Writing for Humans in an Algorithm’s World

Search engines, AI, and ever-evolving algorithms shape the way content is ranked and found online. But at the core of every brand story, there’s something algorithms can’t fully capture: human connection.

As a copywriter, I’ve spent years balancing the technical with the creative when writing for the web:

Technical: The boring 'must-haves' — keywords, metadata, structured data, content hierarchy, scannability, domain authority, etc.
Creative: The things that make people feel something and connect with your work — tone, emotion, humor, and story.

The best digital content happens when these two forces meet.

The SEO Trap

It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing only for algorithms — especially with new changes in search habits and the potential shift to zero-click search. We’ve all seen copy that’s stuffed with keywords, optimized to the point of sounding unnatural. Sometimes Google punishes content like this, and sometimes it slips through the Google crawlers' claws and ranks well. It may rank or be cited in AI overviews, but it rarely resonates. The danger is that a brand ends up sounding robotic — exactly the opposite of what builds trust and community.

The Creative Conundrum

On the other side, ignoring SEO best practices (which now includes GEO and AEO) and writing purely for narrative can leave great work unseen. A beautifully written webpage that makes users laugh, think, or act — but never gets discovered — isn’t serving its purpose. Web copywriting has to walk that fine-line between creative expression and discoverability.

The Rise of AI

In my current healthcare copywriting role, the rise of AI is having profound impacts. Healthcare is one of the categories where Google’s AI overviews appear most frequently, so making sure our content connects with patients while still being discoverable — in Google’s evolving algorithm, AI overviews, and in tools like ChatGPT — has become essential to our strategy.

Finding the Balance

The older I get, the more I understand that balance is everything.

In web copywriting, balance is achieved by understanding search intent — not just what people are typing, but why they’re searching in the first place. When you write to answer a human need (with clarity, story, and voice), and then shape it so search engines can find and showcase it, you create content that works on both levels.

Layer in structured data, smart SEO, and FAQs that answer the exact questions people ask in Google or ChatGPT, and you’ve got content that readers love — and that algorithms and AI love to pull from.

I approach this balance in three steps:

Start with people: define your audience's motivations when searching for your product or service.
Layer in data: use keyword research to guide structure, headlines, and language choices without letting it take over. Add related FAQs that directly answer the questions that your users are putting into AI.
Polish for voice: refine it so your content sounds like your brand, not a machine

Why It Matters

For brands, finding this balance isn’t just theory — it’s impact. Content that places data and creativity in equal measures is content that gets seen and remembered. It drives discovery without sacrificing authenticity. And in an increasingly crowded digital space, authenticity is what turns audiences into communities.