We’ve turned the page on 2023, a year marked by the meteoric rise of AI-driven tools and their significant impact on the SEO landscape.
As we begin to navigate our SEO strategies in 2024, it’s time to embrace these tools and supercharge our SEO tool stack.
Don’t think of this as the robot uprising, another chapter in a long history of technologies that have “threatened” SEO as we know it. Instead, consider this an empowering evolution.
By learning to coexist with AI and weaving AI-driven technologies into our tool stack, we can be more powerful and significantly more efficient as SEOs.
Below, we’ll review a selection of top AI SEO tools, covering free, freemium, and premium tools with a breakdown of their features and example use cases.
The power of AI chatbots
The age of AI content creation is upon us. While that’s where AI chatbots, like Bard and ChatGPT, entered the scene, that’s not solely where their capabilities reside.
These powerhouse platforms can supercharge your SEO toolkit on their own. But, when paired with robust plugins and other AI tools, you can take your SEO strategies to the next level.
Google Bard: Your free AI companion
While not the first competitor in the chatbot arena, Bard has emerged as a significant player. Bard’s strength lies in harnessing Google’s extensive dataset, including real-time web data, to provide deep insights.
Top use cases:
Use Google to brainstorm content ideas and generate optimized content. Don’t sleep on using Google itself to generate titles and meta descriptions.
Take the guesswork out of schema markup. Bard can generate schema based on the latest schema.org standards. Make sure to validate any produced schema with schema.org’s schema validation tool.
Identify your website’s top competitors and analyze their content, backlink profiles, etc.
Dive deeper into Google algorithm updates and their impact on your site.
Remember: Bard is a powerful tool, but it is still an emerging technology with limitations. While Bard has the propensity to provide insightful, actionable recommendations, it can also provide recommendations that seem logical but may be inaccurate. Always exercise your judgment and expertise when utilizing Bard and any AI tool.
License options: Free
Dig deeper: How to use Google Bard for better SEO
Leveling up ChatGPT with plugins
OpenAI made history by releasing the first publicly available large language model through ChatGPT, igniting the AI revolution for SEOs.
Even in its free form with GPT-3.5, ChatGPT provides SEOs with a powerful tool for generating high-quality, SEO-friendly content – blog posts, product descriptions, catching headlines, you name it.
GPT-4, available through ChatGPT Plus, drastically expands the tool’s capabilities by introducing plugins that enable deeper insights and more powerful, targeted content creation.
Below, we’ll outline three ChatGPT plugins and extensions.
License options: Freemium (ChatGPT Plus offers users access to GPT-4, which opens up the plugin marketplace.)
Bramework: Your SEO blueprint architect
While they’re a robust AI content generation platform in its own right, the company’s ChatGPT plugin takes optimization guidance to the next level.
Top use cases:
Quickly build a comprehensive SEO blueprint for any webpage on your site. Identify what the page does well and what needs to be improved for SEO.
Craft SEO-friendly blog post outlines with keyword suggestions, structured headings, and optimized content flows.
Analyze a SERP to understand what types of content are currently ranking for your target keywords.
You can even conduct keyword discovery and cluster analysis.
License options: Free with ChatGPT Plus
Noteable: Deeper data analysis with ChatGPT
Noteable is a collaborative notebook for data analysis, using Python, R, and SQL. But, with the help of its ChatGPT plugin, you don’t need to know these languages to manipulate and analyze your data.
Simply import one or more data sheets, connect Noteable to ChatGPT, and run prompts that can engage with and make changes to your dataset. That last piece is key, as ChatGPT’s Google Sheets connector can only consume data, not write to your sheet.
Further, if you run into issues with configuration, ChatGPT will work to correct the setup or provide you with the necessary steps.
Top use case:
The top use case for Noteable is simple – data analysis. Use this tool to analyze complex datasets and derive actionable insights.
For example, you can quickly cull down a list of thousands of keywords by analyzing specific trends. In this example, I uploaded a dataset of all ranking keyword data for a particular domain from Semrush.
Output 1 was a scatterplot of all ranking keywords, color-coded by keyword difficulty.
