AI keyword research: How to use free chatbot tools
tags:AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude can generate a list of keyword ideas in seconds. While it's tempting to treat that list as finished keyword research, a plausible-sounding keyword isn't the same as a validated one. And building content around unvalidated keywords wastes real time and budget.
Below, we test five free chatbots for AI keyword research, then show how to separate the useful suggestions from the noise using real search data.
Can you use AI chatbots for keyword research?
Yes, you can use AI chatbots for keyword research. But it's important to understand the technology's strengths and weaknesses before getting started.
Generally, AI chatbots are good at identifying common terms found in written content because they learn from large datasets.
Chatbots are also good at understanding keyword meanings and relationships, thanks to their natural language processing and machine learning algorithms.
That means you can ask a free chatbot like ChatGPT to provide keyword ideas based on a particular topic and get a list of related keywords.
You can also ask AI chatbots to analyze search intent.
However, unlike keyword research tools, chatbots don't have direct access to search engine data. That means chatbots can't reliably tell you how popular a keyword is or how difficult it is to rank for. And this can make it hard to prioritize keywords effectively.
That's why many marketers use AI tools in combination with keyword research tools — something we’ll discuss more later.
5 free chatbots for AI keyword research
You can use free chatbots for AI keyword research like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot.
Here are some quick tips for success with any of those options:
- Write clear, conversational prompts and include any relevant context
- Upload supplementary files (like keywords you’re already ranking for) when possible and relevant
- If the tool has web access, consider asking the tool to refer to your and your competitors' domains for information
- Remember that AI chatbots can hallucinate (provide false information)
- Refine the output by providing clear follow-up prompts
- Experiment with different models, search settings, and other options to see what gives the best results
Below, we’ll show you how each tool responded when we tested it with two prompts:
- Please provide keyword ideas for a blog post about AI keyword research
- What is the intent behind someone searching "AI keyword research"?
Each prompt shows you the type of information you might get from different chatbots. Just bear in mind that your results will vary.
ChatGPT
We asked ChatGPT to provide keyword ideas for a blog post about AI keyword research. The chatbot gave us roughly 70 unique keywords, split into lists like primary keywords, tool-focused keywords, and question keywords.
While some of the keyword suggestions were relevant, a beginner might find this list overwhelming. You might consider using a follow-up prompt to narrow down your list. (We’ll show you later how you can organize large lists of keywords like the above.)
And some of the primary keyword suggestions deviated from the main topic (e.g., “AI SEO keyword research” and “AI keyword research” both have different search intents — the reason behind a search).
Combining keywords with different intents means your content won't fully match what the reader is looking for, which can hurt conversions and potentially rankings.
We then followed up by asking ChatGPT to evaluate the intent behind someone searching "AI keyword research."
The tool explained that the keyword is mainly informational, but also highlighted how the query can have several search intents.
These outputs demonstrate that you need a good grasp of keyword strategy basics to get the most out of AI keyword research.
Claude
When we asked Claude to provide keyword ideas for a blog post about AI keyword research, the chatbot gave us a list of roughly 40 keywords. The primary keywords were very similar to the ones we got from ChatGPT.
Unlike the other chatbots we tested, Claude was the only tool that noted keyword data isn't something a chatbot can do.
When we asked Claude about the keyword’s intent, it gave us a similar answer to ChatGPT by stating that this keyword has mixed intent.
Gemini
Google's Gemini chatbot listed around 20 keywords for AI keyword research, split into four sections:
- High-intent/primary keywords
- Informational and beginner queries
- Actionable “how-to” and workflow keywords
- Commercial and tool comparison terms
When we asked Gemini to analyze the intent behind "AI keyword research," the chatbot said it’s mostly commercial — a completely different answer than Claude and ChatGPT.
Getting intent wrong isn't a minor slip. If you write commercially-angled content for what's actually an informational query, you'll likely see high bounce rates even if you rank.
Gemini’s answer highlights why you can’t rely on chatbots for keyword research: These tools don't have the search data that keyword tools have, and their analysis can be wrong.
