As of mid-2023, AI tools such as Chat GPT have exploded the digital marketing landscape and made serious waves in content creation and search marketing. However, as AI continues to develop and becomes more integral to our various industries and marketing strategies, it’s critical to be aware of AI’s current advantages and disadvantages.

At ATRIUM, we’ve carefully watched how AI tools have developed over the year and how they have been used in conjunction with search marketing efforts. Below we will uncover some benefits and detriments of using AI tools like Chat GPT in your search marketing and how ATRIUM’s team of specialists can help your business grow. Continue reading to learn more about AI tools and search marketing. 

The Objectives of Search Marketing

When it comes to search marketing, the objectives of this digital marketing strategy are straightforward:

• Boost your website’s domain authority.
• Increase your search engine rankings for key terms related to your industry.
• Drive organic traffic to your website.

These objectives are accomplished primarily through creating, refining, and publishing high-quality content such as blog posts, landing pages, and web pages. However, the critical factor to be mindful of is the quality of the content.

For search engines such as Google, search marketers must follow relatively strict EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) guidelines. Google uses these guidelines to assess new content and determine where to rank it in their search ranking systems. Good content is more than a well-written blog post. It also has to provide helpful information for search engines’ indexing systems and the audience consuming said content. Moreover, search marketers must ensure their content is written in the identity, tone, and nuances of their business or brand. As you can tell, several factors influence the success of your search marketing strategy.

Benefits of Using AI for Search

The arrival of innovative AI writing and research tools, such as Chat GPT, is a game-changer for anyone who works with content routinely, and they offer a number of benefits. Next are a few advantages of using AI for search marketing:

Improved Efficiency and Productivity

One of the most significant benefits of AI writing tools is the speed and efficiency at which it creates content. While a human writer may take between 30 mins to several hours to complete a simple 500-word blog, all it takes for Chat GPT to write a similar blog is a well-written prompt and a minute of your time. In addition, AI tools can help reduce the time spent researching a given topic as they can be used like a more sophisticated search engine. Therefore, AI writing tools can assist in scaling the productivity of anyone who writes for search marketing. When used appropriately, writers can streamline their content production process and multiply efficiency by leaning on AI for their rough drafts and blog outlines.

Boost Creativity

Search marketers who write for a living are very familiar with the productivity-hindering nuisance that is writer’s block. It’s no simple task to generate creative, engaging, and original content consistently– creativity is not a light switch that can be turned on and off a will. But this is where AI writing tools can come in handy. AI writing tools like Chat GPT are fantastic for brainstorming, as they can generate outlines, titles, and topics, which can assist search marketing writers in finding the inspiration they need to jumpstart their writing process. So when the words are just not coming, AI can save the day and your content production process. 

Cost-Effective

AI writing tools can help businesses save money in the long term by reducing the time spent on the content creation process for their search marketing program. They may even reduce the number of editors, proofreaders, and writers needed to complete the job. For instance, grammar-checking tools such as Grammarly can lessen the need for an in-house proofreader as this tool essentially does the work for you (however, there are drawbacks to this which we will get into later). Since AI writing tools can boost the productivity and creativity of your content writers, your business ultimately saves time and money by utilizing these innovative tools. Moreover, by incurring operational cost savings through AI tools, your business can refocus on hiring and retaining the skilled workers you require to produce the high-quality content you need for a successful search marketing strategy. 

Drawbacks of Using AI for Search

While AI can be a powerful tool for your search marketing efforts, there are some drawbacks associated with AI content. Next are a few key issues to be aware of when using AI tools for your search marketing content production:

Concerns About Plagiarism

AI tools like Chat GPT work by pulling information from multiple sources already available on the internet to create content based on the prompt you gave it. Therein lies the problem. Since the information AI is pulling is already written, and these tools do not cite their sources, you risk using plagiarised content in your search marketing. If you use blatantly plagiarised content, your business could get into some legal trouble if the original author decides to sue. Moreover, because of the nature of AI writing tools, spotting plagiarism can be a challenge; even with a real person double-checking the AI written content, plagiarised work can still slip through the cracks as AI is pulling from so many different sources at once. 

Quality of Content

In addition to plagiarism issues, AI-written content faces several quality issues. The content produced by AI tools is often generic, not aligned with brand or business-specific details, and at times grammatically incorrect. All of which can negatively affect the performance of that content in search engine rankings as it does not align with guidelines such as EEAT.

Moreover, since the content AI is writing is available online, search engines have already indexed it. From a search marketing perspective, this content is not meeting the requirements to improve your search rankings, as platforms like Google consider this type of content “mirrored content”. Mirrored content is essentially replicated content; it does not teach search engine algorithms anything new, does not provide new insights or information, and already exists elsewhere. Mirrored content like this will not build domain authority or do much to increase your website’s organic traffic, as search engines will not rank this content the same way they would rank original high-quality content. 

Accuracy of Information

Finally, one of the most significant issues facing AI content and writing tools today is the accuracy of the information it provides. Since AI is a program that crawls the internet to source the data, facts, and information it needs to rewrite content, it does not perform any fact-checking. That means that while an AI blog could be well-written and informative, it could be entirely factually incorrect as there is no human element double-checking to ensure accuracy. This also means that the content AI produces will not be based on your business or brand. Instead, all the information AI is leaning on to create your content is sourced from the far corners of the internet, meaning it will not be specific to your business. Moreover, since AI is sourcing information up unto a particular date and time, some of the facts it will base its content on, while not incorrect, could be out of date or no longer relevant to your industry or business.

ATRIUM’s Unique Approach to Search Marketing

To implement an effective search marketing program, you must still work with and rely on human writers, strategists, and SEO specialists. ATRIUM’s search marketing specialists understand the many nuances of Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engine algorithms. Our team of experts knows how to “game” the system to ensure your website ranks high, receives increased organic traffic, and improves its domain authority. ATRIUM’s search marketing program outshines the competition by utilizing specialists who understand how to produce high-quality and original content. 

Moreover, ATRIUM’s approach to digital marketing is a unique one. ATRIUM can ensure your company receives the consistent and reliable results you need to grow your business through our one-of-a-kind Marketing System Engineering (MSE) approach. With the right human team behind you, your business’s search marketing strategy can elevate your company to the next level, outperform your competition, and set you apart as a thought leader. 

Ready to Get Started?

Contact ATRIUM today to learn more about our search marketing program and our unique MSE approach to digital marketing!