Over the previous few years, I’ve watched AI content material creation instruments quickly achieve adoption throughout the Search engine optimization/GEO trade. These instruments supply the promise of leveraging AI to automate content material creation, cut back headcount, lower prices, and scale output.
As somebody who has spent the final decade serving to corporations recuperate from Google algorithm updates, my spidey senses began tingling the minute I heard the pitches for a lot of of those instruments. Even before AI was a part of the dialog, Google already had a long history of decreasing the visibility of automated content material in its search outcomes.
Regardless of latest developments in the high quality of AI outputs, I’ve remained skeptical that publishing AI-generated or AI-assisted content at scale can drive sustained efficiency in Google’s search outcomes. This is very true now, given how Google updated its ranking systems in recent years particularly to demote overly optimized, Search engine optimization-driven content material.
Over the previous a number of months, I’ve been monitoring greater than 220 web sites that had been publicly recognized, both by themselves or by their AI content material distributors, as prospects of varied AI content material creation, automation, and scaling platforms. These instruments absolutely write articles, help with writing them, or use AI automations and workflows to assist content material creation. Many of those instruments additionally now focus on driving visibility, mentions, and citations in AI search responses (AEO/GEO).
I needed to analyze what occurs after the claims of massive wins.
A constant sample emerged throughout the 220+ websites I’ve been monitoring, and I consider it is regarding sufficient to be value writing about: it really works, till it doesn’t.
Under, I’ll share a few of the tendencies I’m observing, plus quite a lot of widespread Search engine optimization/GEO approaches I consider could also be inflicting declines in natural search (and consequently, AI search) visibility. As a reminder, what is harmful for Search engine optimization may also be harmful for AI search, largely due to RAG.
Methodology & Disclaimers
Earlier than we dive in, it’s vital to set the stage with my strategy and supply some vital disclaimers.
This evaluation is primarily based on third-party Search engine optimization measurement knowledge: natural site visitors estimates and natural web page depend time sequence knowledge from Ahrefs, corroborated towards the Sistrix Visibility Index knowledge to affirm broader visibility patterns. Prime-traffic URLs had been recognized utilizing Ahrefs’ top-pages export. The place I describe URL patterns or share adjustments, I’m quoting immediately from these third-party instruments as of Might 2026.
The dataset covers greater than 220 consumer domains tracked throughout the publicly printed customer-stories pages of over a dozen AI content material platforms. For a lot of of those websites, I narrowed the evaluation to a particular subfolder the place the AI-assisted content material had been printed, both recognized immediately in the case research itself or inferred from a pointy improve in new pages round the time of the case research’s publication.
The evaluation, conclusions, and suggestions all through this piece mirror my very own skilled opinions primarily based on greater than a decade of serving to corporations recuperate from Google algorithm updates. Different Search engine optimization/GEO practitioners might disagree with my findings and approaches, and particular person websites and methods will all the time have their very own context.
3 Vital Disclaimers About This Knowledge:
First, these are third-party estimates, not first-party analytics. They are well-validated instruments in the Search engine optimization trade, however they are not good measurements of natural search efficiency.
Second, the site visitors declines described right here might mirror many components, together with however not restricted to algorithmic changes by Google, on-site adjustments by the web site operators themselves, off-site aggressive dynamics, model adjustments, acquisitions, seasonality, and adjustments to inner web site structure. I’m not asserting that any AI content material device immediately prompted any site visitors end result described on this piece. I’m describing a correlation noticed throughout many listed websites that share related content material patterns and natural site visitors trajectories.
Third, distributors and particular domains are intentionally not named right here. The sample is the story, not the particular actors. Any resemblance to a selected firm, vendor, or case research is incidental to the broader sample described.
What The Knowledge Exhibits: Speedy Progress Earlier than A Steep Decline
If there is one factor the knowledge makes clear, it is this: scaling content material manufacturing with AI is not a low-risk technique for natural search. It might probably produce actual short-term beneficial properties in each Search engine optimization and AI search (LLMs use search engines), however throughout this dataset, these beneficial properties have not often held. In lots of circumstances, the eventual loss has exceeded the preliminary peak.
Throughout the group of 220+ websites and subfolders I analyzed:
- 54% misplaced 30% or extra of their peak natural site visitors.
- 39% misplaced 50% or extra.
- 22% misplaced 75% or extra.
