When it comes to SEO, there’s quite a bit of advice out there. One piece of advice we have seen companies follow is to use AI and stock photos or AI-generated photos to quickly create several pages. Irrespective of what you may or may not have experienced with this strategy, Google states that they are diligently working towards preventing spam (Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content, Google LLC). One of our clients was the unfortunate recipient of a website that was promoted as human-written but was primarily generated by AI, and they were also having difficulty being discovered through their website. We were surprised by their search results also, as their business had over 1.6K Google reviews with 4.8 stars.
Auditing Websites for AI and Plagiarism
When we audit websites, we put content through Grammarly’s AI and plagiarism detectors (Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance, Superhuman Platform Inc). We do this because we know that Google evaluates content for originality, quality, expertise, trustworthiness, and more (Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content, Google LLC). Thus, we are constantly evaluating that for ourselves and our clients.
Ban on AI for SEO?
Google is transparent in that it doesn’t ban AI in creating content in and of itself, but they are clear on what it should be used for. Google is clear in that AI can be a tool to help someone create content that is useful, but if the primary reason is to manipulate the search engine rankings, then they advise against it. Additionally, they have several systems for spam detection (Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content, Google LLC).
When you write your own content, you know that it is original. However, depending on the AI service you may be using, there may be large chunks of plagiarism. Search engines like Google can look for originality in your content for ranking factors (Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content, Google LLC).
Final Thoughts on AI and SEO
Regarding SEO, Google advises creating original content for people that is high-quality and demonstrates expertise and trustworthiness (Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content, Google LLC). This is what we did for our clients at McKenzie Dental Center. They are a team of highly experienced dental professionals serving the Springfield area, with a focus on quality dental care (McKenzie Dental Center). However, their prior marketing company created a website with largely unoriginal, AI-generated content. When we undertook the project, we could clearly see why a company with over 1.6K Google reviews and 4.8 stars was having trouble growing its patient base through organic website traffic. After a thorough assessment, we hired a photographer, rewrote content, highlighted their services, improved accessibility, and addressed other areas to see results on revamp day. We anticipate that with more work and more original, authoritative content, they will continue to see better search results.
References
1. Google LLC. Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content.
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-search-and-ai-content2. Superhuman Platform Inc. Grammarly: Free AI Writing Assistance.
https://www.grammarly.com/3. McKenzie Dental Center.
https://mckenziedentalcenter.com/
"... but they are clear on what it should be used for."
