Building SEO Since 13 years Old. I didn’t set out to build an agency — I set out to solve a problem.
AI content is everywhere right now. Brands are using AI tools to write blog posts, product descriptions, meta descriptions, collection page copy, and even full SEO content strategies. But for many, it’s not working.
At the Google Search Central Live Toronto on April 21, 2026, Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, spoke directly about the growing issue of AI content at scale. The takeaway wasn’t “AI content is bad for SEO.” Rather, mass-producing pages with AI without adding real value may violate Google’s spam policies on scaled content abuse. Google reiterated that they design their systems to reward helpful, reliable, people-first content, regardless of whether a human or an AI wrote it.
So the question isn’t “Is AI content good for SEO?” Or, “Is AI content bad for SEO?” It’s whether you’re using AI to create something genuinely useful.
In this article, we’ll break down what Google actually said, when AI helps, when it hurts, and how serious e-commerce brands should use AI without risking long-term organic growth.
In SEO, AI content is content created with the help of generative AI tools. That can mean a full article written by an AI writer, or human writers using AI for keyword research, outlines, first drafts, data analysis, or editing support.
Generative AI tools predict likely words and phrases based on patterns in existing data. They’re useful for summarizing common information, creating structure, and speeding up parts of the writing process. However, they don’t know your customers unless you give them real data. In short, they don’t have a point of view unless a human provides one. That's where prompts come in.
Note that AI is trained on what already exists across the web. So if you ask it to generate content on a topic that’s already been covered hundreds of times, it’s likely to produce something very similar.
A common issue we see is that when brands start using AI tools to generate content, they stop thinking about the purpose of the page. They create blog articles expecting them to drive sales, and end up stuffing products into informational content. In many cases, this leads to cannibalization of their actual collection or category pages.
A strong AI content strategy doesn’t start with writing. It starts with understanding what type of page to create, what kind of keyword to target, and what angle makes sense based on what is already ranking.
Keyword research and intent are critical here. You don’t want overlapping pages competing against each other on your own site. You want your pages to complement each other, with each one serving a clear role within the broader SEO strategy.
So, if you’re using AI tools to generate content, be conscious of this.
There are clear differences between AI-generated and human-written content. AI sometimes creates strange sentence structures and can sound flat and overly technical. That complexity is where most AI-generated content starts to fall short.
The best SEO content usually uses both. AI can help with the groundwork, but human input decides whether the final post is useful enough to rank, convert, and build trust.
Embedded Video Section
Watch: What Google Just Revealed About AI Content
In the video, we cover the recent Google discussions at Search Central Live, scaled content abuse, “discovered but not indexed” issues, and why you should treat every piece of content as an asset.
At the recent Toronto event, Google’s Search Relations team clarified how their systems now handle the AI explosion. Here are the core facts every creator needs to know:
As explained in the video review we did, Google’s position is not that using AI-generated content is automatically bad for SEO. The issue Google is focused on is something called scaled content abuse.
This isn’t new, but AI has made it easier than ever. Scaled content abuse happens when you create large amounts of content primarily to manipulate rankings, not to help users.
We’re seeing the same pattern over and over. For example, a Shopify brand has been publishing five decent blog posts a year, then plugs in an AI tool and publishes a bunch of generic articles with no research, no expert review, and no real brand insight. Suddenly:
Publishing 50-100 articles in a single day using the same AI prompt structure is bad for SEO. In addition to the above, there's site reputation abuse. This is using a high-authority site to host low-quality AI content (often called Parasite SEO) to trick the algorithm into thinking the content is more trustworthy than it is.
Google’s SpamBrain (their AI-based spam prevention system) is now highly tuned to catch these publication spikes.
So does that mean AI-generated content is good for SEO?
It can be, when it helps create high-quality content that serves users. AI-generated content is bad for SEO when it’s generic, mass-produced, inaccurate, or created without human oversight.
For years, content marketers treated SEO like a volume game. More articles equal more chances to rank, but in 2026, that approach is dying. Consider the following:
The Bottom Line: Use AI as your research assistant and editor, but never your author. If your content looks like everyone else's, Google has no reason to show it.
The biggest mistake we’re seeing right now is brands using AI as a shortcut. Instead of improving their content creation process, they’re using AI tools to generate content from scratch, with little strategy, weak oversight, and no real thinking behind it.
There are also several new marketing agencies that believe they can hack the system by targeting clients with mass-optimized/produced content. It's worth being very critical of the workflow of such agencies and of the founders' core values. Do they have any SEO experience, or do they want to make a lot of money as solopreneurs using AI?
In many cases, that mindset leads to the exact same workflow being repeated across dozens of brands. The agency opens an AI tool and types something like: “Act as an SEO expert and write a 1,000-word article about running shoes in our brand voice,” and they attach some product info or brand voice to give more context.
