Jan 17, 2024 11:41:00

Research reveals that Google search SEO spam contamination is actually getting worse, not just an impression

When I try to look up reviews of gadgets and content on search engines such as Google and Bing, the websites that appear at the top are all

affiliate marketing sites that have taken SEO (search engine optimization) measures, making them useful websites. Some of you may have felt that your site is becoming difficult to find. A German research team investigated search engines such as Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year and found that these search engines were actually contaminated with SEO spam, not just impressions.

Is Google Getting Worse? A Longitudinal Investigation of SEO Spam in Search Engines.pdf
https://downloads.webis.de/publications/papers/bevendorff_2024a.pdf

Google Search Really Has Gotten Worse, Researchers Find
https://www.404media.co/google-search-really-has-gotten-worse-researchers-find/

Before purchasing a gadget such as a PC or smartphone, some people may search for the product name in a browser, read reviews from netizens, and consider whether it is worth purchasing. However, if these reviews are for affiliate marketing with thorough SEO measures, the credibility of the reviews will be questioned.

In recent years, voices have been growing that ``search engines such as Google are being contaminated with SEO spam,'' and the major news site The Verge stated in a November 2023 article that ``SEO has worsened the usefulness of search.'' I insisted.

A major news site claims that ``SEO has destroyed Google search and turned it into garbage'' and receives fierce opposition from Google and the SEO industry - GIGAZINE

A research team from Germany's Leipzig University and Bauhaus University Weimar tracked search results for 7,392 product review terms on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year, asking the question, 'Is Google search really getting worse?' We investigated.

As a result, we found that the top product review sites displayed on search engine results screens are often SEO-optimized affiliate marketing sites. The research team found that ``top-ranked pages were more SEO-optimized than average, monetized with affiliate marketing, and showed signs of lower text quality.'' Affiliate marketing is used in the majority of search results, although only a small percentage of

In addition, spam sites are said to be in constant conflict with search engines such as Google over search result rankings. Although spam sites regularly abuse SEO systems to appear at the top of the search results screen, the rankings of spam sites repeatedly drop due to search engines taking measures against SEO spam. It seems that there is.

'SEO is a constant battle, with search engines and SEO engineers taking turns adjusting parameters, resulting in a repeating pattern of review spam entering and exiting search results,' the research team said. Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo all regularly tweak their algorithms to remove outright spam content, but overall this has only a 'temporary positive effect.'

Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo all have similar issues with SEO spam, but researchers have measured that Google performed better than Bing and DuckDuckGo in many cases. 'In fact, Google's search results appear to have improved to some extent since the beginning of the experiment when it comes to the amount of affiliates and spam,' the research team said.

In addition, the emergence of spam sites that use AI is likely to worsen the competition for search engine rankings. The research team says, ``The line between good content and spam in the form of

content and link farms is becoming increasingly blurred, and this situation is sure to worsen with the advent of generative AI. We conclude that dynamic adversarial spam in the form of quality, mass-produced commercial content deserves more attention.'