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OpenAI’s CEO and executives offered answers on Reddit that hint at what SEO for ChatGPT Search will look like
CEO Sam Altman and OpenAI executives held a Reddit AMA to answer questions, including those about ChatGPT Search, providing an inside look at how it works. Their answers offer insights into what SEO may look like in the immediate future.
The people from OpenAI answering the questions:
ChatGPT Search is not a search engine, it’s an AI chatbot with search, which means it doesn’t compete with Google as a search engine, it simply replaces it with something else that people already use for work and play. Now it has additional utility as an assistant in daily life and search.
Another advantage to ChatGPT Search is that it doesn’t show advertising nor does it follow users around the Internet. Users already trust ChatGPT with personal and business information so it’s already has goodwill with users.
What makes ChatGPT Search a threat to Google is that Users are already familiar with ChatGPT and have good feelings about it. Because it’s already in use there is no switching away from Google to break the habit of searching with Google.
In the Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, a Redditor asked OpenAI CEO what the value of ChatGPT Search is over other search engines.
The person asked:
“My question is about the value ChatGPT Search offers compared to popular search engines. What are the unique advantages or key differentiators of ChatGPT Search that would make it worthwhile for a typical search engine user to choose it?
Sam Altman answered:
“For many queries, I find it to be a way faster/easier way to get the information I’m looking for. I think we’ll see this especially for queries that require more complex research. I also look forward to a future where a search query can dynamically render a custom web page in response!”
That bit about a “custom web page” is something to look out for because it hints at personalization based on what a user is searching for.
Altman’s response about ChatGPT Search’s handling of complex queries calls attention to an advantage over Google. ChatGPT users are accustomed to using natural language, whereas Google users habitually use keyword searches. Keyword searches disadvantages Google because it’s harder to understand those queries, which is why Google displays People Also Ask features in Search.
Natural language queries is the way users interact with ChatGPT and that is an advantage for ChatGPT Search.
The next question was about OpenAI’s progress on preventing ChatGPT from making things up (aka hallucinations) and also about how it’s going to incorporate fresh data to the index.
Both problems are generally approached with a technology and technique called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) which selects data from an up to date database like a search index or a knowledge graph and then provides that to the LLM-based chatbot to summarize and use as a base for an answer.
This is the question:
“Are hallucinations going to be a permanent feature? Why is it that even o1-preview, when approaching the end of a “thought” hallucinates more and more?
How will you handle old data (even 2-years old) that is now no longer “true”? Continuously train models or some sort of garbage collection? It’s a big issue in the truthfulness aspect.”
The answer was given by Mark Chen, SVP of Research
“We’re putting a lot of focus on decreasing hallucinations, but it’s a fundamentally hard problem – our models learn from human-written text, and humans sometimes confidently declare things they aren’t sure about.”
Mark Chen continued his answer by saying that they are getting better by the use of “grounding” which is something that Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) helps large language models with. Chen also reveals that they believe that using Reinforcement Learning (RL) may help models stop hallucinating.
Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a way to teach a machine with experience, rewarding it when it’s correct and withholding the reward when it’s not correct, thus reinforcing good answers. The machine “learns” by making choices that maximizes rewards. In the context of hallucinations, a reward could be a score or signal that indicates that the answer is factual (and it could also be provided by human feedback scores).
Mark Chen continued his response:
“Our models are improving at citing, which grounds their answers in trusted sources, and we also believe that RL will help with hallucinations as well – when we can programmatically check whether models hallucinate, we can reward it for not doing so.”
The next question is about what search data does ChatGPT Search use.
The question asked:
“Is ChatGPT Search still using Bing as the search engine behind scenes?”
The answer was provided by Rinivas Narayanan, VP Engineering at OpenAI:
“We use a set of services and Bing is an important one.”
That’s an interesting answer because it’s commonly assumed that Bing is the only search engine. The answer indicated that ChatGPT Search uses multiple “services” and that Bing is the most important. What are the other services that ChatGPT might use? That’s an open question.
