Google intensifies its efforts against parasitic SEO content
Google has gone a step further in its fight against spam in search results, now targeting websites that publish content designed to exploit their search engine rankings. This new effort targets what is known as content Parasitic SEOwhich includes articles and pages with no significant relation to the purpose of the site, but which try to benefit from its authority in the ranking.
According to Chris NelsonNelson, a member of Google's search quality team, said this type of content hurts both users and site owners. Nelson noted in a blog post:
"Since we launched the policy, we have analyzed situations where there could be varying degrees of third-party involvement, such as cooperation with white-label services, licensing agreements, partial ownership agreements and other complex commercial arrangements.
Our evaluation of numerous cases has shown that no amount of third-party involvement alters the fundamental third-party nature of the content or the unfair and exploitative nature of attempting to take advantage of the host sites' ranking signals."
The practice of taking advantage of a trusted site's reputation to host irrelevant content can manifest itself in a number of ways. For example, a trend blog that includes hidden discount codes on pages not accessible from your main navigation or an educational portal that aggregates content from affiliate marketing not related to its main subject.
In March, Google had announced its intentions to act against these practices, emphasizing that it does not matter whether the content was created internally or outsourced: it is still a violation of its search policies. A notable case occurred with Sports Illustratedwhich was found to be hosting AI-generated product reviews in a separate section of its site. When questions arose about the origin of this content, the company indicated that it had been produced by a third party, AdVon Commerce. This same provider had also collaborated with other media outlets, such as USA Today.
Google now makes it clear that website owners cannot evade their responsibility by claiming that the content was created by third parties. Any content that attempts to take unfair advantage of ranking signals will be penalized.
Knowing your customers is the first step in gaining their trust. Anticipating their needs is the second
The update of the Google policy seeks to preserve the quality of search results and protect both users and publishers from unfair practices. For content creators and webmasters, this underscores the importance of monitoring everything that is published on their platforms, regardless of its origin. A site's reputation should be based on genuine, relevant and quality content, not on strategies that compromise public trust.
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