How to Use ChatGPT for SEO: 12 Actionable Strategies + Prompts

If you’re using ChatGPT for SEO but only scratching the surface, you’re missing serious opportunities. This tool can streamline keyword research, generate SEO-friendly blog outlines, identify content gaps, and help with technical audits—but only if you know how to prompt it correctly.

This guide breaks down 12 actionable ways to use ChatGPT for SEO, based on hands-on experiments and workflows that actually save time and deliver results. 

But first, let’s address a couple of misconceptions that still confuse people.

Common misconceptions of using ChatGPT for SEO

As powerful as ChatGPT is, there’s a lot of misinformation about its capabilities, especially when it comes to SEO. Let’s clear the air and explore both the pros and cons of AI for SEO.

1. ChatGPT will NOT harm SEO rankings:

One of the most common concerns is whether using ChatGPT violates Google’s guidelines. 

To be clear, Google has stated that they are not against AI-generated content. As per Google Search Central’s guidance on AI content, their focus is on the quality and value of content, not the creation method. 

What Google flags is low-quality or unoriginal content, regardless of how it’s produced. If your content is helpful and demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), content generated by ChatGPT will not harm your SEO rankings, as long as it is considered helpful. 

What this means in practice: ChatGPT is fine to use, but the output needs human oversight. You’ll still need to fact-check, layer in unique insights, and tailor the content to match search intent. 

2. AI cannot replace human SEO experts:

While ChatGPT is useful for scaling execution, generating ideas, drafting outlines, or summarizing SEO reports, it does not understand context, priority, or business goals. 

The platform doesn’t know that a certain keyword drives high-margin conversions for your SaaS product. It can’t assess cannibalization risk or decide which content to prune during an audit. That’s why AI cannot replace SEO professionals. Tools like ChatGPT are designed to support workflows, not replace the strategic thinking behind them.

💡Learn more about: Is AI Generated Content Good for SEO and What Google Actually States

How to use ChatGPT for SEO in 12 different ways

1. Conduct keyword research

ChatGPT is useful for the early stages of keyword ideation. You can prompt it with a broad seed keyword like “AI marketing tools” and ask for semantically related terms, long-tail variations, and keyword clusters. 

That said, ChatGPT can’t give you real-time data like search volume or keyword difficulty. So once you have a list, plug it into a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to validate. You can also ask ChatGPT to sort keywords by search intent (informational, commercial, navigational) to prioritize them based on funnel stages.

This is also a great way to create topic clusters for your website blog to plan your content calendar. 

Here’s an example:

As you can see from this example, ChatGPT provides a very basic overview of semantically related (LSI) keywords for “indoor workouts.” 

But if you’re looking for a ChatGPT alternative that provides deeper insights, Chatsonic takes keyword research to the next level.

Chatsonic’s SEO AI agent is integrated with live data sources like Ahrefs and Google Search Console, allowing you to pull real-time search volumes, keyword trends, and competitor keyword strategies. 

Here’s the kind of output you’ll get from Chatsonic for the same prompt:

Unlike ChatGPT, Chatsonic provides details on search volume, intent, and keyword difficulty within the platform. This means you won’t have to do your own cross-checking and extensive keyword research. 

2. Perform competitor SEO research

ChatGPT is a great way to help you compare content structure, extract key topics, and find potential content gaps if you provide it with reference text or URLs.

For example, you can paste the intro and H2s from two competitor blog posts and ask ChatGPT to compare tone, depth, keyword coverage, and identify areas one post covers that the other doesn’t. 

This helps you spot missing angles or subtopics worth targeting. You can also ask it to suggest follow-up blog topics based on what a competitor has written, allowing you to differentiate and expand your content offering.

Here’s how I used ChatGPT to compare an existing Writesonic blog about “Conducting Content Gap Analysis” with another blog that ranks for SERP:

This output is great, but it lacks factual insights and proof. 

On the other hand, when I used the same prompt in Chatsonic, I received a much more detailed and insightful output. 

Not only did it provide me with a table similar to ChatGPT’s, but the tool also created in-depth comparison reports on different SEO aspects, including backlink profiles, keyword performance, traffic analysis, etc.

By analyzing the topics your competitors cover and their rankings, Chatsonic suggests content gaps where your site could rank higher by targeting underserved topics that can truly drive traffic. 

💡Learn how to make ChatGPT sound more human [Examples + Prompts]

3. Conduct SEO testing and auditing

ChatGPT can help you plan and set up SEO-focused A/B tests by generating variations of meta titles, descriptions, CTAs, or blog introductions. You can feed it your current copy and ask for alternatives based on a specific goal—like improving CTR, reducing bounce rate, or increasing time on page.

It’s also useful for creating hypotheses and testing ideas for landing pages or blogs. For example, you can ask for test suggestions around headline formats, CTA placement, or title. 

Once variations are ready, you’ll still need to run the test using a tool like Google Optimize, but ChatGPT speeds up the creative side of the process.

