[99] Does AI-Generated Content Hurt SEO? The answer for Squarespace users, and well, everyone.
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This transcript was generated by Descript AI and may contain errors.
[00:00:00] If you have ever used AI to create something for your website, even Squarespace's AI-generated content, there's a very good chance that you've wondered if Google can tell.
[00:00:10] You've probably also wondered if this will have any impact on the way that you rank in search engines or in AI results. In this episode of Think Inside the Square, I'm gonna clear this up because there is a lot of dramatic advice floating around the internet about AI-generated content, and my answer that I'm gonna share with you today is much more useful than AI is bad or AI is fine.
[00:00:32] Because the truth is, it's a gray area, and AI-generated content does not automatically hurt your Squarespace SEO. But unreviewed AI-generated content absolutely can, And we're not just talking about words on the page. I'm talking about code, too. AI can write a blog post, it can write a page title, it can give you an SEO description, come up with some alt text, which is one of the Squarespace AI features that a lot of people have used.
[00:01:00] AI can write a product description and a terrifyingly enthusiastic about page that can use the phrase passionate six different times. But AI can also write CSS and JavaScript and any other code that you paste right into Squarespace. So the important question is not did AI make this? The important question is what did I actually publish and how is it uniquely mine?
[00:01:23] In this episode, we'll look at that in three parts, the words that AI writes, the code that AI writes, and the Squarespace setup surrounding both of them. And stick with me here because the third part is where I think a lot of us Squarespacers are making SEO way more complicated than it needs to be.
[00:01:39] I'm Becca from Inside the Square. Welcome to my podcast, Think Inside the Square, where I share tips and tricks to help you create a website that you're proud of.
[00:01:47] For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to the resources and sources of this information I'll be sharing with you today, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast. I also need to mention that the term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Incorporated. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by Squarespace Incorporated.
[00:02:07] This is just shared as my opinion and my research as a Squarespace designer using Squarespace right alongside you. All right, my friend, let's get into it and start with the big fear, Google penalizing our website ranking because of AI-generated content. Google's current guidance is actually pretty straightforward.
[00:02:27] Now, they're never clear about the entire algorithm. That's their secret sauce recipe, and they're never gonna give that away. But they do give us some important details that we can use. Their ranking systems are designed to prioritize helpful, reliable, people-first content. It makes sense when you think about it.
[00:02:44] If you want people to use Google to find information, you better make sure they consistently get good information
[00:02:51]
[00:02:51] Speaker: Having a robust algorithm that gets people the answer they need as quickly as possible, that's what Google has always been designed to do. Now, Google themselves specifically state that generative AI can be useful for things like research and adding structure to original content.
[00:03:07] What they do not want is a website using automation to just pump out a large amount of low-value content just to manipulate search engine rankings. This has been their stance since before AI was even a thing.
[00:03:21] There used to be different content farms out there where you could hire people to write a bunch of nearly nonsense articles just to stuff keywords onto a website, and that was considered a very bad tactic, and part of the reason that Google created specific algorithm updates.
[00:03:36] So again, Google doesn't want you to create AI to pump out a large amount of low-value content just to rank higher in search. So the problem isn't that a robot touched a paragraph. The problem is publishing fifty bland articles because someone told you that every service you offer on your website needs to have a best service in every suburb near me page.
[00:03:57] Now, this matters a lot for the Squarespace do-it-yourselfers and designers because AI has removed the friction from creating content. A few years ago, if you wanted twenty new SEO pages, you had to sit there and write twenty pages or pay someone else to do it. That was usually an annoying enough task to make you stop and ask whether you really needed them.
[00:04:19] Now, you can just type one prompt and have twenty drafts before your coffee gets cold. That speed is useful, but it makes it way too easy to publish things that nobody needs. So here's the test I want you to use before you publish anything on your Squarespace website generated by AI or by you.
[00:04:36] The first thing is accuracy. Squarespace itself tells you to carefully review AI-generated text because it's not always accurate or appropriate for your needs.
[00:04:46] AI can invent stats that don't exist or a service that you don't offer, so it's up to you to make sure your information's accurate. And that applies to stuff you write yourself. Make sure that the information you're sharing isn't outdated. A lot of the stuff that I used to share about Squarespace was related to the content behind the scenes.
[00:05:04] Squarespace has changed a lot of features and a lot of functionality, so some of my old blog articles, they need to be retired because they're not accurate anymore. So AI generated or generated by you, make sure the content you're about to publish is genuinely true. Now, the second thing I want you to think about is, is it original enough to be useful?
[00:05:24] the same or similar content for different users depending on the prompt. The AI tools we all have access to can generate the same or similar content for different users depending on the prompt.
