As the years go by, the influence of AI in content creation continues to expand. Tools like Jasper.ai, ChatGPT, and others are generating AI-driven content that can engage your audience effectively. Consequently, incorporating AI into your organic marketing strategy is becoming increasingly advantageous for producing high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.
Nevertheless, numerous content creators and SEO specialists still find it challenging to craft content that aligns with Google’s quality guidelines.
Thankfully, Google has made it clear that they prioritize high-quality content regardless of whether it was produced by humans or AI. Google has stated:
“At Google, we’ve long believed in the power of AI to transform the ability to deliver useful information, rewarding quality content, no matter how it was created.”
This implies that businesses can utilize AI tools to produce high-quality content that enhances SEO performance without the concern of affecting their rankings negatively. An organic marketing agency can be instrumental in this process.
In this article, we will delve into how AI-generated content integrates into our proven strategy for delivering valuable content in search, with a special emphasis on SEO. There’s something valuable here for everyone, and we hope these tips can be applied to your own efforts!
AI and SEO: Understanding Google’s Policies
Google’s position on AI-generated content has sparked considerable debate in recent years. Definitive statements like “Google declares that AI-generated content violates policies” and “Google doesn’t want your AI-generated SEO spam content” have heightened concerns among content creators and marketers.
However, despite Google’s prior negative stance, people continue to use AI tools to write content. During the short period when Google opposed AI content, tools were created to check whether it was created using AI or humans, with partial success, as you can see in this video by Brian Dean :
(2) The TRUTH About AI & SEO – YouTube
A Brief History of Google vs. AI-Generated Content
The advent of AI tools for content creation has significantly transformed the content marketing arena in recent years. Although Google initially opposed AI-generated content, their announcement that they prioritize quality content over its creator has shifted the landscape.
This perspective wasn’t always prevalent. During 2021-2022, communities of bloggers and content creators noticed the growing influence of AI tools in their search engine results and feeds, highlighted by the viral success of DALL·E and the enthusiastic reception of Midjourney.
The most profound challenge for Google arose with the emergence of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s formidable competitor to Google’s search engine. As users, professionals, and media started speculating about the potential decline of Google search, Google responded by launching its own chatbot, Bard, to rival GPT.
Best Practices for Creating High-Quality AI-Generated Content that Ranks on Google
Crafting high-quality AI-generated content that ranks well on Google requires a well-thought-out strategy. Google has emphasized that AI-generated content can be just as effective as human-generated content, provided it meets specific standards to be deemed “Good Content.”
To ensure your AI-generated content aligns with these standards, consider the following best practices:
Avoid Spammy Content
The notion that AI-generated content is inherently spammy is a widespread misconception. Google’s earlier stance on AI-generated content was often misinterpreted, causing confusion among content creators and marketers.
However, Google’s recent clarification has illuminated the issue. The statement “We don’t want spammy AI content” indicates that the issue lies not with AI content itself, but with content that is spammy, irrelevant, or of low quality.
In essence, AI-generated content is not inherently problematic; its worth is determined by the quality it offers.
To avoid producing spammy AI content, brands should prioritize quality, relevance, and usefulness for their target audience.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness
Goodbye E-A-T, Welcome E-E-A-T
For years, Google’s guidelines emphasized E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. However, a few weeks before announcing their acceptance of AI-generated content, they introduced an additional E to the acronym – Experience. This addition was no coincidence, as a machine cannot possess experience in any field.
To effectively tackle the future of content creation, it’s beneficial to retain your human touch. This involves adding personal elements to your writing, such as phrases like “in my opinion,” “from my experience,” or personal anecdotes, like the one I’m about to share about my mother-in-law.
If you haven’t done this yet, it’s worth starting now. However, don’t stress too much – not every content writer has firsthand experience with every topic they cover. This is where partnering with a content creation and marketing agency can help you translate your experience and expertise into quality content.
Check Your Facts
AI tools serve as “creative assistants” but are not yet reliable research assistants. They are designed to be creative rather than precise. Therefore, it’s essential to verify the facts, quotes, and statistics they generate. Even if you input data and statistics into the prompt, it’s wise to confirm that the tool hasn’t altered this information.
