How to Use AI for Content Creation (Without Getting Penalized)

Quick Overview of AI in Content

Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for a while, the use of AI as it pertains to content creation has really hit the scene in the last couple of months, specifically with the rise of ChatGPT.

Other tools, such as Jasper, Frase, Marketmuse, SurferSEO, have been implementing some form of AI for content creators and site owners for years.

So why the big surge in mainstream popularity now?

Partly because the way ChatGPT (and others such as Jasper) interact with us is … well, pretty neat. Simply typing a command into the prompt provides fast and accurate results. But to a larger extent, its capabilities are opening new doors for content creators and site owners. 

Lately, when people discuss AI, the conversation always seems to fall under two ideologies:

• People think it’s going to take over all content creation.
• OR they’re completely staying away from it to avoid being penalized by Google and other search engines.

But why does it have to fall under these two extremes? Isn’t there a middle ground? 

Well, yes, there is! 

When we look at how AI is changing the landscape of content, we shouldn’t be thinking “This thing is going to take over my job!” or “Well, anyone who uses it is going to be penalized”. Instead, we need to realize that this is a powerful tool that can be harnessed to make ourselves more efficient!

This is exactly what AI is built to do—make our lives easier.

For instance, when I get in my car to drive home from the grocery store, Siri tells me how far away I am and how long the drive will be, factoring in traffic patterns. This is great! It’s eliminated me having to do this myself and gives me a quick glimpse into my route home.

But I don’t let Siri take the wheel…

In other words, AI can help us get to where we’re going, but it can’t take us there itself. AI still requires a human touch. It can run commands, generate ideas, and provide us guidance, but it still needs us to tell it what to do and how to do it. 

In this article, we’ll cover how to use AI—specifically ChatGPT—for content creation to make your processes more efficient, scalable, and easier. We’ll break everything down into different categories for you below.

A Quick Note On AI

Personally, I believe with how quickly AI technology is moving and the direction it’s going, this will be the way of the (near) future. That’s a broad statement, so let me clarify…

I don’t think all online content is going to be AI-generated; I don’t think it’s going to make writers and content creators irrelevant; and I don’t think the Terminators will rise up to take over the human race. 

What I do think will happen (and is in some capacity already happening) is how we view and create content will change. It’ll make processes more efficient and most likely, more competitive.

That being said, if you’re not using AI in some capacity for your content or website, you’re going to be left playing catch up.

How to Use AI For Content Creation

Probably the most asked question I currently get is “Are you using AI to write content?”. 

If you’re using AI to write 100% of your content, then it’s probably not churning out anything of quality or value. But as I mentioned before, this is an extreme scenario.

Just because ChatGPT can write an entire article for you, it doesn’t mean that’s what you should be using it for. In fact, this isn’t even an effective way to use it—you’re barely scratching the surface. 

Below we’ll go over some specific ways you CAN use ChatGPT to help with content creation. 

Note: Most of these commands can also be used on Jasper or Frase (or other tools with AI/GPT capabilities). For this article, we’ll just focus on ChatGPT prompts. 

Using AI to Rewrite a Paragraph 

Using ChatGPT, simply input the command: “rewrite this paragraph” 

Then follow it by the content you want rewritten. You can even add a few additional commands such as tone, style, or the personality you want to convey it in. 

This can be great if you come across a piece of information that you need modified into a structured paragraph or single thought. 

Condensing Bullet Points Into a Paragraph

You can use ChatGPT to help expand or create a paragraph or sentence based on important points you need to cover. This is great if you’re running into writer’s block or just aren’t sure how to start a new section of an article. 

Try inputting: “Condense the following bullet points into a [type] paragraph: [your content]”

Creating Bullet Points for a Specific Topic

Alternatively, you can also create bullet points based on a specific topic. This can help you expand on certain points you missed, can be used as a summary for a section of an article, or as a product overview. 

Type in a command such as: “generate bullet points for [xyz] topic”. 

Creating a Title Based on Keywords

Any writer will know that a title can be just as, if not more, important than the content you’re writing—it’s usually the thing that gets them to the article in the first place. 

If you’re running into a wall or just need ideas on what you should title your article, type in the command: 

“create a title for the following keyword: [insert keyword]” 

OR you can do it for multiple keywords.

Explain It to a Child

Sometimes we come across information that’s overly technical or outside our level of expertise. Unless you’re writing content for a specific publication, then your content needs to be easy to read. 

You can use AI to help rewrite something in a simpler context that’s easier to understand—from there, you can edit and revise it in your own words. 

