For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been tracking a sudden spike in .shop and .store referring domains hitting websites across multiple industries. This sudden influx, combined with the highly repetitive nature of the domains, strongly points to automated link farms or Private Blog Networks (PBNs) being spun up en masse.
These domains rely on a repetitive formula of SEO-focused keywords, most commonly seoexpress, link, and rank. The operators have pulled out all the stops to look legitimate, utilising fake addresses, non-existent social media profiles, and misleading contact information.
Here are some examples of what you need to look out for when auditing your site.
| backlinkengine.shop | rankcollective.shop |
| backlinkpartners.shop | rankgrowthagency.shop |
| googleseoauthority.shop | rankgrowthboost.shop |
| googleseocraft.shop | rankgrowthsolutions.shop |
| googleseoexperts.shop | rankseoalliance.shop |
| googleseopoint.shop | rankseoprovider.shop |
| linkgrowthauthority.shop | rankseotoolkit.shop |
| linkgrowthcompany.shop | searchrankcentral.shop |
| linkseoinsights.shop | searchrankpipeline.shop |
| organicrankexpress.shop | seoboostexchange.shop |
| organicrankservice.shop | seogrowthengine.shop |
| pageseocollective.shop | seogrowthprovider.shop |
| pageseomasters.shop | seogrowthstudio.shop |
| pageseoservice.shop | seolinkexpress.shop |
This is an example of what an actual link to your website may look like.
AI could have been used to build the referring domains en masse and it’s a shortcut that will inevitably be picked up by Google and it will lead to penalties.
What should you do next
- Audit your backlink profile
Review your referring domains using tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Majestic. Sort the data by date to isolate the newest domains. Pay special attention to whether these domains were discovered and quickly lost, which aligns with our findings that these sites are unstable or inactive. - Monitor your visibility
Keep a close eye on your search visibility. You want to understand if there is any actual correlation between the rise in these spam domains and fluctuations in your core rankings. - To disavow or not to disavow?
In the vast majority of cases, do nothing. Google’s SpamBrain system is exceptionally good at recognising spam link networks like this automatically. They simply devalue the links so they have zero impact on your site.
According to Google’s guidelines, using the Disavow tool is only necessary if you have actively participated in a paid link scheme, or if you have received a formal Manual Action penalty in Google Search Console. Unless you see a manual penalty, ignore the noise and focus on building genuine brand authority.
We will continue to monitor this and update this page when we have more to share. If you are looking for advice on your AI and Organic Search strategy, get in touch with us.