Output 2 was a list of all keywords identified as moderate volume, lower to moderate keyword difficulty ranking in striking distance. This identified a list of keywords that would be quick wins that we could action on immediately.
License options: Freemium, though the $0 Starter license covers almost everything you’ll need for SEO analysis.
AIPRM: Unlock ChatGPT with predefined prompts
ChatGPT’s capabilities can be exponentially expanded with AIPRM, an open-source library of expertly crafted prompts designed to unlock ChatGPT’s full potential.
Simply activate this free Chrome extension, which will activate a new interface when you next use ChatGPT. Choose from a series of proven prompts focused on SEO activities, like:
Keyword strategy: Create a keyword strategy and SEO content plan from 1 [KEYWORD]
Outrank article: Outrank the competition with an in-depth, SEO-optimized article based on [YOUR COMPETITOR URL].
Content calendar: Get a beautifully organized 4-week content calendar that targets your primary keyword using only transaction longtail keywords.
License options: Free (While AIPRM is free, some prompts require a ChatGPT Plus subscription to use GPT-3.5-turbo or GPT-4.)
BulkGPT: Batch content creation
Where we start to gain efficiency is in chaining together ChatGPT commands. Enter BulkGPT, a robust AI workflow tool designed to chain together ChatGPT, Bing search, and web scrape jobs to simplify even the most cumbersome or complex SEO tasks.
Top use case:
Generating content in bulk is where BulkGPT really shines. Imagine a 200-page website where you must create 200 optimized titles and meta descriptions.
Before ChatGPT, this would be a manual, page-by-page process. After ChatGPT, this was still a fairly manual process as you had ChatGPT process one page at a time.
With BulkGPT, you can import a list of webpages, use the web scraping utility to extract each page’s content, and then use the ChatGPT utility to rapidly generate 200+ titles and meta descriptions.
Use BulkGPT where bulk actions are necessary for SEO:
Generating titles and meta descriptions for a full site.
Crafting unique product descriptions for an entire product catalog.
For distributed location businesses, like franchise organizations, build unique localized content for all locations at scale.
License options: Freemium. Usage is token based. The free account includes 200 tokens and can complete up to 100 tasks per batch.
A different take: Diving into Claude AI
No SEO will question Bard and ChatGPT’s dominance in AI content creation. Claude AI isn’t looking to replace these tools. Instead, this tool offers a distinct approach that prioritizes factual accuracy and research capabilities.
Where other AI chatbots can be prone to creative embellishments, Claude prioritizes factual accuracy, with outputs backed by reliable sources. This makes it ideal for creating authoritative content in fields like science, finance and history – where accuracy is essential.
License options: Free
Spotlight on AI content creation and optimization tools
Discussions around AI content creation and optimization are often crowded by the well-known giants, ChatGPT and Bard.
While these tools have rightfully gained their seat at the head of the table, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Many AI-driven platforms offer unique features catering to content creation and optimization.
Surfer: The content powerhouse
Surfer distinguishes itself as far more than an AI writing assistant; it’s a robust suite of content tools specifically tailored for SEOs intent on dominating search engine rankings.
This platform goes beyond the basics, offering an integrated approach to content optimization, AI-powered keyword clustering, and even AI-driven content creation.
Surfer currently includes these tools:
Content Editor: The first and still the most powerful of Surfer’s offerings, this helps you write smarter by utilizing ranking and keyword data to score your content for optimal ranking potential.
Audit: Analyzes your webpage for all SEO opportunities. Like with Bramework, the output is a roadmap to SEO success for the webpage.
SERP Analyzer: Find commonalities of top rankers by examining all ranking factors individually.
AI Writer: While not significantly different from other AI writing tools, its integration within Surfer and the Content Editor further streamlines your content creation.
Keyword Research: The AI-powered keyword clustering in Surfer is second to none when it comes to building a content strategy.
License options: Premium, starting at $119/month.
Semrush AI Writing Assistant and Content Template
If Semrush is already integrated into your SEO tool kit, consider weaving in their AI tools, including their AI Writing Assistant app and SEO Content Template solution.
AI Writing Assistant
The tool excels at specialized content creation, including:
FAQ answers.
Product descriptions.
Blog ideas.
Content rewriter.
