Starting 2024, can I be candid for a bit? I’m going ahead anyway, so, sorry if you said “no.”
I’m pretty sure AI is going to replace me at work. Or at least, part of me.
Before that future reader (probably my mother) replies back, “oh no, you can never be replaced!” hear me out. Astute people may notice the term SEO, aka search engine optimization, in my current title. I’ve long hated including it, because SEO sounds like essentially translating human creativity for the robotic enjoyment of search engines. Because, that’s kinda what I’m doing. Not all the time, though, that would drive me crazy.
Well, you know who makes a greeeaaaat translator for robots? Other robots, aka AI.
You can actually test this now if you use Bard or GPT4 or Copilot. Copy a URL into the chat and ask, “how do I make this page more SEO friendly?” You can even take a competitor’s website and ask, “what topics or keywords are those losers outperforming me on?” and it will most definitely give you an answer. Maybe even a good one. You might even outsmart the elusive Google algorithm.
But the algorithm! I’m almost certain that my pea brain cannot follow the ever-changing algorithm trends any better than Grok can convince me to pay for the artist formerly known as Twitter. If one of you SEO specialists shine here, I’d like to know your magic formula.
Would the whole current process be tedious when fixing hundreds of your super important web pages? Yes, totally. But imagine, if you will, automating the whole thing. Throw your entire optimization process into a convenient module on your company’s content management system.
Impossible you say? I knew it would only be a matter of time, but that future is now, old man.
As an example, I discovered a module for Drupal (a highly-popular content management system) that connects the CMS platform directly with OpenAI’s API, enabling your entire website to be translated into multiple languages… almost instantly….
As someone who’s constantly battled with traditional translation services, this is life changing.
You can at this very moment leverage AI to create somewhat compelling online content, including marketingblocks.ai, taplio.com, and cohesive.so.
Okay, now think bigger – what if AI could craft entire landing pages, from beginning to end? Trending search analysis, content creation, photo/image curation or generation. AI could handle all the heavy lifting, then build it within the CMS natively. At this point, am I even doing anything?
That means SEO and content generation is automatable today, web content design and coding is automatable tomorrow, so what’s left?
I foresee our roles evolving into creative directors for our AI counterparts. Steering the ship while AI handles the rest.
Humans will still provide the priorities and artistic direction when deliverables just aren’t compelling enough for the lowly meat sack populace, aka the actual end target for marketing content.
That is, until the AI learn how to buy things on Amazon and Shopify. At that point, I’m heading to the mountains.
Rewinding back to the beginning of all this, do any of these “advancements” scare me? Maybe a little bit just because uncertainty can be unnerving.
Really, though, I’m excited to see what can be created with tools I never had previously. I’m not a coder, but now I can use Github Copilot to build a mobile app. I’m not a 3D modeler, but now I can make videos with animated characters thanks to platforms like Wonder Dynamics. I don’t sing or play any instrument very well, but now I can pop into Suno and build a jingle in moments.
Those are just three things off the top of my head. Many more opportunities will unlock if you’re looking out for them. My advice: surf the tide and new, cool growth areas will find you. At minimum, none of us will be bored anytime soon. 😉
Happy 2024!
