Why Google’s AI likes your writing better than its own
It’s 2025, and Google is no longer just directing you to content — it’s generating it through Search Generative Experience.
Ask a question and you’ll get a crisp AI-powered answer at the top of the page. Paid SEO and traditional organic links? They’re buried down below. Will most people really bother scrolling that far?
If you want people to find you, click through to your website, and actually read what you have to say, you now have one job: Get your message into Google’s answers. And there’s only one way to do that — create high-quality, insightful and original copy.
The kind only a human can write.
So if you’ve put all your faith in machines, and you’re one of the many businesses churning out AI-only content, you’re not just wasting your time — you’re falling further behind in the SEO and web traffic game.
Here’s why human-written copy still matters.
1. Because everything Google’s AI knows it learned from us
Google’s AI didn’t invent knowledge. It scraped it. The answers it’s giving you, it builds from blog posts, explainers, guides and articles written by people like you and me.
This post? The explainer you wrote back in 2019 and forgot existed?
Google’s AI has read it. Indexed it. And it might be quoting it right now to answer someone else’s question.
Because AI doesn’t think; it samples. And when it samples, it’s looking for authority, clarity and credibility.
Things humans are still a hell of a lot better at than AI.
2. Because the game has shifted from keywords to intent
Old-school SEO writing—and, yeah, it’s weird calling anything to do with SEO content writing old school—was all about keywords.
You’d get a list of phrases to hit and, as a content writer, your job was to weave them in just enough to trick the algorithm without wrecking the story.
That era’s over.
Google’s AI doesn’t just scan for keywords anymore. It reads for meaning. It wants content that understands what the user actually wants—not just what they typed.
The winners in today’s game are the writers who can read between the lines. Who get the nuance. Who can anticipate questions, explain ideas and guide a reader through a topic like a trusted expert— not just spit out matching phrases.
AI can process but it can’t empathise. And it’s empathy that’s needed to unlock intent.
3. Because AI can’t lead — it can only remix
AI is brilliant at remixing what’s already out there. It can reword, summarise, even mimic tone. (Have you noticed how ChatGPT now starts writing the same way you do?)
But AI can’t think. It doesn’t have ideas of its own. And it sure as hell doesn’t take a stand.
You have conversations. AI runs code.
If your content strategy is just feeding prompts into ChatGPT and hitting publish, you’re not building a brand — you’re building wallpaper. You’ll blend in with everyone else doing the same thing – including your competitors
Original thinking still matters. A sharp perspective still matters. A human voice still matters.
Because Google’s AI isn’t quoting the tenth AI-written blog post that says the same thing as the last nine.
It’s quoting the one that said something first — and said it with guts.
4. Because in a world of AI noise, human signal stands out
Let’s face it. The internet is now flooded with low quality AI-generated crap. (There’s no other word for it.) Rehashed ideas. Generic phrasing. Articles that may appear on the surface to say something but really say nothing at all.
Now everyone’s using AI to cranky out the same recycled takes, the internet has begun to feel like one big, bland echo chamber.
But guess what? That’s your opening.
Because when you say something you actually stand out.
Original writing still pops. It catches the eye. Earns trust. It gets quoted, bookmarked and linked to.
And Google’s AI notices.
That’s why it links to human content, not AI-produced crap.
5. Because trust still matters — and humans still earn it
AI might be able to summarise, paraphrase, and stitch together answers. And that’s exactly how you should be using it.
But it can’t build trust. That’s how you shouldn’t.
Readers still want to know: Who wrote this? Why should I believe them? Do they actually know what they’re talking about?
Trust doesn’t come from a string of words. It comes from voice, authority, experience and intent.
And Google’s AI knows it — which is why our friends at Rocket Agency point out, it now prioritises E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
You don’t get that from a faceless AI output. You get that from some with a real track record, real insight and real skin in the game.
So if you want Google’s AI to cite your work — and readers to trust what it says — you’d better show up like someone worth quoting.
Because in a world full of machine-made content, being a human who actually knows what they’re talking about is a bigger competitive edge than ever before.
The future of SEO is human—again
For a while, SEO looked like a formula, or a numbers game. Keywords, rankings, backlinks.
For writers, it became paint-by-numbers—or worse, write by numbers). Mind numbing work with zero creativity.
Now, with AI generating answers at the top of every search page, the game has 100% changed.
The winners in 2025 won’t be the ones who churn out the most content. They’ll be the ones who create the best content.
The most original. The most insightful.
The most human.
Because that’s what people actually want to read and Google’s AI knows it.
So don’t try to out-machine the machines.
Write like a human.
Think like a human.
Be the voice that stands out when everything else sounds the same.
Don’t waste your time trying to get robots to beat the algorithm.
Write something good so the algorithm quote you.
Want content that makes Google’s AI sit up and pay attention? Get in touch
| What is Google’s AI and how does it work?In 2025, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) uses artificial intelligence to answer your questions directly — right in the search results.Instead of showing you 10 blue links, it gives you an AI-generated summary built from content it believes is trustworthy. This usually includes blog posts, articles and guides.If your content is useful, original, and credible? You might get quoted.If not? You don’t just miss out on clicks — you don’t show up at all. |