Inside these declines, a recurring trajectory seems: a fast development in natural pages over six to 12 months; an natural site visitors peak inside roughly three to six months of the content material peak; after which a steep decline in site visitors that erases most of the achieve (and steadily drops beneath the prior baseline) inside the following 12 months.
Most of those site visitors drops befell after the case research had been printed (which additionally makes me wonder if the case research themselves may very well be contributing to the declines). In the instance beneath, the case research was printed in January 2025, indicated by the the black star beneath:
I’m additionally repeatedly monitoring adjustments to natural web page development and natural site visitors to these websites and subfolders over time. Taking a look at the up to date knowledge, a considerable variety of these manufacturers seem to have considerably lowered their content material footprints in 2025 and 2026, typically eradicating, redirecting, or 410’ing lots of the identical pages featured as success tales in printed case research. This might clarify the latest drop in pages (yellow line) proven in the above screenshot (and doubtlessly, the corresponding improve in natural search site visitors).
In lots of circumstances, these case research stay printed to at the present time, however the pages they reference do not.
The Acquainted Rank & Tank Playbook
When a web site begins seeing site visitors drops due to sitewide content material high quality points, it’s not often a mild decline. As Glenn Gabe refers to it, a greater label could be “Mount AI”: steep development, adopted by a equally formed drop-off in natural site visitors, as soon as Google’s programs have gathered enough signals to identify what is going on.
Under are a number of examples of case research websites that used AI to scale content material creation and noticed large drops in natural site visitors after their case research had been printed:
This sample is constant throughout industries, together with cybersecurity, journey, advertising, SaaS, healthcare, B2B companies, crypto, and client items, and it exhibits up throughout distributors.
The form of the line in the chart is related to trajectories we have now seen amongst many websites affected by Google’s algorithm updates in recent times. It is the identical boom-bust cycle the Search engine optimization trade has watched repeatedly in several varieties, accelerated this time by the velocity at which AI instruments have enabled web site house owners to scale content material.
The Search engine optimization Trade Simply Went By means of This
What is exhausting to overstate is simply how lately the Search engine optimization trade watched a near-identical cycle play out. Many SEOs and web site house owners are nonetheless licking their wounds from a brutal spherical of Google updates and new spam insurance policies that obliterated many websites’ site visitors a number of years again.
In September 2023, Google launched the Helpful Content Update, the most aggressive crackdown it had achieved in years towards content material that, according to its announcement, “feels prefer it was created for engines like google as a substitute of individuals.”
Roughly six months later, in March 2024, it adopted up with the longest core replace in Google’s historical past, which Google states was designed to “reduce unhelpful, unoriginal content in search results by 45%.” Throughout two consecutive replace cycles, Google’s said goal was the identical factor: content material produced at scale, no matter whether or not the manufacturing methodology was human, AI, or a mixture of each.
Alongside the March 2024 replace, Google formalized a brand new spam coverage referred to as “Scaled Content Abuse,” explicitly naming the apply it was working to suppress: producing many pages to manipulate search rankings, no matter authorship.
The Search engine optimization trade is nonetheless working via the collateral injury from these updates, together with important losses for a lot of small publishers, a few of whom had been publishing authentic, human-written content material however used extreme Search engine optimization frameworks that the updates seemingly flagged. The casualty record additionally included some publishers who had partnered with advert networks and different rising instruments providing AI content material creation and scaling as a service.
Many sites affected by the HCU haven’t recovered to this day, regardless of their huge efforts. I spent important time in 2024 working and talking with many web site house owners making an attempt to dig themselves out of that gap.
Having spent a whole bunch of hours analyzing and presenting about these two main updates, I can say that the content material I’m seeing printed with many of those new AI instruments typically seems to be and feels rather a lot like the actual sort of content material that was wiped off the map with these 2023 and 2024 Google updates.
8 Recurring Content material Patterns That Are Dangerous For Search engine optimization And AI Search
So, what forms of content material am I seeing printed by corporations utilizing AI instruments to construct articles that I consider are finally dangerous for Search engine optimization? I consider the reply lies in web page templates that intention to affect Search engine optimization rankings, AI search responses, and/or citations in AI search, however are highly formulaic and easily repeatable by competitors.
