All right, copywriters. The game is up. Pack your bags, and please – don’t slam the door on your way out. No more writer’s blocks, no more just-one-more-day-please excuses or playing out the “tortured artist” con. AI is here to stay, and it’s going to generate pages upon pages of text with the force of a thousand suns. At least that’s the impression you can get while reading the latest headlines: “The End of Human Writers?”, “Is This the End of Copywriting Profession?”. Regardless of the general vibe and the anxiety within the industry (and just to keep it straight from the beginning – no, it’s not the end), it’s become clear that AI SEO content creation is now a thing and it’s influencing multilingual SEO practice, too. But what does that mean for the writers? And what does that mean for your business?
AI – first as a theory, then as a practice
In the very general sense, AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is the “possession of intelligence, or the exercise of thought, by machines such as computers” (Hauser, n.d.). While we still have a long way to go before true independent intelligence emerges and Hal9000 sorrowfully declines to open the pod bay doors, we are already deeply committed to – and this is the other definition of the AI – “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages” (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.).
AI in the world
The concept of non-human intelligence itself is very old, but the specific field of AI research emerged in the second part of the 20th century, intertwined with the study of cybernetics, neural networks, and information theory. Alan Turing published his seminal text Computing Machinery and Intelligence in the year 1950. By the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, AI research was in full swing, and AI systems have been adopted or utilised by software developers in various forms.
“No true AI”
AI is so prevalent these days that its implementation or direct influence on computer systems often leads to discarding the label altogether. The “AI effect”, akin to “no true Scottsman” fallacy, happens when advantages brought forth by AI and its functions are diminished, because for some people the algorithm enrooted within the Netflix platform that analyses users’ film preferences and uses them to recommend different offerings from the catalogue is not a true AI, i.e. it’s not a self-aware autonomous being and it won’t fall in love with the bloke holding the remote.
The list of AI-based software features taken advantage of by businesses is already pretty impressive and includes:
But that’s not why AI is in the spotlight right now, and why journalists, politicians, and experts bring public attention to it. The reason is that AI development has made significant progress in the area previously exclusively reserved (or thought to be reserved) for humans – gifted by the gods with the spark of creation – making content. Sure, machine translation services have existed for some time already, in the beginning often as a source of laughter, internet memes, and a cause of despair for any editor delegated to the daunting task of “tweaking” the gibberish pretending to be a real text, but now the scope, the accessibility, and – what is most important – the quality of AI-generated content has improved significantly, just like the availability of AI-driven content editing and creating tools. Now AI can create art that wins awards in contests (to the chagrin of human artists), blur the line between fact and fiction while rendering fake photographs (love the white jacket, Your Holiness), or even produce standstills from non-existent films (e.g. Harry Potter, but in Soviet Russia). And what is important from a business perspective – provide you with a wealth of SEO and marketing services to create, enhance, or inspire content creation. What services? Let’s go and ask it.
