There has been another shift in the world of SEO. Google has made even more changes to their search algorithm. The latest change to Google’s algorithm comes on the heels of Panda and Penguin; The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, more commonly known as DMCA.
A DMCA is the latest penalty that may cause you to rank lower in Google’s search results. A DMCA request is used mostly by copyright owners to claim copyright infringement on content found on the internet. DMCA requests are reviewed by Google and if they find they are true, they will use it as a sign that the website being reported is lower quality.
Google will also sometimes remove the content entirely for court ordered DMCA takedown requests. If a website receives a large number of DMCA requests, Google will only lower the ranking of the site and the site’s content in general. The only way to remove the content completely from Google’s index is for the copyright holder to issue their own DMCA takedown request.
If you think you can trick Google by constantly reporting your competitors, think again, Google only looks at valid requests and they have measures put into place for anyone who tries report a false claim for DMCA.
As always this is just another measure to consider in order to play by the SEO rule book. Knowing about DMCA will hopefully help your business avoid the penalties that come with it.
