AI-Generated Articles Now Rank Higher In Google Search Than TechCrunch, TheVerge, Wired, And More

We are moving towards a digital landscape where speed and efficiency trump quality and authenticity.

Things just got from bad to worse.

When Google rolled out the March 2024 core update, thousands of websites experienced a significant drop in search rankings, resulting in a massive decline in their stats and revenue.

I am one of those badly affected.

Here is Google’s statement from the update on this matter:

“Our long-standing spam policy has been that use of automation, including generative AI, is spam if the primary purpose is manipulating ranking in Search results. The updated policy is in the same spirit as our previous policy and based on the same principle. It’s been expanded to account for more sophisticated scaled content creation methods where it isn’t always clear whether low-quality content was created purely through automation.”

The update specifically targeted websites using AI to churn out low-quality, spammy, and unoriginal content.

You can read more about the March 2024 update here:

But what I discovered today really surprised me. AI-generated articles from Perplexity rank higher than those from established tech websites like TechCrunch, The Verge, and Wired.

As you can see in the screenshot below, I searched for “WWDC 2024.”

Image by Jim Clyde Monge

For a more complete search result, check out the list here:

Image by Jim Clyde Monge

So what just happened here?

This is terrible news for writers who pour their expertise and passion into their work, only to be overshadowed by AI. I wrote a similar article for four hours, but it didn’t even make the first two pages on SERP.

What is a Perplexity Page?