The humble beginnings of AI writing were once limited to simple tasks like auto-completing sentences and detecting incorrect grammar.
Today, due to advance algorithmic improvement, AI writing has exploded on the content marketing scene, making it almost impossible not to use an AI writer yourself just to keep up.
The trick when using an AI writing tool is to make sure your AI-generated text feels like it was written by a human and not a computer, both for your reader and for search engines. This post will cover all the tricks you'll need to make your AI content feel more human.
What you will learn
- How Google uses its machine learning algorithms to detect AI usage through writing patterns, language structures, and other advanced means.
- How to avoid AI detection by using Al writing software, descriptive prompts, and paraphrasing tools.
- The importance of including human-written text to ensure the authenticity and uniqueness of the content.
- The best available AI detectors to check your work for AI usage before search engines do.
- The two genres you need to avoid when generating AI content.
- The importance of using descriptive prompts when crafting AI content in order to produce more conversational-sounding content.
- How to avoid repetitive keywords & phrases by varying sentence structure & expressing ideas in your own words.
What is AI content?
AI content includes any form of digital media that is generated or curated by an artificial intelligence algorithm or program.
52% of leading marketers utilize AI-powered content creation tools to support their content marketing goals.
Some of the most common uses for generating AI content include writing blog posts, product descriptions, landing pages, social media posts, ad copy, email templates, and even some forms of creative writing.
As AI technology continues to advance, so will the range of complex content that AI will be able to produce.
Can Google detect AI content?
Yes, Google can identify Al-generated text by using using Natural Language Generation (NLG) and machine learning algorithms to evaluate grammar, content structure, and syntax.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Google detects your work as AI-generated according to Google’s search guidelines which state that their main goal is to reward original, high-quality content; however it is produced.
Google’s goal is to reward quality content that is helpful for people and not just search engines. So AI-generated is perfectly fine as long as it’s written with people in mind first.
Can AI detection tools identify AI-generated content?
AI detection tools are designed to identify writing patterns, language structures, and other features to characterize AI-generated content.
These tools are not perfect and often mistakenly classify human-written content as AI-generated due to certain factors:
- Writing style: You may inadvertently use language patterns or phrases similar to those generated by AI models.
- Repetitive phrases or ideas: You might be using similar phrases multiple times in your writing without enough space between each phrase. This is one of the most common reasons for false AI content detection.
- Unusual grammar or syntax: If your writing uses unconventional grammar or sentence structures, AI detection tools might misinterpret this as a sign of AI-generated content.
- Limited training data: AI detection tools rely on training data to learn how to distinguish between human and AI-generated content. If the training data of the AI detector is limited or biased, it can affect the tool's accuracy and lead to false readings.
- Evolving AI algorithms: As AI writing models become more advanced and capable of mimicking human-like language patterns, it's becoming tougher for detection tools to differentiate between human and AI-generated content accurately.
AI detection tools are constantly improving and adapting to new developments in AI-generated content.
However, occasional false detections of human-written content as AI-generated may still occur due to the factors above.
We don't recommend relying on AI content detectors to distinguish between human and AI generated text.
Here are some AI detectors:
- Content at Scale: This free AI detector will judge your writing with three different scores: predictability, probability, and pattern. These three scores will be combined to present one simple score to let you know if your text passes as human-made.
- Hugging Face: This free and paid AI detector is a community-driven project used by over 500 organizations, such as Google AI and Grammarly. Navigating the website is a bit more complicated than other options, but its ability to detect AI is accurate.
- Originality.AI: This tool hails itself as the most accurate AI content detector you can find but isn't 100% correct. This detector uses more computing power than other detectors allowing it to analyze text with more accuracy.
While not an AI detection tool itself, Surfer AI can generate human like text that is designed to pass AI detection software. So even though you're using AI to create content, your article is recognized as human written text.
Should you hide AI content?
You shouldn't worry too much about hiding AI content because how you generated content doesn't matter to search engines.
Google and other search engines' objective is to reward quality content that helps the end user, irrespective of whether the content is generated by AI or a human.
Some of the biggest companies in the world use AI content to launch their success to new heights. Some of these companies include:
Google employs AI technologies to write ads by automating ad creation, understanding the context of ad copy, generating ad suggestions, optimizing bidding strategies, targeting audiences more effectively,
BuzzFeed
Buzzfeed leverages AI-driven technologies to optimize content, personalize user experiences, and write both entertaining quizzes and entire articles using AI.
BankRate
BankRate uses AI to power its chatbots, help with fraud detection, and produce AI-written content that's reviewed by humans.
When should you avoid using AI
Avoid using AI-generated content when you are writing for YMYL niches or need to demonstrate expertise stemming from personal experience in your profession.
One of the main considerations when using AI content is making sure that you remain compliant with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines.
