How AI-generated content performs in search: Results from an experiment by SE Ranking
Summarize this blog post with:
Businesses have been using AI to automate different tasks, including content creation, for a while. But how effective is it exactly?
From an ethical standpoint, Google says that content should be high-quality and genuinely benefit users, no matter how it’s created. However, using AI to manipulate rankings goes against Google’s spam policies.
We conducted two experiments to see how AI-generated articles perform in different environments. First, we published six AI-assisted articles between June and September 2024 on the SE Ranking blog to see how they’d perform on our domain. We took it a step further by launching 20 brand-new websites and publishing 2,000 AI-generated articles across them in November 2024. Our goal was to discover if AI-written content could gain traction and bring in measurable traffic.
Let’s look at the results of our experiments!
Key results
SE Ranking blog results:
- Six AI-assisted articles received almost 555K impressions and 2,300+ clicks between June 2024 and July 2025.
- Three of six AI articles on the SE Ranking blog currently rank in the organic top 10.
- 5 AI-assisted articles on the SE Ranking blog trigger AI Overviews and 4 of them are featured as sources.
New domains results:
- 70.95% of new pages with AI-generated content were indexed during the first 36 days.
- Google fully indexed 11 out of 20 new websites that feature AI-generated content.
- Eight sites with AI-written articles started to rank for over 1,000 keywords, each within one month.
- In the first month, AI-generated content pages drove 122K impressions and 240+ clicks. 5 websites with AI articles had up to 30% of their keywords in the top 30 on desktop and up to 37% on mobile. But starting February 3, all sites lost traction entirely.
Disclaimer:
We conducted this experiment to get insights into how AI-generated content performs in real-world conditions. Our findings and observations are for informational and educational purposes only. We strongly discourage using the data from this experiment to manipulate search algorithms and rankings.
Remember that while AI can help with generating content, we don’t recommend relying on it as the sole method for content creation. Always review, edit, and customize AI-generated content thoroughly and add human expertise. Always ensure that AI-created copies align with your brand voice, meet quality standards, and accurately serve your audience’s needs.
Testing AI-generated articles on the SE Ranking blog
We started our experiment by testing how AI-generated articles would perform on the SE Ranking blog. The goal was to evaluate whether AI-written materials could rank well on SERPs and attract traffic. We used the AI Writer to generate texts, published them on our blog, and tracked performance with Google Search Console, Keyword Rank Tracker, and AI Results Tracker.
In the following sections, you’ll find more details about how we set up our experiment and the results we achieved on our blog.
SE Ranking blog experiment methodology
Selecting topics and generating content
We identified six topics that we believed would resonate well with our readers:
- Seed keywords
- Dashboards vs reports
- Product-led growth
- SEO benchmarking
- Taxonomy SEO
- Local business reviews
These target keywords served as the foundation for individual articles. We added them to SE Ranking’s Content Editor and used our AI Writer to create texts. This feature supports several generation formats:
- One-click article generation: This approach involves adding a target keyword and generating text immediately, without custom settings.
- Article generation via Wizard: Specify initial requirements for the AI Writer to follow when generating texts.
We chose the second option to cover the selected topics comprehensively and ensure articles are on par with our blog’s standards. Before generating articles, we examined each topic to establish a solid outline and specified the following requirements to the AI Writer:
- User intent
- Target audience
- Content format
- Tone of voice
- Creativity level
We guided the AI step-by-step through the Wizard and provided the following context:
- Critical points to be covered
- Relevant keywords to incorporate
- Specific questions to be answered
- H1 heading
- Heading structure
Based on this information, the AI Writer produced our article first drafts.
Editing AI-generated drafts
AI-generated drafts served as a starting point rather than as a final product. Our team revised each article for clarity and accuracy. Our SEO team also reviewed selected pieces for factual correctness.
We used our Content Editor’s recommendations to make small revisions to the text and improve the Content Score.
We didn’t proofread these articles.
To maintain transparency, we included the following disclaimer in each published piece:
“This article was initially drafted using SE Ranking’s AI Writer. However, some parts of the text were written from scratch and the content has undergone thorough revisions, editing, and fact-checking by human editors and subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.”
