ChatGPT introduced the rollout of its API (GPT 3.5 Turbo) on March 1. 

I’m bullish on ChatGPT’s utility for a number of totally different Search engine marketing-related features like key phrase analysis, native Search engine marketing, content material, and hyperlink constructing. Having spent a lot time utilizing ChatGPT, I’m additionally painfully conscious of its limitations.

Whereas the API received’t be a panacea (and the online interface is definitely a lot better for some duties), it might probably assist deal with among the shortcomings of the online interface.

This text will present you the best way to maximize ChatGPT’s API with particular Search engine marketing use instances.

Find out how to use the ChatGPT API

To leverage the ChatGPT API, you want to have the ability to entry the API within the first place. ChatGPT’s father or mother firm OpenAI has in depth documentation for utilizing the API.

If you happen to’re trying to be taught extra about constructing a device or interacting straight with the API there’s additionally a great walk-through right here.

You can even use AppsScript to question the ChatGPT API in Google Sheets, which we’ll stroll by way of right here step-by-step.

No matter your strategy, you’ll want to start out by getting an API key.

Getting your ChatGPT API key

After you have an OpenAI account, you’ll be able to generate your API key both by following this hyperlink whereas logged in or clicking View API keys within the profile dropdown:

Then click on Create new secret key.

Copy the API key you generated.

Connecting the ChatGPT API to Google Sheets

There’s a simple approach to join ChatGPT to Google Sheets (h/t Keith Mint).

First, create a brand new Google Sheet, then click on on Extensions and select Apps Script:

You then paste the next code (along with your API key instead of YOUR API KEY):

const SECRET_KEY = "YOUR API KEY";
const MAX_TOKENS = 800;
const TEMPERATURE = 0.9;

operate AI_ChatGPT(immediate, temperature = 0.4, mannequin = "gpt-3.5-turbo") {
  const url = "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions";
  const payload = {
    mannequin: mannequin,
    messages: [
      { role: "system", content: "You are a helpful assistant." },
      { role: "user", content: prompt },
    ],
    temperature: TEMPERATURE,
    max_tokens: MAX_TOKENS,
  };
  const choices = {
    contentType: "utility/json",
    headers: { Authorization: "Bearer " + SECRET_KEY },
    payload: JSON.stringify(payload),
  };
  const res = JSON.parse(UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, choices).getContentText());
  return res.decisions[0].message.content material.trim();
}

Click on save inside Apps Script:

Then you should utilize the next operate format to use a immediate to a cell:

=AI_ChatGPT("YOUR PROMPT HERE")

As Mint factors out in his article, you may as well reference a cell if you wish to have a number of cells use prompts that refer again to 1 cell (just like the title or matter of a weblog put up):

Within the instance above, I used easy prompts just like the one pictured, then created a second paragraph for this matter. (We’ll stroll by way of extra particular purposes for the API shortly.) 

ChatGPT API pricing

Earlier than you begin leveraging the ChatGPT API for Search engine marketing duties, it’s important to grasp the pricing.

The value for the gpt-3.5-turbo API (the ChatGPT API) is $0.002 per 1,000 tokens, which is 10x cheaper than the present GPT-3.5 API.

To raised perceive what the pricing truly winds up trying like, you could perceive how tokens work.

ChatGPT API tokens

OpenAI has a good breakdown and a useful free tokenizer device that can assist you decide what number of tokens a selected textual content shall be and the way the textual content is damaged down (in case you could scale back the variety of tokens for a immediate or response).

A number of key issues to bear in mind:

• By default, the API can return a most of 4,096 tokens.
• Tokens are a illustration of how a lot textual content your immediate and response are. This can be a key issue, as longer prompts can shorten your response output.
• Textual content is translated into tokens and roughly breaks right down to round 4 characters in English.

OpenAI additionally offered this beneficial breakdown of how tokens are calculated from textual content:

• 1 token ~= 4 chars in English
• 1 token ~= ¾ phrases
• 100 tokens ~= 75 phrases

Or

• 1-2 sentence ~= 30 tokens
• 1 paragraph ~= 100 tokens
• 1,500 phrases ~= 2048 tokens

To get further context on how tokens stack up, think about this:

• Wayne Gretzky’s quote, “You miss 100% of the photographs you don’t take,” accommodates 11 tokens.
• OpenAI’s constitution accommodates 476 tokens.
• The transcript of the U.S. Declaration of Independence accommodates 1,695 tokens.

So for those who used a brief immediate to generate a 1,500-word article, it could be lower than half a cent.

---

---

Particular API use instances for Search engine marketing

The API will help with quite a lot of the identical Search engine marketing-related duties because the ChatGPT net interface, however the two have some vital variations, making some duties higher for one than the opposite.

