Many marketers are aware of parasite SEO concept, yet not many actually understand how to apply it in 2025 to be successful and what the actual pros of the concept are, some might even consider this strategy to be dark.
Previously, as part of a podcast on our YouTube channel, Vasilii Gamov, CEO of Peaky Ads, and Txema Hermoso, Chief Growth Officer of Doctor SEO, shared their insights on this method and gave their expert opinions on the notion, together with practical tips and risks explained.
What is Parasite SEO?
First, let’s briefly dive into the notion of parasite SEO and explain its nature. As its name says, parasite SEO is a search engine optimization strategy that helps marketers take advantage of the traffic and credibility of popular websites with good reputations to boost the ranking of another site.
Rather than starting from scratch to build a site’s authority, those who use Parasite SEO benefit from the existing reputation of other platforms. This approach can involve various methods, such as posting content on high-authority third-party sites like blogs, forums, social media, etc.
These platforms already rank well in search engines, so users aim to gain visibility and drive traffic to their sites by sharing valuable content or links there.
Important note: To be considered Parasite, the content has to be quite unrelated to the main website topicality. Otherwise, it would just be considered affiliation.
Txema gives an example of a parasite SEO, “I open a blog and publish an informational article about how to analyze markets, and place bets on Champions League matches. With probably very poor performance. But if I publish the same article in The New York Times, the performance on Google of that second article is gonna be much more successful”
What are the Benefits of Parasite SEO?
So, how can you actually benefit from parasite SEO, and why is it still a thing in 2025? Let’s find out!
There are three main reasons for implementing parasite SEO that make the practice attractive to marketers.
- Higher visibility. By placing your content on solid websites with great credibility, you can minimize how long it takes to get high in search engine rankings. These websites already have a proven history, which implies your content can ride their authority to rank faster.
- More keyword opportunities. With the backing of a high-authority website, you can more easily target competitive terms and drive traffic with valuable content. Such a placement strategy provides you with a better chance of ranking higher in search engines that might be challenging to try on an up-and-coming site.
- Increased audience reach. Well-established websites tend to have bigger readerships, and therefore, your content should be more likely to reach the masses. By capitalizing on their traffic, you can get the optimum level of engagement and visibility as the content is accessible for more people to see and read.
Vasilii Gamov sums it up, “Parasite SEO is an SEO strategy where marketers or businesses leverage the high domain authority (DA) of established websites to rank their own content in search engine results pages (SERPs). The content is often hosted on the authority site, benefiting from its credibility and ranking power”.
What are the Methods for Implementing Parasite SEO?
Let’s see how to actually start working with parasite SEO, and what the most widespread methods are.
Guest blogging on high-authority sites
The easiest thing to do is probably to collaborate with established sites. You can create quality content and pay these sites to post it on their website. This is as close to traditional link-building as you can get, but with a focus on the quality of the article rather than just the backlink.
For example, if you write an article about the intersection of casinos and Formula 1, ensure that the content is relevant to the host site visitors. Your links must be sensible and believable in the context of the article.
Employing parasite subfolders
Another widely used tactic is negotiating with a third-party site to host an independent backend within one of their highest-level subfolders. This tactic has gained widespread use in the past couple of years because it allows you to publish your material and continue leveraging the host site’s authority.
For example, you could create a subfolder on a high-traffic news site for online casinos that would greatly raise the visibility level of your content.
Purchasing expired domains
You can also purchase expired domains with a good backlink and authority history. By hosting your content on these domains, you can benefit from their reputation. For example, if you acquire a gambling domain with good backlinks, you can publish articles on online casinos or betting tips there, which can improve your ranking in search results.
Txema also provides a list of tools that can be used to find the expired domains, those are free and work well from his personal experience:
He explains that these platforms may require additional use of other SEO tools, such as AHREF’s Majestic, etc. Of course there are other paid platforms, with extra features, which may save you the use of additional tools, like: DomainHunterGatherer but in my opinion you already need the other tools for your other SEO actions, so with knowledge and the right approach, the free tools are good enough.
Optimize your on-page SEO
You don’t neglect on-page SEO just because you are linking to authoritative websites. Sure, there are always good tools floating around for making sure everything is readable and keyword-opts perfectly, but at least give some good structures to your blogs as well as correct density for a boost in optimization in terms of how well these show up in ranks.
Create backlinks to your content
Finally, just because your content is on an authoritative site doesn’t mean it will automatically rank well. You’ll need to build backlinks to your parasite content to compete with other high-authority pages targeting similar keywords.
This means promoting your articles through various channels and seeking additional links from other relevant sites to increase their visibility.
What Tools to Use for Parasite SEO?
