Does Google penalise AI-generated content? What Google's guidelines actually say

Many site owners worry that using AI to write will get them penalised. Google's documentation gives a clearer answer than most people expect: the target is low-value content produced at scale, however it was made.

Using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users may violate Google's spam policy on scaled content abuse.

Google Search Central: guidance on using generative AI content

What Google says about AI content

In February 2023, Google published guidance on AI-generated content explaining that it rewards high-quality content however it is produced, and that using automation mainly to manipulate rankings breaks its spam policies. Its current documentation adds that generative AI can be useful for researching a topic and adding structure to original work.

Scaled content abuse

In March 2024, Google named scaled content abuse as a spam policy. It targets pages made mainly to rank rather than to help people, whether they come from AI, people or templates. Patterns described in coverage of the policy (PPC Land) include:

• Using AI to produce many pages that add no value for readers.
• Scraping feeds, search results or other sites, including automated rewording or translation.
• Stitching together content from different pages.
• Spreading similar content across many sites to hide its scale.
• Publishing keyword-stuffed pages that make little sense to a reader.

Google has not published a page count or publishing rate that triggers the policy. What matters is whether the pages add value for the people who land on them.

What quality raters look for

Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines tell raters to give the lowest rating to pages where nearly all of the main content is AI-generated or copied with little effort, originality or added value. Raters do not change rankings directly, but their ratings help Google check whether its systems reward the right pages.

A safe workflow for AI-assisted content

• Use AI for research questions, outlines and first drafts, with a clear brief from the AI prompt generator.
• Add what only you have: your own data, examples, screenshots and experience.
• Check every fact and number against a primary source, and link to it.
• Edit for clarity. AI drafts often run long, so test them with the readability checker below.
• Put a real author name on the page and show when it was last updated.

Key terms

Scaled content abuse

Google's spam policy against producing many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, however they are made.

E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust: qualities Google's raters look for in content and the people behind it.

Search Quality Rater Guidelines

The handbook Google gives the human raters who evaluate search results.