In the world of digital marketing and more specifically SEO, staying on top of Google updates is necessary to ensure that our strategies remain effective. In this case, the Google Spam Update arises as a set of modifications made by the same company with the aim of improving the user experience and freeing search results from excess useless content.
Do you want to know how to deal with these updates? Don’t worry! We will take a historical tour of all the Spam Updates that have occurred (from 2021 to the present). In addition, we will explain what it is and what its main difference is with the Google Core Update, which can often lead to confusion.
What is the Google Spam Update?
Before we start with the whole waterfall of information about all the updates, it is essential that you know what the Google Spam Update is. It is an update to the Google search algorithm. Its main objective is to eliminate from the results those web pages that try to deceive users through dishonest or manipulative practices, also known as SPAM.
This update is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality of its search results and ensure that users find more reliable and relevant information.
Why is the Google Spam Update important?
Below I will explain why the Google Spam Update is relevant:
- Content quality: This update to Google’s algorithm is a great help in maintaining a high standard of quality in search results. To do this, it seeks to eliminate sites that use deceptive tactics, such as excessive use of keywords without relevant content, or the creation of artificial external links (backlinks) to manipulate rankings.
- User Experience: By reducing the presence of spammy sites, users will be able to have a better search experience. As a result, they will more easily find useful content that answers their queries effectively.
- Transparency and trust: These updates are designed to increase trust in Google’s results. This way, users can be sure that the results they get are not manipulated by spam techniques.
- Benefits for honest webmasters: Websites that follow good SEO (search engine optimization) practices and create high-quality content can be rewarded with better positions in search results, promoting fairer and more ethical competition.
How does it affect websites?
Websites that are currently practicing actions that are considered spam, such as duplicate content, excessive use of intrusive ads, or the creation of misleading links, may see a significant decrease in their traffic due to the penalty imposed by Google itself.
How can you avoid it? For website owners, it is crucial to keep up with SEO best practices and avoid any techniques that could be perceived as manipulative or dishonest.
If you want to know all the Spam Updates that Google has made, you must enter the Google search status panel, where you will be able to see the following notifications:
In the image, the red area corresponds to the Spam Update, while the green area is the March Core Update. If you continue down, you will be able to see the updates from the other months and/or years. On the other hand, if you are wondering what the difference is between these two updates, don’t worry. We will explain it later so that you can understand it clearly.
Google Spam Update June 2024
Let’s start with the Google Spam Update that took place on June 20, 2024. Its goal is to reduce spam and low-quality content in search results. This update is a continuation of what was proposed in March 2024, although it is not related to the abuse of reputation and authority of websites.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that this update does not affect the link policy and has not been called a “Link Spam Update”.
Recommendations for web page administrators
If you’re a site owner and you’ve noticed a decrease in the visibility of your content, I recommend that you review Google’s Spam Policies to identify potential violations. Affected pages may take months to recover due to Google’s regular updates, if you can get your hands on the matter.
It is important to note that Google itself has confirmed that this update is a “normal update” and has committed to posting a notice on the Google Search Status Dashboard once the implementation is complete.
The company hasn’t provided any detailed information about the specific changes or the percentage of searches affected by this update. Is this unusual? The truth is that Google often doesn’t share all the details about its algorithm changes. Most of the time, we have to find out for ourselves.
As a conclusion, we can semi-confirm that the Google June 2024 Spam Update is a routine update. It is intended to improve the quality of search results by removing spam content. Website administrators should keep an eye on Google’s Spam Policies and accordingly take corrective action if they notice a decrease in their visibility.
Google Spam Update March 2024
Let’s expand the list now with the Google Spam Update 2024, the one from March 5th. In this case, Google introduced changes to the search algorithms and its spam policies in relation to improving the quality of results for users. Nothing very different from what we already know.
Specifically, this update focuses on improving the quality of search results by reducing the prevalence of content created solely to attract clicks and increasing the visibility of useful content. It is more complex than usual, as it involves changes to several core systems and using a variety of innovative signals to identify the usefulness of content.
The implementation lasted up to 1 month, influencing fluctuations in rankings. If we had to give you one recommendation, it would be that as a content creator, you should make sure that your content is useful, trustworthy, and people-oriented. Those whose content does not rank well should check out Google’s help page on creating useful content.
New spam policies
During this Spam Update, Google has introduced three new policies to address practices that degrade the quality of search results, as follows:
- Expired Domain Abuse: Purchasing and using expired domains to manipulate search rankings with low-value content.
