The popularity of AI-generated content means that we’re seeing more human and machine-written text side-by-side in what we read. Distinguishing between the two is getting blurrier, too. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: this evolution brings both opportunities and challenges, particularly for SEOs and marketers who rely heavily on content. Detecting AI writing—even in your own work—is crucial to maintaining authenticity, trust, and ethical standards in our digital communications.
AI writing refers to the use of AI generators or similar tools to generate written content. These technologies include sophisticated algorithms and machine learning models such as GPT-4 and BERT. They process huge amounts of text data to learn patterns, structures, and language usage, so that in the end, they produce text that feels like a person wrote it. It’s not just a string of strong sentences, either. What we’re seeing now is writing that stays impressively on point—keeping a consistent tone of voice and, in some cases, a consistent message.
The ability to identify AI-generated content is crucial for several reasons:
An effective method for detecting AI writing is through analyzing the linguistics. This sounds technical, but it relies a lot more on your gut. Review the language itself: the rhythm, the floweriness, and overly repetitive patterns. I’ll admit, I love words in threes. I just used it in the last sentence to list three things to look for, and I’ll do it again in other examples. It’s just a reflection of my personal style vs what I get from AI generated content. The presence of patterns doesn’t signal the presence of AI, but patterns that don’t feel natural will stand out.
Remember, while these indicators can be helpful, they're not foolproof. As AI technology advances, these linguistic markers become increasingly subtle.
Here’s a pointer for ongoing AI-generated copy: your prompts could be your best resource and your worst enemies. Hear me out.
As you polish your prompts over time (and it’s a craft, I know), they will give you better results. That’s great! But there’s a catch. Don’t get lazy about how well things are going. Every time you churn out good results, you train the AI-generator on how you want your copy to read. It’s going to turn up the dial on elements you like, and some of those will be your tell-tale signs. They get old fast. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve spotted intros that start “in the world of…” or “in the digital marketing landscape…”
Also, when I say “what to look for,” that’s not an expectation that you’re going to become an AI detector. This is to help you clean up your AI-assisted content so that it doesn’t feel so flat and automated. You should want to add personality; get readers to hang around because you have a relatable and engaging point of view.
Patrick and I spoke at length about AI content in our recent interview.
Stylometric analysis focuses on the writing style and patterns to detect AI writing. By comparing known writing samples, it can identify inconsistencies in:
I mentioned a few flags that tend to stand out in AI writing: flowery language, complex sentences, cliches, etc. I’ll share some specific examples and changes that I made before we published.
Full disclosure: I used AI to kickstart a good portion of this article. It's helpful to have a skeleton of ideas to work with. I’m very pro-AI that way. Also, in this specific case, it gave me a great example of AI-generated text that I didn't use (for good reason).
Let's go back to the second paragraph of the article. Here's what I wrote:
"What we’re seeing now is writing that stays impressively on point—keeping a consistent tone of voice and, in some cases, a consistent message."
Here's the AI-written version that you didn’t see:
“The result can be impressively coherent and contextually relevant, making AI writing a valuable tool for various applications.”
That contrast shows you the flowery language that forces the reader to take a split second more to process it. The complexity takes them out of the article. As far as your SEO goes, it won’t help. Google wants to see natural language.
Another example is hard to spot unless you’re confident in your own style (or the writer’s style). Notice that my section headers are topic descriptions: Linguistic Analysis, AI Writing Style Explained, AI Detection Tools and so on. I use them to organize topics. AI, however, will add some flair and title them Analyzing Linguistics, Explaining AI Writing Style, Detecting AI Writing Tools…
All of those “-ing” phrases are actions—things the article will be doing. Since I did not introduce “actions we are going to take” at the start of the article, the phrasing is inconsistent. Now that could have been just sloppy execution on my part, but it is one more sign that AI generation tools are still hammering out their consistency when they write entire long-form articles.
With a surge in AI content generation tools, of course there’s a surge of AI detection tools right behind. These popular options rely on different methods but can help spot some imbalances where there’s just too much AI copy on the page.
Most AI detection tools use machine learning algorithms trained on both human-written and AI-written text. They learn to spot “tells” from AI-writing and look for them in the text.
Pros:
Cons:
Despite advancements in AI detection tools, nothing beats human instinct. AI detection tools can help, but the false positives can take you down the wrong path. Experienced editors and content specialists often rely on their intuition and familiarity with nuances to spot AI writing.
For organizations serious about spotting AI usage, we recommend have processes in place. This includes regular audits and checks to ensure content authenticity. This might include occasional reviews of past content (spot checks) and a benchmarking system against known content: original content, blended content, and unedited AI-generated content.
I also recommend a grace window. Zero-tolerance systems can set you up for pushback when tools continue to detect AI writing where there is none. Instead, set clear guidelines for acceptable use of AI in content creation.
Keeping your team informed about AI writing and detection techniques is crucial. Consider:
With an ongoing conversation about AI’s quirks and limitations, your team will start to recognize flags they otherwise would have missed. You'll be better equipped to detect AI writing and make more effective edits.
As AI writing capabilities grow, so will the technologies designed to detect them. We can expect to see:
As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, governments and organizations are starting to step in. Comprehensive regulations are still in development, but in the meantime we're seeing:
Staying informed about these developments will be crucial for SEOs and marketers to ensure compliance. The closer you are to a highly regulated industry (law, dentistry, licensed fields) the more you should watch for industry-specific journals or newsletters that offer updates on AI regulations.
Do you want to know how to detect AI writing so you can game the detectors? You’ll need to do two key things: fact check and rewrite.
I can feel the eyerolls burning towards screens now. The only way to get past tools that can detect AI writing is to update your content to get past the tell-tale signs. That takes the human touch.
Research the facts it puts out. AI tools have been know to hallucinate stories or pull facts from out-of-context pages on the web.
Add specific, personal observations to your writing. Take a stand. Back up an opinion—even if it feels unpopular. In fact, that’s good: AI echoes what’s already well-established. It doesn’t offer an unpopular (or uncommon) stance unless you push it to do so. Sharing your own point of view and data to support it will do far more for your article or essay than an over-repeated description would.
Look again at the examples I gave for what AI writing looks like. Reword the parts that you wouldn’t use in a conversation or an email explaining an idea to your colleague.
AI is a great starting point, but you should be putting out content that goes through at least one round of edits and updates to make it your own. Your name is going to be on it; your content should earn that stamp.
AI-generated content can blur the lines between human and machine writing, especially as it’s growing more sophisticated. Authenticity is vital in building and maintaining trust with readers and customers, and (let’s admit it) Google says it’s key. I don’t think I’m alone in this opinion: kickstarting an article with ideas and text is great, but I want to know that someone is putting some thought into what’s going out into the world. Having exclusively human-written content will become rarer as competitors are able to ramp up their output.
With exceptions, detecting AI should be more about cleaning up your own content than trying to find it in someone else’s. It can act as a second set of, um, eyes to help you find and edit that overly-automated feel.
Remember, the goal isn't to eliminate AI-generated content entirely; it's to use it responsibly and transparently. As you represent your brand—whether it’s your company or yourself—you want to lock in your credibility by adding your voice and unique perspective to the information you share.
