Written by Joshua Tyler | Updated
We have had to stop daily deployments giant strange Robot. Which means I have more time on my hands. Most of that time is now focused on our business YouTube channelbut everything I have left I plan to spend on helping independent publishers.
Not everyone thinks they need help, so here’s my first warning: They’re actually out to get you.
Big media companies take many forms. Some are huge new media conglomerates owned by hedge funds that have bought up independent sites and turned them into zombie content farms. Others are ancient media monsters that roam the content space like King Kong, smashing everything in their path.
Make no mistake: they consider independent publishers their enemies, and always have been. They will do anything to ensure that independents can’t get a foothold in what they now see, after the elimination of the original independent publishers who created the Internet, as their personal sphere.
Your big media brand’s competitors have infinite money, infinite staff, and infinite connections. They use it in ways that you, as an independent publisher, could never imagine and might even consider unethical. Here are some of the methods I caught them using to destroy this site, and now they are using it on you.
infiltration
Every now and then, independent publishers try to form alliances as a way to stand up to the onslaught of money from big media companies that is used to sabotage them. Major media companies then send teams to infiltrate and subvert these groups, usually in subtle ways but sometimes more overtly.
They often position themselves as a friendly force that wants to work with freelancers. For example, they promote the idea that they might buy these sites and make their owners rich, or invest in them in some way. Sometimes they pretend to be so friendly and altruistic that they want to help.
This is almost never true. They mine you for data and keep you divided. They know exactly what they are doing.
Create toxic attachment
Have you ever wondered why your site has so many suspicious and questionable sites linked to it, even though you never buy any links? Some of this happens organically, from content scrapers who think they can make money by ripping you off. But not all of that.
It is routinely used by major media organizations Negative SEO To keep small sites down. If you start infringing on a keyword that they think is theirs, they will deliberately start paying for link buying services to buy malicious links that redirect to your website.
It’s unknown how much this will negatively impact your search rankings, but it certainly doesn’t help.
Copy content
Most large media content farms use algorithms that determine what to write. These algorithms rely on copying what works for their competitors. They analyze what others do and imitate it. The algorithm they use assigns titles, topics, and even creates outlines to guide their writers on what to write step by step.
So, if an independent publisher writes an article about the best Star Trek spaceships and it starts doing well, the big media algorithms will figure it out and start automatically creating copycat articles, which they assign to the writers.
They will produce dozens of Best Star Trek Starships articles at once, drowning out the keyword they are trying to steal. They continue to produce them using writers who charge, in some cases, as little as $1 an article, until their content drowns out the original article they are copying. It works, and they will eventually steal any traffic and interest momentum the original article was generating.
Smear campaigns
Any independent publisher that starts getting positive buzz is seen as a threat, so major media companies use their PR teams to pose as readers and experts. These fake accounts are then used to distort the competition.
These attacks take many forms. Sometimes they create entire Reddit threads with titles like “Site A Is A Scam.” And because Google favors Reddit, anyone searching for “Site A” will now see that as one of the first search results.
Often, they use comments on trust rating platforms and on social media. They will regularly slander your independent brand or advise people to stay away from you because you are a liar or you will deceive them.
Threats and intimidation
Any independent publisher that starts out doing too well will inevitably face threats from employees at major media brands.
These threats take many forms and have different goals. Some will ask you to remove a post they don’t like. In other cases, they will ask you to hand over sources to them because they are unhappy that you revealed a story they believe is theirs.
The consequences of refusing to comply vary. They often threaten to use their power to destroy your PR contacts and restrict your access if you do not comply. In other cases, they threaten smear campaigns where they will leverage their superior circulation to write negative articles about your site or use their PR teams to create online smear campaigns disguised as organic hate.
Lawfare
In the early 2000s, legacy media companies began threatening distribution platforms like Facebook and Google with lawsuits if their content was not given preferential treatment over independent publishers. It worked, and that’s not the only way they’re using their well-funded legal muscle.
If an independent publisher makes the mistake of accusing a large media brand of any of the items on this list, they will likely face legal action.
You may think that the truth is a sure defense, but defending yourself against this type of lawsuit will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in the end, any lawyer you hire will not be as good as theirs. You’ll have to settle, where you’ll pay them a smaller amount and promise to keep your mouth shut.
Fake takeover offers
There are legitimate media companies that acquire smaller brands, which will then offload their AI-generated content and throw their own content in there. However, some major media brands regularly fake acquisition offers to smaller sites so they can gain access to their data.
Once they have your data, they’ll make an offer so low they know you won’t accept it, and use that data to optimize their own sites and steal any keywords you might outperform them on.
Stacking backlinks
A large part of the way Google decides if a publisher is high quality is based on backlinks. Major media brands use the money to collectively generate hundreds of thousands of backlinks to their sites.
If you’re looking for evidence, take a look at the backlink analyzes of any independent publisher that has been acquired by a big brand. You will notice a huge increase in the number of backlinks going to that site, once you have completed your acquisition.
Did people suddenly start liking the site more organically and linking to it more just because a big company bought it? Unlikely.
Artistic vandalism
If an independent publisher has something go viral, that success is often followed by some sort of DDOS attack that takes their server down.
Are you trying to create an email newsletter subscription? Expect to be immediately slammed with thousands of fake users signing up so they can report your newsletter as spam and block it from appearing on email services.
Artistic vandalism takes many forms, and it is impossible to prove its source. But if you do it long enough, you’ll start to notice a very suspicious pattern.
Leverage partnerships with large platforms
At a recent Google Creators Chat event with independent publishers, Google seemed to express concern that giving independent publishers placement on big brands could drive big brand crazes.
Is it a coincidence that every platform seems to give big brands preferential treatment? Maybe not.
Is it a coincidence that Google suddenly gave Reddit the top spot in all of their search results right after signing an AI deal with them? It’s a question worth asking.
Did I miss any dirty tricks? Let me know in the comments below.