In recent days, we have seen some website owners complaining about a decline in traffic from search engines. They blame AI for not disclosing to the public how text is generated by AI, failing to provide details on how AI has harmed them. Some even call themselves information owners, and now that right is being denied to them.
Until a few months ago, they were the “kings” of SEO. They felt superior to us, “the small ones.”
Imagine a website that deals with articles about SEO, yesterday writing about how to use AI to boost its own website. But just a day later, the same website, through another author, writes about how they have lost control over the information they own.
If you are suffering because AI is “taking” your information, now is the time to understand how we, “the small ones,” have suffered from your unpredictable game with SEO.
You too have copied, generated text in various forms. Many of you have consistently violated copyright. So, you have misappropriated information that doesn’t belong to you. You have published it and ranked much higher than the creator of the original content, who worked hard but was not rewarded, and you received the reward without working hard.
Today, in search results, you find almost nothing of value, or at least the results are not ranked according to content value. Because you continue to play with algorithms, just as you have always done. You have infrastructure but not unique content.
And we, “the small ones,” are simply smiling from a corner because we had nothing to lose. It’s not illegal to smile. You also laugh at us when using automated methods with bots creates problems for a small business with inexperienced staff to defend themselves.
We saw hundreds of duplicate pages that were not created as a result of our mistakes but as a result of “visitors” directed by you and your students. We were a little annoyed, but then we laughed. If you’ve heard a proverb, “He who laughs last laughs best.”
Don’t be upset; in the past, much larger empires than yours have fallen.