- Scaled content: Generating large amounts of unoriginal content to manipulate rankings without providing real value.
- Site reputation abuse: Posting third-party content without proper oversight to take advantage of the host site’s ranking signals.
Violations of these policies may result in a decrease in your presence in search results or, in the worst case, complete removal from Google’s index.
Google Spam Update October 2023
The Google spam update of October 4, 2023 is an algorithm modification that is designed to combat various forms of spam in search results. Its main goal is to improve the quality of information that users receive by penalizing websites that employ deceptive tactics and promote low-quality content.
Main focuses of the update
This Google Spam Update of October 2023 had certain peculiarities and approaches, penalizing or, at least, keeping an eye on the following practices:
Cloaking
Sites that display different content to search engines compared to users are penalized, emphasizing the need for transparency and uniformity.
Hacked websites
It focuses on declassifying sites compromised by hackers to protect the accuracy of search results and the safety of users.
Automatically generated content
In this case, the prevalence of unoriginal and low-value content is reduced , promoting authentic and useful content. This does not mean that AI-generated content is bad, but it does need to be reviewed beforehand to make it useful for the user.
Copied content
This update discourages duplication of content from other sites without adding value, encouraging the creation of original, plagiarism-free content by content creators and webmasters.
What is the expected impact on websites?
Once all these measures against the practices that we have explained previously have been applied, it is possible to detect the following results:
- Reduction in visible spam: An improvement in the search experience is realized by reducing the amount of spam in the results.
- SEO Tweaks: In this case, sites that employ spammy or over-optimized SEO techniques may see their rankings and traffic reduced.
To help you avoid your site getting caught in such practices and paying the consequences, we recommend some practices:
- Focus on content quality: You should focus on creating unique, educational, and relevant content.
- Avoid deceptive tactics: do not use cloaking or copy content. If you are going to use AI to generate texts, verify that it is relevant information, that it is not repetitive or that it excessively repeats the keywords you want to position (keyword stuffing).
- Website Security: It is recommended that you take time to strengthen your defenses against hacking.
- Quality backlinks: Establish and seek to develop quality external or inbound links. It is important to emphasize quality over quantity when establishing a link building strategy .
- Using the disavow tool: It is recommended that you use these to remove low-quality links, shady or irrelevant websites.
In summary, we can confirm that Google’s October 2023 spam update focuses on highlighting the importance of maintaining ethical and user-centric practices for SEO, thus ensuring a better search experience and a more robust and secure online presence.
At some point, none of this is very different from the rest of the algorithm updates we have seen up to this point in the article, although it is noticeable that this latest one has gone deeper into what concerns internal and external linking.
Google Spam Update October 2022
Looking back in 2022, it is worth noting that Google’s Spam Update, which took place on October 19, was one of the fastest rollouts Google has ever made to its search algorithm. This update was completed in just 42 hours, much faster than previous updates, which typically take several days.
What was the purpose of this algorithm update? Well, the main goal was to improve the quality of search results by reducing the prevalence of massive and repetitive spam. Sites using these tactics were hit with a drop in organic rankings and, consequently, in their views.
What impacts were observed?
The impacts that were most evident during this time were the following:
- Impact on traffic and rankings: Although there were no major initial complaints among site administrators, tracking tools showed large drops in visibility for some websites.
- Algorithm consistency: Google continues to adjust its algorithm to ensure that users receive quality content, penalizing spam tactics such as cloaking, copied content, and hacked sites.
Google Spam Update November 2021
The webspam update that took place on November 3, 2021 by Google was announced via Twitter and its main objective was to identify and penalize web pages that are of low quality. In this way, it will seek to improve the quality of search results. This is an update that is part of Google’s effort to keep its search engine free of spam content and ensure that users find valuable and relevant information.
Webmaster Guidelines and EAT
Google advised the SEO community to follow its webmaster guidelines and focus on creating high-quality content, based on the EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) concept. This approach ensures that the content provided to users is from experts, authoritative sources, and trustworthy.
Impact and reactions
Overall, the SEO community reacted positively to the announcement, as it encourages the creation of useful, quality content. Of course, it is important to remember that sites that do not comply with Google’s guidelines may be penalized with low search ranking positions or even be removed from the results pages.
Additional Resources
Google also released an explanatory video on what type of content qualifies as spam and why it is harmful. If you are not familiar with Google’s webmaster guidelines, we recommend that you review them to avoid penalties and improve the quality of your web content.
