As you can see, Google allows for AI-generated content, as long as it’s not spam. But there’s more to it, as we know from years of our experience in the SEO industry, it’s the quality of content that matters.
Coming back to Google’s official stance: content needs to be helpful to the reader and adhere to the EEAT principles: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. With AI-generated articles, that is not always the case. We’ve all had an experience when we wanted to test ChatGPT and asked it about a subject we have a deep knowledge of ourselves, but as a response, we received an answer so wrong, that it made us laugh. These poor-quality, random answers are what Google is trying to penalize.
What happens if you do use poor-quality, AI-generated content?
If you do decide to write an article based purely on information provided by AI, then, in the best-case scenario, with the newest Google algorithms, that content simply won’t rank very well in SERPs. Instead, it will be buried beneath content that actually delivers value to the user by providing new insights and information.
A common temptation when using AI is to increase content production. For example, you could publish a few articles a day instead of a few articles a week. However, that approach can cause more harm than good, as it directly violates Google’s spam policies that we cited earlier. The penalty for this could manifest during the next algorithm update, resulting in reduced traffic to your entire website.
Additionally, Google addresses the challenges of creating AI-generated content without human input in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. They’re placed alongside duplicates, plagiarism, and copied material. You’ll see more in our news article.
How does Google “know” your content is AI generated?
To answer this question, we must first understand how Google “knows” that your content is good. After all, it can’t tell you, for example, whether certain workout routines are effective, because it has no actual experience in going to the gym. Instead, Google has to make do with knowledge graphs and information gains.
Knowledge graph and information gains
SEO is a lot like bodybuilding: it’s all about gains. In this case, it’s about information gains. And while protein shakes won’t be needed for this, there are still proven and tested practices to make your competition jealous of how big your traffic is.
Google has its own knowledge graph—a structured representation of information for every subject. If you want to rank high in search results, you need to understand what content is already at the top and what unique value you can add to expand that knowledge graph. In other words, you need to create information gains by providing information that no one else has.
That being said, some queries, like “what is 2 + 2?”, have universally accepted answers. In such cases, adding unnecessary or speculative content doesn’t help your rankings and may harm your credibility. For example, if you post an article claiming that “2 + 2 is, in fact, 5,” Google may flag your content as AI-generated.
However, if you write about a more subjective topic, like a review of a new Captain America movie, your best bet is to share insights that no one else has. Use words like “in my opinion”, ask questions, add context, and refer to other Marvel movies. Be human.
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Expert Comment
If your content doesn’t go beyond what’s already been said online, chances are it’s been AI-generated, and Google will know that. It’s okay, as long as it’s high-quality, but without your input (whether on a prompt or editing level), chances for that are low.
Ania Bitner
Content Team Leader