This is exactly what Google pushed back on at Search Central Live.
The output might look good, especially if you're not a skilled writer or in SEO, and it might even pass a quick internal review. However, that doesn’t mean it deserves to rank. It lacks real strategy, competitor analysis, original research, and first-hand examples. There's no reason for Google to put that content above stronger pages already in the search results.
As noted in our YouTube discussions, AI follows patterns. If 20 sites are using similar prompts, you end up with 20 nearly identical articles. And if you publish your article as the 21st one, ask yourself this: what value are you actually adding if there are 20 more articles like yours? None.
Over time, if you continue to publish these kinds of articles, your site becomes less and less relevant. The authority of your site gets diluted.
The danger with AI tools is how easy they make content creation feel. Before publishing any AI-written content, ask:
If the answer is no, don’t publish it.
When thousands of sites publish similar AI-generated articles, everything starts to look the same.
If the internet becomes flooded with AI-generated text that lacks depth, logic, accuracy, or original insight, search engines are naturally going to become stricter about what they index and rank. That’s why brands need to think carefully before publishing AI content at scale.
For serious e-commerce brands, this is also the opportunity.
At DTC SEO Agency, we're very intentional about our content creation process. We see every blog article as an asset. Our process is something we invest time and effort into, ensuring we create value. We don’t start with prompts or AI tools. We first look at what’s already ranking, what’s missing, and what a real user actually needs.
From there, we use AI tools to support the workflow and real human writers and editors to direct that flow in our intended, research-based direction. For instance, our skilled writers have started using tools like Wispr, a voice-to-text tool, during editing and brainstorming to capture ideas more naturally and improve flow. We ensure every page has clear intent, unique content, depth, and a strong reason to rank.
This is how you cut through the noise instead of contributing to it.
If you want to see how this works in practice, read our guide on SEO Blog Content for E-commerce in an AI-Driven Search Landscape and how top brands structure content that actually ranks.
And if you’re already publishing AI content and unsure whether it’s helping or hurting your SEO,
book a call with us. We’ll show you exactly where the gaps are and how to fix them.
Here’s what to consider when creating high-ranking articles that stand out in a sea of duplicate content.
Commodity content is the kind of article anyone could write. Examples:
These topics aren’t automatically bad. The issue is that most versions are basic rewrites of what’s already ranking. They usually include:
A real example of this can be seen in how some brands approach blog content for commercial topics.
Figure: Example of a blog post targeting a transactional keyword with heavy product placement and limited informational value.
The above blog post targeting “natural hair care for alopecia” looks relevant on the surface, but when you break it down, there are clear structural issues.
This is a common pattern we see with AI-assisted content. The structure looks complete, but the strategy behind it is missing. No AI-generated content can fix weak search intent alignment or poor content strategy. That’s why strong SEO content starts long before the writing phase.
Non-commodity content gives the reader something specific. For example, instead of “Top 10 things to consider when buying running shoes”, a stronger article might be, “Why this customer’s running shoe collapsed after 400 miles: a wear pattern analysis”.
That second article has a real angle. It uses experience, data, and a specific example. It gives Google and AI chatbots something they can’t easily find everywhere else. For e-commerce brands, non-commodity content could include:
With non-commodity articles, AI struggles with originality because it works from existing patterns. It can summarize what the web already says, help structure your thoughts, and it can even make rough writing cleaner. However, it can’t inspect your product returns, interview your customers, or explain what your team has learned from years in the market. That’s where human touch matters.
Lack of credibility and originality is also why most AI-generated content doesn’t get picked up by newer AI search platforms. This shift is what’s often referred to as Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
Instead of just ranking in search results, the goal is to get your content cited by AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. These systems select sources and favor original content that adds something new, shows real expertise, and is structured clearly enough to extract answers.
This is exactly what our AI search services are built for: helping brands create content that ranks and gets referenced across AI-driven search.
There are many AI content detector tools out there, and they obviously only work to some degree, so we recommend testing them. In our own tests, the same article produced completely different results across platforms.
Image: GPTZero result showing the article classified as human-written.
Image 1: QuillBot result of an AI detection scan on the site.
Image 2: A screenshot of Grammarly AI-detection results.
Image: Scribber AI detection result showing 20% likelihood of AI.
As noted above, one tool flagged the article as highly AI-generated, while another marked it as fully human-written, with scores ranging from 20% to 32% AI.
We also tested articles we know were written before AI existed, as well as content written entirely by humans. Both were incorrectly flagged as AI.
Important: These tools don’t agree with each other, and they don’t reflect how Google evaluates content.
Google isn’t trying to detect AI. It’s trying to assess whether content is useful, original, and worth ranking.
