There are still plenty of questions regarding how Ai will affect SEO as an industry. Will all of us in digital marketing and SEO be replaced by AI? There are some long-term concerns, however before you drop everything and go looking for a new career, lets talk about ways that AI can actually help us as SEO professionals and novices combined.
The Google Bard AI tool has been overshadowed by ChatGPT, based on both popularity and the fact that Google’s AI tool has a rather unique, unappealing, hard to remember name. However, despite the weird name, Google’s Bard actually does offer some unique value when compared to ChatGPT, which has been more interested in telling me what it cannot do related to web searches and SEO insights.
Here are 4 ways that Google Bard can help you to generate content topic ideas, insights, and competitive intel for your business.
Identifying Keywords Using Bard AI
I asked Bard to identify the top 10 Google results for a randomly-chosen search query and location. Since we tend to work with a lot of law firms, and our home market is Baltimore, MD, I asked Bard to start by identifying the top 10 websites that rank for “Baltimore criminal defense lawyers”, which Bard was more than happy to assist me with (unlike ChatGPT):
Once we had our list of firms, which could be competitors in a real-world example, I wanted to identify some of the most common keywords that these sites used, across multiple sub-practice areas.
So I then asked Bard to spit out the 5 most popular blog topics for each of the law firms they identified.
Here is the full table of blog content topics:
| Silverman Thompson | Gerstenfield & Demirji, PC | Maronick Law LLC | The Law Offices of James E. Crawford, Jr. & Associates, LLC | The Law Office of Caroline Norman Frost |
| Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense |
| DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense |
| Drug Crimes Defense | Drug Crimes Defense | Drug Crimes Defense | Drug Crimes Defense | Drug Crimes Defense |
| Assault Defense | Domestic Violence Defense | White Collar Crimes Defense | Assault Defense | Gun Crimes Defense |
| Sex Crimes Defense | Traffic Violations Defense | Juvenile Law | Domestic Violence Defense | Juvenile Law |
| Charles L. Waechter, Attorney at Law | Roya Hanna Law | The Law Offices of Thomas C. Mooney | Law Offices of Steven H. Levin | The Law Offices of David B. Shapiro |
| Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense | Criminal Defense |
| DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense | DUI Defense |
| Drug Crimes Defense | Expungements | Assault Defense | Drug Crimes Defense | Drug Crimes Defense |
| Violent Crimes Defense | Post Conviction Relief | Drug Crimes Defense | White Collar Crimes Defense | Assault Defense |
| White Collar Crimes Defense | Juvenile Law | Theft Crimes Defense | Sex Crimes Defense | Domestic Violence Defense |
I then asked Bard to tell me the most commonly-used two and three word phrases across all content topics, which I won’t share in full but here’s a screenshot of the result:
We now have the most commonly-used keywords across all blog content topics that Bard identified. This can be helpful when writing new content, and identifying search phrases that should be implemented based on the top ranking firms in the city and how they have obtained top rankings for a variety of keywords, both long and short-tail.
Identifying Potential Content Topics Using Bard AI
Another way to use Google’s Bard AI tool is to ask it to identify potential content topic ideas. For this example, I asked Bard:
What 5 law firm websites located in Baltimore, MD appear the most for the following personal injury lawyer keywords: auto accident lawyer, motorcycle accident lawyer, bus accident lawyer, wrongful death lawyer, pedestrian accident lawyer.
Once again, Bard was happy to assist:
Once I had my list of the top 25 firms across 5 different practice areas, I asked Bard to identify the most common FAQ topics for each of the 5 practice areas that were identified:
Here’s the full table of results:
| Auto accident lawyer | Motorcycle accident lawyer |
| What should I do after a car accident? | What should I do after a motorcycle accident? |
| Who is at fault for my car accident? | Who is at fault for my motorcycle accident? |
| How much compensation can I expect to receive for my car accident? | How much compensation can I expect to receive for my motorcycle accident? |
| What should I do if the insurance company is not offering me enough money? | What should I do if the insurance company is not offering me enough money? |
| How do I file a car accident lawsuit? | How do I file a motorcycle accident lawsuit? |
| What are the different types of damages I can recover in a car accident lawsuit? | What are the different types of damages I can recover in a motorcycle accident lawsuit? |
| How long does it take to settle a car accident lawsuit? | How long does it take to settle a motorcycle accident lawsuit? |
| What are the benefits of hiring a car accident lawyer? | What are the benefits of hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer? |
| How much does a car accident lawyer cost? | How much does a motorcycle accident lawyer cost? |
| What are some common mistakes to avoid after a car accident? | What are some common mistakes to avoid after a motorcycle accident? |
| Bus accident lawyer | Pedestrian accident lawyer |
| What should I do after a bus accident? | What should I do after a pedestrian accident? |
| Who is at fault for my bus accident? | Who is at fault for my pedestrian accident? |
| How much compensation can I expect to receive for my bus accident? | How much compensation can I expect to receive for my pedestrian accident? |
| What should I do if the insurance company is not offering me enough money? | What should I do if the insurance company is not offering me enough money? |
| How do I file a bus accident lawsuit? | How do I file a pedestrian accident lawsuit? |
| What are the different types of damages I can recover in a bus accident lawsuit? | What are the different types of damages I can recover in a pedestrian accident lawsuit? |
| How long does it take to settle a bus accident lawsuit? | How long does it take to settle a pedestrian accident lawsuit? |
| What are the benefits of hiring a bus accident lawyer? | What are the benefits of hiring a pedestrian accident lawyer? |
| How much does a bus accident lawyer cost? | How much does a pedestrian accident lawyer cost? |
| What are some common mistakes to avoid after a bus accident? | What are some common mistakes to avoid after a pedestrian accident? |
| Wrongful death lawyer | |
| What should I do if my loved one has been killed in an accident? | |
| Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit? | |
| What types of damages can I recover in a wrongful death lawsuit? | |
| How much compensation can I expect to receive in a wrongful death lawsuit? | |
| What is the statute of limitations for wrongful death lawsuits? | |
| What are the benefits of hiring a wrongful death lawyer? | |
| How much does a wrongful death lawyer cost? | |
| What are some common mistakes to avoid after a wrongful death? |
So now we have close to 50 content topic suggestions, which we can cross reference with our client’s existing content to identify gaps.
