The Future of Blogging and the Impact of Artificial Intelligence

Blogging started in the late 90s. Back then they were just platforms in which people could share stories. But fast forward to where we are now, you will realise there has been a major shift. No longer are these boring pieces narrating day-to-day tasks by bored stay at home homemakers. Blogs are now an important part of the marketing effort of many companies. These platforms are providing potential and existing customers with relevant information. Blogs are not only driving sales for big corporates, but they are sources of income for many. 

One thing we can be certain of is change. Nowhere else is this more apparent than in the world of blogging. Just look at where this industry started and where it is now. We can attribute most of the change in recent years in blogging to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and ranking. If you need to run a successful blog, you need to understand how these work. This means blogging is not just about creating quality content, there is a technical side to it. 

Understanding Blogging and Search Engine Optimisation

The basic definition of a blog is that it is an information website. Bloggers create relevant content which attracts and retains readers. The purpose of wanting readers on your website depends on the writer. When blogging began it used to be a one-man affair where you would crunch out diary-style posts. Today, blogs are big business. You can have multi-member teams with experts in writing, UX, web design, programming, and more. 

Blogs are run by companies or individuals. These platforms attract customers and direct them to where they can buy a product or services. Some affiliate blogs earn their creators six figures per month. To have a successful blog, it needs to rank well in search engines. This will determine how far up your website is on the list of results. Search Engine Optimisation deals with whether the content has the appropriate keywords and backlinks for Google. 

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) fits in 

Recently, bloggers have started using AI to produce SEO friendly content. This technology allows the user to automate tasks for greater efficiency. One of the most important aspects, when it comes to blogging, is the title. If you have been writing for a while you will know how hard it can be to come up with a catchy blog title. AI helps writers sift through the search data and find out what readers want to read. Creating relevant content and on-demand is one of the keys to successful blogging.

AI has also been utilised when in fine-tuning blog posts. It has proven to be a better tool for spotting mistakes in spelling and grammar. You will be hard-pressed to find a blogger who does not use a grammar tool of some kind. On the negative side, some developers have created spinning software that produces hundreds of articles from rehashed content. Hiring a human writer is time-consuming and more expensive than paying for a bot. 

Even though artificial intelligence bots are very skilled at creating content full of data and statistics or news with links to past events, they are very scarce at persuasive and sales-friendly writing. Comparative portals are a great example of how to propose content to inform users by giving them exactly the information they are looking for, on a specific topic, without wasting too much time.

Take for example the popular betting portal Bet.xyz, which reviews online sportsbooks. An AI would find it nearly impossible to test a sportsbook on its own, and produce a personal review of the product. It would, however, be able to collect the key points from that review, along with key points from reviews of the same sportsbook but from other sources, in order to give the customer a good overview of what various reviewers have to say about that sportsbook.

Future Trends in Blogging and AI

So, what does the outlook hold for blogging? For one thing, AI will play a huge role in what readers consume. It will also influence how visitors to blogs interact with the site. 

Chatbots

We have already started seeing the introduction of chatbots on some websites. Instead of this being the exception, it will be the norm. Nowadays some blogs greet you with a bot which is programmed to direct you as appropriate. It will answer your FAQs or put you through to a human. We are going to see less real live chat technicians in blogs. The reasons for this are plain. Yes, bots are efficient, and also the cost to run a bot is less than paying a real customer service agent.

Google Rankbrain and machine learning

Google also started using AI in its Rankbrain algorithm in 2015. Previously, it was enough to produce sub-standard content and just lace it with keywords and backlinks. With Rankbrain, bloggers found that this method did not work anymore. Some were surprised to find they had lost the position they had enjoyed in the era of Pagerank. The machine learning capabilities of Rankbrain will continue to improve. Only blogs that understand concepts like search intent and optimise for such will continue to enjoy top ranking.

Content marketing

This area of blogging has seen a massive increase since the industry began. Content Marketing is when companies or affiliates create posts that tell the customer about the product and why they need it. This can be direct or neatly hidden in a case study piece on how someone found the product or service useful. Research has shown that content marketing is still the best way to communicate with customers. Companies use their blogs to establish themselves as authorities in their field. As readers consume this content, it becomes easier to convert them to customers. Future trends look promising in this field. 

Concerns on Future Trends

The blogging space is slowly squeezing out the small player. It is becoming increasingly more technical and less about the words written. Huge firms have a leg up considering they have the money to pay experts to do everything. This may result in newer and less prominent blogs being buried in a sea of results. Whether bots will be able to replace all types of bloggers remains to be seen. But the assertion that AI is better suited to some forms of writing cannot be disputed. 

Blogging remains a viable source of income for many writers. AI will have a profound effect on this trade in the future. The best way to go is to attain the necessary skills to survive the wheel of change.