le’s new guidelines regarding AI-produced content: What does this mean for SEO?

Google may have stumbled with its Bard announcement but it made up for some badwill (for me at least) by releasing its new search guide on AI-generated content.

Google seems to agree with many of the best SEOs for a while:

You don’t have to use any particular tool or method of creating content. As long as you are producing value for the people and not just gaming the search engine, it doesn’t matter.

Where do SEOs go from here, now that Google has put its perspective on the web? Let me examine this topic from several angles.

• Google and AI are a marriage.
• Here are some caveats when using AI to create content.
• SEOs must have the right skills to succeed.

Google and AI are a marriage

Google and Microsoft Bing use AI-powered content for search results. This shouldn’t be surprising.

Google guidelines state that they have been using AI for some time. (Payed search marketers also know how much AI has changed the PPC game.

These companies probably knew that AI would be used for content production once it was widely available. This moment is marked by ChatGPT.

It is impossible to tell people to not use it. Both search engines are trying to be responsible curators for AI content.

It has been important to me that I keep my eyes on the content and create value. It’s obvious that Google follows the same standards.

Humans can just as easily create spammy content as AI. This is like saying that a calculator is bad because you didn’t solve the problem yourself.

We’ve seen the “spam against quality” argument before, especially with links.

Google’s focus is on useful content as it stands now, regardless of what technology was used to create it.

Google and AI Content: The caveats

Google won’t penalize you if you use AI to create valuable content.

It’s tempting to use these tools in the wrong way. Google won’t give you permission to let ChatGPT write for your project and then call it a day.

ChatGPT, like all tools, is a tool that requires humans to use.

It will eat what you give it and then regurgitate it. This is why it doesn’t deliver any value beyond aggregation. Users don’t get anything new.

ChatGPT can be used by marketers to fill out the locations for thousands of identical franchise doors pages , and then call it a day.

That won’t fly, I can confidently state. But what I don’t know and Google hasn’t yet defined is the form of a penalty.

• If Google believes you are using AI to rank straight-up, will there be a manual hit?
• It will tweak its algorithms to detect instances where AI is being manipulated.
• Can someone legitimately trying to do right be caught in a manual punishment?

Most SEOs are aware that Google’s algorithms have sometimes penalized white-hat businesses in the past. There are concerns that any significant changes to the algorithm could be made at large.

The section about AI disclosures in the guidelines seemed the most confusing and ominous to me.

Google stated that you could “consider” adding it. This is a gray area that gives marketers no confidence.

Focus on skills for SEOs

AI can be used to produce content in any way you want. SEOs who aren’t familiar with AI should learn.

AI-produced content will offer a huge opportunity for skilled marketers and writers to rise above what could be a growing avalanche of lazy, mediocre copy.

Google will be able to identify actual value if there is more craft from writers. AI-produced content can be faster than manual production, but it is still a baseline.

SEOs who are good should know how to:

• Create valuable inputs.
• Good source information is important (think of the initial set of keywords or clever ideas for content briefs).
• To make your content unique and valuable, add their research and skills to the refinement stage.

SEOs must be familiar with user psychology, needs and how to use these concepts to add nuance.

The bottom line is that the more SEOs are able to practice AI, even to speed up block and tackle tasks, the better they will be at it.

They will be better acquainted with the publishing environment, AI’s capabilities and, perhaps, its limitations.

The North Star is to create useful content for users.

AI-generated content is, in essence, an updated version of the classic philosophical tug-of war in SEO…

You have two options: you can either try to cheat the algorithm and use shortcuts to get ahead or you can create great websites and content across all platforms.

Google has made it clear its position. Marketers who stick to the North Star of using customer insight to create value will be successful.

While the applications may change, the goal is the same.

The post What Google’s new guidelines for AI produced content mean for SEO was first published on Search Engine Land.