Artificial intelligence has remained a hot topic for years – with huge hopes and fears for the future depending on who you ask about it. While some may fall victim to the concern that artificial intelligence and robots will take over our jobs, Artificial intelligence still requires too much human input to be much of a threat. However, some are finding creative ways to make certain tasks simpler and more effective, using the power of artificial intelligence.
Here at WebDrafter, we always keep our fingers on the pulse of changes in SEO – leaving us fascinated by the changes brought about by artificial intelligence to current SEO best practices.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence boils down to the theory and creation of computer systems that can perform functions normally requiring human intelligence. These functions can include visual perception, decision-making, speech recognition and translation between languages.
In other words, AI is intelligence – from perceiving to synthesizing to inferring information – exhibited by a machine instead of a human.
What are Google Bard & ChatGPT?
Google Bard is the culmination of 6 years of investment in AI development from Google. It uses their Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), with the intention of changing the way we interact with and use search engines. The hope is that the inclusion of Google Bard will allow searchers to easily find more accurate information to more complex queries.
Based on the previews, Google Bard is expected to impact SEO by replacing the featured snippet or position zero at the top of the search, providing an answer to the query before the searcher sees any sources or additional insights.
ChatGPT is a conversational AI model created by OpenAI. It utilizes a dialogue format to make it simpler to further the discussion and information provided. It has completed training in 2022 and has since been making headlines due to its advancement over other AI chatbots.
ChatGPT is still a prototype at this time and has some remaining limitations, such as occasionally providing plausible but incorrect information, guessing what the user means for ambiguous questions rather than asking clarifying questions, and providing overly verbose answers with a preference for certain phrases.
What are Some Potential Uses of AI in SEO?
ChatGPT specifically has a few potential uses that enhance and simplify current SEO best practices, such as:
Writing titles & meta descriptions
Using ChatGPT, you can provide character length ranges, keywords or phrases that you would like to be included, and how many titles you would like populated to choose from. From there, ChatGPT can provide however many possible titles or descriptions you requested while fitting within the other parameters. Some are already finding Chat GPT titles outperform those written by humans.
Suggest related keywords
One thing that everyone in SEO knows is that a key first step in working with a new client is coming up with an extensive keyword list. However, this can take longer than you’d think and is often not as extensive as intended.
Luckily, ChatGPT can provide a list of terms or keywords related to a provided keyword – allowing the initial keyword list to become more extensive and cover keywords that may be more regional in use and therefore unknown to the human working with ChatGPT. These keywords can then be input into whatever software is used for keyword exploring to determine which should be targeted first.
Proofreading & Rewriting
As a writer, one of the biggest struggles for many is proofreading their own work. ChatGPT can negate this issue by proofreading any writing you have done. ChatGPT will then correct and even improve word choices in some cases for the content provided.
Beyond that, if you are struggling to find the words to reword a sentence to make it flow better or to reiterate a point, ChatGPT can provide you with different options of wording to get the same point across, allowing you to choose which flows best in your work.
Providing ideas
When writing a blog targeting a specific keyword, sometimes coming up with a new angle can be difficult – especially if you have already written blogs on similar keywords in the past. However, ChatGPT can be used to help generate ideas for content. You could ask ChatGPT to generate the top 5 frequently asked questions about a keyword to get the ball rolling or come up with other prompts to help the ideas and creativity flow!
What’s Next for AI and SEO?
As discussed above, there are many potential benefits of using ChatGPT for SEO purposes. However, it remains best used for the first step of many processes, rather than allowing the whole process to be completed with AI. ChatGPT is great for generating ideas for content but lacks the human touch and E-E-A-T aspects that Google looks for when creating content. It can also help generate lists of keywords, but can’t replace a human completing keyword research with trusted software.
Where does that leave us? Currently, AI, and ChatGPT specifically, is a great tool to add to your SEO tool belt. However, at this stage it can’t replace hiring professionals to maintain the SEO value of your site and content.
In the future, we can expect Google Bard to be more widely implemented across different queries. As for ChatGPT, we can expect continued training to hopefully combat some of the current limitations. However, the only way to know for sure what’s coming is to stay up to date with AI news!
If you have more questions about SEO best practices or are ready to partner with trusted professionals in the industry with decades of experience, give WebDrafter a call at 717-589-7812 or contact us!
