AI Generated Content – Good or Bad? Answer: Yes and No!

There’s been a lot of noise lately about AI-written content, hasn’t there? Everyone seems to be trying it, testing it, or quietly sneaking it onto their website. And now a big new study of 600,000 webpages by the marketing platform Ahrefs has shown something interesting… there’s no SEO penalty for using AI content, so long as it meets Google’s quality standards.

In fact, Ahrefs discovered that 86% of top-ranking pages are now using at least some AI-generated content.

Sounds like a green light to hand it all over to the machines, doesn’t it? Well, not quite.

The real question to ask yourself

Instead of worrying about whether Google will penalise AI, it’s worth asking: how good is your content, really?

If you’re using AI to churn out content, can you honestly say your article, blog post, or product page is the very best source on the subject? Because here’s the thing, everybody has access to the same AI tools, and these AI tools all have access to teh same pool of information and data, so if your content looks and sounds the same as the next business, it won’t stand out for long.

And while Google might not slap you with a penalty today, over time your rankings can start to slip. Bit by bit, your once-decent traffic can dwindle away until your content isn’t worth the page it sits on.

Where AI helps ... and where it falls flat

Don’t get me wrong, AI has its place. It’s handy for sparking ideas, beating the blank page, and organising thoughts. But that’s about where its magic ends. AI can’t bring warmth, personality, or the little turns of phrase that make readers nod, laugh, or keep scrolling.

That’s where a human writer makes all the difference. A real person can understand your audience, capture your voice, and craft something that feels alive ... not flat, robotic, or just "fine".

Our approach at Yorkshire Writers

Here at Yorkshire Writers, we don’t ignore AI, but we certainly don’t worship it either, ad we would never get it to write either our content or our clients content, it just isn't good enough.

But we love the writing, we lov ethe planning, shaping, editing, and adding the spark that only comes from a human touch.

Because your business doesn’t just need words on a page; it needs words that work, words that engage, words that satisfy, words that bring in business!. Words that make people listen, remember, and take action.

So if you’d like content that sounds like you (not like a machine), give us a shout. We’d be happy to help.