Someone asked the important question about how to optimize content for ChatGPT Search in order to improve rankings. The question was answered by Kevin Weill who said that they were still figuring it out, which could mean that they don’t know or that they’re still figuring out what to say about optimization.
Kevin Weill, Chief Product Officer responded:
“This is a great question—the product just launched today so there’s a lot to figure out still about where search will be similar and where it will be different in an AI world. Would love any feedback you have!”
Chief Product Officer Kevin Weill is right, these are still the early days of their search and much can still change. The OpenAI Reddit AMA offers first hints at what SEO is growing into.
Other insights:
Beyond those takeaways is the consideration that OpenAI is not directly competing against Google with a standalone search engine, it has created a completely different experience for searching the web.
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What Are Google Web Stories? A Guide for Marketers – Search Engine Journal
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Get to know Google Web Stories. Discover the features & benefits of Google’s immersive storytelling format and see whether it’s right for your brand.
Back in February 2018, Google announced AMP stories.
This visually rich, mobile-focused content format felt similar to the “stories” functionality popular on many social media sites.
The underpinning technology is based on the accelerated mobile pages that have been somewhat controversial in the marketing world.
In May 2020, Google rebranded AMP Stories as Web Stories, which they explain are “a web-based version of the popular Story format, allowing creators to host and own their content.”
Google Web Stories are a visual content format that can be shown across the internet.
You might find them similar to the stories on Instagram in that they allow creators to publish a succession of images, videos, and audio.
Web Stories are billed by Google as being “fully immersive” thanks to their ability to be viewed full-screen.
Some examples of Google Web Stories being used by brands currently include:
One thing that makes Google Web Stories fairly unique amongst the myriad of story-telling functionality found in apps is their ability to be seen across the web.
Whereas the likes of Instagram Stories need to be viewed on that platform, Google’s Web Stories can be hosted on a creator’s own website.
This gives publishers more freedom over what is contained in the story as there are no restrictions around content, unlike many apps.
It also means the story can be used to help to drive traffic to your site, not kept within the walled garden of social media apps.
One of the main benefits of using Google’s stories above other competitors’ social media story format is their accessibility from the SERPs.
Google Web Stories can be indexed like a web page and served as a Google search result.
In October 2020, Google announced that they were bringing Web Stories to Google Discover feeds in India, Brazil and the US.
The list of stories, called a “shelf” by Google, sits at the top of Discover.
Tapping on the story brings it to full-screen and allows the user to navigate through the list by swiping.
Because Web Stories are hosted on your own servers it means the content can be used across other digital assets, too, like emails and digital brochures.
Although the AMP technology the web stories is based on is designed for use on mobile devices, web stories can be viewed on mobile, tablet, and desktop browsers.
This increases their utility as there is no need to create desktop-friendly alternatives for responsive assets like websites.
Google is taking publishers by the hand and leading them through the creation of Web Stories.
There are several tools to help put them together and even comprehensive development notes for those who want to think more outside-the-box.
At their core, Google Web Stories are built using the Accelerated Mobile Pages format.
In fact, when you click on the link to the “Developer docs” from Google’s stories website, you’re taken to the amp.dev guides and tutorials page.
Web Stories require HTML mark-up to be valid.
They also can support optional mark-up to enhance the user experience. For instance, it is possible to use HTML mark-up make the story accessible in landscape mode and present it in a more immersive way on desktop.
When creating your web story, you need to set the metadata attributes.
These do not serve as the page title or description of the story but as a preview of the story where it is served across the web.
You can also add a page title, description, Open Graph data, and other elements to optimize your story for search and sharing; this is done through traditional HTML mark-up.
Google’s AMP Test tool will help you to identify if there are any errors with your story.
If your page cannot be validated as a Web Story, there are links to documentation and guidance to help you to rectify the problems.
Third-party tools can help you craft your Web Stories without needing a developer or design team on hand.
Two tools that Google links to from its Web Stories site are News Room AI and MakeStories – neither of which are run, or technically endorsed, by Google.
News Room AI gives creators a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) design functionality and a deal with Getty images that grants access to over 300 million images.
MakeStories boasts a zero-code, drag-and-drop functionality to customize your stories including access to Google fonts and “one-click filters” to edit your images.
