Will AI kill content marketing and take copywriting jobs? Probably not entirely. But AI will certainly change the way copywriters and content marketers do their jobs. How? Well, let’s just ask, and see what we get.

I posed the following question to Google’s Gemini AI, and ChatGPT to see if I could get behind enemy lines, so to speak: “How to optimize content for AI?”

Google Gemini:

1. Focus on High-Quality, Comprehensive, and Authoritative Content:

• Prioritize E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): AI models, like human users, value credible and trustworthy information.
  • Demonstrate expertise: Showcase author credentials, experience, and knowledge on the topic.
  • Cite reputable sources: Back up claims with data, statistics, and references to academic research, government websites, or trusted industry publications.
  • Build brand authority: Get mentions from other reputable resources and ensure your website is perceived as a reliable source.
• Provide In-Depth, Well-Rounded Information: AI algorithms favor content that thoroughly explores topics, offers comprehensive answers, and presents multiple perspectives.
• Answer User Questions Directly and Concisely: AI overviews and generative AI responses often pull direct answers. Structure your content to provide clear, immediate answers to common questions, then elaborate with more detail.
• Incorporate Original Insights and Research: AI can generate content, but unique data, case studies, or exclusive interviews set your content apart and provide value AI can’t easily replicate.

ChatGPT

Optimizing content for AI means ensuring your content is easily discoverable, understandable, and useful to AI systems — especially those powering search engines, recommendation engines, and generative models (like ChatGPT). Here are key strategies to optimize content for AI:

1. Use Clear, Structured Language

• Write plainly: Avoid jargon unless it’s relevant to your audience. Use short, clear sentences.
• Break content into sections: Use headers (H1, H2, H3) to organize ideas.
• Bullet points and lists: AI can better parse structured formats like bulleted or numbered lists.

2. Incorporate Semantic Keywords

• Go beyond primary keywords (e.g., “branding services”) and include related concepts (e.g., “visual identity,” “logo design,” “brand messaging”).
• Use natural language: Think about how people ask questions in voice search or AI assistants.

3. Answer Questions Directly

• Use FAQs, how-to guides, and “what is” format posts.
• Include clear, one-sentence answers followed by expanded detail. This helps AI extract accurate information.

4. Include Relevant Internal and External Links

• Link to authoritative sources and related internal content. This helps AI understand topic relationships.
• Use descriptive anchor text instead of “click here”.

5. Use Schema Markup

• Add structured data (like FAQ, article, business, or product markup) to help search engines understand your content.
• This increases your chances of being featured in rich results, which are prioritized by AI.

6. Optimize Images and Media

• Use alt text that clearly describes images.
• Include captions and transcripts for videos and audio.
• AI can’t “see” visuals without descriptive metadata.

7. Create Consistent, High-Quality Content

• Regularly updated and relevant content signals authority to AI.
• Focus on helpfulness, accuracy, and user intent over keyword stuffing.

8. Test with AI Tools

• Ask ChatGPT or similar AI:
  • “Summarize this blog post.”
  • If it struggles, the content may need better structure or clarity.
• Use tools like:
  • Google Search Console
  • SurferSEO
  • Frase
  • Semrush AI Writing Assistant

Bonus: Think Like a Prompt

• Create content that can be easily quoted or used as a source in AI responses.
  • Example: “According to branding expert [Name], the three keys to strong brand identity are clarity, consistency, and emotional resonance.”

It’s easy to spot the science of optimizing content for AI, and this is all very helpful. Many of the strategies share similarities to what we might consider “traditional” SEO–utilizing alt text for images, structuring data, utilizing links to outside sources and interlinking, etc. I would argue that these are the jobs that AI and AI-related tools will continue to make easier and continue to automate at scale. 

But what I find most interesting is that both Gemini and ChatGPT (moreso Gemini), stress the importance of creativity. That is, producing original and human-centered content. For example, Google Gemini notes:

• “AI algorithms favor content that… presents multiple perspectives.”
• “Structure your content to provide clear, immediate answers to common questions, then elaborate with more detail.”
• “Incorporate Original Insights and Research”
• “Optimize for Natural Language and User Intent”
• “Content Generation (as a starting point): AI can help with outlines, drafts, and initial content, but human review and enhancement are crucial for accuracy, originality, and brand voice.”

While ChatGPT suggests:

• Use natural language: Think about how people ask questions in voice search or AI assistants.
• Include clear, one-sentence answers followed by expanded detail. This helps AI extract accurate information.

These are all tasks to which human beings are well-suited. I think what these AI bots might be trying to tell us is that it understands that we are human, and that humans want to communicate like humans. It understands that we will react most positively to content that is conversational, insightful and original. As Google Gemini noted in its recommendations, “AI models are trained on natural language, so content that sounds like a human conversation will be better understood.” 

Now it’s possible that AI is really evil and that it’s simply using us to get even more powerful before it truly takes over the world and we don’t even recognize it’s happening because it sounds and behaves exactly like humans. Like we trained it to do. But for content marketers and creatives, it’s not the end just yet. Good, original content is still necessary. While plenty of what we do is and can be automated, we are still necessary.