Forbes' Parasite SEO: The Empire Built on Affiliate Content

If you’ve been searching for product recommendations or "how-to" guides lately, you’ve probably noticed Forbes dominating the results—whether it's about best pet insurance, CBD gummies, or even how to get rid of cockroaches. It’s almost impossible to escape Forbes in the search engine results pages (SERPs), even on topics where the business magazine lacks any real authority. This trend has sparked debate in the SEO world, with some calling Forbes' SEO strategy a form of "Parasite SEO."

But what exactly is Parasite SEO, and how has Forbes managed to become the go-to website for such a wide variety of topics? Let’s dig into what’s really going on behind the scenes at Forbes.

The Rise of Forbes in Google SERPs: Parasite SEO in Action

Forbes’ rise to dominance in Google’s organic rankings isn’t accidental—it’s the result of an aggressive SEO affiliate strategy orchestrated by a separate entity: Forbes Marketplace. Launched in 2019, Forbes Marketplace is an affiliate business that manages various sections of the Forbes website, including Forbes Advisor, Forbes Health, and Forbes Home Improvement. Their rapid growth is staggering, with Forbes Advisor alone racking up 20.6 million search visits per month, and the entire Forbes Marketplace affiliate ecosystem pulling in over 27.3 million monthly visits from search​.

So, how did this happen so quickly? According to Lars Lofgren, the mastermind behind many successful affiliate programs, Forbes Marketplace has perfected Parasite SEO—a strategy where one company exploits the domain authority of another established website to dominate Google’s rankings across various niches. In this case, Forbes Marketplace leverages the Forbes name to rank for high-value affiliate keywords like "best credit cards," "home improvement," and "sports betting," raking in hundreds of millions in annual revenue​.

What Is Parasite SEO?

Parasite SEO occurs when a third-party entity gains access to a high-authority domain, usually through a partnership or subfolder structure, and then floods that domain with optimized content to exploit its inherent ranking power. This allows the third party to rank for keywords quickly and effectively without needing to build its own domain authority from scratch.

In the case of Forbes Marketplace, they’ve managed to use the Forbes.com domain to target lucrative affiliate markets, even though Forbes itself has little to no expertise in those areas. This has caused frustration within the SEO community, as Forbes continues to outrank smaller, more specialized sites that may offer more value to users but lack the domain strength of Forbes.

A Case Study in Exploitation

Let’s take a closer look at how this plays out in real-world searches.

For instance, when you search for “best pet insurance”, Forbes ranks near the top—even though their expertise in pet insurance is questionable at best. Similarly, they dominate the rankings for “best CBD gummies”, a niche that falls under the tricky regulation of marijuana products, which doesn’t allow for paid ads on Google. As a result, Forbes has not only captured the organic clicks but also the affiliate commissions that come with them​.

Forbes also ranks for non-commercial queries like “how to get rid of roaches”, with an article stuffed full of ads. These "how-to" posts generate massive amounts of traffic, and with well-placed affiliate ads, they’re almost as lucrative as "best-of" product reviews.

How Forbes Marketplace is Structured

Forbes Marketplace operates under several different subfolders on Forbes.com, each targeting specific affiliate niches:

• Forbes Advisor (B2B, finance, insurance)
• Forbes Health
• Forbes Home Improvement
• Forbes Betting

What’s fascinating is that Forbes Marketplace isn’t fully owned by Forbes. Forbes owns a 39.53% minority stake in Forbes Marketplace, with the majority of the company controlled by a group of investors and a separate management team. The key players running Forbes Marketplace are largely independent of Forbes itself, which has led to concerns about the ethical implications of how this partnership exploits the Forbes brand​.

The Dark Side of Parasite SEO

While Forbes Marketplace’s strategy has been wildly successful from a financial standpoint, it’s raised eyebrows in the SEO community for several reasons:

1. Thin Content: Many of the articles ranking at the top of Google are thin or generic, created solely to capture affiliate commissions rather than provide value to users. This content is often produced with minimal oversight from Forbes itself, further complicating the trustworthiness of the brand.

2. Lack of Expertise: Forbes Marketplace covers topics like healthcare, home improvement, and gambling—areas far outside Forbes' traditional purview of business journalism. The articles are often written by generalists, not industry experts, which can lead to a lower-quality user experience.

3. Google's Role: Google’s algorithm has played a major part in elevating Forbes Marketplace’s content to the top of the SERPs. By prioritizing domain authority over actual expertise, Google has allowed Forbes to monopolize organic search for affiliate terms across a range of unrelated industries. This leaves niche experts struggling to compete, even when they produce higher-quality content​.

    

The Future of Forbes Marketplace

Forbes Marketplace is only getting bigger. They’ve already started expanding into sports betting, with the goal of becoming the top organic site for NFL, NBA, and MLB-related content. And they show no signs of slowing down. According to Lofgren, Forbes Marketplace is "the single largest and most successful parasite SEO program of all time," and they’re likely to continue expanding into every affiliate category they can until Google steps in​.

Who’s Really Running the Show?

Forbes’ meteoric rise in Google’s rankings isn’t being driven by its editorial team—it’s the result of a highly sophisticated SEO operation run by a separate company that exploits the Forbes brand for affiliate revenue. This strategy has raised questions about the ethics of Parasite SEO and the role Google plays in elevating this kind of content.

At the end of the day, the success of Forbes Marketplace serves as both a cautionary tale and a blueprint for anyone looking to dominate Google’s rankings using the power of a high-authority domain. But whether this strategy will remain sustainable—or if Google will eventually crack down on these practices—remains to be seen.

Attribution:

This article is based on the original insights and data compiled by Lars Lofgren, published on September 18, 2024​(Search Engine Journal)​(LBBOnline).