Google Video Spam Through Text-To-Speech Technology

Jan 2, 2020 - 7:33 am 5 by
Filed Under Spam

Google Scraper

Roger Montti posted on Twitter that he is seeing more and more spammers using a technique to spam Google through videos. In short, the spammers would find the top ranking content, use text-to-speech software to create automated videos of the content, while using the featured image as the background to the video. Then those videos would rank in Google search.

He reported the issue to a bunch of Googlers and Gary Illyes from Google said he sent it along to the Google webspam team:

I am not sure how new this technique is? I've seen it a ton around political campaigns over the past few years or so, more so on YouTube. But I guess these videos are now showing up higher in the organic search results - which makes it a newer spam problem in web search?

In any event, I would hope Google can address these types of things quickly? If you have examples, feel free to add some in the comments.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 29, 2025

Apr 29, 2025 - 10:00 am
Other Search Engines

ChatGPT Search Gains Shopping Search Features (Not Ads) & More

Apr 29, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Changing Lastmod Date In Sitemap Isn't An SEO Hack

Apr 29, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests New AI Answer Summary

Apr 29, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Tests New Shopping Ads Design

Apr 29, 2025 - 7:21 am
Bing Search

Bing Search Without Microsoft Name By Logo

Apr 29, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google Local Pack "Choose Area" Feature Now Live