The Google Loophole That Created Overnight Millionaires
Summary
TLDRこの動画スクリプトは、検索エンジン最適化(SEO)の悪用として話題の「寄生型SEO」について解説しています。寄生型SEOは、信頼性の高いウェブサイトにスポンサード投稿やアフィリエイトリンクを追加し、検索結果のトップに表示される手法です。この方法は一時的に効果的でしたが、Googleのアルゴリズムの更新により、信頼性の低下や利益の減少が見込まれています。動画は、長期的なビジネス構築とSEOやアフィリエイトマーケティングの重要性を強調しています。
Takeaways
- 🔍 Googleの検索結果でトップに表示されるため、信頼性のあるブランドの仮面を被ったサイトが数百万ドルを稼いでいました。
- 💡 これらの記事は、Norcal Marketingなどの会社によって書かれ、affiliate linksを通じて報酬を受け取っています。
- 🤔 82%のアメリカ人は、Googleの検索結果を信頼していますが、これらの商品推薦は本当に信頼性があるものか、それとも報酬が高額な商品を推薦するのか疑問が残ります。
- 🚨 信頼性のあるブランドを利用したParasite SEOは、検索エンジン最適化の技術であり、権威的なウェブサイトに自分のブランドやアフィリエイトリンクを追加することで、検索結果での可視性を高めます。
- 📈 検索エンジン上でのランキングを向上させるために、信頼性の高いドメインを持つことが役立ちますが、これは一朝一夕では建设できません。
- 📚 印刷新聞は、インターネットのウェブサイトを持ち、長年にわたって情報の権威源とされていますが、現在は収益を求めるために苦戦しています。
- 💸 印刷メディアは衰退しており、多くの新聞が閉鎖しています。そのため、儲ける方法を模索し、スポンサード投稿の販売を始めたウェブサイトが増えています。
- 🔗 ノルカルマーケティングなどの企業は、大手新聞サイトで記事を書くことで、信頼性と報酬を高めています。
- 📉 Googleのアルゴリズムの更新により、この手法を利用していたマーケターは大きな影響を受けました。
- 🌐 ダラスニュースのブランドコンテンツセクションは、Googleの更新の直後に急速に増加しましたが、その後大幅に減少しました。
- 🚫 Googleのプラットフォームを所有していない場合は、Googleの悪用に基づくビジネスを構築することはリスクが高いと言えます。
- 🌱 長期的な視点を持ち、SEOやアフィリエイトマーケティングを通じて成長を遂げる方法を学ぶことができます。
Q & A
Parasite SEOとは何ですか?
-Parasite SEOは、検索エンジン最適化(SEO)の一種で、信頼性の高いウェブサイトに自身のブランドやアフィリエイトリンクを寄生させる手法です。これにより、検索エンジンでの可視性を向上させることを目的としています。
Parasite SEOが機能する理由は何ですか?
-Parasite SEOが機能する理由は、Googleなどの検索エンジンが特定のウェブサイトを高度に信頼しているためです。これらのサイトは、信頼性と権威性を長い間培養しており、他のウェブサイトから多くのバックリンクを受け取っています。
Parasite SEOが利益を上げるためにどのように使用されていますか?
-Parasite SEOは、主にアフィリエイトマーケティングやスポンサードコンテンツを通じて利益を上げることがされています。これにより、マーケターは信頼性の高いウェブサイトにコンテンツを投稿し、アフィリエイトリンクを通じて収益を獲得しています。
信頼性の高いウェブサイトがParasite SEOを容認する理由は何ですか?
-多くの信頼性の高いウェブサイトは、特に印刷メディアでは、収益の減少に苦しんでおり、Parasite SEOを通じてスポンサードコンテンツを販売することで簡単な収益源を得ることができます。
GoogleはParasite SEOに対してどう応対していますか?
-Googleは、検索結果の品質と信頼性を保つために、Parasite SEOに対してアルゴリズムの更新を通じて対処しています。2023年8月のアルゴリズム更新により、この手法を使用するマーケターは大きな影響を受けました。
Parasite SEOのリスクは何ですか?
-Parasite SEOのリスクは、検索エンジンからのペナルティや信頼性の低下です。また、Googleのアルゴリズム更新により、一時的な成功も持続しない可能性があります。
Parasite SEOを正しく使用するためにはどのようなことが重要ですか?
-Parasite SEOを正しく使用するためには、透明性と倫理的なアプローチが重要です。価値のあるコンテンツを提供し、正当なリンクビルディング方法を使用することが推奨されます。
Parasite SEOの効果を評価するためにはどのような指標が使われますか?
