Zentury Spotlight – Is Google Ranking AI-Generated Content Over Human Content? 

Is Google Ranking AI-Generated Content Over Human Content?

According to a recent report from 404media.co “Google News is boosting sites that rip-off other outlets by using AI to rapidly churn out content, potentially favoring AI content over human content.”

Although Danny Sullivan, Google’s SearchLiaison, responded to the issue in an official capacity, his response falls short of providing a comprehensive explanation for why certain domains rank higher in the news than others.

So, to answer the question of whether Google is boosting AI-generated content over human content:

No, according to Google SearchLiaison on X, Google is not doing anything to manually push certain pieces of content to the top of search results.

Instead, the Google algorithm determines which content should show up first in search results based on a set of ranking factors.

Here are some arguments for why AI generated content, content aggregators, content thieves, duplicate content, and syndicated content outrank human content and original news sources, using some instances from the 404 Media study.

The recentness of news information when ordered by date is one of the initial justifications provided by Google SearchLiaison for AI-generated content ranking higher than human content written by other publishers.

Google Search Advocate John Mueller previously mentioned that syndicated information might rank higher on websites than original news sources due to the content around it, even though this has nothing to do with AI-generated content.

Websites that republish your news stories may effectively rank higher than you because they include context related to the user’s search query in their header, sidebar, footer, and surrounding articles.

Google Explains How To Trigger A Complete Re-Indexing

Google released a video that explains how to trigger an automated website re-index. The response to the query assumed that the context involved a significant alteration to the entire page, requiring a thorough scan in order to update Google’s index more quickly.

The person asking the question was trying to find out whether there was a method to start a site-wide crawl. To which Mueller answered that regretfully, at this time, it is not possible to initiate a comprehensive website recrawl and reprocessing all at once. In most cases, search engines will automatically update listings when you make significant changes to your website. There isn’t anything else you need to accomplish.

There are several topics that Mueller covered in the latest video, and here are some:

• To ensure that search engines find the new pages, use 301 response codes to inform them that a webpage has relocated.

• To inform search engines that a page is no longer available, use 404 server response codes.

• Linking to essential pages from significant pages is a smart move since Google prioritizes indexing vital pages, such as the main page, on websites.

• The most crucial sections of a website should preferably announce significant updates, such new phone numbers (and most likely street addresses).

Naturally, when a webpage’s URL changes, a 301 redirect must be included. When a page is permanently relocated to a new URL, search engines are alerted by the server response, which prompts them to look for the new webpage to index.

With the exception of a brief transition period during which the index replaces the old URL with the new one, rankings should not be impacted if the webpage is exactly the same and just the URL has changed.

Google Ends Appen Agreement For Search Quality Raters

Appen recently revealed that it has received notification from Google LLC to terminate its worldwide inbound services contract, dated January 20, 2024. By March 19, 2024, Appen’s services to Google will come to an end.

Recent job advertisements from the firm mention that it is a source of search engine evaluators (quality raters) for Google. It is possible that the job postings were published prior to Google informing Appen of its intention to terminate services.

What the Appen contract cancelation means for the Search Quality Rater initiative is unknown. In November 2023, Google made changes to its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Appen’s stock has dropped to an all-time low as a result of the announcement.

The news from Appen follows Google’s revelation of layoffs in many divisions, with more to come, as per CEO Sundar Pichai. The endeavor aims to assist the business in achieving its development objectives for artificial intelligence.

Workers’ frustration over a second year of January layoffs has prompted them to attack Google’s leadership on social media, branding the executives as “boring” and without drive.

According to the article, Google has not launched any successful executive-driven ventures in recent years and has a history of giving up on projects that don’t attract large numbers of users right away.

The engineer observes that management are implementing extensive layoffs across all departments while obliquely pointing towards artificial intelligence (AI).

Employees now work under a culture of dread and nihilism, feeling demotivated and unsure about their futures at the organization.

Meta Unveils Tools to Combat Brand IP Infringement

To assist firms in safeguarding their intellectual property and preventing illegal usage, Meta has introduced additional tools and services.

This features a new Intellectual Property Reporting Center where brands can file complaints and an enhanced Brand Rights Protection suite to detect and take action against illegal material.

The recently upgraded Brand Rights Protection service gives trademark owners more options to keep an eye on and address trademark infringement. Better features like stored searches, enhanced reference library, and more advanced matching algorithms make it easier for businesses to spot and report infringements and impersonations.

Stressing the individualized aspect of the new capabilities, Meta said, “Saved searches are unique to each user and do not sync across everyone with access to a business account.”

Cross-surface searching, which enables simultaneous searches across several platform areas including ads, commerce, accounts, and posts, is a significant new feature. This greatly streamlines the process by doing away with the need to continually enter search phrases.

Meta introduced several new tools, such as the intellectual property reporting center, rights manager that empowers image protection, and new resources for business protection. 

Notable features include improved picture rights protection, easier reporting procedures, improved search and detection capabilities, and new online tools to help with brand protection tactics.

Brands now have more powerful alternatives to protect their copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property assets across Facebook, Instagram, and Meta’s advertising services—even though vigilance is still necessary.