A Frase user on G2 nailed it. The output reads as "bot generic language that any human being would identify". If a human can spot it, so can ChatGPT. And ChatGPT does not cite what it cannot use.
The irony is thick. You buy an AI writing tool to win at AI search. The tool writes pages so generic that the AI engines skip them.
ChatGPT is an answer engine. When a user asks "best wedding photographer in Birmingham under £1500", the model does not pick whichever page has the most keyword density. It picks the page that contains facts it can lift into an answer.
Facts like:
"Birmingham wedding photographer, documentary style, packages from £1,200 to £2,400, includes two shooters for half-day, edited gallery in four weeks."
That sentence contains seven distinct facts. The AI can lift any of them. Generic output does not contain facts. It contains adjectives and softeners. "Our experienced team is passionate about capturing your special day." ChatGPT cannot do anything with that.
Most AI writing tools work the same way. You give them a topic, maybe a few keywords, and a target word count. The model generates a page that reads plausibly but is missing the one thing that matters. Your actual specifics.
Frase users report that the output opens and closes with the same generic hooks across every piece. Scalenut users say the content "feels too generic and unappealing". Same wound, different tool.
The tools are not broken. They are doing what you asked. You asked for a page about "Birmingham wedding photography". You got a page about "Birmingham wedding photography". You did not ask for a page about your Birmingham wedding photography. So there are no prices, no service breakdowns, no real FAQs, no postcode. Nothing ChatGPT can cite.
Four categories. Get these right and the rest matters less.
Real prices. "From £85 per month for sole traders, £180 for limited companies" beats "competitive rates". If you cannot publish exact figures, use price logic. "From £280, exact quote after consultation" is fine. "Please get in touch for pricing" is not.
Real questions. A FAQ section that covers what customers actually ask. "Do you service condensing boilers?" "What happens if the engineer cannot fix it on the first visit?" "Can I pay in instalments?" Not "Why choose us?"
Real locations. Not "the Midlands". Birmingham, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, B13 to B17, B44. Specific. If you work in postcodes, list the postcodes.
Real qualifications. "ICAEW chartered" beats "fully qualified". "NICEIC Part P certified" beats "approved electrician". Names of bodies, not adjectives.
AI writers are drafting assistants, not content replacements. The change is in the brief.
Bad brief. "Write a service page for a Birmingham wedding photographer."
Good brief. "Write a service page for Jane Smith Photography, Birmingham. Documentary style wedding photography. Packages: Half Day £1,200 (two shooters, 4 hours coverage, 200 edited photos, delivered in 4 weeks). Full Day £2,400 (two shooters, 10 hours, 500 photos, 3 week delivery, includes engagement shoot). Service area: Birmingham and up to 30 miles out. Specialisms: Asian weddings, small intimate weddings, outdoor ceremonies. FAQs to answer: Do you travel? What if the weather is bad? Can we meet before the day? How much deposit?"
That brief produces a page ChatGPT can cite. The first brief produces a page it skips.
Start with the right questions.
The free 20 questions PDF gives you the exact customer prompts for six common trades. The free schema pack has copy-paste JSON-LD so the AI knows what it is looking at.
Frase runs roughly £80 a month once you add the pro add-on. Trustpilot reviewers call it "Way too expensive for what it does, not value for money". You are paying a monthly fee for output that makes your pages less likely to get cited.
If you are going to write service pages, the fix is free. A notebook and 40 minutes per page. Facts, not adjectives. Run it through ChatGPT yourself to check the shape, not to write the copy.
ChatGPT cites pages with facts. Templated AI writers produce pages with adjectives. The two do not overlap.
Write your service pages with real prices, real questions, real locations, real qualifications. Use AI as a drafting assistant, not an author. Specifics win.
One page per fix. Copy-paste schema. Real small-business examples, not marketing fluff.
Happy to answer anything. [email protected]
Bob