
“In recent years, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence has transformed the way we create and consume content across the digital landscape”. – ChatGPT, just now.
Sounds familiar?
You’re not alone.
Such AI-written content has proliferated the internet since ChatGPT has gone mainstream, populating the public discourse with thoughtless fluff.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was trained on the data available on the internet. Based on that, it started generating content based on the given prompts. Now, as the internet is getting a ton of AI content every minute, Large Language Models are training themselves on their own content, leading to AI cannibalisation. The ramifications of this development would be rather grim for the internet, leading to churning out of the same soul-less content that adds little value to any domain.
To prevent this eventuality, Google has declared a crackdown on AI-generated content. So if you’re a business that wishes to maintain its decent SEO ranking, this is the right article for you.
Is this the first time Google has announced such a major change?
No, Google is known to make high-impact SEO decisions from time to time. Businesses and marketers are always on their toes, on the lookout for the next big disruption. To understand the future, let’s have a look at the major updates of the past & how businesses coped with them:
1. Panda (2011)
This focused on making the quality of content a major ranking factor. Many sites those days engaged in keyword stuffing and gaming the system to rank up. Many sites also had duplicate and thin (low word count) content which was invariably useless for the reader. To battle this update, businesses had to invest in well-researched and long-form articles that added real value for the readers. This attribute is a fundamental ranking factor even today.
2. Penguin (2012)
This update heavily penalised sites that used spammy link-building techniques to boost up their rankings. Websites that relied on low-quality backlinks and link farms found their rankings plummet. This remains a core ranking factor to this day so investing in premium linkbuilding services that create quality, human-generated content to help boost your business’s SEO.
3. Hummingbird (2013)
This update marked a shift towards giving priority to user-intent conversational queries. Articles that could directly answer specific queries were rewarded with a boost in rankings. Businesses started to focus on solving for search intent, rather than blindly targeting low-difficult high volume keywords.
4. Mobilegeddon (2015)
Smartphones gained a remarkably high device share in just half a decade, breaking the hegemony of the desktop as the top device used for browsing. Sensing this shift, Google started to reward websites that were optimised well for mobile. Businesses followed suit with a responsive site design and more readable content.
5. BERT (2019)
This update improved Google’s understanding of natural language, helping it parse the nuance of complex queries. This change was welcomed by websites that had content in a conversational tone.
6. Core Web Vtals (2021)
Google made the page experience of the user a critical ranking factor. This increased the importance of things like site loading speed, website layout, visual stability and interactivity/responsiveness.
What is the latest AI update all about?
The latest update is no different. Businesses are again scrambling to know how this update will impact their rankings and site traffic. Here are the major takeaways for you to ponder upon:
- Websites designed to meet Google’s ranking criteria using AI will be severely affected. This means that websites that were solely designed to solve for the search engine rather than the user have a grim future.
- The company is also updating its spam policy with the inclusion of AI spam. This means that websites that have a high amount of AI-generated content with no optimisation for the user will face the risk of being tagged spam.
- The company will also crack down on ‘scaled content abuse’. It means that producing and publishing hundreds of unoriginal AI-written articles optimised for search every month may not be the best course of action going forward.
- This update would also mark the end for ‘domain squatting’ wherein scammers purchase website domains with a recognisable brand name with the aim of using that brand name to attract traffic. LLMs have made this task easier, helping such scammers fill out these websites with a high volume of useless content.
How Can I Retain My Ranking With This New Update?
Change is not easy. This new update might seem daunting, especially if you have integrated AI into your content creation workflow. Implementing the following steps should help you navigate the turning tides of the search engine waters:
1. Minimise AI usage.
AI can be a great copilot in content creation if used correctly. It is a very useful playground for brainstorming ideas, exploring internet rabbit holes and doing research for your writing. However, depending on AI to produce the content for you may not be the best idea.
2. Learn Prompting
Prompt Engineering is turning out to be a skill in vogue. To better leverage AI, know how to write effective prompts. Assign a role to AI (like content specialist in healthcare or content proofreader). Be descriptive of the user or reader. Mention the search intent. Ask for sources of factual information to battle AI hallucinations. Elaborate on what not to do. Use it as a research guide. AI could be a great partner in finding new thought bubbles and perspectives for you to expand upon.
3. Add a human touch.
Blindly copy-pasting AI-generated content could spell the end of your search engine success. Adding a human perspective is a must after this update. Add a personable example. Throw in a pop culture reference that your readers might like. Try to solve for the searcher’s query.
4. Avoid mass production of content.
Immediately stop the churning out of hundreds of articles. Avoid publishing tons of AI-generated articles in a short span of time. Google has explicitly mentioned penalising this practice.
Google’s latest update is no different from its predecessors. Improving the searcher experience remains the key motive. To maintain the rankings, focus on prioritising human-centred content that solves a particular problem. Restrict AI use for research and brainstorming. Build quality backlinks Following these steps should protect your website from any potential spam tags or ranking penalties.
Images: Supplied
This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Web Oracle