Google defends parasite SEO policy amid European investigation

Google pushed back against a European regulatory investigation announced November 13, 2025, defending its anti-spam policy designed to combat what the search industry calls "parasite SEO." The company's Chief Scientist for Search, Pandu Nayak, characterized the probe as misguided and potentially harmful to millions of European users.

The European Commission is preparing to investigate Google over allegations that the company demotes news publishers in search results if they host sponsored or promotional content, according to the Financial Times on November 12, 2025. The probe falls under the Digital Markets Act, marking another front in regulatory scrutiny of Google's search practices.

Sources indicated the Commission planned to announce the investigation as early as Thursday, November 14, 2025. The case centers on complaints from publishers who generate revenue through sponsored articles and third-party promotional content—revenue streams increasingly vital for media outlets struggling with digital advertising economics.

Google's November 13 response addresses these allegations directly. According to the blog post published on Google's Keyword site, the investigation into the company's anti-spam efforts is misguided and risks harming millions of European users. The policy exists for one reason: protecting users from deceptive, low-quality content and scams along with the tactics that promote them.

A German court already dismissed a similar claim against Google's anti-spam policy, ruling the policy valid, reasonable, and applied consistently. The company emphasizes this precedent in defending against the European Commission investigation. Google has worked together with the European Commission on consumer protection efforts, including fighting scams under the Digital Services Act, according to Nayak's statement.

The investigation centers on Google's site reputation abuse policy, which the company updated in March 2024 to address growing concerns about degraded search results. Parasite SEO operates through a specific mechanism where a spammer pays a publisher to display content and links on the publisher's website, exploiting the publisher's established ranking to trick users into clicking low-quality material.

Nayak provided examples including scammy payday loan sites paying respected websites to publish their content, or weight-loss pill promoters leveraging trusted domains to fool both users and Google's ranking systems. The practice takes many forms, but the fundamental structure remains consistent: pay-to-play schemes designed to manipulate ranking systems and deceive users.

Google's policy prohibits sites from using payments or deceptive measures to improve search rankings. Without enforcement, according to Nayak's statement, bad actors would displace sites competing on merits with legitimate content, degrading search quality for everyone. The company updated the policy based on a longstanding principle: a site cannot pay or use deceptive measures to improve its ranking in Search.

Several years ago, Google heard from users that they were seeing degraded and spammy search results, due to a growing trend of parasite SEO. The company implemented its site reputation abuse policy in March 2024, specifically targeting what the SEO community calls parasite SEO. Manual enforcement began in May 2024, with algorithmic detection remaining in development.

The company updated the policy in November 2024 to specify that content created with first-party oversight can still violate guidelines if its primary goal involves exploiting ranking signals. This expansion removed exceptions previously granted to publishers maintaining editorial control over sponsored sections. Google defended the policy by stating such content confuses or misleads users.

Major publishers have experienced significant impacts from enforcement actions. Forbes Advisor faced substantial ranking drops in September 2024 following scrutiny of its marketplace operations. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported Forbes completely removed its coupon directory in May 2024, likely responding to site reputation abuse enforcement.

According to Chris Nelson from Google's Search Quality team, the company's systems can now identify when subdomains or content sections differ substantially from main site content. This capability allows Google to evaluate website subsections independently rather than granting site-wide authority benefits. The technical approach mirrors previous crackdowns where third parties published content on high-authority domains primarily to manipulate rankings.

Publishers contend their sponsored content maintains editorial standards and relevance to audiences, distinguishing it from manipulative spam tactics. Glenn Gabe, SEO Consultant at G-Squared Interactive, noted that Google's enforcement particularly affects publishers hosting third-party promotional content. The manual nature of enforcement rather than algorithmic implementation has raised consistency concerns among industry professionals.

The regulatory framework creates complicated dynamics for publishers and platforms. The investigation falls under the Digital Markets Act, which designated Google as a gatekeeper in May 2023. The legislation bars tech gatekeepers from unfairly favoring their own services or penalizing others without justification. Companies found violating DMA provisions face fines reaching 10 percent of global revenue.

Publishers argue Google's site reputation abuse policy creates an impossible choice: lose search traffic by hosting sponsored content or forfeit revenue essential for sustaining operations. Many news organizations depend on sponsored articles, native advertising, and affiliate content to supplement declining advertising income.

Google's anti-spam policy helps level the playing field, according to Nayak's statement, so that websites using deceptive tactics do not outrank websites competing on the merits with their own content. The company heard from many smaller creators that they support the work to fight parasite SEO. These creators face displacement when established sites sell subdomain access or content placement to third parties seeking ranking manipulation.

The company takes the quality of results and work to fight spam in Search extremely seriously, according to the blog post. Google enforces its anti-spam policy through what it describes as a fair and rigorous review process, including a path for appeal. The company has issued manual actions against sites hosting promotional content in subdomains or subfolders.

The examples Google provided illustrate typical parasite SEO patterns. Educational sites hosting payday loan reviews written by third parties represent classic cases. Medical sites publishing pages about casino selections unrelated to their main purpose demonstrate the content mismatch problem. Movie review sites offering social media follower services or essay writing exemplify how far the practice extends beyond core site missions.

Google maintains the policy targets manipulation rather than legitimate business arrangements. Sites can exclude third-party content violating the policy from search indexing to maintain compliance. The company does not consider certain content types as site reputation abuse, including third-party content produced with close host site involvement, embedded third-party ad units, or coupons sourced directly from merchants.

The Digital Markets Act is already making Search less helpful for European businesses and users, according to Nayak's statement. This surprising new investigation risks rewarding bad actors and degrading the quality of search results. European users deserve better, and the company will continue to defend the policies that let people trust the results they see in Search.

The broader regulatory environment facing Google includes multiple enforcement actions across different market segments. The European Commission imposed a €2.95 billion fine in September 2025 for advertising technology violations. Google has faced dozens of antitrust investigations globally, examining whether it abused dominance in search, advertising, and mobile ecosystems.

The investigation adds to mounting regulatory pressure on Google. In December 2024, over 20 European price comparison websites criticized Google's search modifications, claiming they failed to address fundamental DMA requirements regarding self-preferencing. Publishers filed antitrust complaints targeting Google's AI Overviews feature, alleging the company uses publisher content for AI-generated summaries without providing opt-out options.

The company submitted a comprehensive response to DMA review consultations in September 2025, claiming compliance efforts degraded services and resulted in €114 billion in losses for European businesses. Google challenged Digital Markets Act enforcement through detailed submissions highlighting operational disruptions and economic impacts since obligations became binding in March 2024.

Publishers argue the site reputation abuse policy lacks clear guidance on acceptable sponsored content practices. Enforcement decisions remain opaque to affected sites, creating uncertainty about which arrangements comply with guidelines and which trigger manual actions. SEO experts speculate whether enforcement targets specific publisher types or applies uniformly across all sites hosting third-party content.

Ann Smarty, Co-Founder of Smarty Marketing, suggested manual enforcement might reflect challenges in implementing algorithmic detection for site reputation abuse. The manual nature means sites cannot predict whether their content violates guidelines until receiving manual action notifications through Search Console.

The lack of algorithmic enforcement has raised consistency concerns. Google's November 2024 policy update eliminated the first-party oversight exception, suggesting any content primarily designed to exploit ranking signals violates guidelines regardless of editorial involvement. This interpretation potentially captures legitimate publisher-advertiser relationships.

If the Commission proceeds with formal investigation proceedings, Google must respond to detailed information requests and potentially modify its policies. DMA enforcement mechanisms allow regulators to impose interim measures preventing further harm during investigations. The case highlights fundamental questions about platform power over digital publishing.

Publishers may submit formal complaints providing evidence of traffic losses and revenue impacts from site reputation abuse enforcement. These submissions could influence Commission assessment of whether Google's policies constitute unfair treatment of business users. The investigation adds to ongoing debates about platform power, publisher sustainability, and appropriate regulatory frameworks for digital markets.

