Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way marketers work, streamlining tasks and making operations more efficient. But when it comes to blogging, opinions are sharply divided.
Blogging remains a cornerstone of SEO strategy, but let’s be real—it’s a grind! Researching, writing, editing, and optimizing content can eat up a lot of time. AI can make this process smoother, faster, and cheaper, freeing marketers to focus on bigger projects.
But is it really that simple? Should you trust AI with your blog writing?
In this post, we’ll dive into how Google treats AI content, how search behaviors are evolving, and strategies to craft better content that ranks.
Google’s Shift to Helpful Content
To understand how Google treats AI blog content, we need to rewind back to 2022, when the tech giant came under intense scrutiny for lackluster search results that have been gamed by spammy AI, annoying SEO wizardry, and a lot of affiliate marketing drivel.
The struggle was real for Google, as it disclosed that 40% of Gen Z was dumping the search engine and turning to platforms like social media and forums for information instead. That number may have been a little conservative, especially considering TikTok surpassed Google as the most visited website in the world multiple times.
Consequently, Google began to shift its algorithm to promote “helpful content,” which it defined as “original, helpful content written by people, for people in search results.”
Google’s wording makes it pretty clear that AI content isn’t exactly favored in search results, right?
March 2024 has entered the chat…
Google’s March 2024 Algorithm Update
In March 2024, Google rolled out some of its biggest search engine updates ever and the impact sent shockwaves through marketing departments everywhere. Per Google, the updates were aimed at reducing “unhelpful and unoriginal content in its search engine by 40%.” Google really likes that number, huh?
Since the updates began rolling out, countless sites have experienced dramatic shifts in keyword rankings, with many getting completely de-indexed from Google altogether.
A study by Originality.ai found that all of the de-indexed sites showed signs of AI-generated content, with half of them having between 90% to 100% of their blog posts generated by AI.
Yet, even websites with genuine, human-created content watched their rankings and traffic nosedive, leaving marketers scrambling for answers: Should you use AI for blog writing?
But here’s the thing—they’re asking the wrong question.
Should You Use AI for Blog Writing?
In the midst of the March 2024 rollout, Google quietly revised its definition of helpful content to “original, helpful content created for people in search results.”
Google’s updated guideline states that, while using AI to create content isn’t against their policy, using AI to create content primarily for search rankings is.
Google Search Engineer, Gary Illyes, expanded on this, explaining that Google’s algorithm holds content uniqueness as not only a key ranking factor, but a key metric for assessing content quality.
Focus on the “What”
When it comes to using AI for blog writing, it’s about what you say, not how you say it. Low-quality content is low-quality content, regardless of how it is written.
Right now, Google has a big low-quality content problem. To clean it up, they’re giving the people what they want: original and substantive content written for people, not search engines. This means marketers need to focus more on the “what.”
For helpful content, marketers should aim to answer the following:
WHAT are the problems or challenges your audience is facing?
WHAT solutions or guidance can you offer to address these challenges?
WHAT information is most valuable or relevant to your audience?
WHAT additional resources or tools can you provide your audience?
WHAT common mistakes or misconceptions can you clarify?
By ensuring your content is helpful, you’re halfway to creating great, rank-worthy blog content. To bring it home, it’s important to ensure your content is unique as well.
Leaning on an LLM to write an entire blog post, might give you something helpful (sans hallucinations), but it will not be unique. LLM’s pull from what’s already available in the world and rearrange the information (which is potentially incorrect or misrepresented) in-line with your prompt. This alone won’t help your content stand out from the pack.
For unique content, marketers should aim to answer the following:
WHAT makes their content different than competitor content?
WHAT points and ideas are being shared that aren’t being trotted out elsewhere?
WHAT media can be created to support your blog posts, like videos, audio, graphics etc.?
WHAT proprietary research and findings can be used to support your content?
The Role of AI in Blog Writing
If marketers want their brands to compete for visibility in search engines, they need to prioritize creating stronger content — content that is genuinely helpful and unique. This means working hard to deliver content that offers real value, provides a distinctive reading experience, and addresses the actual needs of their target audience. And this can only be achieved by focusing on what is being said, not just how it’s being said.
Should you use AI for blog writing? That’s entirely up to you. But if you do, use it wisely — as a support tool, not a crutch. Over-reliance on AI can result in bland, unremarkable content that fails to capture attention and could even risk penalization from Google.
Follow the principles outlined in this blog post, and you’ll create content that not only ranks well but also resonates deeply with your audience. And really, what’s better than that?
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