Let’s Combat Obituary Spam Together
What’s obituary spam?
Those from outside the funeral profession are taking advantage of the immense amount of website traffic that obituaries generate. They will create “spam” content to manipulate Google’s algorithms to outrank local funeral homes in searches. They also create obituaries that aren't real because every click has the potential to generate ad revenue.
How is obituary scraping legal?
Aggregators and scammers are good at skirting copyright laws by changing the content just enough to call it original.
What’s your best advice on how to push down spammers and aggregators?
Number one: Be the first to post original content. Number two: To the extent you're comfortable, share obituaries on every single social account you have. Number three: Have a fast website.
What can you say to families who are upset about their obituary getting scraped?
Be transparent about the fact that you don’t sponsor or do business with the scrapers. You might also consider sharing resources, such as The Verge article mentioned below.
Does reporting scraped obituaries to Google make a difference?
Yes – especially when they’re reported repeatedly. This helps notify Google and its algorithm that the content being produced by this specific domain is less valuable to those searching for information. Eventually, this will make an impact. Read more about how to report spam here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- You can watch the replay of our webinar focusing on obituary spam anytime. Watch the webinar replay here.
- The best way to combat obituary spam is to dominate your SEO presence in your market. We offer excellent SEO services. Connect with any of our experts at Tribute Technology for more information.
- Our Chief Customer Officer Courtney Gould Miller was featured in an article published by The Verge about obituary spam. Read more here.
