Google: AI Makes Human Experience Key for Content
▼ Summary
– AI has made basic information widely accessible, reducing its value, while making human experience and opinions more important for standing out in search.
– Martin Splitt argues that many websites merely repeat spec-sheet data, failing to provide the contextual, experience-based insights that AI cannot offer.
– Human judgment, such as explaining the real-world difference between similar products, is now a key value-add that distinguishes useful content from shallow content.
– Websites must elevate their content beyond surface-level facts, focusing on subjective insights like comparisons, tests, and personal use to remain relevant.
– For SEO, relying on checklist-style optimization leads to shallow content; instead, content should prioritize experiential guidance to perform better in search.
A recent episode of Search Off The Record brought together Martin Splitt and Nikola Todorovic, Google’s Director of Software Engineering for Search, to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way users interact with information. They observed that AI has made it easier for people to craft longer, conversational search queries, but paradoxically, this shift has made human experience and opinion more valuable than ever. The key takeaway: to stand out in AI-driven search, content must go beyond what machines can easily replicate.
AI excels at delivering basic facts, such as the technical specifications of a product. For example, the exact specs of a Texas Instruments OPA1656 op-amp are readily available from the manufacturer or electronic component distributors like DigiKey and Mouser. But what AI cannot offer is subjective insight, like how the OPA1656 sounds compared to a component costing six times more. That nuanced, experience-based judgment is what Splitt and Todorovic identify as the true “value” that separates a useful website from a forgettable one.
Splitt illustrated this point by recalling a personal story about buying a joystick for a computer game. He saw “force feedback” listed on the box but had no idea what it meant. When he asked a store employee for clarification, the employee simply repeated, “That means this joystick has force feedback.” Splitt noted that this frustrating experience mirrors much of the content online today, which merely restates what users can already see. He argued that AI makes it trivial to convert spec sheets into readable text, but that does not add real value. The real opportunity is to provide context, explanation, and human perspective.
Splitt emphasized that websites no longer need to focus on regurgitating common information. While that baseline data remains useful, the higher-value content comes from human experience, even if it is as simple as explaining what “force feedback” actually feels like. In an age of unprecedented information access, human judgment and opinion have become the scarcest and most valuable resources because AI cannot replicate them.
According to Splitt, there is still plenty of room online for diverse voices, opinions, and experiences, but the standard for content must rise. “We have to increase the level of our content to be useful and interesting for humans, from humans to humans,” he said. He stressed that basic content is no substitute for expertise. The insights gained through real-world use, testing, and comparison are what separate high-quality editorial content from surface-level filler.
Content that simply repeats widely available facts now has a weaker claim on attention, since AI can deliver that same baseline information more efficiently. The stronger opportunity lies in content built from what a person notices, tests, prefers, questions, compares, and learns through use. That is where experience becomes editorial value, not as a decorative personal angle but as the core of what changes a reader’s understanding.
Facts explain commonly known information. Experience explains what it means to a human. And meaning turns information into guidance. Guidance is the value-add that makes a web page worth visiting.
For SEO professionals, this insight offers a practical lens for evaluating content. It helps identify why a page might not be indexed or why it underperforms in search. While a step-by-step, checklist approach to optimization may feel useful for beginners, real-world search success demands moving beyond shallow tactics. Meeting the higher standards necessary to stand out requires content that delivers genuine human insight, not just repackaged data.
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
