Michael Epps Utley 
You may have heard the term “Parasite SEO” floating around. Its name has negative connotations, but there is more nuance to this practice than most people realize. Like any tool, parasite SEO can be highly productive or extremely destructive depending on how and why it’s used.
This article explains parasite SEO, how it can go wrong, and what it takes to get it right.
What Is Parasite SEO?
Parasite SEO allows you to leverage the authority of an established website to rank for competitive keywords. You do this by publishing content on a highly authoritative website, not your own.
The benefits of parasite SEO include:
It can be easier to rank for competitive keywords with good content published on a popular site.
Your content receives more attention because authoritative websites tend to have a higher readership.
Some of the negative aspects of parasite SEO include:
Lower brand awareness in search results because the third-party site ranks, not yours.
Less control over your content, especially if you want to change it after it’s published.
Content removal if the site owner decides to take it down (or the site itself goes down).
Ethical concerns (we’ll discuss that more below).
Is Parasite SEO Unethical?
Parasite SEO can be dicey in certain situations.
Many small businesses practicing parasite SEO take a churn-and-burn approach. They pay for a sponsored post on a site, enjoy the benefits while they last, and then publish on another site when Google penalizes the original one.
Google penalizes sites for publishing this type of content because it considers it site reputation abuse. Site reputation abuse is when third-party content is published on a site with little or no oversight or involvement by the site's managers. The purpose of doing this is to manipulate search rankings by taking advantage of the site’s authority and other positive ranking signals. Content is published on sponsored, advertising, partner, or other third-party pages and typically provides visitors little to no value.
Put simply, when established sites publish junk content for the purpose of making money, this is considered reputation abuse. This commonly happens on local newspaper sites as they sell space to replace declining advertising revenue.
This practice can work for a while, but Google will flag these sites eventually. This is why parasite SEO is risky for small businesses to engage in or depend on. One day, everything is fine; the next, your content is getting no readership.
There is a legitimate alternative to churn-and-burn parasite SEO, however. It involves authoring high-quality guest posts for well-known, authoritative blogs in your industry. It’s a completely honest way to earn SEO benefits from a respected site.
How to Do Legit “Parasite” SEO
Here are the three steps you must take to practice parasite SEO without getting into trouble.
1. Identify High-Authority Websites Ranking Well for Your Keywords
The ideal websites for parasite SEO are those already ranking high for your keywords. You can use tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer or Semrush to find these sites. They will provide you with a report that shows the websites getting the most traffic from the keywords you enter into the app.
2. Find Sites That Allow Guest Posts or Self-Publishing
For a site to be a potential candidate for parasite SEO, it must publish guest posts or allow self-publishing that is monitored for quality and appropriateness and approved by site managers.
Typically, niche blogs seek out guest posts or self-published content. Many have limited staff and need support generating quality material for their readers. Blogs with a few posts per writer by many authors are worth looking into.
3. Get Published on Authoritative Sites
Contact the publications you’ve identified and work with the editor on content ideas. Once you come up with a topic that’s mutually beneficial, develop an authoritative piece that will engage the site’s readers. Use your keywords throughout it, including subheads. Add links to your site to earn SEO points and drive traffic to key pages.
Next, sit back and enjoy the benefits of above-board parasite SEO (perhaps “symbiotic SEO” is a better term for this practice).
Parasite SEO: The Final Word
It’s easy to get into trouble with Google if you practice parasite SEO the wrong way. Publishing pay-to-play content on authoritative but questionable sites can leave your business vulnerable when the material is found by Google and penalized.
However, if done right, parasite SEO can get your quality content published and ranked on popular sites. It can also pass SEO value to your site and push quality traffic to it if you include links in your content. This practice is more symbiotic than parasitic, benefitting your brand and the site hosting your content.
Leverage the ideas in this piece to start practicing the right kind of parasite SEO.
Want to learn more? Check out the top search trends for 2025 and beyond.
