Google begins enforcement of 'site reputation abuse policy' and removes some sites from the list, causing major media such as CNN to drop in rankings



Being ranked high in Google's search result index has a big impact on the number of visitors, so many companies have developed a strategy called SEO (search engine optimization). Some have pointed out that low-quality articles about a certain product on major sites that emphasize SEO often rank higher than more useful review articles, and that this is an example of 'bad content driving out good content .' Google announced its 'Site Reputation Abuse Policy' on May 6, 2024, and announced that it would begin enforcing it the following day, May 7, and take action individually.

Google Web Search Spam Policy | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies?hl=ja#site-reputation

Google begins enforcement of site reputation abuse policy with portions of sites being delisted
https://searchengineland.com/google-begins-enforcement-of-site-reputation-abuse-policy-with-portions-of-sites-being-delisted-440294




In March 2024, Google announced that it would strengthen the algorithm of its search ranking system and update its spam policy to prevent 'low-quality pages created for Google search, not for humans' from appearing at the top. Google said, 'We believe these updates will reduce the amount of low-quality content shown in search results and increase traffic to useful, high-quality sites. Based on our evaluation, this update, combined with our previous efforts, is expected to reduce low-quality, unoriginal content shown in search results by a total of 40%.'

Google announces changes to lower search rankings for 'low-quality pages created to rank higher in Google searches, not for humans' - GIGAZINE



At this time, Google announced a policy to combat three tactics that have become increasingly popular in recent years: 'abuse of mass-generated content,' 'abuse of site reputation,' and 'abuse of expired domains.' Of these, 'abuse of site reputation' addresses the risk of websites that already have a good reputation abusing their traditional reputation to create confusion or misunderstanding, such as by hosting low-quality content created by third parties in order to profit from it. The new policy determined that low-value content created without strict monitoring by website owners, primarily for the purpose of ranking high in search results, would be considered spam.

This policy was announced to take effect on May 5, 2024 (local time), two months after the announcement, because it required a period for website owners to respond. On May 6, Japan time, author Katie Berry posted, 'When did the site reputation abuse policy start?' Danny Sullivan, a Google search representative, replied, 'This policy was published on May 5th, and will actually go into effect on the 6th.'



Sullivan explained the details to Search Engine Land, a media outlet that covers digital marketing topics, saying, 'Enforcement of the site reputation abuse policy is currently a manual process, not an algorithmic action. There is an algorithmic component, but it's not there yet.' Users who feel a site is abusing their reputation can report it via a spam report , and their report will be verified and addressed individually.

There have been several confirmed cases where the site reputation abuse policy has actually been applied, including major media such as CNN, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times. Laura Chiocciola, CEO of an online marketing company, compared search results for coupons in the United States on May 4th to those on May 7th and pointed out that 'many news sites have fallen out of the top 10.'




In their site reputation abuse policy , Google lists the following as examples of abuse:

A page about short-term loan reviews written by a third party is hosted by an education site, and the same page is then syndicated to other sites across the web, primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings.

A third-party page about 'best casinos' hosted on a medical site. This page has been created primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings, with little or no involvement from the hosting medical site.

Third-party pages covering topics that would confuse users if they appeared on a movie review site (e.g., 'how to buy followers on social media sites,' 'good fortune telling sites,' 'good essay writing services,' etc.) are hosted on a movie review site with the intent of manipulating search rankings.

A 'workout supplement review' page written by a third party is hosted on a sports-related site where the editors have little to no input into the content and the primary purpose of hosting the page is to manipulate search rankings.

Third-party coupons are hosted on news sites with little or no oversight or involvement from the host site, with the primary goal of manipulating search rankings.

Google also lists the following as examples of things that are not considered reputation abuse:

・Sites for news services or press release services

-News media that syndicates news content from other news media

- Forum websites, comment sections, or other sites designed to host or view user-generated content

Columns, opinion pieces, articles, and other editorial content that have been thoroughly reviewed and engaged with by the host site

Third-party content (such as 'advertorial' or 'native' pages) that was created with full involvement of the host site, is intended to share the content directly with readers (such as as a promotion within the publication), and is not hosted with the intent to manipulate search rankings.

Embedding third-party ad units throughout the page, or using affiliate links with properly processed links throughout the page

Coupons posted with sufficient involvement of the host site

The items listed in the policy are examples only and are not intended to limit the circumstances to those listed.

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