To illustrate, when my mother-in-law experimented with an AI tool and asked it to write an academic paper, it included citations and references to articles. Upon checking, she found that while the researchers existed and the topics were relevant, the articles and quotes were entirely fabricated.
Choose Your AI Tool
Selecting the appropriate AI tool for content creation is crucial. While ChatGPT is useful for writing code and regular expressions, it is not specifically designed for content creation. For that purpose, there are more suitable options available.
Some AI tools provide a finished article once you input a brief, while others let you “drive” them as they create the content – adjusting the text in real-time. We prefer these interactive tools because they allow us to focus more on the text, tweak facts, change direction as needed, and insert our own words to shape and guide the output.
While it might be tempting to generate several hundred words at the click of a button, taking a slower approach yields better-quality results.
Some Things are (Still) Better Without AI
Certain tasks are indeed better without AI. For example, this article was written entirely by a human – no AI involved!
Niche subjects that require expertise, research, and experience, such as the history of Google versus AI, tend to read better without AI-generated content.
AI is excellent for creating guides and explanations, but articles with anecdotes and a personal or professional point of view are generally best written by humans, at least partially.
Using AI for Improved Creativity
If you’re not comfortable using AI to write content, that’s perfectly fine. However, you can still leverage its creativity. With AI tools, you can:
- Get content ideas that go beyond keyword research.
- Receive suggested outlines and headings for articles.
- Generate titles for your articles.
- Write an excerpt, meta title, and meta description.
- Shorten and simplify long paragraphs – useful for FAQ sections!
- Get help with the introductory paragraph or conclusion while you handle the body of the article.
Key Takeaways
Here are the key takeaways when it comes to using AI for content creation:
Dos:
- Utilize AI Tools: Don’t hesitate to use AI tools for content creation. It’s not against Google’s guidelines.
- Human Judgment: Evaluate the content from a human perspective. Would you be satisfied with it? Does it answer your questions?
- Provide New Information: Offering fresh insights can help your content rank better in search results.
- Fact-Check: Remember, AI is more creative than factual. Always verify the facts provided.
- Incorporate Experience: Use the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) principles. Include first-person perspectives where relevant.
- Use Your Judgment: Some content is best written by humans. Use AI for generating ideas and refining details.
Don’ts:
- Avoid Fluff: Don’t create content that fails to answer questions or meet needs. Avoid adding unnecessary words.
- Don’t Rely Solely on AI: Treat AI as an assistant, not a ghostwriter. Review and adjust AI-generated content as needed.
- Verify Content: Never upload AI-generated content without fact-checking.
- Value Your Expertise: Don’t neglect your own unique knowledge and experience.
In conclusion, AI tools can significantly aid in content creation, but they won’t replace human judgment. Leverage your unique expertise and knowledge when appropriate, as some tasks are still best left to humans. If you need additional support, consider hiring an organic marketing agency to fully harness the potential of your content.
FAQs
Q1: Can AI-generated content improve my SEO rankings?
A1: Yes, AI-generated content can enhance your SEO rankings by providing high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your audience and aligns with Google’s guidelines.
Q2: Is it against Google’s policies to use AI for content creation?
A2: No, it is not against Google’s policies to utilize AI for content creation. However, it’s essential to ensure that the content meets quality standards and offers value to your audience.
Q3: How can I ensure that AI-generated content is factual and accurate?
A3: To ensure factual accuracy, it’s crucial to verify information independently and cross-check facts provided by AI tools. Additionally, human oversight and review are essential to catch any inaccuracies or errors.
Q4: Can AI-generated content replace human-written content entirely?
A4: While AI-generated content can be valuable, it cannot replace the creativity, empathy, and nuanced understanding that human writers bring to the table. Human-written content often offers a unique perspective and authenticity that AI-generated content may lack.
Q5: What role does human judgment play in AI-generated content?
A5: Human judgment is vital in overseeing and refining AI-generated content. It involves evaluating the content from a human perspective, ensuring coherence, accuracy, and relevance, and making adjustments as needed to align with the brand’s voice and objectives.
