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How Artificial Intelligence Can Improve WordPress

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AI and WordPress: How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Your Website

You see it talked about in the daily news and even more in tech magazines and blogs. The rise of artificial intelligence has people thinking of robots taking over the world, like science fiction books, movies, and TV shows have come to show us. However, artificial intelligence, or AI, is much more than that. Yes, we’re starting to see self-driving cars and self-service kiosks in retail stores, but surely you’ve seen artificial intelligence spread throughout several industries like medicine, education, research, or even AI and WordPress.

Your first thought might be, “What elements of WordPress could be replaced with artificial intelligence?”

Most quality content is written by writers and researchers. Web designers take detailed instructions from clients to manipulate code and adjust items like typography, colors, and images. Can a computer get so advanced that those jobs would become obsolete? Well, maybe in the future, but as of now, those are fairly difficult tasks to duplicate with AI.

However, AI has technically been around for some time in the world of WordPress and web design in general. Some spellcheck tools learn your tendencies as you type and provide recommendations for improving your writing. There are also plenty of content curation tools for compiling previously-generated articles for a blog or newsletter. The same can be said about many analytics tools that take a deeper look into where your customers are coming from and how you might be able to get them back to your website.

In short, AI already exists to an extent. There are obviously more advanced forms of AI, like with companies making robots that can walk around and learn how to open doors. But we’re sure to see more advancements in the AI field as it pertains to WordPress.

What Exactly is Artificial Intelligence (And How Does it Tie into WordPress Web Design?)

As of right now, artificial intelligence revolves around something called machine learning. This means that a machine completes tasks typically done by humans and eventually learns to complete those tasks better, just like a human would. AI has pros and cons. The optimists see artificial intelligence as a way to replace those jobs that aren’t seen as desirable or reasonable for humans to be doing. Many people also feel like AI can be used as a complementary technology, so it wouldn’t necessarily replace the doctor in the operating room but rather assist her to complete the surgery in a safer, faster manner.

On the other hand, skeptics feel that artificial intelligence is bound to replace all jobs, leaving us to figure out who’s going to benefit financially from these machines and what everyone is going to do with their lives. Then, of course, there’s the science fiction idea of machines becoming sentient and taking over the world or enslaving humanity.

Regardless of how moderate or extreme your views are on AI, one thing’s certain: AI is here to stay. Not only that, but we’re already seeing many plugins and themes utilizing artificial intelligence.

Some of the plugins relying on AI are quite useful for content creation and speeding up the web design process. AI-based plugins and integrations are fairly new to the industry, so it’s not a bad idea to test them and see how they work for your organization, but there aren’t any guarantees. For instance, some of these plugin developers could stop releasing updates at any time. Some of them might not work exactly as you expected.

However, AI is exciting, so we want to outline some of the ways it can help you and your WordPress website.

Get Rid of Those Spam Comments

One of the most popular plugins on WordPress is Akismet, making it a suitable introduction to how AI can help out your WordPress site. If you’re not familiar with Akismet, it’s actually one of the plugins that come preinstalled with every WordPress installation.

Therefore, you might even have it without knowing it. Akismet is an absolute lifesaver for bloggers and all WordPress users. Why? Because if you ever ran WordPress without Akismet, you know how insane the spam comments get.

These comments slow down your site and leave you to sift through the mess manually. Therefore, Akismet uses machine learning and AI to clear out the spam comments that shouldn’t show up on your site. Akismet learns which bots are most likely to hit your site, and it runs in the background without you noticing.

Improve Your SEO

If you utilize a plugin like Yoast SEO, you know that it also suggests improvements to your content based on what’s been written. It has some elements of machine learning, but a plugin like WordLift actually analyzes your content using AI.

AI and WordPress

The main difference between a machine learning tool like Wordlift and Yoast SEO is that Wordlift creates a knowledge graph for your site. Therefore, the SEO recommendations are tailored to your content. What’s cool is that you receive several facts and figures to help your SEO and craft better blog posts.

Automatically Translate Based on the User

Many websites have multilingual capabilities. However, an easier way to translate WordPress is by taking advantage of the AI-driven Google Language Translator. You install the plugin into your sidebar or with a shortcode, then it goes to work, learning about your visitors and the content on your website–therefore delivering higher quality translations.

Most bloggers know how important “related posts” are for getting users to read more articles. There are plenty of related post plugins available, some of which use machine learning to see which of your other posts relate to what’s being read.

Related Posts for WordPress

Related Posts for WordPress is a solid choice since the AI algorithms reveal relevant articles. Just install and allow it to automatically link your posts as the algorithm sees fit (note – you can also manually link or unlink posts as well).

Have AI Power Your Live Chat

Although I wouldn’t be thrilled about letting AI and WordPress run my entire customer support chat, this makes sense for those simpler questions that could be answered by the artificial intelligence, freeing up time for humans to speak with other customers.

Support Board - Chat WordPress Plugin

The Support Board automated bot does just that, completing simple tasks and sending customers in the right direction. For instance, they might be looking for a certain product, or maybe they need a coupon that’s currently active. Along with the learning it does after activation, the plugin lets you create your own canned responses when a certain question comes up.

Understand Which Emotions Your Readers are Feeling

AI Content Writing Assistant

The AI Content Writing Assistant is a WordPress plugin using a combination of AI tools to help improve your writing. In terms of blogging, the AI Content Writing Assistant can help with content structure and voice. With more than 40+ writing tones it can influence how your readers feel when looking at your content.

How Can AI and WordPress Help Your Site?

As you can see, there are plenty of uses for AI in WordPress. Some are still in the works, but we suggest you try these out to see how they respond.

If you have any questions about AI and WordPress, or any other suggestions that you feel we should have included in our list, let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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2 Comments

  1. Ritu

    Thanks for the useful info Brenda. AI is reducing the work flow and increasing the user interactions day by day. AI and WordPress is great.

  2. Jason K. Dove

    I agree that WordLift is indespensabe. Gennaro & Andreás are bad asses.

    Two others I have to mention:

    SEOPressor & Alli AI

    They aren’t free, though neither is running a business. We all pay the cost of doing business. Personally, I prefer to have the edge by not being cheap. When considering the long term ROI, it’s no contest.

    So many business owners flock to spending $1500+ USD a month to put up a billboard, yet balk at the idea of spending a premium software fee.

    So I have to ask the SEO’s & Digital Marketers out there: Is an additional 150-200 USD per month NOT a heck of a bargain to crush those who work without such advantages?

    Again, for me, it’s no contest.

    Thank you for listening. Now I Can’t wait to give Watsonfinds a day in court!

    #MakeItAmazing

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