Google says its new search spam policy regarding reputation abuse (what SEO companies call “parasite SEO”) will go into effect “after May 5th.” May 5th is this Sunday.
We knew this was coming. Google told us this change would be coming in March, when Google announced multiple search enhancements. This also included the March 2024 Core Update (completed on April 19th) and Spam Update (completed on March 20th).
Google Reminders. Google Search Central Posted in X:
What is site reputation abuse? When a third-party site hosts low-quality content provided by a third party in order to take advantage of the ranking power of the third-party website. Google told him this in March:
- “Third parties may post payday loan reviews on reputable educational websites and receive ranking benefits from the site.”
- “When this kind of content ranks high in search, it can confuse or mislead visitors who have very different expectations of the content on a particular website.”
Google's new policy defines site reputation abuse as “third-party content that is created primarily for ranking purposes and without close monitoring by the website owner,” and “any content that is intended to manipulate search rankings.” ” is considered spam.
but. As Google explains, not all third-party content is considered spam.
- “Many publications run advertising content that is not primarily aimed at manipulating search rankings, but is aimed at regular readers. Sometimes referred to as 'native advertising' or 'advertising.' This type of content is typically not confusing if regular readers of a publication find it directly on the publisher's site or arrive at it through Google search results. ”
Google announced in March that it would begin taking both automatic and manual action against this fraud starting May 5th. That time is just a few days away.
Why we care. Many SEOs complain about the harm and unfairness caused by parasite SEO. We've been getting a lot of complaints about the quality of search results lately, so we'll see if this helps resolve the issue.
New features in Search Engine Land