Publishing polished articles on the SE Ranking blog
Once all adjustments were made, we published AI-assisted articles on our blog on the following dates:
- https://seranking.com/blog/seed-keywords/: June 4, 2024
- https://seranking.com/blog/dashboards-vs-reports/: June 20, 2024
- https://seranking.com/blog/product-led-growth/: August 30, 2024
- https://seranking.com/blog/seo-benchmarking/: September 5, 2024
- https://seranking.com/blog/seo-taxonomy/: September 6, 2024
- https://seranking.com/blog/local-business-reviews/: September 9, 2024
SE Ranking blog experiment results
AI-generated articles got 555K impressions and 2,300+ clicks in a year
We tracked each article’s clicks and impressions in Google Search Console, starting from the publication date. Overall, AI-generated articles received 555K impressions and 2,300+ clicks between June 2024 and July 2025.
Below, you’ll find GSC data showing overall impressions and clicks:
Clicks
1,661
Impressions
197,373
Clicks
40
Impressions
42,916
Clicks
5
Impressions
7,571
Clicks
256
Impressions
112,961
Clicks
238
Impressions
51,163
Clicks
177
Impressions
142,580
1,661
197,373
40
42,916
5
7,571
256
112,961
238
51,163
177
142,580
For comparison: in the first 6 months after publication (June–December 2024), the articles received a total of 137,815 impressions and 866 clicks. The second half of the year saw a much more rapid growth in traffic and impressions. As we can see, impressions increased by as much as 4 times, and clicks by 2.5 times. This suggests that if an article is high-quality, it continues to deliver better results over time.
Below you’ll find GSC data showing the impressions and clicks, broken down into 30-day periods:
Publication date
June 4, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 4,527 impressions
- 14 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 5,325 impressions
- 19 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 6,983 impressions
- 31 clicks
4th 30 Days
- 6,313 impressions
- 28 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 7,629 impressions
- 20
6th 30 days
- 8,890 impressions
- 49 clicks
7th 30 days
- 6,819 impressions
- 30 clicks
8th 30 days
- 6,897 impressions
- 23 clicks
9th 30 days
- 5,778 impressions
- 3 clicks
10th 30 days
- 8,674 impressions
- 4 clicks
11th 30 days
- 10,608 impressions
- 6 clicks
12th 30 days
- 13,366 impressions
- 10 clicks
13th 30 days
- 10,234 impressions
- 8 clicks
Publication date
June 20, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 2,889 impressions
- 21 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 5,442 impressions
- 53 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 8,195 impressions
- 74 clicks
4th 30 Days
- 11,529 impressions
- 128 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 14,765 impressions
- 184 clicks
6th 30 days
- 14,758 impressions
- 174 clicks
7th 30 days
- 17,909 impressions
- 239 clicks
8th 30 days
- 23,105 impressions
- 155 clicks
9th 30 days
- 23,201 impressions
- 202 clicks
10th 30 days
- 25,356 impressions
- 147 clicks
11th 30 days
- 29,854 impressions
- 186 clicks
12th 30 days
- 34,333 impressions
- 152 clicks
13th 30 days
- 24,526 impressions
- 106 clicks
Publication date
August 30, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 313 impressions
- 0 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 390 impressions
- 2 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 469 impressions
- 1 click
4th 30 Days
- 760 impressions
- 0 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 459 impressions
- 0 clicks
6th 30 days
- 657 impressions
- 0 clicks
7th 30 days
- 795 impressions
- 1 click
8th 30 days
- 811 impressions
- 0 clicks
9th 30 days
- 868 impressions
- 0 clicks
10th 30 days
- 832 impressions
- 0 clicks
11th 30 days
- 1,317 impressions
- 1 click
12th 30 days
No data
13th 30 days
No data
Publication date
September 5, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 3,649 impressions
- 7 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 5,486 impressions
- 12 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 6,682 impressions
- 16 clicks
4th 30 Days
- 11,092 impressions
- 31 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 12,375 impressions
- 26 clicks
6th 30 days
- 10,776 impressions
- 19 clicks
7th 30 days
- 16,095 impressions
- 23 clicks
8th 30 days
- 17,722 impressions
- 19 clicks
9th 30 days
