Buying Content in 2025: What to Look For (and What to Avoid) in the Age of AI

Do you want to rank well on Google and consistently generate leads? If so, you’ll have to consistently publish high-quality content on your website.  If you’re like most business owners, you’re too busy to dedicate time to writing blogs, creating infographics, and shooting videos.  Because of this, you’ll probably resort to buying content instead.  When done properly, content outsourcing is:

• Fast
• Effective 
• Beneficial for SEO 
• A great way to generate leads and sales 
• Good for boosting brand awareness, credibility, and loyalty 

At least, that used to be the case.  Enter the age of AI, where anyone can instantaneously generate complete articles and scripts using simple prompts.  This has caused some agencies to try and pass off AI-generated content as written by humans so they can increase profits.  As a result, navigating the paid content landscape has become more difficult in recent years.  In this guide, we’ll show you the top factors to look for (and avoid) when buying content, so stay tuned! 

Why Businesses Buy Content in 2025 

First, let’s examine the top reasons why site owners use content-writing services.  This will help you understand all the ways that consistent content will boost your SEO and add to your bottom line. 

Increasing the speed and scalability of content strategies 

High-quality content is difficult and time-consuming to produce. Content outsourcing speeds up that process dramatically, which helps businesses:

1. Remain consistent with SEO
2. Meet deadlines 
3. Cover the hottest trending topics 

Even if you have an in-house content creation team, there are times when you may need more hands on deck. That’s certainly true if you’re trying to scale your operations. 

Filling content gaps

Imagine that you’re a financial advisor, and your top competitor has an in-depth learning hub that covers every financial topic known to man: Your site, on the other hand, only has a handful of short blog posts about common money issues.  In this scenario, your website has a serious content gap in relation to your competitor.  Content gaps are bad for SEO, as websites with more robust content will almost certainly perform better on search engines (and with audiences).  Therefore, businesses will buy content to fill these gaps. 

To capitalize on keywords their target audiences search for online

Creating content based on trending keywords is SEO 101, and it remains one of the most effective digital marketing strategies.  Regardless of your industry or focus, your target audience members will search for terms related to your products and services on Google every single day.  If you aren’t creating content to capitalize on these keywords, you’re leaving money on the table. 

To meet content demands for blogs, emails, service pages, etc.  

Websites need content.  It’s just a fact of life.  Even if your website doesn’t have a blog, you’ll still need:

1. A homepage 
2. Landing pages 
3. An About Us page 
4. Emails (both informative and for marketing) 

As you can see, just about every website will have consistent content needs. Websites that DO have blogs will need even more!  

Does your website need compelling copy? Check out our SEO Copywriting Services!

AI and the Content Buying Landscape 

You may be asking yourself, “Why do I even need to buy content? Can’t I just use programs like ChatGPT to create it for me?” You could, but your content strategy won’t get very far.  Raw, unedited AI content is often robotic, riddled with errors, and factually inaccurate.  Editing the content helps, but you still won’t be producing anything containing original insights or first-hand experiences.  All AI tools can do is remix and reframe things that have already been said.  That’s why most AI content is redundant and very similar to existing articles that cover the same topics.  Yet, this hasn’t stopped most businesses from using it.  78% of companies currently use AI for at least one function, and 92% plan to increase their investment in AI over the next three years.  So, while AI has definitely lowered the cost of content creation (and even eliminated it in some cases), it’s important to know that not all content will deliver an ROI.  Studies show that most consumers can detect when content is generated by AI, and it can cause them to disengage. 

The risks of buying generic, low E-E-A-T content 

Speaking of disengagement, you shouldn’t waste your marketing dollars on content with poor E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) signals. E-E-A-T is how Google’s team of quality raters judge the strength of online content, so it’s extremely important for high rankings.  Besides that, high E-E-A-T content is better for your user experience.  Whenever content truly showcases real experiences and expertise, it provides a lot more value to users.  So, if you buy raw AI content, the chances are high that it:

1. Won’t perform the way you want it to 
2. Won’t appeal to your target audience 

Site owners need to understand now more than ever that content isn’t just a box you check, it’s something that requires true value to deliver an ROI.  Unedited AI content may be the cheapest way to fill your website with words, but it won’t do your brand’s reputation any favors.  Case in point, building topical authority is one of the best ways to consistently appear at the top of Google.  It involves establishing your brand as a thought leader in a particular field.  Well, realistically, you’ll never achieve topical authority by publishing raw AI content (or by buying poor-quality content with low E-E-A-T signals).  It’s far too derivative and unoriginal to meet Google’s quality standards.  While Google doesn’t ban AI-generated content outright, the company encourages site owners to publish content made for people, not just search engines.  Google’s official documentation on the matter contains some more helpful advice.  For example, take a look at these content quality questions: It’s pretty clear that Google wants to see helpful content that provides valuable insights that you can’t find anywhere else, and that’s pretty much impossible to achieve with AI.  At the same time, this doesn’t mean that you can’t find success with AI content, you just can’t rely on it outright.   We recommend using AI tools to help brainstorm ideas and outline content but leave the actual creation and editing to humans. 

What to Look for When Buying Content 

How can you separate the wheat from the chaff when investing in SEO content creation? While we’ve already talked about the dangers of relying on AI, there are plenty of marketing agencies and freelancers who sell subpar content (even if it was written by humans).  Here are the top factors to look for when shopping for content creators. 

