Did I Just Browse a Website Written by AI? Detecting LLM-Dominant Content on the Modern Web

AI-written websites are on the rise, blending seamlessly into search results. Learn why LLM-dominant content is problematic, how to detect it, and its growing impact on the web.

September 7, 2025

Introduction: The Rise of AI-Written Websites

In 2025, the internet is flooded with content created by large language models (LLMs). While these models power innovation, they’ve also fueled an explosion of websites where most—or all—content is AI-generated with minimal human input. This phenomenon is known as LLM-dominant content.

At first glance, these sites appear professional, ranking well in search results and even rivaling established publications. But beneath the surface, LLM-heavy websites come with risks: plagiarism, factual errors, hallucinations, and ethical concerns. Worse, many sites fail to disclose their reliance on AI, leaving readers unable to distinguish between authentic journalism and machine-generated filler.

This blog explores the science of detecting LLM-driven websites, the challenges current AI detectors face, and the broader implications for search, trust, and the future of the web.

Why LLM-Dominant Websites Are Problematic

  1. Plagiarism & Copyright Issues
    LLMs are trained on vast datasets, often scraping existing works without proper attribution. This makes AI content vulnerable to unintentional plagiarism, leading to copyright violations.
  2. Hallucination & Misinformation
    AI often generates text that sounds credible but is factually incorrect. For example, a health blog might confidently recommend unsafe remedies, misleading users.
  3. Erosion of Trust
    Readers expect accurate, original content online. When they discover that articles are AI-written and unreliable, trust in brands—and the broader web ecosystem—declines.
  4. SEO Manipulation
    Since LLMs can churn out thousands of optimized articles quickly, some site owners use them to flood search results, pushing out smaller publishers and cluttering SERPs.

Why Detecting LLM Content Is Hard

Most AI detectors perform well on clean, prose-like text samples. But websites aren’t just prose. They include:

  • Complex markup (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
  • Mixed genres (reviews, blog posts, e-commerce descriptions)
  • Fragmented snippets like product titles, captions, or FAQs

These features make naive text-based detection unreliable. A blog paragraph might be flagged correctly, but the website as a whole remains unclassified.

A New Approach: Site-Level AI Detection

Instead of analyzing single pages, researchers propose a site-level detection pipeline. Here’s how it works:

  1. Identify Prose-Like Pages
    Not every page matters equally. Detect prose-heavy content (like blogs or articles), ignoring boilerplate or technical elements.
  2. Run AI Text Detectors
    Feed these prose pages into advanced LLM detectors to assess the likelihood of AI authorship.
  3. Aggregate Results Across the Site
    Combine results to classify the entire domain as LLM-dominant or not.
  4. Evaluate with Ground Truth Datasets
    Researchers tested the method on two datasets of 120 sites, achieving 100% accuracy across experiments—a dramatic improvement over page-level checks.

Findings: LLM Websites Are Growing Fast

When tested on large datasets like 10,000 search engine results and 10,000 Common Crawl sites, the system found:

  • A sizable portion of sites are LLM-dominant
  • Many rank highly in search engines, competing with traditional media
  • Prevalence is increasing rapidly, raising questions about long-term web quality

This means average users are likely reading AI-dominated sites daily—without realizing it.

Implications for Users, Businesses, and the Web

  1. For Users
    Readers risk consuming unreliable or plagiarized information without disclosure. This is especially dangerous for sensitive topics like healthcare, finance, and politics.
  2. For Businesses & Brands
    Overreliance on AI content may damage credibility if audiences perceive it as low-quality or misleading. Conversely, companies that transparently disclose AI use may build trust.
  3. For Search Engines
    Google, Bing, and others face a credibility crisis. If AI-generated websites dominate search results, search quality declines—pushing users toward alternative discovery tools.
  4. For the Web Ecosystem
    Unchecked proliferation of AI sites may erode the very fabric of online knowledge, prioritizing volume over accuracy and insight.

Future of Detection: Where We Go From Here

  • Improved AI Detectors: Models must adapt to the unique structures of websites, not just clean text.
  • Policy & Disclosure Requirements: Regulators may require AI-content disclosure, similar to food labeling.
  • User Tools: Browser extensions or plugins could flag AI-dominant websites in real time.
  • Hybrid Content Strategies: The best publishers will combine AI’s efficiency with human oversight, ensuring accuracy and originality.

Conclusion: Did You Just Browse an AI Website?

The question isn’t hypothetical. LLM-driven websites are already here, growing in number and visibility. While AI brings efficiency and scalability, it also introduces risks—plagiarism, hallucination, and erosion of trust.

Detecting AI-dominant sites at scale is now possible, but the responsibility extends beyond researchers. Readers, brands, and search engines must adapt to this new reality.

The future of the web may depend on striking the right balance: embracing AI as a tool while ensuring accountability, accuracy, and transparency in online content.

Digital Kulture

Digital Kulture Team is a passionate group of digital marketing and web strategy experts dedicated to helping businesses thrive online. With a focus on website development, SEO, social media, and content marketing, the team creates actionable insights and solutions that drive growth and engagement.