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Excessive Monetization

Fred is a nickname given to a series of Google updates starting in 2017. According to Search Engine Land, Fred “targets low-value content sites that put revenue above helping their users.”

The official Google Rater Guidelines Document says that popups and distracting ads are signs of a low-quality site.Google may penalize sites that display full-page “interstitial” popups to mobile users.The “Page Layout Algorithm” penalizes sites with lots of ads (and not much content) above the fold.

It's no secret that Google isn't the biggest fan of affiliates. Many think that sites that monetize with affiliate programs are put under extra scrutiny. Havingexcessive affiliate links may cause Google's algorithm to pay closer attention to other quality signals to make sure it is not a “thin affiliate site”. Going too far when trying to hide affiliate links (especially with cloaking) can bring on a penalty.