Google Deepens Crackdown on Sites Publishing 'Parasite SEO' Content (theverge.com) 13
Google has warned websites they will be penalized for hosting marketing content designed to exploit search rankings, regardless of whether they created or outsourced the material. The crackdown on so-called "parasite SEO" targets websites that leverage their search rankings to promote unrelated content, such as news sites hiding shopping coupon codes or educational platforms publishing affiliate marketing material.
Chris Nelson from Google's search quality team said the policy applies even when content involves "white label services, licensing agreements, partial ownership agreements, and other complex business arrangements." The move follows Google's March announcement targeting site reputation abuse, which gained attention after Sports Illustrated was found publishing AI-generated product reviews through third-party marketing firm AdVon Commerce.
Chris Nelson from Google's search quality team said the policy applies even when content involves "white label services, licensing agreements, partial ownership agreements, and other complex business arrangements." The move follows Google's March announcement targeting site reputation abuse, which gained attention after Sports Illustrated was found publishing AI-generated product reviews through third-party marketing firm AdVon Commerce.
Penalized? (Score:2)
How is Google going to penalize companies? Apart from lowering them in the ratings that is.
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Lowering the ratings for the entire site?
It definitely needs to be done as Google search results are garbage these days.
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Lowering the ratings for the entire site? It definitely needs to be done as Google search results are garbage these days.
True dat. Trying to do a bit of research, and type something in, I get some pages of all the same story or item from different websites.
Why the Google or Bing or DDG overlords basically stuttering, thinking I want to see 50 different links, essentially copies of the same thing is perhaps a bad idea.
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In no way apart from that way. You answered your own question, which did not need to be asked because we all knew the answer already.
Downranking is spectacularly effective, which we know because of all the shady AF attempts to bypass it.
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That's a pretty big penalty, in this world where Google ratings are everything, and SEO companies are specifically trying to game the rankings.
Google can also penalize them by refusing to sell ads on their sites, also making a deep cut into what the SEO companies are trying to do.
Sponsored articles are alternative to Google Ads (Score:2)
Can't have that!
Re:Sponsored articles are alternative to Google Ad (Score:4, Funny)
Exactly!
Google: "Quit enshitifying the search results! That's our job!"
But just fine with garbage content (Score:2)
Prime rankings seem to remain for sites that just create superficial word salad articles that give no information and just repeat it to look longer.
How do you actually get results from subject matter experts these days?!
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How do you actually get results from subject matter experts these days?!
Have you tried reading a book?
I read that differently (Score:3)
I read that as "Parasite CEO" which is also a thing.
Google Dark City (Score:2)
Google just adding speed towards it's Dark City's Dark Internet.
Imagine, looking at your advertising revenue from low traffic low quality likely AI spam web sites and then saying, 'that advertising revenue isn't worth the bad PR from poor search results'