Is AI and Machine Learning Shaping SEO Strategies?
Heard of ChatGPT? Rumblings of AI taking over the world? Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are changing the way that search engines operate and are affecting SEO strategies in a number of ways. Will this be for good, or will things get worse? We look at this below.
Some of the areas where SEO is being affected by AI and machine learning include:
1. Improved search results
Search engines are using AI and machine learning to improve the relevance and accuracy of their search results. For example, Google’s RankBrain algorithm uses machine learning to understand the context and intent behind search queries and deliver more relevant results.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is used by search engines to understand the meaning and context of the query, and match it with the most relevant results. Machine learning allows learning algorithms to analyse large amounts of data to determine the relevance of a page and its ranking. This includes factors like user behaviour, page content, and backlinks.
AI algorithms have also been used for spam detection: they help search engines identify and penalise spammy websites and low-quality content, to ensure that only high-quality results are ranked highly. Reports have come out that Google may have been using this since 2020 as part of their spam filtering processes and that Microsoft is planning to incorporate ChatGPT technology into its Bing search, with a goal of providing richer, more accurate results.
This means it’s more important for SEO strategies to focus on providing high-quality, relevant content that meets the needs and interests of users.
2. Increased personalisation
AI and machine learning can also be used to personalise search results based on a user’s location, search history, and other factors. This means that SEO strategies may need to consider how to optimise for personalised search results in addition to general search results.
This will make local SEO optimisation even more important as this information is key to the algorithm rendering your results. The more information the search engines hold on users, the better they can target and take a personalised approach. If you’ve watched the Social Dilemma you may be concerned about how much information the search engines and algorithms hold against individual users, however, this may be countered with new internet privacy laws that are coming into play. This will be an area to watch in the next few years.
3. Changes to ranking algorithms
As search engines become more reliant on AI and machine learning, it’s likely that the algorithms they use to rank websites will continue to evolve. Algorithms have already been getting smarter over the last few years, with Google now able to understand context.
This means that SEO strategies will need to adapt to keep up with these changes. It will get harder and harder to produce low-quality content and expect it to rank well. Already spammy content suffers when it comes to rankings but now even poor content or content that is not deemed useful to the user will not be selected when up against rich, long, researched deep content.
4. Increased automation
AI and machine learning can also be used to automate certain aspects of SEO, such as keyword research and analysis. There are already tools that exist that can help businesses write content (like Ryter, an AI based content writer), do keyword research (like Keyword Insights AI) and make content recommendations (like Frase, a content generation tool based on users’ interests). This can help businesses and websites save time and resources, but it can also make it more difficult for them to stand out in a crowded market.
In response to more companies using ChatGPT to automate their content writing, Open AI has launched an AI text classifier that looks at rating pieces of content and predicting if it was generated by a human or AI. But the question is, as even ChatGPT itself improves, will we really ever be able to tell?
Overall, the impact of AI on SEO is likely to continue to grow in the coming years, and it will be important for businesses and websites to stay up to date with these developments in order to stay competitive in search results.
