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, 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 losing its voice. It may rank or be cited in AI overviews, but it rarely resonates. The danger is that a brand ends up sounding robotic or generic — exactly the opposite of what builds trust and community.
The Creative Risk
On the flip side, ignoring search and writing purely for voice can leave great work unseen. A beautifully written webpage that never gets discovered isn’t serving its purpose. Copywriting has to walk that fine-line between creative expression and discoverability.
The Rise of AI
As a Writing Tool
Just when balancing creativity and SEO felt like a tightrope walk, the rise of AI reshaped both how we write and how people find our writing.
As AI becomes a tool in our workflows, the human element becomes even more valuable. AI can analyze patterns and suggest optimizations, but it can’t replicate the nuance of voice, the humor in a well-placed line, or the emotional rhythm of a good story. Creativity, empathy, and narrative will always separate man from machine. Professionals who use AI well won’t let it do the work for them — they’ll use it to brainstorm, find starting points, and speed up research.
In Search Behavior
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 sweet spot between balancing creativity, SEO, and the changes that AI has brought lies in 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 the audience, their motivations, and the story that will connect.
- 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 still sounds like the brand, not a machine.
Why It Matters
For brands, this balancing act isn’t just theory — it’s impact. Content that balances data and creativity is content that gets seen and remembered. It drives discovery without sacrificing authenticity. And in a crowded digital space, authenticity is what turns audiences into communities.
At the end of the day, algorithms may decide how content is ranked, but people decide how it’s received. Writing for both isn’t about compromise — it’s about connection.