Forbes has announced it will indefinitely cease using freelancers for certain types of content, citing a recent update to Google’s Search policies as the primary reason for the change.
In the past few days, Forbes communicated that it would no longer hire freelancers for its product review section, Forbes Vetted. This shift was explained by an editor at Forbes, who pointed to Google’s “site reputation abuse” policy as the key factor behind the decision.
The term “site reputation abuse,” often referred to as parasite SEO, describes the practice of a website publishing a large volume of irrelevant or off-brand content to exploit the main site’s ranking power and reputation on Google Search. Typically, this content is hidden from regular users of the website but still appears in search engine results. An example of this would be the coupon code sections on certain news sites, which are driven by search engines but are not prominently featured on the site’s homepage. This kind of content is sometimes created by third-party marketing firms hired to produce large amounts of search-optimized content.
Forbes has not responded to several requests for comment on the matter. It is unclear whether the pause on freelance contributions applies to other sections of the website. Writer Cassandra Brooklyn shared that she received similar information last week regarding the change.
Many media outlets, including Forbes, rely on freelancers to write and report stories. However, Forbes is known for its extensive network of outside contributors, which includes a mix of professional journalists and other individuals such as marketers, CEOs, and industry experts. While many of these contributors produce legitimate, in-depth reporting, the Forbes contributor network also allows individuals to publish questionable content under the trusted Forbes brand.
Some of this editorial content may have attracted the attention of Google, which has been cracking down on search-engine-first content across the web. In November, Google tightened its rules on parasite SEO, with a specific focus on the third-party nature of such content.
Google explained in a blog post that it had evaluated numerous cases of site reputation abuse and concluded that no amount of first-party involvement could alter the fundamentally exploitative nature of using a site’s ranking signals for third-party content.
Forbes Vetted, like other product review platforms, generates revenue when readers make purchases through links in its articles. One freelance writer, who was informed of the change, explained that the editorial process for their previous work was rigorous, involving product testing, multiple rounds of editing, and interviews with sources. In addition to the pause on freelance work, the writer was told that some of their previously published content may need to be completely rewritten and republished by in-house staff.
The writer noted, “They clearly put a ton of resources into Forbes Vetted. The big product reviews I was doing were $3,000 each, so it’s a huge amount of money to then be like, ‘Oh, we have to rewrite all this with staff in-house.’”
Google’s spam policies specify that the presence of freelancer-written content alone does not violate the site reputation abuse policy. It only becomes a violation if that content is specifically designed to exploit the site’s ranking signals. Google spokesperson Davis Thompson referred to an FAQ section for further clarification on the freelancer policy.
This shift at Forbes represents a significant adjustment in how the site approaches its editorial strategy, especially concerning its reliance on freelancers for content creation. The change could have far-reaching implications for how the website manages its contributor network moving forward, particularly in light of the tightening of Google’s content policies.