Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used to create content, from news articles, advisements, website content, and social media posts. Media such as CENT experimented with using AI to create new pieces, and although found many errors and plagiarism issues, readers were hard to distinguish from human-written articles. AI-generated content has the potential to revolutionize the editorial and content marketing industry by automating the writing process and reducing costs.
Amidst the escalating employment of AI-powered content by SEO specialists to enhance website optimization, how does Google, the world’s largest search engine, treat AI-generated content? Does Google allow AI content? Does it entail penalizing websites utilizing AI-generated content to attain a higher ranking?
The short answer is No. Google will not penalize your website solely because your website uses AI-generated content. However, using AI to create spammy content to manipulate search rankings is forbidden. This article will explore Google’s stance on AI-generated content and its impact on your content marketing work.
Understanding Google’s Stance on AI-Generated Content
For years, Google evaluated content based on its quality and relevance to users. In other words, Google does not discriminate against AI-generated content as long as it meets its quality and relevance standards.
In its blog article published in February 2023, Google even reinforced that it rewards genuine and unique content demonstrating E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Its ranking systems prioritize content quality over the generation process.
The article also mentioned that Google has consistently prohibited using automation to manipulate search rankings but acknowledges that not all automation is spam. AI has the potential to help produce helpful content and great web content, powering new levels of expression and creativity. Despite its spam-fighting efforts, Google recognizes “AI has the ability to power new levels of expression and creativity, and to serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.”
So, Google has made it clear that its algorithms are designed to reward high-quality content and helpfulness, and penalize low-quality content, regardless of whether it is human-written or AI-generated.
Therefore, AI-generated content that is spammy, repetitive, or of low quality is likely to be penalized by Google’s algorithms. On the other hand, AI-generated content that is high-quality, informative, and relevant to users is expected to be rewarded by Google’s algorithms.
How to Safely Utilize AI Content for Search Rankings
According to Google’s stance, SEO marketers can use AI to create high-quality content, but it should not be generated solely to manipulate search rankings. Instead, the content should be helpful, relevant, and primarily made for people.
SEO marketers should prioritize creating unique and informative content that resonates with their target audience, in which AI content creation technology can be helpful in many ways.
SEO marketers can use AI-powered tools to analyze search trends and identify gaps in existing content. This allows marketers to analyze search queries related to a specific topic and generate ideas for high-quality content that answers those queries, creating content that fills those gaps and provides value to their audience.
AI can also automate tasks such as copywriting articles and landing pages, meta descriptions, tags, and headlines. This saves time and workforce for marketing teams, but it is crucial to note that the content generated by AI should not be copied or duplicated from other sources. Marketers should always ensure their content is original, informative, engaging, and follow the E-E-A-T principle.
Bear in mind that AI-generated content should not be used to stuff keywords or lack substance. SEO marketers should avoid using automation solely to generate keyword-rich content that lacks value to the audience. Otherwise, it may violate Google’s spam policies and can result in penalties and lower search rankings.
Balancing Human Creativity and AI in Content Marketing
AI-generated content has the potential to revolutionize the editorial and content marketing industry by automating writing and reducing costs. However, the quality and relevance of AI-generated content are crucial for success. Google’s stance reinforces the importance of creating high-quality, informative, and relevant content that resonates with the target audience and follows the E-E-A-T principle.
The success of AI-generated content relies on providing value to the audience and is not a replacement for human creativity and expertise. Combining AI-generated content with human expertise can produce high-quality, informative content that meets Google’s standards.
