Will AI replace bloggers? My take on the new Google Search Engine with AI. Stop panicking!

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Will AI replace bloggers? This is a question I’ve seen pop up pretty much everywhere I look in the blogging sphere for the last few months. But even more since Google revealed the new look of its search engine with the integration of a new AI bot at the top of search.

“Panic everywhere” could summarize reactions of almost (thank God) every blogger and publisher out there. That’s without mentioning the big publications (we shall not name names) headlining that blogging is dead. This reaction, though a bit dramatic for my taste, is not uncommon. For every new Google update wether it’d be a core update or a change in algorithm, “SEO is dead”, “blogging is dead” and “AI will replace content writers soon enough” (meaning human content writers) are statements that pop over and over again. 

As an SEO and blogging coach and keyword research expert, I recently decided to jump in in one Facebook group that I’m a member of to calm everyone down. Mostly because I’m a very logical person when it comes to almost anything and I felt quite bad that people who were just starting to see results with their blogs would feel like it was all for nothing. The response from the group’s members was overwhelmingly positive and encouraged me to share my thoughts more widely here in hopes to make more minds at peace! Note that I’ve anonymized everything to respect people’s privacy.

With a law degree and experience, you can rest assured that objectivity and logic are two of my main skills and that I don’t appreciate certain outlets using fear to attract readers to their page (more on this below).

In this post, I will hopefully settle your fears and reassure your blogging hopes. 

What is the new AI feature in Google search engine?

The new AI feature at the top of Google search engine is a colored box where users can ask detailed questions and the AI will generate a response. This means the user can get a response without having to click through any blog link below. 

The artificial intelligence feature is essentially a ChatGPT (it seems that all companies are more or less copying that technology) at the top of search. 

One key feature of the AI tool is that users can ask follow-up questions. So if your first questions was about whether an e-bike or an e-scooter is better for flat surfaces, you can then tailor your question with your color preference or technology preference. It’s quite smart in my opinion and it’s one of the features that differentiate Google’sAI chat box from others.

Next to the response that the AI generates, you’ll find three websites with a link to them. For each, a photo is included. These websites, according to Google, corroborate Google AI’s response to the user’s question. This part of the AI box is similar to what we know as featured snippets, except there are three websites shared instead of one. 

Will AI replace bloggers?

No, AI will not replace bloggers for many reasons including user intent when searching for queries and the format of google’s new AI chatbox at the top of search which features blogs’ links.

When will the AI feature of Google search be available?

As the new AI feature at the top of Google Search has just been announced, it’s not available yet and it’s quite unclear as to when it will be. 

Considering the amount of pressure on google to get moving with their AI technology, whether that’d be from a repetitional point of view as the discussions with Samsungshowed or from a competition point of view for example related to Bing’s AI, I think it’s fair to say that it won’t take long until we all have that feature.

Is the new Google AI chat box in search any good?

Because it’s not yet available, it’s impossible to say for sure that the new AI feature is any good. But in my opinion, and purely based off of what was announced and demonstrated by Google, I think it’s quite good for many reasons. If we’re talking purely from a user perspective, I believe that google needed to modernize their search engine and their AI chat box does that. It will be easier for people to get answers to their questions. How many times have you asked something on Google and not gotten a straight answer? How many times have you had to go through several websites to find bits and pieces that you had to patch together?  

The new AI chat box’ purpose is to come and fill in the gap there.

But if people can get answers to their queries without clicking through websites, how are blogs going to survive? Is blogging dead because of AI? Is the new Google search engine going to kill our blogs, taking our ad and affiliate revenue with it? Should you give up on blogging? Should you panic? Here’s my take on that. 

Stop panicking, Everything WILL and MUST change

Nothing in life is permanent. Everything changes at some point in any industry. Today’s AI is not tomorrow’s AI. What we see now will also evolve. It’s inevitable. It’s life. Any industry (but also any aspect of life) experiences that. 

I’ve witnessed many bloggers rejecting AI to the core with every bit of strength they could and even arguing against it in blogging groups. Though I understand the sentiment (Wouldn’t life be so much nicer if everything remained as is and things were always stable?), I disagree with the reaction.

The truth is, any industry changes at some point. Small changes, big changes, it does not matter. The survivors are the ones who learn to ride the waves instead of pretending it’s just going to go away (it’s not). I’ve seen arguments that this version of the AI chat box is not good and does not give good answers. Whether it’s people trying to convince themselves or it actually isn’t good is irrelevant. Trust me, if this version doesn’t satisfy people, something else will come along. In my opinion, there is no going back, unless it’s a legal affair. but that’s another story (more on this below)

Going against anything that is new is usually a fear reaction which is natural. But it’s also exhausting and won’t make the change go away. Whether you want it or not, it’s better to accept and embrace change and work to allow your business to adapt.

