Google is further cracking down on sites publishing ‘parasite SEO’ content
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Google is tightening its rules against “parasite SEO” content, or articles and pages that often have little to do with the site’s focus but that exploit the website’s Google ranking.
An example of parasite SEO content is a news blog that publishes online shopping coupon codes in a hidden part of its website or an educational site publishing unrelated affiliate marketing content. In March, Google announced it would crack down on this kind of “site reputation abuse,” and now it’s making it clear that it doesn’t matter if the publisher created the content themselves or outsourced it — it’s a search policy violation regardless.
“Since launching the policy, we’ve reviewed situations where there might be varying degrees of first-party…