This blog was written by Martin Petkov, “Metaverse AI” trilogy author and top Marketing voice on LinkedIn, who has been recognised as one of the top 30 Metaverse Marketing Professionals globally by The Metaverse Insider.
These days, unless you’re holding a hand-written birthday card, AI likely played some role in what you’re reading.
Why it matters?
The proliferation and advancements of AI content tools make them attractive for people and businesses that rely on content for their success.
The role of human writers and creativity is more critical than ever unless we want to drown in an online sea of irrelevance.
My experience with AI writing tools
As the author of the Metaverse AI trilogy, I have extensive experience with various AI content generators.
I’ve used various artificial intelligence writing tools to ideate, summarise, draft, or improve content. I’ve used them for blog posts, research reports, social media posts, and book chapters. I’ve given talks on the subject.
So, I’m writing from experience.
What is AI-generated content?
Surprisingly, there is no universal definition of AI-generated content. This is unexpected since many human writers creating high-quality content rely on AI tools during the content creation process. So, let me introduce a working definition.
AI-generated content is any text, audio, or visual content created mostly or entirely using artificial intelligence.
Most online sources agree with this definition, but questions remain.
Where do we draw the line?
How much human creativity is enough?
How important is the human touch in content creation?
After you edit the output extensively, is it still AI-generated material?
These are profound questions about the content production process. To address them effectively, I’ll first describe the role of artificial intelligence in content creation.
Specifically, I’ll focus primarily on AI-generated writing since I know most about it.
How does artificial intelligence support content creation?
AI models use natural language processing (NLP) to understand language and human writing. Although AI content tools based on NLP have evolved significantly, they still struggle to understand natural language emotions, humour, and idioms.
Still, AI tools can be valuable in the content marketing process as they help automate content development. NLP enables AI content generators to use statistical machine learning to predict the next most likely word in a sequence.
So, essentially, AI generators use mathematics and statistics in content creation to string together words most likely to resemble human writing.
With this context, let me now discuss the exact role that AI tools can play in the content generation process.
What can AI tools do for you?
Although specific AI content creation tools exist for niche use cases, the average AI tool can help with various digital marketing aspects.
Conduct AI keyword analysis
AI tools can help you find your target keywords, which are the lifeblood of search platforms. This, in turn, would help you create content that enables you to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Generate content ideas
Most AI tools can help you brainstorm new ideas when creating content. In that sense, they can complement your human creativity and help you overcome any blocks.
Write social media posts
An AI generator can also help with short-form content. With a single prompt, you can easily create multiple social media posts.
Create marketing materials
AI tools can save time and help you create engaging content for digital marketing, such as quality blog posts. AI content generators can also help with creating images.
Audit and enhance existing content
Most AI-powered content platforms can help you analyse your company’s existing content and suggest areas for improvement. Then, using an AI content generator, you can use your existing data to create content to fill the gaps.
Translate your content
AI writing tools can translate your content into multiple languages. Although you may need to edit the generated content, it can save a lot of effort before you need human intervention.
Although this list is not exhaustive, it gives you a solid understanding of the varieties of AI-generated content. Therefore, now you can appreciate the advantages and disadvantages I’ll discuss.
What are the pros and cons of AI-generated content?
AI-generated content is a polarising subject. Some rely on it heavily when generating content. Some swear they’d never touch it. Some hate AI-only content but would use an AI content generator to get their creative juices flowing.
Therefore, I have two goals.
First, I’ll aim to be balanced when discussing what I like and dislike about AI-generated content.
Second, since the topic has been extensively covered, I’ll aim to summarise and introduce additional considerations.
Pros of AI-generated content
For instance, various leading publications highlight that AI generators can help you save time, accelerate content creation, lead to cost savings, drive search engine optimization, and avoid the dreaded writer’s block.
However, I’d like to add more based on my experience.
Rapid iteration
AI content generators help me iterate. For instance, when optimising a title, I often start with AI-generated options and then tweak them until I’m satisfied.
Efficient research
Sometimes, using AI-generated content helps me in the research phase of my writing. For example, I’d use an AI tool to summarise a scientific paper. Then, I’d use the insight to formulate and communicate my ideas.
Benchmarking
Finally, AI-generated material can be helpful for comparison. I aim to create more engaging, lively, and interesting content than its AI-generated counterpart whenever I write.
Let me now explore some of the downsides.
Cons of AI-generated content
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of commonality among the cons described by leading publications. These include concerns about plagiarism, lower rankings in search results, inconsistent quality, and lack of creativity.
However, the quality of AI-generated content is evolving. Therefore, the capable AI content generator of the future may be able to create a blog post on par with quality content writers.
So, I’d like to focus on more insidious downsides that can affect human behaviour and undermine our abilities.
Worse writing
Honestly, I feel that the more I rely on AI content generators, the worse my writing gets. This is understandable if we consider the ‘use it, or lose it’ principle. When writers rely heavily on AI tools to generate content, they lose their independent abilities.
Impaired thinking
Writing is not just about articulating preexisting thoughts. It is a process of organising and producing new and original ideas. As we outsource this process to an AI content generator, we gradually erode our ability to concentrate and think critically.
Diminished satisfaction
I’m sure most passionate writers can relate to this. Using AI for content generation is far less satisfying than producing something yourself. The same applies when I read something and detect AI-generated content. Blog articles filled with AI content feel generic and non-sensical.