Titles and meta descriptions. (Though consider BulkGPT to handle this at scale.)
And 70+ more prompts.
For each prompt, the AI Writing Assistant will output a variety of responses, allowing you to choose the best to fit your needs.
SEO Content Template
Part of Semrush’s core offering, this lets you generate SEO-ready content briefs in seconds based on your target keyword.
Semrush also allows you to open the brief in their SEO Writing Assistant, which offers content scoring similar to Surfer’s Content Editor.
License options: Premium. For the AI Writing Assistant, all Semrush plans include 1,500 words free and then $25/month for unlimited content creation. The SEO Content Template and Writing Assistant are included in the Guru level plans and up.
Free and premium content creation alternatives
Every SEO has different content needs and different areas of expertise. Finding the right content creation tool is like discovering the perfect coffee blend – it suits your distinct taste or needs and energizes your creativity.
Here is an assortment of premium content creation tools that are worth considering:
NeuronWriter (Premium): An alternative to Surfer’s Content Editor and AI Writer. NeuronWriter offers more introductory pricing with plans starting at $19/month.
ScaleNut (Premium): Another Surfer alternative that adds keyword tracking capabilities. Pricing is similar to NeuronWriter with plans starting at $18/month.
Frase (Premium): The champion of long-form content, ideal for lengthy blog posts and ebooks. Starting at $14.99/month.
Reword (Premium): Another specialty solution for long-form content, like blog posts and articles. Starting at $39/month.
Jasper (Premium): Handles a wide range of content creation needs from blog posts to social media copy to marketing emails. Starting at $39/month.
Ahrefs AI Writing Tools (Free): A similar offering to Semrush’s AI Writing Assistant, with a more limited set of prompts.
Copy.ai (Freemium): Another alternative to the content generation tools, but with 10 free credits per month.
ChatGPT and Bard: Let’s not forget about these powerhouses we tackled at the beginning of the article.
Generate dynamic images and videos
The majority of this article has focused on copy-related content creation. Words are powerful in SEO, but sometimes, they need a visual sidekick.
As we enter the realm of AI-generated imagery and video, we dive into the space’s top contenders and their key differences.
Midjourney: Mastering realistic images and artistic expression
Midjourney is an AI-powered image generator known for its blend of surreal, artistic renderings and impressive realistic images.
Image prompt tests: I tested both Midjourney and DALL-E with the same image prompt covering a realistic robot outdoors, a rendering of an SEO network map, mountain brewery artwork, and a tree logo. Midjourney shined with realistic and artistic prompts but struggled with more business-focused prompts.
Getting started: Unlike other image generation tools, Midjourney requires a Discord account for access, integrating its functionality directly within the popular communication platform. This setup might present a learning curve for new users but is a one-time process. Prompts for generating and accessing assets are then run directly within the various Discord Midjourney channels.
License options: Premium. Midjourney starts at $8/mo for approximately 200 images (based on total GPU processing time per month). Paid plans include commercial licenses for all images generated.
DALL-E 3: Integrating image generation with ChatGPT
DALL-E 3, a creation of OpenAI – the innovators behind ChatGPT – represents a significant leap in AI-powered image generation, particularly from its predecessor.
After the previous iteration of DALL-E (DALL-E 2) faced challenges in producing commercially viable images, OpenAI made a robust comeback with the release of DALL-E 3.
DALL-E 3 is now seamlessly integrated with ChatGPT, available in open beta for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. This integration allows users to generate images directly within the ChatGPT interface, with particular strength in creating non-realistic, imaginative renderings.
Image prompt tests: In the same image prompt tests as Midjourney, DALL-E 3 produced compelling visual renderings across the range of more imaginative prompts – the SEO network map, mountain brewery art, and tree logo.
Getting started: Starting with DALL-E 3 is a breeze for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The tool is already integrated with GPT-4, so users can initiate the process by simply beginning a new prompt within ChatGPT.
License options: Premium. A ChatGPT Plus subscription is required, but there are no additional fees. ChatGPT Plus includes commercial licenses for all images generated.
Transform blog posts into dynamic videos with Pictory
AI-powered content creation is not just for copy and images. Turn your engaging content into captivating videos in minutes with Pictory, the AI-powered video creation platform.
