Google is making a stand against bit torrent sites and other sources of bootlegged content with a major update to its Pirate algorithm. The recent update is the biggest since the algo rolled out back in 2012 and could deal a significant blow to sites that host pirated content.
Pirate targets keywords that end-users use to find illegal copies of copyrighted materials, such as films and music, by focusing in on keywords such as free movie download and watch (popular movie name) for free.
By making torrent sites harder to find for the casual user, Google is hoping to put a major dent in the always booming pirated content business.
What’s in it for Google?
While cracking down on pirated content is a noble pursuit, Google isn’t generally known for creating algorithms strictly to be nice. So what’s behind the crackdown on torrent sites?
Every year, Google processes millions of content take down requests as mandated by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
The number of requests the company receives has been growing rapidly over the past year and is eating tons of company resources. In August of 2014, Google received a record 7.8 million take down requests, in just one week.
Compounding the headache is the fact that millions of these requests are duplicates. That’s a tremendous volume of requests, even for a company with Google’s seemingly unending supply of resources.
What’s it Mean for Casino Affiliates?
Unless you’re hosting bootlegged copies of Matt Affleck’s epic homage to the industry, Runner, Runner, on your site, the Pirate algorithm probably won’t have much impact on your business.
At the same time, it’s always good to know what kind of updates Google’s running and what keywords they’re targeting. That could save you plenty of headaches when you’re brainstorming your next SEO campaign.