A recent report claimed that Google is “elevating” duplicate AI- generated content over original, human-written journalism. Google’s response stated that content is ranked based on timeliness, quality, or relevance, regardless of how it was produced. Learn why search engines choose to rank one news article over another, plus a few ways publishers, journalists, and reporters can “boost” their content in search results with SEO .
Is Google boosting AI-generated content?
Some reports suggest that “Google News favors sites that use AI to quickly generate content at the expense of original media.” While Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to this claim, his response doesn’t provide a clear explanation for why some sites dominate news results over others. This article will explore possible reasons for this phenomenon and offer specific SEO tips for publishers, journalists, and reporters who want to rank higher in search results. The goal is to help these professionals understand how they can optimize their content to gain more visibility and compete with sites that generate content using AI.
No, Google does not do anything to manually push certain pieces of content to the top of search results. Rather, Google’s algorithm uses specific ranking factors to determine what content should appear first in search results.
Artificial intelligence in content creation
AI technologies such as GPT-4 and other generative models enable the creation of texts that are at first glance indistinguishable from those written by humans. These models use vast amounts of data to generate articles, reports, and other forms of content based on input requests. AI’s ability to quickly create content brings significant email list benefits, especially in the field of news reporting, where speed is key . On the other hand, it raises concerns about the quality, originality, and ethics of the materials thus created.
Google and its approach to AI content
Google has long strived to provide users with the most relevant and high-quality search results possible. The algorithms Google uses are constantly evolving to better distinguish between quality content and spam or irrelevant material. However, the question remains how Google’s algorithms handle AI-generated content, especially in the context of its news services.
Some reports suggest that websites that use AI to quickly generate content may gain an unfair advantage in search results and Google News . This phenomenon can occur especially if these websites are able to produce large amounts of content faster than traditional media outlets that rely on human journalists. Algorithms search engine optimization at home or hiring an agency may in some cases favor speed and volume over quality , which can lead to AI-generated content gaining higher rankings in search results.
Google’s official stance
Google officially states that content quality is key to its algorithms and that AI alone is not a determining factor in ranking . Danny Sullivan, Google’s public spokesperson for search, has previously stated that Google strives fax marketing to provide the most relevant results possible regardless of whether the content is generated by AI or humans. Sullivan also acknowledged that the presence of AI in content creation is a growing trend that Google is responding to by adjusting its algorithms.
Despite these assurances, however, some experts point out that current algorithms may have difficulty accurately distinguishing between with no added value. As a result, websites that make heavy use of AI may gain visibility at the expense of traditional media.