People won’t shut up about ChatGPT.
It’s a magic chat prompt that can write essays, SEO content, code and even choose mass killings over use of the N word.
Indian bloggers don’t have to rely on their terrible English skills to write trash anymore - ChatGPT can pump that out for them at record speed.
A dream come true for some.
Google saw the hype and wanted in on it, so they just today announced the upcoming release of their own ChatGPT competitor called Bard.
Bing is doing something similar.
What’s worrying SEO’s and bloggers
Take a look at this screen grab of Bard from Google’s announcement on their blog:
Notice anything?
SEO’s like Lily Ray were quick to point out that Google’s AI chat has fetched and mashed together this answer without any attribution or links back to its sources.
In other words, it’s much like a featured snippet, except there is no direct quote or link to the original site or sites it came from.
At the end of the day, the big fear is that people will spend longer on Google getting their answers, and less time on the sites that feed Google with that information.
So why blog at all if that happens?
AI content has a weakness
Artificial intelligence learns what it knows.
It’s fed information, and then it organizes that information and outputs it in a language format, style and tone that is also learned.
Write me an essay on Columbus at a 7th grade level using short paragraphs.
It’s able to do this because it has already consumed:
- Aggregated data on Christopher Columbus.
- Essays.
- 7th grade reading material.
- Content written in short paragraphs.
ChatGPT is able to combine and arrange these factors, but NONE of it is original in thought or opinion. It is simply aggregated and arranged.
The technology works on patterns.
People have been proving ChatGPT’s outrageously liberal biases as an example, which proves that it can only take existing content (derived mainly from liberal sources) and regurgitate it with different output patterns.
Where AI fails and will ALWAYS fail: thought and opinions.
Steps to protect yourself from AI now as a blogger, content creator or SEO
1. Stop rewriting content that has already been written
Google this: “Are chickens mammals or reptiles?”
The high number of results to this is absolutely pathetic. Thousands of articles saying the same, damn thing.
PATHETIC.
2. Share your opinion and TAKE SIDES
Stop writing neutral crap.
Start getting emotional in your writing and stand out. Tell people what you think about things, people, issues, etc.
Need an example? Here’s a blog post I wrote recently giving my opinion on a famous YouTuber (I get hate mail in my inbox almost every week since writing it).
I didn’t write this for SEO. I didn’t keyword research for it or use tools like Surfer SEO to meticulously edit my writing.
It is pure opinion.
Can AI write opinionated, well-researched content like this?
You don’t have to be negative either. Just be YOU and write like you mean it.
3. Focus on brand building
Build your brand.
Even if it’s just your own name, build it like a brand. Get a following. A tribe that loves you and hangs off your every word.
This is how you survive technology changes.
4. Get on YouTube and other social channels
Social is not dead.
It never will be.
YouTube is absolutely critical and will continue to compete with Google as a rival search engine. If your blog doesn’t have a YouTube channel, start one immediately.
I’m getting back to YouTube myself this year for several sites and investing heavily into it.
5. Don’t fall into the trap of getting ChatGPT (or Bard) to write your content
If AI is writing your content, then you are basically producing duplicate content.
You don’t deserve to be in business.
It’s not original - it is sourced from the very sites you are attempting to outrank. And Google sees that.
The only time this is perhaps a good strategy is if you’re using ChatGPT to help write lead magnets, emails or social media posts.
Even then, I wouldn’t personally recommend doing it.
AI is taking over but it can’t replace you
The only thing that cannot be replaced is you.
You are unique. Your voice and opinions are unique. Your style and delivery are unique.
People follow people. People enjoy content produced by humans.
Like I said during the Helpful Content update, the AI era will likely only help weed out the generic crap and reward true artists.
