Google’s latest AI updates

Digital marketing is always welcoming new innovations and AI is the industry’s latest big development.

It’s quickly finding its place in modern marketing strategies but as AI tools become more sophisticated, Google’s content standards are quickly following suit. The recent update to their Search Quality Rater Guidelines introduces specific guidance when using AI in content creation.

This update brings some important questions to the forefront. What exactly has been changed in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines? How does this influence your use of AI? What is Google’s criteria for identifying low-value AI content? This article answers.

What changes has Google made to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines?

While Google has now expressed that it isn’t directly against AI use, the update is clear that unedited AI-generated content used for “gaming” rankings is a deceptive, low-effort way to produce pages of no value. This isn’t the only factor that determines a page’s quality but those churning out unrefined AI content shouldn’t expect ranking improvements anytime soon.

In fact, the lowest quality rating applies to those using AI-generated content with little to no effort and originality.

The updates provide a clearer definition of what is considered AI-generated content, as well as advice on how to use it in the writing process.

Why doesn’t Google ‘like’ unedited AI content?

While AI can certainly be helpful, Google historically has advised against its use in content creation. The latest guideline update reinforces the importance of E-E-A-T rules for website content and AI, at least on its own, struggles to meet these standards.

• It lacks Experience – Google favours content that is grounded in first-hand knowledge of a topic. AI might be great at summarising facts, but can it travel the world or drive a car? No. 
• It lacks Expertise – Experience and expertise go hand in hand. You can’t really be an expert in something without ever experiencing it. Unedited AI content may make generic statements, full of fluff and unsupported by personal experiences.
• It lacks Trust – AI can sometimes make incorrect assumptions and provide counterfactual information. This immediately calls into question its trustworthiness and damages authority. 

The main takeaway here to keep in mind: Google isn’t necessarily anti-AI but it rewards transparency, expertise and authenticity.

How does Google identify ‘misused’ AI content?

Google is clear on their criteria for classifying AI content as ‘misused ’ in January’s update.

Big giveaways are webpages with fake owner or content creator profiles that have been generated to make the content appear to be written by a human. The same goes for when article texts include incomplete sentences and obvious AI words and phrasing.

Another example given by the Search Quality Rater Guidelines is when a webpage states it’s an informational resource, but its terms of service disclose it’s for AI enthusiasts.

IDHL’s balanced approach

We’re tentative but curious in our use of AI. Tools like ChatGPT have the potential to help streamline some of our processes, so we’ve been testing new AI tools to develop services that utilise the best parts of machine learning. But this is only as a supplement to the extensive expertise of our in-house content team.

While we might use AI tools to help with ideation or competitor analysis, generative AI makes up a small portion of the creative process and is always edited and fact-checked by our in-house (human) editors.

Keeping this balance won’t change for us. We will continue to stay on top of the latest developments and incorporate AI whilst keeping within Google’s guidelines.

If you want to learn more about our AI-enhanced content or our SEO services, get in touch with us.