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If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s content strategy and output, you’ve probably considered using AI tools. These tools can improve your team’s productivity, allowing you to create more content in less time.
AI writing has been a big point of discussion ever since ChatGPT launched in November 2022. Just two months after it launched, the company set records for having the fastest-growing user base in history after accumulating 100 million users.
However, there are serious concerns about AI writing, and you may wonder whether using this content will impact your company’s search rankings. Let’s look at how AI-generated content works and whether or not you should use it.
Related: How Can AI Improve SEO?
What is AI writing?
AI writing involves using artificial intelligence to create various forms of content. For example, you can use AI writing tools to create blog posts, social media content, landing pages and product descriptions.
AI software doesn’t replace human writers; it improves your productivity so you can create content faster. Researching and writing an article from scratch can take hours, but AI tools can dramatically speed up the process.
However, the exact capabilities of AI software will vary depending on the platform you use, and certain tools will be better for different types of content.
Can AI writing hurt your search ranking?
One of the biggest questions about AI writing is whether it will help or hurt your search ranking. According to Google, the answer is no — assuming you’re using AI tools to create high-quality, original content.
Google ranks content based on E-E-A-T: expertise, experience, authoritativeness and trust. Google’s focus is on the quality of the content produced, not how the content is created. If you use AI writing tools to create unique, helpful and relevant content for your audience, it won’t negatively impact your search engine rankings.
The problem is that AI writing may not meet those requirements on its own, so it’s helpful to understand how AI writing works and the pros and cons of using these tools first.
Related: How to Leverage AI to Boost Your SEO Efforts and Stay Ahead of the Competition
Benefits of AI tools for SEO
Here are some of the biggest benefits of using AI tools for your content production:
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Improves efficiency: AI tools automate monotonous tasks like proofreading and SEO optimization, allowing you to create high-quality content faster. This is especially helpful for companies with small teams and a smaller marketing budget.
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Create high-quality content: AI writing tools can catch grammar and spelling errors and improve the readability of your content. It can spot lengthy sentences and awkward transitions between paragraphs and adjust the tone and style of your content.
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Optimize for SEO: Using AI writing tools can complement your SEO strategy by identifying the right keywords and phrases for your target audience. It can also integrate these keywords throughout your content in a way that sounds natural.
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Data-driven insights: AI software provides data that will help you better understand your audience and engagement. It can help you spot gaps in your content strategy and continue to make improvements over time.
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Train the software: You can actually train AI software on your writing style and preferences, which will help it generate content that aligns with your brand’s voice. If you give the software consistent feedback, it will learn from its mistakes and improve over time.
The limitations of AI writing
Many people have expressed legitimate concerns about AI writing — here are some of the biggest drawbacks to be aware of:
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Maintaining a unique voice: AI often produces content that’s well-written but is also unoriginal, lacks creativity and fails to connect with your audience. Producing a high volume of poor content won’t benefit your business.
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Information may be inaccurate: AI software doesn’t understand nuance or context and is prone to inaccuracies, so you’ll have to fact-check anything AI writing tools produce.
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Risks of over-optimizing your content: There’s also the danger of over-optimizing your content for SEO, which can make it sound unnatural.
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Ethical concerns: When you use AI writing tools, there’s the concern for plagiarism since the software may produce content that’s too similar to something that’s already been written.
Related: The Complete Guide to Effectively Using AI Writing Tools in Content Marketing
How to integrate AI writing into your SEO strategy
AI writing has improved significantly, and it’s possible to use these tools to create quality content for your audience. If you choose to use AI writing tools as part of your content strategy, be upfront about it with your audience. It sounds counterintuitive, but telling your audience you’re using AI tools will go a long way toward building trust.
It’s also important to understand the limits of AI so you can use these tools in the right way. For example, AI writing tools can automate processes that used to take a long time, like coming up with outlines or doing keyword research.
The software can help with the content creation, but it can’t fact-check your article. Creating inaccurate content will hurt your brand’s credibility, so you should always evaluate it for readability, errors and accuracy.
Most importantly, AI cannot create content with a unique perspective — only you can do that. AI writing tools are meant to help you with creating content, not replace you altogether. Use the software for inspiration and to jumpstart the content creation process.
This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur
