Ahrefs Study: No Proof Google Penalises AI Content

A recent study by Ahrefs has taken a closer look at the impact of AI-generated content on Google rankings, analysing a huge sample of 600,000 webpages. The findings come as a relief for many content creators and SEO professionals worried about possible penalties from Google’s algorithms.

The research revealed that there’s virtually no correlation between the presence of AI content and where a page appears in search results. In fact, the results suggest that Google neither actively rewards nor penalises sites for including AI-generated text.

Interestingly, the study highlighted that over 86% of pages performing well in rankings contained some amount of AI-generated content. This points to the reality that AI writing tools have become deeply integrated into the content creation process.

The report also found that pages with very minimal AI content showed only a weak correlation with slightly higher positions in search results. However, this link was too small to draw strong conclusions or suggest a ranking advantage.

Conducted by Si Quan Ong and Xibeijia Guan at Ahrefs, the study used large-scale data to examine how AI tools fit into the broader landscape of search visibility. Their work challenges ongoing concerns that leaning on AI might harm a website’s SEO performance.

Many in the SEO industry have speculated that Google might quietly downgrade pages that rely too heavily on AI-generated content, fearing a drop in quality or originality. However, the Ahrefs findings do not support these claims.

Instead, the data suggests that Google’s focus continues to be on content relevance, authority and user value rather than on how the text was produced.

It’s also worth noting that the majority of high-ranking pages combine AI assistance with human editing and strategy, reflecting a balanced approach rather than a full reliance on automation.

The authors pointed out that while AI tools can speed up production and help scale content efforts, they work best when paired with human oversight and subject matter expertise.

For marketers, bloggers and website owners, this study offers reassurance that AI can be part of a healthy content strategy without putting rankings at risk.

Of course, quality remains crucial. AI should support, rather than replace, human judgment in writing engaging and informative content.

The report concludes that as long as AI-generated material is relevant, accurate and useful to readers, its presence alone won’t trigger penalties.

Overall, the findings encourage businesses and creators to embrace AI tools thoughtfully, focusing on maintaining authenticity and value.

In an industry where myths and fears often spread quickly, this evidence-based insight from Ahrefs provides a clearer view of what actually matters for SEO in 2025.

For many, it underlines that technology, when guided by good editorial practices, can enhance rather than undermine digital performance.

By bridging human creativity with AI efficiency, websites can still achieve strong results without falling foul of search engine algorithms.

How the Study Was Conducted

Ahrefs carried out its study by collecting the top 20 ranking URLs for 100,000 randomly selected keywords from its Keywords Explorer database.

To assess the content, the team used Ahrefs’ own AI content detector. This tool is part of the Page Inspect feature available within Site Explorer.

By applying this process, Ahrefs created a substantial dataset containing around 600,000 URLs.

This large-scale approach has allowed for a detailed and data-driven look into how AI-generated content relates to search rankings.

The methodology also highlights Ahrefs’ aim to use its own tools to test real-world scenarios faced by SEO professionals.

By focusing on such a wide range of keywords, the study aimed to reduce bias and capture genuine patterns in how Google handles AI-written pages.

Using its internal AI detection technology added another layer of insight, giving researchers a practical way to measure the extent of AI content on each page.

The result is one of the most thorough analyses so far into whether AI content affects a site’s visibility in search results.

The study didn’t just stop at measuring presence; it compared ranking positions against the detected AI content levels.

This offered a clearer picture of whether there’s any link between using AI and performing well in search.

The scale of the dataset—covering hundreds of thousands of URLs—makes it a valuable resource for those working in SEO and digital content.

By publishing the findings, Ahrefs aims to inform the wider debate around AI’s role in content creation and its perceived risks.

Ultimately, the data provides some reassurance that AI content, when used sensibly, doesn’t automatically harm search rankings.

Instead, it supports the idea that what matters most remains quality, relevance, and meeting user intent.

Through this study, Ahrefs has contributed practical evidence to a topic often dominated by speculation and worry among website owners and marketers alike.

Key Findings

The analysis reveals that AI-generated content is already common across many top-ranking pages.

Out of all the pages studied, 4.6% were entirely created by AI, while 13.5% were written purely by humans. Interestingly, the vast majority—around 81.9%—combined both AI and human input.

Among those mixed pages, the patterns varied. Roughly 13.8% used AI minimally, making up just 1–10% of the content. A larger group, about 40%, included moderate AI usage between 11–40%. Pages where AI made up 41–70% of content accounted for 20.3%, and 7.8% relied heavily on AI for 71–99% of their content.

These figures fit with another Ahrefs survey featured in its “State of AI in Content Marketing” report, which found that 87% of marketers now use AI tools to support content creation.

Perhaps the most notable finding was the correlation between AI usage and Google rankings, which turned out to be very small—just 0.011. In practice, this means there’s no meaningful connection between the amount of AI content and where a page ranks in search results.

According to the report, this suggests that Google neither rewards nor penalises pages solely for using AI-generated content. It’s consistent with what Google has said publicly since February 2023: content quality remains the most important factor, regardless of how it’s produced.

Even so, Ahrefs did spot some subtle patterns among the very top-ranking pages. Pages sitting at #1 positions often contained less AI-generated content compared to those ranked slightly lower.

For example, pages using minimal AI—defined as between 0–30%—showed a small tendency to appear in the highest spots. However, the report stresses this pattern isn’t strong enough to claim AI usage itself directly affects rankings.

Completely AI-generated pages did still appear within the top 20 search results, but it was uncommon to see them claim the top spot. This finding points to the challenges of achieving the best performance using only AI-written content without human oversight or editing.

Overall, the study indicates that while AI tools are widely used, relying on them exclusively is unlikely to guarantee top rankings. Instead, successful pages often combine AI support with human creativity and careful editing.

These insights highlight how AI has become an everyday part of content marketing, yet the best results still seem to come from blending technology with human expertise.

For marketers, this suggests that AI should be seen as a helpful tool rather than a complete replacement for thoughtful writing.

Ultimately, the research supports the view that Google’s algorithms care more about relevance and quality than about whether content was produced by AI.

In today’s competitive landscape, striking the right balance between efficiency and quality appears to remain key to ranking success.