or difficulty for any given keyword, you must analyze them in a separate tool.
If you don’t do this you’re pretty much shooting blindly, and you’ll probably end up with either:
- Content that no one reads – Due to the keyword you optimized for having no volume.
- Your content won’t rank – Because you’re targeting keywords that are too competitive.
By analyzing the keywords generated you can find the gems and scrap the rest. Leading to better content and higher rankings.
Watch out for keyword stuffing
Another pitfall to watch out for is keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is when people and bots try to “beat the game” by placing too many keywords on their pages.
This practice can lead to search engine penalties and may even result in your website not being indexed at all.
And if your site isn’t indexed or flagged as bad, you won’t be able to rank, leading to fewer views and customers.
Therefore, it’s important to use keywords sparingly and naturally throughout your content. Tools like Yoast SEO and Surfer can help you optimize content with just the right amount of keywords.
Always remember this when working with ChatGPT…
Even though it’s powerful and can generate content with a click of a button. You must ensure that the content it generates (that you intend to publish) isn’t stuffed with keywords.
Avoid search engine penalties at all costs!
Focusing too much on short-tail keywords
Short-tail keywords are words that consist of one or two words and usually have a lot of traffic volume.
Although this might sound awesome, you shouldn’t waste too much energy on them.
While short-tail keywords may have the highest search volume, they are often way too competitive to rank for. This is something especially important to remember if you’re a new business.
Instead, focus on long-tail keywords (three or more words), which are far more targeted and less competitive.
So whenever you do keyword research with ChatGPT, remember to add the phrase “long-tail” to the prompt. This will ensure that it generates keywords with more than three words.
ChatGPT vs. Other tools
ChatGPT is a powerful NLP platform that can help you do keyword research and generate content that is optimized for search engines.
However, there are other tools that can also help you with keyword research.
The case for keyword research
Tools like SpyFu and SEMrush can help you identify the most popular keywords and analyze the competition for those keywords.
And tools like Ahrefs and Ubersuggest can help you analyze the search engine trends for those keywords.
All of this analysis and data is one major difference from when you’re using ChatGPT.
Although ChatGPT can provide you with the keywords, there is no built-in analytics. You only get plain keyword ideas that need to be properly analyzed in another tool.
But on the flip side, ChatGPT can generate as many keywords as you like in an instant, something that other tools can’t.
The case for content creation
ChatGPT can help you generate content that is fairly optimized with just a few clicks.
But in my mind, it’s only good for generating initial drafts.
Why?
Mostly because AI-generated content should always be checked and finalized by a human before publishing.
Plus, there is no inherent SEO tool built into ChatGPT, it only writes human-sounding text based on prompts.
There’s also no way to integrate an SEO tool into ChatGPT.
Compare this to Surfer, which is a tool that can help you create very optimized SEO content.
Although it’s not a dedicated AI writer, it still makes it easier to create optimized content.
It will suggest both how many times to use your keyword, as well as suggesting semantic variants and how many times to include them.
Another example is to use Writesonic, and it’s ChatSonic feature, just like I did in the example above.
The major benefit of doing this is that ChatSonic includes more recent data (thanks to Google integration) and has more features.
Therefore, by using Writesonic, you can research keywords with ChatSonic, then use the AI Article Writer 4.0 and Sonic Editor to create and edit the content.
Another big plus is that their editor integrates with Surfer, and is also supported by Grammarly. So creating optimized and grammar correct content becomes super easy.
So, if you use a tool like Writesonic, you have access to a full AI writing suite, including a chatbot, editor, automatic content generators and more.
And thanks to WordPress integration, you can publish your content on your blog in just a few clicks.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt about it, using artificial intelligence and ChatGPT can be a great way to level up existing SEO game.
As you probably can understand, keyword research is an essential part of any solid SEO game plan.
And if you’re serious about getting traffic, this is something you need to master.
Not only will it help you rank higher in the SERPs, but it will also bring more traffic to your site.
Adding ChatGPT to your existing keywords research toolbox is in my mind a great idea. Not only will it speed up your research process, but it can also help you create content faster.
So, by learning a few prompts you can quickly and easily identify new keywords and phrases that otherwise would have taken you hours to find.
Now I’d like to hear from you:
Are you going to try using ChatGPT (or ChatSonic) the next time you do keyword research?
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
