AI or Artificial Intelligence-generated content is the most raved-about topic right now. A recent Forbes Advisor survey found that 35% of website owners and content creators already use AI tools to gain a competitive advantage.
Marketers are also embracing AI, with 48% leveraging its capabilities to accurately complete tasks, be it data analysis or offering a unique customer experience.
AI-generated content is any text and image crafted with the help of artificial intelligence algorithms.
These advanced tools are trained on vast datasets to learn the nuances of human language and employ algorithms & machine learning to produce original content. AI, no doubt, is reshaping the ways we create content. However, as AI content becomes more prevalent worldwide, you, as a marketer, may wonder: Can AI content influence your SEO success?
Today, we will explore everything about AI content along with the most obvious question, which is:
- Does Google prioritize or flag content written by AI tools?
- Uncover Google’s guidelines for AI content.
- Discuss how to get the most out of AI content without compromising your SEO efforts.
Does Google Rank AI-Generated Content?
The short answer is yes.
But there’s more to it.
According to the latest Webmaster Guidelines update in February 2023, Google declared that the only thing matters is the ‘quality of content.’ Google rewards content that provides an unforgettable experience for users, no matter how it is produced. Their focus is more on content that aligns with search intent.
According to Google, “as long as content generators focus on the EEAT (expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) part, search engines will treat the content as more valuable and rank it higher in SERPs.”
It makes more sense that even if you want to use AI tools for content generation, you must embrace responsible content generation techniques. If your content is created with a human-first approach, you should not worry about search engines penalizing your site.
Even if you utilize AI tools, the key is to maintain a human-centric approach, keeping the EEAT guidelines in mind.
What are Google’s guidelines for using AI-generated content?
Google’s AI content guidelines don’t focus on the “how” part. Instead, they take the ‘what’ part very seriously, meaning what value your content provides to the readers. In other words, no matter how you produce content, as long as it’s high-quality and aligns with user intent, it will be ranked well.
According to the latest AI-generated content updates, “It’s up to you whether you use AI tools or human resources to create content. If you follow the EEAT formula to present high-quality, original content to the users, you need not worry about search engine penalties or decline in search results.”
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Expertise: Ensure that AI-generated content indicates the knowledge and understanding of the creator of a certain topic.
- Experience: AI-generated content that demonstrates excellent writing skills and adheres to Google search algorithms and guidelines is more likely to rank well.
- Authoritativeness: Your AI-generated content can make an impact if it shows accuracy, originality, domain authority, backlinks, and the right level of authoritative tone.
- Trustworthiness: For AI-generated SEO content to succeed, it needs to be accurate, updated, and provide a clear explanation of the topic without bias.
Google has no problem as long as you use AI ethically and responsibly. If you ensure that your AI SEO content is written in a human-like way, there are no potential risks of penalties. However, Google penalizes AI content if it’s auto-generated, spammy, and adds no value to the users.
In Google Search Central guidelines, they have declared that if you use AI to manipulate ranking in SERPs, Google will spot it as spam.
Hence making it imperative to ensure your content has relevant information based on complete research. You should avoid plagiarism or paraphrasing, too. The content must offer more value than competitors. They also recommend providing statistics, insightful analysis, and fun facts, with relevant information written under appropriate heading.
Does AI Content Affect SEO Rankings?
AI tools allow you to quickly produce content without breaking the bank, which is great for your SEO goals.
However, it’s important to note that AI content may not always serve your SEO purpose well. Content delivered by AI tools can be inaccurate, misleading, or biased and often lacks the human touch – the unique voice, tone, and expertise that resonates with readers.
That said, a critical question arises: Can AI content hurt your SEO rankings?
Google’s ranking systems are designed to recognize high-quality content, whether produced by AI or humans. As long as your content adheres to Google’s EEAT guidelines , you are good to go.
In fact, Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful SEO tool to enhance your content. For example, a Danish news outlet witnessed a 59% increase in clicks on its articles after using AI-created headlines. Similarly, Bankrate.com has successfully leveraged AI to answer specific financial questions, attracting hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors.