- 20,388 impressions
- 9 clicks
10th 30 days
- 18,192 impressions
- 9 clicks
11th 30 days
No data
12th 30 days
No data
13th 30 days
No data
Publication date
September 6, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 1,805 impressions
- 4 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 2,440 impressions
- 4 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 3,096 impressions
- 28 clicks
4th 30 Days
- 2,829 impressions
- 20 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 3,403 impressions
- 33 clicks
6th 30 days
- 3,286 impressions
- 32 clicks
7th 30 days
- 4,943 impressions
- 29 clicks
8th 30 days
- 6,122 impressions
- 33 clicks
9th 30 days
- 9,273 impressions
- 38 clicks
10th 30 days
- 7,609 impressions
- 13 clicks
11th 30 days
No data
12th 30 days
No data
13th 30 days
No data
Publication date
September 9, 2024
1st 30 Days
- 4,659 impressions
- 2 clicks
2nd 30 Days
- 6,598 impressions
- 8 clicks
3rd 30 Days
- 4,983 impressions
- 7 clicks
4th 30 Days
- 4,156 impressions
- 10 clicks
5th 30 Days
- 2,916 impressions
- 1 click
6th 30 days
- 2,330 impressions
- 0 clicks
7th 30 days
- 2,395 impressions
- 0 clicks
8th 30 days
- 3,297 impressions
- 4 clicks
9th 30 days
- 4,756 impressions
- 2 clicks
10th 30 days
- 4,674 impressions
- 3 clicks
11th 30 days
No data
12th 30 days
No data
13th 30 days
No data
June 4, 2024
- 4,527 impressions
- 14 clicks
- 5,325 impressions
- 19 clicks
- 6,983 impressions
- 31 clicks
- 6,313 impressions
- 28 clicks
- 7,629 impressions
- 20
- 8,890 impressions
- 49 clicks
- 6,819 impressions
- 30 clicks
- 6,897 impressions
- 23 clicks
- 5,778 impressions
- 3 clicks
- 8,674 impressions
- 4 clicks
- 10,608 impressions
- 6 clicks
- 13,366 impressions
- 10 clicks
- 10,234 impressions
- 8 clicks
June 20, 2024
- 2,889 impressions
- 21 clicks
- 5,442 impressions
- 53 clicks
- 8,195 impressions
- 74 clicks
- 11,529 impressions
- 128 clicks
- 14,765 impressions
- 184 clicks
- 14,758 impressions
- 174 clicks
- 17,909 impressions
- 239 clicks
- 23,105 impressions
- 155 clicks
- 23,201 impressions
- 202 clicks
- 25,356 impressions
- 147 clicks
- 29,854 impressions
- 186 clicks
- 34,333 impressions
- 152 clicks
- 24,526 impressions
- 106 clicks
August 30, 2024
- 313 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 390 impressions
- 2 clicks
- 469 impressions
- 1 click
- 760 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 459 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 657 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 795 impressions
- 1 click
- 811 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 868 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 832 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 1,317 impressions
- 1 click
No data
No data
September 5, 2024
- 3,649 impressions
- 7 clicks
- 5,486 impressions
- 12 clicks
- 6,682 impressions
- 16 clicks
- 11,092 impressions
- 31 clicks
- 12,375 impressions
- 26 clicks
- 10,776 impressions
- 19 clicks
- 16,095 impressions
- 23 clicks
- 17,722 impressions
- 19 clicks
- 20,388 impressions
- 9 clicks
- 18,192 impressions
- 9 clicks
No data
No data
No data
September 6, 2024
- 1,805 impressions
- 4 clicks
- 2,440 impressions
- 4 clicks
- 3,096 impressions
- 28 clicks
- 2,829 impressions
- 20 clicks
- 3,403 impressions
- 33 clicks
- 3,286 impressions
- 32 clicks
- 4,943 impressions
- 29 clicks
- 6,122 impressions
- 33 clicks
- 9,273 impressions
- 38 clicks
- 7,609 impressions
- 13 clicks
No data
No data
No data
September 9, 2024
- 4,659 impressions
- 2 clicks
- 6,598 impressions
- 8 clicks
- 4,983 impressions
- 7 clicks
- 4,156 impressions
- 10 clicks
- 2,916 impressions
- 1 click
- 2,330 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 2,395 impressions
- 0 clicks
- 3,297 impressions
- 4 clicks
- 4,756 impressions
- 2 clicks
- 4,674 impressions
- 3 clicks
No data
No data
No data
In the first six months, articles published earlier (e.g., Dashboards vs Reports and Seed Keywords) received more clicks and impressions because they had more time to rank and gain traction. For example, Seed Keywords started around 4,500 impressions in the first 30 days and nearly doubled that by the 6th period. The Dashboards vs Reports article showed even more dramatic growth, jumping from roughly 2,900 impressions in the first 30 days to over 11,000 impressions by the 4th interval and 14,000+ in the 5th and 6th.
