Sponsored Posts in Google Taking Over all the Keywords

**universal4** · 8 August 2023, 4:01 am

Agree about serps being gamed, I recall a search I did last day or two, I don't recall the exact query, but out of the results on the page, 8 out of maybe 25 results were all the same french site, and the site had a phishing trojan on the page.

Completely out of line for the same page to rank 8 times on one query.

Rick
Universal4

**econfox** · 8 August 2023, 10:11 am

What I don't understand is why there newspapers are allowed to sell ads to offshore casinos at the same time they are acting as affiliates for Draftkings and Fanduel.
According to T&C you can not do business with offshore casinos and do business with either of them.

**xecutable** · 8 August 2023, 12:21 pm

JohnMu gave an answer on X today saying

"A page doesn't have to be on a site that's "related to the niche" in order to be useful & helpful. You don't need to have a niche site in order to rank in Google; in fact, sometimes that's a good way not to rank."

The person asking then went on to explain that these material are not really of high quality but just generic, yet outrank highly authoritive and niche sites, to which JohnMu replied with

"Some of that is expected. If you put in decades of work to create something of overall high value, occasional low-effort output goes under in the noise. As with life, it's not enough to do the "right thing at the right time," it really helps to be in the right place too."

Pretty much says, start a news website. Build a big backlink profile (news urls get shared left and right), once you have the authority start writing for whatever you like.

Bottom line working as expected nothing to be fixed

. I really hope the serp team disagrees.

**universal4** · 8 August 2023, 4:17 pm

"Some of that is expected. If you put in decades of work to create something of overall high value, occasional low-effort output goes under in the noise. As with life, it's not enough to do the "right thing at the right time," it really helps to be in the right place too."

Then the quality decades old sites in the niche should be outranking those that came along the last 5-10 years, especially those who are ranking with the lower quality guest posts.

Sounds more like an excuse to justify a double standard.

Rick
Universal4

**xecutable** · 8 August 2023, 4:27 pm

It's one of the dumbest responses I've read lately, and someone pointed out their stance was completely the opposite a few days ago, when talking about niche sites.

**econfox** · 8 August 2023, 4:34 pm

I still believe this is related to Google being blamed by newspapers for the decline in ad revenue.
Google sells out small business and looks the other way while newspapers sell "sponsored content".

**casionmark** · 9 August 2023, 1:45 am

Here to stay then. Surely it has to at least be dialled down though - if I type in 'Best online casino' from a UK IP right now I get 13 out of 20 results showing as non-gambling related media sites. Or maybe naturally some will fade off - you won't keep paying for these posts if they land on page 2 every time.

**bpmee** · 11 August 2023, 9:45 am

Originally Posted by econfox

What I don't understand is why there newspapers are allowed to sell ads to offshore casinos at the same time they are acting as affiliates for Draftkings and Fanduel.
According to T&C you can not do business with offshore casinos and do business with either of them.

Yes and many state regulators make it clear this is not acceptable and can potentially result in loss of an affiliate license.

Of course, since the newspapers aren't licensed themselves, they can get away with it.

Aside, newspaper staff may not be aware these posts are going up. A lower-level author may have posted them surreptitiously for a quick buck.

**baldidiot** · 11 August 2023, 11:18 am

Originally Posted by xecutable

JohnMu gave an answer on X today saying

The person asking then went on to explain that these material are not really of high quality but just generic, yet outrank highly authoritive and niche sites, to which JohnMu replied with

Pretty much says, start a news website. Build a big backlink profile (news urls get shared left and right), once you have the authority start writing for whatever you like.

Bottom line working as expected nothing to be fixed

. I really hope the serp team disagrees.

Funnily enough, the exact opposite of what they were pushing a few years ago when they were all about niche authority.

**bpmee** · 11 August 2023, 12:45 pm

To extend them some charity, I suspect his brushoff really means "we're looking into it, and if we do nothing, this is our stance. But if we do something, maybe we changed our minds."

And yes, niche authority used to win the day. Hard to believe "5 best online casinos for blackjack" sponsored posts are ruling over some of the better niche gambling portals that actually know what they're talking about.

