How A.I. Is Impacting The SEO Industry

Since the release of ChatGPT, digital marketers around the world have been eagerly waiting for Google's response to A.I. driven content. Below is a timeline of Google's opinion on A.I.-driven content. And how A.I. content is impacting today's SEO landscape, as well as a glimpse into the future of SEO.

Key takeaways

• Google has confirmed that webmasters can publish A.I. content as long as it's not spammy and is written for people.
• Businesses that do not adapt to producing A.I. content will fall behind competitors in their respective niches.
• Optimally leveraging A.I. content helps businesses increase their organic traffic, brand awareness, and ultimately organic leads.

A Timeline of Google's Stance on A.I. Generated Content

2022

Shortly after ChatGPT's release in November 2022. Google required webmasters to produce “Content written by people", this statement effectively made the publication of A.I. content against Google search's guidelines.

2023

In Early 2023, Google updated its search guidelines from “content written by people" to “Content created for people". This was a hint to digital marketers that Google is okay with content being produced by A.I. As long as the content is helpful to users and isn't considered spam.

2024

Today, Google explicitly mentions that “ Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines" on Google Search Central. Webmasters can leverage A.I. content without being penalized by Google as long as:

• The content isn't produced to manipulate search engines.
• The content isn't inaccurate or misleading.

(Source: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-search-and-ai-content)

How is A.I. Content Impacting SEO

A.I has two distinct impacts on the landscape of search engine optimization:

1. Experienced SEO Specialists such as the team at Seologist are capable of leveraging A.I. tools to produce high-quality, user-friendly content faster. Enabling businesses to increase their content velocity. This helps businesses rank for more keywords faster than ever before. Creating more opportunities to capture organic traffic and increase brand awareness on Google search results.
2. Inexperienced digital marketers are beginning to oversaturate Google search with unfriendly, spammy content. This is causing damage to the SEO campaigns of businesses that are penalized during helpful content algorithm updates. According to John Mueller, this damage can potentially be irreversible. Reach out to the experts at Seologist if you believe Google's algorithm update may have impacted your website.

What the Future of SEO Looks Like

Due to the potential for rapidly increasing organic traffic that's more likely to result in an organic lead for businesses. More and more businesses will opt for producing A.I. content.

Businesses that fail to adapt to the A.I. paradigm shift that occurred in 2022 will fall behind competitors that successfully leverage A.I. content. Contact Seologist to get your SEO campaign set on track to outperform your competitors on organic Google search results.