Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the capabilities of text generators like ChatGPT and the potential impact they may have on the world of SEO and digital content creation. The hot topic of AI in SEO has led to questions like “is SEO dead?” and “Will AI take over SEO” as we learn more about what chatbots like ChatGPT can do. AI text generators have been around for a while (Open AI released the first full version of its text generator back in 2019) and although they are becoming increasingly more intelligent, this doesn’t equal the death of SEO and we’ll explain why.
First things first, digital content creators have combined machine learning and SEO and found many time-saving uses for AI text generators like Chat GPT. However, this piece of AI wasn’t created for SEO purposes. ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a large language model that can generate human-like conversational text when prompted so it can’t replace good old-fashioned search engine optimisation.
Can I Leave my SEO Strategy to AI?
The short answer is no and here’s why. SEO is very specific and constantly evolving. Search engine algorithms are regularly updated and improved upon and it may take a while for AI writing tools to adapt to the latest changes as they happen. Human SEO experts keep abreast of the newest algorithm updates and have an understanding of how to adapt moving forward. AI in SEO can have some time-saving benefits, but human supervision is essential when developing a successful SEO strategy. Keyword research, on-page SEO and content marketing all need the human touch and expertise to make sure they are done correctly and are as effective as possible.
Next, let’s address the elephant in the room – AI-written content. With regards to artificial intelligence and SEO, it’s no secret that AI writing tools can create blog posts and articles in seconds but what about the quality of the posts? Currently, tools used for AI article writing can deliver large amounts of written content but they can’t create truly original content. When it comes to depending on artificial intelligence blog writing, text generators have no life experience to draw from and can’t offer unique perspectives, create metaphors or make figurative comparisons like a human expert might.
They work by predicting the next word in a sentence and with enough data they can appear to be producing content written by a human. It’s worth noting that chatbots cannot determine whether the information they are generating is accurate or up-to-date since some are based on data from 2021. This is why relying on AI for writing articles is not a good idea if you’re aim is to build trust and authority for your website.
Google has its own AI built to sniff out and penalise AI-written content on websites so yes, you may save time creating the post, but you risk that webpage being disregarded or even penalised if Google detects your content as AI-generated. A good SEO agency would steer clear of using AI-created content to ensure the website puts out good quality content that is tailored to the target audience.
Using AI to replace your SEO agency means you could miss out on important elements that are crucial to your SEO strategy.
Here are a few things to consider:
- Current AI text generators lack SEO expertise so cannot advise you in the same way a human SEO expert would. Strategies and practices that work well and are only known to SEO professionals can be priceless to a business trying to improve its search engine ranking.
- AI cannot review information so getting analytic data would be difficult if you left your AI strategy to computer software. As a business owner, you want to know how well your SEO strategy is working and clear, concise analytic feedback will achieve this. Human SEO experts will be able to provide you with a jargon-free analysis of how well your website is performing.
- Since AI cannot independently perform research, finding new, fresh information, data and keywords to target will be limited. Content writers at SEO agencies perform extensive research to ensure each written piece serves its intended purpose and provides value to the reader.
- Speaking of providing value to readers, swapping SEO experts for a text generator won’t provide you with content that appeals to your target audience. An SEO agency will not only help you to establish your target audience but will also create content specifically written for that particular set of individuals.
Artificial intelligence like ChatGPT may have captured the public’s attention with its human-like responses but it still needs a person to provide instruction. will never completely replace human content writers since real people are still essential to the practice of good search engine optimisation.
Additional services like creating backlink profiles, recovery from google penalties and technical SEO are all elements of search engine marketing that AI-based SEO cannot provide. From executing tried and true SEO tactics to tracking performance and making alterations for a more effective campaign, human beings will always be needed to ensure the content created is valuable and of a high standard.
So inclusion, SEO agencies are still important for creating effective SEO strategies and content that will improve your website’s authority and search engine ranking. Although it seems like AI in digital marketing is something we may not be able to escape, people will always be crucial to the proper implementation of the technology.
If you’d like to speak to real SEO professionals about creating an effective SEO campaign, contact the creative team at SEM Consultants who will be happy to talk you through the most effective strategies for your business.