Google Pirate Update Explained And Recovery From DMCA Violations

The Pirate update addresses copyright infringement, not treasure hunts. Online piracy has been a significant issue since the rise of the internet. In response, Google has implemented measures to prevent sites that host pirated or stolen content from benefiting from its platform. The Pirate update lowers the rank of and removes such sites from search results. Although not all infringing sites are detected, Google continues to refine its efforts to penalize piracy and protect rights holders from illegal distribution.

Launch Date: August 10, 2012

August 2012 isn’t the first time Google laid down the law on copyright infringement, but it was the major turning point for tracking down and punishing sites that published pirated content.

What Google’s Pirate Update Impacted

The sole trigger for the Pirate update is operating a website that publishes pirated content. Specifically, sites reported for copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) are affected.

In summary, the DMCA makes it a criminal offense to provide stolen or pirated media. Due to the prevalence of piracy, Google has enhanced its algorithmic monitoring of such sites. If your site contains pirated content and has received multiple copyright infringement reports, including from the rights owner, it will be pushed down in the search results or removed from search results entirely.

How Google’s Pirate Update Works

Piracy of songs, films, video games, and other digital media remains a significant problem. While Google cannot review every page online, the Pirate algorithm update targets sites that violate DMCA copyright guidelines.

Each month, Google processes millions of copyright removal notices. However, only courts can determine actual copyright infringement, so Google removes pages only when a valid notice is submitted by the rights owner.

If a site has a report filed against it and Google determines it is valid, the site will be severely penalized. Despite Google’s enormity and the content it has indexed, it still has a reputation to uphold. It wants to work within legal boundaries while simultaneously giving its users exactly what they’re asking for. So if someone enters a query for a specific movie, Google wants to avoid giving piracy sites the top spots in its SERPs. The Pirate update makes this possible.

When users search for a movie title with terms like “watch,” “download,” or “torrent,” Google filters out free streaming sites and prioritizes legal options such as Netflix, Amazon, or Google Play. Pirated sites may still appear if searched for directly by name, but they will not show up in organic results for generic queries like “how to watch [movie] for free.”

How To Fix Your Website If It Was Impacted By The Pirate Update

If you have noticed a steep drop in your rankings and page visits, ask yourself if you’ve got illegal content on your site. This could range from a very obvious copyright infringement – like offering a movie for free to site guests – to something a little less in-your-face, like music in the background of a video on your page. If you are using film or music of any kind without express permission from the owner, you’re breaking copyright law! Sometimes, mistakes are made when you don’t know about these laws or simply aren’t thinking when editing together content. But if you intentionally offer pirated media, stop it! If you’re in the former group and are looking to recover or even prevent a hit by Pirate, here are a couple of things you can do:

Remove Content that Violates the DMCA

Remove any pirated media from your site. By eliminating illegal content, you reduce the risk of being penalized by the Pirate update.

Keep Your Main Domain Separate

If your site allows users to add content, keep your main domain separate from user-generated content. This approach helps protect your site from potential violations caused by user actions.