Utilizing AI for content material manufacturing has turn out to be commonplace follow. The query most search engine marketing groups are literally asking is how nicely it really works.
So we analyzed 20,000 key phrases and 42,000 weblog posts to search out out.
Content material categorized as purely AI-generated appeared within the high spot simply 9% of the time. Content material categorized as human-written was there 80% of the time.
However that quantity wants context. The discovering isn’t that AI is inherently dangerous; it’s that search rewards human originality. The detector doesn’t care about your course of. It reads the completed product.
This examine appears to be like at how entrepreneurs understand AI’s affect on content material efficiency, and the way these perceptions maintain up in opposition to actual rating knowledge.
Key takeaways
- 87% of search engine marketing groups report that their content material is both totally created by people or closely led by people, maintaining people immediately concerned in manufacturing and modifying.
- 72% of SEOs say AI content material ranks not less than in addition to human-written content material. However our evaluation of 42,000 weblog pages exhibits place 1 outcomes are 8x extra prone to be human-written.
- 70% of search engine marketing groups cite velocity as the highest advantage of utilizing AI, however solely 19% say it improves content material high quality.
- AI use is concentrated in text-based duties however drops sharply for multimedia and localization, the place the instruments are extra specialised and the output is more durable to judge.
- Human-written content material holds a bonus throughout all high 10 SERP positions, however the hole is sharpest close to the highest the place AI-generated content material practically doubles between place 1 and place 4.
1. People nonetheless lead most content material workflows
87% of search engine marketing groups report that their content material is both totally created by people or closely led by people. Conserving people immediately concerned in manufacturing and modifying.
64% of SEOs use a human-led AI-assisted workflow, making it the most typical content material manufacturing mannequin as we speak.
One other 23% report creating content material fully with out AI.
This means that whereas AI is changing into commonplace infrastructure in content material workflows, most groups have people proceed to play a pivotal function within the editorial course of.
2. AI is often utilized in content material creation for duties like analysis, modifying, and optimization
At the least 65% of respondents use AI for core writing duties like analysis, modifying, and on-page optimization.
However AI use is far decrease on duties that transcend the writing course of. Visible content material creation (28%), translation (15%), and video or audio manufacturing (9%) lag far behind.
That hole is smart.
Textual content-based duties are the place AI feels most pure and best to combine. Whereas, multimedia and localization require extra specialised instruments, extra subjective judgment, and sometimes extra finances.
Engaged on the Semrush weblog, AI helps how we produce content material, nevertheless it solely will get us a part of the best way. For each step by which we use AI — ideation, outlining, drafting… — now we have a human reviewing the output. Each article includes not less than three individuals (a strategist, a author, and an editor). Usually as much as 5. And all of them are material specialists or work very carefully with them.
Additionally they have a deep understanding of our instruments and the way to use them to handle the true issues our clients face. That layer is vital. In SaaS, particularly in a product as broad as Semrush, recommending the proper resolution requires context and judgment.
And — not less than in our expertise — AI instruments by no means do this good a job, irrespective of how a lot info we have fed them. One other place the place we draw a transparent line as we speak is modifying. That step continues to be totally human-led. We’ve got experimented with inner instruments to help fact-checking. However now we have not changed editorial judgment with AI, and we’re not dashing to take action.
3. Velocity and ideation help are the largest AI advantages
70% of search engine marketing groups say quicker content material manufacturing is the highest advantage of utilizing AI. Brainstorming and ideation help is available in second at 62%.
However solely 19% say AI improves content material high quality.
That hole is telling.
It is likely to be as a result of high quality is tough to neatly outline. It is typically a case of figuring out it whenever you see it.
And if you cannot clearly outline what high quality appears to be like like, it is powerful to present AI instruments clear sufficient course to ship it.
4. Most SEOs suppose AI content material ranks in addition to human-written content material
Most search engine marketing professionals that use AI content material (72%) say they suppose AI-assisted content material performs simply as nicely or higher than human-written content material in search rankings—that’s up from 64% in our 2024 examine.
The share who say it performs worse additionally grew, from 9% to 13%.
The largest change is within the “undecided / have not in contrast” class, which dropped from 27% to fifteen%.
This exhibits how opinions are transferring in each instructions. After having a while to experiment and use AI of their workflows, extra groups now have a definitive opinion on how they suppose AI content material performs.
5. SEOs report AI content material efficiency has improved
Virtually 45% of respondents who use AI content material say its search engine marketing efficiency has improved over the previous 12 months. One other 25% say efficiency has stayed about the identical.
Solely 6% report a decline.
However 25% say it is too early to inform or they have not tracked efficiency but.
These groups probably aren’t clearly distinguishing between their human-written and AI-assisted content material.
Or they may not have the monitoring in place to measure the distinction.
That is value noting, as a result of with out clear attribution, it is onerous to know whether or not efficiency positive factors are coming from the AI, the human modifying, or the mix of each.
6. Our evaluation of 42,000 weblog posts exhibits human-written pages nonetheless win
After grading 42,000 weblog posts with an AI detector, content material categorized as totally human-written outperformed content material categorized as AI-generated or combined throughout all high 10 positions.
However the hole is most placing at place 1, the place pages have an 80.5% chance of being human-written in contrast with simply 10% for AI-generated.
This might sound contradictory to the survey knowledge, the place 72% of SEOs stated AI content material ranks not less than in addition to human-written content material.
However it’s not.
The one actual separation is on the very high.
From place 5 onward, the hole between human-written and AI-generated content material is comparatively slender.
So if most groups are benchmarking in opposition to “rating on web page one,” AI content material is holding its personal. It is solely whenever you zoom in on the highest positions that human-written content material pulls clearly forward.
What this examine means for advertising groups
AI is now a normal a part of content material manufacturing for many groups. Nonetheless, it isn’t a hands-free shortcut to rank on the high of search.
For search engine marketing groups, the implication is easy:
Use AI to maneuver quicker by analysis, outlining, and drafting. Then make investments the time saved into incorporating professional insights, proprietary knowledge, and different parts that make your content material stand out.
AI helps us transfer quicker, and velocity does matter. However not sufficient to justify reducing high quality requirements. Generally, an additional day or two received’t change the result — high quality will. AI can help high-performing content material. However the content material that constantly stands out continues to be formed by sturdy human enter. And that usually means buying and selling some velocity for higher judgment and deeper experience.
Need to leverage Semrush’s personal AI content material generator?
Attempt the Content material Toolkit.
As a substitute of ranging from a clean web page, you begin with a quick that already displays what’s rating — and what’s lacking. Use it to maneuver quicker by first drafts and add your human insights, ideas, and views to take the generated content material as much as a stage the place it could rank.
Full methodology
We needed actual solutions, so we dug into the info from two angles.
Here is what we did:
- Rating evaluation of 42,000 weblog pages: In November 2025, we collected 20,000 key phrases, extracted the highest 10 Google outcomes for every (200,000 URLs), and filtered for weblog pages solely (URLs containing “/weblog/”) — leaving us with 42,000 pages. We parsed every article into clear textual content and ran it by GPTZero to categorise it as human-written, AI-generated, or combined. We then calculated the chance of every content material kind showing at each SERP place.
- Survey of 224 search engine marketing professionals: We surveyed 224 entrepreneurs actively working in search engine marketing and content material advertising. Most respondents labored immediately with content material: 58% reported that they create and optimize content material, and 40% stated they oversee or approve content material created by others. All outcomes characterize percentages of the overall pattern.
