AI-Generated Content Is a Tool, Not a Solution.

Artificial intelligence robot writing content on paper.
I am writing to discuss AI-generated content since many of our clients have been asking.

Google says:

“When it comes to automatically generated content, our guidance has been consistent for years. Using automation—including AI—to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies” (per Google’s guidance about AI-generated content.).

Having many pages generated by AI instead of expertly created E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) content is a clear spam signal, and failing AI detection tests is a clear signal that no effort went into their production. Collectively, that is the kiss of death for a website.

Google also says that it focuses on the quality of content rather than how it is produced. So if the quality and usefulness are sufficiently high, that would overtake the AI issues. But the key is E-E-A-T. So consider new content with these questions in mind:

  • Have you contributed any time, resources or knowledge to making these pages expert?
  • Has there been any personal investment of editing love in their generation?
  • Has the information been checked for accuracy, recency and completeness?
  • Do these pages reflect your brand’s voice, personality and experience?
  • Or are these pages simply the results of pushing buttons?

The definition of quality is not simply that content exists, but that it is worthy of existing, has merit and contributes value to the visitor. Are you proud to have your name on it?

So, there it is — generate worthy E-E-A-T content OR your pages are spam. With human editing, AI-generated pages could be worthy, but the majority of pages never will be.

Here’s a typical example. Go to ChatGPT and log in. After logging in, at the bottom of the screen you will get a prompt where you enter your query. Start the stopwatch on your phone and enter (paste) this query: “write an article that has this title and discusses “how to repair a broken light switch”, list several types of light switches, add some statistics about the usefulness of multi-way and dimmer light switches, add a 1 question FAQ section.”

As you can see, an article is produced in about 30 seconds. Seriously, you think that you can earn a top-10 ranking out of a million results with 30 seconds of work? I think not. For sites that employ this method, ranking problems will only compound over time. The more low-quality content someone adds to a site, the harder it becomes for any of their pages to rank. Too much leads to a near-death experience.

I want to emphasize that we are unable to say when and if Google will consider your pages spam. But if they were generated easily, if they are based upon a consensus of content derived from many already published sources (hence are nothing new, especially if you did not seriously edit them), and if they fail tests of AI versus human, then they do not demonstrate E-E-A-T qualities. I think it is a serious risk to the health of the entire website.

The trends reported by many SEOs about other sites using AI pages is that traffic grows for about six weeks, then it crashes and the site cannot easily recover. Yes, you may luck out, but it is a risk to your entire business.

I am not here to tell you not to take the business risk. However, I certainly would not take it.

I just felt it necessary to warn you that this is nuclear fire. Be careful.

In my view, AI-generated content is a tool, not a solution.

I hope that this helps.

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

See Bruce's author page for links to connect on social media.

Comments (14)
Still on the hunt for actionable tips and insights? Each of these recent SEO Content posts is better than the last!

14 Replies to “AI-Generated Content Is a Tool, Not a Solution.”

Leveraging AI for content generation can simplify your workload, but it can also complicate matters when it begins to impact your search engine ranking.

The definition of quality is not simply that content exists, but that it is worthy of existing

Using automated content generation for ranking purposes is a risky strategy that may harm your website’s credibility and long-term success.

I totally agree with the author of this article. AI generation can help a little bit to reduce time costs for the content creation. But it actually shouldn’t substitute the human copywriting at all.

AI-generated content has revolutionized many industries, but it’s essential to view it as a tool rather than a complete solution. This blog post explores the benefits and limitations of AI-generated content and provides insights on how to leverage it effectively. It’s a thought-provoking read for content creators and marketers navigating the world of artificial intelligence.

Using AI to generate content may make life easier, but it will undoubtedly complicate matters when it begins to effect your rating.

I believe depending on what you feed the chat Apps will eventually determine the
content that you will get. As much as it is a tool, as a content writer you must give the human aspect, and make the content alive. Great Insights Bruce!

I agree that it’s a tool but I always end up fact-checking anything it tells me and having to change wording before any of it is useful.

As the blog post rightly points out, content creation is about more than just stringing together words – it requires an understanding of the audience, an ability to tell a compelling story, and a willingness to take risks and experiment with new ideas. While AI can certainly help with certain aspects of content creation, such as research or fact-checking, it cannot replace the human element that is necessary for truly great content.

Interior

Nice Information.

Briefing ChaGPT is like briefing a copywriter, the more effort you put into the brief the better the result. That said I have found it to perform better in some areas than others.

David

Jim was spot on above. Chat got might be good for churning up some outlines or inspiration but accuracy is just filler – take legal cases. Dozens and dozens all.wrong. wrong name, wrong court references, numbers, background, and year etc. 100% wrong. References to source usually to dead pages.

The inaccuracy is crazy bad.

Take asking about ethics. Say. Is it.ethical.rhat.Bill.Gates gives money to WHO, speaks at WHO, then used WHO to get to global leaders to push product. Answer were yes. Because.they have guidelines.- North Korea has guidelines also!

Then I asked – about John F Kennedy Jnr. What books did he write (this was on Notion AI) – ALL BOOKS LISTED WXCEPT A BOOK.CRKTICAL.OF.Fauci. I then asked – did he write a book on fauci.
Response: I apologise yes he wrote a book about Anthony Faici called.

I have looked at no campaigns with a referendum in Australia and the system was blocked – repeated messages saying the indigenous need a voice. The system simply blocked any questions as to the policial motivations of the yes and in fact the yes being like some green washing and political.agemda rather than real.change. there was literally no opportunity to question a no argument, only yes.

Using AI to generate content can make life easy, but will certainly make things hard when it starts affecting your ranking.

I agree Bruce. AI is a tool. Like a carpenter uses a hammer, if he misuses it he ends up with a very sore finger.

Many of my colleagues in the local SEO space are freaking out! I’ve had to talk my friend Miriam Ellis at Moz off the ledge. She used one session on ChatGPT that returned answers that would get a Google Business Profile suspended RIGHT NOW! And these were answers that are wrong now, wrong forever e.g. business address at a PO box.

ChatGPT can HELP create great content. But if you just enter a quick prompt, copy/paste the output into a web page, you’re asking for trouble. And trouble will come, sooner or later.

But if you take that content, vett it, edit it… it can be a huge time saver.

Or, it can lead to a busted thumb.

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