Google’s Site Reputation Abuse: What It Unveils About Google’s Algorithm

Google launched a long-anticipated update targeting authoritative domains that monetize their sites using third-party content (coupons) on May, 6.

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What's interesting is that it started with manual penalties (we’ll see if there will be algorithmic movements and evaluate them later).

I have a lot of (mostly unpopular) thoughts about this, and here are a few of them:

1. Google’s algorithm favors brands and cannot quite override that algorithmically

The fact that Google had to spend resources on manual penalties to target the biggest brands (Forbes, CNN, etc.) proves a couple of most important points:

• The ARE sitewide signals which are too powerful
• Brands/entities are a key factor in rankings

Neither of these is new.

But it is a good feeling to have this confirmed.

2. Google treats brands differently

For context, here are a few brands that were hit:

Source: Glen Allsopp

Let’s briefly look at how this has been developing:

• Google warned brands far in advance this was going to happen
• Google sends manual penalties that only impact “coupons” sections (the main sites were not impacted)
• Manual penalties took days to lift (in contrast, sites that were manually hit during the spam update back in March are still waiting to hear from Google, after taking all the actions)

3. Why exactly is this “an abuse”?

This is my personal stance, albeit not a popular one. But where is an “abuse” here? So those sites have been investing in becoming authoritative brands for years and years. What are they abusing?

Some popular arguments here:

• These are news sites, they had no right to feature coupons on their sites (????)
• These sites are not coupon experts (????)
• These sites were automating third-party content to monetize their powerful domains
• People inherently trust these sites more, so they would be more likely to click and use these coupons.

Here’s what I think about all these arguments, respectively:

• Who is there to decide what those brands are doing with their sites
• There cannot be coupon experts. It is not content that needs expertise
• First of all, many of those publications did have teams reviewing and verifying coupons manually (they were still hit)
• Coupon sections on those sites provide a comparable user experience as any other site featuring coupons.

This move from Google only achieved one thing: It proved, once again, that Google is a monopoly that can do as it pleases.?

The good news, it is going to change.

I wouldn’t have any issues with this update if it were algorithmic.

Manual penalties achieve nothing.

They don’t improve the algorithm, they are not solving any issues, and they don’t make results better.

It is good to know that Google is that helpless, though.