In summary, it is possible to conclude that the November 2021 webspam update underlines the importance of adhering to Google’s guidelines and how they should focus on producing high-quality content, benefiting both content creators and end users.
Google Spam Update June 2021 (Part 2)
In mid-2021, more specifically on June 28th, Google released several key updates for search engine optimizers (SEO), one of the most notable being the June 2021 spam update, which is the second part of the first one that was released. This update focused on detecting and penalizing low-quality websites to improve search safety and effectiveness.
Key Features
Some of the key features of these algorithm updates are:
- Objective: The update aimed to remove backlinks from low-quality websites, commonly used for phishing and theft of personal data.
- Global impact: This affected both web and image searches globally, penalizing sites with dishonest links and spammy content.
- Importance of Security: Google recommended that website operators review the security of their sites to protect against hacked spam and maintain compliance with its webmaster guidelines.
Implications for SEO
As far as SEO is concerned, it is worth noting that this Google Spam Update brought some new features in the following areas:
Backlinks
Backlink quality has become more crucial, with Google identifying and removing dishonest links that violate its guidelines and regulations.
Quality content
Maintaining high-quality content and following Google EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines has become essential to the practices of every SEO and/or webmaster to ensure the health and growth of each website.
Technical analysis
Finally, but never less relevant, it is necessary to analyze and evaluate backlinks and internal links, since this practice became necessary to improve SEO and user experience.
Google Spam Update June 2021 (Part 1)
Finally, although the correct way to say initially would be, since this is the first one, there is the Google Spam Update that took place on June 23, 2021.
This was the first part of a two-phase update, with the second phase scheduled for June 28 and continuing to make changes even into early July.
June 2021 Core Update Features
The goal of this first change in Google’s algorithm regarding spam is to eliminate results from web pages that try to deceive users with low-quality content, copied content or low-quality links. Now, so that you can have a much clearer idea of this, it is important to know what Google considers Spam, since this concept is not the same for everyone.
Google considers spam content that does not offer real value to the user. This includes:
- Copied content: This is duplicated material from other sites and does not contain original contributions, meaning there is nothing that cannot be found on another site that previously offered the same thing.
- Short content: In this case, we are talking about pages with very little text that do not adequately respond to the user’s search intention. Here it is necessary to make a parenthesis and that is that, although Google says this, the priority is always to give the user what they are looking for. If the answer is short because that is exactly what they need, then it is fine.
- Low-quality links: Backlinks from irrelevant or low-authority sites that do not contribute to the user experience, or that are clearly artificially created by a user looking to increase a website’s authority in a short period of time.
To avoid being penalized for these updates, it is crucial for webmasters and SEOs to focus on creating original, valuable content and avoiding Black Hat SEO practices, such as purchasing low-quality backlinks or using deceptive techniques to improve rankings.
Core Update Vs. Spam Update: What are the differences?
If you’ve seen your rankings affected in the last few days, it’s important to know whether this is due to the Google Core Update or the Spam Update. Here are some tips to help you differentiate between the effects:
- Core Update: If your website follows good SEO practices and does not resort to spammy techniques, then the changes in your rankings are most likely due to the Core Update. This update can affect all websites, regardless of their niche or content.
- Spam Update: If you practice or use spam practices on your site, you have likely been negatively impacted by the Spam Update. Make sure to review your site to remove any spam elements and adhere to Google’s guidelines.
Have you done something wrong with your site? Only you know. Remember that these updates are a constant in the SEO world for the last few years, so you must adapt to them to improve your online visibility.
How to work correctly following Google Update guidelines?
In order to maintain and improve your website’s presence in search results, it is vital that you follow SEO best practices and adapt to the updates that Google gradually releases.
Working in SEO and digital marketing is not just about optimizing for search engines. It is also about offering high-quality content and a positive user experience. This is a factor that Google and other search engines are beginning to prioritize more and more.
Being able to adapt to the changes proposed by the Google Spam Update is essential to avoid penalties and improve the visibility and reputation of your website.
At Enjoy Minder we have it clear!
At Enjoy Minder, we have SEO and digital marketing professionals and experts who can help you navigate these changes in relation to spam and optimize your strategy. In this way, you will be able to maintain and improve your online presence, being able to reach users who reach your site and find valuable and relevant information, optimized to meet their needs without the algorithm believing that it is spam or some negative tactic.
Contact us today and take your website to the next level!
