How AI Tools Can Supercharge Your Keyword Strategy

For example, when we searched for keywords related to ‘’digital marketing tactics,’’ Semrush showed us a lot of long-tail keywords that used ‘’strategies’’ in place of tactics. This means we can use both variations to reach more web users than if we only focused on ‘’tactics.’’

Semrush related keywords

Similarly, your audience may also grow over time, bringing in new demographics. You may need new keywords to target these groups specifically.

When search engines undergo algorithm updates, keyword rankings may also change. For example, with the new Google core updates, the search engine wanted to crack down on spammy and low-quality content. This could mean bad news for websites that relied on those types of keywords in the past. Regular keyword research helps avoid being penalized by these updates. 

How Does AI Enhance Keyword Research?

Like any other task, AI also improves keyword research in several ways. As long as you have good AI SEO tools at your disposal, you can expect the following benefits.

Quick and Efficient Keyword Research

Usually, you have to use a couple of keyword research tools to get a comprehensive list of keywords. It takes time since you have to then analyze these keywords, too.

Some AI SEO tools also compare the keyword reservoir they have found with your domain and suggest which keywords you can use to improve your rank. For example, when you enter your domain in the Keyword Magic Tool, it shows you AI-powered domain-specific insights, such as the Personal Keyword Difficulty% (PKD%), which is a measure of how hard it is for your site to rank for a specific keyword. 

Semrush PKD% column

Semrush lets you sort the keyword results to show low PKD% queries on top. Since these are easier to rank for, you can spend your time and effort to rank for them rather than trying to go for those with a high PKD%. 

Understanding Search Intent

Since AI SEO tools can ”read” the underlying patterns in data, they can also infer user intent. When you know exactly what type of content your target audience is looking for, you can then tailor your content strategy accordingly.

Take Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool as an example. It instantly gauges the user intent of a keyword and reveals how hard it is to rank for it. Plus, it shows you what kind of questions your audience may have related to that keyword. You can then answer those questions in your content to provide value and increase your chances of ranking higher.

For example, we searched for ”credit card score,” to find the search intent behind it. The Keyword Overview tool revealed that the intent is informational, as people want answers to specific questions.

Keyword Overview tool results

So, we went to the Questions section and found that searchers have a range of questions about managing their credit scores. Without a tool to help us, we would have to manually search for this information and analyze the data ourselves.

Keyword Overview results

Uncovering Hidden Insights

Often, when conducting bulk keyword analysis, you might miss important information that is not readily apparent. For example, you might find that your target keyword is highly competitive and very hard to rank for. But that’s not a reason to give up yet.

AI SEO tools may help you find related long-tail keywords that have lower competition and are easier to rank for. You can use these keywords to build authority and gradually improve your ranking for the main keyword.

Besides, AI tools also provide keywords for different search intent angles, which helps you create content that’s more targeted and relevant to your audience. For example, Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool shows two intents for the keyword ”digital marketing trends:” informational and commercial.

Keyword Overview results

You’re not selling anything and only want to target people looking for information about digital marketing trends. Go to the Keyword Variations section and view all keywords. From there, you can filter the results by intent to only see queries your target audience is searching for.

Keyword Overview results

Similarly, the tool also conducts AI analysis to evaluate the Personal Keyword Difficulty score for your domain to help you understand how difficult it will be to rank for a specific keyword. This information further facilitates keyword selection for you.

Data-Powered Decision-Making 

With AI, there’s no guesswork involved. AI tools collect data from your website, competitor websites, and search engine results pages. The insights you get are from real users. So, you can employ them to make data-driven decisions about your website’s content.

Trend and Predictive Analysis 

You’re not a machine that can process ten thousand keywords per second, so your predictions will be mere assumptions. On the contrary, AI can analyze historical data and compare it with current trends to make more accurate predictions about future trends.

• Keyword Difficulty
• User Intent
• Search Volume
• Trend (in the past 12 months)
• Cost Per Click (for PPC campaigns)
• Keyword Competitiveness

Semrush has also introduced a ton of AI features for its keyword tool, such as the Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD), which shows the competitiveness of your domain ranking for specific keywords. Basically, you can see keyword difficulty scores in relation to your site’s authority. This allows you to pick domain-specific keywords that you can realistically rank for.

Source: semrush.com

The Topical Authority feature measures your domain’s expertise and relevance for a topic. You can also see the potential SERP position your keywords can achieve with a little bit of optimization compared to their current rank. You can use this insight to set realistic keyword performance expectations and create a strategy to improve your ranking.

Semrush also has a Keyword Strategy Builder, which builds a website content plan based on your keyword research. It organizes your content into Topics and Pages.

Keyword Overview tool

Topics are keyword clusters based on their importance and theme. Pages have a list of Pillars and Subpages. You can see keywords specific to each page, making it easy for you to optimize your content and internal linking structure.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT isn’t merely for getting answers to questions you’re too lazy to scour the internet for. You can also use ChatGPT to boost your SEO strategy.

It can conduct keyword research, provide user intent, offer content suggestions, create content outlines, and even write content for you. Let’s go with the same ”credit card scores” example.

Here’s a simple prompt you can use for keyword research: List the top 10 most popular keywords for the term ”credit card scores.”

ChatGPT results

You can then ask ChatGPT to tell you the user intent or search intent for each keyword or the list in general. A simple prompt for this would be: What is the user intent for ”credit card scores” keywords?

ChatGPT results

If you want to take it a step further, you can ask ChatGPT for content ideas for these keywords. Here’s a prompt: Suggest 5 blog posts to create for the keyword ”credit card score range.”

ChatGPT results

You can also check out our guide to find more ChatGPT SEO strategies.

Ahrefs

Combine Keyword Research With Performance Analytics 

You can’t keep using the keywords that aren’t giving you results. That’s why you must keep a close eye on your website’s performance and conduct subsequent keyword research based on this data.

Instead of going back and forth between tools, simply connect your Google Search Console to the SEO keyword tool you’re using. For instance, you can connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console with Semrush to get personalized insights and create a keyword strategy based on your website’s analytics.

Make the Most Out of AI Tools

After you’ve selected a tool, make sure you use it to its full potential. For one, don’t let the tool do all the work. Human intuition and analysis should still be a part of the process. In fact, it’s when you couple the human touch with AI’s efficiency that you get the best results.

Also, don’t stick to one kind of keyword. Instead, use a mix of long-tail, short-tail, and trending keywords to diversify your content.

Most AI tools are accompanied by blogs or YouTube channels where you can find guides and tutorials on how to maximize their usage. Take advantage of these resources. More importantly, educate yourself on the latest features and updates of your chosen tool.

Take the AI-Driven Road to Keyword Mastery

With its roots spanning across industries and use cases, the global AI scene is not slowing down any time soon. In SEO, and particularly keyword research, AI tools can do wonders in helping you find and target the right keywords for your content.

But remember, AI assists you and doesn’t replace you entirely. Keep track of your data, and don’t rely solely on the tool’s suggestions. The human-AI hybrid can provide better outcomes than any of the two can alone.