With all the talk recently about AI-generated content, Google has come out and clarified once and for all if AI content is going to rank on Google’s search result pages.
Google has a long-standing policy regarding high-quality content and regardless of whether humans or machines have produced it, your content must meet these standards.
Above all, Google’s ranking systems aim to identify content that demonstrates expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
Google has updated its “Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content” help page with guidance on evaluating content in terms of “Who, How, and Why.”
Quality is king
Focusing on the quality of content rather than who produced the content is the cornerstone of Google’s approach to all content in ranking search results and has been for many years. Google has not changed this stance with the introduction of generative AI content from the likes of ChatGPT.
In fact we have been here before. Over a decade ago we had spinning software that would take written content and re-phrase it to say the same thing in different words. This mass-produced content flooded the internet. In response, Google changed the bar with what it considered high-quality content.
It was only last year in 2022 we saw Google tweak the algorithms to focus on helpful content. Content guidelines change constantly and staying up to date with these can be a full-time job, unless you are interested in answering the questions people are asking by sharing your in-depth expertise – something that is never going to go out of fashion.
Is AI content again Google’s spam rules?
In short no. Not when done correctly.
Any content whether machine-generated or typed by a human that is produced with the primary purpose of manipulating rankings in search results violates Google’s spam policies. Google’s spam-fighting efforts will continue to target such practices and result in more harm than good for your site.
However, Google realizes not all use of automation and AI-generated content is spam.
For example, publishers automate helpful content such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts.
Google says it will continue to take a responsible approach toward AI-generated content while maintaining a high bar for information quality and helpfulness in search results.
Google’s advice for publishers on AI Content
The updated advice for publishers direct to Google asks publishers to think about “Who, How, and Why” concerning how content is produced.
“Who” refers to the person who created the content, and it’s important to make this clear by providing a byline or background information about the author.
“How” relates to the method used to create the content, and it’s helpful to readers to know if automation or AI was involved. If AI was involved in the content production process, Google wants you to be transparent and explain why it was used.
“Why” refers to the purpose of creating content, which should be to help people rather than to manipulate search rankings.
Evaluating your content in this way, regardless of whether AI-generated or not, will help you stay in line with what Google’s systems reward.
