Digital Marketing Agencies Using AI to Write SEO & Social?

[JessicaRobertson]

We've tested out using Chat GPT to write content. The copy is not diverse enough, and it comes out much more rigid than hand-crafted content. You can only get so many different variations from the prompts, and it can be quite formulaic. That being said, I have used it to help expedite some of my executive tasks, and it's great at rephrasing paragraphs or combining notes into a complete thought. At the end of the day, you definitely should NOT be using copy/pasted AI content for SEO. The benefit of testing AI is that you can more readily identify AI-generated content in the wild. And while there are lots of concerns about AI taking the jobs of content writers (and other marketing professionals), I think that if anything it has helped create job security for top-tier creative marketers and will weed out the bad ones.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

The benefit of testing AI is that you can more readily identify AI-generated content in the wild.

Great point! I hadn't thought about that. Though I've become quite good at recognizing BOT generated comments across social - especially Twitter. There has to be an enormous amount of that going on, help sway opinions. I found a political twitter account awhile back that I've been following for this reason alone and would guess 80% of the comments per tweet are BOT generated. Maybe one day soon we'll find out just how many there are and how persuasive they have been in swaying opinions - if at all.

 

[craigh]

You can only get so many different variations from the prompts, and it can be quite formulaic.

I don't disagree with this, but I also haven't run into this much myself.
For example, both of the following responses were written by ChatGPT, with very slightly different prompts:

That's an interesting point you bring up about being able to recognize BOT generated comments. However, it's important to note that with the right prompts, ChatGPT can generate content that sounds less AI-like and more human. The key is to provide ChatGPT with specific instructions that include the desired tone, style, and language.

For example, if you're using ChatGPT to generate website content for SEO purposes, you can provide it with specific keywords, headlines, and formatting guidelines. You can also instruct it to use a more conversational tone and avoid using overly technical jargon.

By doing so, you can make the content generated by ChatGPT sound more like it was written by a human, which can help reduce the risk of it being identified as AI-generated. Ultimately, the success of using ChatGPT for SEO purposes will depend on the quality of the prompts provided and how well they align with your brand's voice and style.

Totally get what you're saying about being able to spot BOT generated comments. But here's the deal: ChatGPT can sound less AI-like if you give it the right instructions. You can tell it to use certain words, phrases, and a specific tone so that it sounds more like a human wrote it. For example, if you're using ChatGPT for SEO, you can give it specific guidelines for what to include, how to format it, and how to avoid sounding too technical. By doing this, you can make the content sound more natural and less like a machine wrote it. Just make sure to give it good instructions so that it comes out the way you want it to!

 

[JessicaRobertson]

I don't disagree with this, but I also haven't run into this much myself.
For example, both of the following responses were written by ChatGPT, with very slightly different prompts:

Apparently, there is a way to train the model to write more like how you do by feeding it content you've written, which is crazy, cool, and terrifying all at the same time, but to clarify the formulaic part a little more...

When limiting the conversation of using AI-written automotive SEO content: it tends to touch on all the same bullet points for similar topics, and the specs it gives for one article tend to show up in others. For example, if I ask it to write an article about a Toyota Tacoma for a dealer in Texas versus one in Ohio, it's going to send me roughly the same outdated bullet points like the engine size options (that one seems to be popular), perhaps in a different order, and just swap in Ohio for Texas. Additionally, if I copy and paste specs from Toyota.com and ask it to rephrase it for me, it can only give me so many reworkings of that info, and at that point, it's just spun content which is still a huge no-no.

The biggest thing we've been researching is how to ethically use AI in our day-to-day, and use it as a tool, not a crutch. The jury is still out. As far as using it to optimize content further, I'd imagine it'd be ok to ask it to ramp up the volume of times the primary keyword is used in an article, but only so long as it can do it in a natural voice and doesn't turn to keyword stuffing. I'll have to try it one day. And maybe it could be used to read through the content and identify when it doesn't have the primary keyword in there enough, but we already have tools that do that. I'm rambling.

The most helpful it's been for me in the realm of content creation was translating a piece from English to Spanish and making it so that the bulk of the translation was taken care of and I could just finesse it from there en español. It did really well. Keep in mind, though, the content that it was fed was what we had written in English.

All this to say, this is a big reason why Google is pushing the extra E in EEAT - demonstrating experience. It's not enough to just have the content sitting there on your site. You need to demonstrate your experience with this topic in order for Google to really pay attention to you. Generate all the content you want but you better have receipts! Video can certainly help with that.

 

[Joe Duchene]

Love some more context around your opinion on this. I would agree, only using the AI article may not be ideal but how would using the AI article and then editing/adding your own SEO focused content, images and such not be good enough?

