How to use ChatGPT for keyword research (with actual prompts)

For those who’ve used ChatGPT for any time period for duties like creating content for SEO, you’ve seemingly seen just a few issues:

• It’s great and a major time-saver for some duties.
• It’s much worse than what you already do for different duties.
• To get essentially the most out of it, you have to perceive the way it works, be keen to refine your prompts (typically a number of instances), and QA the platform’s output.

All of these items are true when using ChatGPT for keyword research. That can assist you navigate the method, let’s discover:

• Key phrase analysis capabilities ChatGPT is sweet at (with particular prompts).
• Key phrase analysis capabilities ChatGPT will not be good at.
• The way to QA your key phrase analysis output from ChatGPT.

You’ll depart this text with particular key phrase analysis purposes for ChatGPT, plus a framework for incorporating the instrument into your search engine optimisation processes.

The way to use ChatGPT for key phrase analysis

An vital factor to grasp off the highest: ChatGPT doesn’t have entry to go looking quantity and different metrics the way in which key phrase instruments like Google Key phrase Planner, Ahrefs and Semrush do.

That mentioned, ChatGPT may be extremely helpful for a number of key phrase analysis capabilities.

Key phrase brainstorming and subject ideation

One draw back to conventional key phrase analysis instruments is that your rivals (and infrequently extra authoritative websites than yours) are utilizing the identical instruments and concentrating on the identical key phrases. 

As you construct out an inventory of subjects and key phrase targets, the proper ChatGPT prompts will help you discover largely untapped pockets of key phrases.

{Matter} for dummies

If I have been beginning a web site about pickleball and needed to get some broad concepts for what to write down about, I may use some artistic prompts to get concepts from ChatGPT on the place to begin:

Clearly, this isn’t an inventory of key phrases, nevertheless it may perform as a basic web site construction and offers me concepts for key phrase clusters to construct.

{Matter} convention agendas

Equally, asking ChatGPT for convention subjects concentrating on a particular persona in my area of interest gives some fascinating concepts:

Fast and soiled aggressive analysis

ChatGPT doesn’t have the newest information and isn’t a complete key phrase analysis instrument. However it will probably assist me achieve a fast sense of a distinct segment’s aggressive panorama and get began with high-level concepts:

Plus, extra concepts for various subjects and sub-niche:

Social media and influencer analysis

I can proceed to get a lay of the land on this area of interest by taking a look at social media accounts on platforms like Twitter:

Although be mindful this information is from the GPT-3 coaching set, which isn’t present. Twitter additionally paused entry as of December 4, 2022:

I can even have a look at Reddit:

This may be much more helpful when you dive just a little deeper:

The output is nice as particular angles for articles or FAQs.

It’s also possible to get a fast view of influencers and thought leaders:

Then I can dive into extra subject concepts and be taught the subjects they tweet and speak about:

Subsequent, I can begin to pull this all collectively by combining prompts and asking ChatGPT to provide me a abstract of its analysis:

I’ll be sincere: I run numerous ChatGPT prompts, and a few of the output is infuriatingly unhealthy.

Nevertheless, when you employed a VA to spend just a few hours researching a distinct segment and requested them to provide some high-level subject and class concepts for a brand new web site, it will be acceptable in the event that they got here again with this.

Brainstorm actionable key phrases

We now have fascinating high-level class and “sub-niche” information. So how can we convert that into an precise listing of goal key phrases?

ChatGPT can’t provide you with estimated search quantity and key phrase issue information. Whereas they aren’t good metrics, you may waste time and assets when you’re “flying blind.”

We are able to use ChatGPT to arrange an inventory of “seed key phrases” to run towards our favourite key phrase instrument:

Relying on what you get again, you may then refine:

Subsequent, I used a immediate to wash up the listing (“Excellent, take these key phrases and convert them into an inventory of simply the key phrases that I can simply copy and paste.”) and dropped all of them into Ahrefs, checked out matching phrases, and filtered for phrases with a key phrase issue of 5 or decrease for my new web site:

Now that I’ve some phrases with issue and search quantity, I can return to ChatGPT to assist add some info for these phrases:

The output is fairly spectacular:

Now, I can even get another fascinating key phrase information on my new listing of phrases by asking, “Are you able to inform me what number of posts are in every sub-topic and what number of match into every stage of search intent?”

Many instances chances are you’ll stability your content material output throughout classes, enterprise traces and help for various instruments or merchandise. It is a useful option to sum up that info shortly.

Key phrase listing technology, growth and cleanup

Discovering particular key phrases to focus on and appending totally different modifiers to your phrases to develop your listing are essential facets of key phrase analysis.