[00:05:36] And this is where the internet starts to get beige. Every wedding photographer has a paragraph saying, "Your love story is unique and your photos should be too." Nobody's technically lied, but nobody's learned anything either, and it gets boring to say the same thing over and over and over. We want to know the thing that only you know.
[00:05:56] We want to hear it in your voice
[00:05:58] The unique things that make your content worth finding. One of my favorite techniques to make sure that my content is always original and useful is that I will use AI to generate an outline or some key talking points, but I fill in the rest. I make sure that things resonate in my voice, and you can tell right now as I'm saying this on this podcast because I'm not reading this off of a screen.
[00:06:20] What I'm looking at on my screen right now is the number two and the text that says, "Is it original enough to be useful?" Everything I'm sharing with you is based off of that idea, but it's my own thoughts, my own unique take on this specific topic, and I think that level of authenticity is something we cannot lose in this new age of AI-generated content.
[00:06:41] We can use AI as a tool. It can help give us ideas, but we need to add our own authentic spin on the content itself. Now, the next thing on my screen here is number three.
[00:06:52] Speaker: Does the content answer the question? You've gotta think about everything you publish on your website that you want to rank in search engines as something that should answer a question
[00:07:01] Don't worry about things like word count or how often you repeat a specific keyword in the content.
[00:07:07] If someone Googles how to set up a redirect on Squarespace and lands on my article, I want them to read that article and truly understand that, yes, you can set up a redirect in Squarespace. Here are the steps of how to do it, and here's additional information you need about redirects.
[00:07:23] That is exactly what Google is looking for. So my rule for AI copy on your Squarespace website is simple. Use AI to help you apply your own creativity. Don't let it replace the expertise that makes the page worth finding. Use AI for ideas and for outlines. And one of my favorite tricks is after you write an article and you're not sure if you really hit the point, run it through AI and ask it to tell you what it actually thinks.
[00:07:50] Give it a one to two sentence summary about what you wrote. If that one to two sentence summary truly does encompass what you were trying to convey, you did a great job. Or maybe it missed the mark, and you need to go back to the drawing board. Again, use AI as the tool that it is to help us create unique content, but never let it replace your own unique expertise.. Now let's get to my favorite nerdy little corner of the internet and talk about some custom code, specifically AI-generated code. This is where we need to be especially careful because code does more than change how the website looks. It changes how it works.
[00:08:28] Talking about SEO specifically, Squarespace does a lot of the technical SEO foundation for us automatically. They generate structured data for things like blog posts and products and events, And they also give us the ability to add custom metadata to individual pages and products and lots of neat features built right into Squarespace.
[00:08:48] So if AI immediately gives you a giant chunk of code and says you need to put this in the header of your Squarespace website or an individual page, don't panic and don't just copy and paste that code because AI told you to. More code does not automatically mean that you'll rank higher in search results or in AI answers
[00:09:08] Yes, sometimes it can help, but it is not a quick fix, and it is not a solution that's going to skyrocket your ranking for some obscure term. So let's talk about this a little bit more. I wanna talk about the three things that I check before publishing any AI-generated code on a Squarespace website. The first is, what is the code actually changing?
[00:09:30] CSS is a code language that changes the style of a website, and if you use AI to put custom CSS on your website, chances are you're just making it look a little bit better, like changing the color of a button on a hover. That's one of my favorites. But if you use AI to generate something like JavaScript that could change the content that's actually displayed based on user interaction, that is where we can start to hit some real issues.
[00:09:55] Anything that's going to hide or reveal content based on user activity, show something that's different to a user than what Google might see behind the scenes, that is a red flag
[00:10:05] So that brings me to my second question: What does the visitor experience?
[00:10:11] The code that AI gives you might look amazing on your own computer, but is it going to work within the responsive system that Squarespace is built off of on a larger monitor or a tablet or a mobile device? Can you use a keyboard to navigate through the content? Or does it even delay the actual content, making some weird flash or jump while the page loads?
[00:10:33] And it's so important to ask if it might break if Squarespace updates something. Now, Squarespace is very clear that custom code falls outside its support scope, and it can't guarantee full compatibility with responsive design or future platform updates. But that doesn't mean that we should never use custom code.
[00:10:52] It means that it's our responsibility to keep an eye on it and make sure it works. AI can write the code, but it's not responsible for the result. That's our job. So if you're going to add custom code to Squarespace, make sure that the visitor experience is still a good one. , Something that's easy to understand, easy to navigate, and serves everyone visiting your website.
[00:11:15] Now, one more thing I wanna mention here, the third point about adding custom code, is make sure that your custom code isn't solving a problem that Squarespace already has a solution for.
[00:11:25] If you need to add alt text to an image, Squarespace supports that. . If you need to redirect a page after changing a URL slug, Squarespace has URL mappings. If you need structured data for a product, Squarespace already generates product schema.
