AI: SERIOUS SEO & OTHER EFFECTS
[OPINION]
ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have changed the landscape of just about everything. I just got done watching a very informative video** on a new way to approach search engine optimization (SEO) which, of course, plays a critical role in where your website appears when someone does an online search to get a product, service, entertainment or simply to get some information. This most recent “how to” video on improving a site’s SEO score leads the viewer to conclude, yet again, what any webmaster and/or advertiser has now known for well over a decade. Namely, that one or two certain internet dominating companies, who shall remain nameless (so let’s just call them “1or2”), call the shots and anybody (regardless of who they are or how big they are) wanting to sell their product or service had better march to the tune that 1or2 dictates if they want to be profitable– or even survive for that matter.
Think about that. That is one heck of a lot of power. The ranking algorithm of the 1or2 either outright determines, or at least greatly affects, everyone’s ability to earn a living. That is, in essence, the power of life and death—at least economically speaking. And so, given this fact, one has to wonder whether our public officials haven’t been a little lax (to put it mildly) in putting a lid on the power that 1or2 have attained. Isn’t this why we have anti-trust laws? Who’s calling the economic shots here anyway? Our government or 1or2? Does this have anything to do with who gets political donations and how much? After all, let’s face it, 1or2 are two very very big and very very rich, and therefore, powerful companies.
And perhaps even the scarier part is that as 1or2 becomes more and more soaked (some might say infected) with AI generated algorithms it will mean that increasingly the ChatGPTs of the world will be telling everyone everywhere how to do business. The point is that all of us are already taking orders from artificially intelligent sources. All of us have always sort of imagined that we would only know that the robots had taken over when the day arrived (we all thought in some future century) when the robots started marching down our streets, laser-zapper guns in hand, kicking down doors and, in Vaderesque voices started telling us –ordering us– what to do. No, sorry, but we are already there and AI control of everything it’s going to get worse—and much much more quickly than anyone could have ever imagined.
Before closing I should note one major point made in the video is that to improve SEO rankings, one should be opinionated. In other words be a little slanted one way or another. Why? It seems that 1or2, and their AI generated ranking algorithms, think that opinions are more likely to be something that web surfers are more interested in than in cold hard facts. Holy Moses! It’s no wonder that our country is more politically polarized than ever. When it comes to SEO rankings, 1or2 favor opinions and “click bait” over cold hard objective facts. (In fact in one of the examples given in the video ChatGPT was prompted for suggestions for “click bait” keywords). All of which makes it no wonder that our website reasonandbalance.com isn’t more popular and more watched than it is. Here we’ve constantly hammered on the critical importance of determining the cold hard objective facts before making a decision. We’ve consistently argued against emotionally charged decision-making and especially emotionally charged rabble rousing. We detest demagogues.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, our process is antithetical to the one preferred by 1or2’s AI-generated SEO algorithm. (And, sadly enough, to the preferences of the American public as well.) The bottom line is that we here at reasonandbalance.com have either got to “sell out” to 1or2’s AI algorithm so to speak, or be much more effective than we have been at getting gratuitous monetary donations from folks like you! So please, if you prefer cool rational thought to biased click bait journalism donate today if you can. Here’s the link to do so: https://reasonandbalance.com/donate-here/ ***
The foregoing is not to suggest that everyone ignore AI. AI is a fact of life and we all have got to better understand how it affects politics, the economy, international relations and virtually every other aspect of human existence. This is the only way to responsibly handle it—or it will handle us.
David Dixon Lentz February 27, 2024
(© Copyright 2024; David Dixon Lentz All Rights Reserved.)
**See Wes McDowell New Way to do SEO in 2024 on YouTube.com. https://youtu.be/brvfBk97KyI?si=sVgeiky4XldAslJE.
*** Please know that all donations are very much appreciated. Thank you.