However, this advantage diminishes over time. While the Dashboards vs Reports article still leads in impressions, the second spot is now held by the SEO Benchmarking article, published in September 2024.
Clicks for each article fluctuated for various reasons. For example, Seed Keywords dropped from 28 clicks in the fourth interval to 20 in the fifth, then rebounded to 49 in the sixth before falling to 8 in July 2025. In contrast, the Dashboards vs Reports article showed a more consistently upward trend in clicks.
Interestingly, despite generating only 51K impressions, the SEO Taxonomy article has more clicks than the SEO Benchmarking article, which has nearly three times as many impressions.
3 of the generated articles rank in the organic top 10
We also tracked AI-generated articles and keywords with our Rank Tracker to see how positions changed over time. We chose July 31, 2025, as the end date for tracking positions for each article in our experiment (but we have been tracking positions throughout and continue to do so now).
As you can see from the table below, three articles are currently ranking in the top 10, one post is showing no performance, and two are in positions 19 and 25.
Publication date
June 4, 2024
Lowest position
38 (March 14 and 25, 2025)
Entered top 10
10 (August 4, 2024)
Highest position
5 (July 15, 2025)
Position as of July 31, 2025
7
Publication date
June 20, 2024
Lowest position
30 (July 31, 2024)
Entered top 10
10 (August 2, 2024)
Highest position
1 (from September 12)
Position as of July 31, 2025
1
Publication date
August 30, 2024
Lowest position
Position below 100
Entered top 10
Position below 100
Highest position
Position below 100
Position as of July 31, 2025
Position below 100
Publication date
September 5, 2024
Lowest position
29 (February 2, 2025)
Entered top 10
8 (October 7, 2024)
Highest position
6 (April 11, 2025)
Position as of July 31, 2025
19
Publication date
September 6, 2024
Lowest position
32 (September 9, 2024)
Entered top 10
10 (September 23, 2024)
Highest position
1 (July 27, 2025)
Position as of July 31, 2025
3
Publication date
September 9, 2024
Lowest position
78 (September 19, 2024)
Entered top 10
10 (October 6, 2024)
Highest position
10 (October 6, 2024)
Position as of July 31, 2025
25
June 4, 2024
38 (March 14 and 25, 2025)
10 (August 4, 2024)
5 (July 15, 2025)
7
June 20, 2024
30 (July 31, 2024)
10 (August 2, 2024)
1 (from September 12)
1
August 30, 2024
Position below 100
Position below 100
Position below 100
Position below 100
September 5, 2024
29 (February 2, 2025)
8 (October 7, 2024)
6 (April 11, 2025)
19
September 6, 2024
32 (September 9, 2024)
10 (September 23, 2024)
1 (July 27, 2025)
3
September 9, 2024
78 (September 19, 2024)
10 (October 6, 2024)
10 (October 6, 2024)
25
The screenshots from our Rank Tracker (shown below) present position dynamics for each article, beginning at the publication date and ending on July 31, 2025.
2 generated articles made it to the sources section in AI Overviews
We added our target keywords to SE Ranking’s AI Results Tracker to see if they trigger AI Overviews in search. We also checked if our generated articles were cited as sources in these AI responses.
Five out of six keywords triggered AI Overviews, and four articles were linked as sources in AIOs. Included were the Dashboards vs Reports, Taxonomy SEO articles, Seed keywords (since August 1, 2025), and SEO benchmarking.
The local business reviews keyword triggered AI Overviews, but our related article didn’t appear in the source list. The product-led growth keyword currently doesn’t trigger AIOs.
The results of the initial experiment on our blog are encouraging. The AI-generated articles not only secured search visibility but also began to attract traffic. Half of them rank in the organic top 10, and 4 appear as sources in AI Overviews. However, these positive outcomes might have been influenced by our domain’s already established authority and trust. To see if similar results could be achieved under less favorable conditions, we broadened our study, leading to the second part of our experiment.
By the way, if you want to go beyond experiments and start implementing AI in your day-to-day SEO work, check out our AI for SEO guide. It shows how to automate core website optimization tasks using AI, backed by real examples and action steps.
