Using AI in Content Marketing: Will It Damage Your SEO?

Content has long impacted brand perception — high-quality content even more so. Creating content that contains information consumers are looking for can help build a brand that almost anyone will remember. So, when ChatGPT arrived on the scene, it was only natural for people to get excited about the potential of employing automated SEO content generation to produce content at scale.

While ChatGPT can undoubtedly churn out articles, blog posts, and a variety of other marketing content, the question remains: Should you? Just because technology can take over a task doesn’t always mean it produces the intended results.

As with the benefits and risks of chatbots, AI-generated content marketing offers a mixed bag for brands. At Intero Digital, we know how search engines value such content, and we can tell you that this strategy won’t be as impactful as you hoped. It could also hurt the search ranking for your website.

This isn’t to say there’s no place for ChatGPT. AI-generated content marketing can provide support for sales teams, allowing salespeople to spend less time drafting different forms of content and more time understanding and educating leads. It can also help with prospect identification, establishing benchmarks, etc. But when it comes to generating publishable written content for marketing and SEO purposes, ChatGPT raises a lot of red flags.

Besides, search engines prioritize unique content, and the number one way to check this box is to infuse your personal experience and expertise into what you put out there. It helps you stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

The same can be said for publishers. They, too, want content that offers fresh perspectives, expert opinions, and real-world insights — not self-serving advertisements and promotions. They’re not looking for someone who only wants to sell their wares. They want to help and educate their readers, and that’s only possible if you’re involved in the creation of that content.

Keeping It Real for Consumers

Relying almost exclusively on automated SEO content generation increases your AI content writing risks and could leave you struggling to keep pace with the competition. It’s why Intero Digital prioritizes different strategies that go beyond using AI in content marketing. Here are just a few:

1. Continuing to research and test.

Like any other technology, AI continues to evolve. Consider how far chatbots for sales and marketing have come. The technology automates interactions with consumers, but only to a certain point. Eventually, humans must step in if you hope to move prospects further down the sales funnel. AI doesn’t often possess the emotional intelligence needed to handle high-pressure situations, which is the starkest difference between chatbots vs. human beings.

The same is true for AI-generated content marketing. While it may offer efficiencies, the technology can complicate digital marketing. Fortunately, we’re committed to staying ahead of the marketing trends and employing AI only in certain use cases so our clients can continue to reap the rewards.

2. Focusing on building and optimizing sites.

Creating great content is impactful. Yet if content lives on a site that’s not easily searchable, you might as well not focus on SEO or generating business through this marketing channel. More importantly, search engines often view content written by ChatGPT as spammy, which would violate their guidelines and negatively impact your search ranking.

In our experience, it’s better to rely on ChatGPT for title tags, meta descriptions, ideation, research, and even blog outlines. Then, focus on building and optimizing sites through more traditional means (i.e., human beings).

3. Leveraging high-quality, keyword-optimized content.

Creating content for the sake of creating content leads to weak and unuseful articles. If it’s not written with a distinct purpose, it can lack the relevancy necessary to prompt consumers to act — which is often one of the AI content writing risks.

At Intero Digital, we do keyword research to identify opportunities for our clients to be competitive and make sure all content is optimized and includes unique insights to make sure the content adds real value to help you meet your marketing goals.

4. Guest posting and PR.

Because our focus is on helping clients create valuable content, it naturally opens up an opportunity to develop more strategic guest posting and PR strategies. In the State of Contributed Content report, you’ll see that journalists and editors won’t publish spammy content that’s overtly salesy, or its sole purpose is to secure a link.

Instead, the content we create will include links back to your website, helping prospects continue their education and establish a relationship with your brand.

Content will always be king. But for it to truly resonate with a target audience, you should always retain that human element that helps establish a connection. Use AI-powered tools strategically, and leave the rest in the capable hands of human beings.

If you’d like to learn more about how Intero Digital can help with your content needs, contact us today. A member of our team would be more than happy to discuss your options and find a solution that’s right for you.