Can ChatGPT Write My Company’s Website Content?

For starters, ChatGPT definitely has the potential to be a useful tool for writers and website owners alike. Here are a few examples of scenarios where ChatGPT can help with website content creation:

Sparking Ideas

ChatGPT can be a huge asset for writers looking to break through writer’s block. For example, you can ask ChatGPT for post title and meta description recommendations that use certain keywords. ChatGPT can also be useful for those needing a list of potential blog topics or subtopics to include in a post. However, as discussed later in this article, make sure to fact check any suggestions given by ChatGPT. 

Writing “Fluff” Pieces

A January 2022 article on CNN heralded ChatGPT as an incredible time-saver for realtors. “Real estate agents say they can’t imagine working without ChatGPT now,” the title reads. A realtor raves that what used to take him an hour to write, can now be done in seconds on ChatGPT and then he just does a quick edit of the content created before publishing.

These real-estate type blurbs can be a great match for ChatGPT. As are a variety of other “fluff” content pieces. “Fluff” pieces are what PR professionals and journalists call the written work that contains limited original content and aims to be cute, flowery, and non-controversial. 

Many real estate listings are full of enticing and non-descript adjectives rather than content very specific to the home for sale. For example, “cozy,” “open concept,” “flowing floorplan,” “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” are all common phrases and descriptions you may find in a home’s listing. 

While top realtors will often hire content writers to be far more detailed content and offer specific information about their listings, ChatGPT can meet the needs of many realtors who are content with more generic information for their listings. The same goes for other content types that focus more on flowery language than factual information. 

The Cons to Using ChatGPT for Website Content Creation

The main issues with using ChatGPT for website content creation is that in order to get quality content for authoritative posts or blurbs, you will likely spend more time asking ChatGPT follow-up questions, fact-checking information, and rewriting incorrect information than it would take you to write the content yourself. 

Using ChatGPT answers without extensive fact checking could have incredibly negative impacts on your business, as your website will no longer be treated as a trustworthy source of information due to ChatGPT’s many partially correct or entirely incorrect answers. In the ChatGPT content creation test below, you’ll see examples of these partial correct and entirely incorrect answers formulated by ChatGPT. 

A Test of ChatGPT’s Content Creation Abilities

Can ChatGPT help you come up with website content ideas or even write website content for you? This content writing test aimed to find out: 

The article idea I posed to ChatGPT was simple; the best mountain biking trails in one of the International Mountain Biking Association’s (IMBA) top mountain biking communities: Helena, Montana. The question I posed to ChatGPT was: “What are the best mountain biking trails in Helena, Montana?” Here’s a breakdown of the response I received and how useful each section of the response would be in helping me create an well-informed blog post:

ChatGPT Requires Follow-Up Questions

ChatGPT can offer some useful content ideas for a blog post, however, those answers may not come easy. From my experience, you’ll likely need to ask some follow-up questions to find what you are looking for.

For instance, the first bullet point in my ChatGPT response to mountain biking trails in Helena, Montana read: “Mount Helena Ridge Trail: This challenging trail offers incredible views and a variety of terrain.” This response isn’t wrong, however, it isn’t exactly detailed either. One of the most important details missing from this response is that this trail is an absolute beast, with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain in just a few miles. 

However, with a follow-up question of “what should I expect mountain biking the Mount Helena Ridge Trail?” ChatGPT did give some fantastic detail that could potentially even be copied and pasted to a blog post about mountain biking in Helena, Montana with only a few minor changes. The key here is to know the right questions to ask going into your ChatGPT chat session in order to elicit helpful responses.  

ChatGPT May Only Half Answer Your Question

Secondly, be aware that even incredibly specific questions to ChatGPT aren’t necessarily going to yield answers that fit the specific parameters of your question.

The main criteria the answers I expected ChatGPT to provide me with in my example were A) trails B) trails specifically located in Helena, Montana. Instead, I received only one trail located in Helena, Montana (the Mount Helena Ridge Trail discussed above). 

The second recommendation, however, was fairly close. It was a trail system, rather than a trail in Helena. The area mentioned, the South Hills Trails System is a major reason Helena is named one of the best mountain biking communities in the U.S. However, for an article on the best mountain bike trails in Helena, I would expect a full breakdown of the greatest trails this area has to offer.  When I asked for the best trails on Helena’s South Hills Trails Systems, ChatGPT did respond with specific trails, however, they were not all in the South Hills. Some suggestions were trails hours away or trails I couldn’t even find online to verify their location. 

ChatGPT May Provide Completely Incorrect Answers

Sometimes ChatGPT provides patently false answers that seem completely reasonable if you aren’t familiar with the subject you are writing about. These are the most dangerous types of answers because they could easily be overlooked, added to a blog post, and then do an incredible amount of damage to your company’s reputation and authority. 

For example, the last recommendation for the best mountain biking trails in Helena from ChatGPT was the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. For those familiar with the Montana outdoors, this answer is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, “The Bob” (as the Wilderness Area is affectionately known by locals), is a few hours from Helena. More importantly, wilderness areas are off-limits to all vehicles… including mountain bikes. 

Should I Use ChatGPT To Write My Website’s Content?

In summary, the decision of whether to use ChatGPT to write your website’s content is dependent on a few factors. ChatGPT is an incredibly useful brainstorming tool and can easily be used to help writers come up with content ideas. Additionally, ChatGPT can be effective at writing content that is heavy on descriptors and light on facts (also known as “fluff” pieces). However, if you are looking for original content, unique ideas, or factual information in your posts, it is best to work with a content writer or strategic communications consulting firm in creating your website content.