What to do with DMCA Notices in SEO Efforts?
We're covering a topic that can directly affect all your SEO & GEO efforts, and one that you have to deal with when it comes to copyrights: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In this article, I will try to provide you with information about what you should pay attention to in SEO in case some or all of your site is affected by the DMCA.
What is DMCA?
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is part of U.S. copyright law and concerns the process of having content completely removed from the internet. As a result of these notices, your website may be partially or entirely removed from Google.
For example, a video recap or goal footage from a football match for which you do not have an agreement or license could be evaluated within this scope. Below, you can see the list of URLs and the number of domains that have been removed from Google’s index due to copyright issues since 2011. (Source: Google)
In addition to copyright, Google also provides governments with a communication channel for content they may request to have removed from search results. For example, below you can see the categories of requests submitted from Turkey.
Does the DMCA Only Apply to the US?
The DMCA is a U.S. law, and since other countries such as Turkey have their own laws, Google handles these through separate processes. For example, the EU has the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Regardless of the type of website you operate, if there is a copyright infringement and it is reported under the DMCA, your pages may be removed from the index because of an image on your site. You will often see situations like this on websites that do not publish content in compliance with the law. In other words, it does not matter whether the site is a movie-streaming website or a regular news site. That is why you should pay close attention to DMCA Takedown notices. Without getting too caught up in the legal terminology, let’s get back to the SEO side of things.
Google considers DMCA notices and may remove your site from search results. In such cases, Search Console will receive a mail like the one below:
As you can see in the screenshot, the email reads "Google has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of the material found on your site allegedly infringes upon the copyrights of others" and then goes on to say that action will be taken to remove the URLs from Google.
At https://lumendatabase.org/ you can see the names of many sites, from Twitter to other major sites. Sample results for Netflix:
On detail pages such as https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/22812898 you can also see the copyrighted sites and details. The reasons for copyrights and the URLs provided as examples are clearly shown:
If the search query is relevant after the deleted pages, you may see a warning like the one below at the bottom of the SERP:
How Does a Site's Organic Performance Affect After DMCA?
As soon as the DMCA notice is received in Search Console and reflected in the search results, the relevant pages on your site are completely removed from the index. Naturally, your performance will decline because you will no longer receive traffic from those URLs that previously generated strong organic traffic and SEO visibility. A notification was received in Search Console on June 28, 2020, and organic traffic dropped. Below, you can see the change in organic traffic in the old Google Analytics interface.
Even if you examine the URL removed from the index with URL inspection, it will not show an error/warning that it is not in the index:
Your pages may lose visibility not only in Google Search results, but also across surfaces such as Gemini, Google Images, and Google News.
Will my pages come back after being removed from search results by DMCA?
Yes, they can come back. For this, you need to file a counter-notification to state that you are not violating copyright. In addition, if the algorithms have stayed the same and it has been a short time since the process started, it is possible to catch your old traffic.
The critical point is that you received the DMCA notice for the wrong reason. If the other party is right, there is not much you can do here.
Is DMCA Notices a Ranking Factor?
Yes, Google stated in a blog post in 2012 that it can use the number of copyright notices as a signal. The important thing to consider here is that you do not exhibit manipulative behavior continuously. You should also pay attention to repeated DMCA notices:
DMCA Counter Notice
If your essential pages are out of the index because of DMCA notices affecting your site, Google is serving a notice of violation against you. You should definitely consult with your lawyer about DMCA notices. Click here to access the DMCA counter-notification form.
Carefully and accurately fill in the information requested from you in the form on the screen below:
If the content on the page was infringing at the time you received the notice, your counter-notice will be legally invalid:
In the URL section, you should enter the URLs specified in the mail & Search Console messages:
At the bottom of the form, you need to clearly explain, in simple sentences summarizing the situation, if there is anything unfair or incorrect about the DMCA notice. After your application has been successfully submitted, if it is determined that there is an issue preventing the page from being re-included in the index, you will receive an email from [email protected] explaining the situation:
As I wrap up this article, I recommend paying close attention to copyright issues and keeping in mind that your organic traffic may decline if some of your website’s most valuable pages are removed from the index. Wishing you plenty of traffic!
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