The digital marketing world is a fiercely competitive space. You need to put out high-quality content and also make sure it stays relevant to your audience.
This usually means rewriting content as trends, reader preferences, and search engines change. But this also takes a lot of effort, which is why AI is quickly becoming a popular rewriting tool.
AI Rewriting Tips
AI rewriting isn’t as simple as copy-pasting content and generating a new version of it. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Evaluate what needs to be updated.
Each piece of content is written for a specific topic, purpose, and audience. This means that each piece will also need varying degrees of rewriting. Some of your pieces might not even need rewriting!
So how do you know which one needs it? Check the data. Look for content that has historically performed well but is now experiencing a decline in ranking or engagement.
In addition, consider the rapidly evolving topics you’ve covered. There may be new information you could add to your piece.
2. Choose the tool you need.
Many AI-powered tools have different features and applications. You need to choose which one works best for your intended purpose.
Some have templates, plagiarism detectors, paraphrasing tools, and SEO checkers. For example, Quillbot has modes to set complexity, tone, language, and use of synonyms.
Most of these tools have free versions that are usually enough for a general use case. You might need to shell out some cash if you need specific or more powerful features though.
3. Describe the changes you want.
Generative AI relies on quality prompts to create quality content. Explain everything you want it to do using plain language and short sentences. Don’t just tell it to “rewrite this article” and expect to get what you want.
It’s important to give the tool detailed instructions to get targeted results that align with the core message of your content. Assign tone, style, level of readability, and area of coverage.
A sample prompt for rewrites might look like this:
“Rewrite the article below for young professionals aged 20-27. Include recent developments up to January 2022. Keep the sentences short and appropriate for 7th-grade English.”
You can rewrite section by section or have it analyze your full piece for areas of improvement. Ask it what’s missing and which parts need expanding.
Keep in mind, however, that you’ll likely need to refine the results a few times before generating one that fits what you’re looking for.
4. Improve on the technicals.
Don’t just focus on improving the quality of information, but also structure and grammar. Find unclear passages, repetitive language, syntax, spelling, filler words, and any other technical element you can improve.
For example, suppose you have a sentence like this: “The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.” This is a garden path sentence, where the sentence’s meaning is ambiguous due to its structure.
When asked to revise it to the level of a 6th grader, this is what ChatGPT came up with: “The complex has both single and married soldiers, along with their families.” The syntax is now clear.
AI can quickly help you with readability and clarity. This way, you create understandable and engaging content for your readers.
5. Use other tools in combination with AI.
The point of rewriting is to update your content so it stays fresh, is more valuable than your competitor’s, and ensures it follows current SEO standards.
Use an AI rewriter with other tools to get the best idea of how to refine your content. However, an analytics tool is a must as it will help you identify which content is currently underperforming.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with which tools to add to your tech stack. Rewriting requires a tailored approach that ranges from simple paraphrasing to a complete overhaul.
6. Don’t forget the human element.
AI isn’t perfect. It fails to understand subtle and nuanced communication, lacks creativity and originality, and can’t act on any judgment. You need a human for all these.
Always take the time to review any rewritten content. AI excels at spotting patterns, trends, and processing data but it is you who contextualizes these to a human audience. Remember, AI isn’t a replacement for human writers but a tool to enhance your writing.
AI Rewriting Concerns
Before considering any AI rewriting tool, there are a few concerns you need to understand. AI is an amazing tool but it also comes with a few issues.
The biggest issue is plagiarism. AI models are trained on massive amounts of data scraped from multiple sources. This begs the question of whether AI can create original works or if it only replicates data.
The data AI models are trained on aren’t without biases, misinformation, and inaccuracy. These issues can show up in any generated content. Even if there aren’t such issues, AI can also misinterpret and distort your content’s message.
Lastly, AI can result in content that lacks creativity and originality. It relies too much on patterns and data, creating clunky and robotic text. All of these issues are why you need to be cautious and check the results.
AI Rewriting Tools
AI-assisted rewriting allows you the convenience of quick rewrites. This is especially helpful if you’re rewriting content at a large scale. It saves you time and effort, giving you a chance to focus on other important work.
However, AI should only be used to supplement your skills and knowledge. Let it do the legwork of gathering data and analyzing patterns. You refine its output to ensure you provide high-quality, impactful content to your audience.
What are your tips for rewriting using AI? Share your thoughts below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
