severing partnerships and laying off content writers.
In response, many publishers pivoted to building in-house teams for sponsored content. But that didn’ t help either. By November, Google expanded the SRA policy to include all third-party content, regardless of the degree of first-party involvement, further removing publishers’ affiliate content from SERPs.
Now a new patrol force has parachuted into the search landscape, it might seem like bigger affiliates are losing ground. But has the table finally turned for smaller affiliates, and is SRA the end of parasite SEO?
Small equals agile?
Alexander Kostin, the founder of affiliate business Gambler Media, who recounted the impact of Google’ s ranking algorithms on his British Gambler portal in last year’ s iGB L! VE issue of iGB Affiliate, sees the potential upside of SRA. He notes that the policy“ could create some opportunities for smaller affiliates in the short term by leaving space on the SERPs, especially in the difficult US market.” In the long run, though, he worries that larger affiliates and publishers will inevitably find ways to navigate around the restrictions and reclaim their dominance.
Chris Mawson, head of SEO at Leeds-based marketing agency ICSdigital, shares Kostin’ s concerns.
“ By design, actions associated with the SRA policy are meant to provide a more level playing field. The reality is a lot more nuanced,” Mawson says. According to him, not all small and medium-sized affiliates stand to benefit, as many“ suffered at the hands of the Helpful Content Update in August 2023” and may have“ turned to parasite SEO strategies in an attempt to claw back visibility” in desperation.
For bigger affiliates, Mawson believes that while they have experienced the greatest losses
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