Is AI Bad for SEO and Advertising?

AI, AI, AI… For the past few years, this term has become as common in our daily lives as “phone” or “computer.” 

AI technology is used everywhere: manufacturing, art, education, and, of course, marketing. About 35% of companies report using it for content writing, which raises an important question: does AI affect SEO and advertising, and if so, is this effect positive? That’s what we’ll explore today.

How It All Started?

Only a few people know that AI has existed for many decades.

Since the ’90s, AI modules have been used for optimization, analysis, calculations, and decision-making. In its early stages, the technology wasn’t designed for direct user interaction; it worked behind the scenes, processing data and providing results without engaging in conversations.

The AI as we know it appeared around 2022–2023 with the public release of large language models (LLMs). AIs like Midjourney and ChatGPT became popular for their ability to engage in conversations and learn from them. Worldwide, people started using AI, soon showing concerns about its societal impact.

Amid these concerns, Google released its “Guidance about AI-generated content” on February 8, 2023. This guidance introduced the E-E-A-T framework for evaluating AI-generated content.

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s a framework introduced by Google to evaluate the quality and credibility of content, particularly when it comes to AI-generated materials.

Here’s a breakdown of each component:

• Expertise: Evaluates the content creator’s knowledge and skill level in the specific field. Texts created by recognized experts or specialists are considered more reliable.
• Experience: Refers to the content created by a writer with experience or firsthand knowledge of the subject. When the text consists of personal experience, it’s considered valuable.
• Authoritativeness: Assesses the creator’s credibility and reputation. Content from well-established and respected sources carries more weight.
• Trustworthiness: Focuses on the accuracy and honesty of the content. Trustworthy content is well-researched, transparent, and free from misleading information.

By applying the E-E-A-T framework, Google aims to ensure that content is useful, reliable, and credible for its users.

Is AI Content against Google Guidelines?

Spoilers: No, but yes.

As Google states, “Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines.” Google’s ranking system doesn’t determine whether the content is AI, nor does it care. What it does care about is that your content follows the E-E-A-T framework, regardless of whether it’s human or AI.

However, don’t jump to conclusions and start generating all content with AI. First, take a look at the text we’ve created using AI:

You might say it’s not too bad, right? Well, the issue with such content is that it’s generic. If you and several people ask ChatGPT for similar content, it’ll produce nearly identical texts. After posting, all these texts will be ranked as unoriginal — lacking unique or expert insights — negatively impacting their ranking.

To ensure your content is original, it must incorporate experiences and insights, something only a human can provide.

Therefore, if you opt for AI-generated text, it’s important to have people and AI work together. The AI will generate the initial text, while content creators will review and enhance it to align with the E-E-A-T framework.

Additional Risks of AI for SEO

Despite being generic, AI texts provide various challenges that can lead to a damaged reputation or reduced organic reach. Here are some of these downsides:

Inaccurate Information

It’s important to note that while AI can be a powerful tool for accessing information and providing insights, it is not always accurate.

Sometimes, AI can provide wrong information or even fabricate statistics and sources. There are many reasons why it happens, including limitations in the training data, errors in data processing, or the challenges of understanding and generating human language. But, the fact is that AI needs to be reviewed. Otherwise, these made-up facts can severely damage your reputation — crucial in marketing, where everything is built on trust.

Can Be Damaging to the Reputation

According to recent studies, 50% of consumers can correctly spot AI-generated texts. More importantly, 26% of people feel that a brand appears impersonal if its website consists solely of AI, while 20% perceive it as lazy.

Though AI can help create more content, people, especially Millennials and Gen Z-ers, learned to recognize it. After all, they also use AI and understand how it writes. So, relying entirely on AI can be risky for affiliate or digital marketers.

AI Content Isn’t Copyrightable

On March 16, 2023, the US Copyright Office released a guidance stating that content created entirely by AI cannot be copyrighted. However, the generated content that was reviewed and adjusted by a human can be.

If you don’t want your content to be stolen and you value the copyright of your materials, it’s important to invest time and effort in making AI content original. Add personal examples, provide your expertise, and cross out all unnecessary words and “in the ever-evolving digital world” phrases.

How to Adapt AI Content to E-E-A-T

In affiliate and digital marketing, SEO and content creation are everything, but managing consistent posting can sometimes be taught. That’s where AI can help. However, it must be applied smartly to align with the E-E-A-T principles.

Here are some tips on how to integrate AI into your content strategy while following the Google guidelines:

Provide Expertise

Once you’ve generated your text, make it expert and add relevant research studies to support your claims. For example, you can reference statistics from reputable sites like Statista or credible organizations, linking their studies in the text.

Additionally, highlight your expertise with personal achievements, including your qualifications, previous work, and professional accomplishments.

For example, you’re a content writer who uses AI. You could share insights on your generated content performance, supporting your claims with analytics and screenshots. This approach not only validates your content but also demonstrates your expertise — which E-E-A-T wants.

Highlight Experience

When writing about a product, create a review. Your experience with the product shows value, which Google wants. Provide the step-by-step use guide, pictures, videos, and your thoughts on the product — this will help your content perform better in the search engine.

If you don’t have enough expertise for the review, try working with someone who has it, like a product user. You can interview them on their use cases, write everything down, and create an article with direct quotes.

Build Authoritativeness

Posting thousands of blog posts alone won’t improve your credibility. True authority is shown through the author or brand’s credentials, experience, and recognition in their field.

For that, you need a strong PR strategy. This means getting quality backlinks, joining major associations, and partnering with influential people in your niche. Implementing them into your content can bump your authoritativeness.

What’s more, include detailed content creators’ descriptions of their achievements and expertise in the blog. Positive user feedback also reinforces trust and indicates your reliability.

Show Trustworthiness

Information is changing constantly — researchers provide new insights, and products get updates. To provide users with up-to-date information, Google checks the accuracy and reliability of website materials.

If you want your content to appear higher, update articles and pages with fresh data. All companies go through this process, deleting and reviewing old articles and pages. This also includes updating the brand voice so it’s consistent throughout the website.

Remember that trust is built on honesty. Don’t lie in your texts and make up facts so they sound better — just include open-source data if you don’t have your own.

Track Performance to See How Your AI Content Works

AI and human content need to be tracked constantly to understand their performance. Tools like Google Analytics 4 provide insights on views and ranking, allowing you to make adjustments when AI content shows poor results.

But that’s not all. To see the full impact of AI, you need to understand how your audience interacts with it. Are they engaging with the content? How are they reacting? For that, you need to track the links within your content.

Using affiliate trackers like Keitaro Tracker helps you get detailed, real-time reports on your links: clicks, conversions, ROI, etc. With it, you can see if your AI materials aren’t encouraging people to click, allowing you to make quick adjustments — which is so important for affiliate and digital marketers promoting products.

You can try our affiliate tracker with a 14-day free trial to see its features in action:

Now, you know how to make your AI texts more SEO-friendly. Don’t forget to follow Keitaro Tracker to stay up-to-date with all the important insights in digital marketing.