Mass AI-Content Websites Being De-Indexed
It's always been a bad idea to use AI to mass produce your posts. Now the pain for doing so is starting.
Mass AI-content websites aren't being penalized - they are being completely de-indexed from Google. And Google is coming down hard.
Here's an example: FreshersLive had 10M visitors last week, and today it's completely de-indexed with 0 traffic from Google.
So, if you're proud that you've been producing hundreds of thousands of words each month using AI or posting 5-10 articles a week (day?) that you've barely reviewed much less seriously updated from whatever AI gave you, time to be on the lookout for your SERP results.
And it ain't over yet. May 1st will be another critical date.
Kudos to Kyle for including taking the time to review your AI results and making them yours before publishing as part of the training process. That's the right way to do it.
Recent Comments
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I actually looked at that website. No wonder they got de indexed. The site is non nonsensical, has no cohesiveness, and is obviously put together with no foresight.
However, in our cases I think using AI writer with even just a few edits will not necessarily get de indexed so long as the content we publish makes sense.
No, you need more than just a few edits. You need to make it your own. Just use AI for research. If it shows as having AI patterns in the writing, you can easily be removed from an affiliate program because your copy adds no value to the sales process; it's just something which anyone could get with a query.
Like @ChrisTowers, I have used AI to assist in the speed content production, but always (well, nearly always) vetted and adapted to ensure my voice was present in all content published.
Ahead of the update, I even took down pages that I felt were of poor quality.
My site, still way below where it used to be in terms of traffic since the last google update, has just taken another hammering.
It's disheartening.
However things are going very well in other areas of life, so while I'm disappointed, it's not concerning me too much.
It does however, make me question whether affiliate marketing through blogging has had its day and whether google are simply going to forcibly close the book on it.
While I don't think that the power of a real person's story and perspective can ever be replaced by AI, I do wonder whether we all have to make a choice: tell your story without any affiliate links (at least on your website) or face being delisted from the search engines?
I currently earn so little from my site that I may as well go through and remove all affiliate links to see if the rankings improve.
But that would take time that really could be better spent elsewhere.
I think I know where this is going!
Wishing you all a very healthy, happy weekend.
Matt
I wouldn't remove your affiliate links, I have seen a seminar and a blog saying that for the last months (with thousands of clients), there didn't seem to be a huge correlation between sites with affiliate links and dropping traffic, but there seems to be a correlation between drops and things like video-adds and too much pop ups and such. I'd say to save yourself all that work, at least at the moment, and wait out the coming months.
To be honest my stats (impressions/visitors) have taken a hammering.. but to be fair I have not done anything wrong (that I know of)...
Yes I have made use of the AI.. but lots of adding my own touch throughout all of my content... so it is by far Out Of The Box.. AI..
Maybe this hammering is temporary until things settle down?
What do you think?
On saying that I am talking about a new site which i only started 3 months ago.. but ok.. it has over 40 posts now... but still early days
Any thoughts anyone? Can this be a temporary setback? I hope so!
Google is trying to figure everything out, so things will be insane for a while. Yeah, my traffic has taken a pounding too, but I'm confident it will come back. In the meantime I'm just going to keep following best practices, as taught by WA, and in the end that will win. I've been in this business for over 25 years now, and best practices - writing informative content to help your reader - has always been rewarded.
Yes I understand what you are saying.. completely..
In my opinion though, helpful content is something that helps someone, and not all people find the same content helpful.
Look at the instructions for Google Adsense for example when you have an issue.. the rules and information they put in place are far from helpful... to someone like me anyway.. (absolutely confusing and irritating), where to others it will seem straightforward.
It is subjective don't you think?
But anyway.. we will see what happens! :)
Thanks for getting back to me Jeannine!
Chris
To be fair, everyone will get hit as most people will. Today I was reading a comment by a WA member who has had a 6 figure income business for years and years. He doesn't use AI at all. Google has loved his sites for years and now he has lost ninety percent of his traffic. I have no doubt Google will come down hard, but there is no reliable test for AI content.
Sadly there are always casualties when Google tries something like this. I've seen it happen before with previous Google dances. I'm sorry that it's happened to your friend.
I wouldn't go so far as saying there's no reliable test for AI content; if someone is likely to have something I would say Google is most likely to be that someone. At minimum, there are patterns to AI generated content, which can indeed be recognized, especially if it's been untouched from creation to posting. If in doubt about AI origins, Google will punish, no doubt about that.
At least you know that if your site isn't 100% AI, you have a better chance to survive than a site which is an MFA site.
Absolutely, if you can avoid the patterns which are pretty obvious anyway. Then it should be okay. As we both agree there are always casualties
Hello Jeannine,
Thank you for the very interesting post regarding AI.
It's interesting as just a few hours ago, I was commenting to another member who was complaining about all the AI posts and all the content that suddenly appeared on the web. I did mention that I thought there would probably be a payback time, I'm pleased to hear this, and I mean that in a positive way!
No one in their right mind wants to listen to AI drivel; it almost appears to me that people are starting to use AI lingo in their normal vocabulary; it is just awful.
Do we really gain anything through AI posts if everyone is having to pump out hundreds of posts to be found? Surely, we are better off just writing real quality and meaningful posts and fewer of them!
Thank you for sharing this valuable information, Jeannine.
All the best.
Roy
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Yes, Jeannine, I saw that. I watched several YouTubers who mentioned that they used AutoBlogging for their AI 100 sites; they lost most of it because it was mass-produced with that AI software. I knew that when the next update came around, Google would destroy it.
They have not yet removed Reddit's spammy stuff, which is still in the SERPs. I found that ironic. You are right. It isn't over yet. Chipperbirds from Julian Goldie is gone, too. Even hit his main SEO website as well.
Yes, May is another update. There is so much garbage with "parasite SEO," yet Google hasn't gotten to them yet. This core update will take a month to process, other updates a few weeks.
I don't do any of those straight AI posts. I constantly edit the AI Author and write my own experiences and expertise. I prove it with screenshots. Now Im trying to use video to prove it even more.
I struggle with doing videos, which is time-consuming for me. Thanks for sharing this. I appreciate it. I hope that Google comes down hard on Reddit spammy stuff that's still there and ranking above my helpful content; it's ridiculous.
I totally agree with you, Brenda!
Jeff
Google has some deal in place with Reddit, so we'll have to see where that shakes out. But the internet is definitely better without that crummy content!
Good for you to write your own posts! May the Google Gods smile favorably upon you!
Thank you Brenda. Great info.
Bux
Eventually the cream will always rise to the top, that is not a cliche but physics
There are always more questions than answers
Keep those posts coming.
Bux