Why is the internet so full of bad content? Almost everyone who has ever been online has asked themselves that question. Often, the content you come across may look clumsy, robotic, uninspiring, and as if it hadn’t been crafted by humans. And this type of content may be especially frustrating when you’re looking for specific answers to specific problems.
In this online landscape, full of AI-generated fluff pieces, bloggers face an uphill battle. Being a content creator yourself, you understand what we mean: you need to know how to make your blog stand out from that noisy crowd.
In this post, we’ll explain how you can use artificial intelligence (AI) for SEO. But more importantly, we’ll explore how to offer distinct value and stand out from automatically generated pieces.
We’ll cover:
- The cons of using AI for content generation
- How to use AI for Search Engine Optimization
- AI content and SEO best practices to make your blog stand out
So first, we’ll take a look at different AI applications. Let’s dive in!
AI Is Useful in SEO, But It Can be a Trap for Content Creation
Artificial Intelligence technology has dozens of applications. But there are three main use cases for AI in the SEO world. You can use it to:
- Create content
- Optimize your website
- Simplify your workflow
Let’s take a closer look.
What Is AI Content Generation?
Content produced with artificial intelligence (or AI-generated content) has grown exponentially over the past decade. If you search the term “AI writer” on platforms like ProductHunt, you’ll find dozens of options. From writing assistants to platforms creating entire blog posts in seconds.
There is an obvious reason why website owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs use AI-content providers: It’s way cheaper and faster than hiring human writers.
But let’s be honest about this type of content for a moment.
Today, it seems like there’s more content than users. In fact, we are facing what can be called information overload. Therefore, the content Google selects to display on the first page of the search results must meet the highest quality standards. And here comes the problem.
It’s very unlikely that AI-generated content can meet the rigorous requirements of such a competitive environment. In short: AI content doesn’t work.
Why? Well, AI produces content based on input from a user. AI content writers create the content based on a short prompt. Then, by searching millions of web pages for patterns, AI collects information about specific topics to create “new” content.
Let’s put it this way: AI does not create content as much as it reproduces and remixes existing material. In a sense, today’s AI writers are extremely sophisticated “content spinners”.
The way AI writing works brings many problems. Here are just two:
- Automated content can’t provide new perspectives because AI can’t create new ideas or form opinions. Yes, AI-generated content looks original and plagiarism-free. But that’s the thing, AI is trained with online content. So even if it’s not copying other posts verbatim, it won’t be able to surprise your readers with a creative twist. On the other hand, when writing a post, a niche expert can add unique value by sharing original insights and experiences.
- AI content deteriorates digital spaces. AI could flood the market with repetitive information without adding anything new. That’s a potentially fatal threat to SERP quality.
Recently, Google’s John Mueller claimed that “the use of artificial intelligence writing tools to generate content is spam”. And we can’t help but agree.
That paints a realistic picture of the environment where your content will need to stand out. High-value content can’t be automated. Don’t worry, though, we’ll come back to this later.
How to Use Artificial Intelligence for SEO (AI SEO)
Chances are you’re already benefiting from AI’s role in SEO. If your SEO stack of choice includes tools that find content gaps, recommend optimizations, and share projections from existing trends, we’ve got news for you. That’s artificial intelligence.
Chances are that the features you most appreciate about your SEO stack come from some form of AI.
Likewise, AI-powered automation tools can help you streamline tedious processes, such as reporting. And AI-powered chatbots can gather user inquiries at scale and detect patterns. And those patterns can inspire very valuable content.
Additionally, tools like Grammarly use artificial intelligence to help users make their writing more effective.
There’s a place for AI in SEO. But it probably doesn’t involve spewing out an ebook in 2 minutes.
AI Content and SEO Best Practices to Make Your Blog Stand Out
We need to make a point here: there’s nothing wrong with using Artificial Intelligence, even when it comes to creating content. There is a good chance that AI language technology will produce unbelievable output soon.
A recent article in the New York Times suggested that AI linguistic progress could lead to the development of comprehensive language models that could create valuable original content that was free from flaws or shortcomings. But we’re not quite there yet.
Nowadays, the output produced by AI writers doesn’t comply with content marketing best practices. And, even in cases where the content’s readable and grammatically correct, it won’t give you a competitive edge.
When it comes to creating competitive content, we recommend:
- Sharing your own ideas for the future of your field, analyzing news, asking “what if…?” questions, and writing content that targets search queries in a unique and creative way.
- Sharing your expertise through first-hand anecdotes and unique experiences
- Producing original research instead of just compiling stats
- Working with experts who can capitalize on content gaps and untapped ideas
- Taking a stand and letting your brand values be known
It might sound paradoxical, but if you were wondering how to prepare for AI, the best thing you can do at the moment is to minimize its use and put a lot of yourself into your content. High-performing content is genuine. It offers valuable insights that you can’t find elsewhere. AI can’t deliver that type of content yet.
If you really want to include AI technology into your SEO strategy, take advantage of its positive aspects:
- It’s time-saving. You can use the content it generates as a foundation for your posts.
- It’s precise. The best AI writers can produce grammatically correct content. So, you can use AI writers to expand your digital presence across languages. But be careful, this is far from the ideal approach.
- It’s fast and reliable: AI takes no breaks. If you’re considering using AI output as rough material for your posts, you can produce lots of pieces, any day, at any time, in minutes.
Put Your Technical SEO on Autopilot
In this post, we explained the role of AI in SEO content production and strategy. We also offered some actionable advice on how to best use AI for SEO.
However, there’s more to SEO than just blogging and keyword research. Your website’s code is as relevant to your SERP positioning as your content. But, while content shortcomings may be easy to detect at first sight, a misplaced tag can get lost among thousands of lines of code. That’s where SEORadar can help.
SEORadar monitors your website’s code and lets you know when it detects any changes that could impact your SERP positioning. With SEORadar, you can turn your technical SEO into a strategic advantage, with no extra effort. Curious? Start a free trial or schedule a demo today.