What begins as a real strategy to strive to construct useful content material (and rating a point out/quotation) finally ends up being an simply detectable footprint by Google when sufficient websites are publishing related pages, and the index turns into flooded with tens or a whole bunch of 1000’s of those related pages, which is simpler than ever to do utilizing AI.
This is precisely what Google means when it talks about writing for engines like google, not people.
Reviewing top-traffic URLs throughout the declining domains, eight distinct content material templates seem repeatedly. Most websites seeing declines in the evaluation use some mixture of not less than three or 4. Essentially the most aggressive ones use all eight. Usually, affected websites even have a whole bunch or 1000’s of those articles, which amplifies the downside and usually leads to steeper site visitors losses.
1. Comparability Pages At Scale
Sample: /weblog/[product-A]-vs-[product-B] printed at scale throughout most cheap head-to-head matchups in a class. Noticed throughout the dataset for product-vs-product pairings, framework-vs-framework pairings, and, in not less than one case, concept-vs-concept pairings unrelated to the writer’s precise enterprise.
2. The “What Is X” Glossary
Single-term, single-question pages designed to be cited by AI engines. Sample: /assets/what-is-[term] or /glossary/[term]. Noticed throughout the dataset, together with programmatic glossaries scaled throughout a number of languages from a single supply template. Scaling translations with AI and with out human evaluate may steadily lead to sitewide content material high quality points.
3. The “Finest [X] For [Y]” Listicle
Essentially the most acquainted AI-content template, with origins in the affiliate-content period. This sample was noticed throughout the dataset in each broad-category and narrow-niche variants.
4. The Self-Promotional Listicle
A variant of No. 3 wherein the writer is itself a competitor in the class being ranked, and steadily lists itself as the No. 1 finest amongst opponents. These pages typically lack actual proof that the firm genuinely examined all of the opponents in the record, which is recommended by Google for review pages.
I wrote about this “listicle” page template causing SEO/GEO issues in February 2026, when I discovered that many corporations publishing dozens, a whole bunch, and even 1000’s of self-promotional listicles noticed excessive site visitors drops starting on the identical day (roughly Jan. 21, 2026). This sample was noticed throughout a number of websites in the dataset, most aggressively in B2B companies.
5. The Competitor-Vs-Alternate options Web page
Sample: /weblog/[competitor-brand]-alternatives, or, in the extra programmatic kind, devoted touchdown pages constructed for each named competitor in a class. This strategy was noticed extensively throughout the dataset, together with one case the place the majority of a web site’s high site visitors pages had been devoted to particular person competitor model names.
6. Programmatic Location And Language Scaling
This is certainly one of the oldest tips in the Search engine optimization guide, and one which I’ve seen websites get in bother for with algorithm updates for not less than 10 years. The strategy: Use one template multiplied throughout each geography or language a search engine will index, with little or no distinctive content material per native touchdown web page.
In lots of circumstances, the firm publishing these pages typically does not have actual brick-and-mortar places in every of the neighborhood/metropolis/state pages they are focusing on.
This web page sort was noticed throughout the dataset together with state-by-state content material, country-by-country service pages, and the multilingual programmatic glossaries described above.
7. The FAQ Farm
Every web page solutions precisely one query. Sample: /faq/[full-question]. Designed for extraction by AI engines: a transparent query in the URL, the reply in the first paragraph, bullet factors in the physique, schema markup at the backside.
The issue? This strategy creates numerous low-quality content material and baggage for the web site when carried out at scale. Scaling FAQs was additionally noticed extensively throughout the dataset, together with in industries the place the templated tone was a noticeable mismatch with the writer’s model context.
Right here is a screenshot of my March 2024 Amsive article advising against the same exact thing:
It’s additionally value noting that simply final week, Google introduced it was deprecating FAQ Wealthy Outcomes, which I believe might have something to do with this new influx of FAQ schema geared toward making an attempt to earn citations and mentions in AI search.
8. Off-Subject Content material Printed At Scale
Publishing off-topic content material, with no obvious connection to the writer’s precise enterprise, at excessive volumes, is certainly one of the quickest methods to get in bother with search engine algorithms. This was additionally an enormous downside throughout the Useful Content material Replace and March 2024 Core Updates, when many websites had been experimenting with publishing off-topic content material, like humorous quotes, jokes, child names, horoscopes, and different high-volume articles that weren’t really topically related for the writer.
