Spam in the Age of AI

Jason Lax, Technical SEO Senior Specialist at SAP, delves into AI’s impact on spam and scaling technical SEO. While the end goal of spammers remains the same - getting links - AI is facilitating more sophisticated approaches to bypassing our current detection tools. Ultimately, AI is scaling spam at an unprecedented level and we must employ constant vigilance and monitoring to protect our websites against attacks. Today, Jason discusses spam in the age of AI.
About the speaker

Jason Lax

SAP SE

 is a little camera shy

Jason is Technical SEO Senior Specialist at SAP

Show Notes

  • 01:32
    AIs impact on spam
    Spam is on the rise due to automation and AI making it more sophisticated. This creates a constant challenge for websites to balance effectively blocking spam while ensuring legitimate users aren't impacted.
  • 03:00
    The validity of traditional SEO spam detection methods
    Spammers' goals are similar, so detection methods should be tailored to their tactics in order to effectively catch them. Despite efforts, the sheer volume of spam poses challenges, making it difficult to catch every instance.
  • 03:28
    Spam challenges in the SAP ecosystem
    The vastness and established nature of the SAP ecosystem makes it a prime target for spam. Instead of focusing on building backlinks, SAP has to constantly fight to remove spammy content that abuses its authority.
  • 04:49
    Combating spam with AI
    Employing AI to counter spam involves a constant struggle to innovate and stay ahead of evolving tactics. While effective spam prevention demands new tools and restrictions, it runs the risk of hindering legitimate human users access to websites.
  • 05:59
    The difficulty of coordinating a spam defense
    The fight against spam is hampered by bad actors outpacing current tools and a lack of information sharing between companies. This makes it difficult to coordinate a united defense, leaving individual platforms to deal with recurring scams on their own.
  • 07:29
    The proliferation of spam in specialized verticals
    Spam attacks are particularly prevalent in YMYL verticals like finance and insurance where trust is crucial. AI allows spammers to easily translate their schemes into multiple languages, making detection and defense based on specific keywords nearly impossible.
  • 08:55
    Challenges in combating spam across languages and regions
    While platforms like Google devote resources to combatting English-language spam, disparities exist in their efforts across other languages and regions. These inconsistencies underscore the importance of ongoing vigilance and monitoring to address evolving spam challenges.
  • 10:12
    Staying ahead of spam and bad actors
    Bad actors exploit weaknesses in less secure ecosystems and languages, leveraging coordination and AI to identify vulnerabilities rapidly. Understanding their common objectives enables more effective tracking and mitigation strategies, though spam cant be eradicated entirely.
  • 12:26
    Leveraging tools to monitor spam
    Both enterprises and SMBs are vulnerable to malicious activities like unauthorized subdomain additions without constant vigilance in monitoring their online assets. Failure to regularly monitor Google Search Console can result in significant harm to established authority and reputation.
  • 15:15
    The impact of legislation on spam regulation
    The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) may indirectly aid in combating spam by requiring platforms to establish clear reporting procedures for illegal content. While the focus isn't directly on spam, this could benefit the fight by making it easier for users to report suspicious activity.
  • 18:36
    Challenges in legal action against spammers
    Unlike telemarketing scams of the past, there's little barrier to entry for launching new spam campaigns. With AI, spammers can create thousands of new user accounts and sell links. In addition, creating a new email account is free and can be done from anywhere in the world.

Quotes

  • "With spam and AI facilitating its scale, we're going to have to consider inventing brand new tools and restrictions. But all that risks hampering legitimate humans trying to get stuff done." - Jason Lax

  • "Spam will never get to zero, it's always going to be there. But if you know what you're looking for, you'll be more effective at developing strategies to keep an eye on it, go in, and remove it when it happens." - Jason Lax

  • "A lot of companies might have a site established for 15 years, they've got some authority, and people take advantage of them. Keep an eye on your Google Search Console for new users adding themselves to new subdomains, etc." - Jason Lax

  • "It's not clear how Google and other search engines learn about what's spam, they don't take any feedback. A lot of it comes down to us removing stuff when we see it, not only from the site, but also from search." - Jason Lax

  • "A lot of people who may not have had their moderation up to spec will have to do that now with DSA. And they'll benefit from that by allowing people and having a process to deal with reports." - Jason Lax

About the speaker

Jason Lax

SAP SE

 is a little camera shy

Jason is Technical SEO Senior Specialist at SAP

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