AI is here to stay, and you need to find ways to use it and work with it to create even better content. Ignoring it is not advisable — and there are a lot of great ways you can use it as a tool to make your writing even better than it already is!
There has been a lot of chatter and debates going on in online writing and editing groups I’m a part of about questioning how AI is going to affect our jobs and how we do them.
As Ryleigh Stangness quoted in her LinkedIn article “Tips & Tricks to using AI to write better (not boring) content that will actually rank,”
“Words from Helcim’s CEO Nic Beique that stuck with me from my time there were, ‘AI isn’t coming for your job, but someone who knows how to use it is.’”
Recent advancements in AI and updates to Google’s algorithm have sparked an evolution in content and content marketing.
Google updates happen regularly, as anyone in the content world knows. And we must adapt.
See traffic drop, adjust, get annoyed, adapt, let out a deep sigh, overcome, succeed.
That’s the process, right? Or at least it is mine.
The Google Updates & AI
With the most recent Helpful Content Update in March 2024, Google says it is prioritizing the user’s experience by rewarding content that provides genuine value, diminishing the visibility of low-quality content primarily designed to game SEO systems.
Basically, Google wants to keep lower-value or low-quality AI content out of search results. And while this may at first seem at odds with what this article is saying, hear me out.
Google emphasizes E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) in its ranking criteria, so content sites have to focus on producing high-quality, credible content written by experts in the field.
AI tools can quickly generate drafts, suggest improvements, and even help with SEO optimization.
However, with Google’s latest update, the content must also be engaging, informative, and tailored to human interests. And untouched AI content doesn’t generally (so far) hit the mark.
For content sites and writers, this means a shift from keyword-stuffed articles to content that truly resonates with readers.
Sites now have to focus more on depth, accuracy, and utility, aligning with Google’s emphasis on content that fulfills searcher intent more comprehensively.
Gone are the days of shoving as many short and long-tail keywords as possible in an article as smoothly as possible (fooling no one!) to hit the top of the rankings.
Instead of a content mill or AI producing a ton of okay-ish or good-enough articles that give some basic information and a lot of keywords, the hope is that now any content in the highest-ranked places is specifically useful to the search terms. Useful and informative.
In my eyes, using AI as a tool, much like Grammarly or Hemingway, can improve your human-written articles and content.
Are there people who will say they are writers but who will just toss the prompt in AI and call it done? Yes.
Are there companies that will move to generating all their content with AI? Of course, there are.
But does AI actually replace good writers and editors? Nope.
Stop worrying about AI replacing you and instead use it as the tool it is to improve and show companies why the human touch is so important when putting out valuable, helpful content.
Let’s talk about how you can use AI tools to make your work even better.
How to use AI in your writing and/or editing in a way that enhances (NOT replaces) your work
Taking the completely AI-written content out of the equation, let’s talk about ways you can use generative AI tools to improve your writing and editing.
There are 12 different ways listed here, with examples of results and a total of 21 example prompts.
1. Use AI to generate a list of article topics or content ideas
This can be a great way to jump-start a brainstorming session. Let it come up with a list, and then use that list to inspire your next article or refine a more broad idea.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Give me a list of the top 10 trending topics in the US and a list of the top 10 trending topics worldwide today.”
Here’s another prompt I gave it: “Give me a list of article topics relevant to content writers and editors right now,” with no additional context.
Other examples include:
- Give me 5 ideas for how to market a book to a YA audience
- Tell me 5 ways I can reach people who are 55+ for a marketing campaign for a new osteoporosis medication
- List ideas for a new Instagram marketing campaign for a new all-orange eyeshadow palette launch
2. Navigate and tweak your writing to the right audience
After writing a draft of whatever you’re writing, you can use AI to see if there are any good tweaks you can make to better fit the specific audience you’re writing to.
You won’t take all of its advice, but using AI to analyze your writing can clarify (for you) what the most important pieces are and give you ideas for enhancing things that may need to be adjusted.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Analyze the following article and suggest ways that it can be adapted to a more knowledgeable or expert level audience: [pasted in this article about editing for different genres]”
3. Change POVs, formality, or look for inconsistencies
Another use of AI in your writing can be to see what an article looks like written in a different perspective or more formal language and look for issues or inconsistencies, like changes in tense.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Rewrite this article in the third-person perspective: [pasted in this article about copywriting vs. content writing]”
A different prompt I gave it for the same article: “Analyze this article for any inconsistencies and list them for me: [pasted article]”
4. Create an outline or get information to get you started on a new article
If you have a good idea for an article but aren’t sure where to start or what the most important points are, AI is a great tool to help.
