ChatGPT & SEO: An SEO's Opinion on the Usefulness of AI Generated Content

The advent of Chat GPT has sent shockwaves through the digital and editorial communities. Since its launch on November 30, 2022, the realm of SEO has been captivated by this groundbreaking phenomenon: the creation of content through Artificial Intelligence. This artificial intelligence chatbot possesses the ability to respond to inquiries with relevance, wit, and sophistication. It can even generate impressive content based on just a few keywords. This technological leap has prompted reflection on the evolving role of writers in the field of digital marketing. As an SEO agency, MMONET has had the opportunity to explore the capabilities of Chat GPT's AI in recent weeks, whenever access is available without user overload. This experience has provided us with insights into the content generated by this AI text generator. In this article, we will provide an overview of the merits, drawbacks, and potential challenges that SEO practitioners and writers may encounter as AI text generators continue to advance.

Understanding Chat GPT

Chat GPT is an AI text generator developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. It excels at generating content across a wide spectrum of topics, delivering informative and engaging text that reads as if crafted by a human. Chat GPT is based on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 language model, a significant improvement over the earlier GPT-3 model introduced in 2020. Chat GPT harnesses machine learning algorithms to analyze extensive textual data. In mere microseconds, it interprets these data and generates coherent text in accordance with the input provided to the platform. Common inputs for Chat GPT include:

• Explaining "What is X?"
• Creating a list of the "10 best X"
• Constructing a sentence about X that includes information about Y and Z
• Generating a poem about X while mentioning Y and Z
• Composing a letter to X explaining the roles of Y and Z

While Chat GPT is proficient at performing the functions of a chatbot and addressing questions based on known information or knowledge, it may encounter challenges when responding to subjects that require subjective reasoning or sarcasm.

Was this Article Written by Chat GPT?

The question of authorship is relevant. After all, can we truly discern who composed this content? Let's not keep you in suspense. Essentially, this article was not authored by Chat GPT. Although we have confidence in Chat GPT's ability to address many of the topics discussed here, a human wrote this text. However, we will incorporate excerpts of AI-generated content to showcase the capabilities of this tool. For full transparency, all such passages will be presented in italics and have not been edited. For example, here is how OpenAI responds to the query "What is Chat GPT?":

Chat GPT is a natural language processing model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) language model, which was trained on billions of sentences to understand and generate text using machine learning techniques. It can be used for tasks such as content generation, natural language understanding, and automated question answering.

The Primary Function of Chat GPT and OpenAI

The primary function of Chat GPT is to produce text that is logical, coherent, and reads as if written by a human. GPT-3.5 technology represents a significant advancement in AI text generation, offering assistance with various writing tasks such as translation, summarization, online chatbot interactions, and thematic research. Thanks to its training on millions of sentences, Chat GPT can generate fluent and coherent text. GPT writing technology relies on extensive datasets to create text with natural phrasing, language, and sentence structure. OpenAI's mission is to democratize AI, promote AI research and development, and ensure that AI advancements benefit society as a whole rather than just a select few individuals or businesses. OpenAI also publishes AI research, develops language processing models like GPT-3 and Chat GPT, and provides tools for developers and researchers.

How Chat GPT Differs from Other AI Text Generators

What has truly surprised many writers is the quality of the text produced by Chat GPT. For professionals in marketing and SEO, the concept of AI text generators is not new. Whether used to generate substantial blocks of content for websites or for other purposes, most practitioners have encountered AI text writing tools. However, until now, distinguishing human-generated text from AI-written articles remained relatively straightforward. Chat GPT introduces AI writing technology to the general public, offering a higher-quality solution compared to existing AI content generators. The question arises: Will Chat GPT render the role of a writer obsolete? If an AI-powered tool can handle basic queries, what remains for writers to do? This question likely weighs on the minds of many freelancers and product description specialists. While Chat GPT can generate content that answers users' questions and may impact certain writing-related jobs, such as generating automated content or summaries, it's important to acknowledge that language processing models like Chat GPT cannot fully replace human writers. These models have limitations in understanding subtle language nuances, creativity, and grasping the underlying intent of content. Human writers possess unique skills that machines cannot replicate at this point. While AI-powered content generation tools can be valuable aids, they cannot replace the work of an SEO writer. For every piece of content to be produced, an SEO writer considers various factors that AI does not:

• The target audience (persona)
• The appropriate tone
• Strategic keywords to include
• A distinctive approach to the subject matter

Moreover, it's crucial to understand that content generated by Chat GPT often requires refinement. Rarely will it be used verbatim on a website; instead, it 's edited to enhance its usefulness, reader-friendliness, and SEO optimization. Writers bring expertise to optimize self-generated content, prioritize information, and convey a brand's "voice." Thus, AI tools can complement writers but should not replace them, at least not without human revision.

Can Google Detect AI-Generated Content?

In short, yes, Google can distinguish content written by humans from content generated by AI. As mentioned earlier, AI-generated content is not a new phenomenon. However, technology continues to advance rapidly, prompting Google to act swiftly to ensure that AI-generated content does not distort search results. Google possesses automated content detection algorithms to identify automatically generated content. However, it may not always be able to do so with absolute certainty. There are techniques for crafting AI-generated content that is challenging for search engines to detect. Nevertheless, Google constantly updates its algorithms to better identify and penalize automatically generated content. Hence, it's crucial to ensure that AI-generated content is of high quality, unique, and genuinely valuable to users to avoid potential penalties.

Should You Use Chat GPT for Your SEO Content?

At MMONET, in 2022, our SEO team invested considerable effort in assisting websites that had incorporated AI-generated content into their pages. AI content can be exceptionally challenging to index, and it does not always achieve the desired ranking on search result pages. Officially, Google does not impose manual penalties on sites employing AI generators like Chat GPT for their SEO. However, we anticipate that Google may make it more challenging for identified AI-generated content to attain visibility. Beyond the SEO risk, Chat GPT can serve as a source of inspiration for content ideas. For instance, the tool's responses to the search "Top questions about Chat GPT" include:

1. What is Chat GPT?
2. How does Chat GPT work?
3. What can Chat GPT be used for?
4. What is the accuracy of Chat GPT?
5. Is Chat GPT open-source software?
6. Can Chat GPT be fine-tuned with its own dataset?
7. Can Chat GPT be used for commercial purposes?

These questions could have been integrated into this article.

Should You Incorporate Chat GPT into Your SEO Strategy?

Yes, for research, information retrieval, or generating prompts. No, if your intention is to create entire pieces of content. As demonstrated, AI-generated text can lead to issues like poor indexing or hindered ranking. Similar to the golden age of spun content for mass content generation, it's tempting to enthusiastically embrace Chat GPT and other AIs. However, it may do more harm than good, as you'll likely need to rewrite extensively for improved positioning. The absence of a research phase before writing could lead to missing crucial information that AI overlooks. Additionally, you'll need to fact-check all information provided by the AI, as it does not verify the reliability of its sources but compiles information found on the internet. In conclusion, we strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content for your SEO. While these tools can be helpful, it's crucial to cross-verify and manually adjust all content proposed by them. Furthermore, it's important to note that content generated by Chat GPT cannot entirely replace authentic human-generated content. Search engines place great importance on the quality and originality of content, so creating authentic content remains vital for improving website SEO. In sum, machines do not yet replace humans. The profession of a writer still has a bright future ahead. Emotional intelligence, literary skill, and critical thinking remain unmatched. Who knows what the future holds? Don't forget to share and follow us on Facebook & Instagram.