Google Thinks AI Mode Is Good for Users, but the Content Isn’t Good Enough to Rank in Google

I set up some tests over a month ago to see if Google would rank content generated by Google AI Mode in the organic search results. Spoiler: it did not rank.

Google believes AI Mode content is good enough to show to users in what will likely be the default search mode in the future. But the content itself doesn’t seem good enough to compete in the normal Google search results.

Is it because it’s AI-generated? Is it because there’s nothing new added? Is it because it’s just not good enough? I don’t know.

I am fascinated that this AI Mode content is not the least bit competitive with content that Google normally ranks. I was actually expecting it to rank since the AI Mode content provides a decent overview of each topic. I didn’t expect it to rank at the top, but I figured 10th-30th place would be likely.

In one of the tests, a page of ours about a different topic that didn’t even mention the target keyword actually ranked much higher than the generated page which was more relevant and useful. Fascinating.

Let’s dig in.

I set up three test pages. These pages weren’t just published on a new website, they were published directly on the Ahrefs blog, with DR 91 and a history of content around SEO that ranks well. They were given the best conditions possible to succeed.

Two of the pages we already had existing blog and glossary pages for, but one was a completely new topic where we had no competing pages.

I was targeting “hreflang”, “technical SEO”, and “crawled - currently not indexed” with the different topics. Here’s what the hreflang page looked like, with all written content coming straight from an AI Mode response:

Some of the info is wrong in the AI mode response, like the section on preventing duplicate content, but overall it’s a decent summary of the topic. But it never ranked for anything besides some branded terms.

It’s the same story for the page on technical SEO. It never really ranked for anything.

The third test was a completely new topic for us, and I created it a few days after the other two when I realized that we already had two pages ranking for them, so it might be tough to compete. I had high hopes for this one, but it never ranked well for anything meaningful.

We actually have another page about a different Google Search Console index status, Discovered - currently not indexed, that ranks in 41st for this topic. The generated test page is much more relevant and has more useful information, but it still doesn’t rank.

Final thoughts

I do think the generated pages are fairly useful and should probably rank better than some of the other ranking pages, but the fact that they don’t suggests that Google may have some systems in place to prevent this kind of generated content from ranking.

Whether that’s AI content detection, something like information gain, or something else, I’m not sure. It could be multiple systems at work. I'm running another test to see what happens if I add some human content to the mix. I did something similar on a personal test page and had good results.

Post byPatrick Stox

Patrick Stox is an independent SEO consultant. Former Product Advisor, Technical SEO, and Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs. Before that he was a Technical SEO at IBM for many years, worked at an agency, had his own consultancy, and was in-house at a B2B company. A long time ago he started his career as a developer.

He’s an organizer for the Triangle SEO Meetup, the Tech SEO Connect conference, he runs a Technical SEO Slack group, and is a moderator for /r/TechSEO on Reddit.

Patrick was the lead author for the SEO chapter of the 2021 Web Almanac and reviewer for the 2022 chapter. He helped define the role of Search Marketing Strategist for the US Department of Labor. He also co-wrote the SEO Book For Beginners by Ahrefs and was the Technical Review Editor for The Art of SEO 4th Edition.

He’s spoken at 100+ industry events including Pubcon, SMX, Tech SEO Boost, Ad World, Digital Summit, and many more. He’s written 100+ articles for industry sites like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, MarTech, and right here at Ahrefs. He was a finalist for SEO Speaker of the Year and SEO Contributor of the Year at the 2018 Search Engine Land Awards. He was also an EzineArticles Platinum author back in the day and still has the mug to prove it.

Patrick has judged nearly a dozen search awards for multiple years including the US Search Awards, UK Search Awards, and Interactive Marketing Awards. He participated in and documented the world’s largest SEO contest to date, the Wix SEO Hero contest which he arguably should have won.

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