Why Is SEO Content Writing Crucial for Businesses?
At the time of this writing, Artificial Intelligence is all the rage. Platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and CoPilot have become an inexpensive and hasty solution to content creation needs. The unintended consequence was flooding the internet with mediocre content. It is estimated that in 2025, 90-99% of internet content will be AI-generated.
Today, AI-generated content is being evaluated by AI for its SEO validity, and soon, with Search Generative Experience (SGE) — the infusion of AI into search engines to produce a more conversational path to find content – AI will be doing more than ever. But will it meet the needs of actual readers?
The widespread presence of bland and unopinionated AI-generated content has prompted Google to begin deindexing sites filled predominantly with such material. This action isn’t driven by a bias against AI-created content per se but by a commitment to ensure that users have access to high-quality and meaningful experiences online
Fahrenheit Marketing fully embraces the use of technologies that advance business but not at the expense of quality. With SEO running deep in our veins, we are keenly aware of changes to SEO and more broadly, how users are experiencing digital content. We’re your trusted watchdog for content quality as AI takes the stage.
This article covers the basics of SEO for content writing and how AI can be leveraged to improve your writing process. At this time, we do not recommend giving carte blanche to any generative AI technology.
However, this doesn’t mean we shy away from utilizing AI; in fact, we advocate for its use as a supportive tool. Continue reading to discover how AI intersects with the core principles of SEO writing. By understanding these principles and integrating AI into your research, you’re poised to become a more effective content creator.
What Are the Key Components of Effective SEO Writing?
Effective SEO writing is a sophisticated blend of art and science, designed to meet the searcher’s intent while signaling to search engines what your content is about.
At its core, SEO is and will always be about giving readers what they want: when you do this well, search engines reward you by featuring your content for snippets and placing your content higher on the search engine results page (SERP).
There are also technical SEO variables that affect placement, not just the words on the page. But the words are the heaviest factor in that calculation, so that’s where we focus now. Fahrenheit Marketing definitely has some hints, tips, and tricks for technical SEO as well. We only promote techniques that are ethically sound and not shortcuts which can have a dramatic impact.
When we evaluate content through an SEO lens, often long after it was originally published, we look for ways that search engines have changed along with the ways that readers have modified their browsing behaviors when we revise evergreen content.
Similarly, when writing novel content, we look at lots of variables, starting of course, with the goal and the audience, then we explore how to speak of the topic, the competition or how crowded the market is, and what unique perspective our content can bring that isn’t being addressed by others.
In the next sections, we examine how AI can assist writing in terms of:
- Discovering user intent
- Search terms and phrases your audience uses
- Keyword and longtail phrase research
- Finding less competitive keywords
- Discovering the demand for your topic
What is User Intent In SEO Terms?
One adjacent term to the top/middle/bottom-funnel strategy is user intent. User intent is all about matching searchers with content that is appropriate for them, based on their search query into informational, navigational, and transactional. Informational searches seek knowledge, navigational searches aim to find a specific product/service/website, and transactional searches are conducted with the intent to make a purchase or complete an action.
Through natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, AI systems can analyze search patterns, query contexts, and user interaction data to infer the underlying intent behind searches. Further, search engines are paying attention to your browsing history, so they are more likely to serve you content that is most appropriate for your stage in the buyer’s journey.
Incorporating AI into SEO and content writing strategies enables businesses to create more relevant, targeted, and effective content. By leveraging AI for advanced insights into search volume trends and user intent, marketers can optimize their content for both search engines and users, driving higher engagement and conversions.
Search engines are pretty good at determining what content users are ready for, but is it clear from your content what intent it links with? Your task is to transform your thinking about content creation and curation to meet these funnel-specific goals. Use the right rhetoric to clue in both readers and search engines to your content’s purpose.
Utilize specific terms in your headings to alert the search engines what the purpose is for your content. Do not attempt to be clever with your headings. They exist for a purpose – to communicate the section’s intent.
Notice the section headings in this article. They are written in the form of questions to align with this top-of-funnel article. They use informational signals to the search engines like the words what, why, and how. With these in place, search engines understand that this blog article is not meant to convert but to educate.
Which User Intent Terms Should You Use in SEO Writing?
Here are several words that communicate your purpose clearly to the search engines for each funnel phase:
- Top of Funnel and Informational: what? why? and how?
- Middle of Funnel and Navigational: which? where? difference, best, highest-rated
- Bottom of Funnel and Transactional: Near me, on sale, providing, offering, available, try/buy now
Now that you have wrapped your head around the goal of your content, let’s examine the nuts and bolts of SEO writing and how AI can help. AI can be your friend. Feeding your content into a generative AI platform can help identify its purpose and the likely audience. This analysis helps refine content creation.
