SEO can be a laborious process, involving keyword research, content development and website enhancement. However, AI tools can do a lot of the manual lifting for you. Find out how...

A Guide to AI and SEO

ai-seo

[[p]]Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. It helps ensure that your content aligns with what people are searching for online by tapping into search intent.[[/p]]

[[p]]According to a SemRush report, 67% of businesses already use AI for content marketing and SEO, and 78% are satisfied with the results.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]SEO can be a laborious process, involving keyword research, content development and website enhancement. However, AI tools can do a lot of the manual lifting for you.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]In particular, AI tools can help you:[[/p]]

[[ol]]
	[[li]][[a href="#heading_78972"]]Develop your keyword strategy[[/a]][[/li]]
	[[li]][[a href="#"]]Improve your content for on-page SEO[[/a]][[/li]]
	[[li]][[a href="#heading_78974"]]Improve your website for technical SEO[[/a]][[/li]]
	[[li]][[a href="#heading_78975"]]Find backlinks for off-page SEO[[/a]][[/li]]
	[[li]][[a href="#heading_78976"]]Fine-tune location details for local SEO[[/a]][[/li]]
[[/ol]]

[[p]]Before we explore each of these, let&rsquo;s look at [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/what-is-seo-and-why-is-it-important" target="_blank"]]why SEO is important[[/a]] as part of your marketing strategy and how AI is influencing SEO.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]It&#39;s important to know that many SEO tools and platforms, such as Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush, now have AI capabilities built into them. We&rsquo;ve already mentioned a few effective AI-powered SEO tools for a number of key tasks, but we wanted to cover ones for each area so you can research and try some of them out.[[/p]]

[[p]]Some of the most effective SEO tools that use AI are:[[/p]]

[[p]][[strong]]Keyword strategy[[/strong]][[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]]Clearscope[[/li]]
	[[li]]MarketMuse[[/li]]
	[[li]]Ahrefs[[/li]]
	[[li]]Moz[[/li]]
	[[li]]SurferSEO[[/li]]
	[[li]]Semrush[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]][[strong]]Content generation and optimization[[/strong]][[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]]ChatGPT[[/li]]
	[[li]]Jasper[[/li]]
	[[li]]Perplexity[[/li]]
	[[li]]Google&rsquo;s Notebook LM[[/li]]
	[[li]]Yoast&rsquo;s SEO Content Assistant&nbsp;[[/li]]
	[[li]]TextOptimizer[[/li]]
	[[li]]Frase[[/li]]
	[[li]]SurferSEO[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]][[strong]]Technical SEO[[/strong]][[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]]Screaming Frog[[/li]]
	[[li]]Ahrefs[[/li]]
	[[li]]SemRush[[/li]]
	[[li]]Google search console[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]][[strong]]Local SEO[[/strong]][[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]]Ahrefs[[/li]]
	[[li]]Semrush[[/li]]
	[[li]]Moz Local[[/li]]
	[[li]]Falcon[[/li]]
	[[li]]Whitespark[[/li]]
	[[li]]BrightLocal[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]]If you rely on SEO as a tactic to get your content found and company ranked, it&rsquo;s important to understand how AI can impact your activities. But bear in mind it can also help your SEO tactics, so consider trying some of these tools.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]There&rsquo;s no denying that AI is having an impact on SEO. It will change the way people look for and find information online.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]But these five tactics should help you use AI to enhance and optimize your SEO activities so you can target, attract and reach the audience you want.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The right AI tools can help you develop your keyword strategy, create optimized content, boost your technical SEO, find relevant and authoritative backlinks and enhance local SEO. &nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]][[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/what-is-seo" target="_blank"]]Search Engine Optimization[[/a]]&nbsp;or SEO is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, or natural search results in search engines like Google or Bing.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]It aims to improve your website&rsquo;s position in search results pages (SERPs) as the higher a website ranks, the more people will see it.[[/p]]

[[p]]According to Backlinko, the first organic result in a search results page has an average click-through rate of 27.6% compared to position 2 at just 15.8%.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]So where your content and brand ranks is important, meaning that SEO should be front and center as you plan or create content for digital channels.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Top tip: When it comes to SEO, don&rsquo;t just focus on search engines, social media networks like [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/is-tiktok-a-search-engine" target="_blank"]]TikTok[[/a]], YouTube and [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/the-marketers-guide-to-reddit" target="_blank"]]Reddit[[/a]] are increasingly being used to search for information and should be optimized.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]][[em]]&ldquo;Google partnered with Reddit because they wanted its database API to bring in more results to the search engine. They were finding when people were making searches for specific reviews, they were putting Reddit at the end of it because they wanted to see what real people had to say,&rdquo;[[/em]] said &#8288;Luke O&#39;Leary&#8288;, VP of Media Strategy &amp; Operations at Neil Patel Digital, EMEA on a [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/resources/podcasts/podcast-094-the-evolving-state-of-ai-search_luke_oleary" target="_blank"]]DMI podcast[[/a]].[[/p]]

