What Is Copilot and How Does It Work? Use Cases for SEO & More

One of the tools making waves now is Microsoft Copilot. It’s quickly becoming a go-to for many users around the world. This AI assistant, designed to integrate seamlessly into Microsoft 365 apps and tools, provides intelligent support based on real-time context. But what is Copilot, how does it actually work, and why should marketers and SEO specialists pay close attention to what it can do?

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant developed to help individual users and businesses work smarter. It’s available in tools like Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint, and also functions as a standalone chatbot experience in Bing, Edge, and Windows.

Right now, there are a few different versions of Copilot available:

• A free version that includes basic features like summarization, content creation, and conversational Q&A.
• Copilot Pro, which offers access to the latest GPT models, along with image generation tools.
• Copilot for Microsoft 365, designed for business use with deeper integration into company data and systems. This version draws from both Microsoft Graph and other internal datasets to deliver more tailored answers.
• Copilot Studio, a low-code subscription-based option that allows you to build your own copilot environments.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

In a nutshell, Copilot connects to Microsoft’s productivity ecosystem, and it’s meant to help people work faster and more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks, creating quality outputs, analyzing data, generating content, and driving data-based decision-making.

How does it work?

Once you know what Microsoft Copilot is, it’s time to learn how it works. So, unsurprisingly, the tool is powered by large language models like GPT-4, and operates with technologies such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP). Unlike Bing’s generative search, Microsoft Copilot focuses on contextual productivity within apps, not just web browsing.

Copilot works by collecting and organizing data. It uses a crawler to gather information from the web, analyzes it, and adds it to its system. Then, it matches your queries with the most relevant content. What makes it stand out is its ability to understand intent, not just keywords.

For businesses, Copilot’s system connects with tools like Microsoft Graph Connector to pull in external data and organize it alongside internal systems. This way, it can answer more specific questions based on the company’s knowledge, ensuring the responses are accurate, on-brand, and up-to-date.

If you work in a Microsoft environment, it can actually be really helpful, for instance, serving as a virtual assistant of sorts. It can create an email summary for you, check your calendar for upcoming meetings, or analyze loads and loads of data (although, bear in mind that it’s time-consuming for Copilot to do so –- but at least your hands are free!).

Generally, if you use Outlook, your e-mails can now look like this:

You can even search your inbox without using the search option – and, if you’re an Outlook user, you very well know how searching for e-mails usually ends up. Looking for the latest reports? Not a problem, see it sorted!

How to get started?

Getting started with Copilot depends on the version you’re using. If you’re an individual on Windows, Edge, or Bing, you can try the free version right away. For more advanced features, you can choose Copilot Pro or Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions to unlock additional capabilities.

So, to use it, you can open any supported application (like Word, Outlook, or Excel) and locate the Copilot icon. Then, simply enter your request. For example, you can ask it to:

• Summarize meeting transcripts for you;
• Create a slideshow from a Word document;
• Analyze spreadsheet data and outline key insights…

… And much more.

Another way to use Copilot is through Bing or Edge, where it’s available in a chat format. In this setup, you can also rely on Copilot to give you links and up-to-date information, thanks to its integration with Bing.

To learn more about the tool and see it in action, visit Microsoft’s Copilot Scenario Library. It’s a great starting point, if you’re considering using Copilot.

How to use Copilot as an SEO specialist and/or marketer?

Now, it’s time to explore how to use Copilot as a marketer or an SEO specialist. We all know that as an SEO specialist or marketer, you’re juggling a lot: content creation, keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and the list goes on. Microsoft Copilot can help you with many tasks such as:

Doing market research and competitive analysis

Microsoft Copilot can significantly speed up and support market research and competitive analysis. It’s useful for tracking trends, monitoring competitor activity, and analyzing large amounts of data quickly.

