Google has made its advice on AI-generated website content more explicit: a person should check the facts before anything is published. That review also covers page titles, descriptions, image alt text and structured data, rather than stopping at the words visitors read on the page.
For businesses in Bath and the surrounding counties, this is a useful reason to look at the last step in content production. A polished draft can still promise a service you do not offer, describe a photograph incorrectly or quietly turn an estimate into a guarantee.
What Google has clarified
Google’s 1 October documentation update says it revised its generative AI content guide to bring it into line with information from its quality-rater guidance and developer presentations. This is a clarification of published advice. The notice does not announce a new ranking penalty or a ban on using AI.
The current guide warns that generated answers can contain inaccuracies and calls for manual review of accuracy and trustworthiness. It expressly includes information attached to the page, such as titles and image descriptions. AI can still help with research and organising original material; responsibility for the finished page stays with the publisher.
Check the promise, as well as the spelling
The most useful review is often done by someone who knows the business. An editor can improve a sentence, but the person handling bookings knows whether you open on Sundays. A technician knows whether a quoted service is available. Neither fact becomes reliable because a draft sounds confident.
For example, imagine a Bath repair company using AI to refresh a service page. The draft adds same-day appointments, a fixed price and coverage across Somerset. Each sounds plausible. Each needs checking against the actual booking arrangements, price list and service area. These are hypothetical examples, but they show why proofreading alone is too narrow.
When reviewing a draft, give particular attention to:
- Names, numbers and dates. Compare prices, opening hours, delivery times and event dates with the current record. Check which charges or conditions need explaining.
- Services and qualifications. Confirm that the business offers what the page describes. Do not let a suggested professional title, accreditation or guarantee become a claim without evidence.
- Sources and quotations. Open the original source and check that it supports the point. A plausible-looking link or attributed quotation is not enough.
- Local details. Review addresses, travel instructions and areas served. A town name added for search visibility can create a misleading expectation about where you work.
- Advice with consequences. Have health, legal, financial or safety claims reviewed by an appropriately qualified person. Hold back anything important that remains uncertain.
The small fields deserve a proper read
Ask whoever prepares the page to show you its title and description alongside the draft. A cautious explanation can be undermined by a title promising a guaranteed result. Read those fields as a potential customer would: what would you reasonably expect the business to deliver?
Images need a separate check. Alt text is the description used when someone cannot see an image, including people using screen readers. Google’s image guidance recommends useful descriptions in context and warns against stuffing them with keywords. Compare the description with the actual picture. If it is an illustration, do not describe it as a photograph of your staff or a completed customer project.
Structured data is information in a page’s code that helps search engines understand its content. Ask your website supplier to check any generated business, product or review details against the visible page. Google’s structured-data guidelines require an accurate representation and reject misleading information. A validation tool can find technical errors; a successful test does not establish that a price, rating or claim is true, or guarantee a special search appearance.
A manageable check before publication
You do not need a committee for every short update. Keep the draft together with its sources, pictures and proposed page fields. Give one named person responsibility for checking the claims, with specialist help where needed. If an important fact cannot be confirmed, remove it or leave the page unpublished until it can.
Start with the pages customers rely on most: services, bookings, products, prices and contact details. For a small team, reviewing those carefully is more useful than rapidly producing a batch of interchangeable town pages. Google’s helpful-content guidance asks whether a page offers original value, a clear description and reliable information. Correct grammar is only part of that job.
This fits naturally into website content writing and editing. If several people use AI, agree who checks the final claims as part of your team’s approach to AI. The practical aim is straightforward: let a draft save time, then make sure the published page describes your business honestly and helps a customer take the right next step.