Artificial intelligence (AI) has seemingly swept the world, and there are very few industries that haven’t been impacted in some way by AI. For the many industries that have been affected, the use of AI can quickly become controversial; some are staunchly pro-AI, while others are proudly anti-AI. One such industry where the use of AI causes great debate is the area of search engine optimisation (SEO).
To help settle the debate, let’s uncover whether using AI for SEO is a help or a hindrance.
AI for SEO
First of all, the use of AI for SEO isn’t new. There is a range of tools and platforms that rely on AI to store data and shape SEO strategies. If you work in SEO, you’ve probably heard of the likes of SEMRush, Google Analytics and Screaming Frog – all of which use artificial intelligence in one way or another.
More recently, generative AI has taken centre stage in the world of AI. This term is used to describe AI-shaped tools that are able to take existing content before using large language models (LLM) to understand human language and generate new pieces of content. This could come in the form of answering a question or creating new images. For clarity, this article will focus on how the use of recent generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, has altered the SEO landscape.
From content generation to strategic guidance, let’s uncover whether AI is a help or a hindrance when it comes to search engine optimisation.
How AI Helps SEO: The Benefits of AI in SEO
Idea Generation
One of the most common ways that people use AI is to help with idea generation, and this isn’t exclusive to those working in SEO. This does, however, have obvious benefits to those who work in marketing and SEO.
Whether it’s brainstorming content ideas, article titles or meta descriptions, there are a variety of tasks within SEO that start with simple idea generation. While most would argue against relying fully on AI to generate your SEO ideas, the common consensus appears to be that generative AI can be used for inspiration.
Examples include asking AI platforms to generate a list of potential keywords for a WordPress website or a series of topics for a content plan.
Delegation of Simpler Tasks
While most people are against using AI for complex, more important tasks, delegating small, simple tasks to AI can free you up to focus on tasks that require a little more brain power. In SEO, this may include things like proofreading articles to identify any obvious mistakes.
AI is capable of completing tasks like this efficiently and accurately, and, as a result, this can drastically reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. While this will speed up your job, it should also make it more interesting as you are able to remove what you see as less interesting jobs.
If you are running a business that uses SEO, such as a content marketing agency, it may also allow you to cut back on human resources, cutting costs and subsequently increasing profits.
Speed
The final and most obvious way in which AI can help SEO is through speed. While the jury is still out over the quality of AI, there is no denying its speed when completing tasks. An article, a strategy, or an image can be generated in a matter of seconds.
The extent to which the content would need to be edited by a human depends on individual standards, but those who are more concerned with quantity than they are quality may benefit the most from AI’s impressive speed capabilities.
How AI Hinders SEO: The Drawbacks of AI in SEO
Lack of Originality
As already pointed out, AI in SEO heavily relies on existing content. As a result, whether you’re looking for an answer to a query or a full marketing strategy, the solution you receive will in some ways be regurgitated from elsewhere on the web.
The obvious downside of this is a lack of originality and uniqueness in your response. If you’re a small business or you have limited marketing knowledge, this may do the trick. For larger businesses or those who want a differentiated SEO strategy, it may not be the best solution.
Duplicate Content
Anyone who works in SEO should know the dangers of duplicate content. Seeing as AI models use existing content, there is a high chance that you will receive duplicate content if you turn to AI. For tasks such as article writing or generating copy for a web page, duplicate content would be an SEO disaster. Consider the task you are working on before evaluating the benefits of AI.
Adaptability
The world of SEO is constantly changing, and a large part of SEO success depends on being able to quickly adapt to algorithm changes. This is something that humans can do in an instant. AI models, on the other hand, need time to understand these changes and adjust their outputs appropriately.
The Future of AI in SEO
Focus on Providing Answers
AEO, or answer engine optimisation, focuses on optimising content to answer queries. This can help content appear in featured snippets but also in AI summaries, which are becoming more widespread.
More Advanced Content Creation
Using AI to generate content causes great debate, and most AI-generated content will be penalised in terms of SEO. However, the speed at which SEO is developing is alarming, and it would be no surprise to see AI-generated content match human-created content in terms of quality.
Automation of Technical SEO
The development of AI means more and more tasks are becoming automated. While there’ll always be a need for human creativity, less creative tasks could well be outsourced to AI in the near future. AI tools can already assist with identifying broken links and reporting on site speed. In the future, AI may go from identifying issues to solving them.
More Accurate Predictions
Predictions are a massive part of marketing, and those who work in SEO will be well versed in predicting keyword trends. As AI gathers more data, tools will be able to make more accurate predictions, which could be a great help to businesses and marketing teams.
Final Thoughts
While everyone has their own thoughts on AI being used in business, it’s fair to say that there are various benefits and drawbacks. It could also be argued that there is no right or wrong answer when determining whether or not you should use AI in marketing and SEO tasks.
It may actually depend on your own individual needs. If you’re a small startup or maybe you’re just pursuing a side hustle, using AI may save you some much-needed time, allowing you to focus on more important aspects of your business. On the flip side, an SEO agency should probably be less reliant on AI. While it may speed up smaller tasks, content generation should come from humans and offer value to both readers and search engines.