ChatGPT for SEO and marketing
ChatGPT by OpenAI is an AI chatbot that can be interacted with in a conversational mode. It belongs to the GPT family of language models that can generate text that looks like it was written by a human. “They are called ‘generative’ because they can generate new text based on the input they receive, ‘pretrained’ because they are trained on a large corpus of text data before being fine-tuned for specific tasks, and ‘transformers’ because they use a transformer based neural network architecture to process input text and generate output text” (Larsen, Narayan, 2023). So how can it enhance your SEO and marketing? Well, I asked ChatGPT to make a list for me:
| Please list various ways in which ChatGPT can be used in SEO & marketing. |
And here’s what I got:
| Sure! Here are some ways in which ChatGPT can be used in SEO and marketing: 1. Content creation: ChatGPT can be used to create unique and engaging content for websites, social media, and other marketing channels. It can generate blog post ideas, headlines, social media captions, and even entire articles based on a given topic or keyword. 2. Keyword research: ChatGPT can help identify relevant keywords and topics to target based on search engine trends and user intent. It can also suggest long-tail keywords and related terms to improve your content’s visibility and ranking on search engines. 3. Customer support: ChatGPT can be used to provide 24/7 customer support through chatbots. It can answer frequently asked questions, provide product information, and assist customers in their buying journey. 4. Email marketing: ChatGPT can assist in creating personalized email campaigns based on user preferences, past purchases, and behavioural data. It can also help write subject lines, email copy, and calls-to-action that are more likely to convert. 5. Social media marketing: ChatGPT can help generate social media content and ads that resonate with your target audience. It can also suggest the best times to post, optimal image sizes, and effective hashtags. 6. Website optimization: ChatGPT can help improve your website’s user experience by suggesting website design changes, site architecture, and other optimizations that could improve engagement and conversion rates. 7. Competitive analysis: ChatGPT can analyze competitors’ websites and marketing strategies to identify opportunities and gaps in the market. It can also suggest ways to differentiate your brand and stand out in a crowded space. |
Already impressed, I pushed on:
| Are those all possible applications or could you come up with even more examples? |
ChatGPT just shrugged (at least in my mind) and boasted further:
| Those are just a few examples of how ChatGPT can be used in SEO and marketing, but there are many more applications. Here are a few additional examples: 8. Ad copy creation: ChatGPT can generate ad copy for search engine and social media ads that are more likely to convert. It can also suggest the best ad formats, call-to-actions, and targeting options for specific audiences. 9. Landing page optimization: ChatGPT can provide recommendations for optimizing landing pages to improve conversion rates. It can suggest changes to headlines, images, copy, and forms to increase engagement and reduce bounce rates. 10. Local search optimization: ChatGPT can help local businesses improve their visibility and ranking on search engines by suggesting local keywords, optimizing Google My Business listings, and generating location-specific content. 11. Video marketing: ChatGPT can generate scripts and video content ideas for YouTube, Vimeo, and other video marketing channels. It can also suggest video optimization strategies to improve visibility and engagement. 12. Influencer marketing: ChatGPT can help identify influencers that align with your brand’s values and target audience. It can also suggest collaboration ideas and campaign strategies to maximize ROI. 13. A/B testing: ChatGPT can suggest ideas for A/B testing different marketing campaigns and tactics. It can also analyze the results and provide insights for further optimization. 14. Analytics and reporting: ChatGPT can provide insights and data analysis for SEO and marketing campaigns, including traffic, engagement, conversion rates, and ROI. It can also generate reports and visualizations to share with stakeholders. |
I guess nobody is laughing now, right? The scope, the services, the reach… Doesn’t it sound almost too perfect? In a way, yes, and that’s because it is. We will dig a little deeper into why you shouldn’t believe everything the AI tells you a bit later. However, right now let’s just say that a) I have used the phrase “come up” intentionally in my ChatGPT prompt, and b) instead of rushing to your Copywriting Department to wish them all good luck in whatever other career they choose for themselves, it’s better to let them know that they now have a powerful tool at their disposal to help with their creative process: a supplement, a springboard, a seed of inspiration, and NOT a Skynet sibling grinning behind the screen while it’s taking over (their job, and then… the world!).
