Google Search's Guidance About AI-Generated Content

Google has long believed in the power of AI to transform the ability to deliver helpful information. In this post, we'll share more about how AI-generated content fits into Google's long-standing approach to showing helpful content to people on Search.

 

Rewarding high-quality content, however it is produced

Google's ranking systems aim to reward original, high-quality content that demonstrates qualities of E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, as shared on the How Search Works site.

Google's focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a useful guide that has helped deliver reliable, high-quality results to users for years.

For example, about ten years ago, there were understandable concerns about a rise in mass-produced yet human-generated content. No one would have thought it reasonable for Google to ban all human-generated content in response. Instead, improving the systems to reward quality content made more sense.

Focusing on rewarding quality content has been core to Google since the beginning. It continues today, including through the ranking systems designed to surface reliable information and the helpful content system. The helpful content system was introduced last year, with the August 2022 helpful content update, to ensure better those searching get content created primarily for people rather than for search ranking purposes.

How automation can create helpful content

Regarding automatically generated content, Google's guidance has been consistent for years. Using automation—including AI—to develop content primarily to manipulate ranking in search results violates Google's spam policies.

Google has many years of experience dealing with automation being used in an attempt to game search results. Google's spam-fighting efforts—including its SpamBrain system—will continue no matter how spam is produced.

This said, it's important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam. Automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts. AI can power new levels of expression and creativity and be a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.

This aligns with how Google always thought about empowering people with new technologies. Google continues taking a responsible approach while also maintaining a high bar for information quality and the overall helpfulness of content on Search.

Google's advice for creators considering AI generation 

As explained, no matter how the content is produced, those seeking success in Google Search should be looking to produce original, high-quality, people-first content demonstrating qualities E-E-A-T.

Creators can learn more about the concept of E-E-A-T on Google's Creating Helpful, Reliable, People-first Content help page. In addition, Google has updated that page with some guidance about thinking in terms of Who, How, and Why content is produced.

Whether you're using AI-generated content or not, evaluating your content in this way will help you stay on course with what Google's systems seek to reward.

Google AI FAQs

To further help, here are some answers to questions you may have about AI content and Google Search:

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Originally posted by Danny Sullivan and Chris Nelson, on behalf of the Google Search Quality team.

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