AI-Generated SEO Content Versus Human SEO Content Writing: Not to Be a Luddite, But…
Automation deleted phone operators and TV took care of the radio star…are content writers next? AI-generated content is the shiny new toy, and like CGI in the early 2000s, it is absolutely everywhere. Search engines, websites, and social media are positively littered with AI-generated content; the new frontier that is being heralded as a cost-effective way to write your own web pages and blogs.
But, does it deliver or does it look as silly as the sets of the Star Wars prequels?
What Does Google Say About AI?
If one of the main purposes of content is to rise in search result rankings, then what Google and other search engines say about AI-generated content is pretty important. Google’s stance on AI is simple—they don’t punish a website for using AI to pen blogs or web copy, so long as it meets the same criteria as non-generated content. Google hasn’t changed its position, but they have added the following excerpt to their spam policies:
“Our long-standing spam policy has been that use of automation, including generative AI, is spam if the primary purpose is manipulating ranking in Search results. The updated policy is in the same spirit of our previous policy and based on the same principle. It’s been expanded to account for more sophisticated scaled content creation methods where it isn’t always clear whether low-quality content was created purely through automation.”
So, if AI content is reliable, relevant to the query, and high-quality, then it will likely rank.
The Unoriginal Original Content: Generating a New Copy/Paste
Generator beware, your content may not be spared demotion if it’s unoriginal.
Originality is arguably key to engagement. If your web content or blog reads the same as the thousands of others online, offering no new angle or information specific to your website, then you’ll likely get less traffic or conversion.
Generated content tends to recycle phrases, such as “in this article,” or “in today’s fast-paced world,” or “a key point to consider,” while making inaccurate claims and crossing into plagiarism territory due to pulling from existing content. AI tools don’t create original ideas; they pull from other sources and weave them together. Sure, you could argue humans do the same thing at times, but what separates the mind from the machine is the unique sympathetic spin (tone).
Think of misreading texts and how often rifts occur because of how someone reads a message incorrectly. Tone and emotion matter in communication!
Besides robbing your SEO strategy and content of unique examples and original insights, you run a major risk of unoriginal content when you solely rely on language learning models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for content generation. Remember, you wouldn’t be the only person using that LLM and likely aren’t the same company or website offering your service or product.
If you’re pulling from the same stuff as others with similar prompts, you’re drinking from the same puddle as everyone else, and there is only so much to go around.
The Facts Lie, Those Are the Facts: AI Content & Information
Like Lincoln said to John Adams, “Don’t trust what you read online.”
AI is rarely reliable and requires fact-checking at every turn. The program isn’t capable of making complex judgments about truthfulness. Instead, it pulls information most relevant to what you asked it to generate.
Why do these programs do that?
Let’s use ChatGPT as an example. Like most AI content-generating programs, it’s a language model that delivers the most likely word in a sequence based on patterns it is trained to recognize. It generates predictive text rather than accurate content. It is susceptible to biases, inaccuracies in the data it pulls from or has been trained on, and text online, which most of us know is hardly a factual place.
Content writers are typically thought of as people who just write content, not as subject matter experts. With that point of view, businesses can be semi-forgiven for wanting to replace a writer with an AI generator to save costs. The issue with that is there are many types of content writers who are also subject experts, including medical, legal, engineering, and financial-specialized writers. While there may be some content writers working at marketing agencies who aren’t experts in a particular field, they are still given the relevant information from the client or interview experts to write the content with some authority.
In short, if a writer isn’t an expert themselves then they know how to collect correct information from experts and present it effectively. Language learning models just don’t do that.
Is AI a Keyword Cheat Sheet or Grasping at Query Guesses?
Writing ranking content means weaving primary and secondary keywords throughout it, alongside LSI terms and proper structure. Anyone who has done keyword research knows how tedious it can be, but with an AI program at your side, is it easier?
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, but…
Piggybacking off of factual errors being commonplace with AI-generated content, so too are keywords. You don’t want to rely exclusively on generated keywords, but it can give you a list to springboard off of and double-check. This is especially useful when writing content or optimizing pages for a company in a niche industry: NAS hardware manufacturing, overlaminates, remote community medical staffing, eco-cobblers, etc.
Keep the tools and skills that have always produced results when using AI-generated keywords.
Like facts, double-check.
Some Pros of AI-Generated Prose
I promise this piece isn’t about trash-talking AI-generated content. There are quite a few positives to using LLMs, it’s about knowing where to use them and how. Using AI to generate all your content without rhyme or reason is akin to swinging a hammer in a hundred different ways in an attempt to build a house.
So, what are some of the pros?
- Outline Creation: Framing articles and detailing their order can be tedious, time-consuming, and suck up your energy for writing quickly. AI programs can do that part for you, letting you edit or tailor rather than starting from a blank page.
- Ideation: Brainstorming can be just as difficult as writing content. Whether it’s adding a new webpage or writing a new blog, sometimes the ideas aren’t flowing. You can prompt an AI program to offer ideas around a central theme, in turn prompting you with ideas to refine.
- Repetition at Breakneck Speed: Sometimes you need a lot of pages or articles that target different locations, but the content is essentially the same (think location pages). Instead of spending a lot of time copying and pasting the content, ensuring a 14% difference, AI can take care of that. As always, double-check the content!
AI-Enhanced Versus AI-Generated: Where to Put Human Hands
Like other types of technology that make our day easier, AI can do just that for content needs, but it shouldn’t replace human hands. It’s an oversimplification to say that a computer can replace content marketers or writers just because it can generate long-form content or paragraphs quickly. That’s like saying the microwave replaced the chef.
This is advice for writers as well. Don’t let fear of the new tool replacing your profession prevent you from using it. Graphic design programs didn’t replace graphic designers, they helped them save time and their wrist joints. AI programs can help you brainstorm and outline, save you research time, and sweep away repetitive tasks that don’t require much of your attention.
Keep your hands at the keyboard and use the tools available.
To those folks flirting with replacing writers with AI-generated content — the consequences of that move are much more detrimental to your strategy than the time you think you’re saving.
Embrace Your Neo: Where Professionals Meet Programs
Don’t let the machine do your thinking, only enhance it. That’s why we have real writers at Momentum, to give our clients the edge of experience and strategy-tested skills. We don’t get excited over every new tool, we use what works and ensure that it works reliably. Take a look at what our other experts have to say in their respective fields in our blog.
