Can AI Write Content that Ranks? The Human Touch Advantage in SEO?

After the advent of AI-generated content, there is paranoia about its impact on ranking and SEO. In fact, as per the content agency No Brainer, it is one of the biggest challenges inducing anxiety among marketers. Since AI is merely in its infant stage, this technology will only grow in the coming years. With that, the question arises- Is AI good for SEO? Does it help in ranking or hurt your SEO?

And more importantly, can AI-generated content rank? Let’s investigate what’s the role of AI in the future of SEO, whether it can rank, and what Google has to say about this.

Can AI Write Content That Ranks?

Yes, AI-generated content can rank on search engines, but only when optimized for E-A-T guidelines. The E-A-T guideline stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google uses this criterion to evaluate the credibility and authority of content, especially for niches that greatly impact people’s lives, such as health and finance.

In fact, 80% of marketers and search engine optimization services use AI for content creation, ideation, and other assistance or some other form for their online marketing practices.

AI-generated content, if it follows these guidelines, can very well rank on Google like any other human-generated content:

• The content should be original and helpful to readers.
• The content must be factually correct, accurate, and reliable, with credible and authoritative resources.
•  The webpage must reflect the authority and expertise on the topic.
• The content must align with Google’s quality content checklist. Human-quality content must be engaging without too much fluff, relevant, authentic, and valuable.

Even the best SEO company providers and marketing agencies utilize AI-generated content to rank.

How Google Approaches AI-Generated Content?

Google is not entirely or necessarily against AI-generated content. In fact, they categorically made it clear that AI-generated content doesn’t impact Google’s ranking.

Google also uses AI for its own products and services, such as Google News, Google Assistant, and others. It also leverages artificial intelligence to rank content online. As long as your content and website are following E-E-A-T guidelines, it can rank.

So where is the problem? Well, to begin with, Google does not give preference to AI-generated content over human-generated content.

Their primary objective is to offer the best, most relevant, most helpful results to their user regardless of how this content is created. However, they also do not penalize AI-generated content outright. They, instead, evaluate the content just like human-written content for its quality.

So, in a nutshell, Google does not have a problem with AI for SEO content creation unless it undergoes human intervention and follows E-E-A-T guidelines. It has to be high-quality and fulfill the reader’s search intent.

How AI-Generated Content Impact SERP Ranking? 

When considering ranking content with AI, you must understand how it influences the SERP positions or Google algorithm. AI-generated content impacts search engine result page (SERP) ranking by influencing the criteria that Google’s algorithms dictate. Here’s how it influences SERP positions:

• When AI-generated content matches the user’s keywords or search queries, offering relevant and quality information, it is more likely to rank higher.
• If AI-generated content meets Google’s quality standards, such as originality, factual accuracy, and helpful content, it can rank higher.
• Just like any human-generated content, AI-generated content engages with readers. It encourages them to stay on the page, comment, share, or reflect on it through other parameters or signals, such as backlinks. Thus, it can rank higher on SERP positions.

What Factors Determine The Ranking of AI-generated Content?

You can rank the AI-generated content provided you have catered to all the factors determining the ranking, such as AI-generated content on Google.

Here are some crucial factors:

• E-E-A-T Score: Following the E-E-A-T guideline with a high E-E-A-T score, which measures the expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of any content online along with its source.
• User Experience: Optimizing the user experience of the webpage, including readability, page load speed, navigation, mobile friendliness, etc., is essential for ranking.
• Content Engagement: Readers staying on the page longer and engaging with content reflect helpful content. Other factors, such as social shares, bounce rate, click-through rate, etc., impact engagement potential.
• Regular Update & Freshness: This refers to how often your content is updated over time and how relevant it is to the current time.

How To Create AI-Generated Content That Ranks? 

AI tools can help you create SEO-friendly content. These tools can generate text based on specific prompts or inputs, such as keywords or topics, enhancing your content creation process.

Some of the leading AI tools and software in the market are ChatGPT, Claude, BingAI, and others, widely used across various applications.

However, this AI-generated content is not perfect and is often not factually accurate. Since we are in the infant stage of AI content writing, there are some limitations.

Step 1: Brainstorming Unique and Original Ideas 

I think AI tools really shine when it comes to brainstorming and generating ideas. What you should not do is depend entirely on them!

AI tools can help you ignite new ideas, but you should research and generate original and fresh ideas that the target audience seeks. Your approach has to be personalized and comprehensive, including pain points, concerns, solutions, etc.

Step 2: Establish Expertise and Trust 

Once you have your idea and extensive research to back up your pointers, you need to establish trust and credibility on the topic you’re writing about. You must communicate how you’re an expert on the topic.

Here, you can leverage AI tools to help you find and cite resources. You can explore counterarguments and different perspectives using creative AI prompts. But at the end of the day, you must search and verify your claims and arguments from rightful resources.

I utilize AI tools as more of a thinking pad to bounce off new ideas, and ignite fresh perspectives but never rely on its factual accuracy.

To establish trust, add your name, content, bio, links to your profile, and other information to your credentials.

Step 3: Optimize Webpage 

Optimizing your webpage or website for an overall user-friendly experience is crucial for ranking AI-generated content, which is often overlooked by content-focused marketers. The webpage must be SEO-friendly and consider all factors, such as headings, meta-tags, internal links, keywords, external links, and others.

The navigation on the web page must be smooth, easy, fast, and responsive across devices and browsers.

Step 4: Avoid Over-optimization 

If you look at the recent March 2024 Google update, you can see how Google discourages and even sets to penalize over-optimized or spammy content written to manipulate algorithms for high ranking instead of writing helpful content for the audience.

Over SEO optimization, and that too with AI-generated content, is not a good look in the eyes of Google which is hinted more and more towards writing “content by the people for the people”.

So I would say to stay away from over-optimizing your content like too many keywords, duplicate content, and spam links, which can harm the credibility of your webpage.

Conclusion 

AI-generated content can rank on Google, provided it fulfills the quality standards, offers helpful content to the target audience, and follows E-E-A-T guidelines. Google doesn’t penalize AI content outright. Instead, it evaluates AI-generated content like any other human-generated content based on ranking factors such as user experience, E-E-A-T score, high content engagement, and more.

AI tools can help you brainstorm ideas, conduct research, and assist in writing, but the content must undergo human intervention to optimize personalization, authority, experience, and trust.

Mobmaxime possesses an in-depth understanding of the AI tools used for content analysis, SEO, and other tasks. As a leading development company, we help businesses work with AI-driven solutions customized to their business needs. Get in touch with us to know how we can build a AI-enabled solution for your brand.