[[p]]AI is transforming SEO in many significant ways, making leveraging the channel a challenge for marketers.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The SEO industry generated $68.1 billion globally in 2022 and is expected to reach $129.6 billion by 2030. But [[a href="https://fortune.com/2023/10/21/how-generative-ai-could-change-google-search-68-billion-seo-industry/" target="_blank"]]experts think[[/a]] these projections were made before the arrival of generative AI which could put the industry at a risk of obsolescence, or at least cause major disruption.[[/p]]

[[p]]&ldquo;Gartner predicts that by 2026 traditional search traffic will drop by 25%. People are behaving differently when they search any type of query on a search engine, but they&#39;re also utilizing more platforms in their searches. Social search has become a big thing and people are utilizing TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, for more of their searches,&rdquo; said Luke O&rsquo;Leary in our [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/resources/webinars/webinar-2025-trends" target="_blank"]]2025 trends webinar[[/a]].&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The prioritization of search intent by search engines is aimed at better understanding what consumers or searchers want to provide the perfect answer.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The result for Google is its [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/google-ai-overviews-what-do-they-mean-for-search" target="_blank"]]AI Overviews[[/a]]. For some queries, Google now uses generative AI in over 20% of its search results through a feature called AI Overviews.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Research by seoClarityfound that over 96% of AI Overviews appear for queries with informational user intent compared to just 1.2% for transactional queries. This means sites that provide information like blogs will need to be AI-SEO optimized.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]This example of an AI Overview result example shows what comes up in response to &lsquo;stats on social media&rsquo;.&nbsp;[[/p]]

Screenshot of AI Overview on Google search

[[p]]Google has also extended its use of AI to include sponsored results in AI Overviews. For example, their [[a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-lens-ai-overviews-ads-marketers/" target="_blank"]]AI Overviews Ads announcement[[/a]] provided an example: for the query "how do I get a grass stain out of jeans?", where the searcher saw an ad for stain removers.[[/p]]

[[p]]Here are the main areas of AI impact on SEO you should be aware of:[[/p]]

[[ul]]
	[[li]][[strong]]AI-powered algorithms[[/strong]] - [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/2018-google-algorithm-updates-what-do-they-mean-for-brands-and-marketers" target="_blank"]]Algorithms[[/a]], such as Google&#39;s RankBrain use AI to enhance search result accuracy and personalization as they use machine learning to determine user intent. This requires content to be relevant, user-focused, and conversational to rank highly.&nbsp;[[/li]]
	[[li]][[strong]]Content creation and optimization[[/strong]] - AI tools such as [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/an-introduction-to-chatgpt-prompting-for-digital-marketers" target="_blank"]]ChatGPT[[/a]], Claude, and Jasper make it easy for companies to generate content quickly. However human intervention is always recommended to ensure the content is accurate, relevant, and unique.&nbsp;Google has said that AI-generated content won&rsquo;t impact search rankings but instead is focused on the quality of content. To leverage this, marketers should focus on [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/a-guide-to-google-e-e-a-t" target="_blank"]]E-E-A-T[[/a]] friendly content to rank.&nbsp;[[/li]]
	[[li]][[strong]]Keywords[[/strong]] - [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/infographic-the-5-steps-of-keyword-research" target="_blank"]]Finding the right keywords[[/a]] or key phrases is central to SEO. However AI is focused on the context and intent behind search queries, making keywords less relevant in searches. This requires keywords to be part of a broad SEO strategy rather than the main focus and be integrated into relevant and informative content.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/li]]
[[/ul]]

[[p]]Despite these changes and challenges, you need to continue seeing SEO as a fundamental part of your marketing team&rsquo;s overall [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/resources/ebooks/update-your-organizations-marketing-strategy-for-a-digital-world" target="_blank"]]marketing strategy[[/a]].&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]The best way to use SEO effectively is to understand the strategies available. Neil Patel Digital research found that 50% of consumers are able to spot AI generated content while 52% are less engaged with content when they suspect it&rsquo;s written by AI.[[/p]]

[[p]][[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/resources/toolkits/seo-keyword-research-toolkit" target="_blank"]]Keyword research[[/a]] isn&rsquo;t just about using conventional tools and manual brainstorming. AI can help delve into the search intent of keywords, brainstorming new and emerging topics, and identifying content gaps on your site.[[/p]]

[[p]]You can use various AI-powered tools to help fine-tune your SEO efforts by developing your keyword strategy.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]For example, you can use AI tools to identify high-impact keywords and predict keyword trends for content optimization. ChatGPT, for one, can quickly analyze huge amounts of data enabling you to select the right keywords for your content to attract the desired audience.[[/p]]

[[p]]Other, existing SEO tools, like Ahrefs uses integrated AI to analyze a SERP for a given keyword or term to analyze the intent behind the search. This helps you understand if people searching for that keyword are just looking for information or to buy a product.[[/p]]

[[p]]Search engines like online content that is well structured. This content delivers the best [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/ux-writing-for-ecommerce-sites" target="_blank"]]user experience[[/a]], because readers are able to easily follow the narrative flow.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]You can use AI-powered tools to automatically suggest the most effective content structure based on SERP analysis. This then increases the chances of your content ranking higher.[[/p]]

