Google Warns Against Fake Author Profiles in Updated Content Guidance

Google has updated its guidance for creating helpful content to warn against fake author profiles. According to the latest version of Google's people-first content page, site owners should avoid using deceptive authorship information, including AI-generated headshots and made-up names.

The new paragraph is a departure from previous versions, which only mentioned adding accurate authorship information such as bylines. The updated guidance also includes a section defining main content.

Google's rater guidelines already had similar examples of deception, which included AI-generated content with made-up author profiles and false credentials. Raters are instructed to give pages that use deception the Lowest rating.