“Can I use AI to write my website?” Google’s answer, in its own published guidance, is that it judges the page, not the tool. A useful page written with help from AI can rank. A pile of pages churned out to catch searches is spam, whoever or whatever wrote it. For a contractor, the bigger risks of a machine-written site are not a Google penalty. They are pages that say nothing only you could say, and sentences that claim things that are not true.
What Google said in 2023
In February 2023, Google’s Search Central blog published its guidance about AI-generated content under the heading “Rewarding high-quality content, however it is produced.” Its key lines:
So the question Google asks is not “did a person type this?” It is whether the page is original, helpful and written for the people who read it.
What changed in 2024: scaled content abuse
On March 5, 2024, Google announced three new spam policies, one of them against “scaled content abuse.” Its spam policies page defines that as “when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users,” typically large amounts of unoriginal content “no matter how it’s created.” The first example on Google’s list is “using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users.”
Google said the policy builds on its older rule against automatically generated content. It applies “whether automation or humans are involved,” so a freelancer typing the same page fifty times is no safer than a tool doing it. The spam policies page says sites that violate them “may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all.”
The contractor version of this is familiar: one page per town, the same text with the town name swapped, forty times over. A tool makes that take minutes instead of a week, and Google’s spam policies list town pages that funnel visitors to one page as doorway abuse too. Service-Area Pages That Rank Without Spam covers what a town page needs to be worth having.
Why your own facts beat a generated page
Google’s help page on “helpful, reliable, people-first content” gives questions it suggests site owners ask about their own pages. Three of them are a problem for a page written from a blank prompt:
A tool that knows nothing about your business can only write what is true of every business like yours. The facts that make a homeowner choose you are the ones it does not have:
| A generic draft says | Only you can say |
|---|---|
| “We serve the greater metro area” | The towns you actually drive to, and the ones you do not |
| “Quality workmanship at fair prices” | What a typical job costs and what moves the price |
| “Experienced, professional team” | Who shows up, and the license number they work under |
| “We stand behind our work” | Your actual warranty, in writing, with its terms |
| “Our process is simple” | What happens after someone gets in touch, step by step, and how soon |
Google’s same page calls “fabricating creator profiles (such as by using AI-generated headshots, made-up names, or false credentials to make content appear as if it was written by human experts)” a form of deception. If your About page has a team, it should be your team; The About Page: License, Insurance and Real Faces covers what to put there.
The claims a draft can slip in
A language tool fills gaps with sentences that sound right. On a business website those sentences are advertising, and the FTC’s small business guide says advertising “must be truthful and non-deceptive,” that advertisers “must have evidence to back up their claims,” and that the evidence has to exist before the ad runs. Read every line of a draft for phrases like these, and keep one only if it is true and you can show it:
Some states also require your license number in advertising; Your License Number in Ads lists them.
The hardest line is reviews. Under the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, 16 CFR 465.2(a), it is a violation for a business “to write, create, or sell” a review or testimonial that materially misrepresents that the reviewer exists or had experience with the business. The FTC’s announcement of the rule in August 2024 named “AI-generated fake reviews” as an example. If a tool offers to write “sample testimonials” for your page, the answer is no; use real ones, as Testimonials on Your Website explains.
Do you have to say you used AI?
Google does not require a label. Its 2023 guidance says AI disclosures are useful “for content where someone might think ‘How was this created?’” and to consider them “when it would be reasonably expected.” It also says giving AI an author byline “is probably not the best way” to be clear with readers. On a contractor’s service page, readers mostly want to know who will do the work and who stands behind the page. A real name and a real business answer that better than any label.
A safe way to use a writing tool
- Start from your notes, not a blank prompt. List your services, the towns you cover, what you do not do, your price ranges, license and insurance details, warranty terms and how a job runs.
- Ask the tool to organize and tighten your words. Do not ask it to invent facts, numbers, reviews or credentials.
- Read every sentence as if a customer will hold you to it. Cut anything you cannot prove.
- Add what only you know: your own job photos, the questions customers actually ask, the local details of the work.
- One page per real service, not per keyword. If two pages say the same thing, merge them.
- Check the results after a few months. Search Console for Contractors shows which searches your pages appear for.
For which pages to write first, see The Website Pages a Contractor Needs.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.