Last Updated on March 15, 2024

A question many people are currently asking themselves lately is, can I use AI-generated content on my website and still be ranked by Google? Is it legal? Is it fair? In my opinion it comes down to two things: your intent, and fair use. Let’s find out more about the subject.

What is AI-Generated Content?

Google Featured Snippet says:

“AI-generated content is copy such as blogs, marketing materials, articles and product descriptions written by a machine.” TechTarget.com

I asked ChatGPT, but they were offline – Point for Google!

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines AI as “the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behaviour”. So we could say The ability to generate content like an intelligent human.

“When we talk about AI generated content, we’re talking about content that’s been created by a machine – usually through the use of algorithms – rather than by a human.” AsktoAI.com

AI-generated content is no replacement for human-generated content because the machine only works with the data we have given it. At the moment. People can still think out of the box and grasp the potential use and need behind the content they are creating. People understand “intent”.

Understanding exactly what people are looking for is extremely important for good content creation and good SEO.

One day machines will be able to think like us. At the moment, this is one benefit people have over machines. Why is that? People have emotional intelligence.

Why Use AI-Generated Content?

We aren’t all writers. We aren’t all gifted writers either. Some of us have a great deal of difficulty writing. That’s okay. We’ve become a very visual culture.

Your Intent: There are a lot of content creation tools now available. For writing, these tools should be used to help us get started, or to help polish what we’ve written. They shouldn’t be the end product.

Fair Use: Use a tool, but use them wisely. And, give credit where credit is due. The concept of Fair Use is that we use a small amount of a product, we don’t change the intent of what we are using, and we give credit where credit is due. In other words, don’t pass off other content as your own – even if it’s from a machine.

The use of content generation software is also not new to 2023. Wordsmith has been around since 1996. While we have traditionally relied on our own content, User Generated Content now plays an important role in online marketing. You could argue, as I do, that content for and by people or machines, is relevant content.

“As far back as 2014, AP released more than 3,000 articles using Automated Insights Wordsmith program. Since October of 2014 these computer generated posts have been completely automated. They’ve been written, edited, and posted by robots — untouched by human hands or minds. You’ve most likely read automated writing but were unaware of it.” Randy Clark Leadership

I Need Help with My Writing – What are Some Good Tools?

I use the following six tools for my writing, and I can recommend them all:

Content Creation: Microsoft Word Editor – in addition to the grammar and spelling checker, which I don’t use, Word offers a way to check your document for content that may already exist online. This is a great tool, and I highly recommend it. Check your document for similarities to online sources.

I also use Google Docs, a lot! It’s a great tool for working with others on documents and allowing clients to access them at any point in the processs. I’m not a big fan of what Google Docs does to the formatting of documents, but then again nothing is perfect.

Content Editing: Grammarly – Grammarly is free to use, and it offers monthly paid services to increase the number of tools available. I use it free most of the time, and then pay for a month’s service when it’s time to really proof one of my books. Careful! Some of Grammarly’s suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt. Don’t “accept all” without reading what is suggested. You can adjust the level of writing, as well as choose between British or American spelling and grammar. Grammarly is also available as a browser extension. https://app.grammarly.com/

Check for Readability: Hemingway App – You won’t ever write like Papa, but this online tool helps you write for the web. Readability is very important on the web because we open and close a website in 3 seconds if we don’t find what we want. People scan, they don’t read, and most of your content will need to be at a grade 5 level. You can push to grade 7, but save your university level writing for offline work. If you aren’t already using this tool, please try it today. https://hemingwayapp.com/

Translation help: Deepl.com – I write for clients, and my own blog, in both English and German. I’m also interested in content in other languages. For SEO purposes, it’s important to use terms that people are using. This means local, country-specific, terms. Some people in Germany might search for Donuts or Doughnuts, but they more likely search for Viktoria, Berliner, Krapfen, or Pfannkuchen depending on where in Germany they live. Having a multilingual marketing strategy can really help your business. Google Translate is fine, but the better translation tool is Deepl. https://www.deepl.com/translator

Help to get over a hurdle: ChatGPT – I tried it out for an upcoming article to see how it works. I can see the use of this tool if you are stuck, and to give you another perspective. It might be compared at some level with Google’s People Also Ask function, which I also use a lot. I would not advise using the content ChartGPT generates verbatim. You will also need to create an account. https://chat.openai.com/c

There are other tools available, such as:

Perplexity.ai | Google Bard/Gemini | Bing Copilot

How You Should Use AI-Generated Content

There is a limit to how many different ways we can say the same thing. What may sound original to you, might have been said many times by other people. If you are going to use a tool to help you create written content, there are ways to help yourself.

+ Use the plagiarism or duplicate content tool of your writing software. It can check if what you have written already appears online. This can help you before you publish.
+ If you use ChatGPT or a similar tool, use it to get started. Create a framework if this assists you with your writing. Never take the text and use it verbatim. The tools can help inspire you, but they should not be used as your own work.
+ If using any tools, give them credit. They are a source and an author, just like anyone else you credit.
+ Don’t use it for content that people rely on. YMYL content – content that can “significantly impact our health, financial well-being, safety, or overall happiness.” Get experts to write this content.

What does Google Say About AI-Generated Content?

Google is quite clear about the use of machine-generated content. In fact, the rules are part of their spam policy. However, after reading their spam rules, it also appears that:

+ you can use such content as long as it is kept clear of Google’s indexing tools
+ your intent is to offer something original, of good quality, intended to help others, and not something to spam Google or others

Google spam policy on machine-generated traffic

Machine-generated traffic consumes resources and interferes with our ability to best serve users.

Spammy automatically-generated content

Spammy automatically generated (or “auto-generated”) content is content that’s been generated programmatically without producing anything original or adding sufficient value; instead, it’s been generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users. Examples of spammy auto-generated content include:

+ Text that makes no sense to the reader but contains search keywords
+ Text translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing
+ Text generated through automated processes without regard for quality or user experience
+ Text generated using automated synonymizing, paraphrasing, or obfuscation techniques
+ Text generated from scraping feeds or search results
+ Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value

If you’re hosting such content on your site, you can use these methods to exclude them from Search.

Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies

Find out more about toxic backlinks here: What is a Spam Score for Backlinks?

Changes to Google’s view of machine-generated content
09/18/2023 Search Engine Land

Google has removed some words that made clear its stance on the use of AI in content creation. “Written by humans” now means “helpful content created for humans in search results.”

What’s new in Google’s update for helpful content
https://searchengineland.com/whats-new-with-the-google-helpful-content-update-431994

Should You Use AI to Help Generate Your Website Content?

Short answer: I think, Yes – within reason. I have to assume your intent is not to create spammy content, but to create content written for your customers that will help them. I also assume you’re fair.

Use AI-Generated content to optimise your content. Don’t make it a replacement for your content.

We’ve never liked the thought of being replaced by machines, so let’s not encourage them.

What do you think? Join me on Twitter and talk about it: https://twitter.com/WarrenLNaida/status/1606188342520860672

Artificial Intelligence and Online Marketing

Artificial Intelligence is crucial for online marketing in small businesses, nonprofits, and schools. Why? AI personalizes engagement, streamlines operations, and provides data insights. Using AI in your marketing mix has benefits such as personalized content and automated tasks. However, there are challenges, such as additional costs and potential privacy issues. Using AI tools in a balanced way helps create effective and ethical online marketing strategies.

With thanks to https://unsplash.com/@christinhumephoto for the image.

Using AI-Generated Content on Your Website