Use the command: “Explain the following to a child”

Here’s an example from a snippet pulled from Wikipedia on Hydrogen Peroxide.

Expand On a Sentence and/or Paragraph

As mentioned earlier, sometimes we run into writer’s block. Using AI to help expand on an original thought or idea can help you push past this. 

Use this command to help generate new ideas for your content: 

“Expand on this sentence”

Create an FAQ Based on a Topic

This command is not only useful for FAQs in your content, but also for topic ideation. Sometimes the FAQs that are generated can be useful as subtopics in your content or help you expand on points you missed earlier. 

Type in the command: “Create a list of relevant FAQs for [topic]” 

Make sure to be specific. Alternatively, if you’ve already written your content, you could paste it in and ask “Create a list of relevant FAQs for the above content”.

How to Use AI for Content Planning and Topic Ideation

Although using AI to write your content can drastically cut down your time spent writing, it’s not always going to be perfect—in fact, it’s rarely going to be. For many people, this is a sticking point—if I have to make drastic revisions to my AI content, then is it even worth using?

I agree—but there’s a much more effective way to use it that garners better results.

Think about all the steps you have to take prior to putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Planning out what your content will look like and how it will be written is an important process for any site owner or content creator—this is where AI can be utilized best. 

Below I’ll go over some simple steps you can take to leverage AI to your advantage. 

Keyword Research and Topic Ideation

ChatGPT can be a great tool to find topics and ideas for your content or niche. Here are some simple commands that will not only save you hours, but also produce results you may not have thought of yourself. 

Try this command to come up with new topic clusters for a specific keyword or category: 

“Generate a list of [x] relevant questions related to [keyword or topic]”

Although it won’t provide you with the keyword volume or difficulty (such as tools like Ahrefs or Semrush), you can generate topics within a specific cluster as well. 

Try this command as well:  

“Generate a list of popular search terms related to [topic], that are relevant to [audience]”

From here, you can expand on each one to find what other subtopics you can cover. 

You can even create high-quality titles from search terms in the list by using the command:

“Create article titles for the [X number] topics above”

How to Use AI Tools For Brief Creation

Brief creation can be an often overlooked process; however, it’s crucial to creating high-quality content. Depending on what keyword you’re targeting, who your audience is, and what message you’re trying to convey to your readers, a brief will define the objective in a clear and concise way. 

By using AI in various methods, I’ve found that the simpler the command, the better the outputs it produces—and brief creation is a perfect fit for this formula. Not only can AI help generate briefs, but it can do so accurately and efficiently—a process that will save you hours of work. 

Let’s use one of the outputs from the “link building” example above—after creating a list of topics and keywords we can cover, it’s time to create a brief. 

Below is a sample command you can use that should cover everything you need in your brief, but feel free to play around with this. Depending on what you want to be included in the article, your brief commands may need to be different. 

“Generate an outline/brief based on the following:
Website: [your website]
Keyword: [target keyword]
Title: [title of your article]
Include H2, H3, H4 suggestions. Include subtopics under each heading. Include relevant FAQ’s. Include a meta description under 142 characters. Include relevant links to resources.”

Not bad, right? And if it’s not perfect, then you can select the sections you like and expand on each of them to create a more detailed brief for your team. 

I suggest playing around with the commands until you get the output you’re looking for. But overall, this process took less than a minute—compared to the hours you’ll spend creating briefs for your team. 

You can also break these down into specific steps to produce a more detailed brief:  

• Generate a list of topics and/or keywords around a specific cluster
• Generate titles for those topics
• Generate meta descriptions for those topics
• Generate subtopics to cover within each topic
• Create a mini-brief for each 
• Combine together for a longer, more detailed brief

Wrapping Up

We hope this has not only helped optimize your content creation procedures, but also opened up endless ideas for you to implement using AI. These are all just suggestions and examples that you can directly use—but the real secret is adjusting commands to leverage them for you specifically

The best advice I can give you is to try it out and be as creative with your commands as possible—it’s a trial and error process, but once you find the formula that works, it’ll create a much more efficient process. 

If you’re looking to streamline this process, you can visit Content Refined—we implement many of these AI procedures as well as use optimization tools (Marketmuse) to help scale website owners’ content. We’ll review your site, find the best keywords and topics for you to target, write, edit and optimize the content for SEO, and publish it directly to your site! 

If you’re interested in an AI writing service, you can also visit Rocket Content—a less expensive solution with great results!