Chatbots aren’t new today, and frankly, neither is artificial intelligence (AI). But the new AI-powered chatbot from OpenAI is scarily realistic in its behavior. ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that provides lengthy, thoughtful, and thorough responses to questions and prompts. It’s so life-like in its detailed answers that it’s got some of the biggest digital leaders wondering if it’s going to have a transformative impact on the digital world.
It’s also raised concerns. Namely, could ChatGPT disrupt current creative and marketing industry practices? Could ChatGPT impact SEO and how Google values content types? Could ChatGPT create a negative impact and spread misinformation when providing answers? (The ABC 7 article notes it has and does in fact provide inaccurate responses at times.)
What is ChatGPT? How Does It Work?
ChatGPT is a large learning model, which means it’s trained on vast amounts of data and the more it learns, the more powerful and predictive it can be.
ChatGPT creates its responses from the massive amount of information online, and users who sign up for ChatGPT online. Once signed up, users can ask the AI system a range of questions or summarize difficult concepts. It can even handle open-ended questions or create new versions of existing content.
For example, one article notes that some people have used it to create an AP English exam question or a 90s-style rewrite of “Baby Got Back” in The Canterbury Tales style.
Essentially, ChatGPT may be a newer way to get immediate answers online, as well as automate the creation of some content pieces such as essay questions or songs.
How will ChatGPT Impact SEO and Content Marketing?
SEO and content marketing has been around a long time. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last decade, it’s that no matter what new technology or tool comes out, consumers in any industry will always value high-quality, relevant content first.
So where does ChatGPT come in? Well we see a few potential ways ChatGPT can impact SEO and content marketing in its current state.
ChatGPT could make it easier to get answers
While it can’t yet provide strategy, ChatGPT is capable of organizing topics and keywords, as well as determining FAQs and sorting data. It can also create meta descriptions, which honestly may be a boon for some marketers.
ChatGPT could expedite research for blogs and other content
With its ability to process vast amounts of information, ChatGPT could help content marketing professionals streamline research and investigation phases. Now, that comes with a caveat. ChatGPT may be able to field a variety of questions, but it’s not always accurate. Manual fact-checking will still be key. The potential issue of spreading misinformation, means you will need to use ChatGPT carefully, strategically, and in all honestly, sparingly. Moreover, always check its responses against verified resources.
ChatGPT could help or harm SEO - it’s not sure yet
What we don’t know yet is how ChatGPT will help or harm brands’ SEO. It could help by pulling in a brand’s content (like a blog or landing page) as part of a response to a user’s question. Or it could it hurt it, by developing a custom answer with no sourcing whatsoever, and over time, the immediacy of the ChatGPT output could lead to online users preferring ChatGPT to traditional search tools like Google or Bing. The risk with this is that brands could see traffic numbers drop, SEO rankings decrease, and content performance metrics nosedive. Moreover, the risk of misinformation is possible here.
But another win in ChatGPT’s favor, is that it can be used for creating and structuring content, or to rank keywords based on search intent.
Will ChatGPT Impact Ad Performance?
Good news here. ChatGPT may help marketers by creating more personalized and targeted advertisements. The language model could help companies create ads more tailored to individual interests, behaviors, and preferences. Consequently, marketers who employ this strategy may see higher engagement rates on content and other promoted elements.
This is likely a futuristic possibility as currently ChatGPT is not yet able to access real-time data. In the meantime though, marketers creating ads should look at ChatGPT responses to popular questions they use for focus-audience groups and see if they should adjust headline, copy, or CTAs to better match the more humanistic and (sometimes comical) style of ChatGPT.
Should I Use ChatGPT?
Our advice is that it’s a good thing to consider, but it’s a resource that should be carefully evaluated and used very responsibly.
If you’d like to talk more about whether or not ChatGPT is a good idea for your brand, or need help to develop strategies around content marketing and SEO, contact us here to get a free consultation.
