How SEO Experts use AI (Survey Results + Tools)

In the evolving digital landscape, mastering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for those who are going to have a prominent online presence.

As businesses and individuals aim for top positions on search engine result pages, SEO professionals are faced with a transformative opportunity – the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their practices.

With the rise of ChatGPT and Large Language Models (LLM) like GPT-3 and GPT-4, AI is reshaping SEO strategies, demanding a paradigm shift in how websites are organized and content is presented.

We will examine the result of a survey and observe real-world examples of how AI can redefine the SEO practice.

More and More SEO Professionals are using AI tools

In January 2023, we conducted a survey and asked the following questions:

• Are you already using ChatGPT in your daily routine?
• Are you incorporating AI-Generated content in your SEO and content creation workflow?

A large number of those participating in our survey claimed that they weren’t yet using ChatGPT in their daily routine. There were still quite a few people who weren’t utilizing any other writing assistance at the time.

You will find below the result of the January survey.

But when the same survey was conducted in June 2023, we saw a difference.

The numbers have changed by the time the survey was conducted in June 2023. More persons now claimed to utilize ChatGPT regularly, and a similar trend was observed among those who reported using AI-generated material as part of their workflow for SEO and content production.

More and more individuals are beginning to employ AI by looking at the difference in survey responses between January 2023 and June 2023.

Similar findings were found in a Hubspot poll, which found that 70% of marketers believe generative AI is crucial to their content marketing strategy.

Additionally, it reveals that 62% of corporate executives claim their organization has already invested in AI and automation solutions for staff members. 

This demonstrates that AI is not only being actively implemented across the board but also has the potential to have a substantial influence on the productivity of marketers.

Another point worth mentioning is that while merging AI with SEO may appear complicated, doing so really makes the process of raising your website’s ranks simpler.

Search engines want to give consumers the most pertinent stuff possible. User experience is crucial because of this. 

As a result, modern SEO goes beyond just keywords. It now revolves around three critical aspects:

• Concepts: Recognizing the guiding principle behind the search query.
• Context: Understanding the purpose of the search query.
• Customer Satisfaction: Delivering the most pertinent solutions to satisfy the user’s search.

How SEO and Copywriters Use AI

With the use of AI on the rise when it comes to SEO, it is important to know the various ways marketers are utilizing AI in their work.

From generating AI content, SEO content, or optimizing content SEO, just to name a few. Here are some ways that SEO and copywriters use AI:

Ideation and Brainstorming

Marketers leverage AI to generate a comprehensive list of challenges their target audience may encounter in the context of content marketing.

By employing AI-driven insights, they gain valuable data that informs keyword research and facilitates developing engaging and relevant blog posts.

AI for Marketing is getting more and more traction, as stated by the following thruuu user:

“I ask ChatGPT to suggest 100 challenges my target audience (brand owners of different types of brands) may have with content marketing. I sometimes even ask for 500 challenges. It gives a very long list. Then I find keywords to match each idea and start working on the blog posts. This way, I need not brainstorm for pain points my audience has.

I also sometimes ask ChatGPT to give the body text for the subheadings I have, especially when I need bulleted lists of steps or action points.”

Here’s some feedback from Chris Hacket, the founder of FaceDigital. He’s shared some interesting insights on using the ChatGPT Code Interpreter for data analysis.

Overall the time saved in research can help marketers focus on what matters, creating compelling content.

Structuring Content

AI proves invaluable in the structuring of content by assisting in the creation of outlines and subheadings.

In some cases, AI even provides body text, serving as a foundation that users can expand upon.

Thruuu, with its content brief creation capabilities, is a valuable asset in organizing content structure. By utilizing ChatGPT and up-to-date Google SERP data, it can effectively and efficiently create and rephrase content outlines.

Keyword and Topic Research

AI plays a pivotal role in the discovery of applicable keywords and themes.

By harnessing the power of AI, marketers can discover relevant search terms and explore interconnected topics that resonate with their audience. This saves a lot of time and helps with the accuracy of their research. 

A helpful tip would be to extract commonly used keywords from a competitor’s article and use ChatGPT to find related terms.

You can use thruuu Keyword Frequency Checker to extract the most frequent keywords from any URL.

Content Improvement

Employing AI for content improvement tasks proves highly useful.

It aids in rewriting content, eliminating repetitions, rectifying spelling and grammar errors, and enhancing overall text fluidity to create a more engaging reader experience.

For instance, a marketer who is working on repurposing some of their previous content across platforms can utilize AI. It can improve the content by considering the platform standard. This can greatly accelerate your content creation process.

One vital aspect of SEO revolves around uncovering some ranking opportunities that remain untapped and undiscovered.

This is where artificial intelligence in SEO proves its worth, demonstrating its effectiveness in improving your website’s rankings.

With the emergence of powerful AI-powered SEO tools in recent years, you gain access to deeper insights into:

• Keywords that deserve your attention
• Link building possibilities

The invaluable insights offered by AI-driven SEO software play a pivotal role in crafting a content strategy that largely improves your website’s SEO potential.

SEO Optimization

AI lends a helping hand in SEO optimization efforts by facilitating the creation of meta titles, descriptions, and headings.