-Parasite SEOの効果を評価するためには、ウェブサイトの訪問者数、検索エンジンからの有機的な訪問者数、また、スポンサードコンテンツからの収益などが使われます。
Parasite SEOが適用される一般的な分野は何ですか?
-Parasite SEOは、教育、健康、ギャンブルなどの利益が大きい分野で一般的に適用されています。
Parasite SEOを用いる際に必要なスキルは何ですか?
-Parasite SEOを用いる際に必要なスキルは、SEOの基礎知識、コンテンツ制作、リンクビルディング、そして信頼性の高いウェブサイトとの交渉能力です。
Parasite SEOの将来性はどのように評価されていますか?
-Parasite SEOの将来性は、検索エンジンのアルゴリズム更新によって影響されるため不確実であり、長期的なビジネス戦略を構築する際には慎重なアプローチが必要です。
Outlines
🔍パラサイトSEOの台頭と崩壊
このセクションでは、Googleの検索結果の最上位に不正にランキングする方法として「パラサイトSEO」の利用について詳述します。例として、Times Unionや他の信頼されたブランドのウェブサイトにおけるスポンサー記事の実例が挙げられています。これらの記事は、一見正当に見えますが、実際にはNorcal Marketingのような企業によって書かれたものであり、アフィリエイトリンクを介して利益を得ています。この戦略がGoogleの信頼を悪用しており、消費者が重要な購入決定をする上でどのように影響を与えているかが探求されます。特に、健康、財務、セキュリティに影響を与えうる商品やサービスに関する情報がどの程度信頼できるかという問題が提起されます。
📰プリントジャーナリズムとパラサイトSEO
プリントジャーナリズムのウェブサイトがパラサイトSEOの「ホスト」としてどのように機能しているかを説明します。これらのサイトは長年にわたり高い信頼と権威を築き上げてきましたが、財政的な困難に直面しており、スポンサー記事を販売することで収益を上げています。Norcal Marketingのような企業は、これらの信頼されたサイトに記事を掲載することで、検索結果で上位にランクされやすくなり、その結果大きな利益を得ています。Googleが評価する「信頼できる」ドメインを利用することの利点と、プリントメディアがこのようなスポンサー記事を受け入れる経済的動機について詳細に分析しています。
📉パラサイトSEO戦略の終焉
Googleによるアルゴリズムの更新がパラサイトSEO戦略の効果を著しく低下させたことを述べています。この更新により、多くのスポンサー記事が検索結果でのランキングを大幅に失いました。このセクションでは、パラサイトSEOに依存するビジネスモデルの持続不可能性と、Googleのプラットフォーム変更によって事業が脅かされるリスクについて議論しています。また、長期的な成功を目指すビジネスには、SEOとアフィリエイトマーケティングのような持続可能な戦略が重要であると結論付けています。このパートは、短期的な成功ではなく、長期的な価値の構築の重要性を強調しています。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Parasite SEO
💡Google Rankings
💡Affiliate Marketing
💡Trusted Brands
💡Print Journalism
💡Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
💡Content Mill
💡Google Algorithm Update
💡Sponsored Posts
💡Marketplace Posts
💡Long-Term Business Strategy
Highlights
The concept of 'Parasite SEO' is introduced, a marketing practice exploiting trusted brands to gain visibility in search engines.
Websites made millions selling sponsored posts, which appeared as genuine content to consumers.
The article reveals the discrepancy between the trusted appearance of Times Union content and its actual paid nature by 'Norcal Marketing'.
Affiliate links in sponsored articles can lead to commissions of over $100 per qualified enrollment.
The trust that 82% of Americans place in Google's search results raises questions about the authenticity of recommended products.
The potential risks of relying on sponsored content for important decisions, such as health or financial products, are discussed.
Print journalism's struggle for revenue and its role as a host for parasite SEO is highlighted.
The historical authority and trust of print media websites make them ideal hosts for parasite SEO.
The economic challenges faced by print media are explored as a driving force behind selling sponsored posts.
The scale of parasite SEO is demonstrated by the number of sponsored posts on news websites like DallasNews.com.
The profitability of sponsored content is indicated by the prices charged for sponsored posts on reputable websites.
Advertisers are identified as the primary beneficiaries of parasite SEO, with significant ROI.
Google's algorithm update in August 2023 impacted the effectiveness of parasite SEO, causing a decline in traffic.
The sustainability of businesses built on exploiting search engine loopholes is questioned.
The importance of a long-term mindset in SEO and affiliate marketing is emphasized over quick, temporary gains.
