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Monday, February 17, 2025

Google Updates Their Documentation Regarding Spam Policy

Google has changed its spam policy guidelines, making it easier to comprehend and with more facts.

The biggest single modification to Google’s spam guidance was the addition of a new definition of site reputation abuse, which was followed by more details regarding the repercussions of manual action. The last round of changes is a content refresh meant to make the documentation clearer and more concise. Having an understanding of these modifications might help you come up with creative updates for your own work.

What Was Modified

The documentation has undergone roughly eight different types of revisions to enhance the content. That brings us to our list of seven ways to update older content.

These kinds of adjustments were made:

  • Additional Details Regarding Abuse of Site Reputation
  • New Information Regarding the Effects of Manual Action
  • Concept of Thin Affiliate Was Modified to Thin Affiliation
  • A More Fitting Opening Sentence
  • Word Consolidation: Techniques & Spam Techniques
  • Included The Idea Of Spam Misuse
  • Enhanced Conciseness Overall
  • Improved Subject: Traffic Produced by Machines

Additional Details Regarding Abuse of Site Reputation

Site reputation abuse is defined as when a third party posts content on a reputable website “with little or no first-party oversight,” according to the prior documentation. However, the meaning of “first-party oversight” was not provided, thus a new definition was added in the spam documentation.

When a first-party hosting site directly produces or generates original material (for instance, through employees who work directly for the first-party or through freelancers who support staff members of the first-party site), this is referred to as close oversight or involvement. It doesn’t collaborate with outside services (such “white-label” or “turnkey”) that are primarily concerned with spreading information in order to manipulate search results.

New Information Regarding the Effects of Manual Action

Google clarified in a new phrase that violating Google’s spam policies can have more severe repercussions, such as having more parts of a website removed from the search results. While this is fresh information, the result is not.

The latest information regarding a website that persists in spamming is as follows:

“…and implementing more extensive measures in Google Search (like eliminating additional portions of a website from Search results).”

This is an illustration of updating content by including new details that were omitted from the first draft.

Concept of Thin Affiliate Was Modified to Thin Affiliation

Google added a definition of “Thin affiliation” and renamed the part on “Thin affiliate pages” to “Thin affiliation.”

This is how the first iteration of the thin affiliate page article began:

“Pages with product affiliate links are thin affiliate pages.”

The updated version begins as follows:

“Publishing articles with product affiliate links is a practice known as thin affiliation.”

A More Fitting Opening Sentence

The first line was enhanced by Google’s documentation since it was better suited for the subject’s context. It clarifies what spam is now. The previous introduction sentence becomes the second sentence instead of being replaced by the new one.

The initial sentence of introduction:

“Our anti-spam guidelines safeguard users and enhance the caliber of search results.”

New sentence for the introduction:

“When it comes to Google Search, spam is any online content that aims to trick users or trick our search algorithms in order to rank highly. Our anti-spam guidelines safeguard users and enhance the caliber of search results.

As would be expected for documentation on spam, the new version begins with a definition of spam.

Word Consolidation: Techniques & Spam Techniques

 

The samples below demonstrate how Google combined synonyms for the same term (spam) into a single sentence that highlights the phrase “spam practices.”

With this modification, terms like “forms of spam” and “content and behaviors” are combined into the more straightforward terms “practices” and “spam practices.” I’m not sure why Google changed this, but stuff is easier to understand when terminology is used consistently.

The terms “practices” and “spam practices” are highlighted in the following examples:

1. A more condensed version of the second paragraph has been included.
This:

“We use automated systems to identify content and behaviors that violate policy.”

Is currently this:

“We identify instances of policy violations…,”

The meaning of the sentence becomes clearer. This is a crucial point.

2. About the quatrième paragraph: This

“While common forms of spam are covered by our policies, Google may take action against any type of spam that we detect.”

Turns into this:

“Google may take action against any type of spam practice we detect, but our policies cover common spam practices.”

Although the newly added sentence is somewhat repetitive, it does demonstrate a deliberate attempt to group related activities into a single activity category.

Idea Of Abuse By Spam

The next modification is to make more references to “abuse” in the updated spam policies. The term “abuse” refers to detrimental behavior. Google might be using the term in relation to SEO because it refers to a practice that purposefully misleads users and search engines.

The word appears 17 times in the new edition compared to 11 times in the old one. Although it’s a small adjustment, it greatly strengthens the idea that spam is an abuse.

Here are two instances where Google introduced the notion of misuse:

The term “doorways” has evolved into “doorway abuse.”
“Hidden text and links” has been replaced by “Hidden text and links abuse.”
The word “abuse” has been added to the text in various places, and what’s fascinating about it is that it modifies the way the concept of abuse is introduced to link a number of seemingly unrelated topics. Because “doorways” and “hidden text” are now related to the idea of “abuse” in the context of spam, this aids in reader comprehension.

 

Enhanced Concision

Making sentences more concise is another adjustment that ought to be taken into account whenever content needs to be refreshed.

The text below was altered by Google:

Links are taken into account by Google when assessing the relevancy of online sites. Link spam could be defined as any links that are meant to manipulate rankings in Google Search results. This covers any actions that alter links pointing to or departing from your website.

Now, it is noticeably shorter:

“Building links to or from a website primarily with the intention of manipulating search rankings is known as link spam.”

Significant distinction, huh? I truly appreciate that adjustment since it suggests that someone read the original three sentences and thought about the main idea that was intended to be conveyed through them.

There is a lot of information in the first three sentences that isn’t particularly memorable. An excellent technique to approach a content rewrite is to ask yourself if a sequence of sentences communicates as intended. Simply read it and ask yourself, “What does this mean?,” and if the response is shorter, you might want to consider substituting that line for this one.

Enhanced Subject Communication: Traffic Produced by Machines

The following modification significantly enhances the section on machine-generated traffic by eliminating a portion that focused on Google and instead emphasizing the concept of machine-generated traffic.

These phrases

“Traffic generated by machines uses resources and obstructs our ability to provide the greatest experience for users. Here are a few instances of automated traffic:

Currently are these:

 

“Sending automated inquiries to Google is referred to as machine-generated traffic, or automated traffic. Among them is scraping.

The section regarding resource use remains, however it has been shifted to the end of that section.

In other places in the documentation, two sentences have been condensed into a single, more clear, and brief statement.

For instance, one sentence that specifies misleading functionality is used in place of two in the section regarding misleading functionality:

“The practice of misleading functionality is defined as…”

Three lengthy sentences were replaced in the section on scraped content with the following sentence, which clarifies what scraped content is:

“Taking content from other websites is known as scraping.”

Updated Content vs. Rewritten

The improved spam documentation is a gradual refresh with some new material rather than a complete rewriting. It offers tips on how to improve your own material by incorporating fresh features and streamlining and clarifying already-existing content.

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