How to Tell if a Website Is AI Generated

How can you tell if a website is AI generated?

You tell if a website is AI generated by checking two separate things: how the content was made, and who runs the site. Learning how to tell if a website is AI generated is useful, but for most visitors the deeper question is whether the site is legit.

Plenty of honest businesses use AI to draft text or create images. Plenty of scam sites are written by hand. Keep the two questions apart, and you avoid both false alarms and false comfort.

What does AI content on a website look like?

AI content on a website usually reads as fluent, generic and interchangeable. Pages say a lot without saying anything specific to this business, this product or this place.

• Openers and closers that could fit any site: “In today’s fast-paced world”, “Elevate your experience”, “Unlock the power of”.
• Every page follows the same structure, with similar headings and similar length.
• No concrete details: no named staff, no real addresses, no dates, prices tied to nothing, no photos of actual premises or products.
• Blog posts published in large batches on the same day, all of similar length and tone.
• Facts that are slightly wrong, invented quotes, or links to sources that do not exist.
• Leftover artifacts: placeholder text, a different brand name in one paragraph, or chatbot phrases left in the copy.

None of these alone proves anything; corporate copywriting is often generic too. Our guide on how to tell if text is AI generated covers the language tells in detail, and our guide on whether Google penalizes AI content explains why AI text is not automatically a problem for search.

What image and design signals suggest an AI generated website?

Images are often the clearest signal on an AI generated website, because product shots, team photos and “our store” pictures are hard to fake convincingly. Look at them at full size.

For any team photo, run a reverse image search. A “founder” whose face appears on a stock site or under a different name is a strong warning, whether the photo is AI or stolen. Our guide on how to tell if an image is AI generated lists more visual tells.

How do you check a website’s domain age with RDAP or WHOIS?

You check domain age by looking up the domain’s registration data, which shows the date the domain was first registered. A shop that claims decades of history on a domain registered a few weeks ago is a red flag.

Registration data used to come from WHOIS. ICANN announced that as of 28 January 2025, the Registration Data Access Protocol, RDAP, is the definitive source for generic top-level domains such as .com. Many lookup tools still label their search “WHOIS”, and they work the same way for you.

1. 01Copy the domain name only, without the page path.
2. 02Search it in an RDAP or WHOIS lookup tool, such as the one ICANN provides.
3. 03Note the registration date, the registrar and the expiry date.
4. 04Compare the date with the site’s claims: “since 1998”, “family business for three generations”, years of reviews.
5. 05If you want more history, check a public web archive for earlier versions of the site.

While you have the domain in front of you, check its spelling. Lookalike domains swap a letter, add a hyphen or a word such as “official” or “outlet”, or use a different ending from the brand’s real site. A copy of a known brand on a new, slightly different domain is one of the clearest warning signs you will find.

What should contact and legal pages tell you?

Contact and legal pages should name a real business you can reach and hold to account. Scam sites, AI generated or not, often leave these pages thin, copied or contradictory.

• A physical address that exists and matches the business type when you search it on a map.
• A phone number and an email on the site’s own domain, not only a contact form or a free webmail address.
• A company name and, where your country requires it, a registration number you can check in a public business register.
• Terms, refund and privacy pages that name the same company and country, and that do not mention a different brand.
• Payment options with buyer protection, rather than only bank transfer, gift cards or crypto.

Generated legal pages are a specific tell. If the refund policy cites the laws of one country while the contact page lists another, or names a company that does not appear anywhere else, treat the site as unverified.

A quick test helps: send a simple question through the listed email address before you buy. A real business usually answers with something specific. No answer, an automated reply that ignores your question, or a reply from a different domain tells you how support will go if something goes wrong.

Is this site legit? How to check reviews off-site

To check whether a site is legit, read what other people say about it on independent sites, not on the site itself. Testimonials on a shop’s own pages are easy to write or generate and impossible to verify.

1. 01Search the site’s name and domain together with words like “reviews”, “scam” or “complaint”.
2. 02Look at independent review platforms, forums and social media comments.
3. 03Check the pattern of those reviews: bursts of five-star posts and generic praise deserve little weight.
4. 04Look for consistent complaints about the same problem, such as orders never arriving or refunds refused.
5. 05Check whether the brand has a social media presence older than a few weeks, with real interaction.

Also check for security warnings. Google’s Transparency Report offers a Safe Browsing site status lookup that shows whether Google currently flags a site as unsafe, without you having to visit it. A clean status is reassuring but not a guarantee, because new scam sites may not be flagged yet. Our guide on how to spot AI generated reviews explains how to weigh the reviews you find.

How do you use an AI generated website checker?

You use an AI generated website checker by entering the site’s public address and reading both parts of the result: how much of the content looks generated, and the trust signals. It saves you opening and checking pages one by one.

The AnyFact AI website checker explores up to 20 pages of any public URL and respects robots.txt. Page texts go through the text detector and images, up to 30, through the photo detector. It adds trust signals: domain age via RDAP, and Google Safe Browsing where available. Pages behind a login are not analyzed.

The verdict is probably human, uncertain, probably AI or mixed when only some pages or images look generated, which is common on real sites. It comes with the signals, an explanation, the limits of the method and a downloadable PDF report.

To look at one page or one image more closely, run it through the AI text detector or the AI image detector directly.

Does AI content mean a website is a scam?

No. AI content on a website is not evidence of fraud. Many legitimate businesses, publishers and solo founders use AI to draft text, illustrate posts or build pages, and many scams are written entirely by people.

For publishers, the question is often quality and disclosure rather than fraud; our page for publishers and SEO teams covers that use. For shoppers, trust signals decide: domain age, a reachable business and independent reviews.

Is this website AI generated? A checklist

Run this checklist before you buy, sign up or cite a site you do not know. It takes a few minutes and covers both the content and the people behind it.

1. 01Read two or three pages for generic, interchangeable text and missing specifics.
2. 02Look at team and product images at full size, and reverse search any faces.
3. 03Look up the domain’s registration date and compare it with the site’s claims.
4. 04Check the contact, legal and refund pages for a real, consistent business.
5. 05Search for reviews and complaints on independent sites.
6. 06Check for a Safe Browsing warning.
7. 07Run the site through an AI website checker and read the signals, page by page.
8. 08Decide on the trust signals, not on the AI score alone.

Frequently asked questions