It also assists in the strategic structuring of sitemaps and conducts checks to ensure content is fully optimized for search engines.

Thruuu proves very useful in AI SEO strategy by generating optimized title and description suggestions. It will help you save a lot of time in your research and compile data from the SERP with a seamless experience while using it.

Copywriting & Content Generation

AI serves as a valuable starting point in the SEO copywriting process, providing users with initial content that can be heavily edited and personalized to suit specific brand messaging and tone.

While some Thruuu users rely on AI for full content generation, the majority prefer to complement AI-generated content with manual editing, fact-checking, and modification. A smaller group of users experiment with AI-generated content without human editing, exploring the potential of fully AI-driven content creation.

According to Tom Shapiro, CEO of Stratabeat, it is not recommended to use AI for copywriting. You can learn more about the potential risks of AI-generated content.

AI SEO Tools for Copywriting

Here are some AI SEO tools that can be useful to your copywriting process:

thruuu

Thruuu is an exceptional AI SEO tool that streamlines the copywriting process with its content brief creation capabilities.

Leveraging AI, thruuu generates well-structured content outlines, titles, and descriptions, ensuring a strong foundation for content development.

By combining data from the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) and utilizing AI algorithms, thruuu creates optimized content briefs that resonate with both users and search engines.

This tool proves to be a valuable asset for content strategists seeking efficiency and precision in their copywriting endeavors.

A significant part of SEO is tedious manual labor that has made it difficult for marketers to achieve results quickly. AI has changed that. It takes most of the work in your SEO process by gathering data, analyzing it, and translating it into actionable steps.

Jasper

The cutting-edge AI-powered copywriting tool Jasper excels at creating interesting and persuasive material. Advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques are used by Jasper to create customized text that appeals to specific audiences after analyzing user intent.

Jasper’s AI skills enable it to adjust to different methods of writing and tones, making it a perfect partner for marketers trying to engage their audience with interesting material, whether it be in the form of ads, emails, or social media posts.

Frase

Frase stands out as a versatile AI SEO tool that not only aids in copywriting but also assists in content research and optimization.

With its AI-driven content creation, Frase can produce well-structured articles and blog posts that align with specific topics.

Moreover, Frase’s AI-powered content optimization ensures that the produced copy is search-engine friendly, incorporating relevant keywords and phrases for improved visibility. Its combination of research and writing capabilities makes Frase a comprehensive solution for content strategists aiming to excel in the competitive digital landscape.

ChatGPT

As a cutting-edge language model developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT takes AI-powered copywriting to new heights.

With the ability to generate human-like text, ChatGPT assists users in creating compelling and coherent content across various domains.

Its conversational AI capabilities make it a valuable tool for creating engaging blog posts, social media content, and email campaigns. While ChatGPT serves as a starting point for copywriting, users can customize and refine the output to match their brand’s unique voice and style, making it a powerful tool for personalized content creation.

Byword.ai

When it comes to general writing, social media assistance, image generation, copywriting, and SEO, Byword AI is an AI tool that can help.

It provides the following main features: Generate high-quality, AI-written articles at scale, upload thousands of keywords or titles, and generate SEO-optimized articles in just a few clicks.

Continue reading our blog and explore our selection of Free Content Writing Tools for SEO

Ethical Considerations and Limitations of AI in SEO

As AI becomes an integral part of SEO strategies, several ethical considerations and limitations emerge that warrant careful consideration.

Here are a few of those considerations:

Can Google Identify AI-Generated Content?

One of the ethical concerns is the use of AI-generated content and its potential impact on search engine rankings.

While AI-powered language models like chatGPT can produce human-like text, search engines like Google continuously improve their algorithms to distinguish between AI-generated and human-created content.

Violating search engine guidelines by using AI to generate low-quality or spammy content can lead to penalization and harm a website’s reputation.

Google’s spam guidelines warn that publishing auto-generated content may result in a manual action, removing the content from Google’s search results.

The guidelines explain:

“Articles must not contravene Google Search’s general guidelines or the spam regulations stated on this page to be eligible to show up in Google search engine results (web pages, photos, videos, news articles, or other content that Google finds across the web).

…Spammy artificially generated (or “auto-generated”) material is created procedurally without putting out any unique content or providing enough value; instead, it is created primarily to manipulate search results and is not intended to benefit people.”

E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

Ethical SEO practices emphasize the importance of E-A-T factors.

While AI can help optimize content, it must not compromise the authenticity and credibility of the information presented.

Content must be created or curated by experts with subject matter expertise to establish trust and authority with users and search engines.

Helpful Content vs. Keyword Stuffing

AI can optimize content by identifying relevant keywords and search patterns.

However, it is crucial to balance keyword optimization with the creation of helpful and valuable content for users.

Overemphasis on keyword stuffing without focusing on user intent can lead to a negative user experience, affecting site rankings and reputation.

Finally, the integration of AI in SEO offers significant advantages, but it also brings forth ethical considerations and limitations.

By adhering to ethical SEO practices, focusing on E-A-T principles, delivering helpful and relevant content, and recognizing the need for human touch, marketers can strike a balance between leveraging AI and ensuring a positive user experience that fosters trust and credibility.