On November 19th Google released a new update to their site reputation abuse policy which was first introduced in May this year. Google is using the Site Reputation Abuse policy to help combat wide-spread duplication of content across the web and better understand which sites should receive priority ranking due to authority and specialization in topical areas.

What is Site Reputation Abuse?
When originally introduced in May 2024, Google limited the definition of abuse to third-party services that were providing blatant duplicate content across many sites. With the update on November 18, Google intentionally left the language vague and broad.

Site reputation abuse is (now) 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. If a site is found against policy, the section of the site participating in the abuse will receive a manual action and become deindexed (no ability to rank) within Google Search.

Ultimately, sites that have high authority and reputation able to more easily rank due to that authority and trust. To be able to use this to their advantage and rank for more queries, some sites have abused their reputation by allowing and using third-parties to provide content (not limited to text, images, or videos) to produce content that ranks well, at-scale.

What is the impact of the latest update to the Site Reputation Abuse policy?

The newest update is more far reaching as the definition of third-party has now broaden and seems to be left intentionally vague, which gives Google runway for future manual actions and algo updates. Third-party, at its most broad definition, is content not directly created by the site owner, business, or its staff.
Although news and chatter centers around publishing sites, other types of sites can be hit. Commerce sites generally share content from third parties. Some medical and legal sites have been known to use third-party content services to fill in standardized content. Some small businesses have used content providers to help supplement content at times.

Potential risk for sites due to a broad definition of third-party:

• use of AI as the content creator (a site was found using AI authors)
• use of shared freelancers
• use of agencies to create content for a website
• use of content creators that are not employed by the site/business

What happens if a site is violating the policy?
Sites violating the policy will receive a manual action notification in Google Search Console (GSC) and the site’s 'section' (usually the full subfolder) that is in volitation will be deindexed and NOT allowed to rank in Google Search.
Penalizing the sections or subfolders of a site in violation does not necessarily mean all articles or pages within the section is violating the policy, but this is Google’s current way to right-sizing the violation. Depending on a site’s structure this may cause small to large impact for the site.

Is this an algo update?
No, but unfortunately the November 2024 Core Algo began November 11 and is currently running in the background as it will approximately take two weeks to roll-out.
This policy update, however, seems to be the beginning of what will eventually turn into an algorithmic manner of finding third-party content. Within the past few weeks, the Google Search Liaison mentioned that sites should write about what they know best, which has been referred to as 'lanes' if they want to rank well.

Examples:
•    health site should not be able to rank for best mattresses
•    music site should not be able to rank for medicare questions

Are their repercussions of violating this policy?
Yes, the reality hit certain sites the morning of November 20th. Sites violating the policy woke up manual actions in GSC and their subfolders beginning to be DEINDEXED this morning.
Sections of sites began to see deindexation occurring November 19, the morning after the policy updates were released.

Digitas Takeaways:

•    Forecast: Google will continue refining their site reputation abuse policy in the future to better crack down on ways in which a brand abuses its authority. Be ready for the future with a strong search strategy.

•    Forecast: Sites will only rank effectively for defined topical expertise in the near future. We anticipate topical authority will become an algorithmic staple in the near future.

•    Forecast: Conversations will escalate regarding how authority is built (creator vs brand) and who ultimately holds the authority in a topical area (brand or creator) to better inform business decisions. We anticipate businesses will have to evolve their foundational approach to content creation. Reach out for creator strategy guidance.

•    If you use third-party content: Any portion of a site that may be using third-parties to fuel content or page creation should look at GSC to watch for any manual action notifications. Begin a risk-mitigation plan and consider a move-forward strategy.

•    If you are a commerce or marketplace site: Content that is received from vendors is technically considered third-party. Start a risk management plan of product content (text, images, video, audio) that is shared across other commerce sites. There are strong strategies to help mitigate this potential.

If you want to know how to mitigate risk and continue to win in search? Hint: You need more than an SEO plan.
Reach out Melissa.Harden@digitas.com from Search Intelligence at Digitas

More on Content & Commerce in 2025

Melíssa also shared insider SEO tips and tricks to combat Google's algorithm changes in our recently published Content & Commerce report -  How Publishers Are Adapting to Market Change in 2025 and Beyond. 

To dig deeper into how publishers are tackling these challenges, Affiliate Summit assembled a panel of industry experts to explore how leading media companies are navigating these shifts. In our conversation, we covered:

• The impact of Google’s algorithm changes on traffic and revenue
• Alternative traffic sources publishers are exploring for sustained growth
• How emerging digital platforms are reshaping consumer search behaviors
• The increasing competition for advertising dollars across channels

You can discover more here.