Want to tap into ChatGPT’s capabilities for next-level keyword research?
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how leveraging conversational AI can help unlock hidden long-tail gems and accelerate your SEO strategy. By following the step-by-step process I outline, you’ll be able to generate hundreds of keyword ideas tailored to your niche and validate them against search volume data.
As an SEO, comprehensive keyword research is critical, which is why I put together this guide on optimizing your workflow with ChatGPT. Read on to transform how you discover high-potential keywords!
The Role of ChatGPT in Keyword Research
ChatGPT is revolutionizing the way content marketers and SEO professionals approach keyword research. This powerful AI tool allows you to generate targeted keyword ideas in seconds rather than the hours it used to take with traditional research methods.No wonder it is becoming the best keyword generator.
The best part is that ChatGPT delivers reliable results you can trust. While it may not replace keyword research tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush just yet, ChatGPT makes an excellent supplement to streamline your process.
For example, you can use ChatGPT to quickly ideate broad keyword groups related to your niche. Ask it questions like “Provide a list of 20 keyword ideas related to dog training” and it will deliver in a flash.
You still need to validate and prioritize these keywords against search volume and competition. However having ChatGPT provide a starting list cuts the initial research time dramatically.
It’s incredibly useful for discovering long-tail variations too.
You can ask it to generate 10-20 long, highly specific keyword ideas around a seed keyword. This gives you proven terms people are searching for rather than trying to guess them yourself.
The bottom line is that ChatGPT supercharges your keyword research workflow. It allows you to rapidly generate ideas to point your research in the right direction. Then you can use traditional tools to narrow down the best opportunities. It’s the perfect one-two combo!
Keyword research is crucial for SEO and content creation, but also time-consuming. ChatGPT can significantly accelerate the process through conversational prompts and strategic iterations. Let’s dive deep into how to use ChatGPT effectively for keyword research:
1. Select Relevant Seed Keywords
The seed keywords you provide are critical for steering ChatGPT’s responses in the right direction. Take time to select 3-5 highly relevant seed terms that encapsulate your overall topic.
For example, for a yoga blog targeting beginners, seed keywords could be:
- “yoga for beginners” – Broad primary term
- “beginner yoga poses” – Core topic focus
- “easy yoga sequences” – Secondary related topic
The key is to not choose seeds that are too broad like just “yoga” or unrelated to beginners like “yoga retreats”. Stay closely mapped to your target focus area.
You also want to limit seeds to 3-5 terms. Too many seeds can dilute the context. But 1 or 2 alone may be too narrow for ChatGPT to generate sufficient keyword ideas.
Taking the time upfront to carefully select these seed keywords based on your target niche sets ChatGPT up for success in providing useful, tailored keyword suggestions. The seeds provide the critical context it needs.
2. Use Natural, Conversational Prompts
The way you phrase your prompts is critical for getting quality results from ChatGPT. The best approach is to use natural language and conversational questions, such as:
- “Could you please generate around 20 long tail variations of the keyword ‘yoga poses for beginners’?”
This prompt specifically requests long tail variations while using natural phrasing. Keeping it conversational allows ChatGPT to provide natural-sounding keywords that real users would search.
- “What are some low competition keyword ideas I could target around ‘easy yoga flows for beginners’?”
Asking what keyword ideas ChatGPT can provide framed as a question yields better results. Calling out low competition conveys the exact type of keywords you want.
- “I need about 10, 4-5 word keyword phrase ideas related to sequences and flows for beginners learning yoga. Please make sure they are that long.”
Being more conversational by saying “I need” rather than just demanding keywords sets a friendly tone. Specifying keyword phrases and the desired length gives ChatGPT clear guardrails.
The more natural and conversational you keep your prompts, the better quality keywords ChatGPT will provide.
3. Ask for Diverse Keyword Types
Don’t just broadly ask ChatGPT for keywords. Include specific prompts asking for different keyword types like:
- Long tail keywords (4-5+ words) – Lower search volume but more conversions given higher intent
- Short tail keywords (1-3 words) – Higher volume terms but less competitive since broader
- Keyword questions – Tap into the types of questions users ask to uncover intent
- Location-based keywords – Target keywords mentioning specific regions, cities, etc.
