One of the most common arguments I’ve heard over the last few years has come from 2 sides of the aisle on AI and SEO.
You have people saying that AI is the devil and should be avoided at all costs.
And others who think AI will completely destroy the need to create new SEO content.
I’m here to argue that both sides are right and wrong.
Mostly wrong, though.
Sure, AI content can cause more problems than it’s worth if it’s used improperly.
But at the same time, it can also be used as a tool to help us significantly scale up the efficiency and output of our work.
It’s not the devil, but it’s also not going to be the death of SEOs either.
So, really, what we need to do is find a balance between both sides and view AI as a tool that can help us improve rather than a tool that will fully replace us.
In this article, I’ll go over some common misconceptions people have about AI content and, more importantly, if AI content actually affects SEO.
Spoiler alert: It does. But whether for good or bad, that depends on how you use it.
Let’s jump in.
What does Google say about AI content?
Okay, so does Google actually care whether your content was created by AI or not?
Unless it’s spam, they don’t.
This might seem misleading to some, but Google has actually been pretty vocal about its stance from the beginning.
Google wants to promote high-quality content regardless of how it was created.
They say it directly here on their search guidelines.
But, this is still, somehow, heavily debated by SEOs and marketers.
Even still, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Google doesn’t care how your content was created, whether it was by a human, AI, or programmatically.
All they care about is providing helpful content to their searchers.
Content that’s relevant and helps give their searchers the answers they were looking for.
So, just because your content was created by AI doesn’t mean Google will automatically see it as low quality.
Just think about it, too.
Google is actively using AI-generated content in its search results.
This is a pretty clear indicator that Google is fully onboard with generative AI.
Your site won't get penalized for using AI content, that is, as long as it's done ethically.
They’re for helpful and relevant content (however it was generated).
With that being said, there are a few caveats to keep in mind.
Can AI content actually rank?
Yes, AI content can rank.
People still seem to think that AI content can’t rank despite Google’s stance on helpful content and creating content “however it was produced.”
Don’t get me wrong, Google isn’t always the best source of information when it comes to AI.
See the whole Google algorithm leak that happened back in May 2024.
But here’s the thing most people get wrong: the “helpful content” part of Google’s search results means exactly what it is.
If that content was actually helpful to Google’s users, why would they penalize that if it led to higher engagement rates with content?
Sure, AI content straight from the LLM is likely going to be low quality, but that doesn’t mean all AI content across the board is low quality.
The issue Google has with AI-generated content is the content that basically repeats everything else that’s already out there.
LLMs are trained on pre-existing data, so the content LLMs produce will likely rehash what’s already out there.
Nothing new will be added to the conversation.
So naturally, that content is going to be low quality.
That’s not because it was AI-generated, but because it was lazily generated.
That’s more of an issue with information gain and quality vs just AI-generated content.
There is plenty of proof out there showing that AI content can be helpful and rank at the same time.
Just look at how this SaaS company was able to increase traffic by 1300% in just 7 months using Surfer AI.
Not only that, but their website traffic stayed consistent as well.
And the secret sauce? Human editing.
They didn’t only rely on AI to scale up their content; they actually had a full team of content writers who assisted in the process of reviewing that content.
This was content that basically allowed writers to scale their output without sacrificing the quality of their work in the process.
AI was used as a tool to assist their writers, not a full replacement.
So yes, AI content can rank. It just has to be “helpful” content.
Can your site be penalized for using AI-generated content?
The short answer is that your site won’t be punished by Google for using AI content the right way.
Going back to Google’s point about “helpful content however it was created,” they did also roll out a recent algorithm update (a part of the helpful content system), that penalizes websites that are mass publishing low-quality content.
Notice how I didn’t say AI content.
Sure, AI content is probably the most common culprit here, especially if the pages are low quality, but Google is fighting back more against content that’s just unhelpful overall.
You saw what’s possible with Surfer’s case study: you can use AI as a tool to scale content.
But that doesn’t mean you can use it to scale content at the push of a button.
Because LLMs are trained on preexisting data, there’s always a chance that you’re just repeating what’s already out there.
It’s just unoriginal content, and some AI tools allow you to publish 100s or even 1000s of articles at the click of a button.
Because of this increase in spam, Google has been spending more time and resources penalizing websites that have been violating Google’s search policies.
