Using AI for SEO

The future of search engine optimisation – possibilities, opportunities and developments

Artificial intelligence (AI) is more than just a trend: since the launch of ChatGPT at the latest, the enormous possibilities already offered by intelligent technologies such as machine learning or deep learning have been increasingly discussed by the general public. Search engine optimisation (SEO) experts have long been using special AI applications in their niche to automate recurring and often time-consuming tasks in particular. In the past, the focus here was primarily on analytics, but now more and more text-based work and on-page SEO measures are also being supported. The use of so-called Large Language Models (LLMs) for SEO texts in particular has great potential, but also keeps the industry on tenterhooks, as nobody knows exactly how the respective products will be rated by search engines (in the future).

Read on to find out what the current state of SEO and AI is, whether it is worth using such technologies to improve the ranking of your own website and what developments can be expected. One thing is certain: artificial intelligence has been part of search engine optimisation for quite some time and will not disappear – it can make our SEO work more productive and efficient if we learn to understand its possibilities and limitations. This article is intended to help us do just that.

How is artificial intelligence used in search engine optimisation?

Artificial intelligence can support a variety of tasks in search engine optimisation, from planning and research to implementation and controlling.

1. content creation and optimisation

AI-supported tools such as GPT-4 and Jasper enable the largely automatic creation of high-quality text content that is almost indistinguishable from handwritten content. Such applications use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate texts that are precisely tailored to the specific needs and search queries of your target group at various stages of the customer journey or sales funnel.

It is also possible to integrate the most important keywords, create mobile-friendly structures and take other SEO-relevant factors into account. Last but not least, the solutions can suggest favourable topics and provide tips for specific on-page measures. The automated creation of meta information or structured data is also possible.

However, in order to get the most out of this, SEO managers need to know exactly how to use the tools. This also applies to all subsequent areas of application for AI in search engine optimisation. Even the smartest technical helpers cannot work without expertise!

2. keyword research and analysis

Tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs and Moz use AI to carry out extensive keyword research and identify semantically related search terms. These solutions analyse huge amounts of data to highlight long-tail keywords that are less competitive and at the same time highly relevant with the best conversion potential, or highlight interesting niches. By utilising such insights, you can align your content strategy more precisely and target search queries that your competitors are neglecting.

3. personalisation and user experience

The AI-based algorithms from Clearscope or MarketMuse enable in-depth analyses of the user experience (UX). Among other things, these tools analyse how visitors interact with your website and independently identify areas that can be improved. The focus here is on optimisations to increase the dwell time, which is important for SEO, and to reduce the bounce rate.

It is also possible to recognise which areas are particularly interesting for your target group. Based on this, more personalised or individualised content can be published or communicated directly via newsletters that respond precisely to the wishes, challenges or expectations of typical users. This further increases the power of SEO factors relating to the user experience. Last but not least, the probability of conversions is massively increased.

4. technical SEO

AI-based platforms such as Lumar (formerly DeepCrawl) and Botify help to identify and fix technical SEO problems. These tools analyse your website for errors such as broken links, slow loading times and mobile issues. With the help of machine learning, potential problems can be recognised and prioritised in the long term. You can take targeted measures to keep the SEO performance of your website at an optimal level.

5. competitor analysis

With the help of AI-based tools such as Ryte or NetBase Quid, you can easily carry out a detailed analysis of your competitive environment. These or similar programs continuously monitor the activities of your competitors, analyse their content strategies and identify successful tactics that you can then adapt for your own SEO strategy.

They also offer the opportunity to identify gaps or niches that you can then utilise to further drive your keyword coverage and user experience. Continuous or regular monitoring allows you to react quickly to changes and keep your SEO strategy reliably up to date.

6. predict trends

AI technologies such as Google Trends and BuzzSumo make it possible to predict search trends, which can be of great importance for your SEO strategy. By analysing historical data and current search queries, these tools are able to make predictions about emerging key topics.

These insights help you to proactively create content that provides your target audience with real news and generally always the most relevant information for them. This allows you to increase your traffic and dwell time at an early stage, while your competitors are still waiting. You take important developments into account in your SEO strategy before trends reach their peak.

Why should you use intelligent technologies for SEO?

AI is the technology behind intelligent systems that can fulfil tasks that typically require human thought and action. This alone makes it clear that corresponding solutions offer enormous potential for SEO – a discipline in which many measures and options as well as the associated effects and interactions must be considered and ultimately implemented at great expense. The ability of AI to ‘think and act’ is very helpful in meeting these requirements, as such systems can take over many tasks that would otherwise have to be performed by humans. As a result, they save resources and are still able to match or even surpass the quality of SEO performed by humans.

