Google Issues a Warning Cry to Affiliate Sites

Google released a warning to affiliates with thin or scraped content, that their site had better be adding value or they could receive a penalty. The blog post mentioned that Google has seen an increase in video sites (adult sites in particular) which get content through an affiliate program resulting in hundreds or thousands of sites with the same content.

"If your site syndicates content that’s available elsewhere, a good question to ask is: “Does this site provide significant added benefits that would make a user want to visit this site in search results instead of the original source of the content?” If the answer is “No,” the site may frustrate searchers and violate our quality guidelines."

If you fall into this category you may be violating Google's quality guidelines which could lead to a big ol' penalty. Since Google has a history of warning and then acting, we expect to see some penalties rolled out in the months to come.