What could we be missing as long as the content is speaking to the reader and not the usual keyword focused only garbage.

UNLESS... you're referring to the practice all-together i.e. Why spend any time cramming your dealer website full of AI generated content (blog articles, etc.) thinking you're going increase relevant, high potential traffic - potential conversions/customers. Good luck with that nowadays. Spend that time on more effective optimization.

Love this discussion. My current feeling, as someone with a lot of writing/SEO experience, is that ChatGPT is a boon for marketers and dealers alike. You can sort of look at it like any tool. Having an impact driver can speed up your Ikea furniture assembly significantly. But you can't use it on every bolt, because it will crack the particle board. Whether you use the tiny allen key they include or a DeWalt driver, the person using the tool determines execution much more so than the tool itself. There's nuance and feel in even the most technical aspects of SEO.

But my answer to the original question, is that dealers shouldn't care who/what wrote the content. I think that, when hiring vendors, dealers should be judging value based on results. I've had PPC people at large, OEM-approved companies who had no idea what they were doing. Poorly configured account, incorrect data interpretation, no time spent on negative keywords. So, is a dealer paying for that person to run a Google Ads account? Or are they paying for the expected result of that campaign? Whether content is written by AI or a person, its value is determined by its effectiveness.

 

[Bruce Roscoe]

But my answer to the original question, is that dealers shouldn't care who/what wrote the content. I think that, when hiring vendors, dealers should be judging value based on results.

When it comes to SEO content, both the quality of the content and the results it delivers are important. While it's true that good search engine rankings can lead to more traffic and more business for your website, it's also crucial to have high-quality content that engages and informs your audience. In fact, search engines like Google are getting smarter and placing more value on the relevance and usefulness of the content, rather than simply the use of certain keywords. So, it's important to strike a balance between creating content that is optimized for search engines and also provides value to your readers. Ultimately, the goal is to attract and retain your target audience by providing high-quality, engaging content that also happens to rank well in search results.

 

[concerttim]

It's important for digital marketing agencies to strike a balance between efficiency and maintaining a personal connection with their clients.

 

[albertmads]

The use of AI in digital marketing agencies is certainly becoming more prevalent. While AI-generated content can be cost-effective and efficient, I believe there's still a place for the personal touch and creativity that comes with human-generated content.
AI can be a valuable tool for generating ideas and streamlining content, but when it comes to direct copy and pasting, it may lack the uniqueness and authenticity that human writers provide.
For those concerned about the quality and originality of content, tools like Google Index Checker can help ensure that the content generated, whether by AI or humans, is indexed and performing well in search engines.

 

[clasione]

People who are paying others to generate content should not be accepting content if it was generated through AI as it could potentially defeat the purpose. While Google initially indicated that it would frown upon AI generated content, they recently backpaddled and said that they would reward high quality content 'no matter how' it was created. However, a good rule of thumb is to never accept Google's publicly released statements as fact for a variety of reasons.

Taking that into consideration, as popular as AI generated content tools are becoming, AI content generated detectors are available and work just as good. For instance, I have this plugin on my browser: COPYLEAKS. (Free AI content generation detector browser plugin) - Works exceptionally to detect AI generated content. Google knows if your content is Human Text or Machine generated.

If you are paying for content, you are paying for human content, or just generate the content yourself.

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[Todd Thompson]

Love some more context around your opinion on this. I would agree, only using the AI article may not be ideal but how would using the AI article and then editing/adding your own SEO focused content, images and such not be good enough?

What could we be missing as long as the content is speaking to the reader and not the usual keyword focused only garbage.

UNLESS... you're referring to the practice all-together i.e. Why spend any time cramming your dealer website full of AI generated content (blog articles, etc.) thinking you're going increase relevant, high potential traffic - potential conversions/customers. Good luck with that nowadays. Spend that time on more effective optimization.

ChatGPT and AI will not put marketers out of jobs...

It will put marketers who don't use AI out of jobs.

This is certainly true. "Don't be worried about AI replacing you, worry about the person using AI replacing you."

I think for agencies, it depends on what you're buying and their level of transparency regarding how its created. I can think of a few companies we've used that simply swapped logos using the same ad content they manually wrote prior to AI. Seen it between our own stores believe it or not.

Perhaps with AI they can adjust the random settings a bit and hopefully not just copy and paste and bill the next dealership for the last dealership's content. I find that worse then AI spitting out the content for them.

At some point (if not already), we will all wonder why we would even bother paying an agency to hit the button for us. Hope that is soon.