Within days, Google will implement a major update to its search engine policy. This new spam guideline specifically targets reputation abuse, also known as "parasite SEO. Starting May 5, websites that use low-quality third-party content to manipulate their rankings will be more strictly monitored.
Google first announced this policy change in March. The March 2024 core update and associated spam updates formed the basis for this new guideline. As of May 5, Google defines reputation abuse as third-party content produced without strict control by the website owner solely for ranking purposes. Such content Google labels as spam.
Many SEO specialists have complained about the negative effects of parasite SEO on the quality of search results. With these measures, Google wants to improve information quality for users. This move forces organizations to review their content production and monitoring, especially for high authority websites.
For organizations that regularly publish third-party content, it is crucial to review it carefully to prevent Google from marking the content as spam. Google clearly distinguishes between misleading content and ads or editorials intended for regular readers. As long as this native advertising is clearly identifiable as such and does not mislead readers, this does not pose a problem.
These changes promote transparency and reliability in search results. After May 5, we will see how effectively Google's new measures address the problem of reputation abuse.
Source: Google