Google switches off site reputation penalties in the EEA — parasite SEO keeps its rankings in Europe

On 28 August Google announced a change to how its site reputation policy — the 2024 rule against “parasite SEO”, third-party content published on trusted domains to borrow their rankings — is enforced. Following discussions with the European Commission over the Digital Markets Act, from 30 August manual actions under the policy no longer affect search results shown to users in the EEA. Outside the EEA, enforcement is unchanged. Affected site sections may “over time” be separated to rank independently; site owners are still notified in Search Console, and disputes gain a mediation route.

Why it matters

Site reputation manual actions were the fastest way brand-abusing content on high-authority domains lost visibility: coupon spam, “review” farms and scam PDFs riding university, government and news domains. That demotion now stops at Europe’s border. The same parasite page can be penalised for a searcher in London’s timezone twin New York and rank untouched for the customer in Warsaw or Limassol typing the same query. Google itself flags the tension, saying it remains concerned an “overbroad application of the DMA” could stop it addressing threats to result integrity.

What this means for you

If your brand is being abused through content planted on someone else’s trusted domain, the passive route — wait for Google to demote it — no longer works for your European audience. What still works, DMA or not: removal at the source (the host domain’s owner rarely wants scam content once notified under statute), host- and registrar-level escalation for unresponsive publishers, and delisting requests on independent legal grounds — copyright, GDPR Article 17, defamation — which are untouched by this policy change. The enforcement burden just shifted from the platform to the rights holder.

Counsel’s note — We flagged this pattern in the ESA Cosmos matter: parasite content on a trusted domain, visible because the domain’s authority carries it. From 30 August, in the EEA, that visibility is no longer Google’s problem — it is yours. Audit where your brand queries surface abusive third-party content, and file at the source; the demotion backstop is gone exactly where GDPR gives you the strongest replacement tools.