Back in March, Google announced that they will release the site reputation abuse policy update this May. The update has started in May 6, with manual actions, and it is said that algorithmic actions will soon follow. What does Site Reputation Abuse mean for your online marketing strategies?
Before we move on to update you with what is happening now, we’ll first define what Site Reputation Abuse is, and which SEO strategies it will affect.
What is Site Reputation Abuse Policy?
Under the new policy of Google, they define site reputation abuse as “Third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner” that is “intended to manipulate search rankings”. Sites like these will have their pages be considered as spam, and will not come out in Google searches.
Basically, this is when a third-party site will host low-quality content provided by other parties to piggyback on their sites. For example, if the site is about medical supplies but you will see posts on something unrelated like posts on designer watches.
There are, of course, exceptions to this, especially when there are publications that host advertising content such as advertorials. The new policy is a way to address what is called parasite SEO.
Understanding Parasite SEO Strategies
Parasite SEO is a practice where you leverage the authority of a site to rank your content on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). With this strategy, you will publish your content on an external site that has high authority, so that you will rank high in search engines. A lot of people do this to build more backlinks which can benefit your affiliate program.
While there are a lot of benefits to this strategy, it also carries a lot of risk, since the site is not yours, and therefore not yours to control. Sometimes, when you publish your content with them, you may lose access to edit or update your content, they can delete your content, and so on.
What is Happening to Sites Now?
With the new policy update rolling out, Google is implementing the policy with manual actions. This means that Google staff are personally reviewing sites to decide of they should remove them from the search index. Eventually, there will be algorithmic actions where Google will use Algorithms to do the same.
Major sites now like CNN, the LA Times, and other sites are seeing some of their pages being indexed. Most of the damage seems to circle on coupon directories, where these pages are no longer ranking when you search for coupon related keywords. A lot of news sites are already dropping from the top 10 rankings in searches for coupons and similar search requests. So if you are implementing any SEO program, do not be surprised if you see a big change with your results as this could affect any site – especially with a new policy like this.
On the other hand, since the policy update is still through manual actions, you may not see any effect in your results yet. But once the algorithmic actions are implemented, you may start to see changes in your results.
What Can You Do to Prevent a Similar Drop in Your Ranking?
When it comes to SEO, it always helps to use a quality SEO service to help you implement effective marketing and SEO strategies. These providers are experts in the field, and know the latest policies and ways to climb up the rankings without any problems.
With the current update on reputation abuse, even the biggest websites across multiple industries are affected. Small businesses that use SEO marketing may also be affected.
But when you use a good marketing service provider, they can help mitigate any problems, and work towards adjusting any of your strategies to align with Google’s current policies. With digital marketing a fast-evolving industry, it helps to have someone by your side to assist you. As we look through the latest pay per head news, SEO policies, and other relevant news, you can strengthen your marketing programs to ensure that you still get the results that you need- with high quality and effective marketing efforts.
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