(Bonus) What If We Wanted AI to Write Content Topic Outlines, Or the Content Itself?
This is where things may get a little black hat/white hat. I do not use AI for any content generated for client websites, but what if someone were to use an AI tool to generate a content topic outline, or the content itself, using the suggestions that Bard came up with?
We would simply go over to our AI content tool of choice, in this example we’ll use an AI tool called Rytr which is cost-effective at only $29/mo for unlimited usage, and very user-friendly. (For full transparency, the link is to an affiliate link so if you find this useful consider using the link to signup).
We would put in one of the content topic ideas, for this example we’ll use “What should I do after a car accident?”. We’ll select “informative” as the tone, and ask Rytr to come up with 3 different titles and outline suggestions.
Rytr then comes up with 3 different topic outlines, one of which we’ve chosen below:
If we wanted to cross into the abyss and have Rytr actually generate some content for us, we would simply highlight the first sub-section and keywords, and select “paragraph”:
Rytr would then spit out content under that particular sub-section. One of the selling points of Rytr- it comes with a “plagiarism checker” and markets itself to spit out unique content. We have not seen any instances where they come up with content that has been publicized elsewhere. Again, we recommend using this tool for outlines and maybe inspiration, but if you decide to publish AI content on your site, maybe run it through Siteliner or Copyscape to be sure.
Here is the content for the section that Rytr came up with:
Moving On:
Using AI To Branch Out Additional Content Topic Ideas Using “People Also Ask”
Going back to the last table of FAQ results that Bard produced, the next way we can use AI for our clients’ SEO and content strategy efforts is to utilize the “people also ask” section of Google results.
I asked Bard:
Do a Google search for “What should I do after a car accident?” and display the top “people also ask results”
Here’s what was produced:
You could, effectively, take a number of the FAQ content topic ideas that we referenced, ask Bard to spit out the top “people also ask results” for each, and keep branching this out to topic ideas which are informative, relevant, and according to Google, frequently asked.
And lastly, another way to use Google’s Bard AI tool for digital marketing insights:
Generating Basic Competitor PPC Keyword Data
Most digital marketers don’t completely ignore PPC/Adwords data, at least any that are any good a what they do. If you’re not recommending to clients that they spend money on LSA’s and maintain some sort of paid Adwords presence, they are likely losing out on local visibility.
Using Bard, you can gain some basic competitive Adwords intel that may not be available outside of paid tools. I asked Bard to identify the top law firms that appear in paid ads.
I took this list, and asked Bard to display the top keywords that each firm was targeting on Adwords. I was expecting Bard to reply with “get lost, we’re not telling you that”, but to my surprise Bard was once again accomidating.
Here is full the list of keywords:
| The Law Offices of David A. Katz | Cohen & Cohen, P.C. | Regan Zambri Long & Bell | The Law Firm of Peter G. Angelos, P.C. |
| personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | car accident lawyer Washington, DC | car accident lawyer Washington, DC | personal injury lawyer Washington, DC |
| car accident lawyer Washington, DC | personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | car accident lawyer Washington, DC |
| medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC |
| slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC |
| dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | dog bite lawyer Washington, DC |
| wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC |
| truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | truck accident lawyer Washington, DC |
| pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC |
| construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | construction accident lawyer Washington, DC |
| product liability lawyer Washington, DC | product liability lawyer Washington, DC | product liability lawyer Washington, DC | product liability lawyer Washington, DC |
| workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC |
| brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | brain injury lawyer Washington, DC |
| spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC |
| burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | burn injury lawyer Washington, DC |
| nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC |
| premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | premises liability lawyer Washington, DC |
| Patrick Malone & Associates | Shulman Rogers | Gilman & Bedigian, LLC | |
| car accident lawyer Washington, DC | personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | |
| personal injury lawyer Washington, DC | car accident lawyer Washington, DC | medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | |
| medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | medical malpractice lawyer Washington, DC | slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | |
| slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | slip and fall lawyer Washington, DC | dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | |
| dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | dog bite lawyer Washington, DC | wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | |
| wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | wrongful death lawyer Washington, DC | truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | |
| truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | truck accident lawyer Washington, DC | pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | |
| pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | pedestrian accident lawyer Washington, DC | construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | |
| construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | construction accident lawyer Washington, DC | product liability lawyer Washington, DC | |
| product liability lawyer Washington, DC | product liability lawyer Washington, DC | workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | |
| workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | workplace accident lawyer Washington, DC | brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | |
| brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | brain injury lawyer Washington, DC | spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | |
| spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | spinal cord injury lawyer Washington, DC | burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | |
| burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | burn injury lawyer Washington, DC | nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | |
| nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | nursing home abuse lawyer Washington, DC | premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | |
| premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | premises liability lawyer Washington, DC | car accident lawyer Washington, DC | |
While these keywords may seem very basic and straightforward, it’s another way to use AI to gain competitive insight and intel.