Will AI replace bloggers?: Drama sells

Now this is one of my favorite points. The amount of people who keep posting articles from big publishers announcing blogging is dead is overwhelming. Again, I understand the sentiment and the fear it instils (that’s their goal) but please stop listening to what the media puts out there just because it’s big bold letters.

I’ve said this in a few comments already but any article titles “the end of SEO” or anything hinting at publishers loosing traffic due to search changes just sells more. Drama sells. No-one reads articles titles “Everything will be fine. Don’t Worry.” 

People react to fear. Remember in 2020 when sh*t hit the roof? What did people do first? They became irrational and ran to the store to buy toilet paper! TOILET PAPER! Out of all the things! The mass effect is also to blame of course. But if you think about it, there are many ways to replace toilet paper. One of them is using one of these publishers’ printed version (those who are trying to scare you out and who keep pitting Kate against Meghan) in lieu of toilet paper if you see what I mean

My advice for any of you who tend to get caught up in your own head is to think more objectively. Always think of the articles interests, e.g.: “Why do they dramatise certain topics?” If anyone has a law background here, you’ll likely agree with me: objectivity is key!

A subject being topical doesn’t correlate to the level of consequences it could have. In other words, just because something is very topical doesn’t mean it’s going to have major consequences and make a whole industry disappear.

Remember also that those publishers are also trying to win the SEO game. By instilling fears in other website owners and encouraging them to quit, they are making space for them to grow and do better. 

One last thing, no-one knows the future. No publisher can say that blogging is going to disappear. How could they know the future? 

Will AI replace bloggers? Everyone fears the unknown

This is just a fact about human nature. I have got many examples up my sleeve that have to do with the online space. For example, when snippets came around, everyone freaked out. All we could hear was how click through rates were going to decrease and “why would anyone click websites’ links if they can get the answer in the snippet?”. Turns out snippets were amazing as a source of traffic. Actually, I was very disappointed that they took them away as quite a few of my posts were features in snippets and generated thousands of views/sessions per month.

Other examples apply in the realm of social media. When shorts came around, everyone swore it was the end of long-form videos on YouTube. When TikTok came around, everyone swore it was the end of instagram and YouTube. It turns out that famous tiktokers now open YouTube channels, that we have huge influencers who only post shorts and many people are still finding big success (and communities!) on Instagram. 

I actually had a successful YouTube channel with over 20,000 subscribers and videos with over 500,000 views! So i know for a fact that none of the new social medias killed YouTube.

The unknown is scary but the online space is meant to evolve and do so quickly. It can be overwhelming but again, it’s inevitable and as a blogger, you need to learn to adapt or you will be left behind. 

Will AI replace bloggers? Money Money

Back to thinking about others’ interests, think about Google’s interests. That’s to make money. Google mostly makes money from ads. If bloggers (aka publishers) stop making money from blogs, there will no longer be any incentive for people to write blogs. If you’re a blogger, you know how much work it is to blog professionally. Blogging has a lot of advantages but it’s a lot of work. Between learning keyword research, doing keyword research, learning SEO, implementing what you learn, formatting, and so on, our days are filled with more tasks that we can generally handle. Do you think anyone is going to write a blog if there is no way to monetize it?

And that’s exactly it: if there is no more blogs, there is no more ad space and/or traffic to justify charging for ads. No ad space, no money. 

Some will counter-argue that Google could sell ad space on the AI chat box or find a way to monetize its AI. I agree that it is a possibility. That said, according to statistics, there was over 1.7 billion websites on Google in 2016. It’s fair to assume that number has kept increasing. According to recent data statistics, there are over 50 billion pages indexed in Google in 2023. To monetize AI as much as websites, the AI ad space would need to be equivalent to the current ad space (which is a lot) or Google would need to change their monetization model. It’s not impossible, but it’s also not what we are seeing at the moment (see the section on the New Search below).

Will AI replace bloggers? AI basics

Though it’s unclear at the moment how Google’s AI gets its information from, it is likely that it’s from us (lol who else really). If blogs disappear, so does our information, and may I say, our updated information (because you do regularly update your old posts, right?). If that goes, what is Google going to feed the AI with? I don’t see Google hiring millions of people just to feed the AI information. Seems quite unrealistic and THE money pit.

Will AI replace bloggers? The New Search

There is a lot to be said about how the new search looks with the new AI box. Here are my main thoughts on it: 

More sites at the top

There are now 3 sites featured in the AI box. Featured snippets only featured one post most of the time so that’s two more chances for you to be featured at the very top of SERPs. SEO is more important than ever in that sense.

EEAT

If Google can give a short spiel on a topic, AI cannot actually experience what it’s talking about. There isn’t actual someone there, the AI is just a computer system. It cannot see or feel.  

