If you’re involved in content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), you’ve probably felt the far-reaching impact of generative AI. The technology’s ability to produce new content in seconds is changing the way brands create content as well as how search engines display answers to queries.
I’m all for saving time, but let’s consider the bigger picture: Can AI-generated content help you gain search visibility and set your brand apart? How do you reflect the personal experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) that Google values so highly?
In a sea of generic AI content, your brand needs to emanate authenticity and trust to stand out, attract audiences, and encourage conversions. In this article, I’ll share ideas for fitting AI into your content processes so you can work more efficiently and ensure your brand’s reputation and personality shines through in your content.
The AI Revolution: Content Creation and Search Redefined
Let’s start at the beginning. Early forms of artificial intelligence relied on rule-based algorithms to perform specific tasks. Things changed with the development of generative models, which process vast amounts of text, images, and speech, detecting patterns and creating new content. Generative AI is widely accessible and enables content marketers and search engines to find, condense, and organize information on demand.
The Rise of AI-Generated Content
The number of marketers using AI increased from 21% to 74% in just one year, according to a HubSpot survey. Marketers use generative AI for a variety of tasks, like the following:
- Writing marketing copy (46%)
- Creating outlines (41%)
- Brainstorming topics (34%)
- Research (34%)
Popular tools for these tasks include Open AI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google Gemini. These AI tools use natural language processing to create detailed responses based on user prompts. The quality of the output depends largely on how precisely you craft your prompt.
Specialized AI marketing tools such as Jasper are more structured. They enable you to select different content types and input information about desired topics, audience, keywords, voice, and tone. You can also upload style guides, user personas, and examples of brand content for the tools to learn from.
There are clear benefits to using generative AI content tools. You can create vast amounts of content quickly, scaling production with a consistent voice. On the flip side, AI output can feel generic and flat, making it harder to engage your audience. And while it can sound authoritative, AI can make mistakes, which impacts your brand’s credibility.
How AI Search Engines Are Shaping Content Discovery
Meanwhile, search engines are turning to generative AI to directly answer user queries, impacting how audiences find content. This is changing the look of traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) and resulting in some AI-powered alternatives to Google.
Search engines such as Google and Bing have traditionally displayed a list of web pages that users click on to answer their queries. Now, with generative AI, they’re culling information from a variety of web pages and providing instant answers at the top of the SERPs. Audiences no longer have to navigate to different websites to get information.
Platforms such as Perplexity and You.com are taking this further, combining conversational AI with web search. Users can ask the tools questions in a chat format. The platforms respond with a summary, often with section headings and lists. They also provide citations to direct users to selected web sources. Users can ask follow-up questions, refining their query without starting a new search.
Brands cited in AI summaries may see an increase in traffic. But depending on whether the AI response satisfies their needs, audiences may not scroll to other pages in the SERPs, leading some companies to worry about generative engine optimization.
E-E-A-T: The Foundation of Trust in an AI World
While some users are trying out alternative search engines, Google continues to be the platform of choice for most people on desktop and mobile. And, since audiences want reliable information regardless of how websites create their content, Google’s principles of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) remain highly relevant.
What E-E-A-T Stands For and Why It’s Critical
Google introduced its E-E-A-T framework to ensure high-ranking web pages are reliable, trusted sources. Its search quality raters assess web pages for:
- Experience. Content creators should have firsthand knowledge of the topic.
- Expertise. Ideally, subject matter experts create the content and provide in-depth insights.
- Authoritativeness. The company is respected within its industry based on reputation, reviews, awards, and media coverage.
- Trustworthiness. The website is secure and clearly demonstrates who owns it, how to contact the business, and details such as privacy policies and terms and conditions.
Because these principles are so important to Google, E-E-A-T should guide your content creation and SEO efforts.
The Importance of E-E-A-T in AI-Generated Content
Despite AI’s versatility and ability to scale production, the technology has its shortcomings. AI can sometimes provide wrong answers, omit details, and make up information. There’s also some concern that as more AI-generated content is published, the technology will be training itself on lower caliber content, which could impact output quality.
But there’s a way to leverage the benefits of AI and ensure your content is accurate and reflects your brand’s authority and trustworthiness. Make sure there’s human involvement guiding the process and focus on user experience. You can use AI as an assistant to generate ideas, develop outlines, and kickstart content writing, but shape the final product with human ingenuity and judgment. Evaluate AI output with a critical eye, check for accuracy, refine ideas, and add personal insight. You’ll streamline your content production and end up with high-quality, compelling content.
Creating Authentic Content in the Age of AI
To integrate AI into your workflow, think about how you create content. Identify the steps where you need human oversight and where automation can save time. Then, consider the type of tool that can help you work more efficiently.
Balancing AI and Human Expertise
A hybrid workflow combines human insights with the power of AI. Here are examples of what this could look like:
Content Ideation
- Use AI to brainstorm ideas and predict topics audiences are interested in.
