Is AI – otherwise known as ‘artificial intelligence’ – good or bad for a brand’s SEO? With technology developing at an unprecedented pace, the benefits (and drawbacks) of AI are quickly becoming a hot topic of conversation for brand experts and content creators. And with access to AI content becoming easier than ever, the question of whether it’s good or bad for SEO is causing significant debate within the industry.

In short, brands should not rely on AI to generate content. While AI can be utilised to inspire and support the work of real-life SEO experts and content creators, it should never used to replace humans.

Here, the team at Oxygen Graphics take a closer look at AI content, exploring the benefits and risks using it might bring to your business.

What is AI content?

First, let’s take a brief look at what AI content is. In short, AI content creation is the use of artificial intelligence technology to produce content, whether that’s text, image, audio or video content. 

Humans vs AI

Ultimately, AI isn’t necessarily a bad thing for SEO. Teamed with human input, AI content can create first-class optimised results. Why human-input? To ensure content is optimised for search engines, a number of factors must be considered:

• The content must be high-quality and original, it absolutely can’t be plagiarised
• The content needs to reflect the industry expertise of a business or brand
• The content should use relevant keywords
• SEO-ranking factors and quality checks must be taken into account. Remember, there are currently more than 200 factors that Google takes into account when ranking a business, and these factors are constantly changing.

Using AI to generate content? Refer to C-R-A-F-T

We should emphasise that AI must be used with caution. By only using AI tools to generate content, you risk creating poor, plagiarised content, which doesn’t take ranking factors into account. However, there’s no rule to say you can’t use AI to help generate content and give ideas for high-quality web copy.

If you are considering using AI, then remember you should never generate the content before simply copying and pasting. Instead, use CRAFT to ensure your content is of the best quality possible:

• C – Cut the fluff. AI will probably include a whole host of unnecessary phrases or words that might distract the reader – it’s better to remove these before publishing.
• R – Review, edit and optimise. Consider editing headlines, adding section titles, breaking up long paragraphs and optimising whenever you have the opportunity. And, of course, double-check for spelling and grammar errors.
• A – Add visuals, images and media. 
• F – Fact-check. AI won’t always be 100 per cent accurate, so it’s worth checking that the information is trustworthy, timely and authoritative. 
• T – Trust-build. However quick and easy AI is to use, remember it will never promise the same real-life experience, knowledge and personality as an actual human. Bring the piece to life by weaving in personal story and tone.
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Don’t be penalised by Google

A word of warning – don’t fall into the AI trap. In March 2024, Google’s latest algorithm update saw hundreds of thousands of sites penalised by the search engine for poor AI content usage. 

For the sake of your brand’s reputation and business success, you should always have a chat with an SEO professional or an expert content creator before starting work on your content.

A time-effective solution

Undoubtedly, one of the key arguments in favour of using AI content for SEO is scalability and efficiency. AI-powered tools can generate large volumes of content in a relatively short amount of time, allowing businesses to quickly create a diverse range of articles, blog posts or other content to support their SEO strategy. 

Cost savings

By automating content, businesses can save costs associated with hiring writers, designers or other creative professionals. 

Of course, if you are considering replacing human resources with AI, then remember it could cost you more than money. If the content generated turns out not to be original or of a high quality, it might harm your SEO, and worse, cost you financially, if you’re found to be stealing a competitor’s content. 

Personalisation

AI-generated content can be optimised for specific keywords and search queries, which in turn, can help improve a website’s ranking. By rapidly analysing search trends and user behaviour, AI can identify relevant topics and incorporate targeted language, which might help to improve a brand’s online visibility.

It’s worth noting that a business will never be able to get a totally bespoke SEO strategy shaped around its individual requirements, goals and ambitions if it relies completely on a robot to generate its keywords and content. 

Data-driven insights

AI can analyse large datasets, helping to ensure the content is relevant and targeted. By analysing existing content and user engagement data, AI algorithms can provide insights into the types of content required, enabling businesses to tailor their SEO strategies accordingly.

Is the content really authentic?

Despite these potential benefits, there are, of course, a number of drawbacks associated with using AI content for SEO. The main one is the authenticity of the content. There’s still a real risk that the content produced might lack the quality, creativity and authenticity that human-generated content includes.

Without vital authenticity, the reputation and credibility of a business could easily be damaged.

Plagiarism

As already touched on, there are also ethical considerations to take into account when using AI content for SEO. Plagiarism and copyright are valid concerns, as AI-powered tools might produce material that closely resembles existing content. 

Inaccurate data

AI systems rely heavily on online data to generate content. Poor-quality data can lead to inaccurate content creation, which again, can harm a business’s reputation. 

Should you use AI tools to generate SEO content?

The question of whether AI content is good or bad for SEO is clearly a complex issue. Ultimately though, brands should be cautious of relying on AI to generate content.

AI-powered tools might offer scalability and efficiency while saving the user time, but there are some valid concerns regarding the quality and authenticity of using AI-generated content alone. Don’t put your brand at risk by turning to AI tools to generate your SEO content. The experts at Oxygen Graphics listen to your unique goals, vision and mission so that we can create a unique SEO strategy shaped around your business. Find out more about our SEO services and book a chat with the team today.

In need of marketing support? Get in contact with a member of our team today to see how Oxygen Graphics can help you! T : 01788 561 991    E : [email protected]