How to Humanize AI Content So They Rank on Google

Google hopes to reduce unoriginal, low-quality, or spammy content in search engines by 40% in a recent algorithm update. I believe you can imagine the number of websites Google penalized in this effort and the type of content it flagged. Obviously, most of it was created solely for search engine rankings.

Many agencies believe that the update targets AI-created content. However, Google clearly states that the update aims to reduce the visibility of low-value content.

Regardless, the update made us all take a step back and think twice about our future content strategies. Is AI still a viable content creation tool, or do we need to have all of our articles written by humans? Instead of choosing one over another, why not humanize the AI content you create?

After all, Google wants content that answers the search intent and provides value, whether AI-created or not.

Read on and learn how.

Key Takeaways from this blog

Here are 7 ways to humanize AI content

1. Personalize Your Content Using Stories and Humor
2. Don’t Let Your Content Shout Out, “I Am AI”
3. Cross Check Your AI Content to Fact Check
4. Avoid Verbosity and Fluff, Be Concise and Straightforward
5. Follow the Keyword Intent and Stick to it
6. Write in Active Voice

Is It Good to Use AI Generated Content?

The first thing that came to my mind when I started using AI was, “Is it good to use AI in my content?”

I was quite hesitant initially but then found AI more helpful in brainstorming and ideation rather than writing. Hours of skimming through competitors’ content were reduced to minutes. Before I knew it, I was onboarding more clients at a time than ever before.

The most interesting thing that happened to me was last year when I acquired a few clients who demanded me to use AI content for their website. Apparently, none of those websites are hit in this recent Google Core Update. Rather, they gained more traffic after augmenting their content strategy with AI.

Here’s how they fare after the recent Google SEO algo update.

Hence, the answer to the above question is straightforward: yes! It’s totally fine to use AI content as long as:

1. You keep your content relevant to your business,
2. It reflects your own perspective,
3. Add a human touch,
4. Don’t use fluff,
5. And keep it original.

AI vs. Human-Written Content

AI-generated content and human-written content mainly differ in how they’re created. AI-generated content comes from algorithms and programs designed to mimic human writing. It’s fast and can handle large volumes of content efficiently.

However, AI-written content sometimes lacks the nuanced understanding and creativity that a human writer brings to the table.

Human-written content, on the other hand, is crafted by individuals with experiences, emotions, and a unique style. This content often resonates more deeply with readers because it can convey subtleties of emotion and thought that artificial intelligence has not yet mastered.

Humans can understand cultural references, make complex judgments, and adapt their writing style to different audiences and situations, which AI struggles with.

While AI tools are improving and can certainly assist in the content creation process, they still serve best as tools in the hands of human writers who can inject personality, ensure accuracy, and tailor content to the intended audience.

Human oversight ensures that the content maintains quality, authenticity, and engagement that align with the readers’ expectations and needs.

7 Tips to Humanize AI Content

Without further ado, let’s explore ways to humanize your AI text.

1. Personalize Your Content Using Stories and Humor

One of the major differences between AI-written content and human-written content is personality. That’s where stories and humor come in.

AI is good at explaining complex ideas, but it takes storytelling skills to breathe life into those explanations. Humor is another element that you can achieve with AI, but it will not be as funny as human speech. Artificial intelligence that works on specific patterns and data has to reach that level of unexpected wit and fun.

Imagine that you’re reading about a stuffy, technical topic. Now, the same story is explained through a personal anecdote that makes you chuckle – that’s the human touch. It’s what makes content stick, what makes it shared.

We all have stories, loads of them. By weaving these into your AI-generated content, you can give it warmth and make it more approachable.

And don’t worry about trying too hard; authenticity is key. A genuine little quip here and there, a real-life example, or a personal mishap that led to a eureka moment – these elements transform your content from monotonous to memorable.

Remember, humanizing content doesn’t mean you must create a stand-up comedy routine. Rather, it’s about making your readers nod with a smile and think, “I get it now.”

In simple words, it’s about telling your story in spite of using AI.

2. Don’t Let Your Content Shout Out, “I Am AI”

When you’re using AI to create content, you’re actually walking on a tightrope. Lean too much on the AI side, and your content might end up sounding robotic, littered with dead giveaways that scream, “I’m not human!”

We’re talking about a certain stiffness, a lack of the little imperfections that make writing human. So, you have to play with words and phrases here and there, replace them with your natural words, and make your text human.

AI, specifically generative AI software like ChatGPT, learns to generate text in a specific pattern. I also noticed AI might generate sequences of similar-length sentences. It’s obvious to the trained eyes that a particular paragraph is created by AI.

For example, I asked an AI writing software to create an article titled “how to start freelancing with no experience”.

