Will AI-generated content be included in Google search?

The jury is still out regarding the stand of Google search on AI-generated content.  Will AI-generated content be included in Google search? Or will Google index human-generated content only?

In a search update titled “Google Search helpful content system and your website” Google has sidestepped this burning issue. The update released on September 14, 2023 states, “Google Search’s helpful content system generates a signal used by our automated ranking systems to better ensure people see original, helpful content created for people in search results.”

The question on the minds of website administrators is: Will Google search include AI-generated content if it is helpful?

What is the helpful content system

“The helpful content system,” according to Google, has been devised “… to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience”. As against this, “content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well”.

The helpful content system also identifies “content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to people”.

The move, Google hopes, will push website administrators to remove unhelpful content from their websites.

It will also dissuade them from creating content whose sole goal is to gain search engine rankings.

It has only been a week since Google started rolling out the updated helpful content system. Its full impact will be felt by the end of the month when the system will be fully deployed.

Like every search update, this update too will see some sites losing traffic and some gaining. Google has also included third-party content in the site-wide signals that the algorithm will generate on the helpfulness of content.

What does this update mean for AI-generated news content?

Several news organisations across the world have started using AI tools to generate news content. News Corp Australia produces 3,000 articles a week using Generative AI. These articles deal with weather, fuel prices and traffic conditions and save the newsroom hours of human manpower.

According to Forbes, the company has rolled out an “AI-powered Content Management System called Bertie that suggests content and titles, The Washington Post released Heliograf that can generate entire articles from quantitative data, Bloomberg is using Cyborg for content creation and management.”

These are trusted names, and they are certainly producing helpful content – content that was earlier managed by journalists.

In other words, Google search will rank this content because it is helpful.

How should sites decide what is helpful content

Google has also set up a Help page to assist sites to audit their content, especially if there is drop in search rankings following the roll out of the helpful content system.

Among other things, Google wants site administrators to evaluate whether the information on the site is original or not. Is it complete and comprehensive? Does it provide insightful analysis and adds value to the already available information on the net? Will the reader who goes through the content be satisfied?

Google also suggests an interesting test. It asks site administrators to decide whether they would like to bookmark the page or share it with a friend? Obviously, there can be no better way of judging the value of content.

Google also cautions websites to guard against search engine-first content. Some of the practices it wants sites to avoid are: production of content on several topics in the hope that some may rank; using extensive automation to produce content; summarizing what has been published elsewhere without adding much value; writing on topics simply because they are trending even though they are not the website’s focus or creating content without relevant expertise.