Content writing is becoming more and more vital in the modern technological age as more people flock to the internet to consume information and entertainment, typing countless queries into the search engines as they look for answers on where to go on holiday, what to eat for dinner, what latest gadget to buy for their home.
So as copywriting grows in popularity and the demand for more information increases every day, does this mean there’s too much for copywriters to do on their own? And if there is, what are the benefits to being assisted by artificial intelligence for your content marketing?
Will AI Replace Copywriters?
First things first, to get it out of the way, the short answer is no, copywriters won’t be replaced by artificial intelligence. Not for the foreseeable future at least.
Simply put, AI doesn’t have the human capabilities to craft content that isn’t a clinical amalgamation of data. It lacks the emotional context that flesh-and-blood people have. You can draw on your experiences or your own personal knowledge base that you may have spent years accumulating, slightly different to someone else’s set of knowledge.
No two copywriters will ever write exactly the same piece on the same topic (unless of course they copy and plagiarise) and the different experiences each copywriter brings to the table provides a new way of engaging and interacting with your chosen audience.
Copywriters will be able to target a user’s search intent more effectively than AI because of the similarities between people, making naturally written content more valuable.
That isn’t to say machines can’t learn. Google’s newest algorithm MUM (Multitask Unified Model) can process natural language to understand text on a deeper, contextual level and provide the best SERPs in response to a user’s search query in regards to their intent.
AI Writing Assistants
Several AI writing assistants have hit the market over the years, paving the way for more focused and accessible content planning and guiding content writers through the editing process.
Whatever a writer needs help for, AI has them covered with tools that can aid them through the writing process from inception and keyword analysis to the audits after content has been published.
Surfer SEO
Surfer is one of the most prolific tools out there that make the writing process smoother and easier to manage.
They have a content planner, a content editor and a content planner for domain which allows you to keep track of your content and helps you keep your domain up to date. They use data gathered from Google SERPs and competitors based around a topic to provide an extensive list of keywords and questions to inspire your own content and help you to refine and enhance your work to improve your chances of ranking and being seen as valuable by Google and readers.
Surfer is a useful writing assistant as it never tries to do the writing for you, instead working in harmony with your own ideas and style, allowing the writing to remain human and thus more relatable and trustworthy to readers.
The tool is simply there to make sure your content is always the best it can be, with handy customisation settings and a guide that tells you what the ideal word count, keyword count and amount of H1s, H2s and H3s are. All of this helps you to optimise your content to give it the best chance in the SERPs and you can keep an eye on its progress in case you ever need to update it.
Jasper Conversion AI
Jasper, formerly known as Jarvis, is a little different to Surfer. This AI has the capability to write original content with its learning based on real copy found in a variety of forms all across the internet.
This helps the writing to be as authentic as possible and is a great jumping off point for writers who want to generate writing and use the content as either a template to craft something from themselves or as a way to get more content for their business when they have a busy workload.
Jasper’s content is unplagiarised and ranks well for Google’s algorithms, helps you when you’re feeling stuck with new and innovative content that you can mine for inspiration and can be used in over twenty five languages, giving your content more scope than ever before.
Jasper has a lot of capabilities but you will reap the best results if you work in tandem with the AI instead of using it separately of your own writing and genius. It will help to make the writing process less of a headache, speeding up the process to increase your productivity and make your working day feel more fulfilled.
Grammarly
Grammarly is perhaps one of the most well known writing assistants on the market today. Who hasn’t skipped an ad for it on YouTube dozens and dozens of times?
Grammarly covers everything from grammar to identification of passive and active voice, giving the user a comprehensive guide to all the things they should look into when reviewing their work and going through the last edits.
The tool works best in a supportive capacity for those final checks for grammar and spelling, though it also forays into style and tone though these latter two are more personal to the writer and can be what makes or breaks an article. Don’t rely on it too heavily though. Grammarly will try to correct every single slight it perceives which can affect the readability of your work.
If it is only used for rudimentary checks, Grammarly can be very effective. Just make sure to use your common sense along with it as you understand the context of your writing far more than Grammarly ever can.
INK
INK Editor is a compelling AI tool that is perfect for any content writer who wants the whole editing process at their fingertips.
Perhaps you’re struggling with the wording or rhythm of your writing. INK has the capability of rephrasing your work to help it sound stronger and look better on the page. This kind of feature can also help with writer’s block. If you don’t know how to proceed, rephrasing the previous sentence into something can help to unlock the next idea.
It also takes inspiration from your competitors to generate new content by itself though like with Jasper, this is a feature best used in support of your own expertise as you will be able to bring context, personality and readability that will make it more valuable to readers.
The tool also gives you a comprehensive guide on achieving the best SEO using data derived from your competitors to help you rise above the best of them and increase your chances of ranking high. This makes it a valuable addition to any content writer’s arsenal, giving writers a fresh, new perspective.
AI Writing in the Future
AI is not likely to replace writers for a long, long time, at least not entirely. The human experience is too important to readers, allowing unique and personal writing to provide more valuable information and enhance the user experience.
That isn’t to say that AI can’t make some improvements and become a more important facet of the writing process. As far as current technological developments go, AI writing assistants come from a purely logical background but what if they could learn context and emotion? Is it possible for AI to be coded for independence, allowing its thought processes to become more complex?
Anything is possible in the modern digital age and considering the developments made in AI, it doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch that one day AI will achieve a new form of sentience and become as adept writers as humans. The technological vision of the greatest sci-fi movies is slowly coming to into the realms of reality.
There’s no telling what AI will be able to do five, ten years from now but for now we can rest safe in the knowledge that the union of AI and human copywriters is leading to greater and greater content.