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, and it’s the set of expectations that Google uses to determine the legitimacy and quality of the content it delivers to its users.
The health and finance genres are commonly considered YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics and should be avoided when generating AI content for similar reasons:
Complexity and personalization
Health and finance are highly complex fields that often require personalized advice based on an individual's unique preferences and risk tolerance. AI algorithms are unlikely to be sophisticated enough to consider all these factors and provide tailored recommendations.
Liability and accountability
In cases where AI-generated advice leads to negative outcomes, assigning liability and accountability can be challenging. Legally, it's tough to determine if the AI, the developer, or the end user should be held responsible for any consequences resulting from the advice.
Inaccurate or outdated information
AI algorithms rely on data to make predictions and provide advice. If the data is inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated, AI-generated advice may lead to a potentially dangerous outcome.
Ethical considerations
There are serious ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI in health and finance, such as potential biases in the algorithms or the impact of AI-generated advice on job displacement for human professionals in these fields.
In order for you to remain compliant with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, you should review and edit any content generated using AI content tools.
5 ways to avoid AI content detection
If you want to get around Google’s natural language processing detectors, you can increase your chances by implementing the following steps.
1. Use a content-focused AI tool
As good as some free AI generators like ChatGPT are, these types of AI programs are easy for Google’s detectors to find. One of the best ways to avoid AI detection is by using content focussed AI writing software designed to produce AI content that feels more like a human.
Instead of just spinning content from other sites, these tools are designed to create content that offers value to readers.
Surfer AI is an AI writing tool that is content focused and allows you to write complete articles that are optimized for search engines. Other AI generators only allow you to generate limited amounts of text at a time that is not search engine friendly.
You can use Surfer AI to create content that avoids AI detection.
Surfer's AI tool generates high-quality content capable of surpassing Google detectors by allowing you to choose the tone of voice for your piece, as well as the search intent, so you don't end up with a wall of text that reads like a robot wrote it.
Just toggle on the anti AI detection switch to create content that will be recognized as if written by a human writer.
Review the AI written outline for your article and let Surfer AI write a complete article for you in a couple of minutes.
Here's an example of two articles on the same topic "essential tools for gardening" written by Surfer AI. We'll enable the anti AI detector for one of the articles to demonstrate its efficacy and compare it to an article written without using the anti AI boost.
We didn't use the anti AI detection option to create the first article. It's a well written article that covers the topic well and will rank well on search engines.
But the content may not pass an AI text detector if you're really strict about AI content.
In the second article, we switched on the anti AI feature.
We then used Originality - one of the most popular AI content detection platforms, to test human vs AI written text.
Doing so resulted in an article that was identified as 99% human written and only 1% AI created!
Not only will you receive high-quality content that can surpass Google’s detectors with Surfer AI, but you’ll be able to do this with minimal prompts, with the final result being SEO-ready as well.
2. Use Descriptive Prompts
It’s important to remember not to just ask an AI generator to create content and then call it a day. To get better quality AI content that has a chance of bypassing search engine detectors, you’ll need to learn how to write more descriptive prompts.
Writing a descriptive prompt is more likely to produce more emotional and sentimental text with a conversational tone to it.
For example, you may end up with bland, low-quality content by using a prompt such as:
“Write a story about a forest.”
You’ll receive higher-quality text by being more descriptive:
“Describe a serene and peaceful forest, focusing on the sights, sounds, and smells that surround you as you walk through it in the early morning.”
To help you write better descriptive prompts, take the basic idea of your original prompt and then ask the AI to describe the situation using different senses.
For example, a prompt like this:
“Write a story about a day at the beach.”
Can be written descriptively by imagining what the situation would look, sound and feel like:
“Craft a scene in which a character experiences the exhilaration and freedom of a coastal beach during a warm summer day, emphasizing the sensations of sand, surf, and sun on their skin.”
Alternatively, you can produce high-quality AI content by using the “in the style of” technique. You can do this by adding this simple phrase to your base prompt.
For example, instead of using a prompt like:
“Write an ad for AI software.”
You can add a style of tone or creative person you want to emulate to the prompt:
“Write an ad for AI software in the style of Quentin Tarantino.”
With a prompt like this, you’ll end up with content that should easily pass by any AI detection tool:
“In a world where every mundane task feels like a never-ending grind, one revolutionary software dares to challenge the status quo. Prepare yourself for an adrenaline-pumping, mind-blowing, no-holds-barred adventure into the future of artificial intelligence.”
Just make sure to choose a tone or style that works for the product you’re selling, and let the AI do the rest.
You can instruct Surfer’s AI editing assistant, Surfy to edit parts of your content with better prompts.
Here’s an example of content under a subheader titled “Brainstorming Techniques.”
I want the advice to be more personable and in a conversational tone.
In my prompt, I asked Surfy to adopt such a tone and to speak on behalf of a professional screenplay writer.
