The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Generative Text AI for SEO

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have taken the SEO world by storm. They can do some tasks lightning-fast and free up your time. But they aren’t perfect. These tools are built to

predict what words come next, not to verify facts or offer deep expertise. Used wisely, they can speed up your work. Used blindly, they can lead you into trouble.

The Good: Where AI for SEO Shines

1. Batch Tasks Made Easy: Need meta descriptions for hundreds of pages? AI can draft

   them in seconds. Feed it the page title, headings, and a short summary, and you’ll get unique snippets ready to tweak.

2. Content Health Check: AI can scan your text against Google’s helpful content rules. It flags sections that sound thin or too promotional, so you know what to improve.

3. Headline and Title Ideas: Stuck on article titles? Give AI a quick brief and it will suggest several options. Use these for inspiration or refine them yourself.

4. Outlines and Briefs: An AI-generated skeleton for a blog post or report helps you get started. Then you fill in the expert details to make it truly unique.

5. Schema Snippets: Creating schema markup by hand can be tedious. AI can draft the JSON-LD for common types like FAQs or product info. You just check the fields and paste.

6. Rewriting and Summaries: From paraphrasing awkward sentences to creating concise summaries, AI can help polish your writing or draft a “TL;DR” section.

7. Regex and Code Support: Need a regular expression or a snippet of code? AI can draft and debug it in moments, saving hours of manual work.

8. Meeting Notes and Action Items: Upload a transcript of your call and ask for key takeaways. AI will pull out tasks and next steps so nothing slips through.

9. Creative Boost for Ads: For paid ads or social posts, AI can suggest headlines, descriptions, and even emojis to match your brand tone.

The Bad: Handle with Care

1. Blind Content Generation: Letting AI write whole articles without review is risky. It can sound credible but mix in errors or repeated phrases. Always fact-check and add your own insights.

2. False Audits: AI can mimic an SEO audit but won’t catch deep technical issues or account for your site’s unique setup. Use real tools and expert review for audits.

3. Shallow Analysis: Asking AI to interpret raw data won’t replace specialized analytics. It can summarize numbers, but you need real analytics platforms and expert insight to find meaningful trends.

4. Intent Classification Errors: AI may misread user intent or miss nuances in search behavior. Trust tools built specifically for keyword intent research and validate with real-world testing.

The Ugly: Don’t Go There

1. Fortune-Telling with AI: Asking AI to predict future traffic or rankings is folly. It only knows what’s happened in the data it was trained on. Use forecasting tools and market data instead.

2. One-Size-Fits-All Strategy: AI can draft a generic marketing plan, but it won’t know your budget, team skills, or market risks. Strategy needs your unique business context.

3. Full Keyword Research: While AI can suggest keywords, it can’t access up-to-date search volumes or competition. Stick with professional keyword tools for reliable data.

Some Closing Thoughts

• Generative AI can be a powerful ally in your SEO toolkit, but it can’t replace your expertise.

• Clear, detailed prompts bring better results (garbage in, garbage out).

• Always double-check what the AI gives you before you use it.