In 2022, Google launched their helpful content system. Essentially, this is evidence that experience is more important than ever. On its blog, google mentions “ first-hand experience”, “deep knowledge”, “originality of the information”. 

In my opinion, what google is saying is to make sure you’re bringing personal value to the table and not simply generic information. That is because the AI chatbox can produce that generic information. Think about it. Most people want to know what other people think. That’s why social media is so popular, people love to know what others are doing, where they are going and what bar they preferred in Bali. 

The chatbox is great to get a first response, a first itinerary, a sort of draft and to narrow down options. But people want to hear from other people. If your posts don’t show any personal experience, why should users even listen to you in the first place? And what would you bring to the table in addition to AI? 

So share more of your experience and expertise on topics. The EE of EEAT are more important than ever.

AI box

The new AI box is great for Google users. Honestly it’s going to be so handy. I obviously can’t predict how people are going to use it or if they will even love it but in my experience, people get used to anything even when it’s bad…

It seems that for a first draft of an itinerary for example, it could be great and help people narrow down where they want to go/whether they need an e-bike or an e-scooter, etc. It will give users a direction. To sum it up, it will be a sort of top of the funnel. In my opinion, people will ultimately want to learn more from real people once they’ve gotten through that first search.

Think of featured snippets. People definitely could get the answer to their question in the first few bullet points. So why did I consistently get thousands of clicks on them every month?

Human behavior: People are lazy and love to copy

I’m not saying that in a bad way. I’m lazy too. I’m a travel blogger because I love to plan and organize a road trip from scratch. But do you know many people who actually like to build a travel itinerary from A to Z just on their own (besides us lol)? Not really! 

People love to copy. And most don’t have time to build one from scratch. So yes, people might search whether Arches or Bryce Canyon is better for them but ultimately, once they’ve narrowed it down, it’s easier for a busy family to just copy the itinerary of another family that looks like them or that they like, trust or follow.

Could the AI chatbox go away?

My honest opinion is that no, it’s not going anywhere. One of the only ways I could see it get scrapped is if it were conflicting with copyright laws. The reason I’m bringing this up is that there are current legal suits against Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI in the coding space. You can read more about it here. In the blogging sphere, the question has been raised many times as to where the information that the AI (whether that’d be ChatGPT or Google’s AI) is regurgitating comes from and whether using that information infringes any copyright laws. 

I really disliked copyright law in university and ran from that class as soon as I could so I’m not the best placed to provide an opinion on the question. Online copyright laws are tricky and vary from one country to another as well which in the online space only complicates matters. But all together, I’m sure AI will make its way to the internet one way or another.

Will AI replace human content writers?

The answer to this question is actually something we already know: yes and no. Let’s explore this slightly different issues. 

Here, we’re not so much talking about the new Google AI search engine and rankings on such engine but about how AI generated content could possibly replace human writers.

For bloggers, content writing is at the heart of the content creation process for blog posts. Imagining that machine learning writing tools could produce quality content thanks to their language models without having to use a human input is scary to most people who see their blogging job disappearing by the minute. 

The reality is that there are many sites out there that are using AI tools to generate posts that use a natural language and make it seem like they come from a human writer. Google even came out saying that AI generated content was fine as long as EEAT requirements were met and that the content was focused on people first. So we already know that AI replaces writers, in the act of writing. But it cannot replace the brain and the human feelings. It can imitate, it can regurgitate but it cannot experience (at least for now lol).

So what do you do as a blogger? This question would benefit from its own article. But in short, if you can’t beat it, use it. No human can write as fast as AI. But an AI cannot go to Milos Greece and experience its stunning beaches like Sarakiniko. So there will always be something that you can bring to an AI generated post. As mentioned above, experience is now more important than ever. Continue to write optimized and engaging content infused with your own experience. 

You can also use AI tools as a content writer for everything content marketing related such as turning a blog post into Instagram posts ideas or captions or creating Pinterest descriptions in bulk. Use it to save you time. 

Will AI replace bloggers? Wrap Up

Here’s my main points I encourage you to think about

• No, the new Google AI search tool will not replace bloggers
• AI is here to stay, one way or another. Embrace it or, as a blogger, you will get left behind.
• AI will not kill blogging (at least not now and not in the current context, I can’t obviously predict the next 50 years). This can be concluded from Google’s move to feature three sites at the top of the AI hatbox instead of one in the featured snippets
• Experience is more important than ever. As a blogger, you’ll want to provide personal and experienced information than an AI could not.
• SEO is more important than ever. The rules may change but you’ll still want to optimize to be featured at the top
• People want to get advice from real people. So write for people first.
• Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. There are ways to counteract big business changes. For example, you can diversify your revenue streams and sources. you can learn to make more money with less traffic (if you fear that you’ll suffer from lower click through rates).
• Don’t let yourself get caught in fear and drama.