AI FOR CONTENT CREATION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

By now you’ve probably heard about Chat GPT: a very powerful artificial intelligence tool created by OpenAI. If you’ve experimented with it at all, you will agree that it’s a quantum leap in AI technology. Chat GPT’s limited release in November comes on the heels of the release of other AI tools like Stable Diffusion, Jasper, and DALL-E.

I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I suggest that the last six months can appropriately be seen as the dawn of a technology revolution that will transform the world as fundamentally as the internet itself. The long-term effects of this revolution on society can only be guessed at.

Capabilities

So what can Chat GPT actually do? Well, for starters, it wrote the first draft of this article. I’ve also completely transformed my link building, keyword research, and content ideation workflows to utilize some of Chat GPT’s capabilities.

It also wrote a short story about Harry Potter, except all the characters were cows. I think the output was more coherent than the prompt. Also funnier.

Oh, and it taught me a programming language, and even wrote some of the code for me. The code works.

For more information about some of the mind-blowing SEO uses for Chat GPT, check out Local SEO Guide’s article. But today, my thoughts are not primarily about how best to use it, but how not to use it.

Danger, Will Robinson!

So we’ve established that Chat GPT is a powerful tool for generating high-quality content quickly and efficiently, and that’s one of the most obvious use cases. But it's important to understand the potential risks and limitations of using AI-generated content as part of your SEO or content marketing strategy.

First and foremost, we have to remember that Google has strict content quality guidelines that must be followed in order to rank well in search results. These guidelines emphasize the value of original, helpful, accurate, authoritative, and well-written content. The guidelines prohibit the use of automated content generation tools. Any website found to be using tools to mass-produce low-quality content may be penalized or even delisted from Google’s index altogether.

So does that mean Chat GPT-written content is out-of-bounds altogether?

I can say with complete confidence that the answer is a definitive…maybe.

Barry Schwartz did a really great analysis in this recent article in Search Engine Land. His conclusion (based on statements made by Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan) is that AI-generated content might be acceptable, provided that it’s made for humans and not primarily for SEO.

Additional Dangers

I think I essentially agree with Barry’s conclusion (at least enough to put this article up). But I think I would add some further warnings:

1. At every stage of the process, keep in mind your IRL human audience and their interests and needs.
2. Come up with topic ideas that speak to those interests and needs.
3. Try to identify unique, original angles and include primary research whenever possible.
4. Fact-check, fact-check, fact-check! Chat GPT is simply guessing the next word based on a very sophisticated language training model. It’s not great at fact-checking itself.
5. Edit AI-generated content heavily with human editors.
6. AI exists to supplement, not replace the human brain.

So, What Do We Do?

While Chat GPT can be a valuable tool for helping you create high-quality content quickly and efficiently, it's important to be aware of the potential risks and limitations of using AI-generated content as part of your SEO or content marketing strategy. Be sure to review and edit any AI-generated content you plan to publish. Always make sure all of your content aligns with your brand voice, serves your audience, and offers them something unique and original.

At this stage, I’m most comfortable using Chat GPT to help me brainstorm ideas. I’m hesitant to lean on it too heavily as a content generation tool. But my thinking on it is evolving in real time, and I reserve the right to eat these words at any time without notice.

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