Utilizing AI for content material manufacturing has turn into commonplace observe. The query most search engine optimisation groups are literally asking is how properly 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 prime 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 unhealthy; it’s that search rewards human originality. The detector doesn’t care about your course of. It reads the completed product.
This research seems at how entrepreneurs understand AI’s influence on content material efficiency, and the way these perceptions maintain up towards actual rating knowledge.
Key takeaways
- 87% of search engine optimisation groups report that their content material is both totally created by people or closely led by people, holding 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 reveals place 1 outcomes are 8x extra more likely to be human-written.
- 70% of search engine optimisation groups cite velocity as the highest good thing about 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 tougher to guage.
- Human-written content material holds a bonus throughout all prime 10 SERP positions, however the hole is sharpest close to the highest the place AI-generated content material almost doubles between place 1 and place 4.
1. People nonetheless lead most content material workflows
87% of search engine optimisation groups report that their content material is both totally created by people or closely led by people. Preserving people immediately concerned in manufacturing and modifying.
64% of SEOs use a human-led AI-assisted workflow, making it the commonest content material manufacturing mannequin in the present day.
One other 23% report creating content material totally with out AI.
This means that whereas AI is turning into commonplace infrastructure in content material workflows, most groups have people proceed to play a pivotal position within the editorial course of.
2. AI is often utilized in content material creation for duties like analysis, modifying, and optimization
No less than 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 price range.
Engaged on the Semrush weblog, AI helps how we produce content material, however it solely will get us a part of the best way. For each step by which we use AI — ideation, outlining, drafting… — we now 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 subject material consultants or work very carefully with them.
In addition they have a deep understanding of our instruments and how you can use them to handle the true issues our prospects face. That layer is vital. In SaaS, particularly in a product as broad as Semrush, recommending the suitable answer requires context and judgment.
And — not less than in our expertise — AI instruments by no means try this good a job, irrespective of how a lot info we have fed them. One other place the place we draw a transparent line in the present day is modifying. That step continues to be totally human-led. We’ve got experimented with inside instruments to assist fact-checking. However we now have not changed editorial judgment with AI, and we aren’t dashing to take action.
3. Pace and ideation help are the largest AI advantages
70% of search engine optimisation groups say sooner content material manufacturing is the highest good thing about 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 perhaps as a result of high quality is difficult to neatly outline. It is usually a case of figuring out it while you see it.
And if you cannot clearly outline what high quality seems like, it is robust to provide AI instruments clear sufficient route to ship it.
4. Most SEOs assume AI content material ranks in addition to human-written content material
Most search engine optimisation professionals that use AI content material (72%) say they assume AI-assisted content material performs simply as properly or higher than human-written content material in search rankings—that’s up from 64% in our 2024 research.
The share who say it performs worse additionally grew, from 9% to 13%.
The largest change is within the “unsure / have not in contrast” class, which dropped from 27% to 15%.
This reveals how opinions are shifting 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 assume 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 optimisation efficiency has improved over the previous yr. 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 seemingly 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 price noting, as a result of with out clear attribution, it is arduous to know whether or not efficiency positive factors are coming from the AI, the human modifying, or the mixture of each.
6. Our evaluation of 42,000 weblog posts reveals 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 blended throughout all prime 10 positions.
However the hole is most hanging 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 mentioned AI content material ranks not less than in addition to human-written content material.
Nevertheless it’s not.
The one actual separation is on the very prime.
From place 5 onward, the hole between human-written and AI-generated content material is comparatively slender.
So if most groups are benchmarking towards “rating on web page one,” AI content material is holding its personal. It is solely while you zoom in on the highest positions that human-written content material pulls clearly forward.
What this research means for advertising groups
AI is now a normal a part of content material manufacturing for many groups. Nevertheless, it isn’t a hands-free shortcut to rank on the prime of search.
For search engine optimisation groups, the implication is simple:
Use AI to maneuver sooner via analysis, outlining, and drafting. Then make investments the time saved into incorporating knowledgeable insights, proprietary knowledge, and different components that make your content material stand out.
AI helps us transfer sooner, and velocity does matter. However not sufficient to justify reducing high quality requirements. Most often, an additional day or two received’t change the result — high quality will. AI can assist high-performing content material. However the content material that constantly stands out continues to be formed by sturdy human enter. And that always means buying and selling some velocity for higher judgment and deeper experience.
Wish to leverage Semrush’s personal AI content material generator?
Attempt the Content Toolkit.
As an alternative of ranging from a clean web page, you begin with a short that already displays what’s rating — and what’s lacking. Use it to maneuver sooner via first drafts and add your human insights, ideas, and views to take the generated content material as much as a stage the place it might probably rank.
Full methodology
We needed actual solutions, so we dug into the information from two angles.
This 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 via GPTZero to categorise it as human-written, AI-generated, or blended. We then calculated the chance of every content material kind showing at each SERP place.
- Survey of 224 search engine optimisation professionals: We surveyed 224 entrepreneurs actively working in search engine optimisation and content material advertising. Most respondents labored immediately with content material: 58% reported that they create and optimize content material, and 40% mentioned they oversee or approve content material created by others. All outcomes characterize percentages of the whole pattern.