This trend is also super common in the coupon, gadget reviews, and consumer products verticals. These spaces don't require much credentialed expertise (unlike medical or financial, at least in the USA), and are ripe for the picking.

**econfox** · 20 August 2023, 11:44 am

One of the SEO consultants monitoring parasite seo is now counting over 30 new posts everyday in affiliate niches.
Google has not done anything to slow it down. The result is more ad agencies telling their clients to do this.
Could snowball if Google doesn't do anything in the next core update ��

**eenzoo** · 20 August 2023, 12:03 pm

Fresh response from a DR 89 major supplier of sponsored affiliate pages

Thank you for writing to us. We can do Native/PR articles on Crypto in the following ways under the SPOTLIGHT SECTION

1. USD 600 per post with 1200-2000 words each with 3-5 images and 5 hyper links.

2. USD 1100 per post with 4000 words each with 7 images and 10 hyper links.

I guess I'll give a try. If you can't fight your enemies ....

Somehow a no-brainer for, lets say, "best online casino philippines".

Thousands of big keys in Tier1/2 countries waiting for the DR monster sites and they waiting for clients.
Not only in gambling, but trading, CBD, dating, insurance, credit cards, loans, ear buds, tires, microwaves.
Top rankings and traffic are just some bucks away. I would be an idiot not to try this kind of media buying

Anyway, those sites are here to stay if you are happy about it or not. They are authorities in Googles POV and an article usually fulfills users search intend at its best. If I search for best blackjack casino Vietnam, I will find some good options at eg. Outlookindia

And I'm sorry, but after decades of internet, hundreds of thousands of gambling sites, guides, how to's and YouTube etc ... the majority of searchers are educated enough to deposit some bucks. Even more, I would say they are done with that old school stuff, as majority of affiliates probably too.

Investing fortunes in links and content no-one is reading anymore. But we (think), we need that to rank.

World is changing, making money online too.

**bpmee** · 20 August 2023, 10:52 pm

Fair enough, and you might be right, at least for time being.

FWIW, I see Google blowing out Outlook India and the lower-quality content farms before they surgically target major media with gambling pages.

For example, if Google ever cracked down, the obvious sponsored posts would go long before something in the Independent (if ever). So GDC's investment appears to be money well spent.

I honestly don't think it will last as it will get abused.

History Lesson

A LONG time ago, footer links on PR 8/9 sites were selling like hotcakes. One could pay $500-$1000/month for gambling link on a weather or software site with high PR (remember that?

). This lasted about 2 years until Google started cracking down.

First, some sites stopped "passing page rank", meaning the links no longer provided a benefit to their clients. This was fairly easy to determine after a couple months when the target URL didn't get top rankings. Later, the practice died out until other paid link schemes took their place in the early 2010s, namely paid blog links and the first sponsored posts.

Eventually PR and the handy toolbar faded into obscurity, though the patent still very much informs how they evaluate pages. That little green bar was making money left and right for many publishers until it didn't.

Ultimately, I think major US publishers will stop renting to corporate affiliates and put up their own gambling content once they get licensed. That, and any warning from Google that content labeled "sponsored" will be ignored, will be the impetus for this trend to change.

**wonderpunter** · 21 August 2023, 3:29 am

effectivley they are acting like gateway pages, pretty much everything sold online is being doen this way some are even pushing steroids, it's a way of bypassing the algorithim and I guess or at least hope google will tackle this soon but wont hold my breath

**Malikbhai** · 21 August 2023, 1:13 pm

The main issue is not if Google can't take action. They don't have the option for a replacement.

CNN can sell CBD products all it likes. No one expects Google to ban CNN.

They can't even take selective action, or else, they'll come off as biased.

Like Enzoo, said, this is the right time to buy these articles and let it run.

Just make sure to send traffic to places, that will still pay you, if Google does find a way out to stop this.

**econfox** · 21 August 2023, 3:50 pm

A lot of people have been waiting for Google to do something about this. But, Google hasn't so more people are jumping in. Looking at San Francisco ad agencies with 8 figure ad spend management telling clients that this is the way to go. Soon OutlookIndia will be one of the most profitable sites in the world.
How much can they make from

5 Best Cars
5 Best European Vacations
5 Best Crackpipes

We might soon find out

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