AI Keyword Research Tools: Gemini, ChatGPT, and More
Keyword research is the heart and soul of SEO science, but dedicated SEO tools are cost-prohibitive for most in-house marketers and small agencies. As ChatGPT and Gemini improve, more marketers turn to AI for keyword research, using specific prompts to generate quality keyword lists to support new and existing pages.
We’ve put together a few of the best AI keyword tools for SEO research to make your research faster, more relevant, and smarter than ever before.
The Best AI-Powered Keyword Research Tools
There are numerous dedicated AI tools for SEO keyword research, including several free options. These are excellent tools for marketers who don’t have a Semrush or Moz account but still understand the value of finding the right keywords to create or optimize content. We’ve found a few reliable AI-powered keyword tools to try, plus some bigger-named options that also work remarkably well.
SEO.AI
The free version of this tool is bare-bones but effective for finding a range of keywords for your domain. It’s very simple to use, requiring only a detailed description of your business or a specific product or service. There are paid versions with additional features, including the ability to run a site-wide content analysis to discover new content ideas and the keywords to support them. It can also write new content, although our limited testing shows it may not be ready for prime time in that department.
One drawback of SEO.AI is the lack of details for each keyword. The free version lacks keyword volume, difficulty, or the ability to view the live search engine results page (SERP) to see which domains currently rank for the recommended terms.
Quattr
Quattr will get you one step closer to in-depth keyword research with a free tool that provides estimated keyword volume and difficulty data. However, you’re limited to just a few searches before being prompted to start a trial account.
Quattr also has a keyword clustering tool that is very similar to Semrush’s. This feature clusters groups of related keywords based on user intent and topic, essentially mapping out which keywords should “live” together on site pages. It also lets you export keyword lists and groups to Excel or .csv files, so you can keep them well-organized as you work.
How Do These AI Tools Stack Up to Established Software?
These tools are incredibly useful for quick checks or for building content for a new site, but they lack the nuance of dedicated SEO tools.
It’s telling that even dedicated SEO software like Semrush and Ahrefs are integrating AI functionality into their platforms. Combining generative AI with the massive datasets these companies have generated presents an exceptional opportunity to identify and organize keywords quickly and prioritize terms that make the most sense for your domain, accounting for things like:
- Location
- Industry
- Competitors
- User Intent
To be clear, experienced SEOs account for these things while conducting keyword research. AI streamlines the process, freeing up more time to write, optimize, or ideate new ways to utilize content as part of your comprehensive content marketing strategy.
However, unless you’re doing SEO optimizations day in and day out (like us), these tools are probably too expensive to justify to higher-ups. That’s one reason why we offer keyword gap analysis and related competitor research to clients; it makes more cents for us to do it!
Using Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT for Keyword Research
Absolutely no offense to SEO.AI or Quattr, but the best AI for keyword research comes from Google and OpenAI. And with good reason: Google expects to spend over $100 billion on AI over the next few years. OpenAI has tapped Amazon, Microsoft, and other investors to fund its approximately $9.5 billion annual costs for training, running, and building ChatGPT.
With nearly $10 billion spent, can tools like ChatGPT do keyword research?
Yes. And also, no.
How to Use AI for Keyword Research
If you’re doing keyword research using AI, always remember two things:
- The more specific the prompt, the higher quality response.
- As a large language model, these tools only “know” what they’ve scraped. That increases the risk of getting potentially out-of-date keywords or missing out on newer words or phrases.
Start Big, Then Drill Down
Asking ChatGPT or Gemini for a list of keywords will give you exactly that: broad keywords with little to no organization or context. Instead, tell ChatGPT to break a broader concept into more specific topics. For example, try asking it to talk about bike fit.
It might break it into digestible concepts like:
- Bike sizing and geometry
- Saddle height and position
- Handlebar height, reach, and width
- Crank length
- Professional vs. DIY bike fits
- Women’s-specific fitting
ChatGPT Keyword Clustering: Get Specific
Now you’re ready to look for keywords! Work through your topics to generate keywords for each topic. Remember, be specific and ask for a mix of short and long-tail keywords, such as:
- saddle position – 260 US-based Google searches per month
- saddle height – 170
- how to adjust saddle height – 20
- cycling saddle height for beginners – Less than 10
Note that ChatGPT won’t include search volume data, but we checked four of the 10 ChatGPT keywords generated using Semrush, and hey, that’s pretty solid!
Of course, tools like Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT won’t include the contextual data offered by dedicated SEO software, but it does provide useful keywords to get you started. That means you’ll have to do a lot of additional research to see how your competitors target certain terms, and which websites hold top positions on the SERP.
AI-assisted keyword research does present some blind spots for marketers, especially if you already have a robust website.
- Site search: Before you write, do a site search to see if you already have the content recommended by ChatGPT to avoid keyword cannibalization or writing multiple pages on a single topic.
- User Intent: Put yourself in the user’s shoes and decide what you really mean when you search for a particular team. Keywords are often classified as commercial or transactional (ready to convert), navigational (trying to find a specific resource), or informational (looking to learn more about a topic). It’s best to put commercial and transactional keywords on service or product pages, while informational keywords are perfect for blogs.
AI Is Still Scratching the Surface of SEO
While useful, free keyword research tools barely touch the many facets of rigorous SEO research. Our experienced SEOs have the tools and experience to discover exciting organic keyword opportunities supported by a comprehensive strategy that aligns with your business objectives. See what nearly three decades of industry-leading expertise can do for your brand; schedule a conversation today or call (231) 922-9977 today to get started.
