Google Spam Update Of The Year 2024
Google rolls out December spam update, expected to take a week to complete, capping off a year of aggressive spam measures. The update, expected to be completed within a week, arrives amid ongoing industry discussions about the effectiveness of Google’s spam-fighting measures.
The online SEO journal, the Search Engine joiurnal has reported that this December’s update caps off a year of spam-fighting measures, including the June Spam Update and the March Core Update, which targeted policy-violating websites and aimed to reduce “unhelpful” content by 40%. It’s also worth mentioning that this update closely follows the December core update.
This year saw an unprecedented frequency of major algorithm updates, with core updates in March, August, November, and December.
The August update, which took nearly three weeks to complete, targeted low-value SEO content while promoting high-quality material.
The December core update, launched on December 12, came unusually close to the November update, with Google explaining that different systems are often improved in parallel.
Policy Transformation
This year marked a shift in Google’s approach to spam detection and prevention with three major policy updates.
Site Reputation Abuse
Introduced in May 2024, Google began targeting “parasite SEO” practices where third-party content exploits established domains’ authority.
This update mainly affected:
>>> Major publishers hosting third-party product reviews
>>> News sites with extensive coupon sections
>>> Sports websites with AI-generated content
The policy change led to notable casualties, including several high-profile publishers receiving manual actions for hosting third-party content without sufficient oversight.
Expired Domain Abuse
Google’s enhanced focus on expired domain manipulation addressed:
>>> Purchase of expired domains for backlink exploitation
>>> Repurposing authoritative domains for unrelated content
>>> Domain squatting for search ranking manipulation
Scaled Content Abuse
Previously known as “spammy auto-generated content,” this rebranded policy expanded to include:
>>> AI-generated content at scale
>>> Mass-produced content across multiple sites
>>> Content translation manipulation
>>> Automated content transformation techniques
Spam-Specific Updates
June 2024 Spam Update
>>> Week-long implementation period
>>> Focused on policy-violating websites
>>> Enhanced detection of automated content
November 2024 SRA Enforcement
>>> Implementation of site reputation abuse penalties
>>> Affected major publishers’ sponsored content strategies
>>> Required significant content policy adjustments across news sites
Looking Ahead
With the December core update having completed its rollout and the new spam update now underway, prepare for another round of potential ranking fluctuations through the end of the year.
The spam update is expected to be completed next week, with progress tracked through Google’s Search Status Dashboard.
