ChatGPT for Website Content Writing
By now, you’ve likely heard of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that is able to write things like essays, articles, and blog posts by asking it some simple commands. At first glance, this seems like an easy solution for anyone looking for website content.
There’s good reason for that. The articles and blogs written by ChatGPT are relatively good. They’re usually well written, they tend to contain the information you ask them to contain, and they can be completed in seconds. ChatGPT can take an idea and turn it into a blog. You can give it points that you’d like to include, a word limit, and a style and it does a significantly better job than nearly any AI option that has become available in recent years. Most of the time, you could probably read the text and not know for certain that AI wrote it.
Does this mean you can use ChatGPT to write all of your content?
Not quite.
I’m not just saying that because I’m a website copywriter either.
There are a few things to know about ChatGPT that could influence your opinion on whether it can create all your content.
Limitations of ChatGPT for Web Copywriting
The first is that it’s currently not connected to the internet. This means it isn’t aware of current events. It tells you this when you first start to use it.
That might not be a big deal to you, though. Perhaps the subject you’re writing about doesn’t require knowledge of current events. Can you use it for your content then? You’ll still want to be a bit cautious.
One reason why is that ChatGPT can’t fact check what it writes. That’s not saying that it’s making up everything (it isn’t), but it’s using the data it has at its disposal to create what it thinks is true. The problem is that this data may not be correct. Of course, this can be true for any writer, either human or AI. However, a skilled human copywriter will double check sources and make sure everything they write is factual. At this point, ChatGPT can’t do that.
However, sometimes this can be fine if you’re looking at a relatively basic view of a topic. If you ask ChatGPT to give you an article about something, it provides a decent overview. However, the content (at this point at least) is quite generic and not something that an expert would write.
Is That Okay for Web Content?
It depends on what you want. If you’re looking for an overview of a subject, AI content might be fine as long as you check to make sure it’s factual. If you’re looking to position yourself as a brand leader, however, you likely want something with a bit more depth.
Also, remember that one of the purposes of website content is to get people to take action. While AI content is generally well written, at this point it doesn’t do a great job telling a brand story or convincing anyone to make a purchase, contact a company for more information, or take any kind of action.
One final limitation that should be discussed is that there could potentially be ways to easily identify AI-generated content. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is looking to create a “watermark” that would indicate that the text came from AI rather than a human writer. These watermarks could help Goggle (and othr search engines) detect AI-generated text. Of course, you don’t want this to happen to your website.
In addition, while it’s not foolproof, the company has released AI Text Classifier, which is designed to detect AI content.
Does ChatGPT Content Rank Highly On Google?
While AI-generated content can usually be detected, that doesn’t mean that all AI content will immediately be ignored by Google. Google wants to see content that adds value and that is helpful to users. In a Tweet about AI, Google Search Liaison said: “As said before when asked about AI, content created primarily for search engine rankings, however it is done, is against our guidance. If content is helpful & created for people first, that’s not an issue.“
According to Google guidelines, its rankings “are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results.”
Google also states: “Spammy automatically generated (or “auto-generated”) content is content that’s been generated programmatically without producing anything original or adding sufficient value; instead, it’s been generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users.” This content is considered to be against its spam policies.
What does this mean? In short, it means that AI-generated content could potentially rank well if it is helpful, contains reliable information, and is created to benefit people. However, if the content created is spammy, dull, factually incorrect, or repetitive, this can hurt your website.
So What Can ChatGPT and Other AI Tools Be Used For?
Even if you likely shouldn’t use ChatGPT to create all of your content, that doesn’t mean you can’t get value out of this service. As mentioned, AI-generated content often provides a good overview of a topic. This can be helpful if you’re trying to organize your thoughts or when you are doing preliminary research.
However, as mentioned, it’s important to fact-check all content written by AI services, since this isn’t usually done correctly when the content is generated. This is especially true if you are dealing with situations such as legal writing, health content, real estate writing, political work, news, or other instances where factual content is critical.
Very basic copy and first drafts can often be generated by AI. However, this content will typically be quite generic, at least at this point.
Working with a Website Copywriter
If you’re looking to have factual articles, blog posts that showcase your knowledge and position you as a thought leader, or website content that is persuasive and spurs people to take action, working with an experienced web copywriter is still important. ChatGPT and other AI tools can help draft simple documents, but your business will be outpaced and outranked by one that is working with a talented writer to optimize and hone their web content. The business world is very competitive and you don’t want to fall behind.
At Toronto SEO Web Content, we have over 15 years of experience in creating high-quality content that helps businesses grow. When you work with us, we’ll do research into your business, your competitors, and your niche, then create the content your visitors are looking for. This content will be factual, detailed, accurate, and designed to convert visitors into customers. For more information, please contact Toronto SEO Web Content today.