Several months after cracking down on what it considered to be “coupon spam,” Google’s move appears to be having its desired effect in cutting down on confusion and clutter. Coupon-seeking internet searchers are seeing far fewer news sites moonlighting as coupon providers – and the use of actual coupon sites is soaring.
Back in May, Google took steps to ensure that an online search for coupons would take users to a site actually dedicated to providing coupons, and not a site offering a random page of coupon codes completely unrelated to its other content, in order to manipulate Google search rankings and profit from a high placement. Online news sites, ranging from the Washington Post to USA Today to the Wall Street Journal, were some of the greatest offenders, as their coupon pages regularly outranked sites like RetailMeNot and Groupon when Google users searched for coupons.
But then Google branded those news sites’ coupon pages as “spam” and penalized them accordingly. Now, the results are in, and coupon sites’ business is booming.
“CouponFollow saw a significant increase in site traffic and corresponding revenue,” Michael Blend, CEO of CouponFollow parent company System1, told investors last month. “June organic sessions were up nearly 80% year-over-year. And on some days, CouponFollow is the most trafficked coupon site in the world.”
And CouponFollow isn’t alone. Internet traffic data shared with Coupons in the News by Carl Hendy, an internet search and ecommerce consultant and founder of Audits.com, shows that CouponFollow has seen the largest spike in usage among coupon sites since the Google update, with Coupons.com, SimplyCodes and CouponCabin also seeing significant increases.
“CouponFollow is one of the most useful coupon websites, full of original content and thoroughly vetted promo codes, and Google appropriately gave CouponFollow a positive boost,” Blend said. “The update was aimed at eliminating spamming coupon and promo websites from Google Search results,” he continued. “This is not only a long overdue and welcome change, but was also great for consumers as the Google index was becoming polluted with copycat coupon-related sites.”
The third-party coupon providers who partner with various news websites might object to being called spammy, copycat coupon polluters. But Google’s changes were aimed directly at their business model, which the search engine giant said was “intended to manipulate Search rankings” and violated the integrity of its search results. Companies like Savings United, Global Savings Group and TSG Commerce have paired up with news websites in what had been a win-win for both – the coupon providers piggyback on the popularity of the news sites, whose dedicated coupon pages ranked highly in Google searches, and the news sites earn commissions every time a coupon from their site is used.
Many news publishers and third-party coupon providers pushed back, arguing that their coupon pages were just as legitimate and reliable as any site dedicated solely to coupons. But there’s no arguing with Google. Once the changes took effect, news sites’ coupon pages plummeted in Google search rankings, clearing the way for coupon sites’ rise.
With little recourse, several news sites have thrown in the towel. Fearful that the Google penalties would impact not just their coupon pages but their entire website’s search rankings, publishers like Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have since deactivated their coupon code pages altogether.
So news sites and their third-party coupon partners are unhappy with Google’s changes. But Google appears pleased with its effort to clean up its search results. And dedicated coupon code sites are thrilled. As for coupon users, it’s all about finding the best coupons with the least amount of difficulty. Some may have preferred getting their coupons from the Washington Post, while others trust the ones on CouponFollow. Whatever now shows up in your Google searches, there’s one thing everyone can agree on – the best results are whichever ones help you to save the most money.
Image source: Mockuper
