The world of AI content is becoming increasingly hard to navigate for SEO specialists. Google have now offered some clarity by announcing that AI-generated images will no longer be penalised in the right context.
Unless you have not been online for the last few years, then AI-generated content should be familiar to you. It has taken the internet and social media by storm. From humorous videos to professional imagery, it is now ubiquitous in content. For some time, there has been a grey area over how AI content is penalised when it comes to SEO. Google have tried to clarify this regarding the use of AI-generated images.
AI-Generated Images in SEO
The use of AI is transforming how SEO operates. It is estimated that just over 50% of all web traffic comes from bots, and generative AI is transforming the process of content creation. Yet it is not only online that SEO is changing. Tools such as the SEO AI agent are overhauling how SEO planning and execution can take place. Marketers no longer need to manually search through keywords and backlinks, but can have AI do it for them and create a helpful plan to manage their workflow.
With tools like this, the bulk of the work becomes content creation. A spokesman for Google, Gary Illyes, has announced that Google will not penalise any websites or content that use AI imagery. At a recent question-and-answer session, he even discussed how generative AI images could bring in extra traffic to a website. However, the question posed was specifically about content that had not been generated using AI, combined with images that were. The following question was posed to him by Kenichi Suzuki and is accessible through YouTube:
“Say if there’s a content that the content itself is legit, the sentences are legit, but also there are a lot of images which are relevant to the content itself, but all of them, let’s say, all of them are generated by AI. Will that content or the overall site be penalised or not?”
He answered that an AI-generated image does not impact the SEO ranking directly. He then added that webmasters are not going to see any negative impact and may even get traffic through image and video searches.
Should You Use AI-Generated Images?
AI-generated images are a quick and easy way to get a unique image. However, the key phrase Illyes used was ‘indirectly’, meaning Google itself will not penalise you. There is a possibility that users themselves may.
Art created from AI has drawn a lot of scorn recently, with people believing it is the beginning of the end for humans as creative beings. A study in the publication Computers in Human Behaviour played participants two pieces of music and showed them two pieces of art. They were told that one was made by a human and one by AI. However, this was not true, and they were either both made by humans or AI.
The results were that people overwhelmingly preferred the music and art they thought was made by humans. This bias became more apparent in people who believed strongly that creativity was a solely human endeavour. This is something that people choosing AI artwork should be aware of. It has the possibility to decrease retention and could increase bounce rates.
The Shift to GEO
Approximately one year ago, Google deranked low-quality AI-generated content in an update. Since then, many have begun to shift to what is now being termed GEO instead of SEO.
While the two do have crossovers, they also have some fundamental differences. The main purpose of SEO is to rank on the top page of search engines, mainly Google, for key terms that people have typed in as queries. This is because generally, humans don’t make it past page one.
Large language models and AI search platforms are not human, and can perform multiple tasks and searches at once. Thus, they will go past the first page to find the right content. Therefore, you could be on page ten of Google and still get picked up. The goalposts have changed.
Fundamentally, keywords have previously been the only way for people to find what they want online. Usually, they have been typed into Google. Now there are many other ways, from AI search to voice.
This can present a range of opportunities for businesses. It allows them to find their consumers more easily, while also allowing them to navigate the sales funnel and conversions quickly. A company’s SEO and marketing budget will no longer just allow them to buy a way into the first page, and when existing providers are not serving customers well, smaller companies will be able to use GEO to take their place.
AI provides a wealth of opportunities for marketers and webmasters. Yet it also throws up issues, and the time to adapt is now. Be it using AI to plan or focusing your efforts on GEO, you must make a change or lose valuable leads and traffic.