Site reputation abuse. Often called parasite SEO. Is publishing third-party content on an established, trusted website primarily to borrow that site's ranking signals, rather than because the content belongs there. A classic example is a promotional "best X" roundup placed on a major publication's domain purely to inherit its authority. Google names it as a spam category in its Search spam policies.
It matters for AI visibility because engines lean heavily on trusted domains, and best-of lists are among the most-cited page types in AI answers. That makes renting a reputable site's authority tempting, and, since Google's 2026 clarification that its spam policy covers manipulating AI answers, squarely a spam tactic when done to game those answers.
The clean alternative is earned placement: get included in independent lists on the merits, and build entity authority through genuine corroboration. Earned inclusion looks similar on the surface but is durable, because it reflects real trust rather than borrowed signals.