For example, AI enables highly precise queries and interpretations of data that would be difficult to access or simply too time-consuming for human analysts. Tools such as Google Analytics 4 and SEMrush use machine learning to process huge amounts of data and recognise patterns that indicate future search trends or other factors important for search engine optimisation. By analysing user behaviour, keywords and interaction data, these or similar solutions can provide valuable insights to help you optimise your SEO strategy in a targeted manner.

Particularly user-friendly programmes enable even non-experts to achieve considerable SEO success with little effort by guiding them through the process with targeted tips. But for professionals too, AI support means faster work with the same or even better quality and therefore better SEO performance for the websites managed.

You should also bear in mind that your competitors are probably also increasingly relying on AI for search engine optimisation. SEO standards such as the creation and implementation of meta information, structured data, etc. can already be managed today and will be able to be managed much more reliably in the future without much effort. Ultimately, this means constantly increasing quality that can hardly be achieved with purely human effort.

The statistics also speak in favour of the use of AI in SEO:

• 75 per cent of marketers state that AI has significantly improved the effectiveness of their SEO efforts.
• 37 per cent of all companies plan to use AI-driven SEO tools within the next year.
• AI can reduce the time spent on comprehensive SEO management by 60 per cent.
• AI tools have improved the accuracy of keyword research by 30 per cent.
• 80 per cent of marketing experts believe that AI will revolutionise the SEO industry in the next ten years.
• 90 per cent of all companies that use AI for SEO report a moderate to significant increase in website traffic.

So there are plenty of good reasons to use intelligent technologies for search engine optimisation.

AI developments in search engines and possible effects on SEO

With the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, it was only a matter of time before corresponding AI technologies were also taken up by the major search engines. Google launched its AI chat Gemini shortly afterwards. Bing quickly integrated ChatGPT in order to offer new AI features and has been investing heavily in the company ever since. In fact, Google and others have been using intelligent technologies for several years to provide their users with increasingly precise search results. However, the natural language and text output made possible by LLMs could revolutionise online searches in the near future. Search services will presumably develop more and more into answering services with the corresponding capabilities, to which users ask questions in natural language, which are then answered just as naturally and with high precision: Just as is already the case today with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and similar chatbots.

All eyes are on Google. Even if Bing is closer to a functioning, mature solution, Google remains the most used search engine in the world, which also gives it a special position in terms of SEO. The programme for integrating AI into the market leader’s search service is called SGE, which stands for ‘Search Generative Experience’. The solution is still in the test phase, but is already casting its shadow on several levels. The question that many SEOs and marketers are asking themselves in this context is: How will AI affect search engine optimisation?

In general, Google is open to AI-supported SEO measures, especially the use of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT to create content. For some time, there was a lack of clarity in the industry about how the search engine reacts to texts created with the help of LLM, i.e. how it categorises and evaluates them. However, Danny Sullivan from Google announced that everything was fine as long as such content had a real benefit for users. What the company expects in detail was summarised in a special guideline for AI-generated content. It explicitly states: ‘High-quality content will be rewarded, regardless of how it is produced’.

With this certainty, however, the ‘worries’ of search engine optimisers are not yet off the table. It is suspected that the transition to an answer engine model could also lead to a paradigm shift in ranking factors. Only time will tell what exactly this will look like. However, it is already foreseeable that analysing semantic correlations, user interactions and compliance with user search intentions will become more relevant. SEOs will probably have to increasingly optimise for a good user experience. This is only logical, as old standards such as keywords, metas or links are produced en masse in high quality by AI systems and carry less weight for excellent AI-based search results. [1]

As recently as mid-July 2024, there was some interesting news in this regard: a value in a document that was leaked in spring with 14,000 ranking factors points to a website-wide AI score that could serve Google as a central evaluation tool in the future. This is the ‘Site-level AGC Classification Score’, where ‘AGC’ stands for ‘Artificially Generated Content’. As part of the ‘Model.QualityNsrNsrData’ module, the AGC score is part of a collection of values and features at website level that Google could use to rank websites. It is not yet clear exactly how this works.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence can simplify search engine optimisation in many ways and make it more efficient. Such systems can be very useful in content creation and optimisation, keyword research and analysis, content personalisation, improving the user experience, technical SEO, competitive analysis and SEO-related trend forecasting.

In light of current developments, the use of smart technologies is more of a must than an option. More and more companies will use them to improve their rankings, which will massively increase the SEO quality of websites in many industries and put marketers under pressure.

In addition, with the greater integration of AI into the major search engines, certain changes in their evaluation mechanisms are to be expected, which those responsible should also keep an eye on.

Notes:

Do you want to optimise your website? Then contact Philipp Nessmann directly, either via his website or LinkedIn.

[1] Google Search guide to AI-generated content

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