Searchlite - How Content Marketers Can Optimize Their Time With AI

This month’s Searchlite intro was written by Sr. SEO Analyst, Skye Sonnega

Hello, hello! 

We made it through the shortest (and snowiest) month of the year! Here are some of the highlights: 

• Dave Sewich and Jess Girardi were promoted to Senior Manager Positions! Dave will be leading the Operations for Uproer, while Jess will be taking on Talent & Development. Congratulations you two, well deserved! 
• We celebrated our 3rd annual company ski day at Afton Alps! We had breakfast as a group and then enjoyed a sunny day on the slopes. 
• We hired Andy Strager, our newest Sr. SEO Analyst. This guy knows his stuff, we’re pumped to have him aboard! 

It’s an exciting time to be at Uproer, and to be in search! As the conversations around ChatGPT and AI tools continue, we’ve got an AI-heavy edition of Searchlite. Read an article written by Uproer’s Griffin Roer that dives deep into the use cases and shortcomings of AI. Or, dive into a guide on how to strengthen your writing skills to write like robots can’t. 

It’s all here and more in the latest edition of Searchlite, check it out below! 

How Content Marketers Can Optimize Their Time With AI

By Griffin Roer, Uproer

How can you, as a content marketer, maximize the ROI of your time by using AI?

In the latest article on the Uproer blog, we explore just that. AI is neither a threat nor a complete solution (yet) for content marketers. Rather, it's a tool you can start to harness now to increase your value to your clients, your organization, or your team.

Key Takeaways:

• There are several shortcomings of generative AI today which are critical to understand if you want to leverage these tools
• We also cover 8 use cases for how you can incorporate AI into your content production process for greater productivity

How to Write Like Robots Can’t

By Ann Handley, AnnHandley.com

Key Takeaways:

• The AI conversation continues to dominate in content land. Luckily, many in the space still agree that creative, human writing matters, including content expert Ann Handley.
• Writing is hard work. That’s why it’s easy to want to shortcut the process to quickly develop quality blog posts, landing pages, and more in record time. However, content shouldn’t be “extruded and rolled and mass-produced.” If you want to become a more confident writer and create higher-quality content, you have to put in the work.
• AI is a tool that can be used for brainstorming or refining. But it’s not the “creator at the keyboard.” That’s our job.

Why it Matters

Sure, AI is a great tool that can be used for brainstorming, outlining, or even refining content. However, human words still matter when it comes to creating quality work. After all, AI is unable to write like humans can. According to Ann, robots can’t play when it comes to writing. For example, we can use inspiring or funny metaphors, tease out themes, give readers a cameo appearance, and choose words that drip with personality. We can “co-create with our brains, our hearts, our hands, our whole selves.” And that’s something a robot just can’t do.

[Podcast] Will the Supreme Court Ruin the Internet?

By Vox Media, Spotify

Key Takeaways:

• The supreme court heard arguments in two cases with significant implications for how platforms like Google, Facebook, and Twitter regulate content on their platforms. 
• The cases present a challenge to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which has shielded tech platforms from liability for content they host. 
• The lawsuits rest on the core question of whether algorithms and recommendation engines represent “moderated” or “curated” content. If the court rules against tech plaintiffs — if they decide that algorithms represent content curation — this would change how these platforms operate and completely change the business model of these companies.

Why it Matters 

Much of the internet is governed by a law from 1996. That’s way before Google dominated search. That’s way before Facebook was an ad giant (it wasn’t even “HotorNot” yet). That’s way before these companies became hotbeds of disinformation. At the time, the legislation sought to protect the nascent internet and to allow young internet service companies to grow. We can all agree it did that. Now that same legislation still shields tech giants from liability for the content on their platform. Two supreme court cases are trying to change that, and the outcomes will have massive impacts for how tech companies serve, moderate, and curate content on their platforms. Which means, it has massive implications for our industry. Give this podcast a listen to understand more about the ways that this summer’s decisions could change the internet – for better or worse. 

Is ChatGPT Use Of Web Content Fair?

By Roger Montti, Search Engine Journal

Key Takeaways:

• Large Language Models like ChatGPT learn from content already published on the internet, however new articles created by the AI tool do not provide any credit or link back to the original source.
• Internet copyright laws are lagging behind quickly adapting technology, and while there is a need for Intellectual Property laws to also evolve, the reactive states of these cases is probably good enough… for now.
• It is possible for web publishers to use Robots Exclusion Protocol to block search engines from crawling and indexing their content, thus preventing AI tools from learning from that content.

Why it Matters 

Have you been on LinkedIn lately? People, and not just those in the digital marketing world, are talking about ChatGPT. As more and more industries are thinking about how AI content can revolutionize their work practices, we had to expect that the conversation about ethics and legality would be not far behind. Internet copyright laws are having trouble keeping up with the evolution of technology, and they are probably not going to change soon. Knowing that, it’s worth learning how Large Language Models source their information so you can be more aware of how it works as you begin trusting AI tools for your content needs (P.S. always remember to fact-check!).