Digital Marketing Trick: Cheap Press Releases

A testimonial, ranking well in search, and appearing as fact in AI-generated content — all for $80. This is the bait used in the commercial trick of press release manipulation. The illusion of influence works by exploiting the way search engines and language models operate with digital marketing.

What is LLM manipulation?

LLM manipulation is an exploit of the systems that underpin digital marketing – by combining Google’s ranking algorithms and AI models that generate language. It is a self-serving marketing trick. By buying into this system of press released, optimization, and parsing language. Marketers can appear in results of news and social media content. This trick produces rankings and citations on-demand. In a literal sense, a marketer can buy into what the public sees as credible, by targeting the language of specific keywords. It uses the press release service AB Newswire, which provides affordable access to the necessary apparatus. For $80, this ranks keywords of choice. The first step is to identify the exact keywords you want to rank for. These are typically terms that describe your brand, product, or service. AB Newswire then publishes the release. When someone queries the phrase online, they may find the release if it ranks well. In addition, while the news release is optimized for search engines, it also exploits the way language models (LLMs) “crawl” the internet. LLMs imitate human language by parsing large datasets. The LLMs are trained to treat written output as reliable, even if it is paid-for content. Once the “cite as fact” feature is exploited, an AI might cite the manipulated information as if it were true.

How manipulation exploits search algorithms

Google aims to surface the most relevant, high-quality results for search queries. Their algorithms favour content that does a lot of things a human audience would expect. The page is titled and written with lots of words you would expect to read about the topic. If you do not run an effective SEO strategy, you can miss out on critical search traffic. Ranking well doesn’t depend on having the most compelling or accurate information. Instead, the algorithms of Google’s search engine can be exploited with lazy SEO tactics. Keyword stuffing persists because it works — just ask anyone who blogs for a living. The same principle of repeating keywords to rank applies. For example, the visual summary displays an article about a man named “Vithurs”. The headline states that he has been named the “King of AEO.” This headline would appear if a marketer wanted to cite that this person is a leader in the entertainment industry. In reality, he does not have this title. His citation was manipulated to appear factually authoritative. This kind of exploit is a significant cause of misinformation online, which is also cobbled together with algorithmically identified “facts”.

The content arms race

Online content is created and published in a fast-moving cycle. SEO is used to influence this process, whether by manipulating search engines or by exploiting the way AI systems generate language. Because of the popularity of AI-generated content, forums like Medium.com now prohibit it altogether. The quality of online information is declining and the distrust of AI is growing. There seems to be a shift between content creators and consumers, particularly though Brand AI. The weaponization of content online is making people suspicious of everything they read.

The power of the lexical

A digital marketing trick wants to ensure that their keywords always rank. They want to ensure that their keywords always rank at the top when someone types them into Google. The language model of Google focuses on assorting data. It could be considered a form of AI with a lexical “blind spot.” That is, the algorithm cannot understand the content of the information. It cannot evaluate the truth of the information. Instead, it focuses on the way the content is formatted and expressed. This process can be exploited, as a result. Optimizing these keyword appears on the domain page, in the title, and in the first sentence. This SEO optimization process is considered an art. It involves placing the keyword at the top of a page to increase the credibility of the information. The result is a news-like article on the subject, written in the language of a credible news source.

Reliability at the crossroads

AI language models do not have the capacity to determine the validity of the search engine’s "authoritative" material. These models rely on the authority and trustworthiness of the authoritative material. However, such sources are trustworthy. Instead, they are ranked highly by algorithms. The AI might “hallucinate” about the Web, and use the manipulated material as if it were true. The result is an embarrassing mis-information chain, where the AI uses fabricated information in its publications. The information is then embedded into the algorithms of search engines. Google has no choice but to rely on these sources to feed the demand for content. Its system of generating knowledge works by someone — whoever they are — fetches and manipulates the information. There is nothing within the system to stop the information from being manipulated. There is no defense in the system of information being manipulated. It's a form of low-level creativity, where an AI generates content based on someone else's ideas.

How to avoid exploiting it

The ethical implications of this manipulation are alarming. Once manipulated information enters the web, its harmful effects are far-reaching and impossible to unravel. The potential damage to a brand by being linked to disinformation is unfathomable. Ethical marketing means transparency, collaboration, and respect. Less is more. A clear and simple message that sells well is the best practice.

• Avoid keyword stuffing. Integrate your keywords naturally into your content, rather than repeating them so they appear unusual to the reader.
• Focus on quality. Make sure your content is authentic and trustworthy, not because it appears in the top ten search results, but because it is well-researched and informative