Google Reiterates Guidance on AI-Generated Content: Write Content for People and Consider EEAT
With all the buzz around generative AI in search, Google has reiterated and clarified its advice on AI-generated content. In short, Google doesn’t care who – or what – writes your content, as long as it’s written to help people and not manipulate search results.
Google’s Standard: EEAT
Google’s standard for high-quality content is EEAT, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, & Trustworthiness. Content that demonstrates EEAT is more likely to rank higher in search results.
By focusing on creating original, high-quality, people-first content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, content creators can improve their chances of ranking higher in search results and providing value to their audience.
Automation Can Be Used to Create Helpful Content
Google explains that automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts. AI also 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.
However, the focus should be on creating content primarily to help people, not primarily to rank on search engines.
People-First Content
To align with Google’s EEAT standards, it’s crucial to create content that:
- Demonstrates expertise in a particular field or topic
- Establishes authoritativeness by providing original insights and perspectives
- Builds trust with readers by providing accurate and reliable information
- Provides a positive user experience by being easy to read, navigate, and engage with.
Evaluating Your Content
Google added a new section to the people-first help documentation on “evaluating your content in terms of ‘Who, How, and Why'” as a way to stay on course with what its systems seek to reward.
Google then explained what it means by who, how, and why.
Who (Created the Content)
Something that helps people intuitively understand the EEAT of content is when it’s clear who created it. When creating content, here are some who-related questions to ask yourself:
- Is it self-evident to your visitors who authored your content?
- Do pages carry a byline where one might be expected?
- Do bylines lead to further information about the author or authors involved, giving background about them and the areas they write about?
If you’re clearly indicating who created the content, you’re likely aligned with the concepts of EEAT and on a path to success. Google strongly encourages adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it.
How (the Content Was Created)
It’s helpful to readers to know how a piece of content was produced: this is the “How” to consider including it in your content. Many types of content may have a “How” component to them. That can include automated, AI-generated, and AI-assisted content.
Sharing details about the processes involved can help readers and visitors better understand any unique and useful role automation may have served.
If automation is used to generate content substantially, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Is the use of automation, including AI generation, self-evident to visitors through disclosures or in other ways?
- Are you providing background about how automation or AI generation was used to create content?
- Are you explaining why automation or AI was seen as useful for producing content?
Overall, AI or automation disclosures are useful for content where someone might think, “How was this created?” Consider adding these when it would be reasonably expected.
Why (the Content Was Created)
“Why” is perhaps the most important question to answer about your content. Why is it being created in the first place? The “why” should be that you’re creating content primarily to help people, content that is useful to visitors if they come to your site directly.
If you’re doing this, you’re aligning with EEAT generally and what Google’s core ranking systems seek to reward.
If the “why” is that you’re primarily making content to attract search engine visits, that’s not aligned with what Google’s systems seek to reward.
If you use automation, including AI generation, to produce content for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, that’s a violation of Google’s spam policies.
FAQs
Google also published a list of FAQs on the topic of AI-generated content and search:
- Is AI content against Google Search’s guidelines? Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against Google’s guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings, which is against Google’s spam policies.
- Why doesn’t Google Search ban AI content? Automation has long been used in publishing to create useful content. AI can assist with and generate useful content in exciting new ways.
- How will Google Search prevent poor-quality AI content from taking over search results? Poor quality content isn’t a new challenge for Google Search. Google has been tackling poor-quality content created by humans and automation for years. Google has existing systems to determine the helpfulness of content. Other systems work to elevate original news reporting. Google’s systems continue to be regularly improved.
- How will Google address AI content that potentially propagates misinformation or contradicts consensus on important topics? These issues exist in both human-generated and AI-generated content. However the content is produced, Google’s systems aim to surface high-quality information from reliable sources, not information contradicting well-established consensus on important topics. On topics where information quality is critically important – like health, civic, or financial information – Google’s systems place an even greater emphasis on signals of reliability.
- How can Search determine if AI is being used to spam search results? Google has a variety of systems, including SpamBrain, that analyze patterns and signals to help identify spam content; however, it is produced.
- Will AI content rank highly on Search? Using AI doesn’t give content any special gains. It’s just content. If it is useful, helpful, original, and satisfies aspects of EEAT, it might do well in Search. If it doesn’t, it might not.
- Should I use AI to generate content? If you see AI as an essential way to help you produce content that is helpful and original, it might be useful to consider. If you see AI as an inexpensive, easy way to game search engine rankings, then no.
- Should I add author bylines to all my content? You should consider having accurate author bylines when readers would reasonably expect it, such as to any content where someone might think, “Who wrote this?” Publishers that appear in Google News should use bylines and author information.
- Should I add AI or automation disclosures to my content? AI or automation disclosures are useful for content where someone might think, “How was this created?” Consider adding these when it would be reasonably expected.
- Can I list AI as the author of the content? Giving AI an author byline is probably not the best way to follow Google’s recommendation to make it clear to readers when AI is part of the content creation process.
- Can AI write content that has experience? Not all pieces of content need to showcase experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. In fact, it is not always possible for every piece of content to hit all marks.
Final Thoughts
By following Google’s updated guidance on AI-generated content and focusing on creating original, high-quality, people-first content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, and experience (EEAT), website owners and content creators can ensure that their content is not only optimized for search engines but also provides value to their target audience.
It’s essential to remember that AI and automation can be useful tools to generate content and improve the writing process, but they should not be used to manipulate search rankings or mislead readers.
To stay on track with Google’s ranking systems, content creators should evaluate their content in terms of “who, how, and why” and ensure that it is designed to help people first and foremost.
By providing accurate authorship information, disclosing the use of automation or AI in content creation, and focusing on creating content that is helpful and relevant, content creators can increase their chances of ranking well on Google and providing value to their target audience.
It’s important to remember that AI-generated content is not against Google’s guidelines, but it must be used appropriately to ensure that it is helpful and relevant to readers.
By following Google’s guidance on EEAT and focusing on creating original, high-quality content that is designed to help people, website owners and content creators can succeed in the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization.