Google has partnered with WordPress to create a plugin that allows publishers to create web stories directly on their WordPress site.
As the stories are built within the WordPress website, they will be included in the site’s XML sitemap allowing for easier discovery by Google.
The plugin also gives creators the ability to set their metadata for the story including cover image, excerpt, and logo.
ProductStories is an app that enables your Shopify pages to be converted into Web Stories.
Once the app is installed, an AMP version of each product page is automatically created.
A user can choose from two different themes or request a customized theme from the ProductStories team.
The format, versatility, and ease of creating Google Web Stories make these a beneficial medium for marketers to explore.
Here are the top 10 benefits and uses of the format.
As the stories can be hosted on a publisher’s own website, the copyright of the content is all theirs.
This means the topics they cover are entirely at their own discretion and without the strict limitations often seen in social media.
The use of the content is also at the publisher’s discretion; Google does not assume any rights over the content.
Google does have some restrictions on the content that can be published, most notable being the policy on content that is “overly commercial.”
It’s worth taking a look over the guidelines before creating your first story – especially if you are using it for promotional purposes.
Any ads that appear in a Google Web Story are controlled by the content creator.
That means unlike with the story functionality on social media apps, monetization of the content is entirely at the discretion of the publisher.
Therefore, if you host ads on your web story, you get 100% of the ad revenue.
Google recently released a programmatic ads solution for Web Stories through Ad Manager and AdSense.
A lot of social media sites with similar story formats dissuade content creators from linking out to other websites.
This usually means having to be creative in linking from the comments or bio.
With Google Web Stories, there are no such restrictions on linking out.
As Web Stories act like web pages, they can be linked to analytics platforms including Google Analytics.
This means there is a much greater level of tracking and user analysis available than on standard social media story formats.
This is an integral part of assessing how valuable Web Stories are to your marketing strategy.
Unlike AMP which is designed specifically for mobile devices, Web Stories can be responsive to any device type.
This means there is no need to create separate content for display on desktop devices or to suffer the loss of functionality on mobile.
Web Stories include the ability to host interactive elements such as quizzes and polls.
This is somewhat limited by your technical ability, as this functionality isn’t supported by all Web Stories creation platforms.
Given the immersive nature of the Web Stories, this added level of interactivity could make for an engaging experience.
Unlike some other Google content such as Google My Business posts, there is no expiration date on Web Stories.
They will not be deleted automatically after 7 days and won’t get lost in a timeline like on social media accounts.
You can feature your Web Story for as long and as prominently as you’d like.
Web Stories are designed to be easily indexed by search engines.
This means getting your content onto the first page of Google won’t require any additional work on your part beyond the standard SEO needed to get any web page ranking well.
There is also the opportunity for it to appear in the coveted Web Stories carousel if you are publishing content for India, Brazil, or the United States.
There are no design restrictions beyond making sure that Web Stories meet the general technical requirements.
This means you are free to choose fonts, colors, animations, and imagery that suits your brand’s style.
Using the “live-story” attribute on your Web Story will notify the user in real-time that you have added a new page.
This can be particularly useful if you are using the format to cover breaking news or developments.
Google Web Stories is a rich, engaging content format that boasts a lot of potential for marketers.
Unlike similar social media storytelling formats, Web Stories are not time-bound or limited to certain platforms.
The brand benefits of exposure via Google products including Search and Discover are worth exploring.
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Google May Surface More Short-Form Video In Search Results – Search Engine Journal
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Google says it’s experimenting with ways to show short-form video in search results more often.
Google is working on ways to show more short-form video in search results, saying it’s a clear and concise format for satisfying certain queries.
This was stated in latest Search Off The Record podcast episode by Google Product Manager Danielle Marshak, who oversees videos in search results.
Marshak is joined by Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman, both of Google’s Search Relations team, in an episode focused on videos in Google Search.
At roughly the 17-minute mark, the discussion delves into the topic of short-form videos and whether Google has plans involving this specific format.
In addition to learning Google wants to show more short videos in search results, we find out there’s interest among the Search Relations team in recording their own.
