Why You Still Need to Value SEO, Despite ChatGPT On the Rise

ChatGPT has been one of the top topics these past 8 months. Lately, this artificial intelligence (AI) language model has had peoples’ interest and focus on AI and machine learning (ML). Chatbots are able to process humanlike thinking, fetch answers quickly, and complete what could be considered unfinished work. Some have wondered if this will replace the efforts content writers and marketers have put into SEO for many years.

Opinions are varied on how this will impact future job roles and processes.

But one thing is clear, you definitely still need to value SEO. We are not at that point where you can leave everything up to ChatGPT. Here’s why you will still need to value SEO:

Search Engines Intention
The advanced structure of Google’s search engine still has power over ChatGPT. AI has convinced people that it has the right answer to everything. In fact, AI has made things up in the past, as The Guardian has announced, and is known to argue completely incorrect facts, according to makeuseof.com. Because AI gives out false SEO information, this can create a problem for those who are not familiar with SEO. Because of this, people will turn to chatbots to give them the answers to their SEO questions. Confident inaccuracy could lead to a bigger problem.

Thanks to sophisticated search engines and continuous developing algorithms, it has the ability to prevent less authoritative AI-written content from being deemed relevant and accurate. Google also has built-in AI detection in its algorithms. Because of this, you are in a better position when naturally optimizing your content or web pages. You can use AI tools to assist you with optimizing or addressing your SEO or keyword situation, but it’s likely that your own content instead of AI-generated will be rewarded. 

SEO is ever-evolving, so for ChatGPT to currently have a full grasp, seems unlikely. Because search engines make the rules for content writers, it’s up to us to follow and structure our content based on their algorithm.

Relevant Content
Search engines will always demand quality and relevant content. In the last few years, Google, in particular, has stressed the importance of providing unique content, and has explained how valued this factor is when determining the search engine ranking place (SERP). Google has even gone through continuous algorithm changes to allow for a heavy focus on quality, meaningful, useful, and relevant content.

Though AI can provide some quality and relevant content, it’s not comparable quite yet to how a human would write it or up to the standards of how Google would rank it. Search engines will be able to identify the difference between quantity and quality.

Oftentimes the answers that ChatGPT would provide are lengthy and miss the point of what quality is. In other words, it’s not as natural and is sometimes irrelevant. Search engines are in the process of making more of an effort in determining the difference. In fact, they have already been de-ranking identified AI-produced content. As noted by emfluence.com: “Imagine searching for a restaurant recommendation, only to find your AI-produced recommendation has been closed down. So naturally, search engines will not want to include outdated or unoriginal content in their search results. Therefore, creating fresh, engaging, and highly relevant content is more important than ever”.

Limited Knowledge
For complex SEO issues, diagnosis, full audits, and other sensitive topics, ChatGPT is limited in addressing these matters. The accuracy in responses for this is not quite there yet. Because of the current lack of information and data ChatGPT has, it can’t deliver completely accurate keyword choices/recommendations or effective content strategies, according to contenthacker.com. It’s better to rely on web content professionals who have a better understanding and more sufficient knowledge and judgment in explaining SEO recommendations, backed by facts and statistics. AI chatbots can certainly offer a list of steps or tips towards how to improve your SEO, but the answers may not be 100% accurate. Not to mention, the data it will pull may be out of date.

Lack of Emotional Text
Emotional intelligence is another downside for Chat GPT when addressing your SEO. “ChatGPT may not be able to empathize with users or understand emotionally complex topics”, according to sinuatemedia. As stated in “One of the top SEO tips for content writers,” emotion is what gives meaning to your story. You need to make search engines happy by adding emotional text to your content.

Creating content that is more personal and that contains positive or negative emotion, allows for your content to be more engaging. AI is in the developing stages in understanding your audience. For now, the best way to write for your readers is by understanding your audience yourself. ChatGPT also lacks in providing unique perspectives and experiences. It can only provide generic answers from the data it can access.

No Differentiation
One more thing to consider for why you still need to value SEO, what if your competitors also use AI for SEO recommendations? Wouldn’t everyone come up with the same generated tips that wouldn’t be designated for their specific needs or audience? The same can be said for written content from AI.  Your audience could use ChatGPT to find the answers independently, rather than reading or searching for your content. According to blackbean Industrial Marketing, “If they also generate articles with the same topic using the same AI tool, the differentiation is gone”. 

If your competitors have their content indexed by Google before yours, it may not even rank or recognize your generated content. The increase in similar or generic content from AI chatbots will call for a heavier focus on optimization and technical SEO. If your page is fully optimized, it should outperform the AI-generated content. Creators will also have to provide more value to their content, in order to stand out. If your content is generated and doesn’t offer a fresh or new perspective, it could negatively impact your SEO.