Perplexity
Perplexity gave us 20 keywords for “AI keyword research,” broken into three lists:
- Primary keywords
- Supporting keywords
- Topic-cluster ideas
One advantage of Perplexity is that it provides a list of web sources by default.
Viewing these sources can provide some useful insight into competing content. Although, it's better to review top-ranking results on Google's SERP if that's where you want to rank — the same principle behind the validation step below.
While Perplexity's list was more manageable than the lists from ChatGPT and Claude, fewer keywords means less raw material to work with. This is fine if you only want a few keyword ideas for a single blog post, but you'd want more before committing to a content plan.
Perplexity also gave a concise answer breaking down the likelihood of three different intents (informational, commercial, and transactional), plus the content that searchers likely want within an article.
Copilot
Microsoft's Copilot chatbot generated roughly 20 keywords for AI keyword research, broken into the following lists:
- Core keywords
- Long‑tail keywords
- Semantic & related keywords
- Problem‑based keywords
- Content angle keywords
Unlike the other chatbots, Copilot didn’t give a specific intent (like informational), but still gave insight into search intent.
It's a starting point, not an answer. Real search data gives you the rest.
Validate AI-generated keywords with real search data
To validate AI-generated keywords with real search data, run them through a dedicated keyword research tool. Chatbots can suggest ideas, but they can't tell you how many searches a keyword gets or the potential clicks each keyword can earn you.
For example, Semrush Keyword Overview reveals metrics useful for choosing SEO keywords, including:
| Metric | Description | How It's Calculated |
| Intent | The type(s) of search intent behind the keyword | Machine-learning algorithm that considers keyword terminology and SERP features shown in search results |
| Search volume | The average number of searches for the keyword each month | Real search engine data and machine learning algorithms |
| Trend | How actual search volumes have fluctuated over the past year | Real search engine data and machine learning algorithms |
| Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) | A measure of how hard it'll be for your domain to rank in Google's top 10 organic results | AI algorithm that considers various factors relating to your domain and top-ranking domains |
| Potential Traffic (Pot. Traffic) | An estimate of the potential traffic for the keywords you’re researching | AI algorithm that assesses thematic relevance between the entered domain and keyword, a keyword’s competition, and other relevant factors |
We used Keyword Overview to analyze the eight primary keywords suggested by ChatGPT (Keyword Overview lets you analyze up to 100 keywords at once).
One keyword had no registered search volume. And a couple were categorized as difficult to rank for.
Validating your keywords shows you which terms have low search volume or are too hard to rank for.
If you want more keyword ideas than the chatbots gave you, use Keyword Magic Tool to find related queries people search.
Enter one of your validated keywords and choose a match type. Below, we used "Phrase Match" to see keywords containing "ai for keyword research."
This gives you more keywords to work with, all with real search data attached.
If you’re analyzing a large list of keywords, use Keyword Strategy Builder to organize your keywords into structured content plans.
In Keyword Overview or Keyword Magic Tool, select the keywords you’d like to build a strategy around and click “Send keywords” > “Keyword Strategy Builder” > “Apply.”
The tool groups keywords, so you know which terms to target on each page.
Finally, when we asked the chatbots for prompt ideas, each chatbot gave us a large list of different prompts. Here’s an example of the output from ChatGPT:
However, you can’t verify a prompt’s relevancy this way.
Prompt Research, part of Semrush Enterprise AIO, gives you a list of relevant prompts related to your keyword, along with a relevance score for every prompt. This score helps you prioritize the prompts that are most closely aligned with your topic and worth addressing in your content.
Simply enter a topic into the tool and click the “Prompts” tab.
The tool also shows the AI response for each prompt, along with mentions and sources. The sources tell you what AI models are citing when they answer, and where gaps exist that your content could fill.
Get more from AI keyword research
AI tools are fast, which is the main reason to use AI for keyword research. They generate lists of keywords in seconds.
But the best results come from pairing AI with keyword research tools that validate your ideas with real search data and help you turn them into a structured content strategy.
Want greater clarity with your keyword research? Use Semrush to validate keywords and prompts.