And this could also help you know where to start with your research if the topic isn’t one you are super familiar with.
Prompt I gave the AI: “I want to write an article about autonomous driving. what are the most important and most talked about points I need to make sure to discuss in the article?”
It went on to give me 8 points, each with a couple of bullet points of additional information about what should potentially be discussed in the article. I can take this list and start my research around the 2–4 points I think are most important and build my article.
Another prompt I gave: “I want to write an article about autonomous driving. create an outline with 3 main points to get me started.” As you can see, it did not just regurgitate the previous prompt’s answer.
5. Use AI to help with editing and proofreading
You can simply ask a generative AI to proofread an article, or you can use an AI-powered tool like Grammarly (which I use), which is not generative but uses AI to help with editing.
Prompt I gave to chatGPT: “Proofread this article using AP style: [pasted in this article about copywriting vs. content writing]”
And it spits out the same article with its editing suggestions already in it:
6. Have AI create templates for you
If you’re writing for a client that requires a very specific format or you’re looking to create a format for a specific topic, AI can create one for you.
Examples of prompts you could use to have AI create a template for you:
- Create a template for a weekly newsletter. Include sections for sharing articles or videos, highlights from the week, and a short introduction.
- Create a template for listicles
- Create a template for how-to articles with examples
Prompt I gave the AI: “Make me a template for an in-depth article about healthcare for an expert-level audience”
7. Have it analyze your writing to see if you missed anything important
Using AI for this will help you find things you may have missed in your research or help you realize that you did hit all the most important points.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Analyze this article and tell me what is missing about parasocial relationships that should be included: [pasted this article about parasocial relationships]”
8. Have it analyze a scientific or technological article and break down the findings
This is a great way for you to disseminate information from a scientific or academic journal or assist you in research. It can also help you know what the most important points are so you don’t miss anything you need to include.
Examples of prompts:
- Analyze the three articles below and break down the most important points about [topic]
- Review the following article and summarize it
- Summarize the key concepts in this article
- Give me the 5 most important points in the following academic paper
Prompt I gave the AI: “Summarize the key concepts in this article: [pasted this technical article called “Governing artificial intelligence: ethical, legal and technical opportunities and challenges”]”
9. Ask it to assist in repurposing existing content into other formats
This is something content writers have been doing forever — taking an article and repurposing it into different types of content.
You might want to take an article and turn it into a script for a YouTube video, a TikTok video idea, a podcast episode, or a social media post.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Turn the following article into 3–5 Instagram social media posts with 1 image for each post: [pasted this article about parasocial relationships]”
10. Have it break down two sides of an argument so you can compare
You can do this with any argument, but, of course, I chose one for this example that is pretty divisive in the US.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Compare both major sides of gun reform and break down the main arguments for each side”
11. Have AI create personas for your audience
If you know who you’re writing to (your target audience), then you can use AI to create a template or paragraph about the personas for your process.
If you aren’t sure how to encapsulate the persona, ask the AI for help.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Create a persona for a 30-something adult in the US who is a Managing Editor at a startup. The person wants to make a positive impact and create content that resonates with people online.”
12. Have it analyze and adjust your content for localization
You are likely to write any article from your own perspective, and you can use generative AI to help identify specific ways to make the writing more suitable or aimed directly at a specific audience in different locations.
Prompt I gave the AI: “Analyze this article and suggest ways to adjust it to fit an audience in Europe as a list without examples [pasted this article about when and how to negotiate your salary]”
Ultimately, it is up to you whether you want to incorporate new tools like AI into your writing and editing process.
I strongly encourage you to play with a couple of the AIs out there and see if there are ways you can use them to enhance your output and even make your process more efficient (like creating templates or having them help you brainstorm ideas).
Like that one guy said, “AI isn’t coming for your job, but someone who knows how to use it is.”