A standard software is to generate an inventory of geo-modifiers and marry these with a goal time period:

It’s also possible to get an inventory of dimension modifiers and apply that to totally different phrases:

The output has some fascinating concepts:

When you have some seed lists of modifiers, the mash-up course of may be much more simple right here.

Web page-level key phrase analysis

Many instruments will create content material briefs and grades in your content material primarily based totally on what’s presently rating properly in search engines like google and yahoo. I take advantage of a number of of those instruments in my day-to-day work, and they are often fairly costly. 

We are able to use ChatGPT to match our article to no matter is rating for particular phrases. Once more, it’s not a local search engine optimisation instrument, so information will differ from what these instruments use. 

Sadly, ChatGPT doesn’t crawl URLs (but), so it’s important to copy and paste each your article and the article rating first into the chat to have it analyze them. This generally is a ache for the reason that character restrict is 2,000 phrases.

And right here is the evaluation:

And you will get extra particular recommendation with a follow-up immediate:

Make the most of ChatGPT’s capability to recollect earlier prompts inside a particular chat.

Right here, I may run by way of a number of articles rating on the primary web page for this search time period, ask ChatGPT to tug out themes and customary phrases used within the headers for every, after which floor the most well-liked phrases throughout the articles:

That is fairly clunky to do manually since some articles or pages will exceed the two,000-character restrict. ChatGPT will strive answering you earlier than the content material is all posted.

As you may see above, it’s not precisely answering my query. The instruments which might be particularly designed for this are undoubtedly a lot slicker.

For a smoother and extra scalable expertise in prompt-heavy duties, use the Open AI API. Have ChatGPT generate the code for you:

ChatGPT prompts for key phrase analysis APIs 

Reminder: Proceed cautiously when coping with programmatic APIs that value cash or credit. QA every little thing the instrument spits out.

One other key phrase analysis perform for ChatGPT is to assist SEOs interface with totally different key phrase instrument APIs:

For my new pickleball web site, I may seize an in depth listing of low area authority websites rating for some pickleball phrases after which run them by way of this script.

For those who’re not very technical, you will get step-by-step directions and ask the instrument the best way to full a generic process:

Not related for my new pickleball web site, maybe, but when I wish to do some key phrase analysis on my information, I can get ChatGPT’s assist with the Google Search Console API to search out search queries which will want their web page or article:

The GSC API isn’t the one option to get key phrase information utilizing ChatGPT.

ChatGPT key phrase analysis common expressions

Just like the GSC API, using regular expressions (regex) inside Search Console may be an effective way to unearth key phrase concentrating on alternatives:

Construct your personal instruments

ChatGPT can instruct you on the best way to construct particular instruments for key phrase analysis. (Once more, all the time QA and proceed with warning!)

ChatGPT key phrase analysis QA suggestions

The examples above reveal how invaluable ChatGPT may be for key phrase analysis. The value is free to $20 a month, so it’s price attempting out.

In my expertise, the platform tends to fall flat in three core areas of key phrase analysis:

• Not search-specific: ChatGPT is a local key phrase analysis instrument. It doesn’t have direct entry to key phrase information and may’t carry out key capabilities for key phrase analysis.
• Assured however fallacious: The platform sometimes gives solutions emphatically that aren’t true, delivering information offered as a truth however is flat-out fallacious.
• Damaged code: ChatGPT’s code doesn’t all the time work. For those who depend on it to interface with an API or construct a instrument to automate sure facets of your course of, assume there can be bugs and points.

Listed here are just a few particular options to assist: 

• Make sure you use dev environments and sandboxes when working with ChatGPT code or directions.
• Test any key phrase options towards search and competitors information to substantiate you’re not spinning your wheels on topics that don’t make sense in your web site and your bandwidth.
• For those who’re asking the instrument to research one thing, take the output with a grain of salt. Keep in mind that ChatGPT might be fallacious, can not crawl URLs and has an outdated information set.

Broader ChatGPT key phrase analysis methods

Caveats apart, SEOs will seemingly discover helpful key phrase analysis purposes with ChatGPT. Ask your self these questions to find out the best way to use the platform finest:

• How are you going to leverage the ChatGPT API?
  • If the chat character restrict retains you down or you’ve got a larger-scale key phrase or subject ideation process, you should utilize the API for numerous capabilities.
• Are there different purposes or APIs you wish to use however can’t dedicate the time and power to? What a few mash-up of a number of APIs (marrying information from e.g., GSC, Ahrefs or Semush)?
• What are your extra tedious and time-intensive key phrase analysis duties? Can ChatGPT assist with these?

Consider ChatGPT as a digital assistant. Perceive that you simply’re finally chargeable for the implementation of any information or code it generates. Take into account the duties it is advisable full, the issues it’s seemingly able to and check out them out when it is sensible.