There is a great debate going on about the use of AI content, especially on your own website or blog. Should you be using it, or not?
The answer may be a bit more complex than you think…
There are a few things you want to keep in mind. Some of them are about the here and now, and some of them are about the future.
So, should you use AI content on your website?
According to Google, as long as the content is helpful and of high quality, it should be ok. But then again, there have been many times in the past when Google said something was ok (for search engine optimization), only to backtrack on that statement a few years later.
There was a time when doing link exchanges was acceptable. That soon ended.
There was a time when mass distribution of articles was acceptable. That ended.
There was a time when getting backlinks through guest posting was considered the “ethical way” to get backlinks. A few years ago, Google recommended you add a “no-follow” tag to guest post links.
In fact, Google had gone back on their word so many times that they had to introduce the “link disavow” tool a few years ago: A webmaster’s tool that allows you to tell Google to ignore selected backlinks to your site.
Fair enough, the tool was also put in place to prevent competitors from building “bad” backlinks to your site to tank your search rankings – but the fact remains that it was only put in place because Google was suddenly penalizing websites for actions that were deemed acceptable in the past.
NOTE: Google plans to remove that tool soon – indicating that they have now gone back to simply ignoring low quality backlinks. As such, we assume that the practice of penalizing websites for having backlinks has also been committed to the pages of history.
The bottom line, however, is somewhat blurred…
What we expect to happen is this:
In the short term, Google will accept AI content on your website. In the medium term, we expect they will jump up and down, complaining that it is too much, and start de-indexing it.
Over the longer term, however, there will come a time when AI content will be indistinguishable from human content, and it won’t matter to Google any more (because they are all about user experience, or so they say).
Sadly, though, the de-indexed content – which will by then be considered to be less than perfect – will never be indexed again.
So if you used Ai to do the copywriting for your home page…
Ooooooops. At some point in time, you may very well have a big problem.
So, should you really not use AI content at all?
On your business website, we wouldn’t recommend it. Not while AI content generation is still inferior to human writing.
But of course, not all of the content you create will be used on your website.
You have posts on social media. And yes, the search algorithms will at some point catch up to AI content, and reduce the exposure for it – but since the life span of a social media post is relatively short, we don’t foresee much damage to your page/profile reputation on any platform because of it.
In addition to that, we are experimenting with search optimized content on Medium, Hubpages and LinkedIn Articles. While you are required to label AI content as such for the sake of platform users, it seems that – for some time to come at least – there may be some benefit in that. We plan to let you know about the results in time.
In conclusion:
A wise person once said – when asked a question about a complex issue – “just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD”.
And maybe that’s the way to approach this question. Because what is allowed today, is bound to be frowned upon tomorrow, or the day after.
After all, Google frowns upon anything that can be done in bulk to manipulate search rankings. And using AI content it aimed at doing just that.
The guillotine will drop – it’s just a matter of time.