Free beginner's courses on SEO and affiliate marketing are offered as alternatives to exploitative tactics.
Transcripts
It was the ultimate loophole - a way to buy rankings on the first page of Google behind
the guise of a trusted brand.
Websites made millions of dollars selling sponsored posts.
But what seemed like the ultimate Google cheat code suddenly came crashing down…
Today, we expose the rise and fall of parasite SEO.
Let's start with a basic Google search.
Let’s say that I want to research the best identity theft protection services.
So as I scroll through the ads and to the regular blue link results, we see this post from Times Union
about the “Best Identity Theft Protection services.”
Now, when I click to the page, everything looks great!
In fact, Times Union traces its beginnings to the 1800s.
And today, this New York-based news publication is owned by Hearst – the company behind household
names like Cosmopolitan, Esquire, and dozens more.
But if we take a closer look at the page on the so-called “best” identity theft protection services,
there are a few things here that I’m pretty sure average web surfers will miss.
Take this light-grey text at the top of the page: "Paid Advertising."
And look at the byline.
This article is written by a company called "Norcal Marketing."
Now, if we scroll through the identity theft service recommendations, you’ll notice
that they’re all affiliate links.
And this means when you click on these links and make a purchase, the affiliate, or in this case,
Norcal Marketing, is compensated.
And we’re not talking about a buck or two.
Services like Lifelock and Aura reportedly offer commissions of over $100 per qualified enrollment.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with affiliate marketing or paid advertising.
But it becomes an interesting discussion if we think about the motive behind these
product recommendations.
Are these product recommendations genuine or are they recommended because they pay
affiliates the highest commissions?
Now, the reason this question is important is because roughly 82% of Americans say
they mostly trust the results they see on Google.
Which now raises even more important questions.
Who wrote these articles and what's so special about them that 82% of Americans would trust
them with their purchasing decisions?
It might not sound like a big deal if it’s an article on the best keychains.
But when we’re dealing with products that can potentially cause harm to one’s health,
finances, or even security, it becomes a big freaking deal.
I mean, what if one of the recommended identity theft services wasn’t actually providing monitoring services,
but instead, they were selling customer’s personal information like social security
numbers behind closed doors?
Or what if we were researching the best weight loss pills and some random website was recommending
a dangerous drug that could potentially lead to addiction, illness or even death?
Would you have checked the byline or researched the credentials of the author?
Probably not.
So how is it that a marketing company or pretty much anyone with the right skillset,
able to shortcut their way to the top of Google’s search results behind a trusted brand?
Well, there's a term for what’s happening here and it’s called "Parasite SEO."
Parasite SEO is a marketing practice that’s made some websites and marketers a lot of money…
but the real story is who is getting rich off of these search results that come off to regular
people as “Google’s recommendations?”
Now, before we can answer that question, you need to understand the appeal of parasite SEO and how it works.
So, SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s the process of optimizing a website or
webpage to improve its rankings in search engines.
Now, when we introduce the word “parasite” to the equation, it means that someone is attaching
their brand, or in this case, affiliate links, to highly authoritative websites, like a parasite,
to more easily gain visibility in search.
And it’s clear why people do this.
Getting to the top of Google’s search results for popular and commercial queries like ‘best identity
theft protection services' is obviously very lucrative.
And that contributes to competition, making it a cutthroat topic to rank for.
Now, when it comes to ranking in Google, it’s helpful to have a domain that Google trusts as
being highly authoritative, and that's something you can't build overnight.
Building a reputable website from scratch requires hiring a team of SEOs, writers,
designers and developers, easily costing millions of dollars – not to mention, this will take years to build.
But if these websites with high authority and trust are so valuable, who would be willing to
be a so-called “host” for these parasites and risk promoting products on their platform that
they haven’t even checked out?
The answer is clear if we answer these questions.
What type of sites have very high trust and authority, cover a vast array of topics
from health to business to finance to lifestyle to entertainment, and are desperate for a new
source of revenue.
There’s one that checks all the boxes: print journalism.
Most print newspapers have had websites since the 90's or early 2000's, giving them decades to
establish themselves as authoritative sources of information.
And over the years, they’ve earned tons of backlinks from other websites, which is and has been one of
Google’s most prominent ranking signals from its inception.
And in case you haven't heard, print journalism is in desperate need of cash.
Print media is dying, with over 2000 American newspapers shutting down from 2005 to 2021.
In fact, the number of American journalists working in 2020 was half of what it was in 2008.
So with a struggling business model, those that stay in business have to keep the lights on somehow,
and one easy source of revenue that some news websites discovered is to sell sponsored posts.
