Affiliate Leaders unpacks some of the raft of changes announced by Google as it continues its fight against Parasite SEO, outlining some of the key impacts that this will have on igaming affiliates.
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Earlier this week, Google announced its latest crackdown on ‘parasite SEO’ – a technique whereby content is placed on high-authority domains to take advantage of their strong SEO performance.
For those that might not know, parasite SEO might include a news blog that has discount codes in a hidden part of its website, or education-focused sites that feature affiliate marketing content that is deemed irrelevant to their overall content – simply because the publisher was paid to host it.
These types of articles may rank well in the short term, largely due to the publisher’s SEO authority, however they are deemed to be in violation of Google’s guidelines and undermine the integrity of search results.
An ongoing issue
This has been an ongoing issue for Google, with the search engine having announced that it would be cracking down on this type of content earlier in the year.
However, the debate was recently reignited after a surge in content identified by the search engine which it deemed to violate its search policies.
Most notably, Sports illustrated and USA Today were both found to be housing sponsored articles that fell short of Google’s content specifications. Last year, the former was found to be publishing AI-generated product recommendations on a distant corner of its website, while the latter had been using a third party to produce product recommendations.
According to Google, its updated policy clarifies that a website doesn’t have to be directly responsible for creating the content; this covers third-party marketing agencies and affiliate-produced content too.
“Since launching the policy, we’ve reviewed situations where there might be varying degrees of first-party involvement, such as cooperation with white label services, licensing agreements, partial ownership agreements, and other complex business arrangements,” Chris Nelson of Google’s search quality team wrote in a blog post.
“Our evaluation of numerous cases has shown that no amount of first-party involvement alters the fundamental third-party nature of the content or the unfair, exploitative nature of attempting to take advantage of the host’s sites ranking signals.”
What does this mean for affiliates?
The update from Google is one of many announced by the search engine this year, and we’re confident that it won’t be the last.
Google’s crackdown on parasite SEO demonstrates the company’s reinforced commitment to generating high-quality content. The long-term repercussions for publishing content deemed to be parasite SEO, however, are yet to be entirely clarified.
For igaming affiliates, this decision raises a few key areas that are worth considering. The most obvious is the value of partnerships with established publishers in other sectors, such as newspaper websites. If, for example, tagging an odds-comparison page or section on to a high-traffic site no longer delivers those coveted page one rankings, are the deals worth it for either party?
Affiliates that focus wholly on their own online properties also have things to look at. The first is the relevance and quality of content being used to interact with audiences.
To avoid the wrath of Google, affiliates would be wise to prioritise generating content that is considered to be genuinely valuable and relevant to their target audience. High-quality, well-researched content that represents the brand you’re working with will be much more likely to rank well and drive conversions, while irrelevant articles may damage credibility or risk penalties.
That includes content written by freelancers and agencies, sent by operator partners, or that produced in-house using generative AI. In the eyes of that all important and inflexible Google algorithm, you are responsible for the content on your own website – ‘sorry, a contractor produced this using ChatGPT’ holds no sway as an excuse.
Many advertising regulators around the world already specify that any commercial relationships, affiliate links or sponsorships must be disclosed within content – be it on Instagram, or in content articles.
While this is a practice that has been in place for many for quite some time, being transparent will enable affiliates to build trust with both users and search engines – ultimately having a positive impact on how their content ranks.
The final takeaway is that affiliates must stay attuned to upcoming and ongoing algorithm changes. It goes without saying that Google is continuously rolling out updates to its algorithm. At a time when affiliate compliance is under the spotlight, affiliates must ensure that they closely monitor any updates and adjust their strategies accordingly.
What next?
The message from Google is clear: content must be high-quality, and most importantly, relevant to the website it is being housed on.
This new focus is the latest step by Google to improve the integrity of search results. For affiliates, this sounds the warning bell to continue, or at least start, investing in building genuine connections with their audience and to create content that adds value to the publisher’s website.
The affiliates that can prioritise relevance, transparency and quality will thrive in a more competitive digital landscape, putting them in a much stronger position to succeed as Google continues to deploy new strategies to fight against ‘manipulative’ search practices.
