Will our future be A.I.CAAL?
There’s no doubt that the sudden spotlight shone on artificial intelligence has thrown some industries into chaos. Increasingly, there are stories of individual workers or even whole workforces being forced out by cheaper, quicker and frankly less chatty automated algorithms.
But where does the world of SEO, and specifically ICAAL, stand on the topic of artificial intelligence? Are digital entities about to kick you out of your comfy chair and leave you out of a job? Is ChatGPT killing the internet? Some of these will be answered, sort of, right here.
What Does Google Think?
In the world of SEO, we’re always trying to impress Google, so it’s a good idea to take a look at its stance on A.I. content. To date, there haven’t been any official guidelines around artificially generated content and Google’s view of it in the search results. Although at the time of writing (July 2023), there are rumblings that a statement is coming soon.
(Perhaps we should wait for that to come out. But hey, we’ve got a deadline to meet.)
While an official statement specifically about this is still hotly anticipated, Google made its view on A.I. content reasonably clear on its Search Central Blog, explaining:
“Google’s ranking systems aim to reward original, high-quality content that demonstrates qualities of what we call E-E-A-T: expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness… Our focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a useful guide that has helped us deliver reliable, high quality results to users for years.”
Here, Google outlines its view that it doesn’t matter if an artificial intelligence or a real one creates content – as long as it’s informative and high quality.
What Is A.I. Capable Of?
However, if you’re looking for quality, uniqueness and expertise, you’re going to be disappointed if you put your faith in artificially generated content. A.I. bots are only able to summarise web pages that are already out there, regurgitating sites that it crawls, rewording or even plagiarising articles, and claiming other people’s opinions as their own.
It’s fortunate that artificial intelligence programmes can’t form opinions because, based on most of the internet, they’d probably make some rash decisions on humanity’s future. But it’s yet another thing that sets real, human copywriters apart from computerised so-called competitors.
Did you know… In its most popular version, well-known A.I. ChatGPT only has limited knowledge of the internet (and therefore world events) before 2021. That means it still thinks Elizabeth II is Queen, Twitter is free from Elon Musk’s rule, and Will Smith is able to take a joke. Would you want somebody so out of touch marketing your products?
If Google wants to reward reliable, quality content that follows its E-E-A-T best practices, it’s not going to be satisfied with A.I. content. While its statement further above isn’t explicit, its dismissal of artificially generated content is strongly implied. That’s the stance we’re taking here at ICAAL, and our commitment to high quality, well researched and authoritative content has seen exponential growth and excellent results continue on our campaigns, while others may have jumped ship to the A.I. bandwagon as it sinks into the depths.
So What Is A.I. Good For?
That being said, there’s no reason to cast aside artificial intelligence and its content-creating capabilities completely. While you wouldn’t want to rely on A.I. for high calibre content to rank highly in the SERPs, there are a few clever ways to use it to complement a campaign and generate some good results alongside copywritten content.
Lorem Whatsum?
Lorem ipsum is, for those unaware, classic placeholder text. It’s often used on newly built pages to give a feel for how content with look within a new design, when the actual words haven’t been finalised yet. But seeing dummy text doesn’t give you a tangible feeling of what a webpage will look like when fully furnished.
A.I. content, conversely, can rapidly generate some placeholder text that looks like actual, proper content. Ask ChatGPT to give you a few hundred words and any subject, and it won’t give you anything particularly insightful but it will at least be something. Website developers and designers, rejoice! Fill your design with real words and show clients how it will look, without lorem ipsum letting you down.
Do Your Research
Keyword research is a huge part of SEO. Knowing which search terms to target means we’re able to craft expert content around these topics to rank for them in the search results. On a fundamental level, keyword research doesn’t rely on anything new – it looks at what is already there, like popular search queries, and collates this information.
A.I. tools are able to do this, and there aren’t so many drawbacks since in this case you’re not relying on it to create something unique – but rather, to bring other people’s information together. The insights needed for keyword research are already out there, so using something like ChatGPT to do this for you doesn’t break any bylaws or best practices. Just remember that it’ll take an SEO to know which keyword topics to look at in the first place and to write the content based on A.I.’s recommendations. We’re not out of a job just yet!
Images, Code & More!
You may have seen some of the (frankly horrifying) A.I.-generated images out there on social media recently. It seems like every day more and more hideous creations are being unleashed into the world. If you’ve ever wanted to see an image of pop stars as animals or politicians as muppets – well, you probably don’t need A.I. for that last one. But if you can dream it, artificial intelligence software can create it.
Real Marketing & Real Results
While A.I.-generated content and marketing tools are all the rage at the moment, you can put your faith in the humans at ICAAL to understand what Google really wants and what it will take to get more presence, growth and enquiries for your business.
Don’t take shortcuts. Make the right investment in your business and trust the experts. For SEO, Graphic Design, Website Design and much more, get in touch with ICAAL today by phone or via our online contact form. Or, if you’re feeling particularly ironic, use our Chat Bot.
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