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The modern-day obsession with bullet points overlooks how storytelling delivers value to your ideal client, which leads to action and impact.
Learn to develop authentic stories that show how nonprofits make a difference and inspire donors to give with clarity and confidence!
Brands need to do better. AI needs to be trained to do better. Because lost trust is extremely difficult to regain.
Scott McKelvey joined the Persuasion by the Pint Podcast to discuss AI optimization, the importance of AI discovery, and the impact of AI on SEO and the search experience.
Scroll through your LinkedIn feed and you’ll probably find more than a handful of posts from people who claim AI can’t do what they do. “AI is generic,” they say. “AI can’t capture the human element of what we do,” they say. “AI doesn’t understand how we make people’s lives better,” they say. Human vs. AI: A Content Reality Check When you go to the LinkedIn profiles and websites of most AI bashers, you're likely to find generic, sterile, cliché-riddled content that’s no more human than a box of rocks. The lesson here is that human-generated marketing content has been awful for a lot longer than AI-generated content. If you settled for garbage from humans – whether as a marketer, writer, or business owner – why would you rail against AI for easily replicating and possibly improving upon that drivel? Social media and DIY websites and publishing platforms led to an avalanche of bland content with little or no value, no depth, no distinct voice, no story, and no connection with the wants, needs, challenges, and aspirations of the audience. Unless you’re feeding AI something new and unique, AI will simply rehash and repackage existing trash to generate the next wave of content. Which will quickly dwarf what’s been published in the past 20 years. Honest Self-Reflection Check your LinkedIn profile, website, social pages, and other marketing content. Is your human-written content any less generic or more human than something AI could produce based on a few words you enter into a little white box? Be honest about your answer. You can’t change what happened in the past. But you can make better decisions about what to do next. Start by forgetting about any preconceived notions you may have about what marketing should say. Those preconceived notions are probably based on decades of exposure to bad marketing. Consider seeking an outside, unbiased perspective from someone who isn’t afraid to tell you the truth. Stop clinging to "the way we've always done it," especially if that way doesn't serve you today. And don’t assume people will be more open to working with an organization that produces inferior content just because a human typed the words. How to Create Truly Human Content Stop the AI hypocrisy and commit to developing a message that rises above 99% of what’s out there. Commit to doing some serious heavy lifting before the writing happens to make your content worth reading and capable of producing leads. Interviews. Research. Deep dives. Strategic planning. Get beyond the standard questions that are used by every other organization to shape generic marketing messages. The second and third layers of follow-up questions, and the unrehearsed, unfiltered responses, will bring to the surface what really matters to your ideal client. Authentic stories. Verifiable information. Who you are as an individual and a brand. The value you deliver. Then deliver your message in a way that's clear, believable, authentic, and focused on the needs of your audience. That’s how you create moments of human connection that blossom into meaningful, profitable relationships. It won’t matter that a human typed the words. The work you put into developing a message that moves people will be the real difference maker. If you need guidance and fresh, objective input from someone who can help with both the heavy lifting and the actual writing, let’s talk .
I’ve always been equal parts amused and nauseated when marketers have said to me, “The quality of the content isn’t that important. It’s just for SEO.” They seemed to forget that the goal of being found in search results is to get someone to click. Which would take them to the garbage content that was dismissed as not very important. I mean, if you’re compromising quality in the name of SEO (or speed or cost cutting), you’re missing the point. I read an article from Search Engine Land last week about Google’s criteria for low-quality content, which obviously factors into search rankings. Without getting into the technical minutiae, here are some of the highlights. Low-Effort Content More attention is being paid to scaled, low-effort content – content created “with little effort or originality with no editing or manual curation.” Generative AI is named as a tool used to create low-effort content. Paraphrased Content There’s a section called “MC [Main Content] Created with Little to No Effort, Little to No Originality, and Little to No Added Value for Website Visitors.” This basically refers to low-quality, paraphrased content. Even if the original source of the content is cited, your content gets the lowest rating for being mostly copied, paraphrased, or AI-generated. Filler Content Filler content is defined as low-effort, low-relevance content that’s prominent on the page and does what the name implies – fills the page to pad the word count without offering any meaningful value. It’s not enough to have content that isn’t harmful. More than simply using more words to give the illusion of authority, content has to be helpful. Or it could earn you a low rating and drop your search ranking. Low Ratings Ever heard the phrase, “the lowest of the low”? Yikes, if this applies to you. Google states: “The Lowest rating applies if all or almost all of the MC on the page (including text, images, audio, videos, etc.) is copied, paraphrased, embedded, auto or AI generated, or reposted from other sources with little to no effort, little to no originality, and little to no added value for visitors to the website.” If some of your main content is reused and you made the slightest effort to revise it, congratulations! You avoided the lowest rating. But you’re still low. For now. And that’s not good. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Did you know 71.5% of users are using AI for search ? Only 14% use AI daily for search, but this could explain why Google’s global search market share dropped below 90% for six of the last seven months, according to Statcounter data. That hasn’t happened since 2015. Marketers need to recognize that more and more people are using AI to find information and have questions answered. Quick, let’s crank out a GEO strategy so our content shows up on AI platforms! As you untangle search algorithms, you’re also expected to figure out AI. Which is trying to figure out humans. Awesome. I asked ChatGPT and Gemini about best practices for GEO. In addition to content structure (headings, subheads, and bullet points), I noticed a few best practices that sound eerily familiar: Prioritize clarity. Provide direct, concise answers to common client questions. Use simple, real-world language. Provide valuable information that shows authority but avoid overly complex jargon and long sentences. Consider user intent. Instead of simply providing information, develop a message that addresses your audience’s reasons for seeking that information (pain points, anyone?). Go beyond what and show that you understand why. This isn’t new. Sounds to me like AI wants you to be human, sound human, and focus on helping other humans. Interestingly, neither ChatGPT nor Gemini suggested using their platform to develop this type of content. Google seems to discourage it. Focus on the Long Game For more than a decade, I’ve said that chasing search algorithms is a waste of time and resources. Same goes for AI. The pace of change with AI runs circles around search. As soon as you think you’ve got it figured out, the “rules” change and you have to start over. Let’s not lose sight of the ultimate goal of search engines and generative AI. Search and AI are on a never-ending quest to understand human thought and intent and replicate human behavior. The goal is near-100% accuracy with maximum precision. With this in mind, how could you go wrong by developing quality content that speaks directly to the wants, needs, challenges, and aspirations of your ideal client? How could you go wrong by developing content that positions you as a trusted source of reliable information? How could you go wrong with content that creates clarity, eliminates confusion and doubt, and provides specific solutions to specific problems? Think of it this way. Do you really think search and AI want you trying to figure out how to beat the system? I’d argue that they want you to play the long game. Even if you don’t check every box for the algorithm du jour, you’ll never get dinged for developing valuable, relevant content that your audience wants and needs. You'll probably be rewarded with more exposure. It’s a future-proof, algorithm-proof, and technology-proof strategy. Write for humans first and everything else second. Focus on creating moments of human connection. Today, tomorrow, and 10 years from now. You’ll never go wrong.