AI and SEO – AI capabilities in regard to content-related work
Generating short content. Brainstorming ideas
If you need a short and simple text, AI can generate it for you ad hoc. See for example:
| ME: Generate a short and simple text advertising translation agency services. ChatGPT: Looking for accurate and reliable translation services? Look no further! Our translation agency offers expert translations in a variety of languages and industries. Whether you need legal, medical, technical, or general translations, our team of experienced translators will deliver high-quality work that meets your needs. Contact us today to learn more about our services and get started on your next translation project! |
A text of this kind usually requires little to no input from a copywriter. These can be product or service descriptions, small ads. It’s important to note that AI output of this type will be mostly very generic and vary in quality (the more niche the described thing is, the harder it will be for AI to find the right words and phrases). Creators can also brainstorm ideas in that way, find a point of reference to devise their own texts. If your writer feels stuck, just ask artificial intelligence for help:
| ME: Please list 5 ideas for a text about translation agency. ChatGPT: 1. The importance of cultural competence in translation agencies: This article can explore how translation agencies must have a deep understanding of the target culture and how it can affect the quality of the translation. The piece can delve into the skills and techniques required for a translator to provide high-quality translation services. 2. The role of technology in the translation industry: This article can discuss how translation agencies use technology to improve their efficiency and quality of their services. The piece can explore how machine translation, translation memory software, and other tools are used to increase productivity and streamline workflows. 3. The ethical considerations in the translation industry: This article can explore the ethical considerations that translation agencies must consider while providing their services. The piece can discuss topics such as confidentiality, respect for the source text, and cultural sensitivity. 4. The process of managing a translation project: This article can discuss the process of managing a translation project from start to finish. The piece can explore the steps involved in creating a project plan, selecting the right team, setting timelines, and ensuring quality control. 5. The benefits of using a translation agency: This article can discuss the benefits that a business can enjoy by using a translation agency. The piece can explore how a translation agency can save time, increase efficiency, and provide high-quality translations that can help businesses expand into new markets. |
Generating content brief
AI can be used to create a general outline of the content that can be used by copywriters to build upon and expand. This might save time in the early stages of work and give the writer a little push at the start, so that they can follow a ready-made structure for the article.
| Here is a content brief for a text about buying a gaming console: 1. Introduction: Begin by introducing the topic of buying a gaming console and explaining why it can be an important decision for gamers. Discuss the different factors that gamers must consider before purchasing a console, such as their budget, gaming preferences, and future plans. 2. Comparison of consoles: Provide a detailed comparison of the different gaming consoles available in the market, such as Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Highlight the unique features and benefits of each console, including the hardware specifications, game library, online services, and price. 3. Gaming preferences: Discuss how gamers should consider their gaming preferences when choosing a console. For example, if a gamer prefers exclusive titles from a certain console, they may choose to purchase that console instead of another one that doesn’t have those games. 4. Budget: Discuss how gamers should consider their budget when purchasing a gaming console. Explain the price ranges of the different consoles and how gamers can prioritize their needs based on their budget. Additionally, you can also explore the various ways gamers can finance their purchase of a gaming console. 5. Accessories: Mention the accessories that gamers may need to purchase along with their gaming console, such as controllers, headsets, and charging stations. Provide recommendations on which accessories to purchase based on the console and the gamer’s gaming preferences. 6. Future-proofing: Explain how gamers can future-proof their purchase by considering the console’s longevity, backwards compatibility, and upgradability. Highlight the benefits of choosing a console that is expected to have a long life cycle, can play games from previous generations, and has upgrade options. 7. Conclusion: Summarize the key points discussed in the text and provide some final thoughts on buying a gaming console. Encourage readers to do their research and consider their own needs before making a purchase, and remind them that buying a gaming console can be a fun and exciting experience. |
Sometimes though, a copywriter may have a general idea for the text but struggles to type that elusive first line. Even in that case, artificial intelligence comes to the rescue:
| Here are five different sentences to start a text about mobile gaming: 1. With the increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile gaming has become a major part of the gaming industry. 2. The mobile gaming industry has seen explosive growth in recent years, with millions of people around the world playing games on their smartphones. 3. From simple puzzle games to complex multiplayer titles, mobile gaming offers a wide range of experiences for players. 4. Thanks to advancements in mobile technology, modern smartphones are capable of running some of the most graphically impressive and engaging games ever created. 5. With new games and updates constantly being released, the mobile gaming landscape is always evolving, offering new challenges and experiences for players of all ages. |
Research
AI is able to conduct a basic research for products or markets; it might also help you with finding a trending topic to write about. The first publicly-released version of ChatGPT, GPT-3, was trained on different materials from the web. “This included a whopping 570GB of data obtained from books, webtexts, Wikipedia, articles and other pieces of writing on the internet. To be even more exact, 300 billion words were fed into the system” (Hughes 2023). That is an impressive body of text, although the caveat worth bearing in mind here is that there was a cutting off point for the data uploaded: September 2021, and ChatGPT was the first one to tell you that its knowledge about recent events is limited.
