In 2025, Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how content performs in search. As AI-generated text becomes widespread, a vital question faces businesses: Will using AI harm your Google rankings? While Google clearly states it prioritizes content quality over its creation method, real-world results paint a more intricate picture.
For marketers, this isn't about deciding if to use AI, but rather how to use it strategically to produce content that genuinely helps users, demonstrates originality, and aligns with search engine expectations. This guide offers practical understanding of AI content's impact, its current limitations, and proven techniques to ensure your content achieves high visibility.
Can AI-Generated Content Harm Search Rankings?
Google explicitly states that AI-generated content will not inherently affect search rankings. Content that proves helpful, original, and relevant aligns with Google's quality guidelines, regardless of how it was produced.
Satisfied respondents often follow the E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Google favors content that:
Offers Helpfulness
Demonstrates Expertise
Originates from an Authoritative source
Proves Trustworthy
Consistently meeting all these criteria poses a challenge for AI-generated content. As Josh Blyskal, associate marketing technical manager at HubSpot, points out, "Now, more than ever, the value of content hinges on the authenticity of its creator and the underlying value, meaning, story, and perspective of the content they're creating."
With the internet's increasing volume of AI-written content, the primary task becomes making content stand out.
AI's Influence on User Engagement
User engagement with AI-generated content remains a key concern. While some remain skeptical, others conduct experiments to measure its impact.
A 2023 case study from SEOwind involved publishing 116 AI-generated articles in 30 days. Using their "CyborgMethod" strategy, they reported a 77% increase in clicks and a 124% boost in impressions. The study aimed to demonstrate AI content's ability to drive organic traffic, focusing on SEO, blogging, and AI tools.
However, these figures require context. The study occurred in 2023, and the long-term performance of these articles is not known. More importantly, the SEOwind team performed significant human work beyond just AI content generation. Their efforts included:
Thorough keyword research and content gap analysis
Using AI for titles, meta descriptions, and outlines
Optimizing for secondary keywords
Adding quotes, numbers, external and internal links, descriptive alt tags to images, and product descriptions
Editing AI content to refine long sentences
This suggests success resulted from a hybrid approach, not AI-generated content alone.
How Does AI Affect Content Performance?
Generative AI’s impact on content performance is varied. 34% of users report a performance boost, 19% see no change, and 6% believe it negatively affects performance.
Additionally, 29% indicate AI speeds up content creation without necessarily improving ROI. AI primarily assists with specific content creation phases, such as brainstorming or generating headlines, where writers often experience blocks.
For example, TV 2 Fyn, a Danish news outlet, used ChatGPT to generate headlines for A/B tests in late 2022 and early 2023. Across 46 tests, AI-generated headlines won 46% of the time, outperforming human-created headlines (24%).
These AI-driven headlines led to a 59% increase in CTR. This demonstrated AI's ability to improve performance, while also highlighting that human refinement of AI suggestions remained critical for optimization.
Edward White, head of growth at Beehiiv, shares a similar experience: "A unique trick we’ve implemented is using AI for dynamic A/B testing of blog headlines and meta descriptions. This iterative process has helped us improve click-through rates consistently."
The impact of generative AI on content performance depends on content type, input quality, the specific AI content generator, and its alignment with audience needs.
Content Types That Perform Well with AI
A HubSpot study indicates that some content types align well with AI generation. 45% of respondents believe educational content, such as "How-to" guides and step-by-step tutorials, will perform best. 37% think review and comparison content will also succeed.
Creating these types of content with AI assistance can yield substantial benefits.
Content Types That May Struggle with AI
Conversely, personal stories (30%) and opinion pieces (28%) face the most significant challenges. These formats heavily rely on a unique voice and personal touch, which AI struggles to authentically replicate.
Content offering clear, factual value is more likely to succeed with AI assistance, while subjective, personal content remains difficult to generate effectively using AI alone.
Limitations of AI-Generated Content for SEO
While AI accelerates content creation, offering clear SEO benefits, it is not a fully autonomous technology.
Many AI models cannot verify the accuracy or reliability of web-sourced information. They might incorporate inaccurate, unreliable, or biased data. Additionally, AI models often rely on limited training data.
For example, free users of ChatGPT may be limited to data before 2021. Requesting an article on "The Top TikTok Stats of 2024" could result in outdated information. Google prioritizes current data, potentially harming search rankings.
Another concern involves potential duplicate content. If numerous marketers use the same AI model for similar queries, generated responses might be very alike. Google might then consider such content unoriginal or lacking unique expertise.
This does not imply AI-generated content is inherently poor. As Josh Blyskal states, "If I read an article, liked it, derived value from it, and then discovered that the article was written by AI, would I care? I'm not sure I would."
However, AI-written content alone often falls short in competing effectively within search engines. To achieve distinction, combining AI with human expertise and perspective is crucial. HubSpot advises against creating content identical to top-ranking SERPs. Incorporate unique experiences, even in tutorials, by describing how your team, clients, or experts perform a task. This approach injects authenticity and helpfulness.
Joel Popoff, CEO at Axwell, shared his experience generating product descriptions with AI for their Axwell Wallet. Initial results were generic and lacked the specific quality and craftsmanship the brand emphasizes. "To address this, we implemented a hybrid approach — AI generates the initial draft, and our content team refines it to align with our brand's tone. This strategy has cut content creation time by about 30% while preserving authenticity," says Popoff.
5 Tips for Using AI-Generated Content
Be Transparent
Clearly state when content is AI-assisted to build trust. For example, Litmus ended a newsletter with, “This email was written using Jasper.”Focus on Thought Leadership
Avoid relying solely on AI for content. Lindsay Tjepkema (Casted) emphasizes building authentic, human-centric strategies like podcasts and webinars to genuinely connect with audiences.Monitor Automation Closely
AI tools like ChatGPT and HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant streamline content creation and audits, but human oversight is vital to maintain quality, says Rory Hope (HubSpot).Use AI for Targeted Content
AI excels at data analysis. ScrapingBee uses it to monitor trends and identify content gaps, producing technical, high-value articles. But as Antonio Černeli (Peakflow) notes, human direction remains essential for aligning content with brand goals.Prune Low-Value Content
Userpilot deleted 847 underperforming posts (many AI-generated), resulting in a 16% traffic increase and record site performance.
Takeaway: Use AI not just to collect data, but to interpret it and drive precise decisions. AI helps you track keyword performance not just to see numbers but to understand why some keywords are underperforming and what specific content adjustments are needed to improve. For beginners or those seeking a simplified approach, tools like SEOChatbot.ai can be invaluable in making the SEO process clear.
Conclusion
To succeed in the AI SEO landscape, marketers must combine AI's capabilities with human oversight, expertise, and perspective.
Focus on creating valuable content that demonstrates expertise and addresses audience needs. The key takeaway: use AI to save time and enhance work, but always add a personal touch to ensure content stands out.
By combining smart strategies, removing low-value content, and being transparent about AI use, brands can build trust, connect with readers, and maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly changing digital world.
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