What’s the Big Deal with AI-Generated Content?

Google’s John Mueller and Danny Sullivan recently discussed the problems with AI-generated content. They talked about the updated quality rater guidelines and shared examples of how AI can be used in a positive way that adds value.

Update to the Quality Rater Guidelines

The quality rater guidelines are like a book that Google created to help third-party quality raters evaluate tests of changes to Google’s search results. The guidelines were recently updated to include guidance about AI-generated content. This new section is part of a larger section about content created with little effort or originality. Mueller discussed AI-generated content in the context of scaled content abuse, noting that quality raters are taught to rate this kind of content as low quality.

The new section of the guidelines advises raters to give the lowest rating if all or almost all of the content on a page is copied, paraphrased, embedded, auto-generated, or reposted from other sources with little to no effort, originality, or added value for visitors. This means that even if a page gives credit to the original source, it can still be rated as lowest quality.

The Problem with Scaled Content

Danny Sullivan, also known as Google Search Liaison, compared AI-generated content to scaled content tactics from the past. He said that it doesn’t matter how the content is scaled, whether it’s through AI, automation, or human beings – it’s still going to be an issue. Sullivan emphasized that Google has dealt with scaled content before and has methods to catch it.

He explained that the key issues are large amounts of unoriginal content and the fact that it doesn’t matter how it’s created. Sullivan said that if you’re generating thousands of pages overnight, it’s going to be a problem, regardless of whether it’s done by humans or AI.

Using AI in a Positive Way

Sullivan shared an example of a positive use of AI-generated content. He talked about how retailers use AI to summarize actual user reviews, giving an overall user sentiment of a product without having to read all the reviews. This is an example of AI providing added value, rather than being the main content.

Sullivan said that when he visits Amazon, he skips down to the reviews and finds the AI-generated summary at the top to be really helpful. He likes that it’s AI applied to original content, providing a summary that adds value and is unique.

The Importance of Quality and Originality

Sullivan discussed how Google tried to create a detailed policy about AI-generated content, but it was misconstrued by some in the SEO community. They thought that as long as the AI-generated content was high-quality, it was fine. However, Sullivan emphasized that this is not what Google said.

He advised that anyone using artificially generated content should think about two things: the motivation for mass-generated content and the originality of the scaled content. Sullivan said that the motivation shouldn’t be to drive search traffic, but rather to provide value to users.

Traffic-Motivated Content

Sullivan explained that if the primary intent of the content is to game search traffic, rather than to provide value to users, it’s going to be a problem. He said that SEOs should think carefully about their methods and consider whether they’re providing value to users.

Originality of Scaled Content

Sullivan critiqued the originality of AI-generated content, saying that it’s often unoriginal and lacks unique value. He explained that AI tools can crank out generic content that reads well but doesn’t provide anything new or valuable.

Takeaways

Here are the main points to take away from the discussion:

• Google doesn’t care how scaled content is created – it’s still going to be an issue.
• The quality rater guidelines explicitly include AI-generated content in its criteria for ‘Lowest’ quality ratings.
• The motivation for using AI-generated content should be to help users, not just to drive search traffic.
• Originality and value-add are important qualities of content to consider.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AI-generated content can be a problem if it’s used to create large amounts of unoriginal content with little to no effort or added value. However, AI can also be used in a positive way to provide value to users. It’s essential to consider the motivation and originality of scaled content and to prioritize providing value to users. By doing so, we can create high-quality content that benefits both users and search engines.