- Use human expertise to select topics to cover and ensure relevance to your audience and business goals.
Research
- Use AI to find information, simplify concepts, and improve understanding.
- Use human expertise to direct research and decide what areas to explore in further detail.
Content Outlines
- Use AI to plan articles and develop outlines with section headers and key points.
- Use human oversight to provide information gain and align outlines with content goals.
Content Creation
- Use AI to get past writer’s block, craft headlines, refine phrasing, and create initial drafts of content.
- Use human expertise to fine-tune messaging, add nuances, bring in real-life examples, and infuse warmth and personality.
Content Differentiation: Stand Out Amidst AI Saturation
While artificial intelligence promises a fast path to content creation, generic copy doesn’t distinguish your brand from competitors. AI’s reliance on previously published information makes new ideas and fresh voices hard to come by.
That’s where human creativity comes in. Your business has something AI doesn’t — unique perspectives and lessons learned from being in the trenches daily. This is the X-factor that can elevate your web pages above content produced by AI and other brands. Enrich your content with:
- Case studies and examples.
- Proprietary data and original research.
- Storytelling and anecdotes.
- Observations on industry trends and best practices.
When so much online content sounds the same, you can set your brand apart and better connect with audiences by providing real insights and personalized, authentic content.
Ethical Considerations: Disclosing AI Use
As AI becomes more widely used, audiences expect companies to perform due diligence. According to a study by Forrester, consumers want to understand more about how the brands they interact with use AI.Â
If your final output is heavily reliant on artificial intelligence, consider disclosing to audiences the extent to which the technology was used. Note when content is generated by AI, modified by AI, edited by subject-matter experts, or the result of human-AI collaboration. Being upfront about AI shows your company is acting in good faith and using technology responsibly. Readers can then understand how you create your content so they can assess its reliability and biases.
Google recommends adding disclosures when readers might wonder how content is created. This is especially important for AI-generated visuals or if you’re covering financial or health topics that significantly impact readers’ lives.
Optimizing for AI Search Engines and Traditional Search
Regardless of whether your content is human-written or assisted by AI, search engines must understand and trust it before recommending it to users. In addition to following best practices for SEO, you can optimize your content for traditional and AI search in a few ways:
- Ensure content is clear and concise, so search engines can index it easily.
- Use conversational language that reflects how users interact with chat tools.
- Format content with bullets, lists, and headers.
- Leverage question keywords and answer them directly.
- Implement schema markup to communicate content to search engines.
Building E-E-A-T Signals Across Platforms
E-E-A-T is crucial for highlighting your brand’s credibility. Outside of publishing top-notch content, you can convey your brand’s trustworthiness by building a strong online presence.
Gaining Authoritative Backlinks and Mentions
Aim to build links to your web pages from diverse and respected industry sites to boost your credibility. Submit your site to online directories, offer quality content as a guest blogger, and distribute press releases on newsworthy topics. You can also earn backlinks by publishing great content that people want to link to.
Encouraging User Engagement for Trust Signals
Another way to signal trust is to show your brand is active in the community. Invite customers to submit reviews and testimonials or create user-generated content. Interact with followers by asking them to like, share, or comment on your posts or offer opinions through polls and surveys. The more active your brand is online, the more trustworthy it appears.
Future of E-E-A-T in a World Dominated by AI
As the volume of AI-generated content grows, audiences and search engines will continue to seek credible, trustworthy information sources.
How Google and AI-First Search Engines May Evolve E-E-A-T
Search engines seem less concerned with how sites produce content and more about whether it’s valuable, relevant, and worth citing and recommending. E-E-A-T will likely remain a core consideration, but we may see algorithm adjustments down the road as more AI content is published. Search engines may revisit how E-E-A-T is evaluated, including:
- Emphasizing unique and original content.
- Fact-checking for accuracy.
- Considering user engagement as an indicator of value.
Preparing Your Brand for an AI-Driven Future
In the meantime, brands can build a foundation of trust to withstand future changes in the search landscape. Familiarize yourself with Google’s E-E-A-T framework and cultivate your brand’s expertise and authority over the long term. This can include creating a comprehensive content inventory that shows your brand is an expert in its field and building backlinks to boost your online presence.
Google also values user experience, so aim to create unique, helpful content that prioritizes your audience and their interests. Provide as much value as you can to build trust and loyalty and set yourself apart as a go-to resource in the industry.
Finally, stay up to date on AI developments, as things shift quickly. Understanding where we’re at with AI and monitoring trends can help you anticipate and respond to changes down the road.
Stay Proactive With a True Partner
Innovative technologies can help your brand do things faster, but it’s important to take a strategic approach and keep your business objectives in sight. At Victorious, we use data-driven insights to make informed choices and implement long-term, sustainable approaches. Schedule a consultation with our team and learn more about how we can help your brand stay agile and flexible while achieving your SEO and content marketing goals.