For the purpose of this discussion, Marshak defines a “short” video as less than five minutes in length and recorded in a vertical aspect ratio.
She says this format has the ability to communicate an abundance of information in a short time.
Due to how useful short videos can potentially be for searchers, Google is thinking about how to surface them more in search results.
Marshak states:
“And this format, it’s really cool because as I mentioned, it is very concise. You can get a lot of information in a short period of time, and you can also get a loot of different views and perspectives…
So we think this kind of content could be useful for a lot of different types of search queries, and we’ve been experimenting with how to show it to users more often.”
Marshak is asked to provide some examples of informational short videos Google might surface in search results.
She gives an example of a video demonstrating how to make a recipe:
“So let’s say, again, you’re searching for some new ideas to make banana bread. And right now, you might see traditional recipes, you might see longer videos, but you could also see short videos, which could just give you a different style or perspective.
And people’s preferences are different. Some people might prefer to read; some people might prefer a longer video; some people might prefer short videos.
And so we want to offer a lot of different options to get that type of information, in the format that is most useful for you. So that’s one example.”
Illyes adds to the discussion saying he enjoys short videos and may consider making some to educate people about Google Search.
Illyes states:
“Yeah, I really like short-form videos and I see lots of instructional videos on certain sites. And I really think that at one point, we might want to try it for education purposes. Like for research, talks.
I don’t know if we are there yet, but eventually, especially if I see that the search engines pick it up, and they can present it in some way, then maybe we should push for it.”
Google would surface short videos by crawling and indexing them like any other piece of content.
This is already being done with self-hosted short videos like Google web stories, and Illyes suggests it might be possible with other videos as well.
Since TikTok videos have a URL you can visit in a web browser, Google may be able to index them in search, Illyes says:
“You can actually open it on the laptop and you will end up on a web page and you can actually watch it on the web page. You don’t have to have the TikTok app for watching the video.
So I imagine that if they allow crawling–I haven’t checked, then we can probably index those videos as well.”
That means short videos on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram couldn’t be indexed in Google since they require an app to view.
Listen to the podcast below for the full discussion on videos in Google Search. Or jump to the 17-minute mark for the discussion on short videos.
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Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, …
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Redefining SEO: AI Overviews and the road ahead – Search Engine Land
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The SEO landscape is changing fast, and many of the tactics we rely on today are becoming obsolete. To keep driving organic traffic and real value, we need to rethink our approach.
New developments – like Google’s AI Overviews, rolled out in May – are reshaping search results, shifting us away from the old “10 blue links” model.
AI is influencing not just platforms and processes but also how users behave and interact with content.
This article covers key insights and practical strategies to help you adapt to these changes and prepare your SEO efforts for 2025 and beyond.
When you search for “what is a zap in Zapier,” you may notice that the featured snippet appears as a citation in the AI Overview.
This is not an isolated case.
Many reports highlight similarities between featured snippets and the answers provided in AI Overviews.
Some experts have even suggested that this redundancy could lead Google to eventually phase out featured snippets altogether.
There’s still value in trying to appear for featured snippets. Think of this as one way to have a higher chance of appearing in the AI Overviews.
If you appear in a featured snippet you are increasing your opportunity to appear in AI Overviews.
Now is the time to get your ducks in a row and build a process to optimize for featured snippets. This will continue to be useful, should Google get rid of the featured snippets in the future.
Dig deeper: AI SEO: How to be visible in Google AI Overviews, chatbots, LLMs
Here’s an example from searching for the same query “What is a zap in zapier.” A click on the link icon shows two URLs that were used in creating this part of the answer.
About 21.1% of queries trigger overviews with each answer containing an average of 8.9 links, per a study by Rich Sanger and Authoritas.
This means we have 8.9 links in the AI Overviews plus the organic results in SERPs.
AI Overviews aren’t here to destroy organic traffic. Instead, they are reshaping the ranking landscape and creating new opportunities in SERPs by providing more visibility.
Now is the time to shift our focus: rather than solely aiming for a spot in the top 10 results, we should also prioritize appearing in AI Overview citations.
