I’ve heard a lot of excitement from clients and friends about how much easier it will be using ChatGPT for content strategy. They know search engines reward frequent new content, and they’re right, but there’s a big blind spot. Using AI-generated WILL backfire.
AI content isn’t valuable
Using ChatGPT, Bing, or BARD as AI-writing tools to create original content will waste your time—not save it. Even though you may spend far less time generating 300 – 700 words of content, that content will be useless.
Yes, these tools are great at retrieving and summarizing top web sources to create a “new” article. It’s also true the tool’s ability to relay the content using natural language is amazing, BUT it’s not new content. If your brand is not introducing new content to the web, your website will not rank “above the fold” organic search ranking. Using ChatGPT for content strategy ensures you’re perpetually behind the curve. (Not to mention, as of writing this, the free version of ChatGPT is still not web connected.)
AI content is like a high school research project
You can think of AI tools as a high schooler writing a report on a historical event. They will scour the internet for sources, re-write what they find in their own words and present a paper for grading. That may sound “good enough” to justify using ChatGPT for content strategy, but hold up…
There is NO future scenario where sourced content (AI-generated) beats the original source. Using AI tools to maintain your content strategy is a guaranteed way to relegate your web presence to page 7, or maybe 4 or 5 if you’re lucky—it’s internet irrelevance. (I imagine it’s a matter of time until search engines develop tools to flag websites using AI-generated content, which will rank your content lower.)
Perhaps this level of content would have worked years ago, but the very tools generating content are also parsing it.
The point of high school exercises isn’t to create content and bring value to others. The point is to help students go through the research and writing process. In other words, the written words aren’t the point; the ability to research IS. And that skill is what has value.
How to get Bing Chat or BARD to source your article
Creating expert content or introducing a unique point of view to the web is the only way you win and take advantage of AI-driven search engines. Using ChatGPT for content strategy might be a good research tool to find studies or compare data sets—that’s certainly valuable, and I’ve used Bing Chat for these purposes. But using ChatGPT as the content driver will fail you.
Here’s how to get your website sourced in BARD or Bing Chat results:
If you are an expert, provide your unique point of view. When AI-search systems see your unique content and confirm there is no existing content like it, they will serve your website to searchers looking for your expertise.
If you are not an expert, find the experts! Citizen journalism could never be easier than today. Follow your hunch, find experts, and interview them to create unique original information.
What AI has done is level the playing field in content creation. If you are behind in content creation or inbound traffic, NOW is your time to catch up with the big guys.
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