| As an AI language model, I can provide you with some basic information about the computer gaming industry: 1. Market size: The computer gaming industry is a rapidly growing market, with an estimated global value of around $200 billion in 2022, according to Newzoo. 2. Gaming platforms: Gaming can be enjoyed on a variety of platforms, including personal computers, gaming consoles, mobile devices, and cloud-based streaming services. 3. Types of games: There are many different types of games available in the computer gaming industry, including action, adventure, strategy, sports, and role-playing games (RPGs). 4. Revenue models: The gaming industry has a variety of revenue models, including game sales, subscriptions, in-game purchases, and advertising. 5. Major players: The computer gaming industry is dominated by a few major players, including Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, which are the leading console manufacturers, and companies such as Valve, Epic Games, and Blizzard, which are prominent PC gaming publishers and platforms. 6. eSports: Competitive gaming, or eSports, is a growing sector within the gaming industry. Major eSports events attract millions of viewers and offer large cash prizes to the winners. 7. Gaming communities: Gaming communities have formed around many popular games, with players coming together online to discuss strategy, share tips and tricks, and compete against one another. 8. Future trends: The computer gaming industry is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, with increasing focus on mobile gaming, cloud gaming, and virtual and augmented reality experiences. Additionally, advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning are expected to enhance the gaming experience and provide new opportunities for game developers. |
In March 2023, OpenAI added plugin support (not yet available for general users) to allow ChatGPT to access “up-to-date information, run computations, or use third-party services” (OpenAI, 2023).
Creating Title Tags and Description Tags
AI can generate tags and meta descriptions fitting for a website, and those tags by themselves can be a source of inspiration for a copywriter. It is necessary to provide the source text, and the AI will analyse it and propose different variants of tags, e.g.
| Based on the content you provided, here are some possible title tags and meta descriptions for your webpage: Title Tags: 1. Bunny Army Surplus | Outdoor & Military Surplus Store in Somewhere 2. Tactical Gear, Camping Equipment & Genuine Army Surplus | Bunny Army Surplus 3. Shop for Adventure Supplies at Bunny Army Surplus in Somewhere Meta Descriptions: 1. Bunny Army Surplus is your one-stop-shop for genuine army surplus, tactical gear, camping equipment, and more. Visit our store in Somewhere today! 2. Looking for adventure supplies for bushcraft, hunting, shooting, camping, fishing, and more? Visit Bunny Army Surplus in Somewhere, and get kitted up! 3. Our shop in Somewhere, has 3 floors of supplies, including 1948 original equipment (in-store only). We also buy and trade in genuine surplus. Come and visit us today! |
(Name of the business and location have been changed for the purpose of this text.)
Will AI replace copywriters? AI-based tools vs. humans
No. It won’t.
Obviously, an LLM (large linguistic model) like ChatGPT is a remarkable piece of software and a testament to ingenuity of its creators. Once fed with data and carefully instructed with detailed prompts, it will impress you with its tour de force of a performance. But for all its speed, raw processing power, and the sheer volume of generated text, AI lacks the subtlety, versatility, and the panache of human writers.
Creativity and empathy
When it comes to AI language models, we might talk about “creativity”, but that’s a bit of an overstatement. ChatGPT’s output is always limited by the words in the database it can access. It won’t come up with a new word, but it will transform the available material, re-arrange it, and modify it (e.g. predict the next word in a string) and use it to deliver texts in accordance with the prompts. It’s very efficient, but it’s a cold efficiency of a machine. There is no flair for languages here, only the incredible computational power supported by artificial neuron networks.