The investigation could establish precedents for how DMA provisions apply to search ranking algorithms and content evaluation systems. European regulators have emphasized that gatekeepers cannot use their market positions to restrict business users' ability to generate revenue through third parties. European regulators have demonstrated willingness to challenge major technology companies through both traditional antitrust enforcement and new legislation.

The broader context of Google's spam enforcement includes regular updates targeting websites that violate webmaster guidelines. Spam updates work to ensure users find relevant and trustworthy information when searching online. The company completed a spam update in June 2024 targeting websites that deliberately manipulate search results to achieve higher rankings.

Industry experts believe recent updates focused on broad spam tactics beyond just link manipulation. The investigation challenges Google's ability to maintain these quality standards within regulatory constraints. The company's SpamBrain system uses artificial intelligence to continuously learn identifying different spam types, supplementing manual review processes for complex cases.

The anti-spam policy represents one component of Google's broader content quality efforts. The policy applies uniformly across all sites hosting third-party content, though enforcement decisions remain opaque to affected publishers. Publishers await clarity on which sponsored content arrangements comply with policies and which trigger manual actions.

Google's position emphasizes that European users deserve protection from spam and scams. The company intends to continue defending policies that let users trust search results despite regulatory scrutiny. The November 13 announcement comes amid broader questions about how regulatory frameworks should address content quality enforcement.

The Digital Markets Act provisions around fair treatment of business users potentially conflict with platform efforts to maintain result quality through spam prevention. This tension creates uncertainty about acceptable enforcement approaches under European digital regulations. The investigation marks another front in regulatory scrutiny of Google's search practices across European markets.

Timeline

• March 2024: Google implemented site reputation abuse policy targeting parasite SEO practices
• May 2024: Manual enforcement of site reputation abuse policy began
• May 2024: Forbes removed coupon directory following policy enforcement
• June 2024: Google completed spam update targeting guideline violations
• August 2024: SEO community discussed parasite SEO tactics and risks
• September 2024: Forbes Advisor experienced ranking drops amid policy enforcement
• September 2024: European Commission imposed €2.95 billion fine on Google for ad tech abuse
• November 2024: Google eliminated first-party oversight exception from policy
• December 2024: European comparison sites criticized Google's DMA compliance efforts
• November 12, 2025: Financial Times reported European Commission investigation plans
• November 13, 2025: Google published defense of anti-spam policy characterizing investigation as misguided

Summary

Who: Google's Chief Scientist for Search Pandu Nayak defended the company's anti-spam policy against a European Commission investigation targeting site reputation abuse enforcement. The investigation involves publishers who generate revenue through sponsored content and third-party promotional material, according to the Financial Times reporting on November 12, 2025.

What: Google's site reputation abuse policy prohibits third parties from posting low-quality content on trusted sites to exploit domain authority for search rankings. The policy updated in March 2024 addresses parasite SEO practices where spammers pay publishers to display content manipulating search results. The European Commission investigation examines whether this enforcement creates unfair treatment of business users under Digital Markets Act provisions.

When: Google announced its defense November 13, 2025, one day after the Financial Times reported that sources indicated the Commission planned to announce the investigation as early as November 14, 2025. Google implemented the site reputation abuse policy in March 2024 with manual enforcement beginning in May 2024. A German court already dismissed a similar claim, ruling the policy valid, reasonable, and applied consistently.

Where: The investigation falls under European Union jurisdiction through the Digital Markets Act, which designated Google as a gatekeeper in May 2023. The policy applies globally to Google Search results but faces specific regulatory scrutiny in European markets where companies found violating DMA provisions face fines reaching 10 percent of global revenue.

Why: Google defends the policy as essential for protecting users from deceptive pay-to-play tactics that degrade search results. Publishers argue the enforcement creates an impossible choice between maintaining search visibility and generating revenue through sponsored content essential for sustaining operations. The investigation tests whether platforms can enforce quality standards while complying with regulatory requirements for fair treatment of business users.