AI-powered writing tools have revolutionized content creation and provided newfound efficiency and creativity.
However, as they continue to reshape how we communicate, a new concern has risen: the potential detection of AI-generated content and its impact on search engine rankings.
As a content creator, it’s natural to wonder about the strategies to navigate this new scenario.
In this post, we’ll cover:
- What AI writing detectors are
- How effective they are at identifying AI-generated content
- How search engines see AI-generated content
- How to avoid AI detectors
- The best AI writing tool to bypass AI detection
What are AI writing detectors?
AI writing detectors are software trained on a wide range of text samples to identify signs that distinguish AI-generated text from human-written content.
For instance, that may include unnatural language patterns, inconsistencies in style, vocabulary usage that might be unusual for a human, and a lack of a coherent narrative flow.
By comparing these attributes, they can determine how likely a piece is to have been generated by artificial intelligence.
While big platforms like Google have their own systems to detect AI content, you can find many free options online:
Are AI detectors reliable?
One reason to relax about having your content flagged as AI (at least for now) is how unreliable those detectors are.
In January 2023, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, released an AI detection tool but shut it down a few months later due to inaccuracy.
And if you compare different detectors, you’ll find a lot of discrepancies between them.
Here’s what we found when pasting the same text to two different AI content detection tools:
Detector #1:
Detector #2:
As you can see, they present completely opposite results. And while search engines may have better technology, it’s also far from being 100% accurate.
Why digital platforms look for AI-generated content
There may be several reasons for that.
When it comes to search engines, their goal is to ensure that the content meets specific quality standards, avoiding the overreliance on AI at the expense of human touch and expertise.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that using AI to generate pieces will affect your ranking on SERPs, as we’re about to see.
How search engines see AI-generated content
There’s a misconception that search engines are all against AI-generated content.
The reality is that they want content that delivers the best possible experience to their users by answering their queries, being trustworthy, and offering valuable insights, regardless of how it was generated.
To achieve this, they employ complex algorithms that consider various factors, such as relevance, quality, and user intent. They also take into account technical factors like page loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and security.
By prioritizing these aspects, they ensure that their users find the most relevant and valuable content when they search, enhancing their overall experience.
Here’s what Google has to say about automatically-generated content:
In summary, as long as you edit your pieces to ensure they align with user intent, provide accurate information, and offer a positive browsing experience, they can still rank high, even if Google detects AI content.
Other search engines like Bing also follow a similar policy.
While the specific algorithms and weighting of factors may differ between search engines, the fundamental goal of enhancing user experience remains consistent across major platforms.
How to avoid AI content detection and getting penalized by search engines
Tip #1: Prioritize user intent
As we’ve discussed, it’s essential to tailor your content to meet your audience’s needs.
Start by understanding what information they’re seeking. What questions are they trying to answer, and what problems are they trying to solve?
Here are some tips to assess that:
- Keyword Research: Use keyword research tools to identify what users are actively searching for.
- Google Search: Type your topic into Google and pay attention to the “People also ask” section. These are common questions related to your topic that users frequently ask.
- Online Forums and Communities: Visit online forums, discussion boards, and social media groups related to your topic. Look for recurring questions and discussions to gauge what readers are curious about.
- Competitor Analysis: Analyze content from competitors in your niche. Look for posts with high engagement and comments, which can indicate topics that resonate with readers.
- Surveys and Polls: Conduct surveys or polls on your website, social media, or newsletter to directly ask your audience about their questions and interests.
- Feedback and Comments: Pay attention to comments on your existing content. Readers often ask for clarification or more information on specific aspects.
- Customer Service Inquiries: If you run a business, review customer inquiries and support tickets. These often contain questions that you can turn into valuable content.
Once you understand what you’re readers are looking for, you can create content that resonates with them.
Tip #2: Use a better prompt strategy
Many people don’t take the time to write great inputs when generating content using AI. Taking just a bit of extra effort to craft better prompts enables you to get higher-quality outputs.
Here are some tips to follow when writing your inputs:
- Be Specific: Provide clear and precise instructions about your desired content.
- Set Context: Give the AI tool context by providing relevant background information. For instance, explain who’s your target audience and how knowledgeable it is in the topic.
- Include Keywords: This helps the AI tool understand the subject matter and write content that aligns with your goals and target keywords.
- Specify Tone and Style: Indicate the tone and style you want the content to have. For example, you can request a formal tone for a professional article or a casual tone for a blog post.
- Provide Constraints: Set limitations on word count, paragraph length, or specific sections you want to include. This helps the tool generate content that meets your requirements.
- Use Questions: Pose questions to guide the AI’s narrative. For instance, if you’re creating a product review, you can ask questions like “What are the key features?” or “How does it compare to competitors?”
Tip #3: Provide original thoughts and insights
While AI tools can save time and streamline your writing process, they struggle to generate new insights.
Providing your personal views and expertise is what truly sets your content apart and positions you as an authoritative voice in your field.
In addition, search engines value fresh and unique content, which can positively impact your rankings.
Here’s how to do it:
- Research Thoroughly: Before generating content with AI, conduct thorough research on the topic to get a solid foundation to build upon.
