Google's Search Algorithms Often Miss Clickbait and Other Spam Links

With the coronavirus pandemic keeping people home and online, search engine optimization professionals have noticed an uptick in websites that specialize in publishing copious amounts of clickbait content. We are talking about sites that are raking in the hits and ranking for random keywords and search queries that do not seem to have any commercial purposes in mind. Intriguingly, these sites are very seasoned, rank highly on the Google search engine results page, and do not appear to be monetizing off the home page.

Viral content and clickbait are not the kind of things that SEO professionals have in mind when they tell their clients about the importance of quality content; the reason they insist on publishing content that provides value to visitors is that the engineers and business developers at Google always mention with regard to the vague explanations they give about the search engine algorithm. Clickbait articles and videos do not fit the definition of quality content; however, the Google search algorithm seems to give websites high SERP ranking when they feature spam content.

Here is an example of how clickbait websites launch to the top of the SERP: a web publishing firm dusts off a seasoned and highly sought-after domain, one that may have previously featured quality content. The recycled version of the domain is filled with clickbait spam, but visitors will not see any Google ads on the home page. Once visitors click on an irresistible headline, they will be taken to a page filled with ads; the ultimate purpose may be to generate fake traffic or inflate an affiliate marketing program, and you can just imagine the type of content awaiting visitors therein.

The ultimate problem with the Google search algorithm is that it has never been very good at detecting spam. It is almost like it falls for clickbait in the same way we do. Domain authority has nothing to do with this spam strategy; it is all about catchy .com URLs that have been around more than a decade. Web publishing giants that own and manage a network of websites will likely continue to pursue this strategy until Google figures out a way to flush it out. For more information click here https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/gb99hh/purespamis_back/.