ChatGPT for SEO: what it saves you and what won't help you rank

ChatGPT can save you hours of SEO work, but it won't write the article that ranks on Google for you. In a Keyword.com survey of 97 SEO teams, 70% said their biggest hurdle with AI is errors and the time it takes to review them. Using it well means knowing which part of the job to give it.

What is ChatGPT for SEO good for, and what isn't it?

The teams in the survey use AI mostly for preparation. 77% use it to prepare an article's brief and 68% to find and group keywords. Writing the full text comes after, at 66%.

• It saves time: understanding search intent (what the searcher wants to solve), preparing an outline and suggesting titles.
• It saves time: reviewing a text's clarity, such as long sentences or words your customers won't understand.
• It saves time: grouping a list of searches by topic to decide which pages you need.
• It doesn't help: giving you the number of searches for a keyword.
• It doesn't help: adding your experience, your data and your cases, which is what Google and your customers value.
• It doesn't help: publishing without review, because it makes up facts with complete confidence.

Put another way, ChatGPT is a good assistant and a poor author. Google asks for content made for people, with first-hand experience and checked facts, so use it before and after writing, not instead of writing.

If ChatGPT could write it without knowing you, it adds nothing new for Google.

Can ChatGPT give you the search volume for a keyword?

Not reliably. ChatGPT doesn't see Google's data: it works out a figure that sounds likely. In a DEJAN test, another AI model, Gemini, only got the volume band right for 35% of searches.

It may tell you a search gets 800 visits a month when it gets 40. With made-up figures, you choose the wrong articles to write. Take volumes from Search Console or Google Ads Keyword Planner instead.

If you're looking for free tools for this data, see our guide to SEO tools for small businesses.

Does Google penalise content written with ChatGPT?

Not for using AI. Google says generative AI can be useful to research a topic and structure original content. What it penalises is creating lots of pages without adding value, which it calls scaled content abuse.

Google also warns about something important: these models don't look up facts, they predict the most likely next word. That's why it asks for everything AI writes to be checked by hand, including titles and descriptions.

At Garcai we think this is the most forgotten rule. If you want to see what happens to a site that ignores it, read our guide to the Google spam update.

The Garcai method: use ChatGPT for SEO in 5 steps without losing quality

Copy these instructions (known as a prompt: the request you type to the AI) and change what's in square brackets.

1. Understand the search. Type: ‘I run [your business] in [city]. What does someone searching for [search] want to solve? Give me 5 questions they ask before buying’.
2. Get real volumes from Search Console or Keyword Planner. Then type: ‘Group these searches by topic: [list]. Don't make up any figures’.
3. Ask for the outline, not the article: ‘Suggest a 4-section outline to answer [search]. Mark where I need to add my own data or example’.
4. Write it yourself with your experience, data and cases. Then ask: ‘Review this text: flag sentences over 25 words and technical words that aren't explained’.
5. Check every figure, name and date against its source before publishing. Google asks for this for titles and descriptions too.

You can do it yourself: all 5 steps, with no paid tools.

Ask your tech team if you need access to Search Console. Message ready to copy: ‘Can you give me read access to our site's Search Console? I want to see which searches people use to find us’.

For better instructions in other marketing tasks, see our guide to prompts for ad copy.

Common mistakes when using ChatGPT for SEO

• Publishing the text as it comes out, without checking figures or dates.
• Trusting the search volumes ChatGPT gives you.
• Creating dozens of near-identical pages with AI: Google treats it as spam.
• Asking for ‘an SEO article’ without explaining who you are or who you're talking to.
• Forgetting to review the titles and descriptions the AI suggests.

ChatGPT makes you faster, not better on its own. AI prepares; you decide and check. And if you also want to appear inside its answers, read our guide to showing up in ChatGPT.