Testing AI-generated content on 20 brand-new websites
With this second iteration, we wanted to see how AI-generated content would perform when published on brand-new domains with no existing reputation. We also looked for any dependencies on the domain’s niche. Our goal was to see how AI content gets indexed, how well it can rank in search results, and whether it has traffic potential.
We accomplished this by testing 2,000 AI-generated articles across 20 newly registered domains. The following sections provide more details on our methodology and results.
New domains experiment methodology
Selecting niches and keywords
We chose 20 popular and broad-ranging niches to cover diverse interests and industries. These included:
- Arts & Entertainment
- Business & Services
- Community & Society
- Computers & Technology
- Ecommerce & Shopping
- Finance & Accounting
- Food & Drink
- Games & Accessories
- Health & Medicine
- Industry & Engineering
- Hobbies & Interests
- Home & Garden
- Jobs & Career
- Law & Government
- Lifestyle & Well-being
- Pets & Animals
- Science & Education
- Sports & Fitness
- Travel & Tourism
- Vehicles & Boats
For each niche, we selected 3–5 top-performing, authoritative websites that ranked for relevant how-to keywords. We used our Competitive Research Tool to extract informational how-to queries and applied filters to get a list of low-search-volume keywords.
In cases where niches didn’t have enough low-search-volume terms, we supplemented the list with medium-search-volume queries. The monthly search volumes for the selected keywords ranged from 10 to 990, with an average of 106 across all niches.
We reviewed the keywords to match our criteria and cover different topics within each niche. This resulted in our keyword list of 100 how-to queries per niche and 2,000 keywords in total. Find the complete keyword list in this document.
Buying new domains and setting them up
To create a standardized environment, we purchased 20 brand-new domains—one for each niche. These domains had no prior search history, backlinks, or established reputations.
We made WordPress the content management system for each website. To maintain consistency across all sites, we applied the same free WordPress theme and activated only one additional plugin: Yoast SEO.
We didn’t make further customizations or enhancements. No internal linking was employed, and no images were added.
Generating content and publishing it on new websites
We generated content in one click using SE Ranking’s AI Writer. We created 2,000 articles in total and 100 per niche. We didn’t provide extra prompts, guidance, or edits. We also generated titles and meta descriptions for each content piece.
The generated content was used as-is. We generated articles in bulk with the help of our development team.
We then exported these AI-generated articles and uploaded them to the corresponding WordPress sites via SE Ranking’s WordPress API.
Each site received 100 articles during the same period on November 5-6, 2024. We added no further manual adjustments, internal linking, or images.
Tracking approach
After the content went live, we added each site to Google Search Console to monitor its indexing and performance metrics. We submitted sitemaps to encourage indexing without any other indexing or promotional tactics. We conducted no link-building campaigns, created no internal link structures, and promoted nothing on social media. These sites were left untouched because we wanted them to be evaluated based on merit alone.
We also added our keyword list to:
- Keyword Rank Tracker: To track keyword rankings over time for each domain.
- AI Results Tracker: To see how many queries would trigger AI Overviews.
All data was tracked in the US.
We gave the sites 36 days before checking the initial results, then rechecked them more than half a year later.
Results of the new domains experiment
70.95% of all generated pages were indexed in the first 36 days
Between November 6 and December 11, 2024, we monitored Google as it indexed the 2,000 AI-generated articles published across 20 new domains. The indexing rate reached 70.95% (1,419 out of 2,000 pages), meaning that almost two-thirds of all published pages were successfully included in Google’s search results within a little over one month.
This is a high rate given that different estimates suggest that only about 15% to 20% of the entire web gets indexed. John Mueller from Google also noted that it’s normal for not all 100% of your pages to be indexed.
- 11 sites saw full indexation, with all 100 pages per site included in Google’s index.
- 3 sites achieved substantial, though not complete, indexation of 78–97 pages.
- 2 sites lagged behind, each having only 18 indexed pages.
- 4 niches struggled to get indexed by Google, each with fewer than 10 pages indexed.
Google fully indexed over half of the tested websites in roughly one month. This suggests that the search engine is open to crawling and indexing brand-new domains and can do so even if the content is entirely AI-generated.
Many niches with a 100% indexation rate (Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Jobs & Career, Lifestyle & Well-being, etc.) are evergreen and broad topics. In contrast, more competitive or specialized areas like Ecommerce & Shopping and Computers & Technology displayed slower indexing, possibly due to stricter content evaluation.
