As AI writing tools become more widely available, many businesses are deciding whether it’s best to use them rather than hiring a copywriter or marketing team. After all, AI can prove to be less expensive than hiring a person or a firm to draft content. But Google’s recent algorithm update may help those on the fence to lean more toward humans than computers.

That’s because Google’s Helpful Content Update is designed to reward content that provides a great experience while meeting site visitors’ expectations for the page. It also indicates that Google is aware of the direction in which AI could take content. It also indicates that Google intends to place its trust in humans, showing that quality content will supersede anything else.

So today our Revelation Creative team is diving into the 3 key lessons you can take from the recent update and apply to your business.

Lesson 1: Experience Is Now a More Integral Part of How Google Evaluates Content 

As content marketing becomes a mainstay of many companies’ strategies for reaching new clients and re-engaging existing customers, there has been a noticeable influx of less-than-valuable content. While Google already has guidelines against automatically-generated content, and those include AI, some companies continue these and related undesired practices. 

The result is simple: We’re often inundated with piles of content on a topic and left to sift through it to find something helpful, or even relevant.

And Google took notice.

In the recent Helpful Content Update, those sites offering dull or uninteresting content will be penalized for doing so. The idea is that offering bland content is not helpful or desired by site visitors and is only used as a way to boost a site’s SEO.

Google’s Quality Rating Guidelines offer extensive insight into what makes content trustworthy including expertise and authoritativeness… and now, experience. The Helpful Content Update enhances the trust formula by adding Experience to the mix. Experience is the measure of whether the content indicates first-hand or life experience on a topic. In other words, was it created by those who not only have learned expertise, but also understand it from a lived experience or practical perspective?

As a result of this Helpful Content Update, copy and content that allows visitors to receive help or guidance from those with experience and valuable content that meet their expectations in that regard will do better on Google.

Lesson 2: AI Isn’t Replacing Writers or Designers Any Time Soon 

Since Google considers AI-generated content to be automatically generated, most in the SEO space also note that if it is identified as AI-generated, it will also be categorized as spam. 

More than that though, many marketers were initially concerned about the future for their chosen careers. But from designers to copywriters, it seems that there are some things AI can’t do and won’t be able to do for the foreseeable future.

These include:

• Understanding and building visual narratives, emotional writing narratives
• Recognizing and adjusting to the sensitive language and semantic meaning of a word
• Identifying inappropriate language use or offensive implications in the language used
• Providing a buffer to protected intellectual property (Ex: Having the same or categorically similar logos shopped to multiple companies or infringing on copyrighted visuals or language)
• Bringing feelings to life through visual design, creating brand-new and unique visual pieces, and developing and structuring image data effectively

As you can see from the list above, nothing AI-generated can yet match the deeper work that marketers (from strategists to writers to graphic designers) do each day.

That brings us to the last lesson from the Helpful Content Update, which is perhaps the most important of all.

Lesson 3: Staying Customer-Focused Is the Best Marketing Strategy

The final lesson we’re taking from the Helpful Content Update is this: People first, always.

At Revelation Creative, we have an edge here because we’ve never wavered on this focus. 

But it bears repeating, even for those not in the marketing space.

AI-generated content is not only considered spam on Google, we as humans can probably identify it when we see or read it. And, so will our customers.

As business owners, one of the most important marketing tools we have is our ability to consider what our clients want, how we assist others, and what defines our brands overall. We develop our brand voice, the accompanying visuals, and all of our marketing assets to align with how we see ourselves and how we help our clients or customers. This is a very human, and truly essential part of effective marketing. And unless a human intervenes, it is noticeably absent from AI-generated content. 

If we skip the step of developing our brand or marketing strategy or don’t develop a company culture that we can firmly back, our marketing (whether we use AI or not) will suffer.

In fact, for some consumers (particularly Gen Z), authenticity, a brand’s social consciousness, and company relatability all contribute to the decisions this demographic makes when choosing products and services. AI can’t adequately convey all of those intricacies as it stands today. And so humans, particularly marketing agencies and their teams, will be a necessary resource for the foreseeable future. 

Simply put, the Helpful Content Update is a reminder for marketers and business owners that nothing replaces thoughtful strategy and effective communication.

That’s the bottom line that will help you grow your bottom line.

If you’re ready to infuse these Google lessons learned into your business’s marketing strategy, we’d love to help you make your presence known.  

Just reach out to us using our contact form here.

We can’t wait to connect with you!