What is Parasite SEO?

A blog created by Content Powered posted in Forbes. Source: contentpowered.com

Parasite SEO is a technique used to leverage the authority of high-ranking websites to rank for competitive keywords. Here’s a simple breakdown to help you understand it fully:

How It Works

Parasite SEO involves creating pages or content on high-authority, third-party websites with the aim of piggybacking on their established trust and domain authority in search engines.

This approach helps your content rank higher more quickly than it might on a newer or less authoritative site.

Techniques

  • Posting articles on high-ranking platforms like Forbes, Medium or LinkedIn.
  • Creating videos and posting them on YouTube.
  • Submitting your website to directories with high domain authority.
  • Participating in forums or question-and-answer sites like Quora, adding content that links back to your site or offers.

Advantages

  • Quick ranking results due to the high authority of the host site.
  • Potentially high traffic flow to your content or site.
  • Reduced SEO effort and cost in comparison to building the authority of a new site from scratch.

Disadvantages

  • Limited control over the content and how long it remains on the host platform.
  • Changes in the host site’s policies may negatively impact your content’s visibility or links.
  • Risk of being perceived as spammy if poorly executed.

Examples

  • An SEO article about “Best Digital Cameras” hosted on Medium.
  • A product comparison video hosted on YouTube.
  • A detailed answer about “How to Bake a Cake” on Quora with a link to your baking blog.

Understanding and using Parasite SEO responsibly can be a powerful strategy in your digital marketing toolkit, especially when starting out or looking to quickly capture traffic for highly competitive keywords.