How to Spot AI-Written Text in Your Content — A Friendly Guide for Marketers and Small Business Owners
The rise of AI tools shaking up the way content is created isn’t just about new tech — it’s changing how we write, share, and trust what we read online. If you’re running a digital marketing agency or a small business, knowing whether a piece of content was crafted by a human or a machine can help you keep your work authentic and trustworthy. Let’s unpack how you can spot AI-generated text in a way that’s easy to follow and genuinely useful.
Why Can’t We Just Tell? 🤔
AI writing looks real, sometimes too real. It’s not copied from anywhere, so it’s not plagiarized content as you might expect. Instead, AI creates fresh text by learning from tons of examples, then generating new sentences based on patterns it has seen. This means the writing often seems polished but can hide clues beneath the surface.
How Do AI Detectors Work? 🔍
Most tools built to detect AI content use the magic of math and patterns. They compare the text in question to a giant library of human and AI writing to find telltale signs. Here’s what they look for:
  • Word and Phrase Patterns: How often certain words or word groups appear.
  • Grammar Structures: Whether sentence construction feels too predictable.
  • Writing Style and Tone: AI often keeps a steady tone without human quirks.
  • Predictability: AI text tends to choose words you’d expect based on what came before, making it more “predictable” for machines to guess.
  • Sentence Length Variation: Humans mix up long and short sentences, AI can lean towards uniformity.
Another method, less common, involves “watermarking” — a hidden signal embedded when AI creates content — but this isn’t widely used yet.
What This Means for You and Your Business 📈
You don’t have to get lost in technical jargon or complex tools. Using one or more AI detection tools can give you a good hint, but it’s more like checking footprints than catching a criminal on the spot. The best tools share scores indicating how likely the content was AI-generated and can flag parts of the text for you to check.
However, no tool is perfect. Sometimes content heavily edited by humans after AI writing might slip through. That’s why combining AI detection with your own sense of the writing — like spotting a too-clean tone or an overly long explanation on simple topics — is smart.
Why Should Digital Marketers Care?
AI is everywhere — a recent study found nearly three-quarters of new web pages include some AI-created content. For marketers and small brands, this presents both opportunities and challenges:
  • Use AI tools to speed up content creation but add your unique human touch.
  • Stay transparent and mix AI with your own knowledge to build trust.
  • Keep an eye on your content’s authenticity with AI detectors to avoid sounding generic or formulaic.
  • Learn from AI-detected competitors — if their AI content ranks well, it might be a sign to create your own smart, tailored version.
Quick Tips to Spot AI Text Yourself 👀
  • Is the tone too steady, without little quirks or personality?
  • Does the piece stretch simple ideas into long chatter with few new insights?
  • Are certain words or phrases odd or repeated too much?
  • Is the style extremely formal, neutral, or mechanical?
  • Does the content avoid deep details, sticking to surface-level points?
Wrapping Up with Some Friendly Advice 🎯
Think of AI detection like a helpful sidekick that points you in the right direction rather than a judge declaring guilt. Running multiple checks and using your own judgment together will give you the clearest picture. As AI evolves, staying curious and mixing tech tools with a sharp human eye is the best way to keep your content real, fresh, and effective.
Your content is your brand’s voice — and a little tech-savvy makes sure it stays truly yours!
2
0 comments
Lane Houk
5
How to Spot AI-Written Text in Your Content — A Friendly Guide for Marketers and Small Business Owners
SEO Success Academy
skool.com/seo-success-academy
Welcome to SEO Success Academy – the ultimate destination for business owners, digital marketers and agencies to master the art and science of SEO.
Leaderboard (30-day)
Powered by