These considerations affect the quality of the content. Search providers treat some AI-generated content differently from human-written content.
So, let’s explore some quintessential facts about how search platforms work, which will help you make informed decisions about whether and how to use AI content.
What you need to know about search engines
Imagine that the Internet is a vast library. Search platforms are the digital librarians.
When you type a search query, they sift through vast amounts of information and aim to present you with the most relevant and informative results.
Lately, however, artificial intelligence has also augmented these information retrieval systems.
Google’s new AI search
For instance, Google released a new AI-powered search. It provides AI-generated answers alongside regular links to web pages. Essentially, this gives you more context as summaries of key points and suggestions for further search.
However, while Google uses AI to deliver better results, this does not automatically mean it wants its users to be reading AI-generated content.
Google’s policy on AI-written content
Initially, Google’s stance on AI-generated content was nuanced. Instead of focusing on a binary distinction between human-generated and AI-generated content, the company vowed to fight spammy and useless content regardless of how it was created.
Google’s recent March 2024 update clarifies that using generative AI for content automation to manipulate results ranking is spam. The problem is that using AI generators enables the production of low-to-medium quality content at scale.
This tempts some people to indulge in scaled content abuse. This is when site owners release many pages, often filled with AI-generated content, to manipulate search rankings without adding value for users.
Instead, content creators need to focus on quality and usefulness. But how exactly?
E-E-A-T – producing SEO-friendly content
It all comes down to what should be common sense for any human writer aspiring to create insightful content. Google recommends that high-ranking content should be well-written and informative and should not mislead readers. Specifically, they use the E-E-A-T acronym for expertise, experience, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Your content will likely rank high on Google if it shows these values. But how do you demonstrate E-E-A-T in your content?
E-E-A-T explained
A few simple questions can help you understand whether your content meets the criteria.
- Expertise: Does your content show a deep understanding of the topic? Are you a recognized authority in your domain? Google loves content written by people who know what they are talking about.
- Experience: Does your content show firsthand knowledge or a proven track record? Have you used the product or service you’re reviewing? Have you been in a specific field for years? Proving your experiences builds trust with search platforms.
- Authoritativeness: Is your website a trusted information source? Do other high-quality websites link to yours? Citations and recognition from established sources boost your authority.
- Trustworthiness: Can users rely on the information you provide? Is your content accurate, unbiased, and well-sourced? Building this type of trust is critical to ranking well.
How to ensure your content demonstrates E-E-A-T
Here are a few simple tips that can help you.
- Focus on high-quality, informative content: Provide valuable insights and actionable solutions that your audience can use.
- Highlight the author’s credentials: Include author bios, certifications, and any relevant affiliations to demonstrate experience and expertise.
- Build backlinks from reputable websites: Signal your website’s authority by earning links from credible, trusted sources with high domain authority.
- Aim for a clean, professional and unbiased website: Ensure your content is error-free, delivers solid user experience, and looks great on mobile.
As you can see, there is neither a requirement for nor a strict prohibition against AI-generated content. The necessity for SEO success is that you deliver high-quality content to your website visitors.
Why great content is a must for SEO?
Google prioritises helpful and informative content to deliver the best results for its users. Therefore, content is the fuel that drives successful search engine optimization. The better the content quality, the better the search results ranking.
This is crucial for any company that wants to increase website traffic. The focus must be on creating high-quality content instead of AI-generated content stuffed with keywords, the importance of which I’ll discuss next.
The importance of using relevant keywords
Most people type a string of words in Google to find information online. The search engine then scans the web for pages that contain these words. Keywords are signposts for search providers. They tell the information retrieval system what your content is about and whether it will be relevant to the user’s query.
Still, mindlessly stuffing AI-generated content with suitable keywords will not help you rank higher. It will, however, make your content likely to be flagged in any online AI content detector. Instead, treat keywords as guides, giving structure and direction to your ranking. Above all, consider them in the context of other essential practices, such as backlinks.
How backlinks boost search engine rankings
Backlinks are essential for improving your website’s search engine rankings. They act like independent votes of confidence in the quality of your content.
Having high-quality websites whose domains have high authority links to yours is crucial. This tells search providers that your content is valuable and can be trusted, improving your ranking in search results.
As you can see, the content creation process for a high-ranking SEO-optimised website is complex. AI-generated content can play a role, but without human intervention, it’s unlikely to deliver the results you’re after.
Human writers’ role in the content creation process
As we have seen, satisfying all the requirements of search engines can be complex and time-consuming. This is why the role of capable human writers is essential. They can help across several areas.
- Edit AI-generated content: A human writer can transform the output of an AI generator into a masterpiece.
- Generate new ideas: With my extensive experience with AI content generators, I can say that I rarely see genuinely novel ideas. At least for now, this seems like a domain where human content writers are superior to machines.
- Influence human behaviour: Finally, our consciousness and lived experience helps us understand and influence human behaviour. And is this not the goal of most writing?
Therefore, it is vital to realise that adding a human touch to the content generation process is not a cost. Quality content writers are an investment in your brand’s reputation and success.
Conclusion
While you may view AI content generation tools as a tempting shortcut, creating truly high-quality content remains in the realm of human writers. Although AI can help, content that truly resonates and builds trust requires a human touch.
The future belongs to seamless human-machine collaboration. So, sharpen your skills, embrace innovation, and focus on what you do best – crafting compelling content that informs, entertains, and influences.
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