[[p]]AI can enhance [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-on-page-optimization" target="_blank"]]on-page SEO[[/a]] by improving writing quality, assisting with content creation, and integrating keywords naturally. For example, you can ask ChatGPT or Gemini to analyze a draft of your content and ask it to suggest improvements along with correcting spelling and grammar errors.[[/p]]

[[p]]You can also enlist AI help earlier in the content creation process by asking for an outline, structure, titles, and headings, and flow for your content, based on criteria such as your content goal, target audience, and (of course) on-page SEO best practices.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Make sure to weave keywords naturally into your content and avoid obvious &lsquo;keyword stuffing&rsquo;. Start with a list of prioritized target keywords and then ask ChatGPT to integrate them into content.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]][[em]]&ldquo;I advise a lot of clients that IP (intellectual property) data is what makes your content the best content. Look at your analytics, how people buy products year over year, look at Google Trends, and ask your customers. Turn those insights into an opinion piece or result-given feedback to show this is how people are reacting in our space because that&rsquo;s very valuable,&rdquo;[[/em]]&nbsp;said Luke O&rsquo;Leary.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]][[strong]]Pro tip:[[/strong]] As always with AI prompts, refining the AI&rsquo;s output and providing follow-up instructions is crucial to ensure relevance and adherence to best SEO practices.[[/p]]

[[p]]A third element of SEO is technical SEO: ensuring a smooth user experience on your website. AI can help you with this.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]For example, you could gather data on your website&rsquo;s SEO traffic performance and feed this data (e.g. an Excel spreadsheet) into an AI tool. Ask it to analyze the data, unearth insights, and suggest areas for website improvement.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]You could also ask it to identify when there were significant drops in website traffic and ask it to explore why these happened (e.g a change to Google&rsquo;s algorithms).[[/p]]

[[p]]You can also use AI to make bulk improvements to your website such as a need to improve technical SEO by adding alt text to website images. Screaming Frog&rsquo;s AI features can help you generate the alt text efficiently.&nbsp;&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]SEO doesn&rsquo;t just involve what&rsquo;s on your website, you also need to consider [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/complete-guide-to-on-page-and-off-page-seo" target="_blank"]]off-page SEO[[/a]].&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]You can improve this by encouraging sites to link to yours through [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/what-makes-a-high-quality-backlink" target="_blank"]]high-quality backlinks[[/a]] that can enhance your SEO by showing your website to be authoritative and trusted.[[/p]]

[[p]]Whether you&rsquo;re using ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI language tool, they&rsquo;re excellent for brainstorming link building ideas. Your imagination is the only limit.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]For example, you could ask ChatGPT to suggest popular and relevant podcasts that could increase the visibility of your website. Remember, if the results are generic, you can fine-tune your research with follow-up prompts.[[/p]]

[[p]]Once you&rsquo;re happy with the list of suggested podcasts, you could ask ChatGPT to suggest other connections that might help you develop your backlink strategy. These could include industry blogs, [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/influencer-marketing-guide" target="_blank"]]influencers[[/a]], online magazines, and news outlets that might be relevant for outreach and connection.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Pro tip: Linkee is a useful AI tool for making these connections that could yield valuable backlinks. It provides a curated list of prospects ready for outreach, and offers a manual clean-up option for further verification. You can also use InLinks to create strong internal links within your website.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI can enhance [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/local-seo-for-beginners-improve-your-visibility-online-free-checklist" target="_blank"]]local SEO[[/a]] by generating descriptions, analyzing data to provide recommendations, and replying to reviews. AI tools can help your business stand out in local searches with optimized content and efficient review management.[[/p]]

[[p]]Semrush has a free AI Google Business Profile Description Generator that allows businesses to grow on Google. Through AI, you can craft a relevant business description for a Google Business Profile to increase your relevance on Google and gain more traffic from map results.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]Here&rsquo;s an example of a Google search for [[em]]&lsquo;Italian restaurants central New York&rsquo;[[/em]].&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]][[strong]]Pro tip: [[/strong]]Falcon AI can deliver precise and targeted local SEO strategies. By using data-driven insights, businesses can fine-tune their approach to increase visibility and engagement in local searches.[[/p]]

[[p]]By using AI tools throughout the different phases of your SEO strategy, you can ensure your content gets seen by the people who need to see it.&nbsp;[[/p]]

[[p]]AI is no longer just about ChatGPT. Ambitious marketers need to know how to develop an AI-driven digital strategy to achieve more with less time and effort. Our [[a href="https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/students/short-courses/advanced-ai-in-digital-marketing" target="_blank"]]Advanced AI for Digital Marketing course[[/a]] will teach you how to use the technology to support and optimize digital marketing activities, use AI to research and generate content, and leverage specialized tools across channels such as SEO, social media and PPC. You will also know how to use AI to implement a digital strategy to enhance planning and boost efficiency&nbsp;at each stage of the customer journey. What are you waiting for? Get started today![[/p]]

A Guide to AI and SEO

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