Google warns against ads disguised as articles

Not to be confused with content marketing, an advertorial is an article written in the sole interest of a brand—whereas content marketing is written with a consumer’s interest in mind. Here’s a brief timeline:

In February, Google removed a company’s entire website from its search results because it was employing advertorials disguised as editorial to pass search value on to its website.

In March, Google dedicated a blog post to the issue, saying:

Google went on to say that the consequence of getting caught could result in “the removal of articles, or even the entire publication, from Google News.” Additionally, Google launched a submission form for reporting spam.

In late May, the head of Google’s spam team, Matt Cutts, released a video reminding marketers about the potential repercussions of using advertorials to game search results.