Forbes Cuts Ties with Independent Writers Due to Google's Spam Policies.

Forbes has announced an indefinite pause on hiring freelancers for content creation in its product review section, Forbes Vetted, a change attributed to a recent update in Google’s search policies. According to a journalist associated with the outlet, an editor at Forbes mentioned in internal communication Google’s policy on “site reputation abuse” as the reason behind this decision.

The term "site reputation abuse," also known as parasitic SEO, refers to the practice of a website publishing a large volume of irrelevant or off-brand content to leverage the ranking strength and reputation of another site in Google searches. This type of content is often hidden from users navigating the site. For example, discount code sections on news sites that appear in search engines but are not visible on the homepage. Frequently, this low-quality content is created by marketing companies hired to generate high volumes of search-optimized material. Despite inquiries made, Forbes has not issued comments on the matter, nor has it clarified whether this suspension affects other sections of the outlet. Writer Cassandra Brooklyn also received similar news last week.

While many news outlets hire freelancers for article writing, Forbes stands out for having a large group of external collaborators. Although many of these writers are journalists conducting in-depth and rigorous reporting, there is also a network of contributors at Forbes made up of thousands of external specialists publishing questionable content under the brand’s name. This has raised concerns at Google, which has been focused on reducing content that prioritizes SEO on the web. In November, Google reinforced its policies related to parasitic SEO, specifically citing the nature of this kind of third-party content.

Forbes Vetted, like other testing and review sites, generates revenue every time a reader makes a purchase through links in its articles. A writer who was informed about the halt in freelancer work indicated that the editorial process for their previous stories was quite rigorous, including product testing, multiple rounds of editing, and interviews with sources. In addition to this interruption in work, it was mentioned that some of their stories might require being re-researched and republished by an internal staff member. “They clearly invest a significant amount of resources in Forbes Vetted,” remarked the writer, noting that big reviews could be worth up to $3,000, a significant investment that would then require rewriting by the internal team.

Google’s spam policies state that the existence of freelancer content does not, by itself, violate the site reputation abuse policy; the violation only occurs if such content seeks to exploit the ranking signals of the site in question. A Google spokesperson referred to a section of FAQs that describes the policy on freelancers.