How Can You Leverage Searcher Questions and Phrases for SEO
Searcher questions and phrases in SEO refer to the specific queries and sentences that potential visitors enter into search engines or ask digital assistants. These questions and phrases are invaluable for understanding the nuance and intent behind searches, enabling content creators to tailor their content to answer these queries directly.
Identifying popular and relevant questions can guide content development, making it more likely to appear in search results and more importantly meet the user’s needs. But that’s not all: knowing the particular way your audience searches for information (as discovered in your ICP or buyer persona research) should give you an indication of what they are typing into their search engines.
We don’t all use the same search terms. And that’s a good thing. You can easily imagine the nuanced difference between a search by a novice and that of a veteran when it comes to finding your products. When writing, think about those search terms and the questions readers will have. By writing for those subtle differences, you are more likely to be shown to the right audience.
Likewise, searches that embrace the demographic and socio-economic differences in the way we search may get your product in front of the correct eyes, even if it is not as many eyes: at the end of the day, it is the conversion you want. Learn to anticipate and appeal to your readers. Do you have more than one market segment? You should be writing content to appeal to each segment, even on the same topic.
Example Prompt for Researching Searcher Questions and Phrases with Generative AI:
AI tools, particularly those specializing in natural language processing, can analyze search data to identify common questions and phrases related to specific topics. AI uncovers patterns and trends in the types of questions users are asking. This insight allows content creators to prioritize content topics and formats that are most likely to meet the needs of their target audience.
Take this example prompt: “Generate a list of [awareness-level] questions and phrases related to [specific topic] that users are searching for online.”
By focusing on answering these questions, businesses can create content that not only ranks well in search engines but also genuinely serves the needs and interests of their audience. When users stay engaged with your content longer, the authority score of your site increases. By fulfilling reader expectations, search engines are more inclined to serve your answers to more people.
How Do You Perform Keyword Research with AI?
Keyword research is where it all began: people wanted to know which words were appearing in searches most often and then stuffed their content (sometimes without being germane to the real topic of their content) with those words. SEO has come a long way, as have the AI capabilities of the search engines.
Assuming you’ve done your audience research, let’s look at how AI tools can help you maximize your keyword usage. This is especially valuable as you observe other engagement trends with your content through tools like Google’s Search Console that demonstrate how users first find your site and which keywords seem to be performing well.
AI tools streamline the keyword research process, identifying high-value keywords, long-tail phrases, and variations. Platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz utilize AI to predict keyword trends, analyze competition, and suggest content opportunities. Integrating AI into keyword research can uncover untapped niches and align content strategies with search demand.
What are Keywords and Long-Tail Phrases?
Keyword research is a fundamental SEO task identifying popular words and phrases people enter into search engines. This process isn’t only finding the most searched terms but understanding the competition and relevance of these terms to your content and the language your target audience uses. Aligning your content with their search behaviors improves visibility and drives targeted traffic to your site.
AI sifts through massive datasets to identify emerging trends, understand context, and predict the effectiveness of specific keywords and long-tail phrases. Long-tail phrases are more specific and often less competitive combinations of keywords that can attract a more targeted audience.
AI-driven tools offer a competitive advantage in SEO by automating the discovery of keywords and long-tail phrases, saving time, and providing insights that might not be apparent through manual research. By utilizing AI for keyword research, marketers can craft content strategies that are data-driven, highly targeted, and dynamically aligned with search trends and user intent, leading to enhanced SEO performance and user engagement.
But beware: tools like ChatGPT are often trained on datasets that are months and years old, meaning they are based on a snapshot of the internet from a precise moment in the past. Contemporary trends require up-to-date research. For those, you’ll need a different approach. Marketers leverage subscription services and the knowledge of how to interpret the data it yields to fine-tune messaging to bolster their organic search performance.
Example Prompt for Keyword Research with Generative AI:
Generative AI can streamline the keyword research process by generating a comprehensive list of relevant keywords and long-tail phrases.
Take this example: “Generate a list of keywords and long-tail phrases related to [specific topic] that have high potential for traffic but moderate to low competition.”
But the list that it provides is simply a starting point. The tools currently only focus on one command at a time without fully considering the breadth of variables including past content, future content, and the nuance of your USP. Someday, AI will understand you and your customers better, but for now, it is underwhelming, even when you take the time to train it or create specific rules for it to follow. The technology, as of this writing, is not sufficient to craft perfect messaging. A trained marketer will combine intuition and research, and then iterate with data-based feedback to hone the messaging.
What is Keyword Difficulty in SEO?
Understanding and analyzing keyword competition and difficulty is crucial for crafting a successful content strategy. Paying attention to these metrics helps identify how challenging it will be to rank for specific keywords, guiding the allocation of resources and efforts effectively.
