As part of Google’s recent core update, the search engine has updated their site reputation abuse policy.
On the 19th of November 2024, Google clarified its policy language to define abusive linking tactics and reinforce the importance of relevant content across websites.
So, what does this mean for your website? This guide will cover Google’s key updates, things to avoid, and best practices when building links and creating website content.
So, what is Google’s updated site reputation abuse policy?
Google defines site reputation abuse as: “The practice of publishing third-party pages on a site in an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals.”
In short, the search engine will pay close attention to ‘black hat’ tactics of buying links, building low-quality links or adding links to unreputable directories and ranking websites.
Google also reinforced the importance of relevant content by saying, “We encourage site owners to focus on building high-quality websites that prioritise content created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings.”
This update also likely alludes to keyword stuffing, which is a practice of including your target search terms in an unnatural way which is hard for a user to read, in an effort to manipulate the search engines. With this in mind, ensuring every piece of on-site content closely aligns with your core products and services is more important than ever.
There have already been some sites impacted by the above changes. To check if you have been impacted by the site reputation abuse policy, check Google Search Console.
How does page-level vs site-level content affect overall website rankings?
Google defines page-level content as copy unique to a single webpage, while site-wide content is consistent across all website pages, such as headers, footers, or menus.
Overall, recent Google core updates explain that “ranking systems are designed to work on the page level” and “strong site-wide signals don’t guarantee rankings for every page.”
This reinforces the importance of balancing high-quality page content and strong site-wide quality signals when planning SEO campaigns to improve overall rankings.
How should we create SEO-friendly content to align with Google’s core update?
The most important thing to keep in mind when creating content for your website is E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness). As mentioned above, you should keep this in mind when planning your entire site.
The E-E-A-T framework is designed to help Google discover top-quality content which aligns with a brand’s key messaging and services. For example, writing a high-quality ‘About Us’ page with key credentials from each of your team members helps to prove that they are experts in their field.
Keeping in mind Google’s recommendation to create people-first content, here are our top tips for creating top-ranking content:
- Avoid keyword stuffing – Incorporate key search terms in a natural way, such as using high search volume questions for your subheadings
- Showcase your expertise – make sure to include relevant insight about your team, especially when drafting informative blog content which may contain technical insight
- Maintain a sufficient word count – Avoid thin copy by creating blog content with at least 500 words as a general rule of thumb. Always ask yourself if users are likely to be left with more questions than answers after reading your content.
- Include FAQs – Including frequently asked questions within your subheadings will help to showcase that you understand your customer’s queries, and how to answer them.
How can Digital PR campaigns help combat site reputation abuse guidelines?
Google is clear that they will be targeting spammy, low-quality and irrelevant backlinks on websites more closely than ever. In particular, websites that work to publish content on third-party hosts sites simply to take advantage of their Domain Authority abuse Google’s guidelines.
While building links is undoubtedly an important aspect of a solid marketing strategy, it is not as simple as it seems. When undertaking a Digital PR campaign, it takes time to research a list of reputable websites you may wish to build links on, and this content should align closely with your brand.
For example, a glass manufacturer should target publications such as Glass Times, or their regional magazines such as The Yorkshire Post to build a strong backlink profile.
Working with Wild PR to enhance organic rankings
Our expert PR and Marketing team will support you in creating a bespoke strategy, backed by SEO knowledge and keeping Google core updates in mind.
Find out more about our client successes by visiting our portfolio page, or contact us for an initial consultation.