Quality standards 

To start, you should establish some strict quality standards for your branded content. At the same time, think about your brand’s identity and what makes it tick.  How would you describe your brand’s voice to someone unfamiliar with it?  Is your content punchy and bold, or is it staunchly professional? The better you’re able to describe your preferred tone, the easier it will be for a writer to match it.  Thus, you should only accept content that’s in line with your brand’s voice. Not only does this ensure consistency, but it will instill a sense of familiarity and loyalty with your regular customers.  Readability is another huge quality factor for content, especially blog posts (although it applies to things like infographics, too).  To find out why, let’s play a game.  Which paragraph do you think is easier to read?

Paragraph 1

Link-building is how you build backlinks, which are links on other websites that direct back to pages on your website. Backlinks are extremely important for improving your search engine optimization (SEO) and they will help you rank higher for important keywords. Getting sites to link back to you involves things like outreach, fixing broken links, engaging in digital PR, and outdoing competitor content. It’s important to have a strong backlink profile to outrank other websites in your field. If you don’t have enough high-quality backlinks, other websites will rank higher than you and take customers away. 

Paragraph 2

Link-building refers to the process of getting other websites to link back to content on your website.  A hyperlink on another website that points to yours is called a backlink, and they’re very important for search engine optimization (SEO).  Google pays attention to the sites that link back to you.  If trusted, authoritative websites link back to your content, Google interprets it as a sign that your content is also trustworthy.  Therefore, the goal is to get other trusted websites in your industry to link to your content through various methods. Obviously, paragraph 2 is easier to read.  It has short sentences that get straight to the point. Also, there are no more than 2 sentences per paragraph, so there’s plenty of space.  This reduces the chances that readers will lose their place.  Paragraph 1 contains lengthy sentences and long paragraphs, both of which are cumbersome to readers.  When buying blog content, look for writers who mimic the style used in paragraph 2. 

Originality 

Why should someone read your blog if they can find all the information contained in it somewhere else? This question points out the importance of originality.  Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to reinvent the wheel for your respective industry.  It just means that you need:

• A unique point of view 
• Lived experiences 
• Real-world stories
• Original research and data (if possible) 

Distinct opinions, experiences, and stories are what keep audiences coming back.  

SEO alignment 

Outstanding content is great, but it has to align with your SEO strategy to truly bear fruit.  That means it has to:

• Contain promising keywords that you uncovered through research 
• Include internal links to spread link equity and add helpful resources 
• Align with the rest of your content (i.e., same brand voice and topics) 
• Serve a purpose, like to generate leads or sales 

Don’t forget to include calls to action in your content pieces.  These brief phrases remind your audience what it is that you want them to do, such as sign up for your newsletter or purchase one of your products. 

The Top Red Flags to Avoid 

There are some telltale signs that certain content creators and agencies aren’t worth your time and money.  Besides blatant use of raw AI, other red flags to look out for include:

Vague deliverables or unclear processes 

The content you purchase shouldn’t have any mysteries attached to it.  By that, we mean you should always know:

1. What type of content is getting created 
2. When you can expect to receive a finished product 
3. The exact word count and specifics involved (like including images) 

The most reputable agencies will make it extremely easy for clients to purchase and receive content.  Look for content creators who provide crystal clear timelines and deliverables. 

No editing or quality assurance 

The quality of the content you order should be guaranteed. It should be completely free of grammatical and spelling errors.  The content should contain all the target keywords you requested to include (and they should appear NATURALLY throughout the content, no spam).  Everything should flow, and the content should be effortless to read from start to finish.  Ideally, there should also be high-resolution images, external links to sources, and calls to action. 

One-size-fits-all content packages 

Every client will have different content needs, so a one-size-fits-all content package is immediately a red flag.  A reputable agency will create content based on your specific needs, such as:

• Keyword usage and placement 
• Brand voice and tone 
• Whether some industry lingo is acceptable for your audience 
• The type of content your audience prefers (for instance, B2B content should be more informative, while B2C content can have an element of fun). 

Look for agencies that advertise custom content strategies. 

Why HOTH Content Just Works 

Whether we’re writing content for our website or for our clients, it always ranks well and fosters tons of engagement.  How is our content so successful? It boils down to our rigorous quality standards, which include:

• Human-edited, SEO-optimized, and strategy driven. Every client receives a custom content solution based on their needs. For our AI content product (used for speed and scalability), everything is fact-checked and human-edited to ensure peak quality and rankability. 

• Supports both search and brand voice. Our content is designed to rank AND appeal to target audiences. 

• Includes keyword research, formatting, and optimization. When you order content from us, all the nitty-gritty details are done for you. 

• Scalable for agencies and businesses alike. Our content solutions are 100% scalable, so don’t be shy about ramping things up! 

To make the content you buy from us even more impactful, supercharge it with premium digital PR backlinks. 

Final Takeaways: Buying Content in the AI Era 

Content outsourcing is still alive and well in 2025, but the waters are muddied a bit by the popularity of generative AI tools.  Yet, with proper vetting in place, it’s still possible to purchase top-quality content that improves your SEO and generates a tangible ROI.  Remember, choose content that fits your goals, and doesn’t just fill space.  Do you want to take your SEO content strategy to the next level? Check out our top-tier Blog Writing Services or book a totally free strategy call to discuss your specific needs!