And because SEOs are buying sponsored posts and actually ranking them, that’s why we see
results like this one from Dallas News on the best weight loss medications.
It looks like a genuine article from a trusted news outlet, but if we check the byline:
it's actually authored by a familiar name – Norcal Marketing.
But wait, where's the disclosure that this is an advertisement?
Ah, there it is up above the article in the tiny off-color font, labeled as "Marketplace."
Click to expand that because that’s what everyone does…
And there's the disclosure, cleverly hidden away.
Now, how widespread has parasite SEO gone?
Well, if we look at DallasNews.com’s "Marketplace posts" aka their sponsored posts directory, we’ll find
a dozen or so posts.
And these are typical listicles with affiliate links in lucrative niches like higher education,
health, and gambling.
And it doesn’t stop here.
They also have a "branded-content" directory and we found around 70 posts that were published in
September 2023, coming from sources like "Rise Advertising," "Originated Media,"
and of course, "Norcal Marketing."
Now, because we keep seeing Norcal Marketing, I took their name over to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
and did a search for articles where they have a byline.
And to my surprise, I found nearly 700 pages from news sites that I’m sure you’ve seen before.
Sfgate, Mysanantonio, Timesunion, and Dallasnews to name a few.
And just look at how classy these topics are.
Now, considering the scale that these companies are buying sponsored posts at,
I think it’s safe to assume that the ROI has been very positive for advertisers.
And while we don’t have the exact details of the agreements between host and parasite,
we can look to sponsored post marketplaces like Publisuites to get a glimpse into the market.
Based on our research, we found that buying a sponsored post on a website with an Ahrefs
Domain Rating of 80 or higher will run somewhere in the range of $500 to $1,260.
And some of the larger online media publications in dining, travel, and technology verticals are charging
over $4,200 for a sponsored post.
Now, given that paid articles like the ones we’ve seen can cost several hundreds or even
thousands of dollars, it’s safe to say that these local newspapers seem to be doing a good job
of cashing in on the trust and reputation that they’ve built up over the years.
I mean, if Dallas News is posting 70 sponsored posts per month at a cool $2,000 per sponsorship,
that’s $140,000 made that month.
That’s a lot of money.
But perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of parasite SEO are probably the advertisers.
To better understand this, just look at this URL from Forbes.
It gets roughly 20,000 monthly visits from Google, which is pretty good.
But because of the commercial nature of the topic, buying that same traffic from Google ads would cost
them over $200,000 per month!
And check out this page on TimesUnion on the best online casinos.
At one point, it had over 50,000 monthly organic visits with a traffic value of over $300,000 per month.
And because SEO delivers free and consistent traffic that doesn’t fade over time, they were
getting that same value month after month without spending an additional dime.
Now, this seemed like a clear slam dunk win for marketers who were able to effectively
buy overnight success from trusted websites.
And it was – at least not for everyone.
In August 2023, Google rolled out an algorithm update that would shake marketers using this
search engine optimization tactic.
DallasNews’s branded content section went from zero to nearly 2 million monthly visits fast.
And now things are crashing down.
Outlook India, another common parasite SEO favorite, saw traffic to its sponsored listings go down by more
than a third just weeks after the August core update.
And if you dig deeper, you’ll find that the majority of the traffic loss comes from listicles on very
lucrative topics like this one on the best payday loans which once had over 220,000 monthly organic visits.
And this one, about the best skin lightening creams that’s now pretty much at zero too.
Now, while there are still many sponsored posts out there masquerading as genuine
and authoritative organic content, it seems that the reliability and therefore profitability of this tactic
may be starting to dwindle.
And that’s the problem with building a business on hacky Google exploits – especially when you
don’t even own the platform.
At any point, Google can pull the rug out from under you.
And if your entire business revolves around publishing low-quality sponsored content
on high authority websites, then the rug pull is what you should expect.
Now, I’m not here to tell anyone how they should or shouldn’t run their business or do
SEO or affiliate marketing.
But I’ve been there before and have taken all sorts of shortcuts - some that cost me seven figures.
And what I’ve learned is that what’s here today and gone tomorrow is usually not something
that’s worth investing much time, resources, or effort into.
And while making a quick buck is obviously interesting to everyone, having a long-term
mindset is going to help you build a business that compounds year over year.
And both SEO and affiliate marketing are great ways to do this.
We have a completely free beginner’s SEO course that’ll teach you how to rank pages in Google for
the long term, and we have another free course on affiliate marketing where you’ll learn how
to build a revenue-generating affiliate business.
Links are in the description.
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