Introduction
While AI has come on in leaps and bounds and CAT tools are very valuable to translators and transcreators, they are no match for the leads that can be produced from investing in original content written by native speakers. The aim is not just to have content in another language. The aim is to achieve e-commerce objectives and to have your content indexed in all search engines globally, not just Google.
A recent study showed that while AI-created content and human-created content could be equally easy to understand, the human-created content was better at persuading readers to go further in the buying journey. Having content optimized for a particular language audience will mean you have more people around the world reach your projects, and those browsers will seamlessly become buyers. Even with all the developments in AI translation software and CAT tools, here’s a rundown as to why real-life writers are still essential.
What Are the Pros of Human-Generated Content Over AI-Generated Content?
2019 has seen a slow-burning rise in anxiety about the threats posed by AI, and it could have big implications for the future of SEO.
Back in February, the creators of an AI-based text generator called GPT2 made waves by publicly expressing fears about the dangers posed by AI-generated content that would be indistinguishable from texts created by humans. Coupled with widespread fears about fake news and bot farms, we're not too far away from a full-blown AI panic.
But are these fears misplaced, and will the world of SEO copywriting be totally automated within 5 years as the doomsayers suggest? At greatcontent, we don't think machine-generated content will conquer human ingenuity so quickly, or completely. Here's why.
1. Emotions Increasingly Matter in Consumer Marketing
One of the ironies of the rise of SEO has been the consequent need for marketers to appeal directly to human emotions.
Social media and search engine users are not robots themselves (even if they are directed to pages by algorithms). They choose the content they trust, and the companies they patronize based on how well they appeal to their individual personalities.
You might say that humans have empathy and cultural instinct which allows them to persuade, while a content bot will always (at least for now) come across as flat and mechanical.
You can easily see this in fields like fashion content marketing, where buyers feel much more at home with brands that relate to them as humans - not cattle or money-transferring robots.
2. Brands Don't Build Reputations on Keywords or Conversion Numbers Alone
One of the great strengths of using a content bot is the ability to churn out vast amounts of reasonably coherent texts with the right keyword density and get them out on the web and ready to populate search engine results immediately.
But this is far from the only purpose of SEO copywriting. As any company that has enlisted poor-quality copywriters or content mills will attest, focusing on keywords and basic facts isn't enough. The content we create needs to do more.
Most importantly, each piece of human-generated content contributes to brand identity. The humor, style, and cultural references a piece of content contains all feed into social media conversations and public opinion. So even the most basic product description writing needs a human brain behind it if companies want to maintain their brand's consistency and quality.
3. Humans Can Become Part of Wider Communities
Even if machine-generated content creates logical articles which read well and capture a site visitor's attention, it will always lack a key function: to become part of a wider ecology of conversations, opinions, and queries that make up effective websites and sales channels.
The best human-generated content sparks conversations from readers. It also follows on from other articles or discussions, contributing something new and useful for visitors to use.
Artificial intelligence might be able to function as an article writing tool but it's harder to envisage content creation software bridging conversations and building buzz in the way that humans can, and do.
Expect Major Developments from AI Content, But Not Total Domination
So where do we stand regarding AI-generated content? Are we on the verge of a clear-out of human writers, who are about to be rendered obsolete by an army of content bot alternatives? Probably not.
Machines have already built some forms of articles, such as economic and sports reports. And they will be used to create everything from product descriptions to landing pages in the future. But that won't allow companies to dispense with the insights, humor, creativity, and empathy provided by human writers. Instead, some kind of synthesis is more likely - as humans and AI find their own niches.
In the meantime, and well into the future, greatcontent will try to prove the value of human-generated content. So if you need engaging descriptions or articles that will never be mistaken for the work of robots, get in touch and we'll find a way to create the content you need.
Original Content Optimized for Search Engines
Google’s New Algorithm
In late 2019, Google released a new algorithm: BERT. The word on BERT is that it will not reward websites that are merely stuffed with keywords. In order for your website to be SEO-optimised and sent up the ranks, the content itself needs to be high quality. BERT will even penalize websites where grammar is not to a high standard. The only way to guarantee high-quality grammar, and therefore to guarantee you appear on search engines, is with native speakers working on original content creation.
Your Target Audience, Region By Region
If you’re a travel company, some of your audience will search for “eco-friendly journeys” and some for “luxury holidays”. You want to make sure that you have content for both topics so that a wider audience base reaches you. However, research shows that target audiences’ priorities differ from region to region. You may want to reach French speakers, but your target audience in Canada may have different priorities to your audience in Belgium. Writers can do content creation within specific parameters in a way AI cannot possibly.
Quality Content Converting Your Target Audience
Filling The Gap in the Market
What’s the need for multilingual content at all? Why the expense? Surely most people reaching your website can speak English? Think again. Consider these statistics:
- Only 20% of the world speaks English.
- Only 5% of the world considers English their mother tongue, and yet…
- 55% of all online content is in English.
That doesn’t seem to add up. This is particularly unbalanced when you consider that a great amount of the content which is not in English was still originally created in English and simply translated into other languages. Conclusion? There is a massive gap in the market for content creation specifically attracting non-English speakers.
Express Yourself
Even if you have AI translation tools for some element of the content creation, you will still need the human touch for fine-tuning at the end:
- editing out translation errors and making the text feel fluent
- correcting and standardizing, such as changing units of measurement for the target audience.
- adding correct idioms for the language
- making jokes and humor in the text work
- ensuring that the text expresses the emotional meaning, not just the literal meaning of the words.
If the writer had had the content creation task from the beginning, perhaps the jokes could flow better from the off, and the writer wouldn’t have to spend time trying to find matching idioms in different languages.
The Undeniable Benefits of Commissioning Writers
Original content creation for different languages will drive leads like nothing else. Potential customers who can access your website in their mother tongue are more likely to feel like your services are for them, and that they personally are valued by your company, and this will convert into sales. In contrast, translation errors – or even content that just sounds like a translation – can lose your business. It alienates your audience and misrepresents your company.
So, while paying for writers can feel like an expense, in the long run, it is cheaper and more efficient to have native speakers doing content creation for you from scratch. Get in touch with greatcontent today to commission content in 30+ languages and convert your target audience globally.