Think about it too: Google has to spend money and resources crawling pages across the web, so these websites publishing massive quantities of content are only making it more expensive for Google to manage its index.
This type of content isn’t helpful to the user, and it’s expensive for Google to crawl all of those pages.
It’s a lose-lose all around.
That’s why Google has spent more time and energy tweaking its content systems to spot this type of content.
For the recent helpful content update, Google demoted/devalued around 45% of low-quality content across the web.
So if you fall into this category of scaled content abuse, you risk getting your website penalized by Google.
Just take the SEO heist case study, for example.
It blew up completely on social media for growing organic traffic from 0 to a million in under 6 months.
There was some negative press that came from that post, but even worse, the website that scaled its content to 1 million had its site penalized and still hasn’t recovered almost a year later.
This was a legitimate SaaS site that lost its entire traffic profile overnight by putting too much blind faith into an AI content generation tool.
Not to mention that the site was grown by copying a competitor's sitemap and replicating all of the content on their website. So now you’re throwing plagiarism into the mix, too.
But my point isn’t to scare you about AI content.
It’s to encourage you to use it responsibly.
As Google mentioned in their search guidelines, all they care about is relevance, quality, and helpful content.
So, as long as your AI-generated content matches that criteria, you shouldn’t come across any issues of being penalized.
It all comes down to being responsible while using AI content.
Why do we have it all wrong when it comes to AI content?
With all that being said, I think there are still a few issues with how we view AI-generated content.
It’s obviously here to stay, so I think there are a few perspective changes we should make if we want to evolve alongside AI.
AI content can help speed up the writing process, but it’s not a full replacement
One of the most common concerns I hear from writers is that AI content is going to replace them entirely.
Sure, some companies will do it, but that’s a horrible mistake they’re making.
While AI can seem like a holy grail when it comes to content creation, it’s not a full replacement for a human writer.
Meaning we’re not at the point where AI can think on its own, so it’s only relying on existing data to create content.
It doesn’t:
- Understand company views, tone, voice, etc
- Provide human experience
- Understand the audience it’s writing for
It’s just rephrasing previous data it’s been given.
So, a writer who can add value by including personal insights and experiences will always provide far more value to a reader than content generated by an LLM.
I personally think this will almost act as a reverse trend over time.
I think as AI continues to become easier to scale (and abuse), there’s going to be a greater need for content that was obviously written by a human.
Content we can resonate with.
People want genuine human interaction.
Honestly, that’s why I think SME writers will be in extreme demand over the next couple of years.
You can call it people-first content or brand-led content.
This basically boils down to writers who have trusted brands and people care what they have to say.
That’s why Google has been doubling down on EEAT.
While it’s not a direct ranking factor, it is a method to get readers through search more interested in what you have to say.
Even better, the SMEs who will be more in demand will be the ones who know how to scale their content production through AI.
They will know how to scale their content production while maintaining the quality of their work.
So you end up getting more for less.
AI content can create helpful content
As mentioned before, AI content isn’t inherently bad.
Sure, AI content straight from the prompt won’t do you any good.
But even then, you can still prompt your LLM where it can create solid content on the first generation.
I think this really boils down to the effort you’re willing to put into creating this content.
If you’re just typing in a prompt and expecting it to generate an article, sure, that content will likely turn out to be low quality.
But if you actually spend time prompting your LLM or spend time editing it, you can create something that’s actually helpful for your audience.
This means:
- Prompting the LLM on your audience and who’s reading your content
- Giving clear instructions on each content section
- Describing your brand’s voice and tone
- Giving examples of how that content should be written (not to copy but for inspiration)
It’s just a matter of seeing AI as a tool to “elevate” you rather than a tool that can do everything at once for you.
This was something Usman Akram, an SEO strategist at Omniscient Digital, brilliantly said on my podcast recently.
Companies need to stop viewing AI as a full replacement for departments and rather see it as an intern that can help out with smaller tasks.
This basically boils down to leveraging AI as a tool that can help bring your work to the finish line.
It won’t take you all the way there, but it can get you close.
When you keep this in mind, you can leverage AI as a tool to help you create genuinely helpful content rather than creating something that provides no value at all to your audience.
And that’s what AI content should help us do anyway.
Create better content for our audience, not just more content.
