Is Google's Site Abuse Policy a Step in The Right Direction?
Eleven Writing
The world's most ambitious brands trust Eleven to write their content.
Simon McMahon - Head of SEO, Eleven
For as long as Google has existed, SEOs have tried to beat the search giant’s algorithm.?
In response, Google issues update after update, with cutesy names like Panda, Penguin, and Fred —?meant to close loopholes and direct marketers' behaviour.
In recent years, Google has also levied manual penalties on sites, paying special attention to websites highlighted on social media (maliciously or otherwise) as having benefitted from exceptional traffic growth using tactics contary to its guidelines.
The new site reputation abuse policy feels like the next step in this evolution.
For context, let’s consider the case of Forbes Advisor. A third-party operation was brought in to scale their affiliate business—and scale they did. Until very recently, Forbes ranked for everything from lawn mowers to air purifiers and sports shoes, and it worked mainly because of their high domain authority. We previously highlighted how Google’s relevancy algorithm struggled with high DR/DA websites.
SEOs took note of successes like these and quickly started buying up guest posts on sites with huge domain authority to rank for highly-competive terms (a practice known as Parasite SEO).
Over time, though, some of them disclosed the websites and their prices on Twitter/X. Clearly, Google had to do something, and their solution was the Site Reputation Abuse policy update.?
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Is Google forbidding 3rd party content?
To be clear, Google’s new guidelines don’t prohibit publishing third-party content or optimizing for rankings. What they (are meant to) target is content that strays from a site’s core purpose—irrelevant material designed purely to manipulate rankings.
But while it can be seen as a step in the right direction, some industry observers feel it’s twenty steps back. The parts that have people the most worried are:
After all, Google can target any website indiscriminately. They answer to nobody; there's no regulatory body that governs search engine behaviour. And we’re already seeing cases of legitimate content being struck down under the Site Reputation Abuse update.?
Overall, Google’s intended approach is one we agree with:?
Eleven’s approach to SEO
Our own approach to SEO and the recommendations we make to our clients, therefore, has remained largely unchanged: meet Google’s guidelines and expectations to the best of your ability, prioritise high-quality written content from industry experts—and when in doubt, err on the side of caution.?
“It's a little like storm-proofing,” mused Christian Rigg, Eleven’s Head of Operations, as we discussed the update. “It's wise to, and most of the time, it works well. But sometimes, lightning strikes hard, and you have to deal with the fall-out, no matter how tightly you've battened down the hatches.” Ultimately, high rankings should come from content that genuinely aligns with a site’s focus and audience needs. It’s not about avoiding SEO—it’s about doing it ethically by providing content that enhances the user experience and builds trust.