Generative AI systems have become a gamechanger for marketers, offering significant advantages in scaling their content development efforts. With AI-powered writing tools like GPT-4, marketers can now generate articles, social media posts, blog posts, email copy, website content, and more with just a few prompts. But be warned. AI-generated content is not without its risks when it comes to SEO performance.
Considering that 75% of searchers don’t scroll past the first page of results, understanding how well AI-generated content may perform on search engines is crucial for successful SEO strategies.
While Google has clarified that it doesn’t automatically penalize AI-generated content, it does have guidelines against low-quality, auto-generated content. Google prioritizes pages that can demonstrate experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EEAT). In other words, the uniqueness, relevance, and usefulness of the content will determine how well it ranks.
Although generative AI systems are widely used, the generated content can present several SEO challenges. Here are three key pitfalls, along with recommended actions:
1. Lack of EEAT Signals
Google’s human reviewers assess content based on the EEAT framework. AI-generated output by itself is unlikely to send strong EEAT signals for three reasons:
- No personal experience: AI lacks first-hand experience on the topics it’s writing about, making it difficult to produce the kind of content that establishes credibility.
- Questionable expertise and authoritativeness: Most AI content rehashes existing information found online. While AI can mimic authoritative writing, it lacks the unique opinions and insights that demonstrate real subject matter expertise.
- Accuracy issues: AI models can sometimes ‘hallucinate’ incorrect statements, mix up details, or completely fabricate answers—especially on topics requiring specialized knowledge. For example, a New York attorney relied on a chatbot to conduct legal research, only to find that it fabricated six bogus precedents. The challenge is that because the information is so plausible and packaged so eloquently, that it’s easy to accept it as truth.
Action: Supplement AI-generated content with insights from real experts to strengthen EEAT signals. Have qualified authors review and edit the content for accuracy and credibility. Be sure to cite reliable sources and include real-time data to improve content trustworthiness.
2. Shallow or Irrelevant Answers
Generative AI systems can misuse words and fail to pick up on nuances, leading to redundant, tangential, or irrelevant answers. Although generative-AI systems excel at producing well-written responses, the information runs the risk of being surface-level or missing the mark.
Action: Perform subject matter expert reviews and fact-check AI-generated content to ensure the material is correct, appropriate, and relevant to the topic.
3. Potential Plagiarism: Generative-AI systems use massive datasets from public sources—absorbing this content without regard for copyrights, attribution, or plagiarism risks.
Action: Use plagiarism detection tools to screen AI-generated content for duplication risks. Prioritize human-created content over AI-generated material and edit or rework AI-generated output to add a human touch and make it your own. For any borrowed material, make sure to include attributions and cite any original sources.
Search Engine Optimization Requires Human Expertise
Generative AI is an incredibly useful tool for content ideation and scaling, but it’s not a shortcut to higher SEO rankings. Low-quality, inaccurate, or copied content may not only fail to rank, it could also be penalized or removed entirely from search results.
Standing out in a competitive market requires more than just automated content—it requires credible, authoritative, accurate, and well-vetted content that goes beyond algorithm-driven outputs. That means offering high-quality content that translates complex technical concepts into engaging, accessible narratives and the kind of subject matter expertise that only humans can provide.
In conclusion, while AI-generated content can streamline the creation process, it should not be relied on as a sole SEO strategy. Human expertise as well as careful review and focused refinement and humanization of AI-generated outputs are essential to ensure that content meets the high standards required for both SEO performance and audience trust.
