I tracked 47 AI-written posts for 90 days. Here’s what actually happened to rankings.

Analyzing the Impact of AI-Generated Content on Search Rankings: A 90-Day Case Study

In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital marketing and content creation, artificial intelligence tools like Claude, GPT-4, and Jasper have become increasingly popular. Yet, questions remain about their efficacy in producing content that not only ranks well on search engines but also engages readers effectively. Over a 90-day period, I conducted a comprehensive experiment to understand the real-world consequences of integrating AI-generated content into a website’s SEO strategy. Here, I share the detailed findings based solely on observable data and outcomes.

The Experimental Setup

The experiment involved creating a total of 47 blog posts using different content generation methods:

Pure AI-Generated Content: Posts written entirely by AI without any human editing.
AI with Heavy Human Editing: Content initially generated by AI but heavily revised and polished by human writers.
Human-Written Content: Posts authored solely by human writers.

All posts targeted similar keywords within the same niche and on a site with consistent domain authority, ensuring a level playing field for comparison.

Key Findings on Search Rankings

The results were unexpected and, frankly, somewhat perplexing:

| Content Type | Number of Posts | Top 20 Rankings | Top 10 Rankings |
|———————————–|——————-|—————–|—————–|
| Pure AI (no editing) | 15 | 3 | 1 |
| AI + Heavy Human Editing | 16 | 7 | 7 |
| Human-Only Content | 16 | 6 | 6 |

While AI-crafted content that was unedited managed to secure a few placements within the top 20, only a small fraction reached the top 10. Conversely, posts refined through significant human editing—combining AI efficiency with human oversight—performed noticeably better, with more posts ranking in the top 10. Human-exclusive content also performed well, though not dramatically better than AI-edited content.

Engagement Metrics: The Human Factor

Despite some AI-generated posts ranking on the first page, engagement metrics told a different story. Posts created solely by AI experienced:

40% reduction in average time spent on page
28% increase in bounce rate

These figures suggest that while AI can help achieve initial visibility, the content’s ability to retain and engage visitors is still lacking.

What Does This Mean for Content Strategy?

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