Here’s a snapshot of the content Surfy generated for me.
As you can see, the content reads better and is more effective at communicating my point. There’s no way you can tell that the content wasn’t written by a human.
3. Use paraphrasing tools
If you’re dealing with AI-written content that feels too robotic or spammy, you can also use a paraphrasing tool to help you effectively replicate human writing styles. These tools can improve the tone of your AI content and work well with AI detection software.
The best free options for paraphrasing tools are:
Surfy
Surfy is Surfer AI’s inbuilt editing assistant and can help rephrase your sentences or entire paragraphs easily.
Just select the paragraph or sentence you want to edit, and click on the Rephrase option.
Of course, you can also type a more detailed prompt if you want specific paraphrasing of your content.
You can then accept the newly written content, or start over.
Grammarly
While primarily known as a grammar and spell-checking tool, Grammarly can also serve as an effective paraphrasing aid. Grammarly will help you write with clarity and brevity, which is essential for paraphrasing. This program will also correct any punctuation or grammar problems your text may have, as well as detect any plagiarism issues.
Quilbot
Quilbot is a dedicated paraphrasing tool designed to help users rewrite and rephrase text effectively.
This tool uses state-of-the-art AI algorithms to produce text that understands context, meaning, and the structure of human speech.
Quillbot's AI-powered paraphrasing capabilities enable users to rewrite large amounts of text quickly, saving time and effort while producing high-quality, unique content.
Wordtune
Wordtune is a powerful AI-powered writing tool that excels in paraphrasing by implementing context-aware AI technology to restructure your text into something more human-sounding. Wordtune also gives you multiple rewriting options, allowing you to choose the version that best aligns with your desired writing style and tone.
4. Include human-written content
Most of the time, using only AI-written content will lead to a more robotic feel to the final product.
Not only can a robotic feel get your work flagged by an AI checker, but your end user may get bored by the robotic-sounding nature of only using AI-generated content.
Instead of choosing a single approach between human versus AI content, it’s always a good idea to blend them both by adding some content that you wrote yourself to break up the potentially robotic tone.
One of your main goals for your content is generating helpful advice with the end user in mind.
Adding human-written content to your project creates a powerful synergy that improves the content's quality and makes it more challenging for AI detection tools to recognize it as machine-generated.
5. Avoid repetitive keywords and phrases
AI detection algorithms work by analyzing various aspects of content to determine whether it has been generated by a machine or written by a human.
These algorithms typically employ machine learning and natural language to detect repetitive or formulaic language that's more likely to be written by a machine than a human.
To avoid this problem, eliminate as many repetitive keywords and phrases as possible and ensure you write in a more natural tone. You can write in a natural tone by:
Writing like you speak
When editing AI-generated text, make sure it sounds like you’re having a conversation with your reader. Use everyday language, including contractions such as “it’s” rather than “it is.” This will make your writing feel more approachable.
Avoid jargon and complex terms
Use plain language and familiar vocabulary to convey your message. If you must use technical terms, ensure that you explain them clearly to readers who may not be familiar with the subject matter.
Use active voice
Writing in an active voice makes each sentence more direct and engaging. For example, instead of writing "The ball was thrown by John," use "John threw the ball."
Vary sentence length and structure
Mix short and long sentences to create a natural rhythm in your writing. This can make your content more enjoyable to read, help maintain the reader's interest and avoid detection from the AI checkers that scan from similarly structured sentences.
Use examples and anecdotes
Incorporate real-life examples, stories, or analogies to illustrate your points. This can help readers better understand your message and make your content more memorable.
Ask questions
Posing questions throughout your content encourages readers to reflect on the topic and engage with your writing.
Your writing will appear more natural because asking questions is a normal occurrence in everyday speech.
Key takeaways
- Surfer AI is a content focussed AI content generator that allows you to generate complete articles.
- Using descriptive prompts when crafting AI content will produce higher-quality text that will feel more emotional, sentimental, and conversational.
- Paraphrasing tools can help your text feel less robotic or spammy and help create text that better replicates human writing styles.
- Combining AI-generated and human-written text can improve the content’s quality and make it more challenging for search engines to detect AI usage.
- Eliminate as many repetitive keywords and phrases as possible and write in a natural tone to help bypass Google’s AI-detecting algorithms.
Conclusion
As search engines continue to evolve and refine their algorithms, their ability to detect AI-generated content will become increasingly more sophisticated. It's essential to remember that search engines prioritize providing users with high-quality, relevant, and valuable information.
As AI writing tools improve, so too will search engine algorithms to maintain the integrity of their search results. Ultimately, the key to success in digital content is striking a balance between human and AI-generated content. By staying informed about search engine advancements and continually refining your content strategy, you can harness the power of AI while delivering meaningful content that resonates with your target audience.
