Site reputation abuse policy update
Google clarified that first-party involvement or editorial oversight does not exempt third-party content from the site reputation abuse policy.
What changed
Google updated its site reputation abuse policy to state that the degree of first-party involvement is irrelevant: what matters is whether third-party content is produced primarily to exploit the host site's ranking signals rather than to serve that site's audience. This closed the argument that adding editorial review to a hosted coupon or affiliate section made it compliant. Google also began applying algorithmic demotions in addition to the manual actions used since May 2024. Coupon, review and deals sections on large publisher domains were the most affected.
Timing
Rollout began 19 November 2024. No completion date was announced. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.