We are living in times when Artificial Intelligence(AI)  seems to have its fingers in everything—and yes, that includes marketing. Scroll through your feed, join a webinar, or step into any digital marketing huddle, and you will hear the same chant: AI is changing the game.

And while entire marketing teams are busy riding the AI wave, at Clearly Blue, we decided  to pause, step back, and examine keyword research more closely. How does AI contribute to SEO keyword research? 

Before we dive in, it’s worth remembering that there’s a timeless principle of SEO: Effective and solid keyword research is the backbone of every SEO strategy.

So, let’s rewind for a second—how did we actually do keyword research before the AI frenzy?

It involved a lot of manual and time-consuming work.  The process started with brainstorming keywords, followed by using tools like Google Keyword Planner to check search volumes and competition levels, among other steps.  Marketers would spend hours sifting through spreadsheets and grouping related terms into clusters to arrive at the best keywords to target. The process was slow and, to boot, prone to errors.

Then along came AI.

With free AI chatbots now accessible, content creators and marketers extensively rely on chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini for keyword research.

The biggest win? Speed.

With these AI chatbots, brainstorming keywords, content ideation and refining keyword strategies become easy—all without any subscription fees. These chatbots can generate lists of keyword suggestions based on input topics or target audiences. For example, when asked to provide keywords for any topic, they can deliver primary keywords, long-tail phrases, and even related questions or search intents. AI chatbots are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) at their core which are trained on vast amounts of data – so they often think like real users. That means by leveraging their language understanding capabilities, they often mimic the way users search online, helping content creators align with real user behaviour.

But can we throw caution to the wind and blindly trust all keyword suggestions thrown up by the AI chatbot?  

We would recommend not.

While AI tools have undoubtedly become a part of every marketer’s toolkit, and they are great for idea generation and keyword suggestions, they don’t provide critical SEO metrics like search volume or competition data like dedicated SEO platforms. Another issue to be wary of is AI hallucination—a phenomenon where AI confidently presents inaccurate or fabricated information. This hallucination seeps into keyword research too. It is not uncommon to find that on verifying keyword suggestions on SEO keyword research tools, many of the keywords have little or no search volume. In some cases, keyword suggestions could be too broad and competitive, making them difficult to rank for. On the flip side, some keyword suggestions might be too specific, flagged by SEO tools as too long or complex for practical use. Adding to this confusion, AI chatbots sometimes mix up headline ideas or content themes and present them as keywords.

So, what’s the way forward?

Think of AI as a brainstorming partner for your SEO keyword research. Consider the keywords suggested by AI tools as starting points. They must be validated, augmented and refined with further research to ensure relevance. Validating a keyword involves checking whether it is worth targeting based on real-world SEO data.  This is where traditional SEO keyword research tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush continue to play a vital role.

What does the future hold?

AI chatbots are definitely a boon for those starting out in SEO or working with lean budgets. They speed up keyword ideation, help break through creative blocks, and support SEO-friendly content planning.

Here’s the key: the best outcomes for SEO come from combining AI’s power with human expertise, strategic thinking and creativity. For a well-rounded, effective SEO strategy, it’s essential to pair AI-generated suggestions with data-driven insights from professional keyword research platforms. This combination helps ensure that your keywords are competitive and capable of driving real traffic.