When it comes to SEO, content marketers need to pay attention to what’s going on with search engines—and primarily Google—because it so heavily impacts the strategies used to get keywords to rank. Google’s algorithm is heavily integrated with AI and will continue to do so.
While some algorithm updates have been relatively harmless with regard to how content marketers do their jobs, others, like AI, have revolutionized how the work is done. Search results today are more personalized, content more relatable, and many of the tasks associated with SEO research and implementation have become automated with the advent of AI.
In this day and age, Marketers cannot think of their work without SEO and AI together and with good reason. AI has changed what tools are available, the content written, and how content gets ranked.
New SEO and AI Tools Available
New SEO and AI tools are unequivocally changing how people search, the results provided, and how companies strategize their results. The integration of SEO and AI has made keyword research and content creation more efficient because of the new tools created and made available to marketers.
Tools for Keyword Generation
Algorithms can better detect user intent and how people are searching, making it more important than ever to create meaningful, helpful content. AI-enhanced content strategy tools are designed to implement user insight in keyword generation, ultimately garnering better keyword results for marketers. They can then implement more useful keywords in their content, which will resonate better with their target audience.
AI-Enhanced Content Optimization Tools
In addition to keyword research and content optimization, AI-enhanced tools such as Frase.io, Surfer SEO, and MarketMuse can help streamline content, eliminating wordy content that turns users off. They can easily create transcriptions for video content to provide a better user experience and offer suggestions to improve content structure, from headlines and bullet points to content organization.
Analytics
Tools to assess the success and overall performance are now impacted by AI as well. Analytics platforms are now married to AI, just as SEO and AI are now inseparable. Google Analytics will still reign supreme, but the aforementioned content optimization tools can also provide data-driven insight into the success of written content. Leaning into AI will prove to be more beneficial than rejecting it; to be successful in an AI-driven landscape, SEO marketers need to understand it and take advantage of the tools available.
Content Changes
While it might not seem like artificial intelligence could supersede the human brain, it seems to be doing just that when it comes to search engine results. AI-powered search engines will rank content that isn’t helpful to users, that is stuffed with keywords, or that utilizes other black hat strategies.
Meaningful Content
Content in our current world needs to be more meaningful, and SEO and AI help to make that happen by better meeting the needs of its users. AI has altered how SEO marketers think because they now must consider not only how Google algorithms may function but also how artificial intelligence evaluates content. After all, things like Google’s RankBrain and BERT focus will change how search engines read and rank content—which means it’s changing what the end user sees.
Tailored Content
Over time, users who utilize AI-powered search will find that the search engines learn their habits, making the results even more personalized than the user just entering a unique search term. It will learn their habits and preferences, providing results faster and more accurately. This opens the door for marketers to provide relevant content to a broader audience and also reach niche markets.
Improved Efficiency
Tasks that would’ve ordinarily taken a great deal of time, such as keyword research, content optimization, and even creating content outlines, are now completed far more quickly than ever before. Marketers will have more time to spend with their clients, focus on meaningful tasks, and ultimately provide a deliverable with a more efficient timeline. This means content output is more advanced and efficient while better tailored to users.
Ranking
AI is changing SEO by enhancing how search engines understand and rank content. AI algorithms like Google’s RankBrain and BERT focus on context and user intent rather than just keywords, making SEO strategies more about delivering quality, relevant content. Additionally, AI improves content creation by predicting what topics and formats will resonate with audiences, helping marketers optimize content for both search engines and users.
Long-time SEO marketers will remember when SEO simply meant mentioning a keyword as many times as possible to make it “viewable” to the search engine. Those days are long in the past as SEO and AI work together to rank content that is more tailored to the user, not just content that includes a keyword that marketers think is important.
Ranking on search engines has shifted to be more focused on the user and what they intended to find versus what they actually typed into the search engine. Users will find results that meet their needs, answer questions, and help them understand subjects, which is a huge shift from rankings that previously just matched queries to keywords. SEO and AI have changed marketers' performance objectives and strategies to reach users.
SEO and AI Pitfalls for Marketers
SEO and AI have joined forces to greatly benefit digital marketing. Marketers can enjoy not having to do tedious tasks as they have now become automated, or at the very least, those tasks have become more efficient. However, marketers should be wary of some AI pitfalls that can actually harm their work.
Lack of Human Oversight
SEO and AI work together to deliver content that is meaningful, useful, and relevant to its users, eliminating content that AI deems contrary to what users want. AI learns at a rate and consumes information so quickly that it is nearly incomprehensible to humans. While this is helpful, marketers still need to have a human touch on their content. SEO and AI are often an unstoppable team, but at the end of the day, AI is still AI, which means it’s not a genuine person. Mistakes can be made and only identified by a true human brain.
Over-reliance of AI
AI is a tool, and it should be treated as such. It cannot replace human employees or take over all marketing tasks (at least not yet). Mistakes in AI do happen—just think about an AI-generated image of a person with eight fingers on one hand. In order to provide quality content, marketers still need to have real humans doing some work and overseeing the content.
Leverage SEO and AI to Your Benefit
If you’re overwhelmed by AI or unsure how to use it effectively, contact The Creative Momentum today for a free quote on your project.