The digital marketing industry is still trying to get into the right headspace about using AI content, specifically for search engine optimization. The last quarter of 2022 was a reckoning between AI and the rest of the world, with ChatGPT earning the ire of many institutions (including universities). Issues about truthfulness, accuracy, and transparency became hot topics, as AI supposedly did what only humans could (before), like originating ideas and even passing a simulated medical exam.
And while extensive language modeling with machine learning and artificial intelligence is not new, its novel applications today send shockwaves through different industries and markets.
The SEO industry is not spared from the repercussions of the ‘new’ technology. However, denying the presence of AI may end up being detrimental since it’s likely here to stay.
Google and Bing have powered their products with artificial intelligence, even more this year. As a result, we’re likely coming close to the era where we can have ‘conversations’ with search tech to obtain the necessary information.
What About AI Content?
The goal of SEO has always been to constantly connect with the right people to make a website more competitive online. SEO is a numbers game; metrics drive it, and many factors, including your competition. As such, it is unsurprising that businesses turn to artificial intelligence for help. Generating content is difficult and expensive, for the most part. But should you be using AI content in your campaigns?
Google has put its foot down on the use of AI, and in its AI content guidelines, it’s clear that Google doesn’t want people to use AI content. Instead, Google has SpamBrain technology that detects when content is posted to manipulate SERPs. That can get a website penalized!
However, Google also acknowledges that AI content can be significant. If AI content still follows Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. It used to be just E-A-T, but they’ve added an extra “E” to the mix. According to Google, great content must have the following: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Existing Issues with AI Content
The widespread use of AI-driven content generators has made mass content production faster and easier. With a few clicks, anyone can write a generic, half-assed piece that needs to be revised to fit the voice of the business and to conform to the standards of accuracy.
It’s tempting to get carried away by the buzz surrounding these cutting-edge resources and produce abundant material in their wake.
But there’s something we can’t and shouldn’t overlook when we employ these AIs in the real world. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that when you use an AI program to write material, it sounds a lot like other people’s.
Another common problem with AI content is that it does not possess the inclusivity found in human-written content. This impacts everyone. Content made by AI is based on how they were trained.
Lack of originality and authenticity is the second major issue with AI-generated material. Algorithms can copy the tone and style of previously published works but can’t compete with human authors regarding originality and inventiveness.
The absence of nuance, depth, and originality in AI-generated material can damage a company’s credibility and reputation. Furthermore, as algorithms tend to mimic current patterns and preferences, AI-generated material might reinforce preconceptions, bias, and discriminatory practices.
Now more than ever, reproducing the same material as everyone else is simple, thanks to AI-powered content creation tools. And if everyone is using the same AI to make videos, then nobody is making anything new. This will have the same effect as closing a room to new information. This causes one to see the world through a myopic lens.
Modern online material trains the Large Language Models (LLMs) that enable services like Microsoft’s Bing assistant, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google Bard. Even though the internet would like to portray itself as welcoming and accepting of all individuals, it does have some dubious parts.
Using AI for Content and SEO
Despite AI’s growing pains, we think using AI-driven technologies to help with your SEO campaigns is a good idea. Every new technology goes through a growing period, and AI is no different.
AI solutions can help automate data analysis, revealing patterns and trends hidden at lower levels of detail. Making content involves several arbitrary decisions. What one writer considers essential to a subject may not be what readers find interesting or valuable. An author may leap that a subject is, in fact, about a specific topic while users are interested in another topic. These discrepancies may lead to low search rankings for the associated material.
By offering an objective profile of what a piece of content is about, AI content tools aid content developers in forming tighter ties between material and what people seek. The decades-old method of finding high-traffic keywords and creating content for them has also been rendered obsolete by AI tools available to search marketers.
Search engines get a deeper understanding of both by deciphering what users want and the subject matter of individual web pages. Modern AI content solutions do this same function for SEO across the board. And by allowing the entire process to scale, AI improves content workflow efficiency by shortening the time it takes to go from conducting research to posting new materials online.
Key Takeaways
- The digital marketing industry is still trying to get into the right headspace about using AI content, specifically for search engine optimization.
- Google has put its foot down on the use of AI, and in their AI content guidelines, Google doesn’t want people to use AI content carelessly.
- According to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, Google acknowledges that AI content can be great if done right.
- Great content must have experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
- The widespread use of AI-driven content generators has made mass content production faster and easier.
- Issues with AI content can damage a company’s credibility and reputation. AI counter-example, it can copy the tone an
