Ira Ganch
3.02.2023 г.
According to Google, AI-generated content is not against its guidelines, revising its previous view on AI-created content, and how it will be ranked.
There may be some good news here, I'm not sure...
According to Google, AI-generated content is not against its guidelines, revising its previous view on AI-created content, and how it will be ranked.
According to Google Search Central, the company explains:
“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.”
As a result, it is not effective to pump out a bunch of SEO-optimized junk from ChatGPT - whereas it is useful, valuable, and thoughtful to use artificial intelligence in a meaningful manner.
Although most of these examples are fairly binary, Google is stating that AI-generated content will be ranked in Search if it is not spammy.
Further on in the post, Google is even more explicit:
“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.”
In other words, you can use ChatGPT or a similar tool to compose your blog posts, check, edit, and post them on your site without the risk of being penalized by Google.
As a result, this had been a major concern. Google has previously stated very clearly that AI content is against its guidelines, while various tools that can detect AI outputs are also in development. That would have put many businesses off from using AI outputs - but Google says that, actually, this is okay. So long as you don’t go crazy with it.
Google wants to ensure that AI content is used in a responsible way, with the understanding that it should not be used to manipulate search engine results or deceive users in any way. This means that businesses may use AI content to create content that is engaging and informative, but should avoid using AI content to manipulate search engine rankings or deceive users.
In terms of how to use AI content, Google says that disclosures are not necessary, but are recommended - though you shouldn’t list an AI tool in the regular 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.”
While giving AI an author byline may be a way to increase transparency, it can also be misleading, as it implies that AI was solely responsible for the content creation process, when in reality, it was likely only a small part of it.
Also, despite Google’s explanation here, you can bet that billions of pages of SEO-optimized junk are already being pumped out by spammy content peddlers.
This is like a factory producing subpar products just to maximize profits, without any regard for quality or the satisfaction of the customer.