Why it’s time to stop buying website copy and use AI instead

Have you been considering experimenting with AI but you’re not sure if it’s right for you? Maybe it seems a bit space age, or perhaps you’re just not sure about its accuracy. Let’s face it, AI rarely gets everything right when creating copy. Yet if you buy website copy, you probably know that regular content updates are important.

They’re the best way to show search engines that you are both a trustworthy source and an expert in your field. This will lead to better rankings and more traffic to your website. But is it really time to stop buying copy and start creating it with AI? I think so, and this is why. 

Why do you need to regularly update your copy? 

SEO is a field that can seem a little complex if you’re unsure of it. So, let’s start at the beginning. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. In its simplest form, it means getting your website to appear on search results pages.

The reason this is important for SMEs is because your ideal customer is probably searching for you. Why go to all the effort of getting the word out there about your business on social media, when you could simply appear when someone is looking for the goods or services you offer? 

Creating regular content updates is the easiest way to improve your SEO. Doing so allows you to use plenty of keywords, alt descriptions and meta descriptions. It allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and trustworthiness. And it shows search engines that they can send people to you to answer their questions. 

What sort of content should I be creating? 

When creating web content for SEO purposes it is, ironicaly, important to remember not to write for search engines. Google repeatedly reminds creators that the most important thing about content creation is to write for a human reader. 

Answer questions around your subject area with informative posts. Look on Google to see what people are searching for and by all means use search tools to target your keywords. But write for the reader. If your post isn’t useful or readable, Google really will never show it to anybody. 

How-to posts go well, particularly if you have used a product yourself, or can provide customer reviews. People are always looking for insight and information, particularly before making purchasing decisions. Use your content as an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge. After all, once they go onto your website, they become aware of your business. You are only a few steps away from them becoming a customer. 

Why purchasing website content isn’t as good for SEO as you think

When you buy prewritten content (usually for your blog), you have complete creative control over it. However, the content is not exclusive to you. In fact, multiple other businesses have probably purchased exactly the same post. 

While duplicate content isn’t necessarily awful, original content is always preferable. Google doesn’t specifically penalise duplicate content, but it will compare the websites providing it to determine which one provides the best overall user experience. 

I recently did a SEO review for a lovely client who bought her content. We put the name of her post onto Google and even with the exact title, she didn’t appear on page one because multiple other websites carried exactly the same post. 

You could edit the article you’ve bought. But we’re then getting into the realms of putting in a lot of work to differentiate it. And guess what? Original content is best, even if you haven’t got time to create it. 

How AI can help you to create great content for your website

As a copywriter, you may be surprised to hear that I have been experimenting with AI recently. These are the things I have noticed: 

• AI provides inaccurate information. For example, I wrote a post recently about things to do during May half term in Warwickshire. I put it through an AI generator and lots of the events it came up with were incorrect. However, what it did give me was a starting point. I was able to see which places provided family friendly days out. 
• AI is great for research. Once I knew where to look, I could use AI to take a look at the relevant websites. 
• AI will paraphrase and summarise web content for you. I took the text from the relevant websites and let AI paraphrase and summarise it for me. It is worth bearing in mind that the aim of the post was to promote these places and I would usually write a summary of their information myself. So, rather than plagerising their information, I was sharing it for their benefit. 
• AI generated content needs editing. Even when AI had paraphrased and summarised the information for me, I still needed to check it against the website to make sure it wasn’t too similar, and that it was accurate. 
• AI saves time. We are a long way from being able to dispense with writers and replace them with AI. But as a writer, AI does cut the time it takes me to do my job. And that can only be a good thing. It means that small businesses can either take on the writing task themselves, or employ a freelancer along with AI to produce more content in the time they have available. 

Was this post written using AI? 

I know what you’re thinking. If AI is so good, did I use it to write this post? The answer is, sort of. It helped me with my research and to generate ideas. I needed to refresh my mind on a couple of areas, particularly around buying pre-written content as this is not something I have ever purchased or provided. And using it kept me on track. 

There is something rather demoralising about sitting down to write a lengthy blog post. Even as someone who does it every day. Knowing there is a shortcut available for a few elements of the work I’m doing is actually quite comforting. 

I would say that this particular post probably took me around half as long as it would have done if I hadn’t used AI. That’s predominantly due to the ease of reasearch, but it’s partly psychological. Will it still make life quicker and easier when the novelty wears off? I’m not sure. 

Which AI software would we recommend?

The AI software I used to help me with this post was the free Quillbot Chrome extension. I have experimented with others that are more for content generation than research, but I found their inaccuracy to be a problem. The fact that Quillbot is only directing me to the right place to look on the web rather than generating the content for me, means I double check accuracy as I go through the post.

Do let me know if you have used AI software yourself, or if you intend to do so instead of purchasing pre-written content. If you’d like some help with producing original content for your website, get in touch for a bespoke quote.