There are several resources that can be used for Parasite SEO, Vasilii Gamov mentions such platforms as Medium, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora and WordPress.
Why use these resources for Parasite SEO
- Quick rankings. A Quora answer with a relevant keyword ranked #3 on Google within 3 days.
- Low-cost entry. Publishing on Medium is free, making it a cost-effective way to drive traffic.
- Content syndication. Repurposing blog content on platforms like Medium can increase traffic by 30% without significant additional effort.
- Lead generation. A LinkedIn post optimized for “B2B sales strategies” generated 50% more leads than the user’s main website.
- Niche targeting. Reddit threads targeting product-specific queries, such as «Best budget gaming laptop 2023,» often appear in the top 5 search results.
Does Google Accept Parasite SEO?
Txema explains that Google doesn’t accept Parasite SEO. It is a trick SEOs developed to beat the Google Algorithm, which in fact, even though its current popularity, Still Google didn’t find the solution to prevent Parasite SEO with their Algorithm
Let’s turn to stats. According to Search Engine Journal, 25% of Parasite SEO tactics result in warnings or penalties due to over-optimization or spam. Also, Ahrefs says that 70% of compliant campaigns see long-term success without penalties.
What is more, Txema says that Google keeps secrecy about their processes in order to avoid webmasters who breach their processes far from their investigation methods.
Txema points out several main thoughts
- Many webmasters reach a complaint to Google about a website breaching their terms and conditions.
- Google files these reports.
- Google puts manual reviewers to check upon websites with a high amount of reports.
- Suddenly, GSC reports on the Manual actions tab a breach of the Site Reputation Abuse without further information and gives a one-click button to validate once the site has been fixed.
- Google removes its index pages from the website.
The penalty can be partial: Only to part of the website, or a few folders, or complete.
Is Parasite SEO Legal?
Globally, yes, but it’s crucial to follow the rules of a hosting site.
Txema and Vasilii point out that there is no global regulation about internet content (even for very clear cases like underaged pornography). So, in this case, we need to review the regulations of each country. Governments like Australians may ban pages and even the whole domain if they breach their regulations, for example, related to gambling, but others may not have a defined regulation, so there is somehow a legal loophole, meaning it’s totally legal.
What Risks Can an Authority Website Have When Agreeing to Do Parasite SEO?
There are three main risks for a website that hosts third-party content that are worth mentioning.
- Potential Google penalties. Google can penalize the entire domain.
- Country-specific blocks. The website can be blocked in certain countries if the third-party content is unlawful under local regulations.
- Legal issues. Websites can face legal problems when distributing forbidden content to residents of those countries.
With these threats in consideration, it’s essential for high-authority sites to be extremely selective about the nature of the content they allow from third parties. They must develop a contract with extremely detailed specifications that outline topic, boundaries, and geographic targeting.
Is It Profitable to Do Parasite SEO? Pros and Cons Sum-Up
A parasite site may be productive for quite a while, but it will eventually be hit by Google. Google has been speeding up its review times, so these sites might have shorter lifespans nowadays. Some marketers will continue to apply such strategies if the revenue generated during their operational time exceeds the costs.
Pros
- Quick gains. Parasite SEO can deliver quick visibility and traffic, hence appealing to any one who wishes to gain quick profit.
- Lower infrastructure investment. It normally requires less infrastructure investment compared to creating a distinct site.
Cons
- Shorter existence. Such projects will not last long before the penalty.
- Penalty risk. There is a great risk of penalties by Google or even the government.
- High initial investment. The initial cost can be high as the project can disappear at a moment’s notice.
Txema concludes “I don’t see a bright future to building a Parasite web that takes advantage of the host site. But instead, I have in mind a new concept, I decided to call symbiotic SEO, (Symbiosis stands for “interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.” ) in which two entities benefit from mutual collaboration, in the long term”.
Conclusion
In summary, Parasite SEO can be an effective tool for companies looking for quick traffic and better rankings.
Take into mind the stats below and make the decision to use or not to use Parasite SEO yourself:
- 40% of Parasite SEO campaigns result in measurable traffic increases within 30 days, according to Ahrefs.
- Backlinko says that 50% faster ranking for long-tail keywords than building authority on a new domain.
- Businesses report a 200% ROI when using high-authority platforms for content syndication, according to HubSpot, 2022.
- However, according to Moz, 25% of campaigns face limitations due to platform policy changes.
Vasilii Gamov highlights that “Parasite SEO’s success depends on ethical practices, compliance with platform rules, and diversification. While it offers short-term wins, marketers must balance opportunities with long-term strategies to maintain growth and audience trust”.
The Peaky Ads team urges to apply smart SEO and double your profits by collaborating with our marketing agency.
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