Dofollow Digest #38: Why Ahrefs uses AI for content (and why you should too)

Hey, it's Eric 👋

I've been watching SaaS companies abandon AI content strategies because they think Google will penalize them. Meanwhile, their competitors are quietly scaling to thousands of pages and dominating search results.

Let's talk about what's actually happening – and why the companies avoiding AI are making a costly mistake.

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🔍 DEEP DIVE: Why Ahrefs Uses AI for Content (And Why You Should Too)

Ryan Law from Ahrefs just published his complete AI content process. He's using ChatGPT to write articles that get 17,000+ pageviews and outperform human-written content.

This is Ahrefs we're talking about – not some content farm. They've built their reputation on quality. And their Director of Content Marketing is openly using AI for production.

The Process That Actually Works

Law documented every step of Ahrefs' editorial process and uploaded it to ChatGPT. Writing guidelines, content templates, style rules – everything an LLM needs to match their standards.

He doesn't just generate and publish. He reviews outlines, provides feedback, and ensures quality at each stage. The AI handles execution while humans handle strategy and quality control.

The results: AI-generated guides that rank well, earn backlinks, and maintain bounce rates around 72%. These aren't thin, useless pages. They're comprehensive resources that help users solve problems.

Here's what I find interesting: Law uses AI for the boring stuff. Content gap analysis. Feature comparisons. Listicles. Updates to old posts. He calls these "hygiene tasks" – the maintenance work every content program needs but nobody wants to do.

This frees up his team for research pieces and thought leadership. The work that requires genuine expertise and original thinking.

What The Data Actually Shows

Let me share some numbers that matter:

AI content now makes up 19.1% of top search results. Nearly one in five pages ranking on page one uses AI generation. Zapier generates 280,000+ monthly visits from programmatic integration pages. Canva drives 13.1 million visits from template pages.

When Ahrefs tested whether Google penalizes AI content, they found zero correlation between AI usage and ranking position. None.

Google has been clear about this since 2023: they care about content quality, not creation method. The January 2025 Quality Rater Guidelines update didn't change that. It specifically targets content that lacks effort, originality, AND value. All three conditions must be present for penalties.

Yet most SaaS companies are sitting on the sidelines, afraid to use these tools.

Why SaaS Companies Have The Advantage

You have data your competitors can't access. Every integration in your product. Every feature combination. Every common support ticket. This is content fuel that only you possess.

When Zapier creates an integration page, they're not just targeting keywords. They're using actual platform data, real usage statistics, and specific workflows from their product. Competitors literally cannot create this content because they don't have the underlying data.

The same applies to industry-specific pages, feature guides, and template libraries. Your product generates the raw material for thousands of valuable pages.

Most companies haven't figured this out yet. They're still debating whether AI is "safe" while missing the bigger picture: AI is just a tool for scaling what you already know works.

The Quality Control That Matters

The difference between success and failure with AI content is simple: quality control.

Companies that fail dump thousands of pages online without review. They use generic templates. They don't verify accuracy. They optimize for volume over value.

Companies that succeed build systems. They review every page. They ensure uniqueness. They update content when products change. They monitor performance and prune what doesn't work.

This isn't different from human content creation – it's just faster. The same quality standards apply. The same user needs matter. The technology just removes the bottleneck.

The Reality Check

While you're reading this, your competitors are building content advantages that compound over time.

Every month you wait is another month they're capturing keywords, building topical authority, and creating barriers to entry. The gap between early adopters and late movers is widening.

In 12 months, everyone will be using AI for content. The competitive advantage will be gone. Right now, you can capture territory while others hesitate.

The companies winning aren't trying to game Google. They're using AI to systematically solve user problems at scale. They're building defensible content positions while their competitors debate whether it's allowed.

The choice is simple: adapt now while there's advantage to gain, or play catch-up later when everyone's doing it.

🔗 LINK ROUNDUP

• My Complete AI Content Process for Ahrefs

• Google Clicks Stable With AI Overviews

• Is SEO Dead?

• 5 Overlooked BOFU Content Formats

Til next time,

Eric