I’m seeing lots of LinkedIn “gurus” talking about how, if you’re not using AI to generate your blog posts, you’re already falling behind your competitors. But is that really true? What are all of the ways people are using AI when it comes to blog writing, anyway? There’s so much noise out there, and I know I’ve personally found it hard to know where to begin when it comes to learning more about how AI is changing blog post writing. Here are five of the main uses for AI that I’ve come across in my learning.
AI Use #1: Generating blog post ideas.
I have found AI to be extremely good at generating topic ideas for your next blog post. Simply open up any of the myriad free AI tools online, and instruct the tool to spit out ideas for a blog post on <insert your topic here>, and boom – instant inspiration.
The more specific you are in your instructions, the more likely you are to get an output that is useful to you, and vice versa. Garbage in, garbage out!
AI Use #2: Improving article structure and readability.
Artificial Intelligence can do more than just give you blog post ideas, of course. It can also help you improve your article structure and readability, editing content you’ve already written and rephrasing/reorienting it to make it more approachable to readers.
This is more powerful than it sounds; most of the blogs we read out there aren’t formatted as effectively as they could be, and as a result, fail to attract the volume of repeat reader that they hope to. This use of AI can help take care of that problem!
AI Use #3: Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking.
Search engines like google use algorithms to determine which web pages rank most highly in searches. It’s only fitting, then, that AI would be able to plug into that to help optimize a blog post for SEO. Subtle adjustments to specific keywords and phrases can make a meaningful impact on how well your page ranks in search engines, and AI can help move the needle on that!
AI Use #4: Generating blog posts really quickly.
This feels like the one so many have been holding their breath for. “You mean a machine can write all my blog posts for me, while I just sit back like a lazy bum?!”
Well, yes and no.
Yes, in the sense that AI is good at writing short blog posts that summarize topics. If that’s your style, then you’re in business. On the other hand, if you’re looking for long-form content, or original content, or content that leans into human experience to be able to write about, AI isn’t going to help you very much in this way. You’re better off using it for some of the other purposes set out in this list!
AI Use #5: Improving content quality.
Let’s face it: some people are better writers than others. I’m probably in the latter category there, but hey, you’re still reading, aren’t you? 🙂
AI can really level the playing field on this one though, cleaning up sentences and correcting grammar, and even suggesting additional sub-topics to help flesh out a post. If you’re not an English major, this is one of the more interesting uses of AI out there!
Limitations of Artificial Intelligence in Blog Writing
AI isn’t a silver bullet, and it can’t do everything when it comes to blog writing. As you’ve already read, it can’t generate long-form (say, 1,500+ word) articles very well. It also won’t give you anything new, so don’t expect to be on the cutting edge of your field by allowing it to write your blog posts for you. In fact, if all you do is use AI for your blogging, you’re nothing more than a copycat, and that’s not where you want to be.
Unsurprisingly, AI is also really bad at writing topics that are based on personal experiences. To use an extreme example, I wouldn’t trust advice it gives on how to overcome abuse suffered during childhood. This brings me to my last point on this one, which is that, often, it will flat-out lie, while presenting the information as if it’s factual. Unless you’re very careful in your wording, it doesn’t discern between fact and falsehood, which means you can’t just be generating articles with AI and then blindly posting them to your site.
Always, always bring a human lens to scrutinize AI-generated content.
Wrapping it Up
Despite its limitations, there’s no denying that Artificial intelligence is opening up a world of new possibilities and applications when it comes to blog writing. Hopefully today’s list inspires you to experiment with it a bit and see how it can help you up your blog-writing game!
