Google: fact-check AI content before you publish
Google now says it is "critical" to manually fact-check every piece of AI-generated content before it goes live. The same day, it spelled out that bulk AI text with no human oversight counts as little to no effort.
Do not do this
Google says check AI writing by hand before publishing
Google updated its AI content guidance to say you should manually fact-check and review all AI-generated content for accuracy before it goes live. Barry Schwartz spotted the change and noted Google used the word "critical", which is strong language for Google. If you use AI to draft anything, a human read for accuracy is now the stated expectation.
It is critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing.
Who this affects: Anyone using AI tools to help write pages or posts.
- Read every AI-drafted page for wrong facts before publishing.
- Our take: fix claims, names and numbers in already published drafts.
Google now defines bulk AI pages as low effort
Google added a section to its helpful content guidance explaining how its human reviewers judge the main content on a page, and effort is now defined in writing. Original analysis or a custom interactive map counts as high effort, while auto-generating pages from feeds or producing large amounts of AI text without manual oversight counts as little to no effort.
So if you are taking advantage of loopholes and scaling like crazy via AI/programmatic, BEWARE.
Who this affects: Site owners generating pages in bulk or from templates and feeds.
- Replace template or feed-built pages with pages holding original information.
- Our take: add your own data, photos or analysis to thin pages.