Can Google Distinguish AI-Generated Content from Human-Generated Content?

Back in April 2022, Google’s John Mueller referred to AI-generated content as “spam”. Although Artificial Intelligence and technology has significantly advanced, Google’s webmaster guidelines state automatically generated content should be avoided. 

Content generated by artificial intelligence falls into the category of automatically generated content. It’s viewed the same as plagiarism or duplication, whereby words are reformatted or translated to create a new version.

In order to generate content nowadays, there are a number of tools you can use. But, can Google actually tell the difference?

What is AI Generated Content?

Google Search Central, formerly known as Webmasters, refers to automatically generated content as:

Automatically generated or AI generated content (also called auto-generated content) is content that’s been generated programmatically. In cases where it’s intended to manipulate search rankings and not help users, Google may take actions on such content. Some example cases include, but are not limited to:

• Text that makes no sense to the reader but which may contain search keywords.
• Text translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing.
• Text generated through automated processes, such as Markov chains.
• Text generated using automated synonymizing or obfuscation techniques.
• Text generated from scraping Atom/RSS feeds or search results.
• Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value.

Google’s Reaction to AI-Generated Content

John Mueller did not definitely comment whether Google can differentiate between human-generated content or content written by artificial intelligence. However, Google can tell the difference between high quality, low quality, and spam content.

The quality of auto generated content depends on how you use it. There is less likelihood of Google’s webspam team detecting it if you put more effort into its creation – even though using it will be against Webmaster Guidelines.

Google’s webspam team will authorise action if they detect automatically generated content. A manual penalty can be given, resulting in a drop in rankings and organic traffic loss.

The Risks & Benefits of Using AI Generated Content

Risks of Using AI-Generated Content

We have mentioned a number of risks to using AI generated content above, but we’d like to raise awareness. First of all, Google’s Webmaster Guidelines consider it as automatically generated content which makes it a huge risk. Getting a manual penalty from Google’s web spam team can be detrimental to your business, due to reduction in web traffic. Google’s AI content detector abilities don’t just effect you temporarily, there is also the impact of trying to rebuild your reputation and ranking after this occurs.

Second of all, auto-generated content is seen in the same light as duplicated content. Google will penalise duplication of original content and will never rank it higher than the original. Less risk and higher reward results from human generated content, creating your own original content. This reward being of higher quality which Google prefers, as well as your website visitors.

Benefits of Using AI Generated Content

The reason human-generated content is higher quality is because a lot more time and resources go into its creation. Its guaranteed originality requires more time for keyword research, idea generation and writing in addition to proofreading and editing. Because of this, compared to AI-generated content, it is more costly too. However, you will be getting value and quality for money.

If you would prefer a more time- and cost-effective content creation, then AI-generated content is the right choice for you. If you like to work with some risk, using AI within your content marketing strategy is the way to go.

Logic Design always uses human generated content. Whether you need website content, blog articles, email marketing or social media strategies, our copywriters guarantee quality content creation. To get in touch with us and find out what we can do for you, give us a call on 01473 934050 or send an email to [email protected].

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Written by Lucy Turner Head of Content & Studio Performance

Lucy Turner is our Content Marketing Specialist crafting creative copy for website projects and marketing campaigns. Whether it’s blogging, content optimisation, email and social media content or website messaging, her writing skills translate across all channels. When she’s not typing away, you’ll probably find Lucy with a good book in hand or stitching away at her latest embroidery project.

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