How to use AI for SEO

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the competition is vital for online success.

One powerful tool that has revolutionised the way we approach SEO is AI.

You’ll have read news headlines bemoaning Artificial Intelligence, from grim predictions of the end of humanity to AI’s potential to replace jobs.

But, economist and professor Richard Baldwin pointed out at the 2023 World Economic Forum's Growth Summit, "AI won't take your job. It's somebody using AI that will take your job."

Amidst all the doom and gloom, one thing is sure; AI is here to stay and adopting the technology early can help your business.

AI can help with your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts, ultimately helping your company to be more visible on search results.

Artificial Intelligence benefits your SEO strategies in many other ways, from analysing massive piles of data quickly to helping you make data-driven decisions based on critical insights.

You can also use AI to enhance on-page optimisation with AI-generated content.

Even better, AI-driven keyword research helps identify trends and user behaviour and helps give users a competitive edge.

Today in our blog, we’ll look at how to use AI for SEO, the benefits of AI for your SEO efforts, and we’ll discuss the pros and cons of Chat GPT and Google’s Bard.

Finally, we’ll spotlight some AI tools we’re already using, such as Google Analytics 4 and look at the new SEO pillars and blog rules for SEO.

Four ways AI can help your SEO efforts. 

1. AI helps you carry out advanced keyword research.

 The new kids on the SEO block – Chat GPT and Bard – can analyse vast amounts of data and identify relevant keywords for you based on high search volume and low competition.

That allows you to uncover hidden gems in terms of keyword opportunities that can drive high-quality traffic to your website.

2. Chat GPT and Bard can help you with content optimisation.

 You might have written the world’s greatest blog post, but if nobody can find it on search engines, it’ll remain a great, underutilised piece of content.

And that’s where AI can step in and help; AI can analyse the content of your website’s pages or blog posts and provide recommendations for optimising it.

AI can check for keyword density, readability, and much more, ultimately helping you to fine-tune your content marketing efforts.

3. AI can help you refine and enhance user experience (UX).

AI, through the likes of Google Analytics, already helps you understand user behaviour on your website.

And as other AI players enter the market, you can better optimise your website’s navigation, structure and layout to help customers use your website easily.

A well-structured, easy-to-navigate website provides positive signals to robots crawling your website, meaning you’re likelier to enjoy higher search rankings and more organic traffic.

4. AI can provide excellent link-building strategies.

 Backlinks from high-quality domains to your website are worth their weight in gold in SEO terms.

A high-quality backlink from a trusted domain tells search engines like Google and Bing that your website is trusted and authoritative.

Getting backlinks, however, can be challenging, and that’s where AI-powered tools can help.

AI can help you identify quality backlink opportunities based on DA (domain authority), relevance to your niche, trust rating etc.. to help you hone in on your link-building efforts.

So, what else should you know as we usher in this AI era?

First, it’s a good idea to filter through various AI tools and focus on the best ones for your needs.

Next, keep in mind the following recommendations.

Chat GPT v Bard

Google is usually on the ball with new technologies, but it was beaten to the races by Chat GPT, which had a four-month head start.

Here are some pros and cons of Chat GPT and Bard.

Chat GPT: Undoubtedly, Chat GPT excels in generating coherent and contextually relevant responses (most of the time!).

The ChatBot is excellent for conversational interactions and can quickly generate human-esque text from various topics.

But Chat GPT has its limitations, too, with its website warning, “Chat GPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts.”

And that’s a pretty big acknowledgement of its limitations.

BARD: Despite only launching three months ago, BARD has enjoyed a positive response from users.

Because BARD is trained on a massive dataset of text and code, it answers user questions thoroughly.

Like Chat GPT, Bard can help you with keyword research, content creation, technical SEO and link-building.

But there’s a caveat with BARD, too, with the AI tool warning users, “Bard is an experiment. Bard will not always get it right. Bard may give inaccurate or inappropriate responses.”

The Web Bureau’s opinion: We're favouring Google's Bard after extensively using both Bard and Chat GPT in recent months.

That’s because Generative AI will be included in Google search results shortly.

So, if you’re considering using Chat GPT or Bard, focusing on the one directly linked to the world’s most powerful search engine, Google, makes sense.

The robots are already here.

 Nineteen years after Will Smith’s movie iRobot hit the cinemas, it’s fair to say that robots are now an accepted part of global daily life for businesses.

After all, we’ve got Google Analytics 4, Performance Max and Generative AI, all helping companies understand their customers better and sell online.

SEO pillars: SEO and AI

 Despite the relatively recent additions of Chat GPT and Bard, the fundamentals of SEO haven’t changed.

Instead, AI has improved how you get the data needed for your SEO efforts.

The SEO pillars remain; carrying out good keyword research, SEO optimising your content, on-page and off-page SEO, focusing on technical SEO and getting high-quality backlinks.

AI can’t do everything for you, so it should be treated as a helpful partner to make you more efficient rather than a do-it-all tool.

Ten important SEO Blog Rules to remember:

1. Decide on the keyword and phrase for the blog.
2. Decide on the topic of your blog.
3. The Page Title’s optimal length is 60 characters.
4. Only use one H1 per page and use the keyword once.
5. Use 2 - 3 subheadings per blog as H2s and H3s.
6. Create at least two links to other pages on your website.
7. Create one link to external websites.
8. URL length should be between 3-5words (60 characters)
9. Meta Descriptions to contain a CTA.
10. Write keywords into the ALT text on all images.

Need help with your SEO efforts and making the most of AI to enhance your business?

Contact our digital marketing experts today: call us on 028 9073 1190 or  at info@thewebbureau.com.