If you’ve been online at all in 2023, then you know there has been a massive boom in the AI industry.
Copywriters, artists, and digital marketers have all found themselves looking at the future as AI tools capable of producing artwork and text-based content become more functional.
While AI-generated content might be possible with these tools, it’s still important for you to understand the quality of that content and to look at how it could impact your brand’s SEO strategies.
The wrong approach could be extremely harmful to businesses and their SEO rankings.
Additionally, while cutting back on hiring human writers and turning to AI is tempting, AI isn’t as trustworthy as it may seem. It still requires human attention and intervention.
It’s just a tool, not a replacement for content creators and strategists.
We’ve compiled this helpful content (written by a human for humans) to give you insight into what to expect in 2023.
Can I Trust AI Content Generators?
To a degree, yes. AI generators are filled with thousands upon thousands of pieces of common knowledge ranging from definitions to news articles.
That being said, whether or not you can trust AI is still out for debate. According to Behavioral scientist Chiara Longoni, ChatGPT, as well as other kinds of AI, are a long way from being trusted over human sources.
Unfortunately, AI presents its information as true, even when that may not be the case. While the machine can write fact-based articles, there is also a risk that it could make up facts.
This is a problem called AI hallucination.
To counteract those concerns, it’s a good idea to work with content creators and specialists, like copywriters and copy editors, who can fact-check and monitor the content before it goes to print or live on the web.
What Is AI Content Strategy?
AI content strategy refers to the management of online content created by AI. There are several stages of AI content strategy.
Content creation refers to creating content like blogs, videos, and landing page text. Content organization and distribution are two additional stages that require businesses to sort through, manage, and distribute the content across specific channels, like their social media pages or websites.
The nice thing about AI is that it can be used across multiple platforms, and its content can be manipulated to target specific audiences. With those features, content teams can improve their content strategies to reach their preferred audiences.
AI Content and Google
Right now, there is a growing debate about how Google should handle AI content. Will it be able to flood search results with AI-generated content, essentially wiping out the work done by marketers who aren’t using AI? Or will Google find a way to identify AI-generated content and penalize it?
Google reports that it prioritizes high-quality content. So, whether good quality content was AI-generated or human-made doesn’t necessarily make a difference.
That being said, Google does advise that publishers create people-first content. The content should follow the EEAT rule, demonstrating expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Not all AI is okay with Google. Google believes both AI and automation used for malicious or manipulative purposes violate their spam policies and will address them accordingly.
How Does AI Content Affect SEO?
SEO, a key to any solid digital marketing strategy, is an important part of branding your business. Good SEO helps your website rank on search engines.
Why does that matter? With the right SEO in place, someone entering search terms will see your website on the first or second page of results, meaning they’re more likely to notice your business.
Even better, when you have good SEO, your business starts to be better recognized as an authority in the market. That may mean consumers trust you more, or it could mean that you have more opportunities to convert them to paying customers.
Now, SEO uses keywords and content to get you noticed, so it would stand to reason that creating a lot of content with many keywords would help you rank higher…right?
Well, not really. You need to have good content, and Google needs to recognize it as authoritative.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller states that any content generated with AI needs to fall into the “auto-generated content” category. This category of content generally falls into poor SEO practices and is usually against Google’s master guidelines.
Why doesn’t Google like auto-generated content? It’s spammy. Sites with this kind of content can quickly be penalized, leading to poor rankings on the search engine if they’re listed at all.
Now, whether or not your content will fall into that category and result in penalties will depend on how helpful it is. Remember that SEO content creation focuses on human-to-human interactions; auto-generated content isn’t producing that kind of relationship.
However, when you create auto-generated content and then work with a real human who is adjusting the content, checking it for errors, fact-checking what’s included, and making changes to improve the work, you fall into a gray area.
AI can have a positive impact on SEO in some ways. For example, in the area of keyword research, AI can be very helpful. For grammar, AI can be a helpful spellchecker or grammar tool, too.
Keyword research automation is already happening. Google uses AI, along with other kinds of tools, to access keyword databases. For most single users, AI-supported keyword search tools will likely be what they’ll use.
Will AI Replace Content Creators?
The simple answer to this question is “no.” AI cannot replace content creators because AI doesn’t run independently. It still needs people to provide inputs and prompts. It needs fact-checking, proofing, and editing.
Right now, AI is in a position to be used as a tool, but we don’t see it becoming an entity of its own. In fact, specialists don’t even believe that humans have anything to worry about anytime soon.
Instead of thinking of AI as something that can replace copywriters, editors, or other content creators, think of it as a tool to make them more powerful.
They’ll be able to get research done more quickly, assemble ideas and outlines in less time, and deliver a piece of content that works. With the amount of time people will save in the ideation phase, they can take on more work, too, meaning they have a better opportunity to earn more.
Of course, there is a chance that AI could be good enough to create mediocre content that some would be happy with. But AI isn’t in a position to be as creative or experienced as real industry professionals.
Get Human Content for Human Prospects
There are many reasons why AI tools are a major topic of discussion, and there are reasons why they might be helpful in some ways. That being said, there is no replacement for the skill or expertise of humans who already work in this field.
If you’re looking for more fresh, creative content, look no further than WriterAccess. Sign up for a free trial with our AI-powered writer search engine to find your perfect writing partner.