- Analyze Existing Content: Review existing content on the topic to identify gaps or areas where you can offer a different perspective.
- Share Personal Experiences: Incorporate your own experiences, anecdotes, and case studies that are relevant to the topic.
- Offer Solutions: Instead of just discussing problems, provide practical solutions and actionable advice that you can think of.
- Predict Future Trends: Use your industry knowledge to predict upcoming trends or changes and showcase your forward-thinking approach.
- Use Analogies and Metaphors: Illustrate complex concepts with relatable analogies or metaphors to make them easier to understand.
By offering your unique perspectives, you can demonstrate your expertise, captivate your audience, and spark meaningful discussions and engagement.
Tip #4: Review and curate
Even though AI has come a long way, it still lacks the nuanced and contextual understanding that human writers possess. This is where your oversight, review, and curation come into play.
Review and edit your content to:
- Ensure Accuracy: AI tools may misinterpret context or produce errors only humans can catch. Reviewing helps you find inaccuracies and ensure the content’s correctness.
- Maintain Brand or Personal Voice: You and your brand have a unique tone and style. Proofread and edit to ensure the content aligns with your voice.
- Enhance Readability: AI content may lack natural flow and coherence. Your review helps smooth transitions and make the text more engaging.
- Ensure Quality: AI-generated content won’t always meet your quality standards. Your curation helps elevate the piece to a professional level.
- Avoid Plagiarism: AI tools might end up replicating existing content. Use plagiarism detectors and some editing to avoid infringing copyrights.
Skipping this step may lead to content that goes against Google’s guidelines and gets flagged as spammy automatically-generated content, affecting its ranking.
Finally, beware of auto-translated content, which may also contain inaccuracies and lead to penalties.
Tip #5: Comply with E-E-A-T guidelines
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and transparency.
It represents, in a nutshell, the criteria Google uses to rank content according to its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
Let’s go deeper on each:
- Experience: This refers to the site’s history and familiarity with the topic. Search engines value content from sources with a proven track record and industry experience, as they’re more likely to provide accurate and relevant information.
- Expertise: Subject matter expertise signifies that the content is authored by individuals with in-depth knowledge about the topic. This ensures the information shared is reliable, credible, and valuable to users seeking authoritative content.
- Authoritativeness: Reputation within the industry or subject matter establishes the source’s credibility. Content from reputable and respected sources is more likely to rank higher.
- Trustworthiness: This encompasses technical aspects such as site security, loading speed, and mobile-friendliness. Search engines prioritize websites that provide a positive user experience so users can access content quickly and safely across different devices.
Refining your content and site and ensuring they align with those guidelines will boost your odds of reaching the top positions on SERPs, even when using AI-generated content.
Tip #6: Use tools with more advanced AI engines
Some AI writing tools employ more advanced AI engines than others and can produce higher-quality and natural-sounding content. This makes the AI-generated pieces better aligned with search engine guidelines and user expectations and more likely to bypass AI detectors.
Additionally, these tools often offer more advanced prompts that encourage deeper thinking, enabling you to infuse your own insights and ideas into the content.
Finally, they can generate content on a broader range of tones, styles, and voices, allowing you to tailor the content to your audience’s preferences.
This final tip leads us to the next section.
Best AI writing software to avoid AI content detectors
After reviewing dozens of AI writing tools, we’ve found that Content at Scale is the best to avoid detection.
Unlike most tools, which use ChatGPT technology, this one follows a more advanced approach to content creation, leveraging three different AI engines.
That enables it to generate pieces that flow more naturally, resemble human writing more closely, and are more likely to avoid AI detection.
While it can generate high-quality content for various content marketing purposes, its primary focus is on long-form blog posts and articles. According to the company, its pieces average 2,975 words.
It provides a lean interface and a long-form editor that allows you to include the topic, keywords, and additional context.
Its key features include:
- Keyword to Blog: Generates SEO-optimized articles for specific keywords based on real-time research, NLP and semantic analysis, and SEO best practices. You can also generate multiple articles targeting the same keyword simultaneously.
- Existing URL to Blog: Can create a plagiarism-free article using a source URL as context.
- Podcast and YouTube to Blog: Converts existing podcast episodes and YouTube videos into educational articles.
- Doc to Post: Can turn a doc, PowerPoint deck, or PDF into a freshly-written article.
Content at Scale starts at $250 per month, which is pricier than most AI writing tools.
However, this is the way to go if you’re looking for the best software to generate long-form, natural-sounding content and avoid detection of AI text.
How to avoid AI detectors – Final thoughts
As AI-generated content becomes more present in our lives, it’s crucial to navigate this new terrain while staying aligned with guidelines and readers’ expectations.
While search engines don’t criminalize its use, they do emphasize the importance of maintaining quality, relevance, and authenticity.
Remember, the goal is not to avoid it altogether but to optimize its potential.
By prioritizing user intent, offering original insights, and carefully reviewing your pieces, you can craft content using AI and still make it to the top of SERPs.
If you want to learn more about AI writing, make sure to check the articles below: