2.3 Body content, quality & non-commodity ✦HighVerified
Poor auto-translated content
Machine-translated pages published without human review read awkwardly and can be treated as low quality. Each language version deserves real editing.
What it is
Machine translation without review.
Why it matters
Low quality, can be treated as spammy/auto-generated.
How to fix it
Human-review translations.
How to find it on your site
- Read the translated pages, ideally with a native speaker.
- Flag awkward, literal or incorrect translations.
- Have a human review and correct the important pages.
- Pair this with correct hreflang and lang attributes.
Cross-reference to ranking and citation factors
Poor translations signal low quality in that market and can suppress the localised pages. Human review fixes it.
Impact
Medium-high. Direct.
Evidence
Avoid low-quality auto-generated/translated content. Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search; Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
Sources