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Here are the brief steps through which this occurs:
1.
The pirate gets a copy of the digital media in
question. This is usually an Ebook, as the technique is more difficult to apply
using either movies or music.
2.
A website is created along with a list of
popular Ebooks, related search terms, and keywords.
3.
The website is promoted on the Internet and, as
it grows in popularity, advertisers apply to be associated with it (often for
less-than-reputable products).
This works because publishers often have trouble reaching
high search rankings for their books. They promote themselves and promote the
book using traditional means of marketing, but neglect to use SEO techniques
themselves. This allows the pirates to reach the tops of search rankings. For
instance: If you were to search for “Name of Book”, you may find some rankings
near the top for sales of that book through traditional means such as the
website of the publisher, the author’s website, or online marketplaces. If you
were to change that search to “Name of Book PDF”, you will likely encounter a
pirated website. This is simply because pirates know what their own users are
going to search for and they are able to “game” the system by using the Ebook
titles for SEO and getting their sites higher on search results.
This phenomenon is damaging to both authors and the
publishing industry because it is not only spreading illicit copies of their
books, but it is putting money into the pockets of the individuals who are
making the copies of those books. The largest problem with this situation is
that SEO is a specialized service and many publishers do not understand the
need for its application in their business until it is too late to repair the
damage caused by their own inaction.
