AI can create website content in seconds—but publishing it without strategy, originality, and human expertise can do more harm than good.
Do you remember the “good old days” when website development was done with research, time, and revisions – work done without the help of artificial intelligence (AI)? In fact the first “websites started as static HTML pages with little or no activity.”
As website creation moved beyond static pages, building and maintaining a site became more of a hands-on process. When websites became the thing to have, for $50 year you registered a memorable domain name. You could do a DYI site with HTML, buy a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) website builder such as Microsoft FrontPage, or hire a professional web designer. From there, you had to plan your pages, organize your information, and write your content. You also had to check your grammar, spelling, and depending on the year you were in, optimize your images for SEO; and hope you hadn’t forgotten anything.
Creating a quality website took time, effort, and careful planning.
Today, artificial intelligence has changed almost every step of the website development process. AI can suggest domain names and outline your entire website before you’ve chosen your first keyword (but AI does that too). It will organize your content, improve grammar, generate images, write product descriptions, and draft blog articles in seconds. It can even help maintain your website over time. AI can be considered a productivity tool that saves businesses countless hours. But like any powerful tool, it can also be misused—and that’s where many websites run into trouble
There seems to be a mistaken belief that AI can simply replace thoughtful, original content. SEO expert, Lily Ray has her own observation.
Ms. Ray reviewed a few hundred websites that all use AI generated content and discovered a pattern, not in the content but in site traffic. Her findings show AI generated websites enjoy a surge in search traffic after publishing large amounts of content. However those increases usually disappear after Google’s ranking systems updates.
Google has repeatedly stated ranking is based on content, that is helpful, original, accurate and useful to the site visitor. Google does not rank content based on whether it was written by a human or assisted by AI.
Look closer at AI generated content; starting with originality. Suppose there are three local pet stores that have decided to use AI generated content to create an article on dog food. All businesses use different AI platforms. Although the wording may vary, the results could be remarkably similar. Three generic articles about dog food that use similar wording and offer the same basic advice. They may be accurate, but likely general, predictable, and available on hundreds of websites.
Articles without adding any firsthand knowledge or useful local information aren’t set up for a good place on the search engine. Remember Google ranks on value—not the tool that created it.
In the above case, especially if the websites are similar and sell similar items, Google would have difficulty distinguishing them based on content.
These Pet Stores need to stand out to be Google-Worthy. And that is the reason an experienced web designer can make a difference.
A web designer does more than generate paragraphs and insert keywords. The designer learns about the company, its customers, services, location, experience, and goals. That information can then be used to create web pages that reflect the actual business rather than a generic version of its industry.
AI can help brainstorm topics, organize information, research possible keywords, or produce a first draft. However it doesn’t know what makes a particular company worth choosing.
A good website is not simply a collection of AI-generated pages. It is a carefully planned presentation of the company’s knowledge, services, personality, and value. AI may help create the pieces, but an experienced web professional makes sure those pieces are accurate, distinctive, useful, and connected to a larger strategy.
Although human-generated content and professionally developed websites do not automatically rank higher, just because people created them. They can outperform generic AI-built sites because a designer can uncover and present the differences that AI does not know.
Another problem arises when a business uses AI to generate large volumes of content simply because it can.
A pet store, for example, might publish dozens of articles comparing one dog-food brand with another, hundreds of pet-care definitions, generic “best dog food” lists, and separate pages targeting every nearby city. It may create individual FAQ pages for every possible question, even when the answers are brief, repetitive, or unrelated to the store’s actual expertise.
These pages may attract search traffic for a while, but they often provide little that visitors could not find on dozens of other websites. They do not reflect the store’s employees, customers, products, experience, or community.
Eventually, search engines may recognize that the website contains a large amount of repetitive, interchangeable content. Content created primarily to attract search traffic rather than help customers. And the ranking goes way down.
The Real Opportunity
At Digital Web Leprechauns™, we use AI every day.
Not to replace expertise. To improve it.
AI can help brainstorm ideas, organize information, summarize research, identify missing topics, improve readability, and save valuable time. Those are excellent uses of the technology.
The final content, however, should always include something AI cannot create on its own:
- Your experience.
- Your expertise.
- Your customers’ real questions.
- Your projects.
- Your examples.
- Your opinions are based on years of doing the work.
- Think Like Your Customers
Need help creating content that lasts instead of chasing the latest SEO shortcut with ? Contact Digital Web Leprechauns™ to learn how thoughtful content, sound technical SEO , and years of real-world experience can help your website grow the right way.