Content Marketing
AI Keyword Research Guide
Get insight into the best ways to do keyword research with AI in our complete keyword research guide.
These days, AI can do everything from generating images to handling real-time language translation, but what about keyword research?
More marketing tools are offering AI-powered options for a variety of use cases such as keyword research. Then, some AI tools like ChatGPT can also help with brainstorming keyword ideas to get you started.
Learn the best ways to do keyword research with AI in our keyword research guide.
There are several keyword research tools available that use AI to help you identify relevant, low-competition and popular keywords.
By analyzing a massive amount of search data, these tools can pinpoint the best long-tail keywords, suggest related words and phrases, and tell you how easy or hard the keyword is to rank for.
Some of the most common and popular AI-powered keyword tools include SEMrush, Ahrefs and Moz.
Many AI tools use Natural Language Processing to understand the search query as part of the broader context of a search.
For instance, Ahrefs notes that their AI keyword tool offers insight into search intent.
AI-powered tools for search intent can provide a number of insights for content marketers.
For example, if someone searched for the “best travel mug for hot drinks,” an AI tool could potentially infer a few things about user intent based on that phrase, including:
Beyond the language used in the search itself, AI can also help you target keywords with high short-term potential due to popularity, as well as long-term ranking potential over time.
One of the best ways to do keyword research is through a competitor analysis.
AI tools like Originality.ai’s Content Optimizer can compare your content by keyword or phrase with up to 10 of competing URLs, helping you outrank them based on keyword density and other factors.
Keep in mind when optimizing keyword density to avoid overdoing it. Using a keyword or phrase too frequently is considered keyword stuffing (and keyword stuffing is best to avoid)
Competitor analysis can also help you spot potentially lucrative opportunities to outrank your competitors by honing in on areas they may not have targeted with their own keywords.
Many AI tools will group keywords automatically into various “clusters.” Not only can this “clustering” help with organization, but it’s also helpful for content planning and strategy.
One piece of content can target multiple keywords in a cluster, helping you rank higher for a variety of terms that your target audience might use.
One of the more innovative features of using AI for keyword research is its ability to help you keep your site relevant long after the initial research is complete, such as with predictive SEO.
Predictive SEO is a method that looks at search patterns, analyzes data, and predicts specific trends for keywords over time, which can help with SEO forecasting so you can get ahead of the competition.
Now that you know some of the many ways that AI can help you with keyword research, how do you actually go about it?
What is the best way to do keyword research using AI?
Many of the actual steps will depend on the tool you choose, but in general, once you’ve decided on the goal for your keyword research and identified the audience you’re trying to reach, follow these steps:
Broad keywords and phrases are a solid starting point when doing keyword research. Known as “seed keywords,” these often have higher difficulty (and competition) but offer a launchpad to help get the creative gears turning.
Next, type your seed keyword into an AI tool to get a list of related keyword ideas. Some AI keyword research tools will even go a step further and analyze both your seed keyword and the related keywords it has found, including giving you data on:
You’ll want to specifically target keywords that have a good search volume, low competition, and high relevance.
AI can use NLP to help you understand the intent behind keywords. In some cases, the intent is informational, like people looking to learn how to do something. In others, the user may be comparing products or already be ready to purchase.
Consider what search intent a particular page or article is targeting and prioritize those keywords for that piece of content.
AI can help tackle the tedious job of sorting your content into various clusters, which makes it much easier for you to plan out your content strategy. When you create your content, use these clusters to target several keywords with one piece of content, helping your site rank higher as a whole.
Some AI keyword research tools will also tell you which keywords your competitors are targeting or even currently ranking for.
This can help you spot keywords or phrases they’re not targeting or areas where your own site can get ahead. AI is excellent for analyzing the keywords that your biggest competitors are using. By doing analyses over time, you can eventually tailor your content to outrank them!
AI keyword research tools are an innovative way to create an effective content strategy, get ahead of competitors, and streamline your workflow.
Then, incorporate a Content Optimizer into your content planning to properly optimize the keyword density of your articles and stay a step ahead of the competition.
