Does AI Content Rank? A New Study Says Yes, With a Huge bUT

Cast your mind back to the early days of generative AI. In March 2023, ChatGPT 4 exploded onto the scene, and SEOs, content marketers, and writers wondered how Google would respond. Would it penalize AI content with low rankings?

Would this be a foolish move since AI was set to be the biggest digital transformation since the abrupt post-Covid return to work policies? Nobody knew, not even Google, initially.

Fast-forward to May 2024, and Google has embraced Gen AI and began using it in its browser search with AI Overviews.

This article will answer whether AI can rank using a new Semrush study. It will define AI content, explore the findings of a Semrush study, and explain how to rank with AI content to get traffic, sell services and products, or succeed with your SEO experiments.

What is AI content?

Whatever kind of writer uses AI, AI content means the same thing: Content with AI as part of the process, whether for planning, writing, or tone.

AI content can mean different things to different writers. Some may use ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Microsoft CoPilot to scale their content and use AI to write and edit content with little human input.

More experienced content writers might use AI to form an outline, do research, and ensure that at every stage, they input their sources, like specific websites, to ensure the right inputs produce the correct outputs. They also use style, tone, and audience age to craft content for specific audiences.

But how does AI impact rankings? A recent Semrush study sought to find out.

What does the Semrush study say about AI content?

The Semrush studytried to discover if it was safe to use AI content and found that AI-written articles can rank well on Google, similar to human-written ones. It also gave some ideas on how to use AI in a way that ranks, as it emphasized AI without human input will be considered poor quality by Google and will not rank.

The study presented some fascinating findings, some surprising, and some expected.

Does AI use in content impact rankings?

They looked at many articles and saw that about 57% of AI and 58% of human articles appeared in the top 10 search results. These statistics mean AI articles can perform almost as well as those written by people.

How do marketers use AI in content?

In a survey of over 700 marketers, 39% noticed more website visitors after using AI-written content. Also, 33% said their AI content did better than human-written content. This statistic shows that many marketers find AI content helpful for attracting more readers.

The study also found that most marketers (73%) use AI and human effort to create content. They often start with AI to write a draft and then have people edit and improve it. This teamwork helps make the content better and more effective.

Almost all marketers (99%) still find search engine optimization (SEO) important. This point means they focus on making their content easy to find on search engines like Google. They can use AI and good SEO practices to reach more people and share their information effectively.

What does the study say about how companies should use AI in content?

Even though AI can help write articles, people must check and improve them. About 69% of marketers edit AI drafts, 48% add more information, and 55% do their own research to strengthen the content. This human input ensures that the final articles are accurate and useful for readers.

These findings are fascinating and significant since the early discussion on generative AI fell into two responses: AI can never write as well as humans, or AI can help scale content that ranks. The study proved both positions to be valid, as AI is valuable but needs an experienced human touch to make content rank.

How do you rank with AI content?

Ranking with AI isn’t simple. Don’t underestimate the importance of the study when it mentions that many marketing companies use AI with human input to rank their content. These humans are well-versed in content writing and know what to look out for to ensure AI does its job as an assistant and not the lead player in content creation.

Follow these tips to rank with AI content:

• Establish why you are using AI: Are you using AI to increase the quality or quantity of your content? Knowing why you use AI for content helps you establish how to optimize it.
• Have a background in SEO content writing: A background in content writing helps you ensure quality, as AI is imperfect and will never be as competent as humans.
• Focus on the quality of the prompts: Gen AI can only output content based on the quality of the input. Learn how to craft high-quality, specific, and clear prompts to help your AI pal build the best content.
• Remember that Gen AI cannot be creative: It’s not ChatGPT’s or Copilot’s job to be creative because it can’t; it’s a robot. Remember that you’re the human, and you need to inject creativity into content to engage your human readers.
• Understand gen AI’s limitations: AI has come a long way since March 2023, but it still suffers bias, hallucinations, and research inaccuracies, depending on its mood on any given day. Look out for errors and always proofread before publishing AI content.

You can’t go far wrong if you follow these tips on using AI in your content.

Summing Up

A short time has passed, but Gen AI has come a very long way and is used by most companies today in some form. The highest prevalence of Gen AI use for content is in marketing, and these companies are finding that their AI content is ranking and getting the results they want.

The crucial point to remember is that AI is powerful but imperfect, so you need qualified, experienced content writers to use AI to build content and ensure it ranks and satisfies its goals.

When you combine AI with human experts, the sky is the limit for content quality and quantity. You can produce content that ranks, gets traffic, and exposes as many customers to your products and services as possible, increasing revenue and unlocking growth.