Downsides of Substack AI-driven content

AI content isn't building assets. It's renting traffic. This year, I've worked with four organisations facing the same crisis. They invested £15-50k in automated content generation, expecting to build a sustainable traffic engine. Instead, they've discovered something unsettling: AI content behaves more like PPC than owned media - stop investing and the traffic stops. This is typical of what I'm seeing of AI Content - → Decay rates of 15-30% per quarter as Google refines its understanding of thin AI content → 70% of articles generating zero traffic (not 20-30% like traditional content) → No compounding effects — unlike human-written evergreen content, AI articles don't build authority or attract natural links → Forced reinvestment — clients must keep producing just to maintain current traffic levels One client's data is particularly telling: • 485 blogs and landing pages published • 410 pages (84.5%) get zero traffic • £5,700/month traffic value from just 10 pages • Massive drops in late 2024 and 2025 suggesting algorithmic vulnerability The power law is working (10 pages drive most value), but it's unstable. Those winners can disappear overnight with algorithm updates. My Recommendations - Instead of "publish 6,000 AI articles," my clients are now: • Using AI to discover 400 topics through article testing (rather than focus on content for the sake of content). • Identifying the 10-20 winners from real traffic data • Invest £500-1,000 per winner to add defensibility (expertise, data, tools, links & FAQs) • Archive or consolidate the losing content AI excels at discovery and testing. But building moats still requires human expertise, original thinking, and genuine value. The question to ask: Are you building equity, or renting traffic that expires? What are you seeing in your content analytics? Are your 2024-era AI articles still performing, or showing decay?

We’ve spent 9 months researching and testing AI-generated content's impact on Google’s algorithm. Here’s what you need to know if you’re using tools like ChatGPT to create content for your website. After extensive research and hands-on experiments (including with our own website), here’s what we’ve found: Google’s penalties on AI-generated content are real. If an article is 100% AI-written, Google can de-index it quickly—sometimes within 1-2 days of publication. Their detection of AI content, particularly from tools like ChatGPT or Claude, is sharper than ever. Even if you use human "rewriters" to make it seem more natural, half the time Google still catches it. What’s even riskier? If a significant portion of your website’s content (think 30% or more) is AI-generated, Google may penalize the entire site. While the exact percentage isn’t set in stone, it’s a gamble—the more AI content you post, the more likely Google will penalize your top-ranking keywords. We’ve seen sites lose 30-40% of their top 3 ranking keywords, while lower-ranking ones are left untouched. So, what should you do? Focus on original content with fresh ideas and perspectives. AI can be helpful for brainstorming. It cannot create, only replicate and regurgitate. Google is looking for new, valuable information, not a repeat of the same generic content. High-value content includes specific and unique insights. It should serve a net new purpose for readers that can’t be found in other content on the same topic. tl;dr Don’t rely on AI to completely write or heavily rewrite your articles. The risk of Google detecting and penalizing it is too high. Be cautious when using AI to repurpose content—it might come across as “AI-written,” which Google will quickly flag. As Google improves its ability to spot AI content, penalties for unoriginal work—whether AI-generated or not—will likely increase. 👥 AI for content writing is currently my favorite debate in the digital marketing world. What’s your take on what we’ve found? 

AI is great for scaling content, BUT it could also lead to losing loyal customers without the added human touch. Consumers could start viewing the content (and brand) as inauthentic. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy, and they can often sense when content lacks a genuine human touch. This perception of inauthenticity can erode trust - the foundation of any strong brand-consumer relationship. AI-generated content may miss nuances in brand voice. A lack of context can lead to disconnected messaging. Over reliance on AI might signal a lack of investment in quality. The stakes are high. Just as consumers have abandoned brands after acquisitions changed their essence, they may turn away from those whose voices become mechanical and impersonal. Trust is hard-won but easily lost. As we embrace AI, let's not forget the irreplaceable value of authentic human connection and the ever present need for a human touch with AI. #BrandAuthenticity #DigitalMarketing #ConsumerTrust

Publishing hundreds of blog posts quickly with AI… genius or disaster in the making? IMO this is one of the worst things you can do with AI as a content creator or marketer. Not only will the content sound somewhat formulaic & bland (even with the most detailed prompting)… your site also stands to get smacked if Google decides they don’t like what you’re doing. Publishing dozens (let alone hundreds) of posts or pages in a short amount of time—with the goal to rank faster for key terms in your niche—is extremely high risk. You’re betting that Google won’t interpret this behavior as attempting to manipulate search algorithms. I’ve seen this play work in the past, usually for well-established sites that already have a strong reputation and authority with Google. Today, it’s high risk/short-term reward. Almost all the sites I’ve seen go hard with hundreds of almost pure AI content pages, eventually get knocked back down… even if the see a temporary lift from this strategy. At the end of the day, the same thing that’s always been true… remains true… Create genuinely great, useful content that real people get value from. Educate & entertain from your lived experience. And sure, AI can be a helpful tool to use along the way, but it’s not a replacement for you. This path isn’t always easy, but it’s the truest way to build a real long-term business around the content you’re creating.