Unveiling hidden keyword variations with ChatGPT (including prompts)

ChatGPT has an extensive database of words and phrases that can be leveraged for SEO by using the right prompts.

This article will teach you how to utilize ChatGPT to discover keyword variations that people use when searching or describing a page topic.

These words and phrases are often not uncovered by traditional keyword tools, making this your secret weapon for keywords.

Adding keyword variations to your page

I love using ChatGPT to generate variations of the main keyword phrase or targeted query for a page.

Adding these variations not only helps the page reach a wider audience of people searching for the same information, but it also enhances the semantic relevance of the article. Almost every time I follow this process, I see improvements in search rankings and traffic.

This approach is endorsed in Google’s SEO Starter Guide:

I was glad to see that Google suggested using Google Ads Keyword Planner and Search Console, as I have been using both tools for years with great results.

However, as useful as these free keyword tools are, they don’t uncover every possible variation or alternative for each word in a keyword phrase.

Prompting ChatGPT for keyword variations

Let me share an example of my multi-prompt process to give you a better understanding of how to implement it for your pages. (Feel free to experiment and refine these prompts for better results!)

Example keyword phrase: ‘drones for beginners’

First, break down your search phrase word by word.

Then ask ChatGPT to provide variations or alternative words commonly used to describe the same thing.

Let me walk you through the first word in detail.

Keyword variation: ‘drones’

Step 1: ChatGPT prompt:

• List 20 common ways people refer to something as “drones.”

Step 2: Copy the list to your preferred note-taking tool.

Step 3: Go through the list and eliminate words or phrases that wouldn’t make sense in the context of the topic. I usually remove around 10 to 20% of the list. If I need more variations, I prompt ChatGPT for another list of 20 ideas.

Step 4: Pull up the article you want to improve and perform a search. Copy and paste the first word or phrase from the list to see if it appears on the page.

Side note: I understand that this step can be time-consuming, which is why I created my own internal tool that highlights which words and phrases are found within a body of text and which ones are missing. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a simple online tool that accomplishes this. Let me know if you find one.

Step 5: Add the missing words and phrases to the page.

Keyword variation: ‘beginners’

Step 1: ChatGPT prompt:

• List 20 common words and phrases people use to describe someone who’s a “beginner.”

Steps 2–5: Repeat the instructions mentioned above.

The full keyword phrase variation: ‘best drones for beginners’

You can also take the primary concept from the main keyword phrase and ask ChatGPT to generate words and phrases that people may use to describe it.

In this example, the prompt would be:

• List 20 common ways people refer to someone who’s a “beginner at flying a drone.”

Add the best words and phrases that are missing from the page.

Identifying words and phrases used by the searching demographic

This prompt depends on the specific keyword phrase targeted by a page.

The goal here is to identify the demographic or user persona of the searcher and create a list of words and phrases they may use to describe the main topic.

In this example, the demographic is a “beginner.” However, this will differ for most topics.

A page might target other demographics such as age, gender, location, disability, stage of life, parent, etc.

More practically, this could be a 50-year-old man, iPhone owner, boater, skier, new mom, first-time homeowner, college graduate, expert, doctor, gardener, etc.

For this example, the prompt is:

• List 20 ways a beginner at flying drones may describe a drone and being a beginner at it.

The best results from this example

Here are some fantastic unique words and phrases that ChatGPT generated for me during this example:

• newbie
• greenhorn
• first timer
• beginner-level
• starting out
• no prior experience
• first-time pilots
• easiest
• easiest drone to fly
• drones for newbies
• entry-level
• most forgiving
• user-friendly

Out of curiosity, I checked if any of the top 3 ranking pages on Google included any of these words and phrases. The top-ranking page included the most from this list. It’s not solely because of these words, but I believe it’s a combination of various factors.

Best practice for adding missing word variations

When adding missing word variations, don’t randomly scatter them throughout the content. Instead, consider incorporating them into existing sentences that may seem vague. This provides an excellent opportunity to enhance contextual relevance. Sometimes, I even write new sentences with the help of ChatGPT.

For the example mentioned, a vague sentence could be:

In order to make it onto this list, each of these had to be equipped with a productive feature portfolio and solid construction.

A better sentence that includes a variation of one of the words within the main keyword could be:

In order for a drone to make it onto this list, it had to be durable and user-friendly for our novice tester.

I want to highlight two points about the new sentence:

1. I added the word “drone” to boost its relevance and make it more NLP-friendly. This also clarifies the subject of the sentence.
2. I introduced two words or concepts related to a beginner: “durability” and “user-friendly.” As you can imagine, someone who has never flown a drone before is likely to crash it frequently. However, a user-friendly drone may reduce the number of crashes.

I believe that including several variations of the main keyword within a website can contribute to higher search rankings.

Whether intentional or natural, incorporating these variations results in an article that is more comprehensive, helpful, and relevant to the searcher.