Google Responds To Bankrate’s Use Of AI To Write Content

Introduction

You can also listen to this article on the YouTube podcast below:

Google recently responded to Bankrate’s decision to utilize AI to write content, reiterating its guidelines on AI-written content after the company gained attention in the SEO space. Bankrate’s use of AI to create content has caused some debate in the industry, and Google’s Danny Sullivan clarified their stance on the matter with a tweet. In this blog post, we’ll explore Google’s response and what it means for the future of SEO.

What Is Bankrate?

Bankrate is one of the largest financial websites on the web, offering personal finance tools and advice to millions of consumers. It was recently revealed by Tony Hill that Bankrate had begun to use AI to write some of its content, sparking a lot of interest and discussion in the SEO community. He posted an example of a Bankrate article generated with automated technology and edited by an editor on their editorial staff. This tweet was viewed almost 80 thousand times and retweeted close to a hundred times.

Google quickly responded to this news on Twitter, reiterating their guidelines on AI written content. Danny Sullivan from Google said that if the content is helpful and created for people first, it’s not an issue. He added that Google’s spam policies also address spammy automatically generated content, where they will take action if the content is generated through automated processes without regard for quality or user experience. Finally, he reminded everyone to look at the new E.E.A.T guidelines (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) when creating content, as Google’s core systems look at many signals to reward content that clearly demonstrates E-E-A-T.

What Did They Do?

Recently, Bankrate, one of the largest finance sites on the internet, began using AI to write some of its content. Tony Hill posted the example on Twitter which was viewed almost 80 thousand times and retweeted close to a hundred times. The screenshot Hill shared showed Bankrate acknowledging that the article was generated using automated technology and had been thoroughly edited and fact-checked by an editor on the editorial staff.
In response, Google’s Danny Sullivan tweeted about using AI to write content. He said that as previously stated, using AI to write content created primarily for search engine rankings is against their guidance. Finally, Sullivan referenced the Google spam policies, saying they will take action if the content is generated through automated processes without regard for quality or user experience.

How Did Google Respond?

In response to Bankrate’s recent use of AI to write content, Google’s Danny Sullivan has released a statement reiterating their guidelines on the matter. He started off by referencing the comments he made previously when asked about AI content created primarily for search engine rankings. He said that it goes against Google’s guidance and that the key to being successful is to ensure that the content is helpful and created for people first.
Danny also shared a screenshot posted by Tony Hill, viewed almost 80 thousand times and retweeted close to a hundred times, which showed Bankrate stating that the article was generated using automated technology and thoroughly edited and fact-checked by an editor.
Danny went on to mention Google’s spam policies, stating that if the content is generated through automated processes without regard for quality or user experience, they will take action.

This article was originally published on medium on January the 13th, 2023.