Style
AI can generate texts with different target audiences in mind, in an appropriate style (if you instruct it to). Here are three versions of a beer ad:
| ME: Give me a short ad for a lager beer, with original taste, produced in the United States, targeted at young people. Make three versions: 1. Use professional tone, 2. Use a comical tone, 3. Use Charles Bukowski style. ChatGPT: Sure, here are three different versions of an ad for a lager beer with original taste, produced in the United States and targeted at young people: 1. Professional tone: Introducing our new lager beer with a crisp and refreshing original taste, brewed right here in the United States. Made with high-quality ingredients and carefully crafted by our experienced brewmasters, this beer is perfect for young people who appreciate a quality beer. Whether you’re out with friends or enjoying a night in, our lager beer is the perfect choice. Try it today and taste the difference! 2. Comical tone: Hey, you! Yeah, you! Do you like beer? Of course you do! And you know what’s even better than regular beer? Our new lager beer with an original taste that’ll knock your socks off! It’s brewed in the good ol’ US of A and it’s perfect for young people who want a beer that’s as awesome as they are. So go ahead, crack one open and let the good times roll! 3. Charles Bukowski style: This ain’t your grandpa’s beer. Our lager beer is the real deal. It’s got an original taste that’s bold, refreshing, and full of character. Brewed right here in the United States, it’s the perfect choice for young people who want a beer that’s authentic, just like them. So why settle for anything less? Grab a cold one and let the good times roll. |
It is impressive, yet, while reading it, you can’t shake off the feeling that you’ve heard it all before, somewhere… And you probably did, because – as we have already mentioned – AI can only repurpose and rearrange content from its database. That’s why – unless it’s a simple, generic text – a copywriter will always remain a crucial part of content production process, to give the text a unique spin, spice things up with not-so-obvious phrases or metaphors, and to verify if there are no mistakes, or sometimes – blatant lies contained within.
Fact-checking
ChatGPT is always eager to provide the user with the requested output. In fact, it’s so eager, it may make things up in the process. This phenomena is described as “AI hallucinations,” though some commentators eschew this term as it might add to the anthromorphisation of the software. Other proposed term is “confabulation” (Millidge, 2023). Whatever the word, it doesn’t change the fact that NLG models are sometimes “generating unfaithful or nonsensical text” (Ziwei Ji et al., 2022:4). To further quote the same extensive study, “hallucinated texts appear to be grounded in the real context provided, although it is actually hard to specify or verify the existence of such contexts. Moreover, similar to psychological hallucination being hard to distinguish from other ‘real’ perceptions, hallucinated texts are also hard to differentiate at a glance.”
When I asked ChatGPT to help me come up with a title for a text about native speakers being better translators than non-native speakers, the chatbot was quick to point out that “research has shown that being a native speaker does not necessarily make one a better translator.” So, I followed-up on that and probed further:
| ME: Can you give me examples of that research with sources and citations? |
And presto, I got a whole list:
| Yes, I’d be happy to provide some examples of research on this topic. Here are a few studies that challenge the idea that native speakers are always better translators: 1. „Non-Native Language Professionals in Translation and Interpreting” by Claudia Angelelli and Holly Mikkelson, published in The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture (2018). This chapter argues that non-native speakers can be just as proficient as native speakers in translation and interpreting, especially when they have advanced language skills and cultural knowledge. 2. „Native and Non-Native Speaker Performance in Translation: A Corpus-Based Investigation” by Silvia Bernardini and Federico Zanettin, published in Translation Studies (2004). This study analyzed translations by both native and non-native speakers and found that the quality of translations was not significantly different between the two groups. 3. „Non-native Speaker Translation” by Ricardo Muñoz Martín, published in The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies (2011). This chapter examines the idea that non-native speakers are less competent as translators and concludes that it is a „myth” that is not supported by empirical evidence. |
It’s all rubbish though. Authors are real, yet they never wrote those texts. Anthologies are real, but they don’t contain the articles. Articles are not real, though parts of the titles are real. AI rummages around the database and generates responses, with data used as “building blocks”. If something “fits”, it will be used to build a textual string that can look plausible, professional, or even authoritative (look at the name-dropping: Oxford! Routledge!), but it won’t be real. Ziwei Ji et al. (2022:17) point out that “even the state-of-the-art models have hallucination content in 25% of their generated summaries”. A human is always necessary to double-check the content provided by the AI.