[00:11:40] Don't install code that is going to do what Squarespace is already designed to do.
[00:11:45] Now, if you're not sure where a setting or a feature is or if Squarespace can actually do the thing you're trying to do, you can always ask. Chat with customer support, search the support documents, or even post in the online Squarespace forum. Or ask me. My inbox is always open, hello@insidethesquare.co.
[00:12:03] Let's make sure that you are not duplicating the work that Squarespace does, because that is not a good use of your time, it is not a good use of AI,
[00:12:11] And creating redundant content or a jumbled mess of code that you just don't need, that could eventually hurt your SEO
[00:12:18] Speaker: Now, I have a lot more thoughts about AI-generated code for Squarespace, but I don't want to go down that rabbit hole today. I've got to stay focused. Going back to my outline here, let's talk about the part that I think matters the most right now.
[00:12:32] Your Squarespace website isn't just being read by traditional Google search bots anymore. It now has guidance specifically for AI-powered search engines and different tools, and it has features for tracking AI visibility, along with controls for known AI crawlers. Suddenly, those of us in the Squarespace universe are hearing terms like GEO, AEO, AI visibility, crawlers, LLMs.txt, and I'm sure that hearing that, you might think you need a second graduate degree just to publish a service page, but you don't, okay?
[00:13:05] Basic Squarespace SEO work still matters. Clear page titles, useful headings, readable URLs, accurate SEO descriptions, descriptive alt text, internal links where they genuinely help, fast mobile-friendly pages, a site structure that makes sense. All of that matters to all of the different ways that we now discover information.
[00:13:27] Squarespace's own AI search guidance says that many of the same SEO strategies we've used in the past still apply to AI-powered search. And Google's current guidance basically says the same thing.
[00:13:38] We don't need to create a giant separate universe of pages for every possible AI query
[00:13:44] That actually brings us back to one of the first points I mentioned, creating a ton of pages just to manipulate rankings or even generative AI responses. That is some red flag territory that can definitely hurt your SEO.
[00:13:56] You need to make sure that your content serves a purpose and it answers questions that people are asking. But having AI generate 50 pages of fluff, that is not going to get you higher in search results. One last thing about all that technical stuff before I wrap this up, okay?
[00:14:10] There have been a lot of murmurings out there about the llms.txt option in Squarespace. If you've heard about that or wondered whether it's the secret switch for getting into Google's AI results, it isn't. There is no secret magic button. But to be clear, Squarespace does now let anyone using a 7.1 site upload or create an llms.txt file.
[00:14:33] Google specifically clarified in June 2026 that that particular file is not needed for Google Search and will not positively or negatively affect your visibility or rankings. It can definitely be useful for other systems, and I think it's a great idea to create one, but it's not a magic button that's going to skyrocket your site to the top of ranks, which is frankly good news.
[00:14:54] It's not necessarily something you need to put on your to-do list right now, but I do have some resources in the show notes for this episode if you wanna look into that for your website.
[00:15:02] Uh, to be clear, this is just on websites built on version 7.1. This doesn't apply to older sites built with version 7. All right, enough with the technical. Let's get back to the core of this episode. Will AI generated content hurt your Squarespace SEO?
[00:15:17] The truth is that AI will not automatically hurt your SEO just because AI created the content. But AI can help you create bad SEO decisions much faster. They can help you publish generic pages faster. They can help you publish errors. They can help you add unnecessary code. It can help you accidentally replace built-in features with fragile custom solutions.
[00:15:40] And that is not the kind of quality that we need to put out here.
[00:15:43] Before you publish anything, make sure you can verify the information, make sure the content's actually useful, make sure that what you're creating isn't already done by Squarespace, make sure that it works within the Squarespace program itself and doesn't break functionality that's already there And make sure that it has your own unique style
[00:16:02] can you use AI to optimize a title for search engines write a blog post summary or create an SEO description? You absolutely can, but make sure you're looking at the result from the visitor's side instead of just admiring the fact that AI generated something for you that was probably faster than you generating it yourself.
[00:16:21] So use AI to brainstorm. Use AI to outline. Use it to rewrite the sentence that you've stared at for forty-five minutes because apparently the phrase "book a consultation" is everyone's favorite phrase. Use AI to help you write code. But before anything goes live on your Squarespace website, you are the editor, you are the tester, and ultimately, you are the person responsible for the experience.
[00:16:45] AI can generate the draft. You decide what deserves to be published. . and yes, the idea for this episode came from hanging out with my friend Claude and working on some podcast ideas for me here at Think Inside the Square.