The good news is that you don’t need to rank in the top 10 to be cited in these overviews.
There have been various studies showing the differences in the top 10 ranking results and the URLs cited in AI Overviews.
Up to 46.5% of the URLs included in AI Overviews rank outside the top 50 organic results, per an Advanced Web Ranking study.
Focus on creating high-quality content, regardless of whether you’re in the top 10 rankings.
Even if you don’t rank highly, you still have the potential to be cited in AI Overviews or by large language models (LLMs).
Low-quality content is becoming obsolete, and there’s increasing value in producing meaningful content beyond just SERP rankings.
While measuring this value may be difficult at the moment, we will soon have the tools to assess it more effectively.
Dig deeper: The art of AI-enhanced content: 8 ways to keep human creativity front and center
We hear about backlinks losing their value every year. LLMs and AI Overviews are shifting that narrative once again.
The more brand mentions you have (even without a link), the greater the likelihood that your content will appear in answers within AI Overviews and other LLMs.
Backlinks remain important, but their significance is growing even more.
Getting your brand mentioned is crucial for increasing your chances of appearing in LLMs and AI Overviews.
Dig deeper: How to harness the power of brand mentions across the search universe
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Reddit comprised about 4% of the training data for GPT-3, yet it held a significant weight of 22% in its influence.
Similarly, Wikipedia made up around 1% of the training data but has three times that weight in its impact on LLMs.
Given its current importance, it’s clear that being active on platforms like Reddit is essential for maximizing your Google visibility.
To appear in AI Overviews and other LLMs, it’s crucial not only to be mentioned or cited but also to actively establish your brand on platforms like Reddit.
Instead of simply driving traffic from Reddit to your website, consider posting relevant information directly on the platform.
When done thoughtfully and without spamming subreddits, this approach can resemble a white or gray hat strategy of parasite SEO that adds value to your business.
Additionally, maintaining a presence on Wikipedia is important – just remember to avoid spamming.
As Rand Fishkin put it, “You have to be present with native content in the zero-click platforms because that is the future.”
Dig deeper: How to win with generative engine optimization while keeping SEO top-tier
We can no longer afford to lose clicks because our titles in SERPs are not optimized for CTR.
If some of the clicks are going to be taken by AI Overviews, then we need to make every impression in SERPs count. There’s no better way to do this than optimizing your CTR.
I can’t emphasize this enough: SEO is evolving, and our strategies must adapt accordingly.
CTR tests should be a fundamental aspect of our approach, as even small adjustments in click-through rates can lead to significant results.
These improvements can be observed at various levels, including individual pages, folders and sitewide performance.
Negative SEO, which once involved building toxic backlinks to competitors’ websites using spammy anchor texts, is set to evolve.
Competitors may now attempt to manipulate AI Overviews and LLMs to present negative information about a brand.
To protect your brand from manipulation, monitor brand mentions and build a strong identity that is not easily undermined.
We need to develop effective ways to measure our brand’s health in SERPs and online.
While we currently have metrics such as the total branded searches, clicks, share of voice and interest in the brand (as indicated by Google Trends), we should also consider creating additional metrics and methods to assess our brand health comprehensively.
Dig deeper: Online reputation management: Top 10 hurdles and how to overcome them
As Michael King puts it, “Search, as we know it, has been irrevocably changed by generative AI.”
Answer bots like Perplexity and AI Overviews use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), a technology that leverages live data to ground answers in facts and reduce hallucinations.
Just as we once learned how Google operated, we must now understand the workings of RAG technology.
By investing time in grasping how RAG functions, you can better navigate this new reality and adjust your tactics and strategies accordingly.
Many SEOs have yet to change their playbooks simply because they don’t fully understand these changes. Take the time to learn about RAG – it’s crucial for adapting to the future of SEO.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
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Google Debunks The "Index Bloat" Theory – Search Engine Journal
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Google’s John Mueller debunks the “Index Bloat” theory, stating there’s no limit on the number of pages indexed per site.
Google’s John Mueller debunks the “Index Bloat” theory, stating there’s no limit on the number of pages indexed per site.