However, relying solely on AI can hinder your Google search rankings. To ensure your content thrives, it’s essential to have human oversight.
Before publishing, review and edit AI content to ensure the piece is fact-checked, corrected, clear, and has a solid flow. This adds value and credibility to your content, making it more relevant and appealing to search engines and users. So, balancing AI and human-written content for rankings is a must.
Also, you need to follow Google’s AI policy and guidelines to be on the much safer side.
Limitations of Generating Content with AI
So far we have seen that AI-driven content has become increasingly popular in digital marketing, especially in the content creation and content marketing industry.
However, every advanced technology comes with some limitations, and AI based tools are also one of them. Since we are talking in detail about producing content through AI tools and making it rank on search engines, let’s look at some challenges these tools have when it comes to creating SEO optimized content:
1. Lack of nuanced understanding:
AI often lacks a deep understanding of context and nuance. This can lead to misinterpretations of idioms, cultural references, or subtle emotional cues.
2. Limited creativity and content originality:
When it comes to producing engaging and original content, AI falls short as it often relies on pre-existing templates or algorithms, making the content sound repetitive and formulaic.
3. Risks of generating inaccurate and outdated information:
AI may generate incorrect or outdated content, primarily upon encountering new or rapidly evolving topics.
4. Limited ability to engage with the audience:
AI-generated content often sounds robotic and lacks the emotional depth human writers can offer.
5. Difficulty understanding context and tone:
AI often struggles to understand contextual cues, leading to content lacking human intuition. It may be unable to adjust its tone of writing or language according to the audience and purpose of the content.
Human intervention is a non-negotiable factor in overcoming these limitations and ensuring the quality of AI content.
It is also highly not recommended to over-optimize AI content because it can adversely impact users and search engine rankings. This indicates the need for a personal touch from subject matter experts, writers, and editors.
By combining the efficiency and data processing capabilities of AI with the creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence of humans, you can create high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience.
How to Make the Best Out of AI-Generated Content Without Hurting SEO
While AI content lets you reap numerous SEO benefits, it pays to strategically use AI to avoid potential pitfalls as well.
Therefore, combining SEO and AI generated content with human inputs can set you up for growth. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of AI content without jeopardizing your SEO efforts:
Emphasize human oversight:
Human oversight ensures that AI content effectively conveys your brand message by ensuring high-quality content. Employ human editors to refine the content and address potential issues so that it aligns with your brand’s voice.
Integrate AI content with SEO best practices:
AI-powered keyword research tools help you stay updated on search trends and identify relevant keywords, including long-tail keywords. This enables you to create targeted content that attracts more organic traffic. You can also rely on AI to optimize meta tags (title and description tags) for better search engine visibility.
Refine AI content with tools and strategies:
AI content creation tools are programmed and trained on a vast amount of data, which sometimes may not be correct. Plus, AI content generator tools can adopt biases based on the data it uses.
If your readers find that your content is unreliable, your site may experience a drop in search engine rankings. So, make sure you cross-reference data from multiple sources. Assess context and plausibility, cite original sources, separate facts and opinions, and establish the source’s credibility.
Focus on Google’s quality guidelines:
Google will reward your high-quality AI content as long as you use AI tools ethically and appropriately. Also, make sure that your content adheres to EEAT guidelines if you are to improve your website’s visibility.
AI-produced content can be a valuable tool to supplement human creativity. For instance, marketers can use AI to generate initial ideas or conduct research while human writers craft the content, ensuring accuracy and alignment with the brand’s voice.
Wrap Up
AI tools are reshaping content creation in a significant way, making SEO efforts more streamlined and effective. With AI, marketers can now automate tasks like keyword research, market analysis, predictive insights, and content creation.
The result? A productivity boost and a more efficient workflow. But one thing is clear and applies to everybody—AI isn’t a replacement for human creativity or expertise.
To maximize its potential, it’s crucial to experiment with different AI-powered SEO tools and strategies, but always keep a human touch and maintain oversight. Focus on producing high-quality, user-first content that aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
In short, treat AI as an enhancement, not a substitute. That way, you can utilize its benefits without compromising the unique, value-driven content that keeps users and search engines happy.
