Atlanta, GA | October 9, 2023 – Google has launched a new search update known as the October 2023 spam update. This update is designed to enhance Google’s capabilities in addressing spam across various languages and spam categories, as stated by Google.
Diverse Spam Types Targeted: Google’s October 2023 spam update is focused on addressing multiple types of spam that have been reported by community members in languages such as Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and others.
Combatting Various Spam Forms: Google aims to reduce the prevalence of spam in search results, with a particular emphasis on tackling cloaking, hacked websites, auto-generated content, and scraped content.
October 2023 Google Spam Update Quick Facts
As a reminder, here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:
Name: Google October 2023 Spam Update
Launched: October 4, 2023, at around 12:50 pm ET
Rollout: It will take a few weeks to fully roll out
Targets: It goes after cloaking, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam more so in Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages.
Penalty: It penalizes spam techniques that are against Google’s spam policies.
Global: This is a global update impacting all regions and languages.
Impact: Google would not tell me what percentage of queries or searches were impacted by this update.
Recover: If you were hit by this, Google said you should review its spam policies to ensure they are complying with those.
Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to the spam update. It can take many months to recover, Google said.
Source: Seroundtable.com
Rollout Over the Next Few Weeks: It’s important to note that the full implementation of this update will occur gradually over the next few weeks.
Previous Spam Updates: Prior to this, Google introduced the October 2022 spam update and the December 2022 link spam update. Preceding these updates was the November 2021 spam update. In 2021, Google also issued a two-part Spam Update on June 23 and June 28, along with the July 2021 link spam update.
Why This Matters: If you observe any fluctuations in your website’s rankings in the coming weeks, especially if your site is not primarily in English (even if it targets English-speaking users), it may be related to this update. This update specifically addresses cloaking, hacked sites, auto-generated content, and scraped content.
Google’s Official Announcement
Google made the announcement on X (formerly known as Twitter) and mentioned that they would update their Search Status Dashboard once the update has been finalized.
What Constitutes Spam According to Google?
In its spam policy documentation, Google clearly defines what it prohibits.
Here are some key elements that Google identifies as spammy or misleading:
- Hidden text or links that are invisible to users but detectable by search engines.
- Content that is automatically generated and offers little or no value to users.
- Widespread scraping of articles without proper authorization.
- Pages overloaded with distracting advertisements that result in a poor user experience.
- Affiliate pages that contain minimal content and primarily focus on monetization.
Google may designate websites as spam if they engage in tactics such as cloaking, deceptive redirects, or the creation of “doorway” pages. Any attempts to deceive search engines can lead to penalties.
Furthermore, Google’s guidelines discourage overly aggressive commercial strategies, including making false claims and misrepresenting products or services.
Websites should prioritize delivering an honest, transparent, and user-friendly experience. Those who adhere to these principles are likely to perform well, even following spam-related updates.
Anticipated Effects
The impact of a spam-focused update can vary significantly, both positively and negatively, depending on the types of web pages and content present on a site. Here are the primary ways in which sites may have experienced changes:
Severe Impact on Spammy/Low-Quality Sites: Websites heavily relying on spam tactics such as cloaking, auto-generated content, and misuse of business listings likely experienced the most significant drops in visibility.
Hacked Sites Saw Decreases: Websites that featured substantial amounts of plagiarized or stolen content resulting from security breaches also saw noticeable declines, as these issues were a primary focus of the update.
Effects on Authentic but Low-Quality Sites: Some lower-quality sites that lacked original or valuable information may have witnessed traffic decreases, even if they didn’t engage in overtly spammy practices. The update raised the quality bar.
In summary, the update aimed to reward high-quality websites that offer genuine value to search engine users while penalizing deceptive practices that frustrate visitors. Most experts believe that Google successfully achieved this goal. However, some lower-quality sites still felt the effects, even if they didn’t cross into outright “spam” territory.
