The Clinic Marketing Podcast | Local SEO & Healthcare Online Marketing Tips for Clinic Owners & Wellness Providers

ChatGPT Can’t Do SEO for You, And It Might Be Hurting Your Rankings

• Darcy Sullivan • Episode 161

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Think ChatGPT is helping your SEO? It might be doing the opposite. In this episode, we’re unpacking the truth about using AI tools like ChatGPT for SEO, including where they fall short, how they can quietly hurt your rankings, and what most clinic owners are getting wrong. You’ll walk away knowing how to use AI the right way, without damaging your website’s visibility.

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Speaker

right now. A lot of clinic owners are turning to tools like Chat, GPT and expecting them to handle their SEO. And I get it. It feels like you finally have something that can write content, generate leads, and give you instant answers all within seconds of pushing a button. But here's the problem, chat. GPT is not your SEO manager. And if you treat it like one, it can. Quickly hurt your rankings instead of helping them. Today, I want to walk you through exactly why that happens, what AI is actually good at, and how to use it without sabotaging your visibility. Now, throughout this episode, I'm using the term chat, GPT, but the same goes for Claude Perplexity, grok, you name it. Alright. Let's dive in. Let's get started by chatting about what people think AI is doing. For the rest of you. See, most clinic owners

AI Tools Are Not SEO Managers

Speaker

are using AI in one of these ways, writing blog post rewriting content, like website pages, generating keywords, creating FAQs, quote unquote, optimizing content. Maybe they're putting in their URL and asking the AI resource how it can improve its website rankings, or they're entering in their URL and asking chat GPT or one of these other resources, how it can improve how they are showing up in AI searches. Now on the surface, it feels productive and we all wanna feel productive. You're getting more content done faster. But SEO is not just about producing content, it's about making the right decisions. And honestly, that's where things really start to break.

What Clinic Owners Use AI For

Speaker

Let's be clear about what tools like chat, GPT. And Claude and those others actually do. They are language models, pattern predictors, and content generators. They are not website or AI search ranking analysis tools. They are not strategy builders. They are not local SEO experts. They are not conversion specialist. Even if you start your prompt off asking them to act as though they are, they do not know what your site currently ranks for. They do not know what your competitors are doing. They do not know what Google prioritizes in your local market. They do not know what is actually converting on your website. So when you ask AI, what should I do for SEO,

Why AI Cannot Make SEO Decisions

Speaker

it gives you a generic best guess, not a strategy, and that is just best case scenario then. There's worst case scenario that we're starting to see, and that's where AI tools are flat out giving bad and harmful SEO feedback, which leads us to big mistakes that I'm seeing. This is where things get real. People are publishing AI content without providing direction. More content does not equal better rankings, especially if it's not aligned with search intent. Your specific service offerings, your specific conditions that you treat or your specific location, it's just noise. I'm seeing a rise in people creating pages that are also competing with each other because they think more is better because you know why? AI loves to generate content pages, service pages, city pages, but without strategy, you end up with duplicate topics. Keyword can. But without strategy, you end up with duplicate topics, keyword, cannibalization, and confusing signals for Google and ai. Here's another example. I am starting

Common AI SEO Mistakes That Hurt

Speaker

to see a lot of over optimized generic copy. See, AI tends to produce repetitive phrasing, fluffy explanations, and they overuse key keywords that leads to content that the to the unknowing eye might look optimized. But it does not build trust, and it definitely does not convert. People are missing what actually drives rankings because AI does not prioritize internal linking strategies. Website page hierarchy, Google business profile signals, reviews, and reputation. Real world authority, and I could go on and on with this list, but these are just some of the things that really move the needle when it comes to SEO that AI just does not understand what SEO actually requires is a real mix of strategy, which is what to create and why structure, which is how your site is organized. Content, which is what is on those specific pages. Authority, which includes reviews, Lincoln reputation and conversion, which is everyone's goal, to turn those website visitors into patients. AI can help with one of these, just one that's content, and even then it needs direction. Very, very, very, very specific. Direction plus a human working back and forth with it who understands everything that goes into SEO. All right, enough with that doom and gloom, let's move on to how to use AI the right way. Here's how to actually make AI useful instead of harmful. You can use AI for first drafts, outlines, expanding sections. Brainstorming FAQs, rewriting sections for clarity. It's also good at proofreading, although I have to say Grammarly is better. But please do not use AI for deciding what pages you should create, choosing your SEO strategy, structuring your website or final publications without edits. The best way to use it. Give AI. A clear keyword target, a defined page goal, your services and positioning and specific instructions, and even then, you're going to really need to heavily edit it again and again. Remember, it's a tool, not a strategy.

How To Use AI Without Harm

Speaker

Add real experiences, specific details, local relevance, proof, and credibility. The big takeaways here that are really worth repeating, AI is a tool, a powerful one, but it is not a replacement for a strategy if you use it to move faster in the right direction, it can absolutely help your SEO. If you use it to decide the direction, that's when things start to fall apart. If you're not sure whether your website content structure and SEO strategy are actually working together, that's exactly what we look at on a discovery call where we will review your website, your visibility, and where things might be holding you back, you can book a discovery call by visiting propel your company.com or grab the link in the show notes. That's it for today's episode.

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Darcy Sullivan

Host