I just lately met Jono Alderson, former head of web optimization at Yoast, at Advertising Pageant in Brno. He gave an enchanting speak on the state of content material advertising.
A number of of his observations resonated with me, together with the insularity of utilizing the identical SEO checklists as everybody else as a place to begin to create something.
The result’s a pool of lookalike articles, written for serps, not written for individuals. The precise writing is usually handled as an afterthought.
As Jono put it in an interview just lately:
“You’re recursively optimizing a really small corpus until it’s all simply phrase soup.”
Now that content material advertising is turbocharged with AI, the phrase soup is limitless. And as LLMs digest the prevailing phrase soup as supply materials, the long run phrase soup is much more of the identical.
That jogs my memory of Ian Whitworth’s description of AI-generated content material as “infinite phrases no person desires.”
Jono additionally shared that the clock is ticking on this race to the underside, as serps reinvent themselves with AI to offer solutions to individuals, relatively than limitless search outcomes. He urged individuals to recollect who the true viewers is, and the issues you’ll be able to assist them clear up.
I don’t know the way the way forward for content material advertising will look (and I’ve really by no means actually been that loopy in regards to the time period “content material”). However I nonetheless assume that the misplaced artwork of writing is necessary in speaking with others. It may be aided by AI instruments. However the path of least resistance is to show it throughout to AI. And that appears like a race to the underside to me.
Each time I ponder in regards to the state of writing, I flip to Ann Handley (who kindly wrote the foreword to my final e-book). She has an insightful and refreshing publication on writing and advertising known as “Whole Annarchy.”
Ann has a couple of options on incorporate AI as a device that will help you write extra effectively, like asking ChatGPT what’s lacking out of your piece. However finally, she recommends AI is a device, not a substitute, for excellent writing.
Ann’s newest recommendation was refreshingly analog: “Begin with Pen + Paper.”
As she explains:
“Don’t fear about “writing.” You’re welding the scaffolding for concepts that can turn out to be writing.
“Why this works:
“You write slower than you sort. Working with analog instruments slows you down. Your high-speed locomotive mind isn’t screaming forward to get to Subsequent Sentence Depot. It has to attend patiently in your fingers to catch up, like a automotive driver at a railroad crossing ready for the practice’s caboose.
“That gradual tempo finally delivers higher insights.”
And, finally, writing with out higher insights actually doesn’t have a lot of a motive for being.
Listed below are a couple of associated cartoons I’ve drawn through the years:
“Work is extra enjoyable with framed marketoons in your wall”
