If AI is so useful and reliable, then surely AI produced content must be a short cut to increased visibility. AI content can be produced quickly, with relatively strict parameters and at scale. People are turning to it as a way to generate masses of content to add supporting information and improve rankings.
Google has said it will not actively penalise for using AI generated content, so can all content come from AI? Do businesses really need to bother getting content created by humans anymore?
Yes they do!
No, AI-generated content does not rank highly or as often on Google’s results pages. Research in this area is currently limited but one large-scale experiment covering over twenty thousand URLs revealed that the more AI content there was on a page, the lower it was likely to rank based on average and median ranking places.
The research by Five Percent showed that the best position for human created content is in the first five positions half of the time, while the best position for AI created content is on the second SERP half of the time.
In 2023, Google said that AI content would not be penalised, which some saw as an opportunity to rely on AI content fully. They stated: “Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings which is against our spam policies.” But this was not the whole story.
While Google stated AI content will not be actively penalised, they have given more nuanced instruction. As of April 2025, Google Quality Raters are instructed: “The Lowest rating applies if all or almost all of the MC on the page is copied, paraphrased, embedded, auto or AI generated, or reposted from other sources with little to no effort, little to no originality and little to no added value for visitors to the website.” This builds on existing guidance around scaled content abuse and content Created with Little to No Effort, Little to No Originality and Little to No Added Value for Website Visitors section 4.6.6.
In 2022, Google released the Helpful Content Update (HCU), aimed at reducing low quality spam content on sites trying to improve their SEO. The HCU rewarded content that:
And in March 2024, this was made even stricter with a further spam update to penalise mass produced content that delivered no value. This time with an emphasis on original expert insight.
LLMs generate content based on what is already out there. By its nature, it can not offer the unique or original insight required by Google. Content created by LLMs repeats what the majority of other sites have already said. Even if asked to give original information, it physically can not.
A human can draw on their unique experience with customers, knowing commonly asked questions and what is of most value. AI relies on the quality of other people’s content to dictate what it includes. Thus, it is impossible to stand out to search engines, generative search or customers if you are tied to the output of others.
If we are expanding beyond SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), will AI generated content rank in AI search?
As LLMs and AI engines are still a relatively new phenomenon, there is not as much guidance on how to rank or research on what is working. What we do have suggests that AI generated content is not still up to standard to rank well in AI engines, mirroring our findings with traditional SEO.
We know that AI can create content that is superficially meeting needs, providing short sentences and answering questions clearly, but the information can be inaccurate and never original. Some of the citations included in AI content are also not reliable, further limiting AI content’s ability to rank in the very engines it is produced by.
Human-written content generally provides more useful insight because we better understand what is relevant and what is not; we make sure all information is covered. Human content is also more enjoyable to read as we can draw on personal experiences to illustrate points and make products and situations more relatable. This is a vital part of building trust and encouraging conversions – two pillars of successful SEO.
We can also offer more original information within our content, which is another important trust signal that will create stronger customer loyalty. Furthermore, if we need to verify a fact in our content, we know how to find reliable sources to refer to and cite, whereas AI will repeat lies and even hallucinate if it does not have an answer.
There is undoubtedly a place for AI in digital marketing but unsupported content creation is not it. We’d recommend limiting your AI content use to:
But it must always be checked, verified and edited by humans too. Otherwise, it will not just stop you benefitting from additional content and you could even see your visibility suffer as a result.
To summarise everything I’ve discussed: Human written content remains essential because search engines and users both reward originality, accuracy and lived expertise.
Contact The Digital Maze today to discover how we can help supercharge your SEO performance, through optimised human-written SEO content and other essential SEO strategy pillars. We also provide AI SEO services to all our clients, ensuring they perform well in AI engines going forward.
Susan Giles is a skilled SEO copywriter and creative content writer with a passion for storytelling and a talent for turning complex ideas into engaging, accessible content.
With a background in freelance writing and creative writing tutoring, she brings both technical know-how and a love of language to everything she creates. Whether polishing existing copy or crafting fresh, optimised content from scratch, Susan knows how to make words work harder. Outside of writing, she’s usually buried in a good book.
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