Scaled content abuse explained: how to publish many articles without tripping Google.

We publish a lot. So we read the policy closely, because "scaled" is in the name and we are scaling.

What the policy says

Google's spam policies define scaled content abuse as when many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users, typically large amounts of unoriginal content that provides little to no value, "no matter how it's created". Google's examples include:

• Using generative AI or similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users.
• Scraping feeds, search results or other content to generate many pages, including through automated synonymising, translating or other obfuscation.
• Stitching or combining content from different pages without adding value.
• Creating multiple sites to hide the scaled nature of the content.
• Creating many pages that make little sense to a reader but contain search keywords.

Notice what is not on the list: AI assistance itself, or publishing frequently. The test is value, not method or volume.

The 2026 updates

Dates from Google's Search Status Dashboard as reported by industry coverage. Google didn't name a target category for any of them.

The rules we publish by

1. Something only we can say. Every article carries at least one of: our own numbers, a first-hand story, a test we ran, or a free tool. No unique asset, no article.
2. A real question. Each piece targets a question people ask, not a keyword variant. We don't make "ASO for [category]" pages by swapping one word.
3. Named authors. Every piece has a byline that resolves to a real person with a profile.
4. Sources for every external claim, and a plain "we don't know" where the data doesn't exist.
5. Human review of every fact, including titles, meta descriptions and structured data. Google's guidance on AI-generated content asks for exactly this.
6. A stop signal. If more than 20 to 30% of recent URLs sit in "Crawled, currently not indexed", we pause, then strengthen, merge or remove the weakest pages. That threshold is a working rule of thumb, not a Google number.

Warning signs on your own site

• Many new pages indexed slowly or not at all.
• Pages that differ only by a place name, category or product name.
• Articles nobody internal could defend line by line.
• Impressions falling site-wide within two weeks of a confirmed spam update.

Publishing more is not the risk. Publishing more of the same is. If you can't say what a new page adds that the web didn't already have, don't publish it.

Questions people ask

What is scaled content abuse?

Google's term for generating many pages mainly to manipulate search rankings rather than help users, typically unoriginal content with little value, regardless of whether people or AI made it.

Does Google penalise AI-generated content?

Not for being AI-generated. Google's policy targets pages generated at scale without adding value. AI-assisted content that is accurate, reviewed and genuinely useful is allowed.

How many articles can I publish safely?

Google publishes no safe number. What matters is that each page adds something unique. Watch indexing: if many new URLs aren't being indexed, slow down and improve them.