One of the best ways of tapping into valuable search engine traffic is through Parasite SEO. What is Parasite SEO? Parasite SEO is a special type of search engine optimization that involves marketers leveraging the online exposure and traffic of authority websites on the internet.
In this post, you’re going to learn more about Parasite SEO in 2022, how it works, how to use it, when to use it as well as when NOT to use it. Let’s jump right in!
WHAT IS PARASITE SEO?
Parasite SEO is a digital marketing technique that allows marketers to publish their content on authority websites and domains. This is one of the most effective online marketing strategies for beginners as well as advanced marketers who want to rank higher in search results.
As the name suggests, Parasite SEO relies on the host domain to give you the ‘authority’ needed to rank high in search results. Your website acts like a ‘parasite’ by sucking authority from the host platform. Luckily, plenty of high-ranking authority websites allows users to post content. You have probably already come across this technique being used a few times on the internet without knowing it.
Parasite SEO typically involves users posting articles and other types of content to high-ranking websites or social media platforms. Because Google recognizes and trusts high-ranking websites, leveraging these websites makes it easier for low-ranking blog posts, articles, or content to rank higher in search results.
WHY DOES PARASITE SEO WORK?
Parasite SEO may sound malicious at first, but there is nothing wrong with leveraging the success of other websites and companies on the internet – especially if they allow you to do so. Now, you may be wondering – does Parasite SEO work? Well, it does if executed properly.
Here is a simple example of how it works:
Let’s assume you are writing an article on a highly competitive keyword, and you are considering posting it on your website or blog.
However, your website rarely gets any meaningful traffic, so the article may not even rank in search results. What do you do? To rank much faster in search results, you can choose to use Parasite SEO by submitting your article to a high-ranking authority website or social media platform. Doing this will greatly improve your chances of getting leads and conversions from your content.
There are various reasons why you should consider using Parasite SEO as an online marketing strategy:
- Google places a lot of trust in established and reputable websites that have gained authority over many years. Any connection or association with these sites can positively affect your content’s ranking in search results.
- Parasite SEO helps you bypass the long waiting period that most new websites must go through before ranking high in search results.
- Parasite SEO allows you to build links and rankings within a short time.
- Parasite SEO reduces your chances of being penalized by Google because your links are posted on an external page on an authority website that’s outside your domain. This means less risk for you.
- An authority site’s brand awareness and trusted reputation can help you attain higher click-through rates (CTR) in search results.
- Parasite SEO’s effectiveness increases as site authority increases and more web pages are added to search results. This makes Parasite SEO a suitable long-term online marketing strategy.
Unless Google makes significant changes to its search algorithm, authority websites will continue to rank high in search results, providing internet users with the opportunity to use Parasite SEO to grow their brands and businesses.
HOW TO USE PARASITE SEO
Google favors high authority websites. To take full advantage of Parasite SEO, you need to find high-ranking authority websites that allow users to post articles and links on their pages. On top of this, it is important that you never engage in any form of spamming while posting on these sites. Most of them have strict policies against spam content.
Before embarking on your Parasite SEO campaign, you need to consider the following:
Domain Authority
You need to identify websites with high domain authority. Posting your content on a website or platform with a higher domain authority gives it a better chance of ranking high in search results.
Citation/Trust Flow
A URL’s or website’s citation or trust flow determines its power. In Google’s view, the general rule of thumb is that the more backlinks a website receives from high authority sites, the more trustworthy it is. Think of it as a ‘chain of trust.
Backlinks
Before posting your links, always check the number of backlinks linked with the site. The number of backlinks directly influences the authority status of a website.
Indexed Pages
Google trusts large domains. Because of this, it is important to consider how Google indexes many web pages in a host’s domain. The authority status of the host site is directly influenced by the number of pages indexed by Google.
You should consider these considerations when choosing the authority sites to use in your campaign.
Best Parasite SEO Platforms
Finding authority sites to use in your online marketing campaign is relatively easy. There are websites like Alexa, whose work is to track the global rankings of websites. The best websites for Parasite SEO are those at the very top of such lists. Ideally, you should be looking for websites that rank within the top 100,000 in terms of traffic.
The best sites will vary based on your industry and the keywords you’re targeting. However, some mainstream platforms are suitable for most industries and niches like:
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- Quora
- Medium
- WikiHow
If you are running a local SEO campaign, citation websites like the ones listed below may offer better results:
- Google My Business
- Bing Local
- Yelp
- Manta
- Houzz
- Bark
- Thumbtack
It is important to remember that most of these platforms are highly regulated, which means that they will remove your content if they find you posting lots of links or spam content on their pages.
Don’t forget that the role of Google is to give users the information they are searching for. In most cases, platforms like YouTube and Medium seem to be a good option for ranking since they match content with user intent.
Parasite SEO Techniques
Contributive Blog Post
You can submit content to high authority sites. Contributing to a blog post is an amazing way of building high-quality backlinks. A blog on a reputable website is one of the best ways to get traffic coming your way.
Roundup Participation
A roundup is a short piece of content shared by a trusted professional in a particular niche or industry. Participating in roundups can give your content greater exposure, especially if authors share the participant’s posts on social media platforms.
Local Listings
Posting your website URL on websites like Bing Local and Google My Business is another form of Parasite SEO.
Press Release Submission
You can publish press releases around specific keywords for which you want to rank and then send them to major news and press release websites.
These are just a handful of ways you can use this SEO approach to grow your brand or business.
WHEN TO USE PARASITE SEO
It is important that you only use this SEO strategy when you have met the following requirements:
- You have a good list of target websites appropriate for your niche and/or business.
- There’s a direct path to revenue.
- You are familiar with SEO and backlinking.
WHEN NOT TO USE PARASITE SEO
Here are some instances when it’s NOT advisable to use Parasite SEO as an online marketing strategy:
- If you can’t find a relevant website that is more authoritative than your website.
- If there’s no direct path to revenue. SEO is all about driving traffic to your website. If you are not selling a product or service, investing your efforts in this SEO strategy does not seem practical.
- If the effort required is greater than the reward. Parasite SEO is no different from other forms of SEO in that it requires a great deal of time and effort to execute successfully.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in doing Parasite SEO, it’s important that you first learn the basics of SEO and backlinking to help the process of ranking your site much easier. You can choose to create your parasite pages or outsource the entire process to an SEO expert or company such as Enleaf.
All in all, the potential gain from Parasite SEO is huge if the technique is executed properly.