SEO is for everyone and great content should be rewarded no matter the size of the site. That said, self-creators face some unique SEO problems. Riley Hope joins the SEO Rant Podcast to share her outlook on SEO for self-creators:
Does the future of Google's algorithm leave self-creators in the lurch?
How does AI factor into SEO for self-creators?
What is the future of the web for self-creators?
Will AI Hurt Self-Creators And Their Ability to Rank on Google?
Self-creators, business owners, and the like occupy a fascinating place within the Google ecosystem. The search engine needs some of these folks to create content as often it's the owner of a business and not a content marketing agency in Ohio that is the topical expert. And while Google (in my opinion) has done things to democratize the SERP for such folks, there are still some issues facing them even today and going into the future.
One such concern comes with the impending influx of AI-written content. In such a world Google may double down on domain-level metrics thereby perhaps increasing the semantic relevance of how the site handles a topic. Part of that semantic equation is the volume of content (you can't connect that which doesn't exist). Where does that leave smaller sites where the business owner is spinning up the content relative to the big players who have entire content teams?
At the same time, Google has revised their guidelines on AI written content effectively saying it's not a problem and all that the search engine is concerned with is helpful quality content regardless of the source. As Riley points out, that's both a shift in how Google is speaking about AI written content and is a potential perception problem for self-creators. As Riley, I think very correctly, points out - business owners and smaller sites are going to look at Google's statements as endorsing using AI to write content.
One thing is certain, AI might help self-creators but it also could put their ability to rank in jeopardy for a slew of reasons!
Resources
For more of the SEO Rant Podcast check out our previous episode on: How to handle Google Search Console Indexation Issues