Understanding that may enable you to decide which to make use of for Search engine marketing duties.

ChatGPT API vs. net interface

The most important variations embrace the next:

Scale and bulk duties

If you wish to combine ChatGPT with an current utility or spreadsheet, you will want to make use of the API. 

Moreover, the API shall be your buddy if you wish to carry out a selected operate utilized throughout a number of cases (e.g., generate meta descriptions for a number of key phrases).

Superb-tuning and relationship between prompts

At the moment, ChatGPT’s API doesn’t help fine-tuning. If you happen to create a number of prompts by way of the API, they will not have a relationship. 

You’ll be able to create a system message to use to a number of prompts and responses, however OpenAI has stated that these are ceaselessly presently ignored by the gpt-3.5-turbo API. 

This implies if in case you have a process that requires a number of prompts and for ChatGPT to maintain the context of a whole dialog, you will need to use the online interface.

Character limits

The API has a token restrict of 4,096 which interprets to round 16,384 characters per interplay for every immediate and response. 

Character limits for the online interface can range, however usually, the immediate and response are restricted to round 2,048 characters, or 4,096. 

So for duties that require extra in depth prompts or extra vital responses, the API shall be a greater choice. 

There are additionally extra choices for structuring prompts and duties in a manner that provides you a lengthier mixed output for those who’re utilizing code slightly than one thing just like the Google Sheets integration.

Pricing 

Once more, the API is priced by utilization (and presents a free trial with $18 value of tokens), and the online interface presently presents a free model and a $20/mo. paid model. 

Instance ChatGPT API prompts

Let us take a look at particular use instances the place you’d need to think about the API over the online interface.

Title tags and meta descriptions

An apparent use case the place the API is sensible is having ChatGPT generate title tags or meta descriptions at scale.

You should use related prompts to those who work within the net interface right here, however for those who construction them correctly and lay out your spreadsheet proper, you’ll be able to take the primary immediate after which shortly apply that to a number of URLs or key phrases: 

Observe that the free plan significantly is price restricted, so you’ll have errors the place the cells outing, during which case you could delete and re-paste:

And as at all times, understand that:

• ChatGPT cannot crawl the online, so it is both utilizing prior data of a URL from the coaching interval or an assumption in regards to the URL based mostly on phrases within the URL to generate solutions
• ChatGPT’s output can usually be improper or deceptive and must be edited.

You should use this identical format for title tags. (I will have an article focusing particularly on utilizing ChatGPT to generate and replace title tags popping out quickly).

Longer content material and put up outlines

You should use the online interface in ChatGPT to create chunks of content material and descriptions fairly simply.

If you wish to make an extended article or if you are going to create a collection of outlines on totally different matters, nevertheless, it may be a clunky expertise.

The API is smoother for these duties.

First, you’ll be able to chunk off a put up you wrote into sections. Then line up the sections and pull your immediate down:

Alternatively, you can have ChatGPT generate a number of outlines that you just then have a author (or writers) fill in:

Then, you can have the API write the content material one part at a time:

Once more, right here you can take these prompts, load them one after the other throughout the define (altering every immediate for the suitable part), after which simply pull the identical formulation throughout a number of outlines and have quite a lot of textual content particular to the subsections of every put up generated.

My expertise is that this helps you avoid token limits, and even pedestrian prompts just like the one above mixed with having ChatGPT create a top level view will generate higher content material than for those who ask the device to “write a weblog put up.” 

Past that, you’ll be able to additional enhance content material high quality by doing issues like:

• Ask it to incorporate particular phrases (both since you need them on the web page otherwise you need to add inside hyperlinks for that phrase).
• Feed it statistics or quotes to work into particular sections of the put up. (That is significantly useful if in case you have a subject that requires up-to-date ways and statistics, on condition that GPT-3 was not skilled on latest information.)
• Tweak your prompts to output the tone and formatting you need (extra on this shortly).

And, as at all times, layer on human modifying.

FAQs

There are a number of FAQ-related features the API will help with.

First off, you’ll be able to generate an inventory of FAQ inquiries to be related to a weblog put up:

Subsequent, you’ll be able to have the ChatGPT API reply these (once more: proceed with warning in the case of output high quality and accuracy):

Schema

You can even have ChatGPT generate schemas for you throughout a number of pages. 

On this case, we will apply FAQ schema to the FAQs it created for us:

Convert content material to HTML

One other cool use case for ChatGPT is to transform textual content to HTML. 