- Low competition keywords – Useful for getting traction even if lower volume
Providing this guidance allows ChatGPT to generate a diverse range of keyword types, giving you more options to choose from later.
Make sure to include a few prompts for each variation you want rather than just one. The more you specify the types of keywords needed, the better results ChatGPT will provide.
4. Refine and Re-Prompt Iteratively
The power of ChatGPT comes from continually improving outputs through iterative refinement. Here’s how to leverage that for better keywords:
- Review initial keywords from ChatGPT and identify gaps – are they too generic? Not enough volume? Too competitive?
- Refine your follow up prompt to request more of what’s missing. For example:
“Thank you, those are helpful but too low volume for me. Can you suggest related keywords with higher monthly search volumes, even if the competition is higher?”
- Analyze the new set and re-prompt again to continue getting closer to your needs:
“That’s much better, thanks! Could you take those higher volume keywords and provide longer tail variations of them?”
- With each iteration, reshape your prompt based on the results you want more or less of until you are satisfied.
- Budget 5+ rounds of back-and-forth refinement per topic to allow ChatGPT to dial in on your keyword needs.
Continually refining prompts based on previous results is key to improving quality over multiple chatbot interactions.
5. Generate a Large Sample Size
Don’t stop after 1 or 2 initial prompts – you’re missing out on hidden gems! Here’s why generating 150+ keywords per topic is recommended:
- More keyword variations mean increased likelihood of discovering winning keywords with high search volume and conversion potential.
- Even mediocre keywords from early interactions can spur new ideas later through ChatGPT’s iterative learning approach.
- By prompting 5+ times, you get the benefits of refinement as ChatGPT improves each round.
- High initial volume allows you to aggressively filter based on search volume and competition.
- Unexpected long tail keyword ideas often emerge as sample size increases. You’d never manually think of many of the gems.
Budgeting for a minimum of 150+ keywords per topic, through 5+ rounds of prompts, leads to breakthrough keywords and maximizes ChatGPT’s capabilities.
6. Validate Keywords Against Search Volume
ChatGPT provides an abundance of keyword ideas, but the raw output must be validated against real search metrics to identify winners. Follow this comprehensive process:
Once you’ve generated 150+ keyword ideas through iterative ChatGPT refinement prompts, export the full list into a spreadsheet for validation.
Sign up for a SEMrush account. SEMrush provides highly accurate search volume data at the keyword level, along with additional metrics.
Copy your list of ChatGPT keywords into the SEMrush keyword tool. This will pull monthly search volume data for each keyword.
Review the search volume data from SEMrush and highlight any keywords with very low volume – e.g. less than 100 monthly searches.
These are unlikely to drive meaningful traffic so should be eliminated from consideration.
SEMrush provides a 1-100 competition score. Higher = more difficult to rank.
Highlight keywords showing very high competition scores above 80. This indicates it will be extremely hard to rank on page 1.
Moderately difficult keywords with 60-80 competition can be considered. But very high competition keywords are often not worth pursuing.
Based on volume and competition data, filter your keyword list to remove:
- Very low search volume (<100)
- Very high competition (SEMrush score 80+)
This leaves you with a refined list of viable medium-high volume keywords with reasonable competition.
Following this comprehensive validation process ensures you extract the most value from ChatGPT’s keyword suggestions by isolating the terms with the highest potential based on real search metrics.
Advanced Use Cases of ChatGPT in Keyword Research
ChatGPT provides immense opportunities to level up your keyword research game. With strategic prompting, you can extract long-tail gems, reveal competitor insights, and go far beyond basic keyword generation.
1. Craft Complex and Strategic Prompts
Rather than just asking for “keywords around topic X”, get creative and strategic with your prompt phrasing to uncover more possibilities.
- Ask for keyword ideas formatted as natural-sounding questions users may search. This provides a window into user intent and tailors keywords to real search behavior.
- Request keywords localized specifically for a target country or region. Localization is key for international SEO but easy to miss.
- Specify keywords optimized for engagement metrics like higher CTRs and lower CPCs, not just volume. This surfaces hidden gems aligned to conversions.
- Ask for related keywords that intentionally exclude words you already target. Uncovers fresh, untapped angles.
- Prompt for keyword ideas utilizing semantics and natural language around a topic. Adds depth.
