Google updated its guidance on AI-generated website content on October 1. Its current advice includes checking accuracy before publishing, including page titles, search descriptions, and image descriptions that can be easy to overlook. This is updated documentation, not an announcement of a new blanket penalty for using AI. Google’s update.
For us, that connects to a practical question: does the page accurately explain your business and help the customer?
Whether it’s a social media post or a website page, we sometimes see writing with very little personality. Strings of emojis, constant use of em dashes, and graphics that look like the same generic template can make businesses feel interchangeable. Those choices don’t prove something was made with AI, but they can distract from what makes your business different.
Our advice is to write as though you’re speaking to one person in real life. Use plain English and make it easy for that person to understand.
Start with what the customer needs
We’ve seen businesses write from their own perspective: what they want to promote, what they want to achieve, and how they want to describe themselves. That doesn’t always connect with the customer.
Can you help with their problem? Do you serve their area? What does the service include? How do they get started?
An informational page should help someone understand the subject. A page leading to an inquiry or purchase should give them enough information to take that step. Ultimately, the customer decides what has value.
Read the draft aloud. Would you say those words to someone sitting across from you? Keep the explanations and examples that come from your experience, and simplify anything that gets in the way.
Check what the page promises
AI can help prepare a draft, but someone who knows the business needs to review every factual claim.
For example, imagine a window-screen repair business receives a draft that says:
“We offer same-day window-screen repairs throughout Cape May County.”
That sounds clear. But what if the business serves only the southern part of Cape May County and needs to review each job before confirming a turnaround time?
A more accurate version might say:
“Have a torn window screen? Serving Cape May, the Wildwoods, Lower Township and Middle Township. Contact us with the approximate size and we’ll confirm whether we serve your area and discuss the repair and timing.”
This is a hypothetical example, but it shows why reviewing the wording matters. A polished sentence can promise something the business doesn’t offer.
Check your hours, services, offerings, service area, and contact information. Pay particular attention to prices, availability, and turnaround times. Make sure the page describes what you can actually deliver.
Review more than the main text
Google’s guidance calls for manual accuracy checks of AI-generated content. That review also applies to supporting information, including page titles, search descriptions, and the alternative text describing images.
Those details need to agree with the page. If you remove “same-day service” from the main text, make sure it hasn’t been left in the title or search description.
Give the images the same attention. Do they help explain your business? Do they accurately represent the work, products, or experience customers can expect?
Make sure you can follow through
For us, reviewing a page also means checking what happens when a customer responds.
Look at the finished page on your phone. Is the information easy to find? Do the phone number, email address, buttons, and contact form work? If the page asks someone to send a photo, can they do that through the contact method you provide?
Most of us have called or emailed a business and waited days for an answer. By then, we may have moved on and looked elsewhere.
Make sure someone is responsible for checking inquiries and responding. If the page promises a response time, it needs to be one you can meet.
Having the fundamentals in place matters. Following through when someone contacts you matters just as much.
If you’d like help reviewing your website’s content and customer experience, tell us what you want the site to accomplish.
For more on AI writing, we did a post on how its impacting LinkedIn here.