First, let’s convert our put up from textual content to HTML:

A number of issues to notice right here:

• As you’ll be able to see, the headers in every part had been initially formatted with paragraph tags. I mounted this within the immediate by including, “Format the header of the part as an h2, and every other headlines on this part as an h3.”
• I wasn’t in a position to mix all the put up (which was round 1100 phrases) into one cell to be transformed to HTML, so I needed to chunk it off and gave particular directions in my immediate for every cell to ensure ChatGPT did not layer within the formatting for a whole HTML doc in each cell.
• You may additionally get some wonky formatting, like further quotes you did not anticipate within the output. 

As with all points of ChatGPT, maintain refining your prompts and at all times test the output.

Add inside hyperlinks

Now that we now have our put up in HTML, we will begin to do some cool issues with inside linking.

We are able to inform ChatGPT so as to add inside hyperlinks from particular phrases to particular pages anyplace within the HTML we simply generated:

If we had been making a cluster of pages, we may create guidelines particular to every web page and apply them to the related HTML.

This manner, every thing we generate is interlinked the way in which we would like, the HTML is able to go, and the FAQ schema is added appropriately.

I attempted to create a rule that was slightly extra difficult, asking ChatGPT to hyperlink phrases. Here’s what I added to my immediate:

• “Any time you see the phrases making and snicker inside 5 phrases of one another, create a hyperlink with these two phrases and the entire phrases in between them to standupexperience.com/make-them-laugh.”

Right here is the hyperlink that was added:

That is not what I requested for, and in addition, it did not hyperlink each occasion of stand-up as I requested it to.

I will must refine my prompts and test my outputs.

Outreach templates

If you happen to’re reaching out to a number of locations for hyperlink outreach or visitor put up placements, you should utilize the ChatGPT API to create a number of outreach templates for you:

When you have totally different sorts of templates, get inventive with making use of these prompts throughout totally different outreach targets.

Utilizing the online interface and the API in tandem (a.ok.a., convey your prompts)

Two issues are true:

• The API is healthier for bigger initiatives and performs many prompts concurrently.
• The net interface is ceaselessly higher at getting you to a wonderful output since you’ll be able to shuttle with ChatGPT to provide context, assessment the output, present suggestions, and so forth.

One approach to get one of the best of each worlds is to create your immediate within the net interface after which apply it to a number of objects through the API.

Let us take a look at a selected instance from this put up. My inside linking immediate did not work through the API. It is difficult to troubleshoot through the API as a result of you’ll be able to’t give ChatGPT suggestions or ask why the immediate failed.

Enter, immediate technology through the online!

My typical ChatGPT course of is to: 

• Give it chunks of context.
• Verify for understanding. 
• Evaluate the output for errors and provides it further suggestions to realize my desired end result.

To have the ability to do that for inside linking guidelines, let’s begin with the online interface to scrub up our ChatGPT immediate.

First, I need to give ChatGPT some context. (Keep in mind: ChatGPT would not find out about its personal API!) 

I need to give it details about the API, share the HTML I am beginning with, share the immediate I used, and share the output I acquired after which ask ChatGPT to diagnose the difficulty and rewrite the immediate for me.

Let’s have a look at the way it goes:

If you happen to do not pre-empt it, ChatGPT will repeatedly interrupt you to fireplace (ceaselessly irrelevant) solutions and solutions (like an keen pupil who did not do the studying).

I copied and pasted the textual content from this web page in 4 prompts, the HTML I used to be attempting so as to add hyperlinks to, the complete Sheets operate I might used, and the output I might gotten.

Subsequent, I lastly shared the difficulty with the output:

After which ChatGPT mounted the immediate for me.

Properly, it wasn’t truly mounted.

ChatGPT is relentlessly well mannered even for those who’re getting a bit testy, and once I shared the immediate, it analyzed it for me:

The solutions on HTML measurement are good ones, however I used to be nonetheless getting the error:

This time, the immediate labored!

To deal with the max tokens situation, I can go to Apps Script to regulate that quantity:

Or clearly, if I am not utilizing Sheets, it isn’t prone to be a problem (till I hit the 4096 tokens).

Get inventive and search for options

Search engine marketing purposes for the ChatGPT API go effectively past what’s listed right here. 

If you happen to’re looking out for methods to make use of the platform and might get inventive you will discover many extra purposes like:

• Programmatic options: You’ll be able to transcend Google Sheets to seek out thrilling and scalable makes use of for the ChatGPT API.
• Combining a number of APIs: Take into consideration the way you would possibly be capable to use the ChatGPT API in unison with APIs like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Semrush or related. What issues do you need to resolve? 
• Extra environment friendly or higher workflows: Take inventory of the duties you and your crew full day by day. Are there objects that ChatGPT’s API could possibly both assist you to just do as effectively however extra effectively, or to enhance your work product round?

With the latest launch of GPT-4, extra alternatives for leveraging the platform will doubtless proceed to crop up.