Keyword competition refers to how many sites are vying for top rankings with the same keyword, while keyword difficulty assesses how hard it is to rank based on factors like backlinks and domain authority. They are similar concepts, and both can inform how aggressive you would need to be if the goal is higher SERP placement.
Semantic reasoning and taking an indirect route, such as targeting related-but-less-competitive keywords, can often lead to better engagement and conversions. This approach leverages understanding the context and variations of language your audience uses, bypassing the highly sought-after terms for more niche, relevant opportunities.
Example Prompt for Alternative Keywords Research with Generative AI:
Generative AI assesses both competition and difficulty. It can suggest strategic keywords that balance high-potential traffic against lower competition. An effective prompt for using generative AI in this context might be:
“Generate a list of related but less-competitive [funnel-phase] keywords for [topic], considering semantic variations and search intent for [market segment/demographic].”
This method ensures content is optimized not just for search engines but resonates deeply with the intended audience, driving both visibility and engagement. For some keywords, it is unlikely that a newer site or one with less authority would rank for broad or highly competitive keywords. Targeting keywords with an appropriate level of difficulty for your site’s authority can maximize the efficiency of your SEO strategy, balancing effort with potential reward.
Knowing the syntax and the words your customers use can help you reach your particular audience. Remember, search engines show each person a different set of results based on their previous search history and internet browsing habits. Embrace this to allow your content to be written for your specific audience and not every person on the web. You may not capture ALL the traffic, but you are more likely to capture the right traffic.
Now, don’t forget that generative AI tools can ‘hallucinate,’ a term used to describe AI’s tendency to give an authoritative answer that may not be accurate. With confidence, AI chatbots will deliver answers that you may at first glance assume to be true. Be cautious and double-check its answers with reliable sources like SEMrush.
What Difference Does Search Volume Make in SEO?
Search volume is a critical metric in SEO, reflecting the number of searches for a specific keyword over a given period. High search volume indicates a high interest or demand for content related to that keyword. You might at first believe that a high-volume term is ideal. But only use it if it is actually relevant to your topic.
Targeting high-volume keywords without considering relevance can lead to increased traffic without corresponding engagement or conversions. A high bounce rate with brief sessions is a negative indicator for search engines that your site doesn’t offer value to viewers who search for that topic. This can lead to a lower trust score and lower SERP results. This is another exemplification of the value of knowing your audience, how they search, and what they are looking for.
AI can segment search volume data by demographics, search intent, and user behavior, providing a more nuanced understanding of potential traffic sources. This insight allows for high-targeted content creation that is more likely to attract engaged visitors. Unfortunately, this level of real-time data is currently only available through subscription services, making a partnership with a marketing agency ideal, if even to prepare content briefs and conduct SEO research.
Example Prompt for Researching Search Volume Using Generative AI:
Generative AI analyzes and generates content that aligns with current search trends by incorporating user-specified keywords. It can suggest related keywords and phrases based on the context of the initial query, helping to expand the scope of content to cover more search territory. For instance, if you’re looking to optimize content around a specific topic, you might use a prompt like:
“Generate a list of related keywords and long-tail phrases for [your topic] that have high search volume but low competition.”
You’ll still want to question if the suggestions truly resonate with your service or product and if the words proposed are the ones your intended audience is using. Remember, often the specialized jargon we use in our industries is not the same words our customers use. It’s okay for your marketing messaging to be flawed if it is designed to reach the audience where they are and then educate them later.
Putting It All Together
One should not write with the goal of earning the top spot in the SERPs but rather to meet the needs of their readers with educational and engaging content. At its root, that is always the goal of SEO writing–the research is meant to inform you about which topics people care about and what words they are using to find information.
Crafting content with SEO in mind means weaving these elements into a coherent, engaging narrative. It’s not just about getting found; it’s about providing value that keeps readers coming back. Fahrenheit always starts its content writing with audiences in mind first, taking inventory of the current content available and then looking at the keyword landscape needed to reach the intended audience.
While the content writing we’ve discussed has been for website content, the theories here also reach into copywriting for social media posts, emails, and ad copy. The foundation remains true: knowing your customers and researching topics and terms that are important to them will help every piece of content be of value and aid in conversion.
Where Can You Go For SEO Help?
Fahrenheit Marketing is a constant student of SEO and brings you both effective guidance and offers SEO services both technical and on-page. For many clients, we create content briefs allowing them to write their content with the benefit of our SEO research. For others, we evaluate entire content catalogs for relevance, performance, and potential. Whether you need guidance, collaboration, or a partner to curate your content, we can assist. Contact us for all your SEO needs.