Using AI to write your dietitian website? What Google says to check first

Can you use ChatGPT, Claude or an AI website builder to write your dietitian website? Yes. Google's guidance does not tell you to avoid AI. What it asks for, in wording it added on October 1, 2026, is a human check: a person should fact-check and review everything the AI wrote before it goes live. For a dietitian, that person is you, and we suggest setting aside about an hour for a small site. This post covers what Google says and exactly what to look for.

What does Google say about AI-written website content?

Google says AI is fine as a drafting tool and that a human review before publishing is critical. Its page on using generative AI content opens by saying generative AI "can be particularly useful when researching a topic, and to add structure to original content."

Then it explains the risk in plain terms. AI models "don't retrieve facts, but predict a likely sequence of words based on their training data", so their output "may contain inaccuracies". The instruction that follows is the one to remember:

It is critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing.

Two more Google pages point the same way.

• The spam policies. Google's spam policies describe "scaled content abuse", which includes "using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users". Sites that break the spam policies may rank lower or not appear at all. A five-page practice site that you have read and corrected is not what this policy describes. Fifty near-identical "dietitian in [city]" pages would be.
• The helpful content guide. Google's guide to helpful, people-first content now lists what its quality raters look at in a page's main content: effort, originality, talent or skill, and accuracy. It says using generative AI "to produce large amounts of text without manual oversight or curation represents little to no effort". Google is also clear that rater data is not used directly in ranking. The raters' guidelines show what Google's systems are trying to reward, and are not a scoring sheet for your site.

So the question that matters is whether a qualified person checked the text and made it their own. "Did AI write this?" is the wrong test.

Why does this matter more for a dietitian's site?

Nutrition is a health topic, and Google holds health content to a higher accuracy standard. The helpful content guide says that for topics that could significantly affect people's lives or well-being, content "must be highly accurate and consistent with established expert consensus".

An AI tool does not know your scope of practice, your state, or the current evidence in your specialty. It writes what sounds likely. You are the expert in the room, which is the reason your review counts for something.

Your profession already asks the same of you. The Code of Ethics for the Nutrition and Dietetics Profession, from the Academy and CDR, tells practitioners to "provide accurate and truthful information in all communications". Your website is one of those communications, whoever typed the first draft.

What should you check in the text you can see?

Check every fact about you first, then every claim about health. Read each page with your own records open beside it.

Facts about you and your practice

• Credentials. Does the page list only credentials you hold today, spelled correctly? Look for any specialty certification that was added because it fits the topic. If you want help wording this section, see our guide to explaining your credentials on your website.
• License states. Are the states you can see clients in listed correctly, with none added?
• Insurance and prices. Does the page name only the plans you are in network with, and do the prices match what you charge?
• Experience. Are your years in practice, past employers and training places real? A line like "over a decade of experience" is a factual claim.
• Services. Does the site offer only what you offer? Remove group programs, meal plans or lab testing if you don't provide them.
• Booking and contact details. Click every link. Call the phone number.

Health and outcome claims

• Promises. Remove "reverse", "cure", "heal for good", "guaranteed" and any line that promises a result.
• Statistics and studies. If the draft cites a number or a study, find the original. If you can't find it, delete the sentence. Google's guidance warns that AI output may contain inaccuracies, and a citation is no exception.
• Advice written as fact. Keep service pages educational and general. Anything that reads like individual medical advice belongs in a session, not on a web page.

The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance is written for health products rather than services, but its principles are a useful guide here. It says a marketer is "equally responsible for the accuracy of claims suggested or reasonably implied" in advertising. "The AI wrote it" does not move that responsibility to anyone else.

Testimonials

Delete any testimonial, review or client quote the AI wrote, including "sample" ones meant as placeholders. In August 2024 the FTC announced a final rule that covers testimonials that "misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist, such as AI-generated fake reviews". A placeholder that gets published by accident is still a fake testimonial. Leave the section empty until you have real ones.

What should you check in the parts you can't see?

Check the page title, the meta description, the structured data and the image alt text. Google's guidance names all four, because they "can appear in Search results" even though visitors never see them on the page.

