Do you use a third-party content provider for your website? I’d strongly advise you check for AI generated content.
The market for content creation is saturated. Brands can subscribe to all manner of services, at home and abroad, that promise content to drive website traffic. However, have you ever stopped to check for AI generated content?
If not, you should. Google looks for disclaimers in respect of AI generated content today, but that’s only part of the story.

Jumping on the AI bandwagon
The rise of anything new sees millions of people attempt to make quick money out of it. It happened when social media came to the fore. It also happened when the UK government gave out grants for loft insulation! Hundreds of door-to-door sales companies popped up out of nowhere. They’d bang on your door at 8.30pm in the middle of winter, offering to insulate your home for nothing (it was rarely true).
AI isn’t limited to the likes of ChatGPT, and I mention that as I sometimes think it is the only AI tool people have heard of.
The potential uses of AI propagate almost every aspect of daily life. The difference is that few of them are likely to be as easy to deploy as using AI for content provision.

The problem with AI generated content
Companies that once put hours of research, thought and writing skill into producing blog content have jumped on the AI content bandwagon.
Here is the problem in a nutshell:
- You pay for them to provide you with blog (or other) content.
- They rush to ChatGPT and get it to generate the content in seconds.
- They send it to you under the guise of original content they’ve created.
- You publish it on your website.
- You don’t publish any AI use disclaimers, because you’ve no idea how the content provider generated it (not that a disclaimer would always help).
- Google crawls your website.
- You, at some point in time, get penalised for over-use of AI content.
- You’re also likely to be publishing the same content that many others do.
- Your website rankings begin to fall before you realise, if you ever do, what the problem is.

How big is the AI content problem?
Site owners need to be very careful when using this type of service. There are thousands of very good content creators. Not all companies or writers are trying to circumvent the process and effort involved.
There will always be people that try to cut corners and take your money without expending effort.

Does Google allow AI generated content?
Google doesn’t object to you using AI tools. It recognises that they can add value to content. They object to you using fully AI generated content, particularly if you do so excessively. Google also ask you to declare the use of AI on content that uses it. Bear in mind that Google is very, very good at detecting AI use.
They even tell you that they use their SpamBrain system to detect patterns and signals that identify spam content (which as you’re about to read is precisely what they class overuse of AI as).

Google’s official guidance on the use of AI
Within Google’s search guidance about AI-generated content, you’ll find these critical sentences:
- Is the use of automation, including AI-generation, self-evident to visitors through disclosures or in other ways?
- Are you providing background about how automation or AI-generation was used to create content?
- Are you explaining why automation or AI was seen as useful to produce content?
Clearly, if you’ve subscribed to a content creation service and have no idea that they’re using AI for all content, you’re at a disadvantage to begin with. You’ve never been in a position to ask yourselves the above questions, let alone consider issuing disclaimers about the content.
However, the biggest issue is that we all know the purpose of content creation. Brands and site owners are publishing it with the aim of ranking higher in SERPS (search results).

Google could classify your content as spam
The reason this is an issue is demonstrated with this single line in the Google AI guidance:
- 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.
Add the fact that we’re mainly talking about 100% AI-generated content, and you can see why websites that breach this rule will end up with a problem. The content they’d hoped would increase their rankings will, at some point, do exactly the opposite. It will potentially damage their entire site.

A stern warning from Google
Finally, Google write this in their guidance:
- If you see AI as an essential way to help you produce content that is helpful and original, it might be useful to consider. If you see AI as an inexpensive, easy way to game search engine rankings, then no.
Consequently, if your content creation service is using 100% AI-generated content, they either don’t read Google guidance, don’t understand it, or, more likely, don’t care.
As long as you pay them every month, they’ll keep typing a line or two into ChatGPT and spewing damaging content out to you.

How to check for AI generated content?
How can brands and website owners protect themselves against these unscrupulous operators? The answer is very simple – you can check for AI generated content very easily.
There are several different websites that allow you to paste content into a box and they’ll analyse it. They’ll then give you a predicted AI score. None of them can claim to be 100% accurate, but most are very good.
One of the systems I use is Quillbot.
Another is ZeroGPT (and I find the site name amusing).
The best advice I can give you is to ensure that you don’t use these sites on a one-off basis. Test the content you’re sent by your service provider on a regular basis.

What is a bad AI generated score?
Scores above 50-60% should set alarm bells ringing.
If you get a 90-100% score, you need to be having a serious conversation with the people that ‘created’ the content.

What to do if your content creator is over-using AI?
It might not surprise you to read that I strongly recommend you disassociate yourself with any content provider that is using AI too much.
If you get 100% scores, even one, you should consider ceasing your relationship with them immediately. I’d also recommend you ask for a refund on previously paid invoices, although you might find this tricky to get satisfactory resolution on.
I’m aware of some content services that clearly state the use of AI in the production of their material. They’re not stupid. The fact some don’t state the extent to which they use AI is a telling sign.

Can you use AI to generate content?
AI generated content isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like everything in life, few things done in moderation will harm you.
It can be a fantastic tool for generating ideas, and that’s where I would encourage you to use it. Your content provider might be using it in a completely acceptable way too.

Using ChatGPT to generate content
If you’re someone that finds it difficult to come up with content ideas, ask tools such as ChatGPT. There are others, of course, but it appears to be the most known whenever I speak to people outside of the tech sector.
You’ll soon be given a plethora of subjects you could write about, but you still need to be cautious. You won’t be the only one to have been given those subjects if your question was broad.
Be specific in what you ask the tool. If, for example, you operate in the retail sector and sell shoes, don’t just type “Give me shoe content ideas“.
Expand the question with something like “Give me female teenage footwear content ideas“. The more complex you make your question, the more likely you are to receive ideas that won’t have been used by tens of thousands of other publishers.
You can then write a piece of content that isn’t going to destroy your site. You can even use AI to help you with a few elements of it if you need to.
If you do this, please ensure you run it all through an AI checking tool before you publish it. You should also try to remember what type of content Google likes.

Feedback
If you have any feedback on this blog, or have had direct experience of content generated wholly using AI, please leave a comment. I try to reply wherever possible.

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