By Helena Alcoverro, on 19 March 2024
Parasite SEO is a web positioning strategy involving the creation and publication of branded content on a high-authority website to gain visibility and improve SEO rankings. In essence, it's a type of strategy within link building where the website becomes a kind of parasite that absorbs and benefits from another site's Domain Authority.
To execute a parasite SEO strategy, it's necessary to create quality and valuable content for a high-authority website. This means seeking sites with high Domain Authority, conducting thorough keyword research, and crafting interesting and high-quality content based on it.
Is Parasite SEO Recommended?
There are several reasons why parasite SEO is a good link-building strategy. One reason is that Google and other search engines trust pages with high authority. This makes it useful for positioning within the SERPs relatively quickly and gaining visibility, especially for new websites. It's also a way to increase the click-through rate (CTR) since many users can land on the website from such a high-authority page. Moreover, more reach equals more visits.
However, it's essential to consider that while it's a practice that Google doesn't penalize, it's advisable not to abuse the strategy. It's necessary for the actions of parasite SEO to follow and respect the policies and rules of the websites where it's being implemented and not to rely solely on this strategy. Creating original, engaging, quality content for users and publishing it on your website is also key to SEO positioning.
Examples and Platforms
There are many platforms where you can carry out a parasite SEO strategy, with the most popular being Reddit, LinkedIn, and Quora. There are also online media outlets with very high Domain Authority that allow this practice, or platforms like Google Sites, Google Business Profile, and YouTube, which can yield excellent results for local SEO.
For example, on LinkedIn, which has a Domain Authority of 99 and monthly web traffic exceeding 2.2 billion visitors, it's crucial to have a compelling topic, conduct proper keyword research, design a structure, and present content in an appealing, accurate manner with updated and verified information.
In conclusion, parasite SEO can be a highly effective strategy when used responsibly and coherently, which is why many brands utilize it. However, one should not neglect their own website and its content, as parasite SEO should be used to attract and retain the target audience. If the content on your website lacks value, the benefits will not be realized.