Pictory uses AI to transform content into a video by breaking your content into a storyboard, identifying on-screen headlines and summary sentences, and assigning relevant images and video footage. Once your video is built, you can change the visuals and template or add music and a voice-over.
Pictory harnesses AI technology to transform your written content into a video format quickly. The process begins by breaking down the content into a storyboard format. Pictory’s AI then identifies key headlines and summary sentences, laying the foundation for the visual narrative.
It further assigns contextually relevant images and video footage to complement the text. You can customize your video with additional visual options, music, and even a voice-over.
Top use case: Build an engaging video directly from a blog post. Enter your URL and Pictory will scrape the content and start building.
License options: Premium, starting at $19/month.
Beyond content and images: Keyword research, link building and more
While the earlier sections of this article have equipped you with AI tools to significantly boost your content and image game for SEO, it’s crucial to remember that the scope of SEO extends far beyond just these elements.
Internal link building, keyword research, audience and competitor research, and even complete SEO automation can be tackled with the tools reviewed in this section.
Link Whisper
Google is looking for sites that provide high-quality, engaging, and authoritative content across the entire website, and the primary way to showcase that is through a strong internal link strategy.
In the past, we’ve built our internal link strategies around scraping an entire site’s content through Screaming Frog and running topical analysis in spreadsheets to identify keywords within the content that could be used for internal anchor links. This process is effective but tremendously cumbersome.
Enter Link Whisper. For WordPress and Shopify sites, Link Whisper is an internal link automation platform that digests your site’s content along with your target keywords for each page and outputs a series of internal link recommendations. After your approval, Link Whisper will then place the links permanently on the site.
License options: Premium, $97 for a single site with discounts for multi-site licenses.
Keyword Everywhere
Directly within the SERP, Keywords Everywhere builds an interactive map of the keyword landscape for the query.
This Chrome extension is invaluable when identifying long-tail keyword opportunities to jump-start any keyword research initiative. It can also provide SERP insights like People Also Search For queries and trend charts.
Keywords Everywhere can also unlock competitor insights from their specific pages. Visit a high-ranking competitor page and use the Chrome extension to analyze the page content, identify top-ranking keywords for the page, or get a full list of the website’s top-ranking pages.
License options: Premium, but very low cost. Plans start at $1.25/month.
HARPA AI
There’s little that HARPA AI can’t do when it comes to transforming your SEO workflow. Think of HARPA AI as your trusted AI SEO companion, equipped to tackle a myriad of SEO challenges with efficiency and insight.
HARPA AI is a unique Chrome extension that adds the power of ChatGPT, Bard, and ClaudeAI directly to your browser – navigating any SEO activity you can think of through an AI-powered chat.
Open HARPA AI, navigate to All Comands, click the SEO tab, and see what HARPA can do.
The one limitation of HARPA AI is that it does require text input for larger SEO analysis tasks, such as keyword density analysis and keyword clustering.
In this case, you need to paste a copy of your competitor’s article directly into the HARPI AI chat to conduct your analysis.
License options: Freemium. Harpa AI’s free version can tackle a wide variety of SEO tasks. True power users may want to consider the Premium license for unlimited use.
Search Engine Land SearchBot
Don’t forget to add an educational component to your SEO tool stack. SearchBot is a generative AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT and trained on over 20,000 Search Engine Land articles.
This SEO knowledge base makes the SearchBot a powerful tool for generating SEO advice, recommendations, and insights.
As with standalone ChatGPT, your output will be as strong as your prompts.
License options: Free. Search Engine Land users receive 25,000 tokens per month.
Harnessing the full potential of AI in SEO
As SEO experts, we understand our field’s relentless pace of change. The advent of AI is not just another wave to ride; it’s a seismic shift in how we approach our craft.
Embracing the AI tools we’ve discussed is not just about keeping up – it’s about leading the charge. These innovations offer us a unique opportunity to supercharge our SEO tool stack and redefine efficiency and effectiveness in our strategies.
The future of SEO is here, and it’s powered by AI.
All pricing showcased in this article was at the time of publication. Software pricing is subject to change at any time.
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