I used AI to generate 11 SEO articles. Here are my results.


Hi Reader,

First up: since the last few Medium Income Reveals haven't had any views, I'm switching to screenshots instead. Let me know if you'd like me to include any particular screenshots, or have any questions!

Here's my breakdown:

That Partner Program bonus is the money I earned from nominating stories that earned a Boost. Top earning stories are screenshotted as well. For the record, 4/5 have been boosted.


Full disclosure: I used AI to generate articles for my website.

Not the good ones. Not the fun ones. Just the ones I wanted to rank for, but didn't feel like writing. Articles like:

But I had another motive for generating these AI articles other than laziness. Well, two, actually.

  1. I wanted to test certain AI tools to see if I'd recommend them to a friend.
  2. I wanted to see if AI could rank for SEO.

The short answer to both? Barely any, and barely any.

I compared around 25 articles, some written with AI, some outlined with AI, and some written purely from my own fingers and heart, to see what ranked best for SEO.

If you want the full, longer answer including:

  • Screenshots of my results
  • Interview with an SEO expert who broke Google's results so much that they changed SEO rules and nuked his sites
  • A detailed explanation of how SEO and AI work

Then check out my new early access, ad-free video:

video preview

I know this is a contentious subject, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Early/ad-free articles:

Happy writing,

Zulie

I help beginners write online.

Want to share your story online but not sure how to start? I'm here to help. I cover the best writing platforms, how to grow your online audience, monetization options, and reviews of popular writing tools.

Read more from I help beginners write online.

Good morning Reader, A few weeks ago, I was at the Taylor Swift concert in Munich. One of my friends Sinem was in the area so we met up for coffee! Despite being friends since 2020, we’ve only met in person twice — once at my wedding, and then this past July in Germany. Zulie and Sinem Günel in Germany! Image by author She’s such a successful creator, really the whole package. She has a thriving business: she works on projects she believes in, she gets to write as much as she likes, and she...

Good morning Reader, It is an uncomfortable truth that nobody really likes to acknowledge: to get better at writing, you should probably get better at taking feedback about your writing. (Sorry to Jane Austen for butchering her famous line.) I used to be terrible at dealing with comments from editors on my writing. I hated them! I feared them! I distrusted them! But you know what? To become a professional writer of any kind, you have to learn how to work with other people on that most...

Good morning Reader, Some exciting personal news: I've just been hired by Medium to be a product marketer! In short, I'll be doing a lot of what I have been doing - helping writers use Medium to write awesome stories - but now while wearing my sweet new Medium jumper. Here's the full story: Write Like Your Dream Employer Is Watching (or How I Got Hired by Medium) What does this mean for you? My focus will be more on Medium blogging specifically. In the past, I've written about AI tools, other...