AI-written content: Google clarifies its rules — Oeuvria publishes AI-assisted content that follows them, and this is why

What Google updated

On October 1, 2026, Google updated its Search Central documentation page on using content created with generative AI on a website. The update brings in material from its Search Quality Raters guidelines.

The principle stays the same: generative AI can be useful for researching a topic and for adding structure to original content. But using it to generate many pages without adding value for users may violate Google's spam policy on scaled content abuse.

The page now points to two specific sections of the raters' guidelines: scaled content abuse, and main content created with little effort, originality or added value. Google reminds readers that these guidelines aren't a manual for ranking first: they're used to evaluate its ranking systems.

What it changes for a small business

Many business owners already use ChatGPT or another tool to write their service pages or blog. That isn't a problem in itself. The risk is how easy it is: generating twenty near-identical pages like "plumber in Laval, plumber in Longueuil, plumber in Brossard", or publishing a text without checking the facts it states.

Google says it plainly: AI models don't retrieve facts, they predict likely sequences of words. They can therefore "hallucinate" a price, a standard or a warranty. On a business website, that kind of mistake costs trust, and sometimes more.

The rules to remember, according to Google

• Fact-check and review any AI-generated content before publishing it: Google calls this step critical.
• Also review what shows up in search results: the title element, meta description, structured data and image alt text.
• Validate structured data and follow each search feature's own policies.
• Don't mass-produce pages that add nothing for the reader.
• Give readers context about how the content was created, when that's useful.
• In e-commerce: AI-generated product images must carry the appropriate IPTC metadata, and AI-generated product titles and descriptions must be labeled as such in Google Merchant Center.

Does Google penalize content written with AI?

No, not as such. Google says generative AI can help with research and with structuring original content. What can violate its spam policies is generating many pages without adding value for users.

Should I review AI-written text before publishing it?

Yes. Google explains that AI models predict words rather than retrieve facts, so they can be wrong. It recommends fact-checking and reviewing content before publishing, including the title, meta description, structured data and image alt text.

What is "scaled content abuse"?

It's one of Google's spam policies: generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings rather than to help users. Google gives the example of using generative AI tools to produce many pages without adding value.

Our best practices, and the services that handle them

What we apply, concretely:

• Every factual claim in content we publish is tied to a real source, cited at the bottom of the page when it's external. No source, no claim.
• Content only goes live after a five-point check: factual accuracy, brand voice, SEO/GEO/AEO, originality and fit for the channel.
• No cookie-cutter pages: each article answers a real customer question and brings something new.
• Our free audit already checks what shows up in Google: title, meta description, image alt text and structured data.

On the services side: "SEO, GEO & AEO optimization" includes an opportunity audit, on-page and technical SEO optimizations, GEO-optimized content and performance tracking setup; "Websites + lead capture system" covers building, or rebuilding, sites for service and construction trades.

See our SEO, GEO & AEO service

Audit my site for free

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Next step

AI can save you time without costing you Google's trust or your customers', as long as you keep human checking and real value for the reader. Book a time slot with us to review your site's content.

Source: Google Search Central, "Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content on your website" (updated Oct. 1, 2026) (Google Search Central)

Source: Google Search Central, "Spam policies for Google web search" (scaled content abuse) (Google Search Central)