Everyone's talking about AI right now and how to properly use it without hurting your rankings. How it's going to change everything, make content creation effortless, automate all your marketing... and honestly, some of that is true. But most of what you hear is noise.
Here's what I tell the business owners I work with: AI isn't a replacement for knowing what you're doing. It's a tool. A really useful tool, but still just a tool. One way people are starting to boost their site traffic is by using AI as an assistant, not taking shortcuts.
The difference matters more than you think.
Let's get this out of the way. Yes, AI can hurt your rankings... but not for the reason you might think.
Google doesn't care if you used AI to write something. What they care about is whether your content is actually helpful. They're looking for experience, expertise, and whether people can trust what you're saying. If your content checks those boxes, it doesn't matter how you created it.
Where people mess up is treating AI like a content factory. They pump out dozens of blog posts with barely any editing, no fact-checking, nothing that shows they actually know what they're talking about. That stuff gets filtered out, not because it's AI-generated, but because it's unhelpful.
I've seen it happen. Someone gets excited about how fast they can create content, and six months later they're wondering why their traffic didn't move. The answer is usually sitting right there in what they published.
Think of AI as a research assistant. It can help you organize information, spot patterns, brainstorm ideas... but it can't replace your judgment. You're still the one who knows if something is accurate, relevant, or worth saying.
That human piece is what makes content rank. Google wants to show people content from someone who actually knows the subject. AI can help you communicate what you know more efficiently, but it can't create expertise where there isn't any.
AI is good at finding long-tail keywords and related questions you might not have thought of. It can group keywords by what people are actually looking for, which saves time. But here's the thing... just because AI suggests a keyword doesn't mean you should use it. You still need to decide what's actually relevant to your business.
AI can help you see what a complete article should cover. It'll point out sections you might have missed or areas where your flow is confusing. This is useful for building depth on a topic, which matters for SEO. But you're still the one deciding what your audience needs to know and in what order.
This is where I use AI the most. Taking older blog posts and refreshing them with current information, clarifying sections that aren't clear, improving how they read. Updating what you already have is often more valuable than creating something new, and AI makes it faster.
AI can help you write better meta titles and descriptions, test different versions, keep everything within character limits. This doesn't directly affect rankings, but it affects whether people click on your result. Low risk, high value.
AI can find opportunities to link your articles together in ways that make sense. Building these content clusters helps search engines understand what you're about. Instead of manually checking every post, AI can suggest connections based on topic overlap.
Don't let AI write full articles without you adding real input. The results will be generic and missing the perspective that makes your content worth reading.
Don't publish anything without reviewing it. Even if it looks good at first glance, you need to fact-check and make sure it actually helps your audience.
Don't chase keywords that don't align with what you offer or what your audience needs. And definitely don't try to automate your entire SEO strategy. Tools only work if there's a real plan behind them.
For small business owners doing their own marketing, AI levels the playing field. You can do keyword research, optimize content, improve your site structure without needing a full team or a huge budget.
That said, there are times when getting help makes sense. If you're in a competitive space, if you've been trying for months without seeing results, or if you just don't have the time to stay on top of this... talking to someone who does this every day can give you clarity that AI can't.
Either way, AI should fit into a longer plan. It's not a quick fix. It's something that makes consistent effort more efficient.
AI can make you faster. But it can't make you better unless you're already bringing something valuable to the conversation. Content that shows real expertise and answers actual questions will always beat mass-produced filler.
Focus on consistency over shortcuts. Building organic traffic takes time, and no AI tool changes that. What it can do is help you make the most of the time you put in.
If you're serious about improving your SEO, start by figuring out what's already working and what isn't. A content audit will show you where your biggest opportunities are. From there, you can build something sustainable, whether you handle it yourself with AI as backup or bring someone in to guide the process.
If you want to talk through what makes sense for your situation, I'm around.
