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  • Dofollow Digest #34: Data finally settles the AI content debate

Dofollow Digest #34: Data finally settles the AI content debate

Author

Eric Carrell
July 13, 2025

Hey, it's Eric 👋

Just as everyone's still debating whether AI content will hurt their SEO, Ahrefs published new research analyzing 600,000 pages.

AI content doesn't hurt your rankings. In fact, 86.5% of top-ranking pages contain some amount of AI-generated content. While your competitors hold back due to uncertainty, there's an opportunity to scale quality content and capture search visibility they're avoiding.

I'll break down what this means for SaaS companies below, plus share why we just released our most comprehensive guide yet on scaling with AI content responsibly.

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🔍 DEEP DIVE: The Data Finally Settles the AI Content Debate

Ahrefs just published research that clarifies one of SEO's biggest debates with data from 600,000 pages. Their findings confirm what many suspected but couldn't prove: Google doesn't penalize AI content - it penalizes bad content, regardless of how it's created.

The numbers are clear. Only 13.5% of top-ranking pages are purely human-written. The majority (86.5%) contain some AI assistance, from grammar checking to full content generation. Even more notable: 4.6% of top-ranking pages are completely AI-generated.

If Google was actively punishing AI content, these results would be impossible.

But here's what the study really reveals: the correlation between AI usage and ranking position is effectively zero (0.011). Google neither rewards nor penalizes content based on creation method. What matters is whether it serves users.

The Opportunity for SaaS Companies

While competitors step back from AI and programmatic approaches due to uncertainty, smart SaaS companies are scaling content that helps users. Companies like Zapier (280,000+ monthly visits from integration pages) and Canva (13.1 million visits from template libraries) show this approach works when done well.

The key insight: Google's guidelines don't prohibit AI content - they require that AI content, like all content, serves users rather than just search engines. The difference between success and penalties comes down to execution quality, not creation method.

This creates an opportunity for SaaS companies willing to use AI thoughtfully. Your product data - integrations, customer segments, feature combinations - can systematically generate content that helps users while competitors avoid these approaches.

What This Means for Your Content Strategy

First, stop avoiding AI tools because of SEO concerns. The data shows quality trumps creation method every time. Second, focus on scaling genuine value rather than just keyword targeting. The companies succeeding with AI content solve real user problems at scale.

Most importantly, there's less competition right now. While the industry debates, there's reduced competition for programmatic content opportunities. SaaS companies with the right approach can build search visibility before others adapt.

AI should be part of your content strategy - the focus should be on using it thoughtfully to scale content that users actually need.

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Til next time,

Eric