2024 Google Updates on the Use of AI Content and Penalties
In the Core Update for March 2024, Google announced a crackdown on low-quality, AI-generated content. Business websites that continue to overuse AI-generated content would be penalized with the loss of advertising revenue, marketing spots, and organic search traffic. In other words, they would be deindexed and either pushed to the back of the search engine or taken off altogether.
Through this update, Google hopes to reduce unhelpful and irrelevant content from search results. Where AI-generated content will be penalized, human-written content will be rewarded with higher rankings, more revenue, and excess organic search traffic. The latter will thrive.
What Does Google Emphasize?
In 2024, Google emphasizes the importance of high-quality, unique, human-generated content. Website owners should focus on relevance and how they can enhance the human experience for their target audience.
Google advises E-E-A-T, which stands for expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Therefore, they encourage helpful content that puts people first because it’s evident to everyone when AI has taken over a website. It should be quality over production and rewarded within Google’s ranking systems.
Google has recognized that not all AI-generated content is spam or mass-produced, but it draws lines at duplicated automated content. Artificial intelligence has been produced before, spamming search engines and muddling users' search results. Instead of taking content directly from AI machines, Google suggests using AI for inspiration but using your own words and thoughts to convey content.
Google realizes that artificial intelligence is here to stay and isn’t looking to have it stripped from the internet. There is a time and place for AI-generated content, and Google encourages responsible AI use. AI tools have evolved and can evolve further, complementing human efforts to make content creation more efficient and creative.
Beware: Older Sites are in Danger, Too!
Older sites are as affected by the Google updates as newer sites. Some sites have been flying under the guideline radars for decades. Still, the latest crackdown on AI-generated and low-quality content means many older sites have vanished from search engines. Older businesses are encouraged to update their websites, keeping them fresh with high-quality, human-created, valuable content for a target audience.
Older sites have been evading Google guidelines through link-building schemes, which have become worse with AI generation. Links are exchanged and stuffed into AI-generated content from one website to another to trick Google into ranking both websites higher on search engines. Google has clarified that this trick will no longer work, and link-built websites are disappearing as quickly as solely AI-generated websites.
How to Ensure Your Website Complies with Google Guidelines
The number one way to ensure your website complies with Google guidelines is to write for humans from a human perspective. Human-written content is backed with emotions to interest a target audience. It would be best if you strived to prioritize user experience to create organic traffic that flows through Google. The more organic traffic you cultivate, the higher your rank on Google will be, and the less likely you’ll be doxed for inauthentic AI-generated content.
Other ways you can ensure Google compliance include:
· Use words that people would naturally use to search for content. This goes back to the human experience. Write in a way that encourages people to find you with keywords sprinkled naturally throughout your work.
· Optimize your website with elements that pop up in Google searches. Title tags, meta descriptions, head tags, and internal backlinks allow people to find your content without using unnatural AI-generated means.
· Showcase your expertise in well-cited articles. When you write with knowledge and experience, you write from authenticity, which AI-generated content can’t replicate.
· Avoid spammy link-building techniques. Google can tell when you’ve plugged in a keyword for an AI generator to write around. The keywords are overused in AI-generated content, stuffed unnaturally to gain rankings. This is a surefire way to remove your website from a search engine index.
When building a website for your business or company, it’s essential to remember that authenticity and originality will get you a longer way than any AI-generated content. Google appreciates value. Prove your worth to the search engine by being a genuine, inspiring human for your intended audience.
Why Originality Reigns Online
Think of the internet as a marketplace. If hundreds of other vendors sell the same stuff, you want an outstanding vendor. You lose interest when all businesses appear the same with the same content. The same applies to business websites. Originality must be unique enough to stand out from other business websites, so AI-generated content is frowned upon.
Millions of new online content are created daily, all vying for a higher ranking on search engines like Google. Being unique helps to capture attention and differentiate a brand. Fresh, human-written content that’s never been published is more likely to positively impact search engines because it provides value to a potential audience.
Additionally, originality provides an intellectual backbone to business websites. Original, human-written content sounds like you care about your clients or customers, whereas AI-generated content is a dime a dozen. By building on well-cited ideas, you contribute your creativity to the online world to help others expand their knowledge from reliable sources.
Does Plagiarism Matter as Much as AI-generated content?
Both plagiarism and AI-generated content are frowned upon when creating content. In one instance, you are utilizing someone else’s work. In another example, you are using work written by a machine. When AI-generated content is passed off as human-generated, it can be misleading because an audience will believe what they read. Where plagiarism is wrong in an intellectual way, AI-generated content can undermine trustworthiness.
The key is disclosure and transparency. Let your audience know if you plan on paraphrasing or using AI generation. Proper credit should be given to the sources to maintain trust and integrity with your audience.
In Conclusion
Google knows that not all AI-generated content will disappear overnight from its search engines. Instead, it strives to create more original, better places for businesses and audiences. Through rewards and penalties, Google will likely achieve its goal slowly but surely over the coming years.