Using AI is one of the major talking points in the world of digital marketing. It’s permeating more processes within the digital marketing industry, but how it’s used, and if it’s OK to use are still contentious subjects. I’ve found that many people misunderstand AI usage and have a negative perception towards it without understanding the facts.
One of the main areas this is an issue is with AI-generated content. Most people wrongly believe that any AI-generated content is automatically penalised by Google and that under no circumstances should you use it.
While it’s true that Google can detect AI content, it’s only penalised in specific circumstances. The emphasis for Google always remains the quality of the content and its helpfulness to the end user – regardless of how it was written. I explore Google AI content generation below and provide some tips for safe usage.
Understanding AI Content – What is it?
Let’s define what we mean when referring to AI-generated content so there is no confusion. Typically, in the context of search engines and Google, AI generated content is any type of writing that has been produced by an AI writing tool like ChatGPT.
For example, someone might ask ChatGPT, “Write an article with the title XXX”, ChatGPT would then create a complete article including headings and a conclusion. Because the entire article was generated automatically, it would be classed as AI content.
There are different levels of AI generated content though. You can use tools to automatically write an entire article, or you can use them to write specific sections such as the conclusion or FAQs. Essentially, AI content is any part of your writing that was automatically created using an AI tool.
Can Google Detect AI Content?
Yes. Google Search is incredibly advanced and has a wealth of AI tools that can detect anything from explicit content and spam to AI generated content. If your content is AI-generated, Google knows.
If Found, Does Google Penalise AI Content?
While Google Search can detect AI content, it only penalises content that breaks its spam policies. There is a helpful article from Google that explains this in greater detail.
But the main point is, that if you use AI tools like ChatGPT to spam or produce hundreds of poor-quality articles, solely with the purpose of boosting search results, you will almost certainly get penalised.
This is what Google calls “scaled content abuse”. It’s a process where you create huge amounts of content that offer no value to the reader. The content is usually unoriginal, written entirely by AI tools, and may spam keywords too. This is a no no.
Creating High-Quality, Helpful Content is the End Goal
So, Google CAN detect AI-generated content. Additionally, it WILL penalise that content if it violates their spam policies (specifically scaled content abuse).
That means you can’t use AI-generated content right? No. Google makes it clear that AI-content is perfectly acceptable, providing that the quality meets their guidelines.
To do that, you must re-think your content strategies and prioritise quality, helpfulness, and the end reader and I’ve listed three core principles to do this below.
Put the Customer First – Not Search Engine Rankings
We all know that content like blogs, reviews, and listicles are created 99% of the time to impact search engine rankings. You add important keywords into the content and insert internal and external links to build your authority – most businesses do it as part of their digital marketing strategy.
Google accepts this. But it emphasises that the content must give real value to your readers. In short, don’t just create AI content for SEO. What you are creating must have some intrinsic value to the reader – something they can take away from the content and benefit from.
Therefore, if you use tools like ChatGPT or Jasper for your content generation, before producing any content, stop and think about the reader. Will they find this content useful? Can they use the information to enhance their life? Why should they bother reading it?
If the answer to any of these questions is unclear, you probably shouldn’t create the piece of content. Or you should re-think the approach to frame the content in such a way that it is beneficial to the end user.
This may mean a re-think of how you generate content. Instead of taking a primary keyword and trying to create a blog article from it that doesn’t really help the end reader, think of helpful topics for your readers, and then try and incorporate keywords into those topics. If you want more advice on this, or to review your content strategies, feel free to contact us and we can offer assistance using our years of industry experience.
Utilise the Principles of Google’s E-E-A-T Approach to Content
Google has an entire guide on creating helpful content which I advise reading. It speaks about things like avoiding creating search-engine-first content, and the principles of E-E-A-T. While Google states that writing with E-E-A-T isn’t a specific ranking factor, it greatly boosts the quality of your content and can help avoiding AI penalisation. The core components of E-E-A-T are:
- Experience: Experience relates to the person writing the article. Google wants the writer to show that they have first-hand experience for the subject they are writing about. This could be shown by giving real-life examples from your perspective or injecting your experiences into your content. For me this is a crucial element – for me you can’t just take an article ChatGPT has written and upload it to your website. You have to humanise it by adding your own unique experience and expertise. More on this now.
- Expertise: You also need to show that you are an expert on the subject so that readers can be reassured by your writing. This could be including relevant qualifications or licenses, or it could be rich media like videos that can demonstrate your expertise. Don’t just say that you are experienced in the subject – prove it.
- Authoritativeness: Showing that you are an expert in the subject is important, but it’s also important to show that others consider you to be an authoritative voice on the subject. A main facet of this is backlinks and your link building strategy. The theory is simple – the more sources that cite or link-back to your content, the higher your authority appears. Make sure that any links you get are to high authority sites and are relevant to your content.
- Trustworthiness: Lastly, and most importantly, your content must show that you are trustworthy. Google even states, “Trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem.”. Trust can be demonstrated by accessibility, the accuracy and validity of your information. Simply put, make sure your writing is factually correct and that you have multiple outlets for readers to contact you on the subject.
AI Can Enhance Your Idea Generation, Research, and Content Quality
I believe that AI tools can be incredibly beneficial for content generation. However, I also believe that manually written content is always preferable as it usually flows better and has more of a human touch.
With that in mind, the best approach to meet Google’s quality guidelines is to use a combination of AI and human input. AI can greatly speed up and improve the quality of your content when used as part of the writing process and for example as follows:
- Idea Generation: I find that one of the trickiest parts of content generation is formulating the article structure or idea. You may have an article title or keyword but don’t know how to turn that into a fully-fledged piece of content with a logical structure. AI tools can help with this – you can ask simple questions such as “Can you produce an article outline for the following blog title”. The AI tech will then spit out a well-structured set of headings that you can tailor to your own use. This allows you to jump straight into the writing.
- Topic Research: Tools like ChatGPT provide a more efficient means of researching compared to Google. You can ask questions relating to your content and instead of having to browse a range of websites and trawl through contrasting info, the AI tool will give you a direct answer in a few seconds. AI can greatly improve your research efficiency so that you can craft well-rounded content backed with sound and accurate data.
- Fact-Checking: Building on the research point, AI also helps with fact-checking and making sure what you write is true. If you aren’t 100% sure on the validity of what you are writing, you can use AI to quickly make sure you aren’t writing a pack of lies. That being said, I always think it is advisable to check any sources and ensure they are experts and that the facts are valid.
Google Takes a Logical and Progressive Approach to AI-Generated Content
It is great to see Google taking a progressive approach to AI usage in content generation. As you can see from the above, instead of outright banning AI-generated content, the emphasis always centres on quality, accuracy, and helpfulness.
Essentially, Google doesn’t care if you use tools like ChatGPT or not. What they do care about is that your content gives real value to readers and isn’t solely generated for SEO purposes or to try and game their systems. The only instance where Google will act against AI content is if it violates their spam policies.
With this in mind, using AI tools for research, idea generation, and draft article outlines can be incredibly useful. I advise veering away from using ChatGPT or other products to write complete articles though. 😊
Instead, use AI to enhance your writing process while maintaining your unique writing style and above all else, put the reader first and giving them value. If you want to boost your content marketing strategy or improve your content writing, please contact us and we can arrange a chat to create a plan going forward.
