As we wrap up another month in content and head into the final month of this year, a theme that keeps popping up for me is one of authenticity.

It’s something I’ve been talking about for years now.

And, I feel like a broken record. Without authenticity in content, what do we have left?

But in our digital world, with the rise of AI and the distrust of business, government, and media, I find many of us are questioning even the very meaning of authenticity these days.

As content marketers, creating authentic content should always be our goal. We should always strive to be truthful to who we are and to be transparent with our audiences, but not everyone agrees.

To my friends in content, heed my words - If you are faking authenticity, you will eventually be found out. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen.

Yes. AI can make creating a ton of content easier than ever. This week, we’ve had some big examples of publications doing just that.

Firstly, let’s look at what happened with Sports Illustrated this week.

Here, we have a rather large publication that has been around for a while. It’s a legacy publication, for sure, and TL;DR — they were using fake AI-generated authors, with AI-generated content.

News flash — a lot of large publications are doing this.

But this approach, in my view, comes with so much risk. You really shouldn’t try to fake authenticity. You’ll be found out eventually. It should be no surprise to us when readers are outraged. So much so, that Sports Illustrated put out a statement and stopped comments on their announcement.

But there are all kinds of shortcut-takers in content these days, who care more about the quick wins than the long game. But as I’ve said before, “it works, until it doesn’t.”

This week, we saw the rise and fall of an SEO who bragged that they stole (that’s the word he used) 3.6 million total traffic from a competitor.

Apparently, Google doesn’t really like this. There’s been a manual action on this site, and traffic is plummeting.

And, this all happened in the space of a week. I’m sure this will not be the last time we see this happening in our space.

The more ‘fake’ our world feels, the more we, as humans, crave the authentic.

How to Create More Authentic Content

The first step to creating more authentic content is to make that commitment to ourselves, our readers, and our audience that we’re going to be truthful and transparent in our content processes.

Authenticity should not be a ‘nice to have’ in content marketing.

I did a ‘year in review’ writers’ newsletter for our internal writing teams. In reviewing the year of newsletters, I’ve discussed authenticity, or truthfulness over 50 times. This is no accident.

It’s an important value for me in content, as I hope it is for all of you.

But, how do you create more authentic content? Here are some tips:

Work with Experts — Both in Editorial and Writing

We still prioritize working with genuine human experts, and there's a good reason for that. Even with the advancements in AI technology and its various applications, it can't replace the depth and richness of real-life experiences.

AI isn't out there spending hours immersed in the latest video games, sharing those unique adventures with our audience, nor is it unboxing the newest products to joyfully reveal what's inside.

These human touches, filled with authentic enthusiasm and personal insights, are what truly connect with our readers.

Over the past few years, we’ve dug deeper to find even better experts, not only in the writing but in editorial. A great subject matter expert editor can help ‘sniff out’ fakeness, something that a general editor just cannot do. There is only so much fact-checking that can be done with a sharp eye and Google.

Share First-Hand Experiences

It’s always great to convey your expertise in your writing, but be transparent if you’re also learning something new along the way.

I find that first-hand experiences and talking to our readers on a journey of learning with us is a powerful way to build authenticity and trust in our publication.

I love it when our product testers, for example, hit a snag in cooking a recipe or playing a video game and are not afraid to tell our readers that.

Instead of trying to fake their expertise, they admit when they’ve hit a bump in the road and tell us how they navigate through that.

Expertise is great, but experts never stop learning.

Don’t fake it until you make it.

One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that if you bloat your experience, exaggerate your numbers, and try to look more authoritative than you really are, it’s just a matter of time until you get found out.

In marketing, we see this all the time. There are so many ways to talk about the marketing data. We could easily say we have millions and millions of impressions from Google, but does that matter?

Your audience feels the same way. They can smell when something just isn’t right, eventually.

If you are just starting out, please don’t fake it until you make it. Do it until you make it instead.

Be truthful in what you promise in your publications. Pull in other authority sources, or experts if you need to.

Don’t just try to show off. Show us failures along the way, too!

The road to expertise is often paid with lots of mistakes, lessons, and tough breaks. We can’t be afraid to show that to our audience. This is what brings that authenticity.

Stay the course.

There are so many creative ways we can use AI in our content workflows. We don’t need to fake expertise, or fake anything.

If you are in this for the long haul, like me, it takes grit and always deciding to do the right thing (even if this feels like a much longer road).

Authenticity is not just a cornerstone in content marketing, but of building lasting relationships with your audience. Trends, technology, Google, SEO — these all evolve over the years, but the need for genuine, honest, content will remain.

Things to Read, Watch, and Ponder

Speaking of authenticity, I did an interview with Jeff Coyle of Market Muse a while back on just this topic, and the advice I give here is probably even more relevant today. Check it out!

I’m not surprised that this short video from Jared Bauman is being shared so much this week. Jared walks through some simple ways to see how Google evaluates the trustworthiness of your site. He goes through small sites, and larger sites and shows the thought process for how he evaluates this. Worth a watch!

I love this article from Search Engine Land about building resilient digital marketing agencies. The tides are shifting in the digital marketing space, and these are some solid tips on how to keep the ship afloat. I love how Antonella Pisani called out differentiating yourself based on values:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Check it out!

And here we are again, at the end of another newsletter. Every week I manage to get these out I am proud.

Like many of you, I have a lot of things on my ‘to-do’ list, and the list keeps growing every week. My job is not just to research and write about content marketing every week. I’m still in the weeds daily, testing out new workflows, brainstorming ways to improve our publications, figuring out the next email strategies, and managing my small, but scrappy team. And, I love it!

I hope you find these snapshots into the world of SEO and content marketing helpful. I’ve received so much love lately from you readers; it gives me the support to keep going!

Cheers! Amy

Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love

If you want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are a couple of newsletters to subscribe to.