While ChatGPT cannot directly perform technical audits, it can:

• Generate checklists for on-page SEO tasks, such as optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and internal linking. Simply ask it to provide an SEO audit checklist for a specific page or a broader site, and it will walk you through each step.
• Create structured SEO reports by feeding raw data from a Google Analytics export or Ahrefs report and ask it to summarize the key insights and action points.
• Analyze content for SEO factors by asking ChatGPT to review a draft. It can give feedback on keyword usage, readability, and other SEO-friendly factors like internal linking and keyword density.

For a truly effective SEO audit, you need live data and actionable insights. Chatsonic excels in this area with its real-time integration with key SEO tools.

Here’s an example:

4. Identify content opportunities based on user queries

ChatGPT can help surface the kind of questions your audience is already searching for. Just prompt it with a topic or keyword, and ask for commonly asked questions or Google’s People Also Ask. 

This is especially useful when building FAQ sections or targeting long-tail keywords.

You can also ask it to group questions by search intent or funnel stage. For example, a topic like “AI in content marketing” might produce TOFU questions like “What is AI content generation?” and BOFU ones like “Is AI writing better than human writers for SEO?”

5. Create topic clusters

Instead of building standalone blog posts, ChatGPT can help you map out full content clusters or pillar pages with related supporting topics. 

You can prompt ChatGPT with a core keyword, like “local SEO”, and ask it to generate related subtopics that can support a main pillar page. From there, it can suggest internal linking strategies between the pages for better crawlability.

Example:

This is useful for scaling content planning, especially if you’re managing multiple sites or planning for a full quarter at once.

💡 Also learn about: 12 Powerful AI SEO Tips to Skyrocket Your Google Rankings

6. Create SEO-focused schema markups

ChatGPT may not directly insert schema markup into your website’s code, but it can assist by providing a template for your data.  For example, if you have a blog post about a product, you can ask ChatGPT to provide the schema markup for a product review page. 

It will generate the necessary JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) code, which you can then integrate into your website.

You can also be more specific with your prompt by defining the kind of page you want the scheme markup for and other key details, such as what the page includes.

Incorporating schema markup into your pages makes it easier for Google to display your content in enriched formats, whether it’s a star rating, a recipe, or an event listing.

This helps your page stand out in the SERPs and can significantly boost organic traffic.

7. Identify link-building strategies

ChatGPT can streamline link-building efforts by identifying potential link partners, suggesting outreach strategies, and even drafting personalized outreach emails. 

While it doesn’t analyze backlink profiles, it can help you brainstorm target sites based on niche relevance and authority.

You can also ask it to create broken link outreach templates, recommend guest post angles, or list directories where your content might gain traction. For outreach, feed it details about the target site, your content, and your offer to generate a pitch that feels personalized.

If you run a website about SaaS marketing, you could ask ChatGPT, “What are some authoritative blogs in the SaaS marketing industry that would be ideal for guest posting or backlinking?” 

ChatGPT can also help you identify broken link-building opportunities.  For instance, you can ask: “What authoritative marketing blogs should I analyze for broken link opportunities in 2024?”

While ChatGPT cannot identify broken links on a specific page, Chatsonic can easily conduct a deep outgoing link analysis. 

💡 Also check out: 280+ ChatGPT Prompts & How to Write Your Own

8. Generate FAQs

FAQs are prime real estate for capturing Google’s Featured Snippets and improving visibility in AI overviews. ChatGPT can generate FAQ content aligned with user queries, helping you identify what search engines may pull into overviews.

You can ask ChatGPT to extract common questions related to your target keyword and generate concise, SEO-friendly answers that align with Google’s PAA (People Also Ask) and featured snippet criteria. 

Here’s a sample prompt you can use:

“Generate 5 SEO-optimized FAQs for a blog post on ‘Pros and cons of AI.’ Ensure the answers are concise, fact-based, and under 50 words.”

9. Create SEO-optimized blog outlines and content

ChatGPT can assist with drafting content that naturally incorporates target keywords, aligns with search intent, and follows on-page SEO best practices. It’s particularly useful for generating initial drafts, but you’ll need to fine-tune for factual accuracy, originality, and depth.

You can prompt it to create detailed outlines that align with your keyword strategy or ask for optimized meta tags, descriptions, and H2s. To ensure topical coverage, ask it to compare against top-ranking pages for that keyword.

ChatGPT prompt example you can use:

“Generate a 1500-word blog post outline on ‘Best local SEO strategies for small businesses in 2025,’ including H2s, FAQs, and recommended internal linking opportunities.”

While ChatGPT accelerates the drafting process, always apply human oversight to ensure quality and compliance with E-E-A-T guidelines.

It’s also best to ask AI to create your blog section by section for the best results, instead of getting your entire blog in one go, which is more prone to errors and low-quality.

10. Discover content gaps

ChatGPT can help identify missing subtopics or underexplored angles by comparing your content with top-ranking pages. 

For example, if your competitors cover high-level concepts but skip advanced techniques, ChatGPT can highlight those gaps, allowing you to create more comprehensive and higher-value content that’s better optimized for search intent.

Prompt example to try:

You can also ask it to suggest additional related keywords or subtopics that align with search intent but aren’t being adequately addressed by your competitors.