• Page title. This is the text on the browser tab and often the headline of your result in Google. It should say who you are and what the page is about, for example "[Your Name], RDN: IBS dietitian in Austin, Texas". Check that the city, state and specialty are yours.
• Meta description. This is a one or two sentence summary of the page. Google's snippet documentation says it sometimes uses the meta description as the snippet under your link, so an error here can show up in search results. Make sure it does not promise anything the page does not.
• Structured data. This is code that labels the facts on a page (your name, address, hours, credentials) so search engines can read them without guessing. Most website builders create it for you. Google's structured data guidelines say it must be a true representation of the page content and must not mark up content that visitors can't see. In practice: if your builder shows you these fields, check that the name, address, phone and hours match the visible page exactly.
• Image alt text. This is the short description of an image, read aloud by screen readers. It should describe what is in the picture. "Dietitian [Your Name] at a desk with a laptop" is alt text. A string of keywords is not.

Where do you find these? In most website builders they sit under a page's "SEO" or "Settings" panel. If you can't find them, search your builder's help pages for "page title" and "meta description".

What about your name, photo and bio?

Use your real name, a real photo of you, and credentials you hold. Google's helpful content guide now says that "fabricating creator profiles (such as by using AI-generated headshots, made-up names, or false credentials to make content appear as if it was written by human experts) is a form of deception", and that deception is a signal of a low-quality page.

For a dietitian this mostly comes down to two habits:

• Skip the AI headshot. A plain phone photo of the real you is better than a polished image of someone who does not exist.
• Read your bio as if a licensing board were reading it. Every credential, title and membership should be one you could show paperwork for.

AI can tidy the wording of your bio. The facts in it have to come from you.

A one-hour review, step by step

1. Print or list every page. Home, about, services, each specialty page, contact. Our dietitian website checklist shows what a complete small site includes.
2. Fact pass (20 minutes). With your license, CDR card, fee schedule and insurer list in front of you, check every fact about you. Fix or delete anything you can't confirm.
3. Claims pass (15 minutes). Read only for health claims, numbers and promises. Source them or cut them.
4. Voice pass (15 minutes). Mark every sentence that could describe any dietitian anywhere. Replace it with something specific: who you see, how a first session runs, what you won't do. This is the "originality" Google's guide talks about, and it is also what makes a client pick you. Our guide to writing a specialty page has examples.
5. Hidden parts pass (10 minutes). Open each page's title, description, structured data fields and alt text. Check them against the visible page.
6. Write the date down. Review again whenever your fees, states, insurance or services change.

We build an AI site drafter ourselves, so this applies to our own product: you can draft a free preview of your site in about a minute, and you should still read every line before you publish it.

Common mistakes

• Publishing the first draft. The draft is where the work starts. Google's guidance calls the review critical, and the word fits.
• Generating a page for every town or every condition. Many thin pages made by AI is the pattern Google's spam policy describes. A few pages you know well will serve you better.
• Keeping the "sample" testimonials. Remove them the moment you see them.
• Checking the page but not the title and description. These are the first words a searcher reads about you.
• Running the text through an "AI detector" and stopping there. Google's guidance asks for accuracy and human review. It does not mention detection scores, and passing one says nothing about whether your license states are right.
• Asking the same AI to fact-check itself. It can help you spot awkward wording. It cannot confirm what your fees are or which states license you.

How do you know it worked?

You can't measure this with a ranking, and nobody can promise you one. A careful review improves your odds with Google and with AI assistants, and it protects you from publishing something false under your name. Both are worth the hour.

Three honest checks:

• Read the site as a client would. Is there any sentence you would be uncomfortable defending in a first session? If so, change it.
• Ask a colleague. Another RD will catch an overreaching claim faster than any tool.
• Check how AI assistants describe you after a few weeks. If your site is accurate, what they repeat about you is more likely to be accurate too. Here is how to check if AI mentions your practice, and a plain explanation of how AI assistants choose dietitians to mention.

The short version: let AI help you start, and make sure a registered dietitian finishes the page. On your website, that is you.