Some niches that can be attributed to the Your Money Your Life category (Health & Medicine and Finance & Accounting) achieved full or near-complete indexation. These results suggest that even AI-generated material—if well-structured and relevant—can meet Google’s basic indexing criteria.
8 websites started to rank for 1000+ keywords in 36 days
We also analyzed how many keywords each site began ranking for within the first month. Instead of the hand-picked “how-to” keywords we targeted during content creation, these keywords represent all terms for which GSC detected organic visibility.
Our 36-day results show that:
- Eight sites had an impressive start, ranking for over 1,000 different keywords each.
- Eight sites landed in the mid-range category, visible for between 100 and 1,000 keywords.
- Three sites had more modest visibility, ranking for between 30 and 100 keywords.
- One site barely gained traction, with only 2 detected keywords.
As for the positions these domains achieved across all keywords identified by GSC:
- Five sites had all their GSC keywords ranking between positions 29.7-49.3 on average.
- Fourteen sites had all their GSC keywords ranking within positions 52.3-73 on average.
- One site had all its GSC keywords ranking in position 112.8 on average.
Some niches like Business & Services, Games & Accessories, Hobbies & Interests, etc., lend themselves to broader keyword coverage. The variations in keyword quantity and average ranking position for them highlight that, while AI-generated content can secure a foothold in search results, improved rankings will likely depend on further optimization, content enhancements, and establishing domain authority.
Generated content accumulated 240+ clicks and 122K impressions in the first month
We examined that early traffic and impression data and metrics across all domains are quite noticeable:
- 244 clicks in total
- 122,102 impressions in total
Several niches accumulated more than 10,000 impressions in total. These were primarily the same niches that ranked for 1,000+ keywords:
- Hobbies & Interests: 17,425 impressions
- Business & Services: 17,311 impressions
- Travel & Tourism: 13,598 impressions
- Lifestyle & Well-being: 13,072 impressions
- Law & Government: 11,794 impressions
- Games & Accessories: 11,083 impressions
- Vehicles & Boats: 10,677 impressions
For actual clicks, we saw similar trends: niches excelling in impressions also led in clicks.
- Hobbies & Interests: 55 clicks
- Games & Accessories: 41 clicks
- Law & Government: 38 clicks
- Business & Services: 24 clicks
- Lifestyle & Well-being: 23 clicks
- Vehicles & Boats: 18 clicks
The Home & Garden niche, despite not passing the 10K-impression threshold (6,410 impressions), joined the lead in clicks (10 clicks), while the Travel & Tourism domain recorded 13,598 impressions but generated only 9 clicks.
As for underperformers, the Pets & Animals domain, ranked for only two keywords, resulting in just 6 impressions and 0 clicks. The Sports & Fitness niche, despite ranking for 168 keywords, earned 393 impressions but no clicks.
Clicks
55 clicks
Impressions
17,425 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
41 clicks
Impressions
11,083 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
38 clicks
Impressions
11,794 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
24 clicks
Impressions
17,311 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
23 clicks
Impressions
13,072 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
18 clicks
Impressions
10,677 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
10 clicks
Impressions
6,410 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
9 clicks
Impressions
13,598 impressions
GSC keywords
1000+ keywords
Clicks
5 clicks
Impressions
4,815 impressions
GSC keywords
939 keywords
Clicks
5 clicks
Impressions
4,737 impressions
GSC keywords
464 keywords
Clicks
3 clicks
Impressions
1,171 impressions
GSC keywords
134 keywords
Clicks
3 clicks
Impressions
994 impressions
GSC keywords
274 keywords
Clicks
3 clicks
Impressions
476 impressions
GSC keywords
134 keywords
Clicks
2 clicks
Impressions
6,146 impressions
GSC keywords
550 keywords
Clicks
2 clicks
Impressions
854 impressions
GSC keywords
233 keywords
Clicks
1 click
Impressions
539 impressions
GSC keywords
56 keywords
Clicks
1 click
Impressions
452 impressions
GSC keywords
69 keywords
Clicks
1 click
Impressions
149 impressions
GSC keywords
31 keywords
Clicks
0 clicks
Impressions
393 impressions
GSC keywords
168 keywords
Clicks
0 clicks
Impressions
6 impressions
GSC keywords
2 keywords
55 clicks
17,425 impressions
1000+ keywords
41 clicks
11,083 impressions
1000+ keywords
38 clicks
11,794 impressions
1000+ keywords
24 clicks
17,311 impressions
1000+ keywords
23 clicks
13,072 impressions
1000+ keywords
18 clicks
10,677 impressions
1000+ keywords
10 clicks
6,410 impressions
1000+ keywords
9 clicks
13,598 impressions
1000+ keywords
5 clicks
4,815 impressions
939 keywords
5 clicks
4,737 impressions
464 keywords
3 clicks
1,171 impressions
134 keywords
3 clicks
994 impressions
274 keywords
3 clicks
476 impressions
134 keywords
2 clicks
6,146 impressions
550 keywords
2 clicks
854 impressions
233 keywords
1 click
539 impressions
56 keywords
1 click
452 impressions
69 keywords
1 click
149 impressions
31 keywords
0 clicks
393 impressions
168 keywords
0 clicks
6 impressions
2 keywords
The screenshots below show data pulled directly from GSC (November to December 2024) for each site in this experiment.
