Generative artificial intelligence, such as Chat GPT, among others, is the current buzz, and most companies are seeking ways to make the most of this powerful tool. However, few have considered the impact it can have on SEO and, therefore, on optimizing content to appear at the top of search results.
The topic is already on the table, and different experts in the field of communications and marketing have addressed it to determine how to design the best digital strategies without undermining the years of work put into web positioning.
How it affects: Since Al is ready to automate many functions of our daily work life in terms of information input, “it is necessary to consider how this could affect the way organizations interact with search data,” explains Ragan´s website.
In Ragan, Fernando Angulo, Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush, predicted that generative Al has the potential to mark the beginning of significant changes in searches, highlighting some tangible examples. “It may become more challenging for search engines to differentiate between human-generated and Al-generated content, leading to changes in how they rank and evaluate content.” The expert assures that as generative Al better understands user intent, SEO can focus more on natural language and conversational keywords. Automated content creation tools may become more common, potentially generating lower-quality content that could harm SEO strategy.
In that regard, James Fratzke, Partner and Chief Customer Success Officer at Fratzke Consulting, not only agrees with Angulo but believes that “as humans, we will be able to tell if there is poorly generated content appearing in our searches due to Al and filter it out.” He asserts, “People won´t want to engage with poorly made content. I believe we will see that impact in search results, leading to more human-generated content dominating the top three positions on page one of a search.”
Ally or Enemy? According to Fratzke, Al will not replace strategies that originate from humans, and communicators must be careful to inform their teams about this. “Al is a tool that is best used in conjunction with human-centered thinking and strategy,” Fratzke told Ragan. “It can never fully replace a communications or marketing department, nor automate the way it works with SEO.”
He added that Al can be an excellent starting point for teams to create general communications or SEO strategies, but it´s better to keep its use as a tool for outlining or ideating in general. “Al is a great tool for structure. It can take a large amount of data or other information and break it down into digestible chunks that can be interpreted by a person in a communications or marketing team,” Fratzke insists.” But as communicators, if we seek to share a story with the world about our key messages or how people can find us in search, Al is probably not the best tool to use during that process. We still need people who can tell stories,” he asserts. The expert explains that search engines will continue to reward valuable and thoughtful content. “My bet is that brands and organizations that focus on human-centered content will continue to win in SEO, and Al will become a supporting tool in those efforts,” he assures.
Impact on SEO: Traditionally, SEO requires technical efforts and high-quality content written by experts in a particular subject, recognized by third parties (the famous backlinks), to position content at the top of search results. “Those who have tried their luck in this field know well that the battle is tough and achieving truly remarkable results requires tremendous effort, persistence, patience, and hours of work,” explains entrepreneur.com. However, Al will clearly become a supporting tool in these efforts.
“Artificial Intelligence is coming to democratize certain relevant aspects that have always been very technical, allowing almost anyone interested in generating positioning with a technical background, transforming these tools into development partners,” explains José Miguel Arancibia, Managing Partner of the Digital Department at Azerta.