AI-generated content and positioning
Internet search engines are able to recognise AI-created content. If it doesn’t adhere to the standards introduced to safeguard against spam and low-quality texts, the website can be penalised and fall in the rankings. It doesn’t mean that e.g. Google is opposed to using artificial intelligence to enhance content delivered to users, it does however mean that relying on automation without any supervision from a human agent and churning out tons of content to flood the net will be detrimental to the brand and the company. Just like it would be with any other low-effort and low-quality outputs. Google (2023) has stated:
| AI has the ability to power new levels of expression and creativity, and to serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web. […] Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings, which is against our spam policies. […] Poor quality content isn’t a new challenge for Google Search to deal with. We’ve been tackling poor quality content created both by humans and automation for years. We have existing systems to determine the helpfulness of content. Other systems work to elevate original news reporting. Our systems continue to be regularly improved. |
In other words, whether it’s AI content or human content, it’s not that important. What is important is that text have to be relevant, helpful, and display high quality through and through. And to guarantee that, you are still going to need human writers.
Keyword research
ChatGPT was boasting about being able to support keyword research, it listed KWR at second place on it’s own “what I can do” list above. Is it really that good, or is it just another hallucination? Let’s find out! Digibutsu is going to perform a test on ChatGPT-generated keywords. Be on the lookout for our next article on this topic!
(AI) SEO content at Digibutsu
Here, at Digibutsu, we always take the quality-first approach when creating content. We use artificial intelligence and automation tools to raise productivity and save time, but every text goes to our experienced copywriters for fine-tuning and verification.
We always keep an eye out for new technologies to help us deliver the best possible content, and right now we are monitoring closely the evolution of LLMs and AI. These new solutions can be valuable assets and a means to reduce costs and time necessary to complete big projects. However, when it comes to marketing materials aimed at building brand awareness and conversions, the “human touch” might still prove invaluable. Reach out to Digibutsu experts, and we’ll help to choose the best action strategy for your company.
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Technology is reshaping our reality and it affects business and content generation. What would be the best solution for you and your company? We can help you answer that question, just drop us a line.
FAQ
Is AI content good for SEO?
Yes. Although it’s not the all-in-one, fire-and-forget solution, AI can enhance content creation and modification according to provided prompts. It can help with writing blog posts, social media content, and suggest ideas for campaigns.
What can AI do for SEO?
AI can rewrite or generate texts with keywords provided; it can relieve the writers from mundane duties and provide them with content foundations or variations that can be further expanded to deliver great articles that will rank high on internet search engines.
Can AI write good content?
Yes, AI can create various types of content, with style or tone preferred by the user. It can make factual errors though or sound very generic, so it needs to be supervised by a human.
Sources
Google. (2023, February 8). Google Search’s guidance about AI-generated content. Google Search Central. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-search-and-ai-content.
Hauser, L. (n.d.). Artificial Intelligence. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://iep.utm.edu/artificial-intelligence/.
Hughes, A. (2023, April 3). ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about OpenAI’s GPT-4 tool. BBC Science Focus. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/gpt-3/.
Ji, Z., Lee, N., Frieske, R., Yu, T., Su, D., Xu, Y., Ishii, E., Bang, Y. J., Madotto, A., & Fung, P. (2023). Survey of hallucination in natural language generation. ACM Computing Surveys, 55(12), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1145/3571730
Larsen, B., & Narayan, J. (2023, January 9). Generative AI: A game-changer society needs to be ready for. World Economic Forum. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/davos23-generative-ai-a-game-changer-industries-and-society-code-developers/.
Millidge, B. (2023, March 19). LLMs confabulate not hallucinate. Beren’s Blog. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.beren.io/2023-03-19-LLMs-confabulate-not-hallucinate/.
OpenAI. (2023, March 23). Chatgpt plugins. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-plugins.
Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). artificial intelligence. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/artificial-intelligence.
