It’s Halloween season and I love a good scare. Jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, costume parties and a long list of horror movies playing 24/7. And this also includes classic slasher films in which Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers methodically select one actor after another.
Well, that’s about what I’m currently seeing in the SERPs for larger sites that are violating Google’s “Abuse of Site Reputation” spam policy. Your affiliate areas will be gradually wiped out. And what’s super interesting is that it looks algorithmic and not about manual actions.
For example, a few weeks ago I reported that Forbes had been hit hard. It ends up in their advisor directory, which contains a lot of affiliate content, which dropped sharply on September 25thTh. You can see the drop below. It’s not pretty. And from what I see and hear, it’s algorithmic and NOT a manual action.
Forbes Advisor:
But here’s the deal. Forbes wasn’t alone. I have a large list of websites that violate Google’s Site Reputation Abuse policy, and I noticed some strange things in the August 2024 comprehensive core update. I covered this in my Core Update Notes and then in my video podcast SEO From The Front Lines. And as I examined these situations, I noticed some big drops BEFORE the August core update. For example, both APNews Buyline and Time Stamped fell sharply on July 18thTh (and scary on the same day). I don't know if these were manual or algorithmic actions, but they were two more well-known sites that saw major affiliate sections drop sharply.
Additionally, Time Stamped first fell sharply during the March 2024 core update and then fell even more when APNews Buyline plummeted in July. You can see the drops by directory below.
APNews Buyline:
Timestamp:
And the further the slasher film progresses, the more actors are eliminated. For example, I recently shared that Fortune Recommends fell sharply on October 11thTh. Since yesterday, this directory’s search visibility has dropped by 67%. Yes, a huge decline.
The Plot Thickens: An Update on the “Site Reputation Abuse” Algorithm:
I’ve spoken to several companies in the last few weeks that were either affected or fearful of being hit. It was wild checking out the drops and hearing the confusion about what was going on. I feel like I’ve been transported into an old Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees movie. The timing of this is crazy because I was literally on tour Camp Crystal Lake on Friday night, where they filmed the original Friday the 13thTh (circa 1980). By the way, they’re doing a great job on the tour, but that’s another topic.
In addition to Forbes, Time, AP Buyline and Fortune, I now see other declines including Marketwatch Guides, CNN Underscored and WSJ Buyside. Note, Lily Ray shared on CNN and WSJ last week, so others are also seeing these declines.
So it seems that the slasher stays busy in this film and the tension doesn’t let up at all. These drops don’t all take place on one date, but are spread across multiple dates. And more and more are happening. It’s like a new version of Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers with an SEO twist. You can see the additional drops below.
Marketwatch Guides:
Release with August core update and more on October 15th.
WSJ Buyside:
Big drop on 9/27.
CNN underlined:
Also a big drop on 9/27.
Google is still silent on the “site reputation abuse” algorithm:
After we announced the new spam policy “Abuse of site reputation” on March 5, 2024, we were waiting for the algorithmic part to be rolled out. Google originally gave site owners two months’ notice and began enforcement on May 5, 2024. However, the policy was only enforced through manual measures. These were serious, but aimed at simple targets, such as coupon sections of major publishers. I covered this in detail when it happened. Here’s a sneak peek at a slide from my NESS 2024 presentation about the manual actions applied in May 2024.
Google’s Danny Sullivan repeatedly stated that the algorithmic part was not live yet and Google would let us know when it was rolled out. Then during separate interviews with both of them Barry Schwartz And Aleyda SolisDanny reiterated that the algorithmic part wasn’t live yet (and even said it would take some time to finish).
Still, there are websites left and right (algorithmically) that violate the “abuse of site reputation” spam policy. It’s super interesting to see… And the volatility following the August core update has been red hot since September 6th – just three days after the release of the August core update. I’ve covered this extensively on social media and in my video podcast, so it’s possible that other changes pushed by Google will have a major impact on these sites. And not just the websites, but also the affiliate sections of the website. Still, one wonders if Google is testing the algorithmic part of “site reputation abuse” with the declines we’re seeing. It certainly looks like it, but Google was clear that they would announce this when it was released.
I’ll contact Google again to see if they can give me any information about what’s going on. I know they’re aware of the crazy volatility we’ve seen since September 6th, and we saw some of that reversal on September 17th… But this actually started in mid-July with APNews Buyline and Time Stamped. Then we moved on to Forbes, Fortune, CNN Underscored, WSJ Buyside and now Marketwatch Guides.
Who’s next? Or will the slasher take a break for now as the official Site Reputation Abuse algorithm rolls out later this fall? Only Google knows. Muahahaha. 🙂 🙂
I’ll update this post as I learn more, if more sites are affected, if Google announces something, or if they provide information about what’s going on. So stay tuned. Until then, happy Halloween. I continue to watch The Nightmare on Affiliate Street with some popcorn and candy. Again, I love a good slasher film.
GG