In a recent episode of the ‘Search Off The Record’ podcast, Google’s Search Relations team addresses questions about webpage indexing.
A key point of discussion was the concept of “Index Bloat,”—a theory that has garnered attention within the SEO community.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller refutes the idea of index bloat, which posits that excessive indexing of unnecessary pages can negatively impact search engine rankings.
This article covers the details of the index bloat theory, Google’s response, and the broader implications for SEO practices.
The term “index bloat” describes a situation where search crawlers index pages that aren’t ideal for search results.
This includes a variety of pages, such as filtered product pages, internal search results, printer-friendly versions of pages, and more.
Proponents of the index bloat theory argue that these pages make it harder for search engines to understand websites, negatively impacting search rankings.
The theory relates to the concept of a crawl budget, the number of URLs a search bot will crawl during each visit.
The theory suggests that index bloat can lead to inefficient use of this crawl budget as search bots spend time and resources collecting unnecessary information.
Mueller debunks the index bloat theory, stating:
“I’m not aware of any concept of index bloat at Google. Our systems don’t artificially limit the number of pages indexed per site. I’d just make sure that the pages which you’re providing for indexing are actually useful pages, but that’s independent of the number of pages your site has.”
This statement challenges the fundamental premise of index bloat.
According to Mueller, Google doesn’t impose an artificial limit on pages indexed per site.
Rather than worrying about omitting pages from Google’s index, Mueller believes your time is better spent publishing helpful content.
Those who support the index bloat theory often cite causes such as accidental page duplication, incorrect robots.txt files, and poorly performing or thin content.
However, Google suggests that these aren’t causes of a non-existent “index bloat” but general SEO practices to which webmasters and SEO professionals should pay attention.
Proponents of the index bloat theory have suggested using tools like Google Search Console to detect index bloat by comparing the number of indexed pages to what is expected.
Google’s standpoint, however, implies this comparison doesn’t indicate a problem. It’s part of regular website management and monitoring.
Despite the conversations around index bloat, Google’s official stance is clear: the notion is debunked.
Instead, the focus should be on ensuring that the pages you provide for indexing are valuable and relevant.
Source: Google Search Off The Record
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Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, …
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Phish ’n’ Ships: Human Security warns of fake shops exploiting payment platforms and SEO – SiliconANGLE News
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A new report out today from cybersecurity company Human Security Inc. is warning of a large-scale phishing scheme, dubbed “Phish ‘n’ Ships,” that leverages fake online shops and search engine manipulation to defraud consumers.
Uncovered by the company’s Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team, the Phish ‘n’ Ships scheme is described as a sophisticated effort to exploit consumers by using fake web shops and compromised search engine ranks. The threat actors behind the scheme infect legitimate websites to create and rank fake product listings for popular items, making them appear in top search results. When unsuspecting consumers click on these links, they are redirected to counterfeit stores controlled by the attackers.
Once on the fake site, consumers go through what appears to be a typical online checkout process. Payment information is collected through one of several targeted payment processors, allowing the attackers to capture funds and sensitive card data. Victims believed they were purchasing real items, but the products never arrived.
The report notes that the operation has affected more than 1,000 websites and created 121 fake online stores, costing victims millions of dollars. By abusing search engine optimization tactics, the attackers drew significant traffic to the counterfeit sites, with the scheme estimated to have hit hundreds of thousands of consumers over the past five years.
While not outright saying that those behind the scheme were from mainland China, the report does state that the internal tools used by the threat actors used Simplified Chinese, the form of Chinese used in mainland China, versus traditional Chinese that is used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.
Working with payment platforms, Human Security has managed to disrupt much of the operation, including having Google remove many of the fraudulent listings from its search results and the payment processors involved having suspended the accounts associated with the scheme. Law enforcement agencies and the broader threat intelligence community have also been informed to prevent further losses.
Though the links to the scheme may have mostly been removed and its operations stunted, Phish ‘n’ Ships remains a live threat, with attackers searching for new methods to evade detection. Human Security is warning consumers to remain vigilant when shopping online, especially for deals that seem too good to be true.
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