Why can’t AI write website content?
Generative AI is a revolution in business technology that is advancing at a pace few people understand—even those developing AI tools for writing, graphic design, video production, and other business applications.
Will it replace some jobs? Of course. Will it reform whole industries? Absolutely. Will it replace human web-copy editors? Unlikely, for one main reason: This technology creates a greater need for them. Let’s examine this more closely.
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AI writing tools, such as ChatGPT, produce instant copy so that content creation is no longer an obstacle for any business. However, the quality of that copy is a significant problem with Google search ranking and customer engagement. While AI-generated copy may seem like a quick and easy solution for businesses, the quality is often mediocre, impersonal, and generic, making it difficult to engage your target audience.
GOOGLE INDEXES QUALITY CONTENT
Google has said that they do not penalize AI-generated content, but rather junk content, which you can end up with by using AI writing tools without proper editing. The deluge of AI-generated copy on websites and social media is lowering the quality of content on the internet, forcing Google to index only quality content that gives people valuable search results. Hence, using AI writing assistants to write and edit website copy is not the best solution for businesses.
AI-generated copy must undergo a stringent editing process because it was artificially generated. This technology will improve, but human editors always need to make sense of its output. This is because the underlying system of AI predicts the next word in a sentence based on probability, resulting in copy that often looks and sounds like other websites in any given business specialty.
AUTHENTIC WRITING CONNECTS WITH CUSTOMERS
AI editorial tools don’t think, lack personality and style, and fail to match a human editor’s creativity, imagination and judgement to create authentic content that resonates with readers.
Businesses of all types are learning what this new technology is, how to use and apply it, and areas where it is not as effective and even damaging to their brand. AI is, well, artificial, and like many artificial things, lacks character and flair. It’s not a custom solution for any one person or business because it does not consider the bigger picture, work from intuition and emotion, or imbue and embroider the nuance and niche of your brand story.
THE POWER OF HUMAN JUDGEMENT
Large language models that form the foundation of AI writing tools pull from an inconceivable amount of public (and not so public) content on the internet, which is beyond the scope of a human. Yet, this still needs a human to check it for accuracy, sensitivity, bias, clarity, and suitability.
Our experienced editors know how to work with these tools to get the best outcomes and develop this into high-quality website copy.
Meghan Keaney Anderson, Head of Marketing, Jasper.ai (leading AI copywriting competitor of GhatGPT, Google Bard, and Copy.ai).
“For too long, we've rushed editing. We see it as a spellcheck. When you invest in editing, your team finally has time to fact-check for misinformation to find shallow posts or rushed parts of a topic, to check for bias and make sure that there's representation in what you're putting out there. Editors are going to be essential in an age of AI. And if you're underinvesting in it, if you don't have an editor, or if you're having your writers edit their own stuff, now is a time to start to look at that.
“If left alone without human guidance, outputs are just words on a page. Editors can ensure that we're not just putting out content. We're putting out content that's worth consuming.
“In a world where capacity is no longer an issue and everyone can generate the same amount of content as you—unless you elevate the quality of your content, you will lose.”
What about software editing tools like Grammarly?
Many of these tools offer a free basic service and affordable premium subscriptions. While they can be helpful for basic editing of disconnected documents, they have no context for how to use content in an interconnected brand story on your website and social channels.
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There are complex considerations and decisions behind assembling a collection of web pages and interrelated social posts that work together. If you don’t know what was wrong with your copy before you gave it to an AI editing tool, you won’t know how to make sense of the edits it suggests.
WebCopy Group explores your business identity and renovates your website copy holistically, ensuring your voice and message are intertwined throughout your website and social channels.
AI is a good starting point
AI writing assistants can be a good starting point if you know how to develop the results. They’re also great brainstorming buddies to offer alternative perspectives that help you generate your own ideas.
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In and of itself, AI-generated copy is far from complete despite what it looks like to the untrained eye. And, because it doesn’t think, it’s unwise to use these tools to write thought-leadership content that represents you on your channels.
Some tools learn your brand voice and replicate this in the copy they generate. However, if you don’t have a brand voice that’s fully realized and executed, you’re teaching it that this is how you want to speak to the world.
Write like a human
AI often uses awkward words and phrases, forcing nouns into verbs and other misfit language lacking substance, depth, and originality. This only draws attention to itself for the wrong reasons.
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AI-generated copy doesn’t sound the way people speak because it’s artificially constructed. It uses random and shallow expressions sourced online from trillions of pieces of content in a few seconds. It’s not learning from the best of the best on the internet. It’s learning from what’s out there, warts and all.
At WebCopy Group, we use thousands of techniques learned from decades of real-world experience. This includes rhythm techniques such as assonance (repetition of vowel sounds) and alliteration (repetition of initial letters in a sequence) that make web copy easy to read and breathe life into tired writing.
Like a good novel, language should draw readers into itself so they’re unaware of the effort of reading. This process should be enjoyable, easy, valuable, entertaining, and worthwhile. To move people to action, your words have to reach them internally. To do this successfully, a human touch is more essential than ever to create that authentic connection with your customers and prospects.
Our niche
Human editing services that edit disconnected documents fast and cheap can work well for offline copy and print materials. However, this does not work for web copy that is, by definition, interconnected.
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All the pieces of your web copy—especially your website—work together to build engagement, interest, and trust. People buy from people they like and trust with values that align with their own. Your website is often your first and only chance to make an impression and connection.
We ensure that you make it right when it matters.