Site Reputation Abuse: How the EU Is Forcing Google’s Hand

On May 6, 2026, Bloomberg and Reuters reported that Google submitted a remedies offer to the EU Commission. Two days later, EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated, according to Reuters, that the offer was “simply not strong enough.” The formal DMA proceedings that the Commission initiated against Google in November 2025 thus remain open.

This article summarizes what is publicly known about the proceedings and the remedies offer, explains the policy background, and identifies the open questions.

The following timeline is based on official Commission communications and media reports:

• March 5, 2024: Google introduces three new spam categories with the March 2024 Core Update, including Site Reputation Abuse. Enforcement begins: May 5, 2024.
• May 2024: First manual actions are publicly documented. According to visibility analyses by SEO analysts Glenn Gabe and Lily Ray, CNN Underscored, Forbes Advisor, and WSJ Buyside, among others, lose organic visibility.
• November 19–20, 2024: Google updates the policy. According to contemporaneous reporting by Search Engine Roundtable, Google signals that even editorial involvement of the publisher in third-party content does not automatically change the SRA evaluation.
• November 13, 2025: The EU Commission opens a formal DMA investigation against Google. Stated rationale: “Indications that Google, based on its ‘site reputation abuse policy’, is demoting news media and other publishers’ websites and content in Google search results when those websites include content from commercial partners.” The European Publishers Council is among the complainants according to reports.
• May 6, 2026: According to Bloomberg and Reuters, Google submits a remedies offer to the EU Commission. The full text was not published.
• May 8, 2026: EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier states, according to Reuters: “The reality for now is that solution is simply not strong enough.” According to reports, Google is given the opportunity to improve its offer.

The legal basis is the Digital Markets Act (DMA), specifically Articles 6(5) and 6(12). These require designated gatekeepers – Google is one of seven – to provide fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory access conditions to business partners. EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera stated in the EU press release: “We are concerned that Google’s policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory manner in its search results.”

According to Article 30 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 (Digital Markets Act), the EU Commission may impose fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue for violations of obligations under Articles 5, 6, and 7; for repeat offenses, the range increases to up to 20%.

Google’s official definition from the Spam Policies for Google Web Search: “Site reputation abuse is the practice of publishing third-party pages on a site in an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals.”

In the November 2024 update communication, Google specified the target as “very low-value, third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight”. According to Google’s official FAQ communications, affiliate content does not automatically violate the policy; what matters is the context and primary purpose of the content.

The EU Commission countered in its November 13, 2025 press release that the policy impairs “a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their websites and content.” From the Commission’s perspective, the question is whether Google’s policy application sufficiently reflects the distinction it describes in practice.

The Black Hat patterns in the iGaming sector that shaped this enforcement stance are documented in the Parasite SEO 2026 overview.

The most detailed publicly available description of the offer comes from TheNextWeb (May 6, 2026): “The proposals indicate that the company is willing to adjust how the site reputation abuse policy is applied to news domains, and to make the policy’s effect on publisher pages more transparent.” Reuters reports the offer includes “amendments to its anti-spam policies” – plural.

What is known from media reports:

• An adjusted application of the SRA policy specifically for news domains is apparently part of the offer.
• Greater transparency about how the policy affects publisher pages is also reportedly included.
• Reuters reported that Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated on May 8, 2026 that the solution was not strong enough.

What is not known:

• The full content of the offer.
• Whether and how an adjustment for affiliate sites outside news domains would apply.
• Whether an adjustment would be limited to the EU market or apply globally.
• The outcome of the next procedural step.

Based on the Commission communication of November 13, 2025, the proceedings primarily target news publishers and publishers integrating commercial partner content. CNN Underscored, Forbes Advisor, and WSJ Buyside are among the documented affected sections based on public reporting and visibility analyses by SEO analysts; the EU Commission does not name specific domains in its communication.

From my perspective as a practitioner in the iGaming SEO space, models like Clickout Media illustrate the scaling pattern that the SRA policy targets: domains with established reputation capital repurposed for AI-based iGaming affiliate content. According to publicly documented reports – including Press Gazette (2024) and a further investigation from March 2026 – Clickout Media is a public part of the industry debate on this topic. No legal assessment of these practices is intended here.

The possible implications for publisher models and affiliate structures are currently open. The proceedings are regarded by industry observers as an ongoing review with potential relevance to the sector. For strategies in the Parasite SEO space that hold up regardless of the outcome, see the Parasite SEO 2026 overview.

1. EU Commission press releases at digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu – the only reliable primary source on the status of proceedings.
2. Google Search Central Blog, “Spam Policies” section – policy changes are officially communicated there; the March 2026 Spam Update, for instance, explicitly excluded Site Reputation Abuse.
3. Visibility of historically affected sections – CNN Underscored, Forbes Advisor, WSJ Buyside via Sistrix or Semrush. Measurable visibility changes, particularly in the EU index, would be a signal.
4. Manual action reports in Search Console – more frequent reconsideration decisions in the publisher segment would be an early indicator.

The EU Commission’s DMA proceedings against Google are examining whether the specific application of the Site Reputation Abuse Policy is compatible with gatekeeper obligations. According to the Commission communication of November 13, 2025, the proceedings primarily target publisher and news domains and their monetization models through commercial partners. Whether and to what extent iGaming affiliate structures would be affected by a possible outcome cannot be conclusively assessed at this stage and cannot be derived from current Commission communications.

Google’s remedies offer of May 6, 2026 was assessed by Reuters on May 8 as insufficient. The proceedings continue. Confirmed policy changes, concrete timelines, and statements on the scope of any potential adjustment are not available based on current public information.