Nov 21, 2024 23:30:00

What is 'parasite SEO' that Google has tightened its regulations on?

Google has updated its 'Policy on Site Reputation Abuse,' which began to apply in May 2024, in November 2024. This update was made as a measure against ' parasite SEO ,' in which third parties abuse the high ranking signals of well-known sites.

Updating our site reputation abuse policy | Google Search Central Blog | Google for Developers

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/11/site-reputation-abuse

Google stops letting sites like Forbes rule search for “Best CBD Gummies“ - Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/11/google-cracks-down-on-parasite-seo-punishing-established-publishers/

Starting in May 2024, Google introduced a policy called 'site reputation abuse' to combat spam aimed at manipulating search rankings.

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

Google describes 'site reputation abuse' as 'the public exposure of third-party pages with little or no first-party oversight or involvement.'

Google did not give any specific examples, but Lars Lofgren, co-founder of marketing agency Stone Press and an expert on website management, pointed out the existence of 'Forbes Marketplace,' which exploits the high site ranking signals of the economic magazine Forbes. This type of spam behavior is called 'parasite SEO' because a third party publishes content that is completely unrelated to the main content of the site and 'parasites' on the site's high search ranking.

There is a company that is taking advantage of Forbes' high search rankings to create affiliate articles, earning 500 billion yen a year and even considering acquiring Forbes - GIGAZINE

In addition to Forbes, Lofgren said CNN and USA Today were also targeted.

A problem in which a large number of low-quality pages borrowing the names of famous news sites for affiliate purposes were discovered has led to the evil hand reaching CNN and USA Today - GIGAZINE

Google's November 2024 update to its 'site reputation abuse' policy targets exactly this 'parasite SEO.'

According to Chris Nelson of Google's search quality team, publishers who receive a notice of a policy violation can request a reconsideration via their Search Console account.

Nelson said the clarification of the 'site reputation abuse' policy will help ensure that all sites have an equal opportunity to be ranked based on the quality of their content. 'We encourage publishers to familiarize themselves with the updated policy and focus on building high-quality websites that prioritize content created for people, not for search engine rankings,' he said.