The traffic and impression data show that while AI-generated content on new domains can achieve initial visibility, not all niches benefit equally. Niches that gained extensive keyword coverage also saw more impressions and clicks. Still, some areas may need strategic refinements to turn impressions into tangible traffic.
Five sites had up to 30% of their keywords ranking in the top 30 on desktop and up to 37% on mobile from November to December 2024
According to data from our Keyword Rank Tracker, five domains had between 20% and 30% of their keywords ranking in the top 30 on desktop from November to December 2024. We checked the “how-to” keywords we used for content generation, not the ones detected by GSC.
The leading websites were:
- Games & Accessories: 29 out of 100 keywords
- Hobbies & Interests: 29 out of 100 keywords
- Law & Government: 25 out of 100 keywords
- Lifestyle & Well-being: 25 out of 100 keywords
- Vehicles & Boats: 22 out of 100 keywords
In total:
- 189 out of the 2,000 keywords (9.45%) across all analyzed domains ranked in the top 30 on desktop.
- 379 queries out of 2,000 (18.95%) ranked in the positions 31-100.
- 1,432 of the analyzed keywords (71.60%) ranked outside the top 100 on desktop.
In the table below, you can see the distribution of all analyzed keywords by ranking tier across niches in desktop search:
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
4 keywords
Top 31-100
6 keywords
Top>100
90 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
2 keywords
Top 11-30
4 keywords
Top 31-100
21 keywords
Top>100
73 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
1 keywords
Top>100
99 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
1 keywords
Top 31-100
2 keywords
Top>100
97 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
1 keyword
Top 4-10
9 keywords
Top 11-30
2 keywords
Top 31-100
33 keywords
Top>100
55 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
29 keywords
Top>100
71 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
29 keywords
Top 31-100
10 keywords
Top>100
61 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
1 keyword
Top 31-100
7 keywords
Top>100
92 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
2 keywords
Top 11-30
27 keywords
Top 31-100
29 keywords
Top>100
42 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
10 keywords
Top 31-100
44 keywords
Top>100
46 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
4 keywords
Top>100
96 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
8 keywords
Top 31-100
37 keywords
Top>100
55 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
4 keywords
Top 11-30
21 keywords
Top 31-100
32 keywords
Top>100
43 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
25 keywords
Top 31-100
36 keywords
Top>100
39 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
5 keywords
Top>100
95 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
17 keywords
Top 31-100
51 keywords
Top>100
32 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
22 keywords
Top 31-100
32 keywords
Top>100
46 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
4 keywords
6 keywords
90 keywords
0 keywords
2 keywords
4 keywords
21 keywords
73 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
1 keywords
99 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
1 keywords
2 keywords
97 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
1 keyword
9 keywords
2 keywords
33 keywords
55 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
29 keywords
71 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
29 keywords
10 keywords
61 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
1 keyword
7 keywords
92 keywords
0 keywords
2 keywords
27 keywords
29 keywords
42 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
10 keywords
44 keywords
46 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
4 keywords
96 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
8 keywords
37 keywords
55 keywords
0 keywords
4 keywords
21 keywords
32 keywords
43 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
25 keywords
36 keywords
39 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
5 keywords
95 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
17 keywords
51 keywords
32 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
22 keywords
32 keywords
46 keywords
The data for mobile search was better. It shows that the same top five niches (although in a different order) had from 29% to 37% of their keywords ranking in the top 30 on mobile:
- Hobbies & Interests: 37 out of 100 keywords
- Games & Accessories: 32 out of 100 keywords
- Lifestyle & Well-being: 30 out of 100 keywords
- Vehicles & Boats: 29 out of 100 keywords
- Law & Government: 26 out of 100 keywords
For mobile search:
- 11.85% of analyzed keywords (237 out of 2,000) ranked in the top 30.