4 tips for working with AI content
Now that we got that out of the way, I figured I’d drop a few tips on how you can successfully use AI to see better results with your content.
1. Always edit and humanize your content
I’ve been hammering on this throughout the article, but it is so important to include a final editing process within your content workflow.
Sure, you might be able to get away with prompting your LLM and using that, but your content will never have unique insights that only you or an SME can give.
So, always include a final revision in your process when creating AI-generated content.
There are even tools out there, like Surfer’s AI content humanizer, that will help you along this process.
Remember, your content isn’t just for SEO; it’s for the person who’s actually reading your content at the end of the day.
Your goal for SEO and content marketing should never be just traffic.
It should be to build traffic that’s likely to return.
Traffic that builds interest in your brand and, of course, can generate leads.
The thing is, if you’re only using AI to generate your content, you’ll never establish your own unique voice for your audience.
Especially as we see a greater demand for that people-first content I touched on earlier.
It’s okay if AI helped you generate a rough draft, but at least take things further by editing that content so it’s worth reading.
2. Prompt your LLM before generating content
While editing and humanizing AI content is a must, I’ll also argue that you want to prompt your LLM to get the best first result possible.
While it’s not entirely necessary, you’ll completely speed up the process of receiving serviceable content versus content you have to rewrite entirely.
Just keep the following in mind:
Can you upload data to your LLM? LLMs thrive when you give them more to go off, so plug in as much data as you can when you’re prompting. Include previously written articles, ICP information, raw data, etc.
Spend time building out your ideal prompt. As much as I hate to say it, prompt engineering is a real thing. Maybe not to the extent some on LinkedIn would make you believe, but knowing how to prompt an LLM for content is a very real thing. Make sure you include details like who you’re writing for, what your audience expects to read, details to include, words to avoid, and background about the overall topic.
Don’t be afraid to take your time. While this isn’t entirely necessary, I will say I’ve had some serious luck by prompting my content one section at a time. So instead of generating everything all at once, I’ll prompt the initial LLM and then plug in my sections of content one by one with some additional background. This way, the LLM won’t get caught up in the weeds for each section and can be given more instructions on how they should write.
3. Watch out for hallucinations
One of the common mistakes I see companies make with AI content is assuming it’s always right.
The reason most get stumped on this is that LLMs don’t know how to fact-check themselves, which can lead to hallucinations.
Sure, you can mention references for the LLM to include, but that doesn’t always mean the content will come out accurate
LLMs are trained on similarities between words, not the actual meaning behind the words, so it’s very easy for an LLM to be confidently wrong.
You can run into this risk especially if you operate in a “your money or your life” (YMYL) niche.
If your advice can cause someone financial or health-related harm, your content will be judged by a different lens from Google.
So, if you’re unknowingly publishing content without fact-checking, you run the risk of having your site devalued or even penalized.
Not to mention that you can also cause someone harm in some way.
Not great for the brand, right?
So don’t be too trusting of content generated by AI; always fact-check it to make sure it’s accurate and not misleading in any way.
4. Use the right AI content tools
There are several AI tools out there that can produce content. However, not all AI tools will help you create SEO-friendly content.
So, while tools like ChatGPT can help you create content, it won't be content that's optimized to rank.
Here are three things you need to look at when choosing the right AI content writing tool for SEO content:
- SEO features: Look for tools that offer built-in SEO functionalities like keyword analysis, content structure optimization, and SERP competitor insights.
- Customizability: The tool should allow for flexible input, such as customizing prompts, outlines, keywords, tone, and content type.
- Efficiency: Look for tools that streamline the content creation process.
So, instead of a general tool, opt for a specialized SEO content tool like Surfer AI.
Surfer AI analyzes real-time SERPs and provides a structured workflow to help you deliver a high-quality draft quickly.
Use AI content to boost your SEO efforts
The main point I want to make here is that AI can be used as a solid tool to help with your SEO.
It should just be used responsibly.
With AI in the mix, you can scale up your SEO content production while maintaining the quality of your usual content.
If your primary focus is on creating relevant, helpful, and unique content, it doesn’t matter how that content is created.
As long as it’s helpful for users, it’s helpful for Google as well.
If you keep this in mind, you can use AI as a tool to scale up your SEO efforts.
It’s just a matter of how you use it, the tools you use, and the effort you're willing to put in for it.
