AI is incredible. But if you’re using ChatGPT as your entire SEO strategy? You’re going to hit a wall — and fast.
Let’s get one thing straight: ChatGPT isn’t an SEO tool. It’s a writing assistant. A smart one, yes. But it can’t replace strategy, data, or actual customer insights. In this post, we’re breaking down what AI can do to support your SEO workflow — and what it absolutely can’t. If you want to rank, convert, and grow sustainably, this matters
Using Chat GPT for SEO
ChatGPT is a great tool for generating content ideas and drafting SEO-friendly outlines. But it’s not a substitute for a well-researched, strategic SEO plan.
Search engines like Google crawl, index, and rank content across the web to deliver the most relevant results for a user’s query. SEO is what helps your content show up in those results, making your website discoverable and driving organic traffic.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, is a language model. It generates human-like responses based on the prompts you give it. It can’t perform certain tasks and when you ask it to, it may hallucinate or create ideas, but it doesn’t always provide facts or accurate data.
That said, when used the right way, ChatGPT can support your SEO workflow — just don’t mistake it for a strategy.
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What ChatGPT Can Do for Your SEO
You can think of ChatGPT like a really smart intern. It’s organized. It’s fast. It doesn’t get tired. But it still needs guidance. When used right, AI can save you time on tactical tasks that support your broader SEO strategy — but it can’t create that strategy for you.
Here’s what ChatGPT is actually great at:
- Brainstorming blog ideas or content outlines (once you know your topics and goals)
- Rewriting content for clarity or engagement
- Summarizing complex topics into something digestible for a wider audience
- Organizing your research or outlining long-form posts
If you’re buried in content tasks and need to move faster, AI can help you scale. But it’s still your job to make sure what you’re scaling actually works.
What ChatGPT Can’t Do (and Why It Matters)
Here’s where people get burned: relying on ChatGPT to be the strategist. Spoiler alert — it’s not.
Let’s break down the major limitations that hurt your SEO when you lean too hard on AI:
It can’t provide you CURRENT Information
ChatGPT isn’t aware of any events or changes that occurred after September 2021 because that’s when its training data ends. Be aware that the information you receive is typically outdated.
It doesn’t know real keyword data
It will guess search volume or difficulty — and those guesses? Often wildly off. You need tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Search Console for real data. Anything else is fictional. This is where I see a lot of folks get it wrong right away. Keyword research is a very important part of your SEO strategy and if you’re getting inaccurate data, you can’t actually build around the numbers and what customers are actually searching for.
It doesn’t understand your customer
ChatGPT is trained on broad patterns. It doesn’t get your specific audience, your local market, your brand tone, or your buyer journey. That means it can’t create copy that truly connects or converts.
It can’t evaluate your competitors
Want to know if you can outrank a page or target a keyword? AI can’t compare your domain to competitors, measure authority gaps, or give realistic recommendations. SEO tools are extremely useful in pulling data on websites and helping to understand where to focus next.
It can’t fix your technical SEO
No crawling. No page speed insights. No structured data analysis. ChatGPT isn’t running site audits — and your rankings will suffer if you skip that step. Technical SEO is the foundation of a strong strategy and you’ll need a human to come in and help find, diagnose, and prioritize issues with your site.
Bottom line: it’s not a strategist, a crawler, or a keyword research tool. It’s a helper.
The Right Way to Use AI in Your SEO Workflow
AI is a tool — not the plan. The real magic happens when you pair human strategy with smart automation. Here’s how we use it (and how you should too):
- Start with actual research tools.
Pull keyword data, competitor insights, domain authority, and backlink information from places like Ahrefs or GSC. - Build your strategy first.
Map keywords to your customer journey. Plan site structure. Outline your content plan, clusters, and posting cadence. - Then, bring in AI to assist:
- Idea generation for blog content – feed it your SEO outline and ask what’s missing. Let it help you potentially find gaps you could cover then determine if that makes sense for your piece.
- Draft blog posts faster – ask it to create your intro, call to action, or summary of your article for the website, then edit appropriately.
- Repurpose content into emails or social captions
- Generate metadata variations – you’ll need to understand that ChatGPT uses tokens, not characters, so if you ask it for a 155 character meta description, double check your character count.
- Format long blogs into summaries or FAQs
- Explain complex topics in simple terms
The direction, strategy, and actual SEO research still needs to come from a human who understands SEO — and your business.
Common AI SEO Mistakes We See All the Time
If your content isn’t ranking (or worse, getting penalized), you’re probably making one of these mistakes:
Publishing Generic Blogs
One of the most common issues we see with AI-generated content is the flood of generic blogs that offer little to no value. Here’s what that usually looks like:
No unique information or perspective
The content repeats surface-level advice that’s already been said a thousand times. There’s no expert insight, lived experience, or brand-specific point of view that sets it apart from the noise. Many AI-generated posts hover around 500 words with no depth, no structure, and no real takeaway.
Lack of keyword strategy
AI can guess at keywords, but it doesn’t pull real data. That means your blog might be optimized for terms no one is actually searching for—or worse, no keywords at all.
Missing images, video, or other helpful media
Strong blog posts include more than just words. Media like graphics, charts, embedded videos, or screenshots help break up the text, improve UX, and boost SEO. AI content often skips this entirely.
Forgetting to Interlink or Structure Your Content Properly
AI isn’t thinking about your site’s architecture. It won’t remind you to link between blog posts or connect key service pages to supporting content. Without a clear structure and internal links, you miss out on helping users navigate—and on building topical authority in Google’s eyes. It’s also not sure what your keyword strategy is and how to link to that next blog with exact match anchor text. That means less visibility, less engagement, and ultimately, fewer conversions.
Using AI Without Fact-Checking or Editing for Voice
ChatGPT might sound convincing, but it doesn’t always get the facts right—and it definitely doesn’t know your brand voice. We’ve seen businesses publish AI-generated content full of outdated information, incorrect stats, or off-brand language. If you’re not fact-checking, editing, and refining, you’re risking your credibility and confusing your audience.
Relying on ChatGPT for YMYL Topics Like Health or Finance
Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content—anything related to health, finance, or legal advice—needs to come from actual experts. Google holds this type of content to a much higher standard because it can directly impact someone’s wellbeing. If you’re using AI to write about these topics without human review or credentials, you’re not just risking bad content—you’re risking seriously misleading folks.
Ignoring On-Page SEO While Pumping Out Tons of Content
Just because you’re publishing consistently doesn’t mean your content is optimized. AI doesn’t handle page titles, headers, meta descriptions, image alt text, or schema markup unless you specifically prompt it—and even then, it’s guessing. Without proper on-page SEO, even the best-written blog won’t perform well in search.
What to Do Instead
Here’s the playbook:
✅ Build a strategy based on real data, customer interviews, and competitor analysis
✅ Use AI to streamline execution
✅ Stay focused on quality, clarity, and user intent
✅ Use tools that show actual numbers and data
✅ Or — work with someone who does all of this for you (hi 👋)
Ready to Build a Real SEO Strategy?
At Well Optimized SEO, we help small business owners build strategic, sustainable SEO plans that actually work. Yes, we use ChatGPT — but only where it fits. Because your business deserves more than a guess.
🎯 Want help creating an SEO plan that ranks, converts, and grows your business?