- 16.75% of analyzed keywords (335 out of 2,000) ranked in positions 31-100.
- 71.40% of analyzed keywords (1,428 out of 2,000) ranked outside the top 100.
The table below shows the mobile device-based distribution of analyzed keywords in different ranking groups and niches:
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
4 keywords
Top 31-100
6 keywords
Top>100
90 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
2 keywords
Top 11-30
6 keywords
Top 31-100
22 keywords
Top>100
70 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
1 keywords
Top>100
99 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
2 keywords
Top 31-100
1 keywords
Top>100
97 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
1 keyword
Top 4-10
2 keywords
Top 11-30
12 keywords
Top 31-100
28 keywords
Top>100
57 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
30 keywords
Top>100
70 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
1 keywords
Top 11-30
31 keywords
Top 31-100
8 keywords
Top>100
60 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
1 keyword
Top 31-100
7 keywords
Top>100
92 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
5 keywords
Top 11-30
32 keywords
Top 31-100
22 keywords
Top>100
41 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
21 keywords
Top 31-100
34 keywords
Top>100
45 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
5 keywords
Top>100
95 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
8 keywords
Top 31-100
36 keywords
Top>100
56 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
4 keywords
Top 11-30
22 keywords
Top 31-100
31 keywords
Top>100
43 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
30 keywords
Top 31-100
28 keywords
Top>100
42 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
9 keywords
Top>100
91 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
0 keywords
Top 31-100
0 keywords
Top>100
100 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
24 keywords
Top 31-100
43 keywords
Top>100
33 keywords
Top 1-3
0 keywords
Top 4-10
0 keywords
Top 11-30
29 keywords
Top 31-100
24 keywords
Top>100
47 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
4 keywords
6 keywords
90 keywords
0 keywords
2 keywords
6 keywords
22 keywords
70 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
1 keywords
99 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
2 keywords
1 keywords
97 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
1 keyword
2 keywords
12 keywords
28 keywords
57 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
30 keywords
70 keywords
0 keywords
1 keywords
31 keywords
8 keywords
60 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
1 keyword
7 keywords
92 keywords
0 keywords
5 keywords
32 keywords
22 keywords
41 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
21 keywords
34 keywords
45 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
5 keywords
95 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
8 keywords
36 keywords
56 keywords
0 keywords
4 keywords
22 keywords
31 keywords
43 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
30 keywords
28 keywords
42 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
9 keywords
91 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
100 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
24 keywords
43 keywords
33 keywords
0 keywords
0 keywords
29 keywords
24 keywords
47 keywords
At the start of the experiment, many pages were competing for visibility in the lower ranking tiers, and some niches made notable progress, especially in mobile search results. However, this success did not last.
Since February 2025, none of the articles have ranked in the top 100 search results
Although this experiment initially showed promise based on the results above, all of the articles dropped out of the search results on February 3, 2025.
In practice, they remained in the SERPs and generated minimal traffic for only three months. This outcome was likely driven by two key factors:
- The sites hosting these articles were new and lacked domain authority.
- Google tends to deprioritize fully AI-generated content that lacks human input and originality.
You might see a short-term boost from quickly generated content, but without proper optimization and unique value, rankings and traffic are likely to drop soon after.
Conclusion
Our research shows how AI-written content performs in search and the results it can deliver. AI content that has been edited and refined by our team continues to perform well, while fully AI-generated content has seen no traffic or visibility for the past six months. The takeaway is clear: fully AI-generated content may deliver some initial results, but it’s unlikely to be a good long-term strategy. If you do use AI to create content, it should always be followed by thorough editing, optimization, and other refinements.
We’re continuing to test and explore, analyze the reasons for the drops, and plan to examine how internal links and images affect performance. We’ll also experiment with keyword clusters. In the meantime, you can run your tests by signing up for a free trial of SE Ranking. You’ll get access to tools and data that help you validate any SEO hypothesis, refine your approach, and develop a well-rounded strategy.
