There seems to be much apprehension about the value of using AI to generate or assist in writing content. This blog article post will discuss our apprehension but also discuss what benefits we hope to reap from AI-generated web content.
Of course, apprehension about AI is ostensible because writers are people - have traditionally been people at least. People generally don't like to be replaced by robots or whatever kind of artificial intelligence comes along. We get that. However, it would appear that there could be great value in using AI to come up with a steady stream of content ideas and perhaps even outline or sketch out those articles that will make it onto your blog. This is because AI promises to save content writers a lot of research time.
It takes time to research keywords and story ideas. It takes time to study what resonates well with people, potential customers, and Google. Heck, sometimes the easiest part of the article is the writing part. Research can be time intensive and therefore a major factor when it comes to pricing out a piece of content for a website blog. Therefore, if AI can automate that research and present to us a rough sketch of a topic-based piece of web content and that sketch contains an automated distribution of keywords that have ranked in other articles for similar topics, then we want to give that piece of AI a spin around the content producer's block.
AI Generated Content Can Be Risky For SEO
There are risks. What if your articles are regarded as spam and violate Google Webmaster's Guidelines? AI content appears to be a murky gray area. After all, these AI articles are not our father's spam articles of 2003. These are well-structured keyword-driven articles based on natural language. How can Google tell the difference between human and AI-generated content?
Perhaps ironically, the AI content being generated now might only be distinguished by how well it is written - written too well, and maybe it might get a flag. (Note: For a discussion of this risk, see the Search Engine Journal's article, Google Says AI Generated Content Is Against Guidelines).
No matter, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for writing content can be risky when considering Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without careful oversight, the use of AI to create content can lead to content that is both lacking in quality and relevance. The lack of human creativity and understanding of context can cause a decrease in the number of readers and overall engagement.
One key area where AI will often fall short is in the area of keyword placement. Properly placed keywords are essential for SEO as they allow search engines to find and crawl relevant pages on your website. AI may inadvertently place too many keywords or place them in an unnatural way which may result in a penalty from Google. Additionally, some keywords may not be used at all if they are not included in the trained AI model, resulting in potential rankings losses.
Another issue with using AI for writing is the potential for duplicated content across multiple websites. If a content creator is using an AI tool without proper oversight, it’s possible that the same article could be published on several different sites which would hurt SEO efforts due to Google's duplicate content penalty. Content should always be unique and tailored to each website it's being featured on or else there will be a reduction in overall organic search traffic from Google.
When writing content, it's important to have semantic richness which means providing readers with more information than just the basics about a topic. Topics that have higher levels of detail often show up more frequently in searches compared to topics with large amounts of generalizations or fluff text that does not provide value to readers. This type of information requires human knowledge and research as well as creativity which an AI algorithm simply cannot replicate accurately enough for SEO purposes.
In short, utilizing Artificial Intelligence tools for writing can be dangerous for SEO when not fully understood or properly monitored by experienced professionals. While these algorithms have capabilities that can aid the process, there are key areas such as keyword placement, unique content creation, and semantic richness where only humans can truly make a difference when it comes to maximum SEO optimization potential.
We see great value in that and we would imagine most content producers that have to keep a steady stream of content to plan and produce, would find great value in that too. Therefore, we plan to test AI content tools. We want to learn both what value we can get from AI and what value we might not get out of it.
AI Content Generators Overview
For those of you interested in looking into AI content generators, check out Search Engine Journal's The 10 Best AI Writers & Content Generators Compared. Also, quite naturally, we are not the only ones interested in testing out AI content. Here is the experience of a content marketer that was interested in using Jasper AI to generate an article about the commercial printing industry, Content Marketing Using AI: Putting Jasper to the Test. This article talks about what the AI got right and wrong; what worked well and what did not when it comes to using AI for content writing.
Jasper AI
The tool we are going to experiment with is Jasper AI. Jasper AI claims to be artificial intelligence trained to write original, creative content. The folks at Jasper AI assert that they have consulted with the world’s best SEO and direct response marketing experts to teach Jasper how to write blog articles, social media posts, website copy, and more.
Okay great. Sign us up for a trial. We are ready to give Jasper AI a whirl. Our intention is to discover if Jasper AI can prove relevant to our content writing goals or if Jasper AI will merely serve to spit out keywords, and hackneyed content that Google will sooner penalize us for rather than bestow upon us a highly desirable SERP position. Which scenario will play out? Will we reap the benefits or experience the aforementioned risks of AI-generated content? We are not sure. However, one thing we are sure of is that AI-generated content represents a new era for content writing. It certainly seems here to stay.
The smart application of AI content will be key to tapping AI's full potential when it comes to populating your website with valuable content. We believe this means that a content editorial team will need to outline an AI content style guide on how a content writer should use it within an organization and an AI content policy as well. Those are posts for another day.
Right now, we are going to test Jasper AI and other AI tools and will report back to you right here. So please follow our blog. Let's get to the bottom of what value Jasper AI content writing tools can do for us - and therefore, what AI-generated content can do for you.
Editor's Note: We actually used Jasper AI to write part of this article! The middle section about the risks of using AI-generated content was written by Jasper AI. Pretty amazing? We think so. However, we will continue to test - and report back. Stay tuned.