This methodology was used throughout a number of websites in the dataset, together with items on leisure subjects on a companies platform, lists of names and jokes, social-media memes on B2B web sites, and historic or biographical content material on business-focused websites.
The Late January 2026 Unconfirmed Google Replace
A secondary sample seems in the knowledge round late January 2026: a wave of sites with explicitly GEO-optimized, self-promotional listicles, plus different dangerous Search engine optimization/GEO approaches, noticed natural site visitors declines between 40% and 95% over the January-April 2026 window.
Google did not announce or affirm an replace by title in January 2026, however not less than 40 websites I recognized noticed a damaging development starting round Jan. 20, 2026. In lots of circumstances, the impression was remoted to the firm’s weblog or different subfolder containing numerous new Search engine optimization-driven content material. My evaluation discovered that a few of these corporations had been scaling dozens, a whole bunch, and even 1000’s of those self-promoting listicles, wherein they named their very own firm the No. 1 finest when put next to opponents.
I think this adjustment on Google’s finish was simply the begin of Google (and certain the LLM suppliers constructing on high of search) starting to demote one of these content material in search outcomes, and it seems that the impression was larger than simply the listicles themselves. For affected websites, the complete weblog or subfolder containing these articles typically additionally noticed declines. In different circumstances, the impression was carried over throughout the full area.
How To Use AI Content material Instruments Safely
I do consider there is a manner to use AI content material instruments safely, and a manner for these instruments to assist the creation of high-quality content material. The instruments themselves are not the downside, however the implementation might be. I consider these instruments needs to be used and overseen by skilled Search engine optimization professionals who perceive the panorama of content material approaches that Google has grown extraordinarily refined at penalizing and demoting over the previous 10+ years. The issue typically stems from a “set it and overlook it” strategy, or when the purpose is to scale as many pages as shortly as doable with out human evaluate.
Utilizing AI content material instruments for analysis, group, content material briefs, pulling in proprietary firm knowledge and insights, and extra might be invaluable for rushing up the content material creation course of. However when articles are merely printed “for Search engine optimization/GEO” with out consideration of the dangers concerned with search engine rating programs, the well-intentioned content material can really backfire for each Search engine optimization and AI search.
To carry out nicely, I like to recommend that any AI-assisted content material ought to nonetheless show E-E-A-T, add authentic or distinctive information above and past what is supplied by competing pages (information gain), and contemplate being clear about the use of AI to create the content material (which is really useful by Google).
The Backside Line
If there is one takeaway from monitoring these 220+ websites over the previous a number of months, it’s that the playbooks being offered as “AI-first Search engine optimization” or “GEO-optimized content material at scale” look remarkably related to the playbooks that acquired websites flattened by the Useful Content material Replace and the March 2024 Core Replace. The packaging is new, however the sample is not.
Throughout the dataset, the manufacturers nonetheless rising are typically the ones whose content material does not match the eight templates above. Many manufacturers that scaled into these templates are the ones now eradicating pages, redirecting subfolders, and taking different steps to strive to mitigate latest losses in site visitors.
Should you’re at present evaluating an AI content material vendor, or operating a program in-house, right here are a number of sensible questions I feel are value asking before publishing one other web page:
- Does this web page really exist as a result of an actual buyer or reader wants it, or as a result of a search engine or LLM would possibly cite it?
- May a competitor publish a near-identical model of this web page tomorrow utilizing the identical immediate?
- Would I be snug if Google, a journalist, or my very own prospects noticed the full record of URLs on this subfolder?
- Is the article inherently biased, and in that case, is the web page clear with customers about these biases?
- Is there any first-party knowledge, experience, or authentic perspective on this web page that isn’t accessible on the first ten outcomes already rating for the question?
None of this implies AI content material instruments are unusable. They are often genuinely helpful for analysis, briefs, inner knowledge synthesis, and accelerating workflows where a human expert is still in the loop. The difficulty begins when the purpose turns into quantity, or when the individuals closest to the content material cease reviewing what is going out the door.
The Search engine optimization trade has already lived via this cycle as soon as in the previous couple of years. The websites that got here out of it finest had been the ones that prioritized high quality, originality, and topical focus over scale. I anticipate the identical to be true of this cycle, and I’ll preserve monitoring the knowledge because it performs out.
Extra Sources:
This post was originally published on Lily Ray NYC Substack.
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