Taking the time to craft thoughtful prompts allows you to extract so much more value from ChatGPT’s capabilities.
2. Uncover Hyper-Targeted Long-Tail Keywords
Short tail keywords get volume but lack specificity. Use ChatGPT to rapidly generate converted-focused long-tail variations.
- Ask for 10+ word keyword phrases targeting hyper-specific user intents under your broader topics.
- Take your top existing short-tail targets and request 5 expanded long-tail spin-off ideas for each.
- Let some redundancy occur in long-tail outputs to identify valuable patterns you can then adapt into new variations.
- Combine short-tail keywords into long-tail idea combos to uncover unoptimized phrases.
This level of expansive long-tail ideation would take hours manually – ChatGPT delivers tailored variations in seconds.
3. Analyze Competitors’ Keywords
ChatGPT can provide invaluable competitive insights as well:
- Ask it to suggest keywords your top 3 competitors are NOT optimizing for. Reveals gaps to fill.
- Have it analyze competitors’ posts and extract the keyword patterns they are targeting. Identifies opportunities.
- Prompt for content ideas optimized to rank #1 for competitors’ top target keywords by providing better info.
Gaining these insights preemptively allows you to stay ahead of competitor strategies and keyword optimization.
The limits are only your creativity. With thoughtful prompting, ChatGPT massively amplifies the scope and depth of your keyword research.
Tools for Keyword Research
While ChatGPT delivers immense value, it does not fully replace traditional keyword research tools yet. Here is an overview of keyword suggestion tools :
- Google Keyword Planner – Google keyword generator is a free tool providing keyword volumes and competition data. Limited capabilities but easy to use.
- Ahrefs – Robust paid tool offering extensive keyword data including search volume, CPC, competition levels, and more. Highly accurate and comprehensive.
- SEMrush – Leading paid tool with deep keyword research capabilities including volumes, trends, rankings data, and competitor insights. Extremely powerful. At NSP Global we use SEMRUSH because we what it tells us.
- Moz Keyword Explorer – Freemium tool with strong keyword research features including volumes, competitiveness metrics, and keyword difficulty scoring. Well-rounded capabilities.
ChatGPT complements these traditional tools by quickly generating seed ideas they can then validate and expand upon. Its conversational approach also reveals fresh angles traditional tools may miss.
Together ChatGPT and keyword research tools provide comprehensive capabilities for unbeatable keyword strategy.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this in-depth tutorial on using ChatGPT for next-level keyword research! Finding the right keywords is so critical for SEO success, which is why a tool like ChatGPT is game-changing.
Its conversational approach allows us to rapidly uncover high-potential keywords that traditional methods would miss. By prompting iteratively and validating volumes, ChatGPT supercharges research while saving huge amounts of time.
And don’t forget to check out our Blog for more pro SEO strategies leveraging AI. Keyword research just got a major upgrade thanks to ChatGPT!
FAQs
1) What is keyword research, and why is it important for SEO and content marketing?
Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines to use that data for specific purposes, often for search engine optimization (SEO) or general marketing. Keyword research is a critical component for SEO because when used correctly, it provides a roadmap for both the design and execution of building websites and developing content.
2) How can ChatGPT assist with keyword research?
ChatGPT can assist with keyword research by generating a list of potential keywords related to a given topic. It can also help brainstorm content ideas based on these keywords, and provide suggestions on how to incorporate these keywords naturally into your content for SEO purposes.
3) What are the steps to perform keyword research using ChatGPT?
Here are the steps to perform keyword research using ChatGPT:
Step 1: Define your topic or niche.
Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to generate a list of potential keywords related to your topic.
Step 3: Use an SEO tool to analyze the effectiveness of these keywords, looking at factors like search volume and competition.
Step 4: Ask ChatGPT for content ideas based on the effective keywords.
Step 5: Incorporate these keywords into your content, asking ChatGPT for suggestions on how to do this naturally.
4) Can ChatGPT provide information about keyword search volume and competition?
While ChatGPT can generate and suggest keywords, it cannot provide specific information about keyword search volume and competition. This type of data typically comes from SEO tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ahrefs. These tools can provide detailed metrics about a keyword’s search volume, competition level, and more.