AI and Content Marketing: Show Up in Search Without Putting Readers to Sleep

“Camping in the wild is a great way to experience the outdoors… while camping.”

If that sentence made your soul whimper just a little, you already understand the problem. The issue with AI and content marketing isn’t that the machines are writing—it’s that no one’s checking if what they’ve written is actually worth reading. Human oversight is non-negotiable if you’re looking for expert content marketing services that blend strategy with substance.

Google doesn’t penalise AI-generated content just for existing. What it does penalise is vague, repetitive, low-value content. The kind that uses twelve words to say nothing. The kind that feels like it was written by a robot who’s never met another human being.

And fair enough—AI can’t feel boredom. But your reader can. And Google’s Helpful Content System can tell.

In our post on storytelling in content marketing, we talked about how storytelling makes content memorable. Now we’re looking at what makes your writing findable, especially when AI tools are the ones doing the finding.

This article will show you how to use structure, storytelling, and a dash of GEO to make sure your AI-assisted content actually earns its place.

AI Can Spot AI

Google doesn’t hate AI—it hates content that sounds like it was written by a toaster with a content calendar.

In our post, we talked about how storytelling makes content memorable. Now we’re looking at what makes it findable—especially when AI tools are the ones doing the finding.

And no, that’s not just snark. It’s policy. In its ongoing Helpful Content System updates, Google now actively deprioritises pages that are vague, formulaic, or clearly generated without human oversight. Content that lacks purpose or originality isn’t just skimmed over—it’s penalised.

To avoid this, your content needs to meet Google’s E-E-A-T SEO standards:
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
This is the benchmark for helpful content, and if your article reads like it was copied from five other sites and blended into a word smoothie, it won’t pass.

Even AI can tell.

A recent paper on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) found that when all websites were optimised equally:

• Lower-ranked websites saw up to 115.1% visibility increases
  (thanks to clearer structure and sourcing)
  
  
• Top-ranked sites dropped in visibility by 30.3%
  (because they relied on brand authority rather than clarity)
  
  
• Techniques like citing sources, using structured formats, and answering specific questions helped AI summarisation tools choose better content—regardless of the domain's reputation
  
  

So what does good content look like, whether written by humans or AI-assisted?

• Clear and concise: Short paragraphs, direct sentences
• Well-structured: Headings, bullet points, Q&A sections
• Cited and sourced: Verifiable facts, not vague statements
• Useful and specific: Real answers to real questions

And what gets ignored?

• "Ireland is a great place for camping in the wild because it’s a great place for wild camping"
•  Articles stuffed with fluff, filler, or repeated phrases
•  Long paragraphs with no breaks, structure, or visual cues
•  Claims with no attribution or context

Google isn’t on a witch hunt for AI. But if your content sounds like it was written by someone who had five minutes and a thesaurus (or worse, no thesaurus), don’t be surprised when it sinks. 

If you want to learn more about optimising your content for Google as opposed to AI, check out our article.

The good news? With GEO techniques and a little human oversight, your content doesn’t just survive—it becomes the source AI trusts most.

Humans Can Spot It Too

We talk a lot about Google catching AI content—but here’s the truth: people usually catch it first.

We don’t always have the technical vocabulary for it, but we feel it. The lifeless tone. The way every sentence seems to be padding for the next. The nagging sense that no actual person is talking to us—just some Colm McCool of a robot, telling a long, flat story without realising we’ve already tuned out.

In Derry Girls, Uncle Colm McCool is legendary for this exact reason.

Played by comedian Kevin McAleer, Colm is known for telling endless, meandering stories in a tone so flat it feels like a monologue from a man who’s forgotten what punctuation is.

As McAleer himself put it:
“I can act if I don’t have to talk to anyone else. Uncle Colm was perfect for that because he’s blissfully unaware of other people.”

And that, right there, is the problem with bad AI content:
It doesn’t know you’re there.

No eye contact. No sense of timing. No instinct for what the reader might need next.

It just drones on—like content about "wild camping in the wild" that doesn’t realise it said the same thing twice, without saying anything new.

Spot the signs of disconnected content:

• Uncanny phrasing that sounds “contenty” but says nothing: “A great place to visit for its unique charm.”
• Repetitive constructions and filler intros that go nowhere.
• Lack of audience awareness: no warmth, no playfulness, no acknowledgement that a human might be reading.
• Overuse of clichés and vague statements instead of original thought or sensory detail.

And look—we’ve all skimmed that kind of article before. You give it two sentences, then bail. Not because it’s offensive, but because it’s nothing. It feels like someone reading cue cards aloud in an empty room.

Meanwhile, good content makes a connection. It holds your attention. It feels like someone is trying to talk to you, not just output words.

And that’s why storytelling matters. Whether it’s our beloved guinea pig cafés, The Brave Little Toaster, or your most specific, oddly-shaped niche—people remember details. They remember stories. They forget “nicely written” content that didn’t try hard enough to be real.

The takeaway:

If your content could have been written by Uncle Colm, it probably won’t survive in the wild.

AI can help you shape your ideas when you are stuck. But it can’t connect. That’s still your job.