“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. This said it’s important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam. Automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts. 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.”
Google-Ok
It would seem that chucking out a bunch of SEO-optimized rubbish from ChatGPT isn’t any good – but useful, valuable and thoughtful uses of AI are treated very differently. Most of the examples provided were fairly binary, but Google’s technically saying that it’ll allow such content to be ranked in Search. Of course, anything that resembles spammy junk can kiss any chance of ranking goodbye.
Google, more explicitly, explains that:
“Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings, which is against our spam policies.”
This means that you can, in fact, get ChatGPT or a similar tool to put your blog posts together, then check and edit them, and post them to your site, all without the risk of being penalized by Google, which has been a key concern. Google previously stated that AI-generated content was clearly in violation of its guidelines, while a number of tools that can detect AI outputs are also in development. This would’ve put off many businesses from using AI outputs, but Google says that this is actually okay. Just make sure to keep things in moderation.
In terms of AI content usage, Google says that disclosures aren’t necessary, but are recommended, although you shouldn’t list an AI tool in the author field.
“Giving AI an author byline is probably not the best way to follow our recommendation to make clear to readers when AI is part of the content creation process.”
The Wrap
So, you can technically have ChatGPT and similar tools do the work for you, but oftentimes, especially from the standpoint of actual writers, AI-written content comes off as stale, unoriginal, and just downright lazy. You can maybe use the AI to create a first draft, then simply edit and refine the piece down the line. At best, AI tools can at least help streamline your content approach.
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
