Google Says AI-Generated Images Will Not Cause Ranking Penalty

Recently, Gary Illyes from Google talked about whether AI-generated images can affect website rankings. Many people were curious about this, especially since Google updated its rules about AI content not long ago.

Does Google Penalize for AI-Generated Images?

During a question and answer session, Gary explained how Google views AI-generated images on websites. He was asked if a website with good text but with all AI-generated images would face penalties. This question is important because not long ago, Google seemed to lower the rankings of low-quality AI content.

Gary Illyes clearly stated that AI-generated images will not lead to penalties. He emphasized that it does not have a direct impact on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Here’s what he said:

“No, no. So AI-generated image doesn’t impact the SEO. Not direct. So obviously when you put images on your site, you will have to sacrifice some resources to those images… But otherwise you are not going to, I don’t think that you’re going to see any negative impact from that. If anything, you might get some traffic out of image search or video search or whatever, but otherwise it should just be fine.”

This means that using AI images can be fine and may even help bring more visitors to your site.

The Importance of Authenticity

While Gary did not talk about authenticity, it’s a good topic to think about when using AI-generated content. Authenticity matters a lot to users. For instance, when people buy products online, they want to see images that truly represent what they are buying. Pictures of food should also look like the actual dishes after cooking.

Google often says that content should be created with users in mind. Good content connects with users and meets their expectations. So, even though AI-generated images won’t hurt your site’s ranking, it’s still important to think about how real and trustworthy your content feels to visitors.

Conclusion

In summary, Gary Illyes assured everyone that using AI-generated images will not negatively impact your website’s SEO. If you choose to use AI-generated images, consider how they might look to your audience. Authenticity and user experience are always important when creating content.