AI Content Detection is a Farce but Businesses Still Panic

Got a voice note last night from my mate. He’d been having a pint, talking SEO, when his mate, who runs a small plumbing business, dropped a classic:

“I got an email from an SEO company saying all my blog posts are AI-written and Google’s going to penalise me. Should I be worried?”

Where do I even start?

This is the latest scare tactic, and I knew exactly what had happened. Some random agency had shoved his site into one of those AI content detectors and fired off a templated email about how his rankings were at risk. Right before offering to humanise his content for a fee. It’s nonsense!

Google Doesn’t Care if Your Content is AI-Generated

The idea that Google is running around penalising AI-generated content is a myth. What it does penalise is bad content. If AI-written content is generic fluff with no real value, then it won’t rank. But the same applies to bad human-written content. Google’s advice has always been “Rewarding high-quality content, however it is produced”.

I’ve seen completely human-written articles flagged as AI and AI-generated content marked as human. These tools don’t work. Even OpenAI scrapped its own AI detection tool because it was unreliable.

So, I told my mate to pass this message back to his plumber friend.

“If your content is helping customers and answering their questions, you’re fine. If it’s just AI waffle with no value, it wouldn’t rank well anyway. That SEO company is trying to scare you into handing over cash, ignore it.”

The SEO Fear Tactics Never End

This kind of SEO scare email has been around forever. Years ago, it was backlinks are toxic and Google is about to penalise you. Then it was your site has technical errors that will kill your rankings. Now it’s AI-generated content.

It’s always the same formula

• Find something the average business owner doesn’t understand
• Make it sound urgent
• Sell a magic fix that isn’t needed

It works because business owners don’t have the time to fact-check every SEO claim. But here’s the reality, Google ranks what is useful, regardless of whether it’s AI-written or not.

Should Businesses Avoid AI Content

No, but they should use it properly. AI-generated content needs editing, fact-checking, and real-world experience added in. If it reads like ChatGPT spat it out in ten seconds, it won’t perform well. If it’s been properly refined and actually helps users, it can rank just fine.

So, the takeaway for my mate’s plumber friend, ignore the email, focus on serving your customers, and don’t fall for SEO panic emails.

As for the SEO industry, if we spent less time arguing about AI content detection and more time making content better, we’d all be better off.