BRUSSELS, Aug. 28, 2026 — Google has changed how it will enforce its search spam rules in Europe after European Union regulators raised concerns that the policy was unfairly pushing some publishers down in Google Search results.
Alphabet-owned Google said that from August 30, manual actions taken under its site reputation abuse policy will no longer affect users in the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The policy will remain unchanged outside the EEA.
Google introduced the policy to target websites that host third-party pages mainly to take advantage of the site’s existing search authority and improve rankings. The tactic is often described as parasite SEO.
However, publishers complained that the policy was also hurting legitimate media organizations that publish content from commercial partners. EU regulators said their monitoring found that Google’s enforcement could demote news organizations and other publishers when they hosted this type of third-party material.
The dispute prompted the European Commission to open an investigation under the Digital Markets Act, the EU law designed to prevent large technology platforms from abusing their market power.
The European Commission welcomed Google’s change and said publishers should no longer be penalized in European search results solely because they host third-party content. Regulators said they will continue monitoring how Google implements the revised policy to ensure it complies with the DMA.
The development is significant for publishers, affiliate businesses and SEO professionals operating in Europe because Google Search remains a major source of website traffic.
Google’s decision also demonstrates the growing influence of European technology regulation on the policies of the world’s largest digital platforms. Companies found to violate the Digital Markets Act can face fines of up to 10% of their global annual revenue.
For now, the change applies specifically to the European Economic Area, meaning publishers outside Europe will continue to operate under Google’s existing site reputation abuse rules.
