Google’s latest spam documentation update isn’t a sweeping change but a rewrite of many original sections, making them more concise and easier to understand.
One notable exception is the amendment to Google’s site reputation abuse policy.
Google’s spam policy update
Google has refreshed and, in some parts, updated its web search spam policy documentation.
The most significant change is a new definition of site reputation abuse; Google has made other areas of the original documentation easier to understand by simplifying the language, clarifying essential points, and making them more concise.
Spam policy recap
Google’s spam policy targets and removes deceptive behavior that aims to mislead users or boost a website’s ranking.
Google’s new introductory sentence to its spam policy now reads:
- “In the context of Google Search, spam is web content that’s designed to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems in order to rank highly. Our spam policies help protect users and improve the quality of search results.”
The significant change you’ll see throughout Google’s refreshed spam policy is Google now defines spam (and the various tactics for using it) more concisely by removing a lot of content that didn’t say much.
What Google said about the update
Google said it reviews and refreshes its documentation periodically; this update is part of that process, and it helps clarify its spam policies, what spam is, and the tactics used to implement it.
Google’s official notification about the update:
- “We have clarified some wording in our spam policies for Google web search to focus more on what web spam is and the tactics involved.”
- “And integrated an explanation of close involvement from our blog post for easier reference, and clarified that trying to circumvent our policies can also result in ranking lower or not at all,”
Google said it made these changes because:
- “We review and refresh our documentation periodically, and this update is part of that process.”
Site reputation update
Google’s original documentation explained site reputation, but it didn’t explain what Google meant by “first-party oversight.”
Google’s previous site reputation abuse definition said:
- “Site reputation abuse is when third-party pages are published with little or no first-party oversight or involvement, where the purpose is to manipulate Search rankings by taking advantage of the first-party site’s ranking signals.”
The refreshed site reputation abuse policy now has a new definition explaining “first-party oversight.”
- “Close oversight or involvement is when the first-party hosting site is directly producing or generating unique content (for example, via staff directly employed by the first-party, or freelancers working for staff of the first-party site). It is not working with third-party services (such as “white-label” or “turnkey”) that focus on redistributing content with the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings.”
Clear and concise information
Besides refreshing its explanation of spam and updating its site reputation abuse policy, Google made numerous other changes to improve its content and provide suggestions on how publishers can enhance their`s by making it more concise and informative.
Google`s refreshed documentation, I guess, is in keeping with its “Helpful Content Update” and “AI Overviews” demands that publishers provide relative and informative content to their users.
The irony that Google has only now updated its content to be more concise, helpful, and informative hasn’t gone unnoticed
When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.
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