Can You Use ChatGPT / AI Generated Content for SEO?
Will ChatGPT Improve My SEO?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used for written content generation in the last few years and, recently, the software has improved substantially. ChatGPT has recently become well-known as an AI which is capable of taking a prompt and using it to produce high-quality content. Since search engine optimization (SEO) often involves creating multiple similar but distinct pages for a website, many are beginning to wonder the same thing: “Can I use ChatGPT to improve my SEO efforts?”
The short answer is yes, but the real answer is more complicated due to Google’s unclear guidelines regarding AI-generated content. Keep reading to learn about the potential risks of using written content created by ChatGPT or similar software.
Does Google Have a Problem With AI-Generated Content?
The truth is that because AI-generated content is relatively new, only time will tell if Google will take issue with it and using it will hinder your SEO efforts. Be wary of anyone who claims to know exactly how Google will treat AI-generated content, whether they insist there will be no issue or that using ChatGPT will doom your website. To make an educated guess on how Google will respond to web content created by ChatGPT, we need to take a look at what Google has said on the matter and how they’ve handled similar situations in the past.
If you search the web, you can find quite a few articles that Google has published regarding their stance on AI-generated content, and none of them are definitive. Google has yet to take a hard stance on the use of AI for SEO purposes. Instead, Google has simply stated the truth: that AI-generated content is beneficial for some situations but not for others, and what matters most is the quality of the content.
Google’s focus on quality is worth noting because it suggests that, in the future, if AI-generated content does not meet their quality guidelines, they could penalize websites that use it. Because of this, it’s wise to exercise caution when implementing SEO content created by ChatGPT on your website.
The situation with ChatGPT calls to mind the Google Penguin updates that began in 2012, which were implemented in response to deceptive link building tactics. Google was clearly concerned about bad link building practices all along but didn’t immediately take a stance on the issue, which resulted in many making the mistake of thinking they had outsmarted Google’s algorithms. Then, Google made the Penguin update, which resulted in certain websites being penalized and even being dropped from search results altogether.
It’s possible that overuse of AI-generated content will lead to a repeat of the Google Penguin update, where Google will introduce an algorithm that penalizes websites that overuse ChatGPT content. Be mindful of this when using ChatGPT for your SEO. At the very least, make sure that ChatGPT-generated content you put on your website has been edited by a human being, rather than simply copying and pasting ChatGPT SEO content onto your site without inspecting it first.
As a general rule of thumb for SEO, it’s never a good idea to try to outsmart Google. If someone you know claims they’ve found some amazing loophole to sneak around Google’s ability to recognize and flag AI-generated content, they’re almost definitely wrong. Employing tactics like this may lead to your website tanking just as so many sites did during the Penguin updates as a result of poor link building being flagged by the algorithm.
Learn More About the Risks & Rewards of ChatGPT
In summary, ChatGPT is a useful tool which may be worthwhile for your SEO efforts, but overreliance on this new AI software could have a detrimental impact on your SEO in the future. If you have any questions about the potential benefits and problems of using ChatGPT for written content, we encourage you to connect with NorthWing Digital today.