A new study conducted by Leipzig University, Bauhaus-University Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence has revealed that Google Search is struggling to combat SEO spam. The researchers monitored Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year using product review queries and found that a majority of high-ranking product reviews in search engine result pages (SERPs) used affiliate marketing and were instances of SEO spam. The study also noted a correlation between search engine rankings and affiliate marketing, as well as a trend towards simplified and potentially AI-generated content. The researchers highlighted the growing threat of generative AI sites automating SEO spam processes. Despite Google’s policy to not penalize AI-generated content, the study argues that this approach may worsen the issue in the future. However, Google has responded to the study by stating that it performs better than its competitors and has implemented improvements to address these concerns.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/google-search-is-losing-the-fight-with-seo-spam-study-says/