By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
For a deeper dive into the evolving digital landscape, including the role of AI in digital marketing, content strategies, and SEO for marketers worldwide, we recently spoke with one of the industry’s most recognizable names: Neil Patel.
Patel has gained renown for his digital marketing expertise, working with major brands such as Amazon, Microsoft, Airbnb, and Google. A New York Times bestselling author and founder of NP Digital, he has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the web’s top influencers and by Forbes as one of the top 10 marketers.
His insights not only capture the attention of respected brands but also attract hundreds of thousands of social media followers, with his blog drawing 4 million visits each month.
In our discussion, Patel talks about how AI is revolutionizing SEO and digital marketing, how brands can leverage generative AI for content creation and performance, and what the future holds for digital marketing—including hyper-personalization, voice search trends, and evolving algorithms. and more.
How is AI reshaping the landscape of SEO, and what innovations do you see becoming essential for marketers to stay competitive?
Marketers can stay competitive by embracing the technology and using it for things like data and analytics. They can use AI to have their data analysed to identify where there’s an ROI.
“Now, marketers have to optimise for all these platforms, including AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend their product, service, or brand.”
The way AI is reshaping the SEO landscape is that people are not just using Google to search but are using different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and ChatGpt because these platforms are trying to integrate AI into their systems. Now, marketers have to optimise for all these platforms, including AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend their product, service, or brand.
Generative AI is revolutionizing content creation. What are the most effective ways brands can harness this technology to enhance their content strategies and improve SEO performance?
Generative AI is helping the most with SEO, especially when it comes to research and ideation. While some of the content it creates can still be mediocre, it is a great tool for research and ideation. The biggest advantage is how it speeds up the process, freeing up time for teams to fine-tune content or focus on other important tasks. By using AI for routine work, brands can boost their SEO efforts while keeping a strong human touch in their content.
“While some of the content it (AI) creates can still be mediocre, it is a great tool for research and ideation.”
You have previously said that human-created content holds a higher rank. Can you talk more about that, and how you see the role of human expertise evolving in an industry where AI is increasingly used for content creation and marketing strategies?
Human-created content will still do better in the long run because it carriers E.E.A.T- Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. From our case studies at NP Digital, we’ve found that on average, human-created content generates more traffic than AI. That’s not to say AI content can’t do as well, but historically, we’ve seen human-created content outperform.
“From our case studies at NP Digital, we’ve found that on average, human-created content generates more traffic than AI. That’s not to say AI content can’t do as well, but historically, we’ve seen human-created content outperform.”
Even as AI evolves, and becomes more integrated into the content creation process, it is still difficult for AI to fully capture the “Experience” element that comes naturally with human input.
What are the potential risks and challenges of using AI for content creation, and what does the data tell us about audience willingness to engage with AI-generated content?
When using AI for content creation, the main risks include inaccuracies, data being off, and the potential issues with copyright and other legal concerns. In one of our tests at NP Digital, we used a site with 1.8 million visitors and experimented with a third of them. We changed the author bio, title, and content to say the article was written by AI, even though it was actually done by a human.
Image by Jezael Melgoza
The average read time dropped by half. It’s not that the content itself changed, but people’s perception of it did. This shows that audience engagement can decrease simply because the content is labelled as AI-generated, even if the quality is the same.
With the increasing popularity of voice search, what specific strategies should marketers adopt to optimise their content for this medium?
To maximise voice search, marketers should leverage schema on their websites since voice search pulls directly from the web. It is also important to optimise for AI the brand mentions and reviews as these increase relevancy for AI platforms. By doing this, when people use voice search, which relies heavily on AI technology, the brand or product has a higher chance of being featured
“To maximise voice search, marketers should leverage schema on their websites since voice search pulls directly from the web.”
Hyper-personalization can significantly enhance user experience, but it also raises privacy concerns. How do you think brands can strike the right balance and who do you see currently doing it right?
While no brand may have perfected it yet, in my opinion, Amazon would be a good example of using AI in a helpful, non-intrusive way of personalisation. If you can use AI to personalise in a way that is helpful, it’s gonna be great. If you’re creepy, it’s not as good.
Can you share some recent digital campaigns that have impressed you with their creativity or strategic approach?
A digital offline campaign by non-profit organisation- Misereor.
A digital offline campaign by McDonald’s Europe.
One of our own, that we really loved, with the Universal Technical Institute:
Quick Hits:
Book everyone in the industry should read: The Dip by Seth Godin
Most useful app or tool you’ve discovered recently: HeyGen Tool, which allows you to adapt your content and dub it for all the different languages in APAC with ease.
Something you want to learn or wish you were better at: I would love to surf one day, but it’s not gonna happen.
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