Below is the draft generated by AI.

And here’s what it looks like after I edited the text.

Bottom line — AI will try to convey emotions through text but often falls short of the mark.

3. Cross Check Your AI Content to Fact Check

You must have seen this public message below the message window in ChatGPT saying that it can make mistakes, so don’t rely on it and double-check your info.

ChatGPT and other language models can sometimes provide inaccurate or outdated information. This occurs because these tools generate responses based on what they learn in their training data.

If the AI tool cannot find the answer in its learned knowledge, it might generate a response that seems plausible but not factually correct. AI experts call this phenomenon ‘hallucination’.

Moreover, their datasets have inherent limitations, often reflecting the biases or gaps present in the data they were trained on.

For example, I asked Gemini why it’s important to enable 3rd party cookies. Gemini stated that 3rd party cookies help serve relevant ads and improve user experience, which is partially correct. Instead of 3rd-party cookies, websites improve user experience with 1st-party cookies.

So, I followed up with another question. And it caused Gemini to retract its previous answer.

However, some AI chatbots are designed to overcome hallucinations. Perplexity is one.

Perplexity AI will help you double-check your info and also support it with relevant and accurate stats. Unlike ChatGPT it gives you more updated info.

Here’s how you can use Perplexity to include citations for your article.

It does not just provide stats; it gives you the references for all of them. But even with that, it’s prudent not to rely entirely on AI when it comes to fact-checking.

4. Avoid Verbosity and Fluff, Be Concise and Straightforward

AI simply skims through millions of search pages and gives you a combination of what it found on those pages. Most of the time, it adds a lot of fluff to the answer.

So, prompt your queries in such a way that AI excludes fluff, and answers your queries directly. But being straightforward never means talking in a robotic tone. Be empathetic, avoid verbosity, and give solutions in as few words as possible.

Here is an example of a far-fetched verbal answer to my query.

Now, I use the same query but with a more optimized prompt.

See the huge difference between the two intros? You can even further optimize it manually by replacing the words like “delve” with “look into”.

5. Follow the Keyword Intent and Stick to it

Google wants to satisfy its users with helpful information. So, following the intent of the specific keyword is also a key to optimizing your content. When your blog, article, or web page satisfies the reader’s intent, your content gets a boost and moves up on the search engine results page (SERP).

Search intent is the user’s expectation when they type a phrase into the search engine. To meet the search intent, you need to evaluate your content to see if it covers all possible information the user seeks.

For example, if the user searches for ‘Best SEO Tools,’ a blog that meets the search intent shall contain a list of the top software for various SEO tasks. If you include information like how to optimize SEO, common SEO mistakes, or how to write SEO content, you’re not meeting the search intent.

So, how do you ensure that your content meets search intent? First, try to put yourself in the user’s shoes and ask yourself what you wish to learn when searching for a specific phrase.

You can also compare and analyze competitors that are already ranking on Google for the keyword. Find out what they’ve included in the blog and seek a knowledge gap that you can capitalize on.

6. Write in Active Voice

AI (and some writers) often write in the passive voice. So, people now strongly associate passive voice with AI, although it’s not always true.

Whether written by AI or humans, passive sentences are harder to read. Therefore, there is a strong motivation to turn them into active sentences whenever possible.

We want a punch, and active voice is our heavyweight champ. It makes the subject of your sentence the star of the show, and who doesn’t want to read about a protagonist who’s actually doing something?

Transform sentences like “The ball was thrown by the boy” to “The boy threw the ball.” Feel that? The second one just zips right along, taking readers with it.

That’s the power of active voice—it drives your content forward, keeps your readers glued, and gives AI-generated text that unmistakably human spark.

Should you trust AI detectors when humanizing content?

AI detectors can give your content a human-written flag, but eventually, you will need to rely on your own judgment.

Because overusing these tools can leave your content feeling forced, too simple, or even factually incorrect. It’s like pouring too much sugar into your coffee; it loses its kick.

For example, some AI detectors flag content as AI-written if it detects many sentences of similar length or structure. If you vary the sentences, the detector marks the content as human-written.

AI tools are not perfect. In fact, they might be lagging behind AI writing tools in technologies. There are, of course, some that are more accurate than others.

I suggest using Winston AI because it’s relatively more accurate than other tools that flag every perfect piece of content as AI.

More importantly, you should include stories, examples, personal experiences, and personalities to make your content more engaging and relatable.

Bottom line

When it comes to SEO writing, human intuition should be your guiding star. Use AI writing tools for efficiency, but let the final touch be human-like, infusing the conversational warmth only a human can.

Create content that speaks to the reader. That’s the essence of content creation that resonates and ranks well without leaning too heavily on AI.