Law Firm Owners Are Asking… Does Google Penalize AI Generated Content?

Several law firm owners have recently told us that they’ve heard that Google penalizes AI generated content. As more and more people become aware of the power and proliferation of AI content tools, there clearly is more AI generated content being released.

Google has stated multiple times that they do NOT penalize AI generated content and it does NOT hurt a site’s SEO. Google Search guidance published in 2023 says,

“Our focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a useful guide that has helped us deliver reliable, high-quality results to users for years.”

Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan posted on Twitter that they “haven't said AI content is bad.”

So what IS Google saying about AI generated content? Google itself uses AI tools, including its own AI writing tool, Bard. Technology isn’t going anywhere, and anyone who doesn’t use AI tools in some format is going to be left behind. According to Google,

“AI has the ability to power new levels of expression and creativity, and to serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.”

As a highly profitable business and the #1 search engine, Google has 2 main goals: increasing profits and growing its user base and dominance.

Why Is AI Generated Content A Problem?

As we discussed in earlier blog posts, AI tools are useful and can be very helpful in creating content. As content writers, at SEO My Law Firm we use AI tools for research, brainstorming, list making and even sometimes as a first draft of content. But AI tools do NOT replace experienced writers and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts.). There are several key problems with using AI generated content:

• GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out: AI tools get their information from online sources, and much of the content online is inaccurate and poorly written. Even with an AI tool’s enhanced writing capabilities, it cannot detect incorrect facts.

• Outdated Information: ChatGPT’s knowledge database is STILL from September 2021, and any information or events since then are not included.

• Fabricated Facts: A New York lawyer used a document researched by ChatGPT in court - and it cited fake cases. The attorney later said he “did not understand it was not a search engine.”

• Plagiarism: AI tools notoriously do not cite sources and liberally “borrow” large quantities of content from other sources without attribution.

#DYK AI bots crawl the internet and take information from websites to build their knowledge base? You can opt-out of allowing AI tools to crawl your website for data - which can also lead to slow website performance.

What Does Google Penalize?

Google released the ‘Helpful Content Update’ and several other updates to its algorithm that favor high-quality, user-friendly content - and negatively impact SPAM. Google’s updates stress the importance of the E-A-T principle and how it scores webpages based on EAT:

• Expertise

• Authoritativeness

• Trustworthiness

Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines, section 2.3 says “Some types of pages could potentially impact the future happiness, health, or wealth of users. We call such pages “Your Money or Your Life” pages or YMYL.”

Google Does NOT penalize website pages that use AI content.
Google only penalizes poorly written content that provides a poor UX experience.

What Is An AI Content Detector?

AI content detectors are AI tools where you put text into the tool and get a score that tells you whether the tools thinks the text was generated by a human, or another AI tool. The problem? Most of these tools rely on high quality online writing standards to detect if the text is generated by AI.

As a test, I put text that I 100% wrote without using any AI tool into an AI content detector. The score? 85% - which means the AI content detector was 85% sure the content was written by a tool. And was 100% wrong.

AI tools use online writing samples that rank high for quality, relevance, authenticity, actuality and trustworthiness - and as an experienced content writer, my writing meets those same standards! And that’s the problem with AI content detectors: its a tool, just like an AI content writer, and AI tools can be frequently and spectacularly wrong.

There Are AI Image Detectors Too!

Recently, LinkedIn implemented a new AI content detector that identifies AI-generated profile photos with 99.6% accuracy. This means that only 1% of real photos will be misidentified as fake. Why? Fake profile photos.

• LinkedIn members are using AI-enhanced profile photos! Law firm potential clients value authenticity and trustworthiness. The new AI tool will help to create a more trustworthy environment for everyone on LinkedIn.

• Google can detect and prohibit fake or enhanced photos, as well as stock photos. We know lawyers who used AI-enhanced images on their Google Business Profile, and they were taken down with a ‘not-approved’ notice.

Does this mean that Google prohibits all AI and AI-enhanced photos? No.  Google Vision AI will analyze an image for specific themes, tag facial expressions and identify any text or objects in the picture, and make a decision if the AI enhancement is acceptable - or excessive. All images uploaded to GBP need to pass their AI SafeSearch evaluation.

How Law Firms Can Use AI-Generated Content

Here are my guidelines and best practices for using AI chatbots and other writing tools for legal content writing:

1. Fact Check
If you outsource your blog post writing, social media management and website copy to a professional content writer, make sure they are a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and if they use an AI writing tool, they know how to fact check to ensure that the tool provides accurate information.

2. Run a Plagiarism Program
ChatGPT and other chatbots do not have built-in plagiarism checkers. Make sure you use an external plagiarism checker to make sure that all content is original, or is properly sourced.

3. Verify Data Accuracy
ChatGPT only has data back to 2021, each may have different data accuracy dependent on whether they are live or beta. Know your data source.

4. Tone and Voice Matter
Your audience may use specific language and tone that all AI tools do not support. Ensure your writing tool supports your audience’s tone, voice and brand terminology.

5. Consider Output a 1st Draft
Whatever output your AI tool returns, consider it a 1st draft that needs the expert guidance, editing and reworking of an SME.

AI tools can enhance your law firm’s content strategy under the guidance of a talented content writing team and experts who understands how AI content tools work, and their limitations. AI tools can help give your content a competitive edge that will help you attract more leads, convert more prospects and build your law firm client roster.

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Does your law firm need a content strategy - and content? SEO My Law Firm can create, optimize and manage all your online digital content so you don’t have missed opportunities to grow your law firm. Contact Us Today about our SEO-optimized content writing for lawyers and law firms.