That said, there’s still a practical takeaway. If you’re working with an agency and your content is consistently flagged at very high levels, it’s worth questioning how that content is being produced. In most cases, the issue isn’t AI detection; it’s that the content lacks depth, originality, and real input.
As we covered earlier, Google doesn't say AI is bad for SEO. What they’re against is content created without purpose, originality, or value. That distinction is important because it means how you use AI is what matters.
This is the standard we follow when using AI for SEO.
AI tools are useful, but only in the right context. As highlighted in our YouTube discussion, automation is best used to support tasks, not to drive the core content. Use AI to speed up research, organize ideas, assist with outlines, and analyze patterns in search results.
But don’t use AI to define the angle, replace thinking, or generate final content without review.
Important: If AI is doing the thinking, the content will always be limited by what already exists.
If your current workflow relies heavily on AI-generated outputs, it’s worth reviewing how those pages are actually performing. That’s usually where the gap shows.
From the Google event and what we see across client sites, one thing is clear: content that ranks starts with understanding, not writing. Before we create content, we break down:
Most AI workflows fall apart because they skip this step. Instead, they generate content first and think later. That leads to pages that look complete, but don’t perform.
If you’re unsure whether your current content is built on real search intent or just surface-level targeting, contact us. This is something we can assess quickly.
That’s part of how we approach DTC SEO for e-commerce brands. The aim isn’t to publish more pages, but to build the right ones.
AI doesn’t guarantee accuracy. It can simplify complex topics incorrectly, introduce small errors, or create confident claims without evidence. That’s why human editing is required. Review every AI-assisted piece for:
Google’s direction is clear. They reward content that provides value, not just volume. As such, treat every page as an asset. That means:
A strong article can bring in organic traffic month after month. A strong collection page can target commercial keywords and directly support revenue. A strong product page can help users make a buying decision. Weak AI content does the opposite. It clutters the site, dilutes quality, weakens overall authority, and doesn't rank well.
That’s why our fully managed SEO services focus on long-term foundations, including technical SEO, content, authority, and strategy working together.
The winning formula is not AI vs human-written content. It’s AI plus human expertise. Use AI as an assistant, not the final decision-maker. Let it support research, structure, and speed, then let experienced humans shape the article into something useful, accurate, and worth ranking. That’s how AI-generated content becomes good for SEO.
Google does not penalize content just because AI was involved. The risk comes from low-quality, mass-produced content created mainly to manipulate search rankings. Most AI content doesn’t rank because it adds nothing new. It often lacks:
If your content feels similar to everything else online, Google has no reason to rank it.
AI content can sometimes be detected, but AI detection tools are not perfect. A better question is whether the content reads like generic or surface-level AI. If it lacks detail, has repetitive phrasing, or doesn’t show human input, users and editors will notice.
There is no fixed percentage. What matters is quality, intent, and human oversight. Using AI for research or structure is very different from publishing hundreds of automatically generated content pages with little review.
AI can support human writers, but it shouldn’t fully replace them for quality SEO content. Skilled human writers add judgment, research, tone, examples, and accountability.
Yes, but use it carefully, as high-quality content for SEO should be valuable and original. AI works best for research, outlines, briefs, first drafts, and editing support. The final content should still include human expertise and a clear reason to rank.
AI can weaken E-E-A-T if the content lacks expert input or real-world experience. It can also support E-E-A-T if a knowledgeable human uses AI to organize original research and communicate it clearly.
If you're using AI to generate content, start with better research. Add specific examples, first-party data, expert opinions, product experience, and human-written content and editing. Also, use the right prompts. Remove vague sections, verify every claim, and ensure the post solves a real user problem.
AI content isn’t inherently good or bad for SEO. Bad AI-generated content is the problem.
If you’re using AI to mass-produce generic articles with no research, no human editing, and no original value, you’re taking a real risk. That kind of content can fail to rank, fail to index, and potentially fall into scaled content abuse territory. It’s bad for SEO.
But if you use AI as a tool, it can help your team work faster and create better, high-ranking pages. Now, that type of AI content is good for SEO.
At DTC SEO Agency, we believe every piece of content should be an asset. If you want to use AI without risking your rankings, brand authority, or long-term organic traffic, work with experts who understand both SEO and how search is changing.
AI content isn’t inherently good or bad for SEO. Bad AI-generated content is the problem.
If you’re using AI to mass-produce generic articles with no research, no human editing, and no original value, you’re taking a real risk. That kind of content can fail to rank, fail to index, and potentially fall into scaled content abuse territory. It’s bad for SEO.
But if you use AI as a tool, it can help your team work faster and create better, high-ranking pages. Now, that type of AI content is good for SEO.
At DTC SEO Agency, we believe every piece of content should be an asset. If you want to use AI without risking your rankings, brand authority, or long-term organic traffic, work with experts who understand both SEO and how search is changing.