11. Generate insightful SEO reports

ChatGPT is a great way to format and summarize raw SEO data into easy-to-understand reports that highlight actionable insights. 

While it can’t pull data from Google Analytics or Search Console directly, you can feed it exported data in CSV or plain text and ask it to analyze trends, identify drops, and suggest next steps.

It’s especially useful for transforming data-heavy reports into executive summaries or identifying keyword trends that can inform future content strategies. 

Prompt example:

12. Featured snippet targeting

ChatGPT can craft content that’s optimized to appear in Google’s featured snippets by focusing on concise, direct answers to common queries. It can help rewrite paragraphs into snippet-ready formats such as lists, tables, and Q&A structures that match what Google tends to feature.

You can also provide the AI with a list of target keywords and ask it to generate potential snippet-friendly answers that align with those queries. For blog posts, this is useful for optimizing the opening paragraph or repurposing FAQ content to target rich results.

Prompt example you can try:

Even though ChatGPT can structure content for snippets, always check SERP trends to ensure that your format matches the snippet type that’s currently ranking.

💡Also learn: How to Use AIPRM for ChatGPT

Tried and tested ChatGPT prompts for SEO

From keyword research to competitor analysis, ChatGPT can help you streamline complex tasks and enhance your overall SEO strategy.

Below are more advanced and refined SEO prompts for ChatGPT designed to give you highly actionable insights.

1. Prompts for advanced keyword research

2. Prompts for SEO content strategy and blog outlines

3. Prompts for on-page SEO optimization

4. Prompts for competitor content gap analysis

5. Prompts for advanced SEO reporting and data analysis

Chatsonic vs. ChatGPT: Which is better for SEO?

When it comes to SEO, Chatsonic and ChatGPT serve different purposes.

Here’s a quick comparison to help you decide which one fits your needs.

ChatGPT is a great starting point, especially if you’re a beginner in SEO and AI, but its functionalities are quite limited. ChatGPT is best for:

• Answering basic SEO questions and offering suggestions.
• Provide general advice on SEO best practices.
• Suggest ideas for keyword usage or content structure.

However, the platform lacks real-time data access and doesn’t integrate with SEO tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs. This means it can’t help with live search volume, current SERP trends, or real-time competitor analysis.

While it’s great for basic SEO guidance, the tool falls short when you need advanced SEO insights. Chatsonic, on the other hand, is designed with marketing and SEO in mind.

The platform connects to real-time SEO tools like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console, giving you up-to-date data and actionable insights.

Here’s why it’s a step ahead for SEO specialists and content writers:

• Live data integration: It pulls real-time insights from your SEO tools, so you’re always working with the latest metrics.
• Advanced content optimization: Beyond basic content, Chatsonic can suggest keyword tweaks, improved headlines, and better schema markups based on live data.
• Web search: Chatsonic’s ability to search the web in real time lets you stay on top of trending topics, SERP shifts, and competitor strategies.

So which one should you pick?

Chatsonic is clearly the better choice for a more comprehensive SEO strategy. But you can always use both in tandem—ChatGPT for quick advice and Chatsonic for data-driven decisions. If you really want to boost your SEO performance and get instant, data-driven insights, Chatsonic is clearly the better choice.

FAQs

1. How can ChatGPT help with SEO?

ChatGPT can assist with various SEO tasks, including keyword research, content generation, optimizing on-page elements like meta descriptions, and creating SEO-friendly blog outlines.

Analyzing competitors and SERPs helps identify content gaps, trends, and opportunities, making your SEO process more efficient and data-driven.

2. Is ChatGPT good for generating SEO-optimized content?

While ChatGPT is great for generating content quickly, it’s best used alongside other SEO tools to ensure keyword density, relevance, and on-page optimization.

For the best results, combine ChatGPT’s writing capabilities with SEO optimization tools like Writesonic to fine-tune your content for rankings.

3. Can ChatGPT perform keyword research for SEO?

ChatGPT can generate keyword ideas and suggest long-tail variations, but it doesn’t have direct access to search volume or competition data.

For accurate and real-time keyword insights, it’s best to use dedicated SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush in conjunction with ChatGPT’s suggestions.

4. Does Google penalize content generated by ChatGPT for SEO?

No, Google doesn’t penalize AI-generated content as long as it meets their quality standards. Google focuses on the value and relevance of the content, not the tool used to create it. ChatGPT can help create high-quality, relevant content that adheres to SEO best practices, which is what matters most.

5. Can ChatGPT improve my existing SEO strategy?

Yes, ChatGPT can improve your SEO strategy by providing fresh ideas for content, helping with keyword research, and offering optimization tips.

However, it’s important to pair it with comprehensive SEO analysis tools to gain a holistic view of your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement.

Saloni Kohli

Content Strategist

Saloni Kohli is a Content Strategist with over four years’ experience in B2B SaaS content marketing and SEO. She has shaped and executed end-to-end content strategies—ranging from editorial planning and long-form thought leadership to conversion-focused landing pages and email campaigns. At Writesonic, Saloni combines creativity with data-driven insights to elevate brand voice, drive organic growth, and maximize audience engagement.