Negative SEO Campaign via Fake DMCA Complaints

[Alkis]

"Michael Ford"

 

[JTK]

All targeted pages remain taken down. It is either a three-strike rule in favor of the complainant or a bug in the reporting system, but counter-notices no longer have any effect. I'm only getting the 'We have already responded to..' messages. (Restored 2-3 times quickly, then brick wall).

Methodology: The attacker sets up sites impersonating the casino, with a different one for each geo. (Like geo-casino). After that, it automatically targets pages with specific branded keywords with DMCA takedowns. I have seen examples where 50 out of 70 results were taken down, with the attacker's site dominating the remaining results. In some cases, the said site redirects directly to the casino.

I don't see Google fixing the counter-notices, so I thought I should bring this up with my AM. In this case, it should be clear who benefits. Perhaps they can incentivize those partners not to do this. Even if I rename those pages, they may just get taken down again if those keywords are continuously targeted.

If you see your casinos being targeted in this way, flag it with your AM. I left a message on the 13th, and a reminder. So far, they have left me on 'seen'.

 

[Jops]

I've seen some affiliate sites getting completely wrecked by this bs. Some went from 500k organic visitors to literally zero. Of course, there could be other things at play here such as getting involved in black hat seo themselves, but I suspect it's due to this DMCA takedown thing.

I don't think this will be fixed by Google unless they get sued to bankcrupcy, either by the big affiliate/casino networks or by the EU.

 

[JTK]

GSC notifications are starting to arrive one month and a week after takedowns. One page received a notification on the same day as its takedown, but that was the exception.

Filling in the counter-notice form linked in the notification email (a different form with a selectable URL rather than an input field) no longer defaults to "We have already responded to, or are in the process of responding to, your request to restore the following URLs". Instead, the reply email states that the content will be restored shortly.

Good luck to everyone fighting these.

 

[Jops]

GSC notifications are starting to arrive one month and a week after takedowns. One page received a notification on the same day as its takedown, but that was the exception.

Filling in the counter-notice form linked in the notification email (a different form with a selectable URL rather than an input field) no longer defaults to "We have already responded to, or are in the process of responding to, your request to restore the following URLs". Instead, the reply email states that the content will be restored shortly.

Good luck to everyone fighting these.

What does this mean? Not following.

 

[JTK]

What does this mean? Not following.

If the same page is taken down multiple times, the system will stop working properly and treat your counter-notice as a duplicate, meaning it will not be processed. This has been a known issue, reported on Google Community forums, since at least 2024.

If it bugs out ('We have already...' responses only), the only solution is to wait for a Google Search Console notification (either via manual action in GSC or by email). This email will contain a link to a form tied to a case number, rather than the generic form I posted. Filling in that form works. However, this could result in over a month of downtime, or even more, as I haven't yet received email notifications for all the affected pages.

 

[topcaz]

it hit's us as well, and 45 pages has been removed, although we recieved much more claim submissions. We do not do anything, do not submit any claim, and it appears that only 10% of the submitted pages are being taken down.

Does anybody know the reason of doing this? like if they will not get anything, why they do that? and who stands behind it?

 

[JTK]

like if they will not get anything, why they do that? and who stands behind it?

If you think that, then I don't think you've read this thread properly.

Methodology: The attacker sets up sites impersonating the casino, with a different one for each geo. (Like geo-casino). After that, it automatically targets pages with specific branded keywords with DMCA takedowns. I have seen examples where 50 out of 70 results were taken down, with the attacker's site dominating the remaining results. In some cases, the said site redirects directly to the casino.