Google's ultimate goal is to make content more helpful for its users. Simple.
But this focus can (paradoxically) come at the expense of content creators and turn into a nightmare.
Google has made drastic changes to its algorithm over the last decade. Some updates have flipped some businesses upside down with huge traffic losses overnight.
With AI now everywhere, it's fair to ask wether using AI to create content penalize your content strategy. The short answer: it depends.
Let’s unpack this.
Google doesn’t punish AI. It punishes bad content. Its ranking systems focus on rewarding original, high-quality content. They use the principles of E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
You can learn about this in Google's How Search Works article.
You won’t get “banned” for using AI-generated content but you will fall behind if you’re phoning it in.
The focus is on content quality. Not how you create it.
If we look at what happened after the Core Web Vitals update in 2021, Google started rewarding fast, high-performing websites. But they didn’t ban slow ones.
Same playbook today.
With the Helpful Content System (rolled out in 2023), Google is coming for garbage, not for AI. Content that exists purely to game the algorithm gets buried. You can use AI. Just don’t hide behind it. Add insight. Add personality.
Google’s policies are pretty clear, using automation or AI to manipulate search rankings violates their spam rules.
But not all automated content is spam.
In fact, automation has been used for years to produce information like sports scores, election results, weather updates and much more.
AI can definitely add to this by helping create content that is both innovative and helpful.
Google provides specific guidance on AI-generated in their post "Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content."
One example I like of how Google itself uses AI to make your experience better: AI-generated summaries.
They're a quick way to create a TL;DR for your post and save you and your readers some time. It's a net positive for both sides.
"Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental."
Note how they clarify the role of AI on the post.
They also gamify it. Users can also play around with the style of the summary.
It makes the post easier to understand for a wide range of readers.
It looks professionnal, keeps visitors hooked and more inclined to explore the rest of your content.
I see so many websites leveraging AI the wrong way. They copy-paste ChatGPT outputs and crossing their fingers that readers won’t notice.
But here’s the truth: It’s lazy. It’s unprofessional. And yeah, it might get you a traffic bump here and there, but it’s a terrible long-term strategy for your brand.
If you actually want to win in search, you’ve got to do what Google has always rewarded i.e. create original, high-quality, people-first content that demonstrates E-E-A-T.
If your content is an average of an average of an average, why on earth would Google rank you above websites that are actually putting in the work to create unique and personalized content?
So whether content was generated with the help of AI or not, focus on these questions:
You can also get more details on creating helpful content on this Google help page.
The bottom line is, Google doesn't care about what tools you use or how you use them, it cares what you create.
