AI content and Google
AI generated content sounded like a dream. Suddenly time-poor marketers could have articles written in seconds, negating the need to pay copywriters or toil over the content themselves. At the close of 2023 AI content seemed like an inexpensive way to bypass human effort, but then in March 2024, Google rolled out an update that began to penalise sites using it. So what happened, and can marketers and businesses leverage AI without falling foul of the latest algorithms?
The March update
On 5 March 2024, Google introduced measures to reduce what it terms ‘unhelpful’ content by 40%. According to some research conducted by Originality.ai, this resulted in the deindexation of hundreds of sites that had previously had organic traffic, most of which had at least a handful of posts that were AI generated. So for anyone still wondering, “Is AI bad for SEO?” the answer appears to be yes – if it’s used to generate low-quality content without any kind of human input.
Why AI content can’t compete
Google has focused its efforts in recent years on user experience, attempting to stamp out practices that try to play the system in order to gain rankings. The Reviews and Helpful Content updates are two such efforts, which explicitly have quality standards that AI content simply cannot satisfy. The search giant’s documentation places importance upon:
- User experience
- News that has human authors
- Human authors in forums
- Author background information and about pages
Google’s guidelines state that written content should include “clear sourcing [and] evidence of the expertise involved”, for example, links to an author’s or website’s “About us” page. Machine generated content does not cite or link to sources for fact checking, and cannot provide evidence of expertise.
In addition, evidence of originality is required, such as some form of analysis, comment or insight. AI content is inherently unoriginal – it literally uses the likeliest series of words on any given topic. Finally, first-hand experience is valued, and a machine cannot have any first-hand experience of a product or service.
Responses to AI generated content
In response to the increased use of AI content, a raft of AI content detector tools has reached the market. These aim to identify low-quality content that should not be published before it has undergone rigorous proofreading, fact-checking and editing. On sites such as MediaVine, which suffered in the March update, such tools are critical to rooting out unedited and unoriginal content that devalues the contributions of legitimate creators. Similarly, product reviews submitted to websites can be checked for legitimacy by the owners with the help of an AI detector.
So can AI be used for content at all?
Despite all this, ranking on Google and AI content use aren’t mutually exclusive. According to the Google Search guidelines for AI content, “appropriate use of AI or automation” is not penalised. In other words, AI should not be used as an “inexpensive, easy way” to produce reams of content that has little value. Instead, marketers and businesses should use it for things like generating ideas, producing transcripts of original video content and repurposing human-written content for social media posts.
Human content creation for accountants
Here at Whitefish Marketing, our experts can take the hassle out of content creation for your business. We have an experienced team of writers who produce high-quality copy that is properly researched and edited, ensuring your website doesn’t run the risk of Google penalties. As a specialist marketing agency for accountants, we will also ensure each piece is optimised for search while providing a people-first experience to readers.