[00:16:58] I'm Becca from insidethesquare.co. I love to talk about all things Squarespace, and I wanna hear from you. If you enjoyed this episode, give it a like, be sure to follow my podcast because I post a brand-new episode every single week, and hang out with me on my email list. I share tips and tricks about Squarespace , and I'd love to see you there.
[00:17:15] You can learn more about me at insidethesquare.co, and for a transcript of this episode, Along with some links to the resources that I mentioned here in this episode, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in, and most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website.
[00:17:32] Bye for now
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Google: Guidance on AI-generated content
Google explains that using generative AI isn’t inherently against its guidelines; the issue is generating large amounts of low-value content without adding value for users.
Google’s guidance on generative AI contentGoogle: Optimizing for AI-powered search
Google’s newer guidance explains that traditional SEO fundamentals still apply to AI search experiences and warns against creating separate pages for every possible AI/search query.
Google’s guide to optimizing for generative AI searchSquarespace: Optimizing your site for AI-powered search
Squarespace’s official guide covers AI visibility, site structure, content, and how existing SEO practices translate to AI-powered search engines.
Squarespace AI search optimization guideSquarespace: Creating an llms.txt file
Squarespace explains what llms.txt is, where to create one on a Version 7.1 site, and importantly notes that the standard is still actively developing.
Squarespace llms.txt guide
If you've used ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Squarespace AI to help write your website, you've probably wondered: Can Google tell, and will AI-generated content hurt my SEO?
Here's the answer:
No. AI-generated content does not automatically hurt your SEO just because AI created it.
Google's current guidance focuses on the quality and purpose of the content, not whether a human or AI typed the first draft. The problem starts when AI makes it easier to publish inaccurate, generic, low-value content created primarily to rank in search.
For Squarespace users, I think about this in three areas: content, custom code, and the Squarespace setup surrounding both.
1. Review AI-generated content before you publish it
AI is incredibly useful for brainstorming, outlining, rewriting, and getting past the dreaded blank page.
But it still needs an editor.
Before publishing AI-assisted content on your Squarespace website, ask three questions:
Is it accurate?
AI can confidently invent information. Check facts, services, statistics, instructions, and anything else you're presenting as true.
Is it original enough to be useful?
If your article sounds like every other article on the internet, give it something only you can provide: your experience, opinion, examples, process, or perspective.
Does it actually answer the question?
Don't obsess over hitting a particular word count or repeating a keyword enough times. If someone lands on your page after searching for an answer, make sure they leave with one.
Google continues to recommend helpful, reliable, people-first content and specifically warns against using automation to generate lots of pages without adding value.
The goal isn't to hide the fact that AI helped you.
The goal is to make the finished content worth finding.
2. Be more careful with AI-generated code
AI-generated copy can say the wrong thing.
AI-generated code can make your Squarespace website do the wrong thing.
Before adding CSS, JavaScript, HTML, or another AI-generated customization, ask:
What is this code actually changing?
Changing a button color with CSS is very different from using JavaScript to hide, load, replace, or restructure important page content.
Then look at the visitor experience.
Does it work on mobile? Can someone navigate it with a keyboard? Does it create a delay or strange jump while the page loads? Will you know how to fix it if Squarespace changes something later?
And finally:
Does Squarespace already do this?
Squarespace already provides a substantial amount of technical SEO infrastructure, including structured data for several content types and built-in fields for things like SEO descriptions, image descriptions, redirects, and other site information.
More custom code does not automatically mean better SEO.
Sometimes the smartest customization is realizing you don't need one.
3. You don't need a separate strategy for "AI SEO"
Search is changing, but the fundamentals haven't disappeared.
Squarespace now talks about visibility in AI-powered search, and Google has its own generative AI search experiences. But Google's current guidance still comes back to the same basic principles: create useful, original content and make sure your website can be properly crawled and understood.
That means the normal Squarespace SEO work still matters:
Clear page titles and headings
Useful, original content
Descriptive URLs
Relevant SEO descriptions
Helpful image descriptions
Logical internal links
Mobile-friendly pages
A website structure that makes sense
You may have also heard about llms.txt files. Squarespace now supports them on version 7.1 sites, but don't mistake that for a magic AI-ranking switch. Google has specifically said an llms.txt file isn't required for Google Search.
So no, you don't need to rebuild your entire SEO strategy because AI search exists.
AI can help you create bad SEO decisions much faster.
It can also help you brainstorm faster, organize ideas, improve a draft, write useful code, and make creating your Squarespace website significantly easier.
The difference is what happens after AI gives you the answer.
Before you publish it, make sure the information is accurate. Make sure the content is genuinely useful. Understand what any custom code actually does. Check whether Squarespace already has a built-in solution. And look at the finished result from your visitor's perspective.
AI can generate the draft. You decide what deserves to be published.