Thanks to the possibility to pair it with tools like SEMrush or SimilarWeb, it can help marketers and SEO specialists with tasks such as keyword gaps, identifying SEO issues or linking opportunities. For example, you can prompt it to analyze a competitor’s site and get a summary of where you might improve or differentiate.

Gaining audience insights

Every marketer knows that understanding your audience is key to effective marketing. The tool can help you also with this aspect. It can analyze user behavior and preferences to help you identify different audience segments, allowing for more targeted messaging and campaign planning. It’s very useful, if you want to move beyond broad demographics and focus on how people actually interact with your content.

Creating SEO-friendly content quicker

One of the most time-consuming parts of SEO is creating good content that ranks well. Writing blog posts, articles, and web copy that are both high-quality and optimized for search engines can take a lot of effort.

So, how to use Copilot? It can:

• Suggest blog post topics based on popular search trends or keywords you’re targeting.
• Create a simple outline to make sure you cover everything necessary in your texts.
• Point out where to place keywords or phrases to help with SEO, making sure your content is optimized without overstuffing keywords.

Simplifying keyword research

Keyword research is a core part of SEO, but it can be time and money-consuming (getting access to all the tools is pricey). Copilot is a great starting point, although it’s not a perfect solution. It can suggest a lot of related keywords to the topic you’re working on, including long-tail keywords that are less competitive but still important.

Once you have your keywords, Copilot can help make sure you’re using them in the right places, like in titles, headings, and the body of the content. Moreover, the tool can analyze your content and let you know if you’re missing any important keywords or topics. But don’t forget that what you really need is the data –- including the data regarding keyword volume etc., and that’s something Copilot won’t find for you (and Ahrefs will!).

Also, check out Keyword Hunting – How to Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research.

Analyzing and optimizing campaigns

Copilot can also be used to streamline the process of evaluating marketing campaigns. It can pull performance data from different channels and organize it in one place, so you don’t have to track and compare everything manually.

This makes it easier to identify what needs to be changed. So, instead of manually digging through reports, you get a clearer picture of what’s working and what isn’t with a few clicks and prompts.

Streamlining basic on-site SEO

On-page SEO includes things like optimizing your title tags, headers, URLs, body text, and more. Copilot can help come up with relevant metadata, write meta descriptions and titles that are optimized for both search engines and users.

Helping with link building

If you’re here, you certainly know that building backlinks is essential for improving your site’s authority. However, outreach, finding guest blog ideas or sending out messages can be tiresome and time-consuming.

You can use Copilot to:

• Generate content ideas that are likely to attract backlinks, such as comprehensive guides or expert interviews.
• If you need to reach out to websites for backlinks, Copilot can help you draft personalized outreach emails within seconds.
• It can also help you find relevant websites or blogs that might be willing to link to your content.

Improving content reliability and engagement

Even if your content ranks well, it’s important to regularly analyze it and ensure people actually read it and engage with it. Copilot can help make sure your content is interesting by:

• Suggesting ways to make your content easier to read, like shortening sentences or using simpler language.
• Helping you adjust the tone of your content to fit your target audience, whether you’re writing for professionals or individual customers.
• Recommending ways to increase user engagement, such as including questions, CTAs, or links to related content.

Conducting basic website audits and reporting

How to use Copilot as a marketer or an SEO specialist? Last but not least, integrated with platforms like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog, the tool can help you conduct simple and basic site audits. For example, it can flag underperforming content, suggest structural changes, and come up with content refreshing ideas.

It can also be used to create reports that track important metrics like keyword rankings, traffic, and page performance, providing marketers with valuable insights.

The takeaway

Microsoft Copilot can make life a lot easier for many specialists, including marketers and SEO professionals.

That said, it’s worth keeping in mind that Copilot is just that – a copilot. It’s great for handling the busywork and coming up with a variety of ideas, but it still needs your expertise behind the wheel. The strategy, creativity, and deep understanding of your audience? At the end of the day, that’s all you.

So, if you need human touch in your SEO strategy, we’ve got your back. Contact us today!